We ventured to Montana to celebrate Libby's 60th birthday and were able to get quite the group together! Dan and Caitlin drove up from Colorado, Scott and Libby drove from Oregon, and my dad and his friend Mark came from Washington! Good thing there is plenty of room at the lodge...we needed all 5 bedrooms! Although we were only there for a few days, we packed a lot in: great food, an ATV trip, and checking out the properties that Scott and Libby are building! It was a great weekend with many memories that will last a lifetime!

Ben and I visited my parents for the first part of the trip and traveled over the mountains to Pateros to their cabin. It was full of tasty meals, entertaining movies, walks with dogs, and projects to get the cabin set up as a VRBO! Loved being home for a few days with the fam!

From Seattle, we flew up to Anchorage, Alaska for 5 days. We put around 900 miles on the rental car driving from Whittier to Seward to Hope to Kenai to Anchorage. We jet skied to glaciers in Whittier, hiked to a glacier in Seward, and rafted down a river in Hope. Alaska is an incredible state that is impossible to cover in only 5 days. We will definitely be going back to explore more!

The 14th of July marks our 10 year anniversary. 10 years...holy smokes did that fly by! The funny thing about growing "old" with someone when you get married so "young," is that there is still so much individual change that occurs even over 10 short years. This has been a year of challenge and change for us, but it makes me appreciate what I have even more. I am blessed to have Ben as a partner in life. These are the things that I appreciate about him in this moment. He is definitely a care taker. He does not want me to have to worry about anything: from financials to gas in my car to car washes, etc. He does these little things all the time that could so easily pass beneath my notice, yet they make my life so much easier. He always pushes the envelope. I am constantly being drawn outside of my comfort box because he pushes me to explore or try things that otherwise seem too scary: bungy-jumping, rafting class 5 rapids, buying properties and attempting to rent them. Because of him, I have experienced things that have enriched my life and I wouldn't have even known what I was missing. He prioritizes family. Living in a state away from your parents presents time dilemmas. Time is constantly ticking and it is easy to miss the moments with those we care about. He constantly encourages purchasing tickets to see our families as often as possible even if it might mean less time for us to spend together if we are seeing our families separately.

I have come to love the quote, "A perfect marriage is just two imperfect people who refuse to give up on each other." My 10 year advice: Embrace the imperfections.