The Last Hurrah!

As I was perusing my blog, I realized that I never finished our little love story. So here goes. We were dating. 2 weeks in he said I love you. We talked about getting married. Fast forward to June. In June we went to "look" at wedding rings. Notice I said "look", well we ended up buying one. The first one I tried on we bought. It was a strange experience really. We went into Spence Diamonds because of all the radio ads, it sounded like a good place. So in we walk. They were really nice, helped us out and said just walk around and try on rings, if you find one you like, hold on to it. Well we walked around the whole store. The very first one I picked up I loved.... every single ring after that didn't quite measure up! So we picked the ring, we got to pick the diamond and check it out under a microscope. Pretty cool if you ask me. Well after that they said it would be a few weeks wait to get it set up and all ready. That was it.

Minutes after we were engaged!

One unsuspecting day Matt got a phone call, I was in the car with him. The ring was ready! He didn't want me to know this so he pretended like it wasn't a call about the ring, but something completely different. He then proceeded to wait before proposing.. just kidding! He did it the night he got the ring. He took me out to look at puppies (I'm a sucker for puppies) and then asked if I wanted to go out to the North of Calgary to check out the Temple site. For those of you reading who might not know what a Temple is, it's a really special building to members of my faith. It is a symbol of purity and is a place where many people come to worship our Savior. It's a really amazing place. Well they had just broken ground for the building and we were going to go take a look at where this beautiful building would stand.

One of my favourite engagement pictures!

So out we drove the half hour drive out to the site. We stood on top of a hill and looked out over the city of Calgary. It was a gorgeous view! You could see soo much of the city and a beautiful view of the mountains. So as we stood and looked out on this gorgeous view I started to get really cold (Calgary isn't really your typical warm destination, even in the summer). So Matt, being the awesome guy he is went back to the car to get a jacket. After putting the jacket over me I stopped to give him a hug. He hugged me back for a minute and then stepped back a bit and said "Hey Em", I looked up from my hug and he was down on one knee, "Will you marry me?". The easiest question for me to answer. I quickly said "Yes!" and the ring was on my finger. We kissed and stood there for a few minutes looking out over the city, I was probably crying, I can't quite remember. It was absolutely perfect! We were engaged June 28th, 2010. After some pictures and hugs we got back in the car and called my family first. Matt's family next and of course my best friend Brigitta. It was an awesome night.
Well we were married October 16th, 2010.

A really cool wedding picture.

After only 3 months of planning, and no help from Pinterest we were hitched! Seems like a short span of time but it was just perfect. I know I made the best decision of my life that day and I would not change a thing! Our wedding was great. I loved every second of it (minus a minor mishap with a hairdresser not showing up and my groom almost not making it to the wedding because of a major car accident). Our colours were Navy and Lime, we had a brilliant photographer who took both our engagement and wedding photos, our families attended (all that could) and we had a blast!

We took our Honeymoon in Vegas, saw 2 Cirque du Soleil shows (yeah I'm spoiled.), went to a Blue Man Group show, saw some lions up close, ate a lot, went for a ride on a gondola and just spent time together.

We have been married for almost 3 years now, it's been tough getting used to another person's little things, the way he loads the dishwasher isn't the same way I do it, he can sleep anywhere, I have to have the exact right environment.. things that aren't really important and neither of us are wrong, just sometimes you need to get used to the way the other person does things.


I am soo happy with our life. Hopefully we can add to our little family in the future, but we will cross that bridge when it comes.

I hope you enjoyed our little love story. I know it's my favorite.


<3

Emily

My Favorites!

Soo I just wanted to post some of my favorite pictures because I feel like you all should see them! Our photographer Tanis was amazing! She was soo great with directing us and letting us be ourselves at the same time. I would recommend her to anyone in Calgary! Here's her website in case you need more convincing! We are thinking about getting some pictures for our 3 year anniversary! Hopefully she's around!

http://www.tanisandersonphotography.com/

An amazing shot of an awesome tree outside of Calgary.

She's a great photographer right?!

One of my favorite wedding shots. I loved my dress.

Isn't this soo fun!? I loved it! They had to walk through freezing water in October to get it but I love it!

By far the best colour shoes for a wedding!

Solid job decorating.

Last but not least!

Much love!

Emily

Summa Summa Summatime...

I LOVE SUMMER! I wish I had one of those jobs that you got to take the summer off.. you know like a teacher.. or a person who owns a snowboarding shop.. Just to be  able to have the whole summer off to just lounge around and sit on a beach somewhere... (not that teachers really get to do that) Wouldn't that be great?!

