From Engagement to Married!! . . .FLASHBACK

When you are engaged and planning a wedding over the holidays, a lot of craziness goes on. We were engaged during Thanksgiving, Christmas, and New Year's Eve. Add on top of those Holidays all the showers and family parties, we just partied for two whole months.
We spent Thanksgiving, the year we were engaged, with Matt's family. This is when I meet most of the extended family on his mom's side. They are party animals. They had so many things planned, it was a riot. The best part about thanksgiving is shoving shaving cream into Matt's face. In the picture, you can see Matt's head and those are my hands. It was a lot of fun.



Shortly before Christmas, Matt's sister Kim came home from her mission in Valencia, Venezuela. We went to the airport to pick her up. This would be the first time that I had met Kim. Matt has four siblings. Kim, whom I met a two weeks before we were married, Jordan, who left 1 month before I met Matt, and then Tony and Braden. Kim and I became good friends fast, and love getting together at family functions.



The weekend that Kim came home from her mission, Matt's extended family on his dad's side got together for their annual Christmas party. We went and this would be were I met the other half of Matt's family. For the entertainment that night, they set Jason and I in the middle (Jason was marrying Matt's cousin the week before we got married) and told us all the BAD things about becoming a CLINGER. It applied more to me since my last name was changing and Justin's wouldn't, but it was quite the welcome to the family.



I was given about 4 or 5 showers. One was by Matt's aunts and cousins. They had a great time dressing me up. After this shower, I took Matt outside to the car to show him all things we were given. While I was doing so I looked up to see a cow on Matt's front lawn. I immediately grabbed the camera and started taking pictures.

Matt just stared at me and asked what I was doing. Apparently, in Idaho if a cow wonders into your yard, it is just an everyday occurrence. For me, I don't really see that sort of thing happen in downtown Salt Lake. Guess that is how you can tell that I am a city girl.



This shower was given by the ladies in the ward that I grew up in. It was very nice of them to through us a shower.



The day before we got married, my brother Cameron and his family flew in for the wedding. This was the first time that Matt had met him. We went and ate at the Red Iguana and just spent the day playing around.

We're engaged . . What?!!! FLASHBACK!!!

So Matt and I had been officially dating (i.e. boyfriend/girlfriend) for a about a week, when we went up to Idaho for his cousin's mission farewell. This is an event that you would think is quite harmless. I had been to Matt's house 2 times before this so I didn't think much about it. We went up and after church went over to his Aunt Tina's house. While there I was introduced to Matt's Grandma Ila and other family members that I hadn't yet met. We had been hanging out for about 30 minutes when Matt and I separated. I went to get a drink refill and upon making my way back to Matt, I ran into Matt's dad, Dallas, and his uncle. Dallas introduced me as Matt's fiance. I about freaked, I had just decided that I was ok with the title Girlfriend, were did fiance come from. Dallas was obviously joking around, but I don't know if he realizes what he started. After that event and Matt and I were driving home I brought up his dad's joke. The response I got was also odd. Matt didn't freak out, he didn't propose but he didn't freak out.

Over the next week the wheels began to turn in our heads, and we started looking at whether or not marriage was possible. We talked, I went to the temple a few times, we had many late night conversations, and spent a day or two apart to gain perspective. Our answer came a lot quicker than I think that we had anticipated. One night after Matt had gone to the temple he came back to my house and took me out to dinner. We went out to eat at Robintinos in Salt Lake. I was as sick as a dog, but was anxious to know what he was thinking. He was silent most of the meal. But that could easily be because I couldn't stop coughing and sneezing. Matt took me back to my house, and while we were sitting around, Matt simply said, "Why don't we get married?" That was all I needed. I was excited and we called our parents that night.

Matt let me come and pick out the ring, and about a month before we were to get married, he came over to my house to give it to me. Matt had continually been telling me that there was a problem and that it would be another few weeks until the ring came. So when he came to my house that night I didn't quite expect to get it. I was laying down getting ready to take a nap, before I went to work the graveyard shift at the University Neuropsychiatric Institute. Matt showed up to see me before I left and sat next to me to chat about me day at work. I was telling him a story about a boy that I worked with that was about 8 years old. Earlier that day, the little boy announced to all of his friends that I was his new girlfriend, Brittany Spears, and that we were getting married. I told the little boy that I was already engaged to someone else. The little boy asked were my ring was. Matt took this as an opportunity since we were on the marriage subject (kind of) to propose. He asked how disappointed this little boy would be if I showed up the next day wearing a ring. At that point he pulled it out and gave it to me. I remember that I was so excited, that I just kept staring at it all night long at work. If I ever felt drowsy around 2 or 3 in the morning I would just hold the ring up to my face and get all flustered with excitement again.

