is quite gorgeous.

The second time hiking down Grand Canyon with my mom and her friends was even better than the first. We hiked down North Kaibab Trail (14 miles), spent the night at Phantom Ranch, then hiked up Bright Angel Trail (about 10 miles). Rim to Rim – done and done. All photos taken with the Fuji x100.

…and then my battery died and the iPhone saved the day.

See the full hike here.

If I had a nickel for every time I said “amazing” while we were in Mexico, I’d have enough money to fly us back to Mexico.

and some iPhonetographs…

Husbands who surprise their wives with weekend getaways are the best! We spent this past weekend in Charleston, a city we’d both wanted to visit for a while. Charleston is now on my list of favorite places in America. Austin, TX still holds the crown.

One of my favorite books, The Lords of Discipline by Pat Conroy, describes this city so wonderfully in it’s first few pages:

The city of Charleston, in the green feathery modesty of its palms, in the certitude of its style, in the economy and stringency of its lines, and the serenity of its mansions South of Broad Street, is a feast for the human eye.

Though I will always be a visitor of Charleston, I will always remain one with a passionate belief that it is the most beautiful city in America and that to walk the old section of the city at night is to step into the bloodstream of a history extravagantly lived by a people born to a fierce and unshakable advocacy of their past.

Entering Charleston is like walking through the brilliant carbon forest of a diamond with the light dazzling you in a thousand ways, an assault of light and shadow caused by light. The sun and the city have struck up an irreversible alliance.

With a boy in a bow tie by boats. I couldn’t have been happier!

Vida Joven (Young Life) began in Nicaragua in 1988 when Jim Hornsby walked onto the streets of Matagalpa with a baseball and a bat in his hand. Nicaraguan kids gathered around Jim, and in his broken Spanish he began to build relationships with young people through the common language of sports. Twenty years laters, this is still the goal of Vida Joven staff and volunteer leaders: meeting kids where they are, in the streets or the courts, and building trust, gaining respect and developing friendships. Through these relationships leaders are able to present the Gospel and love of Jesus to these kids. Just like my Young Life friends do in America. This mission is worldwide.

Over the last 20 years, Vida Joven Nicaragua has grown into 29 clubs in nine different cities.

We had the immense pleasure of heading to Nicaragua with the interns from Sharptop Cove, where Mark works, and Windy Gap in North Carolina. We spent time in Managua, at the Vida Joven camp near Jinotega, and in Matagalpa. We fell in love with the Nicaraguan people and were honored to work along side them at the camp for a few days. We picked coffee, dug trenches, made a new frisbee golf course, and painted with lots of lead paint that I still can’t get off my fingers. We were welcomed and loved and stretched and moved and changed.

Here are some of my favorite photos from the adventure, all taken via my trusty Lumix.

Volcano Masaya.