Soo this past week I started a crazy diet... (well not crazy as in cut out all carbs or don't eat anything that has red food colouring--I don't think the food colouring one actually exists..) but one of those diets to balance out hormones and get your body in to the balance it's supposed to be in. Well it's hard.. like really hard.. it was only day 3 when I started craving some delicious chocolate.. or ice cream.. or cookies.. or candy.. really just anything that isn't good in the first place. So I thought I would put my diet out to the world.. I need to be held accountable and this I figured is one way for people I know to know that I am doing this and (maybe) keep me in check.. I think it helps to know that other people are watching what you do too! As I sit here eating my Spinich and Berry Salad with some sort of vinaigrette dressing I really am tempted to ditch the whole thing and buy a Big Mac.. or something else disgustingly unhealthy.

One other thing I am really wanting to try is the 30-day Shred.. with the trainer from the Biggest Loser (yeah she seems pretty hardcore). I bought the DVD the other day and I will be heading out those efforts probably today... because really you can only ever start things on a Monday. You know maybe that is why Monday is the most HATED day ever!

Well my life has been pretty busy and fun these past couple of months. I went to Vegas with my Mother-in-Law in May and had an awesome time spending way more money than I should and enjoying some much needed sunshine. Then June 15th I went to Arizona for the first time. I went down to see my sister and help her family pack up the house and also help her fly back to Calgary with her 4 kids. My BFF Brigitta came with me. (On a side note I went both of these places without Matt and he was a little more than a bit miffed)--I think my husband works too much. Arizona is hot! Seriously.. that's the hottest I have ever felt in my entire life.. I am pretty sure on multiple occasions I told my sister I was melting, literally. Arizona is also, not very pretty... I expected more. Maybe it's a different kind of pretty (a line my mom used to say to me when I would get discouraged as a teen by the beautiful people in the world that I could never live up to). I think I just didn't realize that it's really too hot for anything to grow without great help! It was a really good trip. It felt like years since I had been able to see my sister and talk to her for more than 5 minutes on the phone. I seriously suck at talking on the phone. It was really good to see her and her awesome family. They are back in Calgary and it makes me soo happy to have them close! 


I also made a very tough decision this past month. I quit working as a Dental Hygienist. I actually quite enjoyed cleaning teeth, it's the people that got me down. Ever since I was a teenager I had anxiety issues and going through school for Hygiene made them worse. The teachers were not always nice, you were terrified during every clinic that you were going to fail every single thing, and the teachers made it seem like 1 failure in any part was a huge deal! I had multiple occasions where I came to tears (really that's not a hard thing for me to do considering all my emotions are tied to my tear ducts-even anger). But I gave working a really good run. I tried for 2 years to enjoy what I had spent money, time, blood, sweat and tears on to no avail. So finally at the end of May I sat down with Matt and talked about it. This was probably one of the hardest things I have had to do so far in my life. I had to give up on this part of my life, and I am not a quitter! I felt like I was letting everyone that had supported me down. I felt like my parents would be disappointed and that my husband would be upset about the loss of income. It took a lot of guts for me but I finally decided to do it. If something makes you miserable, isn't it better to eliminate it if you can? Well I don't quite know what career I will be taking in the future, hopefully stay-at-home mom some day but until then I am working in an office (I think I'm pretty good at this) and trying to figure out what in life makes me happy. I wanted to write this in case my parents read my blog.
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Dear Mom & Dad, 

I want you guys to know that I love you! I appreciate how hard you had to work to put me through school. I am grateful for the support and help you gave me financially, emotionally and mentally. You were a great driving force in getting me through and I promise it didn't go to waste. I want to thank you for raising me with values that help to lead me to my wonderful husband. You showed me that I deserved to be treated right. I am so grateful that you raised me in a church that showed me the value of families. I am grateful to have you both and I look forward to getting to know you better as an adult (yikes.. I'm an adult). I hope you are not disappointed in my choice but I understand if you are. I love you very much and I am grateful to have you in my life.

Love, 

Emily

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Alright enough sappiness. I apologize for the randomness but such is life! Enjoy summertime! Get out there and soak up some sun for me!

Peace and blessins! Peace and blessins. 

(if you don't know what that is from you are missing out so click here)


Happy Monday (if there is such a thing!)

Emily

An Ode to Matt

Sooo I can't sleep. I have far too many things running through my brain. I attended (and am in the process of attending) a Dental Hygiene conference here in Calgary and it got me thinking about a lot of different things. It's been a while since I had to learn stuff.. I'm off topic.

