Brian and Veronica Almdale!

July 24, 2017July 24, 2017 ~ veronimama ~ 2 Comments

We’re married!! It’s been almost exactly 3 years since we started dating, but it feels like we’ve known each other forever. When I think about my life before we were together, it’s out of focus and just unimportant. I can’t imagine a day that Brian isn’t in my life, and I’m so grateful and thankful that I’ll never have to spend a day without him. We are such a natural match, and we bring out the best in each other. My mom told me once to marry a man who is just a bit out of your league, so you are always striving to be the best version of yourself for him. Brian is exactly that, and he makes me want to be the best ‘me’.

We wanted our wedding day to be simple and small so that we could spend time together enjoying each other and not running around trying to put on a show. Neither of us have any interest in being the center of attention, and wanted to feel comfortable on our wedding day. I absolutely loved the way everything turned out, and even though both of our families were there, it felt like just the two of us while we stood under the arch. The home where we were staying was absolutely incredible, and their beautiful yard was a perfect backdrop for our ceremony.

We are so so so lucky to have such amazing families who not only love both of us, but get along wonderfully with each other! My family spent the morning of our wedding doing the flowers and making beautiful bouquets and garlands for the backyard, while Brian’s parents took my massively oversized balloons to get blown up. The balloons ended up being one of my favorite things about the wedding, they were so fun and added that super whimsical touch to the day!

Our photographer was the amazingly talented Rafael Soldi, who was recommended to us by one of Brian’s coworkers, and we are so lucky to have found him. His photos are insanely beautiful, and he made us feel so comfortable in front of the camera even though we much prefer to be behind it! All photos in the post are by him as part of our first sneak peak, and omg we cannot wait to see the whole batch!! I’ve been trying to justify reasons for us to hire him again…

Our neighbor Erik Jackson prepared the most delicious dinner for everyone, and we have not stopped thinking about it! His menu highlighted the Pacific Northwest and was one of the best meals we’ve ever had. After everyone left, Brian and I sat on the couch and stuffed ourselves with the leftover salmon and kale!

I’ve been dreaming of my wedding day for as long as I can remember, but nothing could have prepared me for this. It’s such a relief to be married, and to know that no matter what else happens, we’re going to be together through it all. We are so lucky.

Hurricane Ridge

June 12, 2017 ~ veronimama ~ 1 Comment

We finally got our chance this weekend to go explore the Olympic Mountains! We’ve been dying to hike the Olympics since we move here, so we met up with some friends and drove out (up) to Hurricane Ridge.

The temperature dropped about 20 degrees as we drove up the mountain, so our hike was a chilly 45 degrees at elev. 5200. Our ears were popping like crazy on the way up, and we could definitely tell that the air was thinner at the top.

IT WAS AMAZING.

The clouds were still low when we first started our hike, so we literally hiked through the clouds for awhile. It was totally crazy how thick they were. We were walking along the ridge of the mountain, with drop offs on each side, but all we could see was a solid white wall.

Right when we were getting to the top, all the clouds started to burn off and we could see the enormous mountains we’d been climbing through! The views were absolutely insane.

On our way back down, the clouds had cleared so we could see what was at the bottom of the cliffs we’d been walking along. We could hear waterfalls in the distance from all of the snow melt, but couldn’t see many.

Day Trip to Deception Pass

March 30, 2017March 30, 2017 ~ veronimama ~ 1 Comment

Margaret came to visit this weekend, so Brian and I asked around our offices to see what our coworkers recommended for cool day trips. Everyone had their own favorite places to go, but we decided on Deception Pass since it was semi-close, not closed from snow or a landslide, and didn’t involve an hour long ferry ride. The weather was sunny and bright in Seattle, but turned super rainy after we got half an hour outside Seattle.

We stopped at Shrimp Shack for lunch… BEST IDEA EVER. We had our doubts pulling up, but I’m so glad we stopped in, because we all LOVED our lunches. We’ll definitely be back.

Just a couple minutes down the road, we saw these fisherman floating around in tiny little blow-up single person raft/boats and pulled over to get a closer look. There was a sign to go down to a waterfront, so naturally we followed the road and ended up at an awesome park. We wandered around the beach, and then climbed up to one of the trails nearby. It was absolutely beautiful.