Sunny Days, Sweeping the Clouds Away!!!

We started the morning at trying to wake up. Matt came out to find us on the couch huddled up together. We had planned to meet Nana and the cousins at Discovery Gateway around 10:00 making it a must to finally wake-up. This is also how we ended our night, back on the couch, in a huddle.



The Discovery Gateway had a special exhibit of Sesame Street. It was all I could do to snap this picture because the kids had so many friends on Sesame Street to meet.



Eston was running around like a crazy person. You would have thought that Big Bird and friends had come to life. He would run from one exhibit to the next and each time he would stop long enough to stand next to Big Bird's feet look around and then take off. He was hilarious to watch.



Eventually we stopped at Mr. Hooper's store to play for a while. Eston just enjoyed making a sandwich with Nana and Sammie was excited to be able to scan everyone's groceries and ring them up at the cash register.



After the Sesame Street exhibit we went to see the rest of the museum. We spent about 45 minutes there until we decided it was lunch time and that we should go home for naps. We went back later that night with Matt and stayed for about 3 hours. Eston has proved he is a boy by how much he is in love with construction, (we can put the princess dresses away.) He was so excited to be building with the huge blocks and to send them down the big tube. Sammie thought it was so cool that she could actually ride a horse that wouldn't move.




We had a ton of fun and look forward to doing it again next year sometime. (It costs an arm and a leg to go in to this place.)

"Oh, the dating months. . ." FLASHBACK

I can say dating months because that is what it was. From when Matt and I first started to "hang out" till when we got engaged, it was just about 2 months long. That may seem really quick to a lot of people, but to others, that would be a full courtship. Here are a couple of our firsts. . .

The first kiss was after we had been out about 4 times. Prior to Matt, I had only kissed 5 guys in my short 4 years of kissing. I had my first kiss during my Sophomore year of college. I guess I am sentimental when it comes to that which is why my kissing numbers were on one hand. Matt and I had gone out and returned home to my house and were watching a movie downstairs. Sometime during the movie Matt leaned in and kissed me. He claims that it was a blind kiss. Apparently, I have learned, that a girl gives a clue to the guy that it is OK to be kissed. This clue is given by looking into the guys eyes and then making glances down at his lips, thus giving the approval of said kiss. I did not give said approval. This was not because I didn't want Matt to kiss me, but more so because I wanted to play a little hard to get. Matt said he went in blind and hadn't a clue how it would turn out. It was great and we had a lot of fun (good clean fun Nana). Matt then told me he really kissed me so that I would have to use 2 hands to count the boys I have kissed (he was kidding). Upon leaving my house that night he went in to give me another kiss on the doorstep. When we were just about to kiss, Matt turned around and walked away to his car and went home. I didn't know what to do. My blood was boiling that was for sure, and that had never happened to me before. Matt claims that he wanted to leave me wanting more, well, it worked. Matt and I still pull that trick out every once in a while for fun.



I remember the first time that the words, "I LOVE YOU" were said. It was October 11th. I know that because the picture below shows the date. Matt and I had gone on a double date with my brother, Dallin, and his wife. We went to see a movie and split up afterwards. Matt and I went back to his place. We were sitting on the couch talking about the movie and cuddling when Matt started a conversation. He began by saying, "I heard a rumor . ." I replied back by saying what. He continued on to say, "I heard a rumor that I LIKE YOU." I don't remember my reply to that statement, but it must have been encouraging because he said again, "I heard another rumor" and once I again I said what. He replied back with "I heard that I LOVE YOU." Now let me just pause and express that I have some moments in my life that I am not particularly proud of and this would definitely be one of them. My response, to Matt saying "I LOVE YOU", sounded like so, "Oh, and how's that working out for you?" Matt said, "I don't know I'll tell you when I find out." I don't think Matt had planned that response into his declaration of love. An obvious reply might have been, "okay," " thanks," "I love you too," but not my response. I did return the declaration a few days later, but to this day, Matt doesn't like it when I use that phrase in casual conversation. The picture below was actually taken a little before Matt told me he loved me that night. Don't I like hot?