So one thing I appreciated today was Matt. It was a really long day. I had a headache all day that turned in to a migraine (I hate it when that happens). Anyway when I got home my awesome husband took care of me, he went out and got me some Ben-Gay (which really helps with my shoulder tension), bought me a fruit tray (fruit is pretty much the only thing I can eat with a migraine) and got me some Pom (a drink I love..). Anyway that got me thinking. I don't show as much appreciation to him as I should. I was laying in bed trying to sleep and I just couldn't shake this feeling that I should write down my thoughts. So here we are.

Meet Matt. He is awesome. I will start by telling you Matt is a painter. Now I feel I need to make a case for this. A lot of times when I tell people this, they have a predisposed notion about painters (they are uneducated, when are they going to university to get a more professional job, they don't make a lot of money). This makes me mad. I'm not going to get in to that. 

Matt is one of the hardest workers I have ever met. A lot of people would love if work wasn't happening for a week or two due to weather or other factors (myself included). Matt goes stir crazy after just a day. If something needs to be done, he will do it. If he has to work seven, 10 hour days one week, he will (I can't say he loves these times but he is willing to what has to be done). I don't know many people that would take that on. He works so ridiculously hard and I appreciate it. I cannot say I have the same drive.

Matt is skilled at what he does. How many of us can say that we can paint a perfectly straight line between the wall and ceiling or even wall and baseboards without tape? Definitely not me... and not a whole lot of people I know. That takes skill. 

Alright, I love my husband. But I also have a huge amount of respect for him. I am grateful for his talent and skill along with his work ethic and drive. I don't think he hears me say that enough. So I am proclaiming it to the world. My husband is awesome. He's the best.  He's just right for me.

Just thought you all should know.

I am now going to crawl in to my nice warm bed and try to sleep. I apologize for  spelling mistakes, uninterpretable (that's a word right) sentences and confusing paragraph structure. It's late. I'm tired. I just had to get words down. Alright all you internet surfers. Goodnight! I hope you look at those who are most important to you and take time to let them know it. It's a great feeling to be appreciated.

Just a treat. He doesn't always look like this.

This is the Matt I  know and love.

Goodnight,

Emily

A Little Update

I know it's been a while and I am terrible at actually writing in my blog but here is an update on the past couple of months!

Alright in January we went on a cruise. Our first cruise (and probably last according to Matt). I thought it was awesome! We went to Universal Studios in Florida first and had an amazing time (Harry Potter World!!!!). The cruise left out of Florida and was a 4 day cruise to the Bahamas! Which was amazing! The weather was gorgeous and we had some awesome friends around. Oh the reason for our cruise? My friend Sandra was getting married! It was an amazing wedding in the Bahamas and she looked gorgeous! We got to know her hubby and he is a pretty great guy... (this makes me happy because Sandra is also pretty great). Soo the cruise was awesome.. not nearly long enough for me but also too structured for Matt (being on a boat and not able to leave.. also having to eat at a specific time --not really Matt's cup of tea).

On to February... Well February is a special month.. it's my birthday... it's also Valentine's day--a double whammy. So Matt planned an amazing birthday celebration for me and although 1 plan fell through he still made it an amazing day (last year on my birthday I had to work.. so that sucked... this day was 5000000000000000000x better). So he surprised me with Dinner at Joeys, then tickets to The Vow and then a visit to a hotel so it could be just us (we were still living at his parents). So that was my birthday/Valentines day, the rest of the month is a little bit of a blur. My family celebrated my birthday (the 14th) along with my little bro's birthday (on the 15th of February) at the Cheesecake Cafe and had an awesome dinner which Matt was too sick to attend sadly.. he seems to get sick a lot.

We moved in to a new apartment, we had been living with Matt's parents to try and save money for a house. After 6 months we decided we could probably wait a couple more years for a house and live in an apartment for a while. Really good choice. It's hard to not have your own space. We are really grateful for Matt's parents letting us live there though!

And now March.. Well the middle of February we moved.. March I unpacked (along with some help from my Mom) and Matt got sick.. for pretty much the whole Month. He had Bronchitis which (we think) turned into Pneumonia and then his lungs were inflamed.. he was on antibiotics twice and nothing seemed to work. I was making him take handfuls of pills a day trying to get rid of whatever the heck it was! Then one day.. it was just gone.. not sure what it was, not sure what cured it but still so very glad it's gone!

