A note to our parents...

Mom and Dad, there's no need to worry...I'm officially with a man who can take good care of me. Michael and Diane, just know that you have raised a great son who is willing and able to take good care of his family. Are you wondering where all of this is coming from? Well, wonder no longer. Yesterday, Isaac changed the oil in my car for me so I wouldn't have to take it to a shop AND he even taught me how to do it myself! Not that I would ever want to deprive Isaac of the joy of changing the oil himself, but it's kind of cool to know how to do it just in case the need ever arose. I was all ready to take my car in like I always do and Isaac was like, "No, no, just bring her over to my house and I'll take care of it." I even got to change the oil filter, which is that tiny bit of orange peeking up from amidst the mess of engine parts on the right (yes, I circled it with Photoshop). I went to the gym when we finished my car because he was going to do his next, and when I got back an hour later, I was fully expecting Isaac to be done and starting dinner or something. But no, he'd decided to fix the cruise control on his car, so he did that after the oil change. And did I mention that he also fixed the emergency break and, more importantly, the heater in the car when he got it? So amazing! I've got myself a jack of all trades, that's for sure. He reminds me of you in that way, dad...always able to fix things around the house, always able to figure it out.

Here's a fun piece of trivia that most of you probably already know, but I was just thinking about it this morning and it made me smile. Did you guys know that Isaac and I have the same birthday? He was born a year earlier, but we're both August 17th babies! What are the odds? I like to say that God made me for his first birthday present. Katy gave me a copy of this picture the other day and it's sitting on my desk right now, which is what reminded me about it. Last summer, we weren't officially dating quite yet, but Alex and Justin threw us a joint birthday bash anyway which started out with this incredible float down the Nooksack River with this fun group (Katy, Ryan...one of Isaac and Justin's small group boys), Alex and Justin, Isaac and me). Well, it had potential to be incredible anyway. I had been wanting to float a river all summer, so you can imagine my excitement when the date was set for August 17th to make our float debut. We all started with high spirits even though it was cloudy and slightly chilly, and our spirits weren't even dampened when we saw the slow the creep that the river was moving at. It'll be fun! we all thought. Well, it turned into four hours on this river in freezing cold water and freezing cold weather. We got halfway down and one of the tubes popped, so the boys (in all their incredibleness) built us freezing cold girls a raft and we all piled on huddling together for warmth. Except for Isaac, that is, because there wasn't enough room on the raft for everyone so he walked down in front of it, guiding it. So cold! (This picture on the right isn't the exact raft, but it's one just like it that the boys built last summer. It's pretty awesome...they just go to a beach and then out of whatever they find lying around on the beach, they make themselves a raft!) Then on top of all of that, our float plan was much longer than we anticipated and us girls could not stand the thought of two more hours in the frigid water, so we all got out, followed this old dusty road to a main road and Justin and Alex hitchhiked back to the car so they could come pick us up. It was definitely one of those memories that is made fun because you're in it with great friends, and is hilarious only because you know you're going to laugh about the absurdity and the pain (from coldness) for years to come. Such good times, my friends!

We're headed home to see the families tonight! Appleton, here we come tonight! And waffle party, here we come tomorrow! It's going to be a great weekend...

I must add a small post script on this one, my friends. I have to admit that I am slightly annoyed at my body regarding it's timing to it's intolerance of gluten. I have been hearing about these Hurst family waffle parties for the past year and have never gotten a chance to experience one, and now when I finally get to I can't even eat the waffles! Just my luck.