Matt and I always joke around that we had commitment issues. If someone really wanted to get technical, we officially were boyfriend/girlfriend for about 1 1/2 weeks. We always just said that we were "hanging out". This drove my family nuts, but Matt and I were happy to keep it that way. Matt every once in a while would ask if I wanted to talk about what was going on with us, and I would always reply back with, "No, I'm good." He would agree and we would carry on with whatever we were doing. I think that it must have been strange to him to have a girl who avoided a DTR. Finally over dinner one night, we decided that we were dating, and that felt good. Dating only lasted 1 1/2 weeks because that is when we started talking marriage. But we will save that for next time.

Date with a Diva!!!

My daughter is quite a work of art. I don't know where she learned it, but she is all princess. On Monday night I decided to take Sammie, last minute, to see Carly in the play, "Little Women". Prior to leaving Sammie, once again (see date with Lindsay post), ran into her room and found the frilliest dress she could. I talked her out of the frills and she settled on a simple skirt and sweater combo. Sam then took me into the bathroom and told me how to do her hair. She commented on how beautiful I was and asked if we could leave dad and Eston home. We headed out to the play, which it's a small production anyway, so I didn't feel bad taking my 2 year old to it. We went with the knowledge that we would probably only stay for the first 30 minutes, maybe 45 minutes, of the play, because we didn't think she would fair to well for a long time. Before it started I took Sammie down stairs to see Carly, who was getting ready. Sammie got to meet some of the cast members, who were all very friendly, and then we went to find our seats.



Sammie picked out the seat that she thought would be acceptable and upon sitting in it, she disappeared. I looked over and the seat had folded up on her. Apparently Sammie weighs next to nothing, so she decided to sit on my lap. During the first part of the play, she would keep asking where Carly went whenever Carly would leave the stage, but as the play progressed forward I heard comments such as, "Carly has a mommy, ooh", or "Carly has a prince, ooh", and many other funny things. Sammie was mesmerized by her aunt. We stayed the whole 2 1/2 hours and only got up during intermission and when it finished. I was shocked that Sammie could sit that long. I can't even get her to do that for church. After the play was over, and we were heading home, Sammie told me that she was Carly-Sammie, and that she really was Sammie, but was just pretending about the Carly part. She has a new love obsession for Carly. I have decided the way to be the top runner for Sammie's affection is to spend time with her.



Sammie did inform me that next time it was dad's turn to take her out for a night on the town.

Why is this so familiar . . .

On Sunday Matt read this in the comic section and told me I had to read it. Kind of funny because he was laughing at himself.

How often do those of you with small children come across this situation? I find that it happens more times than I would like to remember.
I will be lying in bed and think to myself, "If I have to get up one more time I will not make it through the day tomorrow." So in desperation I will turn to my loving husband and say, "Your turn." Now, this statement may seem fair to many of you, however I have learned the hard way how it works. I spend about the same amount of time trying to get Matt awake (that is the key) and out of bed to help out than it would take me to solve the problem, get back in bed, and sleep another 30 minutes. Familiar to anyone? I think woman are just built with an alarm every time their child takes a breath and men think "Oh, my wife will take care of it" and then they tune everything out. With that said, this is the comic that Matt shared with me on Sunday.

(click to make bigger)

Spring Loaded Weekend!!!

I am doing everything within my power to WILL SPRING to get here. Last week I started taking the kids outside to ride bikes and run around. I hope that this will encourage the sun to come out more and making it possible for my kids to start playing on their swing set (that part of our yard still has snow on it.) I don't know how well this idea is working out, but it makes my kids happy.




The next day we headed to Idaho and Matt took the kids Kite flying (for the first time) in his parents backyard. Sammie was so excited she would just run around trying to catch the kite and eventually decided to just stand still and try to fly it. Eston was enthralled with the kite and just stared at it from the moment he went outside to when it fell. It looks like I might need to get the kids a kite. I am trying to decide who had more fun, Matt or the kids. Either way it was fun to watch.



Later that night we had a 6 year old's birthday party. It was in honor of Matt's brother Jordan who actually turned 24 years old. We decided since he had a real birthday this year that we would make him a super hero costume to mark the occasion. We brought along Eston's costume and the two of them ran around the house after one another. They were pretty proud of themselves. I think Jordan loved his costumer a little too much. It will be interesting to see at what functions he wears it.