Lastly an April update. So I wanted to prank Matt on April Fool's day but I am not a very good pranker and totally forgot until the day of, which was a Sunday.. and apparently you can't prank after 12:00pm so I was too late.  Well we got a fish! His name is Scofield. For those of you who were not Prison Break fans.. Scofield was the main character in that TV series. He was also nicknamed Fish by the inmates as well as Pretty by one in particular (T-bag). Anyway Matt and I loved that show and it is available on Netflix, we got in to watching it a while back and when the opportunity came to name a pretty fish I thought of Scofield (pretty good right?). We were fairly worried about this little Scofield because he wouldn't eat. You see I thought he hated us. He would take the little piece of food in his mouth, chew for 2 seconds and spit it out! How frustrating! We thought "if we kill this fish, we can't ever have kids". Well it turns out he was getting used to the place and now eats like 5 of those little pebble things a day. He is a healthy happy fish and we love him!

Well that is pretty much it for life updates. Matt also started painting Condo's this month. He is in charge of a crew and has a lot of new responsibilities along with some definite perks! It's pretty great. He is amazing at what he does! Me.. I am still working as a hygienist as well as a administrator and for the most part I like it. Some days it is rough but it's pretty good.

Hopefully that update was sufficient and I apologize it's not more comedic. I wish I was a comedian but it seems I try to hard! I hope everyone is well! If you want leave me a note to let me know I am not just writing to myself!

Much love,

Emily

When Planning A Bachelorette Party.. Make Really Cool Invitations

Soo the creative genius in me has created some awesome things (just kidding I am not a creative genius) but I thought it would be cool to share my ideas. I have been planning a bachelorette party for my cousin the past couple of weeks and was trying to figure out what to do for it, what invites to make etc and I came up with these super cute invitations that I just have to share! So here are some pictures of the invites. I also figured I would share the other couple of things that I made from ideas on pintrest (a website that I love). I found an envelope tutorial and thought I would spice it up by using double sided paper.. that way the inside is as cool as the outside! One more item on the list of cool things to make was a canvas with paper hearts. I think it looks cool!

A few of the invites I made

One of my faves.

The inside of the invite

My Canvas

Envelopes with Double sided Paper

Soo just in case you are wondering how I made this awesome stuff I will tell you!

DIY Bachelorette Party Invites:

What you need:

12 sheets of 8 1/2 x 11 paper -- should be colourful and ideally cardstock  (depending on how many you plan on making 1 sheet = 1 invite) 

12 sheets of 3 1/2 x 5 white cardstock

12 envelopes (approx 5 1/2 x 8 1/2)

A selection of ribbon

Scissors

Glue/Adhesive of some sort

A hole punch

Pencil

Black Pen

Ruler

Decorative scissors

Instructions:

1. Find the center of your piece of paper using the ruler and mark it with a pencil (you should be measuring the side that is 11")

2. Fold each end into the center of the piece of paper. You should have a piece of paper that now has a back and the front will have 2 flaps that open to reveal the middle.

3. Using your pencil mark out the shape of a corset (See the picture for what it should look like, it does not have to be perfect. The top is supposed to look like a heart and then on either side you mark out a curve of the body and leave a gap between the curve of the body and the downward curve (the downward curve goes somewhat in to a point but not quite)

4. Take the decorative scissors and cut along the top lines you have made (the bust of the invite)

5. Using normal scissors cut out the rest of the lines.

6. Using decorative scissors again cut out the very bottom (you never made a line here but it gives it a better look)

7. Using the pencil, mark out 5 spots to punch out with your hole punch. Make them line up on both sides of the front flaps. You will be making 10 punches total, 5 on each side of the invite.

8. Punch out your holes.

9. Take your white cardstock and write out the invitation details (you can also use a printer and then cut them to fit the invite)

10. Using your adhesive glue/stick the white cardstock in to the center of the invitation

11. Pick a colour of ribbon that matches or compliments your invitation paper. 

12. Cut out an approx. 20 inches of ribbon (I just measured by eye)

13. Thread the ribbon through the holes starting at the top as though you were threading shoelaces.

14. Tie the ribbon together at the bottom into a bow.

That's it for those! For envelopes I had some envelopes that were left over from wedding invites and they fit perfectly in those but you can always find envelopes at craft stores or card stores.

Love Canvas:

What you need:

Large Canvas (it's really up to you the size)

A supply of scrapbook paper

Scissors

Glue/Adhesive

Instructions:

1. Choose multiple kinds of scrapbook paper that work together colour-wise.

2. Cut out different shapes and sizes of hearts from each piece of paper

3. Place hearts on the canvas in a pattern that you like best

4. Glue each heart (one at a time making sure to put it back in the spot it was) on to the canvas.

That's it! It's really simply and looks pretty cool. If you wanted to add a bit more you could paint the canvas before adding the hearts and you can add letters that spell out whatever word you might like. I just used paper and cut out letters but you could use vinyl stickers as well!

