Five for Friday 7-3

Ah, teachers, it's July already! Oh my goodness! Summer, slow down, please. Now.

Hope your JULY is off to a good start! Here's to the first Five for Friday link up of the month!

Last Saturday, a group of us that live in near Chicago got together at Maggianos for a Blogger Meet-Up! We had such fun getting to know each other and sharing stories from teaching, blogging, and life! I hope to see all these fabulous teachers again soon! 

My husband and I celebrated our anniversary. Our anniversary was actually June 21st, but since it was Father's Day and our dads were both available we celebrated a little before the actual day and a little after! We went to our rehearsal dinner restaurant and then back to the church where we got married to say our vows to each other again. Here in Chicago June has been a summer monsoon, so of course it was raining so we found a little archway to stand under outside the church balcony. I love the vows my husband wrote for me and even though I have them up in our home, it is so special to hear him read them to me. It truly reminds me of God's love for me and how His love shines through my husband.

Then, we went to Lake Geneva, WI which is about 2 hours away from us. We did an overnight there and did as much free (or close to it) fun that we could do! We played tennis, basketball, swam, walked the lakeshore path, went out for ice cream, and played mini-golf! It was refreshing to get away (off our computers) and just have carefree fun together! Can't do that enough!

 We are even more excited for our 2nd year of marriage. We are about to begin the 40 day Love Dare Challenge - It's a devotional book for couples where you take on the challenge of doing 1 for 40 days in a row, no breaks! Then, we are going to start a study, "A Couple After God's Own Heart."

We had my (baby) brother's high school graduation party! I put together this picture board for him. He's always been such an adorable kid! It was such a blessing to see him have fun with other great highschool grads! He had such a great group of friends that also are grounded in the Lord. I will really miss him having friends like that, but I hope he makes great new friendships as he starts college.

 This weekend we are off to Ohio to celebrate my Grandma's 80th birthday. She's very healthy and active. She's been a widow for 3 years so her time with family is really important for her. Glad we can make it! :)

Have you had lots of family events this summer?