4 YEARS AGO!

WOW! I can't believe 4 years have come and gone already. Happy 4th Anniversary B! Thank you for the all good times and sweet memories! Te Quiero mi amor!

4th of July

Joseph makes a great Uncle. He enjoys being a kid (probably more than the kids do) and I've got pictures to prove it. I love that about him so much (although there are times when it does drive me nuts, but for the most part, I love it.)

Over the 4th of July weekend, we spent time at the Merkley's farm swimming all day, eating delicious food off the grill, and to top it all off at the end of the night- we set off fireworks and watched the fireflies put on a show of their own. It was such a nice weekend- fun to see the kids, and even more fun to watch Joseph play with them. 

Now when it came to the fireworks, Joseph was the master...  

 

...risking his life just for the sake of putting on a good fireworks show for the rest of us. I'm so proud. 

GRADUATION + EL SALVADOR = GOOD TIMES

It's been a good couple of months. Sorry we haven't been faithful in updating this recently. 

We'll start from May... Joseph didn't want for me to post this, but I just had to because it's a huge accomplishment. He graduated from graduate school at VCU in their advertising program. It was a long two years that seemed to go by quickly (weird how that happens), and it felt so good to finally finish- I think almost just as good for me as it was for him. Now I'm sure you are wondering as you read this, "what are you going to do next?" And that is a question we are asking ourselves as well. The idea after graduate school is to find an awesome job, but we're coming to find out that that is taking a little longer than we had originally planned. Even still, we are enjoying this time "off," and I am continuing to work at my job until we figure out what our plans are next. That is still a mystery, but we will keep you updated.

After graduation, we were fortunate enough to get to go on vacation to El Salvador (where my mom is from). We'd been there before three years ago, but that was the only other time that Joseph had been. This trip was packed full of family parties and celebrations. Two of my cousins graduated high school, my aunt graduated from a program in business that she was doing, my sister had her birthday, and my other cousin had a baby shower. On top of that, we spent some days at the beach and went on a few scenic tours of El Sal as well. It was great. 

Here was our first day there. All the ladies in our family got to go to the salon to get our hair and makeup done before the big graduation party for my cousin Alex. I think there was a total of 11 of us that day at the salon from our family. In this pic you see just me, my sis, my aunt and my mom looking super sexy after our day at the salon. 

In the picture above here you see Brooks and Joe on the dance floor before the carnival started... 

...30 minutes later...the real party began. (Side note: they were the only ones wearing the fake hair in the entire place. And that is why we married them. )

Here are the two of us with our party face on! And of course since we had been traveling all day and I had spent all night packing, not too much time passed before I was out.

20 minutes later at 1:30 am, which really was 3:30 am for us. (this is joe: if you look closely you can see a little drool)

(Joe speaking) Here is a sweet old guy working on either a hammock or a blanket. It was pretty crazy to see how it all worked and just how long it took them to finish one...no electricity or machines, just pure 80 year old muscle.  I don't exactly know what he is doing on the second image...I just thought it was a funny picture.

Brooks and I after a good body surfing session...we were tossed around like little rag dolls, but it was all worth it.  The wave in the background doesn't do it justice.  They were seriously pretty intense....I promise.

(back to B) In between our family parties and chillin' on the beach, we took a few tours of El Salvador which my aunt had set up for us. Right as we were taking off in the tour bus, we hear this sudden loud bang behind us which happened to be a pole that the bus driver ran into. The best part about it was the drivers reaction. Brooks' facial expression above pretty much sums it up. "Este..."

The picture you see here is a hike we took through the jungle that went around a crater and you could also see one of the volcanos from here as well. It was really pretty, I especially loved the hike.  

We also went horse back riding on this tour- it was pretty awesome. 

This picture is one of my favorites. How perfect is his face right now? He is always asking me to pose in pictures by myself which I hate- so I said, "here, you get in one." And now he knows how awkward it feels sometimes. 

In this picture, you see Brooks, Cristi, Daniel (my moms fiance), me and Joseph. Pretty, yeah?

Sisters- love them. 

We had so much fun during the trip, seeing the sites, hanging out on the beach, and I think best of all...getting to just chill with the fam. For now, these are all the pics we'll post, but we'll have more to come shortly. 

Summertime

It was a sad reality that I had to face recently when I realized that there really is no such thing as "summertime" anymore. The meaning of the word no longer holds the joy and freedom that it has for so many years. All summertime means to me now is more 8-5 days...Monday through Friday...week after week. The smell of fresh cut grass, the warm breeze as the sun goes down in the late evening, and finally being able to pull out the flip flops...those are all wonderful things, but they don't quite hold the same meaning to me anymore. This is my first summer in the "real world." I never thought I'd say this before, but I kind of miss school.

Coming Soon...

I have exciting news! My website that has been "coming soon" for the last year and a half is finally finished and on the web! Thanks to my amazing husband who lovingly put hours of work into it- the website can now be found at www.biancamerkley.com- Please check it out! He did an amazing job.

What happens to Richmond when it snows??

So what do you think happens to Richmond when it snows 6-8 inches??? It is beautiful at first as you can see above.

Then later on after it begins to pour down thick- things start to happen. As you can see above- the wiring in Richmond needs some help. This is a picture of our back yard. I'm pretty sure that the pole you see is not supposed to be leaning. Anyhow, the result is what you will see below...



Huge explosions and power outages all over the city. What would be considered a light flurry in Salt Lake practically puts the entire city of Richmond to a halt. Gotta love Richmond!

music + family + friends = good times

Ellwood Coffee is a great community place. It offers the best in delicious, organic, fair trade, food and drinks. This past Saturday, my friend Naomi and I played at the new Ellwood's Coffee.




We had so much fun and enjoyed spending the night playing music and mingling with family and friends that came by for a listen. Thanks to those who came out!