Envelopes:

To get a tutorial for the envelopes visit the website:

Kelleigh Ratzlaff Designs

http://kelleighratzlaff.com/featured/free-envelope-template-and-a-tutorial/

These envelopes are darling and super easy!

Waterfalls

Alright so when we left off I was on my way with a group of boys to a beautiful place just outside of Calgary called Elbow Falls. When we got there we explored the area, took a bunch of pictures and just enjoyed the Falls. This is where I learned how fun Matt was (My husband Matt not my friend Matt, but my Matt was my friend, to lessen confusion we will call my friend La Chief which has kind of a funny story behind it). Matt and Mitch decided to go across the Falls (which I thought was crazy considering it was freezing!) but they had a blast, froze their feet and just laughed about it.

So that trip sold me on it. I wanted to go on a "real" date with Matt. Well a couple days (or maybe a week) later I got my chance. Now there is some background to this, Matt and I have a lot of people that are mutual friends and acquaintances. One of those friends happened to be awesome and had discussed with me who I liked in our Ward, what was going on in my life and a whole bunch of different things. Well he also had spoken with Matt and after a little bit of talking me up to Matt, I got a phone call. It was about 10:00 at night. It was Matt calling and wondering if I would like to go out to eat with him. I was ecstatic so of course I said yes regardless of the time and the fact I had to work in the morning.

So Matt comes to pick me up and we head off to Boston Pizza. Now when Matt had called I wasn't hungry but there was no way I was missing out on this opportunity so I told a little lie. I said of course I was hungry. So here we are sitting in Boston Pizza and the only thing I can even think about eating is a salad (typical of a snobby date that is watching her weight, which I btw was not) but I ate as much of that salad as I could and just had an amazing time talking to Matt and learning all about him.

On our way home we talked a bit more and listened to some great music. Matt dropped me off and before I left his car asked me out! A real date! Needless to say I was pretty pumped! So I got into my house and did what all silly girls do (at least I think they do) I jumped up and down and squealed. It would have been an embarrassing moment if anyone had caught it on film, luckily it was late and I squealed softly.

Our date was on Friday that week, well Matt and I went on our first non-date on a Tuesday (if I remember correctly). I didn't want to wait to see him and apparently he didn't want to wait either. So the next day he called me and we watched a movie, in fact every day up until Friday we did something.

So I am going to title this next section.

OUR FIRST DATE:
was awesome. The end.

Alright lets get real. Our first date was awesome but I will share some details. First off, I love Biology, this is important to note. I never told Matt I loved it, I just told him I thought it was really cool. So a couple days before our date I ask him what we are doing on our date and he will not tell me. So I don't know how to dress or how to prepare he just tells me he will pick me up at 5:32 or some strange time like that. So sure enough 5:32 he picks me up and I ask him where we are going.. still no use. So we finally arrive at our destination of the Calgary Science Center (cool right? I love Biology!). As we pull up he tells me that they are having an expedition called Body Worlds (I didn't tell him that I had seen it once before in Grade 11 and LOVED it). It was really cool, we went through all of the exhibits and saw some amazing things like a lamb that had only the blood vessels intact. It was a lamb shape and let you see how amazing the body is to provide blood to every area! I loved it! We then watched the movie at the end that was pretty cool but also kind of funny. We laughed through it and held hands. Then onward to our next location.

Matt took me to a Japanese Steak House (can you say expensive?? I mean dates don't have to be expensive to be fun but I was super impressed and knew he had to like me quite a bit to be willing to spend this much on me!) It was amazing, they cooked the food right in front of you and put on a little bit of a show with fire and food. It was great! I ate barely anything (It was 4 courses basically salad, soup, dinner and dessert) and spilled water all down the front of me which is a trait I believe I inherited from my Mother and have continued to do since that very first date.. Always spilling water on myself.

After the Japanese Steak House Matt and I went to a bonfire at Mitch's house where there were a bunch of people. We talked and had fun, watched a movie (It was a really long date clearly) and then it came time for Matt to take me home. Like a gentleman he walked me home gave me a hug goodnight and we went to our separate locations but not before I asked him if he was going to a party the next night and asked if he wanted to carpool. He did and with that it was time to hit the sack!

Alright the next couple months of dating are all a blur to me. We did something together every night basically. There was bungee jumping, eating out, movies, trips to Banff and a lot of talking. By the end of 2 weeks Matt had said I love you. It was out of the blue and completely unexpected but AMAZING. I was soo happy and felt the exact same way. By the end of 3 weeks we were talking about getting married. We didn't want to rush so we figured we would wait 2 months and then get engaged.

Crazy how fast things happen eh? (Throw in a little Canada for everyone)

The rest to come when I am done cleaning the house! (Or maybe a bit later...)