Y'all, there is nothing more precious than the quiet moments spent with dear friends. One of my favorite moments of the entire trip was a morning filled with warm cups of coffee, soft light, and roaring laughs from the women that I was spending time with.

Each of us took our time to catch up on our lives that we had been neglecting for a few days - I spent time in God's word through my She Reads Truth study. Ginny, Danny, and Brooke chatted with loved ones, and Erin and Haley used their natural gifts of creativity to design a website for Erin.


I couldn't help but be that girl. You know, the one who snags her camera to snap photos of the memories that I didn't want to let fade. These women are so beautiful and each has such unique talents. I hope my photos do their smiles just a little bit of justice!

My West Virginia outdoor door adventure allowed me to experience so many new things from Summersville Lake, Fern Creek Trail, and rock climbing! The girls and I woke up bright and early to prepare for what was to be quite an epic adventure ahead of us.

Ginny's husband, Adam, drove from Kentucky to meet us that morning and agreed to be our belay master. I was blessed to be with some of the greatest rock climbers I've ever seen, so I felt safe going into my first time scaling the side of a mountain.

West Virginia is known for its many vaults, cracks, and scales. Our troupe headed to Bubba City - a place that had routes easy enough for beginners and those that were made for the experts, like Adam and Haley's sister, Erin.

We started our morning trekking through a field of power lines until we saw a small sign that said "Bubba City approach." We made a sharp left and into the woods we went. We finally arrived among the rocks and began setting up the equipment.

Ginny, Adam, Erin, Haley, and Brooke were amazing coaches to Danny and I - the first timers. While we didn't conquer the cruxes, we still scaled over 40 feet high! Just as we were about to watch Erin and Adam scale the last route, a monster rain storm and valley sweep hit the New River gorge. When the rain started pelting the side of the mountain, we looked up to see Erin dangling from the rope. Thank goodness she is the expert and knew how to keep herself up there safely.

Since she was "cleaning the route" (taking down the course), she couldn't come down quickly. We watched as she slowly unclipped each carabiner on her way back to safe ground. Luckily, she made it down ok and immediately let us know that swaying side to side on a mountain is EPIC! Ha!

All that climbing made us hungry, so we headed to Fayetteville's famed Pies and Pints for some great brews and awesome pies!

I apologize for being MIA - my last two weeks have put me in three states and a visitation trip to the hospital. CRAZY! On June 13, 2015, one of my best friends tied the knot to her now-hubby. However, as tradition goes, one must part-ay with her best girl friends before the big day.

Six of us girls each came from different states: West Virginia, Texas, North Carolina, Florida, Kentucky, and Oregon. Once arrived in the cutest airbnb in Oak Hill, WV, we hit the hay and prepared ourselves for the boat day ahead of us.

In our rented pontoon boat, we cruised around the man-made Summersville Lake. Summersville Lake was created as a reservoir for the Gad dam. Every ten years, they drain the lake in its entirety and you can take 4-wheeler tours in this huge dry crevice!

Our group of girls can certainly be classified as the outdoorsy bunch. Summersville Lake is surrounded by blown out rocks that are great for free climbing. Having never rock climbed, I took a seat behind the lens and watched as Erin, Haley, and her sister climbed higher and higher to the top of this huge cliff.

The lake served as our playground and offered gorgeous rocks, trees, green plants, and crystal clear lake water. I couldn't keep myself from praising God and marveling at his wonderful creation.

As the sun set, we cruised our boat back to the docks. Burrito bar was waiting for us at the top of the hill. YUM!