So this fall semester marks the start of our 3rd year. Only one more year to go after this. I am already so excited to be half way there.
I took this picture the other day after Brandon came home, I told him to put on his hat because I thought he looked so dang hott. 
A couple of weekends ago, Brandon and I spent our Saturday morning at the Spokane temple. We barely made it in time for our session that morning but nonetheless, we were so grateful that we made it. Our time there couldn't have been better. There have been some hard times for Brandon and I this last year but there have also been some very sweet assurances. The temple brought another sweet assurance that day and I am so very grateful. I truly cherish all of the moments found in between those hard times, that make life bearable and even sweet.
I loved the color of this mum that was just outside the temple, so I had to grab a quick snapshot. 
On Saturday afternoon, I got to go with a bunch of girlfriends up to Spokane to surprise one of our friends for her birthday!
We went shopping, out to eat at Olive Garden (my favorite), roller skating and then out for ice cream. It was a blast and made for some much needed girl time. Thanks Katelyn for letting us take you out the day before your special day!! We love you! So as you can tell from the post before this one, we went kite flying a couple of Sundays ago. But apparently (according to Brandon), it is called "flight kying 101." I thought it was pretty funny how he said it, so thought I would share. The rest of the video clip is kind of boring but the first part where he says the flight kying is funny, I think.
After we picked berries a couple of Sundays ago, we got together wth some friends for dinner and some good ol' kite flying (despite the fact that there was really no wind, only small gusts here and there). In this picture, I am the one flying the Ariel kite (I love princess kites). Brandon took the picture from behind.
Becca and I. She was definitely having more success than I at this particular moment.
And then there's Brandon in a league of his own. He gets this little kid look when he does stuff like fly kites and it drives me wild. I love it! 
A couple of Sundays ago, we headed out to a little town called Juliaetta after church to pick some blackberries. The bushes line the highway that goes through the town. There are SO many berries. Needless to say, we did get our hands a bit dirty. And I don't know how I got away with wearing a white shirt. Unfortunately it escaped all but one bright purple/red stain. 
Our friends, Ryan and Leanna, took us to an amazing little water hole just outside of Moose Creek Reservoir just before school started. We swam in what is apparently called "The Blue Lagoon."
After swimming, we had a fun dinner and took their little boat out on Moose Creek Reservoir for some bass fishing. Brandon caught two but I did not have my camera with me on the boat! Ryan taught Brandon how to use these really neat frog lures and now Brandon can't get enough. They have already been back since.
P.S.- There are lots of cows in that area. 
This picture explains how exhausted I was after our hike around Elk Creek Falls a few Sundays ago. Too bad I couldn't convince Brandon to carry me the whole way back to the car like this. Haha!
This is the middle fall and the biggest drop (70ft. I think)
This was the lower falls. Still about a 40-50ft. drop but not quite as big as the middle falls.
This is a picture of me just in front of the upper falls. The drop is not much at all but it was the only fall that you could actually go right up to and play in the water. We did not know this and since we visited the upper falls first, we thought we would get a chance to walk right up to the other falls and maybe play in the water. So we waited to play, but then did not get to play in the water after all. That's ok though. I was ready to go home after all of the hiking uphill once we had visited all three of the falls.
This year we had the Rowley Reunion (my dad's side of the family) up in Cle Elum, WA. It was fun to see lots of aunts, uncles, cousins, etc. My grandma had made aprons for all of her daughters and daughter-in-laws and her granddaughters who are over 18 yrs. old. So that was really fun. She also made a display with all of the reunion shirts from years past. Each shirt had a little paper pinned to it with memories from the specific reunions.
Here is my family on the fence (less my brothers Kyle and Tom, who are currently serving missions in Denver, CO).
I had my brother Blake take a few pictures of Brandon and I on the fence.
Of course, Crystal had to have her turn too. Silly girl!
My grandpa is an incredibly talented man. He does lots of things with wood (carvings and such). He also built this train. It reminds me of a ride at Disneyland through the forest. He has it so that he can take passengers (mostly his grandkids of course) on rides near his home in Cle Elum, WA.
And over the bridge.
One of the days they had a rang for shooting set up. Here Brandon is helping Stewart shoot a shotgun.
My grandpa has a good stash of archery equipment, which made for an archery booth during the reunion and lots of fun! 
Brandon definitely has better aim then I do. I am pretty sure my arrows were not even close to the targets on any of my shots. Better luck next time, right? 
First of all, I LOVE this photo. The idea just came into my head and so I had them jump inside the frame. i thought it was super cute.
During one of our visits to Walla Walla this summer, the girls and I attempted to paint a frame for them to hang all of their hairbows from. They chose a lovely purple color. I can't wait to snap some pictures of the finished product when we visit again soon. 
My sister Rachel
My sister Crystal
The view from above
Please will you play with me, Sarah? Yes Crystal. They are always just too cute to resist.
Crystal, Sarah and Stewart swingin'
Crystal took me on for a game of pool. I think I had more fun taking pictures during it then the actual playing part. Here is just one shot from our game.
We had a fun time with visiting my family lots during the month of August. One of those visits included celebrating my sister Rachel's birthday. We were not able to make it for her birthday day but we did enjoy some of the birthday festivities a few days later. Rachel was really good about this and I wouldn't trade anything for her. We love you Rachel!
One of our gifts to her was fake nails. Cute huh?
I had her hold down each nail after gluing to make sure they would stay on.
My littlest sister Crystal was pretty excited about the nails Rachel got and REALLY wanted to put some on herself. So she tried to steal some. 
Unfortunately, we did not have enough extra small ones to fit her fingers. So I tried to wing it and cut the leftover bigger nails to fit her small fingers. Let's just say that did not work out too well. 
The poor thing ended up with this thing of acetone (covered in foil) on her finger for hours to try to remove a nail that just was not going to be safe. She was pretty devastated that I could not do all of her fingers. Thankfully, mom purchased another set of fake nails for her that next week so that she could finish her set. 