One year and counting...

My Goodness...my blog has been silent for quite some time!  Somewhere between traveling for the holidays and seeing everyone, I just haven't really sat down long enough to put thoughts and pictures up for y'all.

It has been a whirlwind of a year.  On the 18th of December we celebrated our first anniversary.  It was hard to believe it had been one year since our wedding.  As I was considering what pictures I wanted to post today, I realized that I never put up pictures from our wedding.  So, in celebration of our anniversary, I thought I would share some long awaited photos from our wedding.  Our pictures were taken by our good friend Mary Fox at http://www.maryfoxphotography.com/ and also by my dad, Mark Steensgard. 

Twirling in the dress

It was cold out, so between every shot I was in my down jacket!

Gabe's wonderful family

A rare picture of me with my parents

My beautiful sister-in-law, Tori

Gabe's mom and grandma

My lovely mum

Footwashing

Thanks to Nancy Zdenek for decorating!

Tori prepared amazing food!

Doing what this dress was meant for...swing dancing.

 

One Beautiful Sunday

This Sunday, Gabe and I went to watch a friend run a marathon and then attended a beautiful wedding.  Many of us at Bighorn went to cheer on Leanna, a Bighorn staff, as she ran her first marathon.  She ran the Missoula marathon in three hours and forty-eight minutes, just shy of the Boston qualifying time.  She looked exhausted from the race, but she was still smiling at the end!

From there a crew of us headed to Pullman, WA for Dustin and Beth's wedding.  During my year of Explore, Beth was my intern and Dustin was Gabe's intern.  We were surrounded by gardens of flowers, and they were even a few cats that added to the serene beauty of the sunny, warm day.  It was so wonderful to see Dustin and Beth finally get married!  From Pullman, we headed to Moscow, ID, where they had their reception.  There we dined, danced, and celebrated their union with many friends.  And, after a long, beautiful Sunday, we headed for home and arrived early this morning to begin work.

I sadly forgot to bring my camera along for our entire trip.  But, my good friend Timo Towne took pictures of the wedding.  Through his photography, I can share a bit of our day!

Beth and her dad

Praying over Beth and Dustin

Excited for the start of the wedding

Here is the precious flower girl

Some of the Bighorn/Prairie people at the wedding!

Gabe and Aaron being silly

First dance

A Few Moments at Jess and James Wedding

1952 Cocktail Dress Project

Note from my Dove chocolate: The most enjoyable experiences are often free.

For my sister's wedding I decided to make my bridesmaid dress. Their were only two specifications that my sister gave for the dress: first, it must be black and second, it must be tea-length. I immediately decided that I wanted a 1950's style dress, with a swing style skirt. After much searching, I realized it was difficult to find a vintage dress on a budget. It came time to make my own dress. Here is the pattern I decided on:






Last week I began to cut and put together the pieces of the dress. Overall, it seems to be the most technical pattern I have ever sewn. (Actually, if I had to admit, I have never really sewn from a pattern in a bag. So, this is my first. It feels a bit like reading a foreign language) For sewing I am using my handy friend the sea foam green sewing machine out of the basement.


So, here is to begininng this project hoping for a good ending! At the moment I am working on basting together the lining and skirt. (For all of these pictures I used my Canon XSI Digital)