The Woman of the Month...My Grandma!

Today is a very special day, it is my Grandma's Birthday! She is the most beautiful woman I know. When I was younger I thought that all Grandparents were like mine. I thought every grandchild got the week long vacations with their cousins every year to be completely spoiled. I remember my grandma would make us give her a list of all the candy and junk food we wanted for our time with them. We would get all hopped up on sugar and pies and have the time of our lives! Needless to say now that I am older, I know I am one of the few lucky ones who get to have amazing grandparents.

My Grandma is the sweetest lady you will ever meet. She is amazing at cooking and baking, especially holiday foods, and is the funniest woman in the world. Even to this day, as a 23 year old adult, I still look forward to visiting my grandparents! Shane and I got to go up and see them about a month ago along with my cousin Carinne and her man Jordan. It is amazing how much fun we can have with my grandparents. My Grandma baked a peach pie and had homemade peach jam for us. She made her famous spaghetti and stayed up late with us to play games and visit. We got to look at all of her and my grandpas old pictures and learn so much about their family history. I am so blessed to have a Grandma who is an amazing example to her grandchildren.

Sooooo....We're Moving!

So many things are changing in our wonderful married lives! Shane got a job offer at a Cadillac dealership last week and he took it. The dealership in downtown Salt Lake, which means we are moving to SLC Utah! I was born and raised in northern Utah and moved to Cedar City about 5 years ago.....five years! Cedar City is a smaller town and is about 45 minutes north of St. George UT. It has been really easy to live here because its extremely affordable and everything is so close. I have to admit having St. Geezy 45 min away and Vegas 2 hours away has been sooooo sweet! However, I miss my family and friends up in northern Utah and there aren't too many job opportunities here in Cedar City. So long story short, Shane started looking for jobs in St. George, Salt Lake, and California. Salt Lake was the first one to pan out and be a great opportunity for us and our future. (I'm slightly biased)

Shane starts his new job tomorrow and is leaving me tonight. Luckily we have amazing friends and he is going to be staying with them for a little while. I have to stay in Cedar City because this awesome school called Southern Utah University cut me short 5 credits from graduating. So, I am finishing school until the middle of December here. I don't mind too much because I love the people that I work with right now and I am able to stay with my brother in law and his wonderful family. I am really glad to not be alone and that Bugsley has people to play around with all day. However, I am going to miss Shane like crazy! I know it sounds super cliche to say this but he is my best friend, the best part of my day. I can't wait to go home after work and tell him all the crazy things that happened! Now Bugsley is going to have to hear about all the crazies! I can confide in Shane and beg him to go upstairs to get me water so I don't have to. He is the one that reminds me to do things! I mean Bugsley can only take on so much with him leaving. The longest we have ever been apart is like a week so this is going to be a big change for us. A good change though. I am just not sure what to expect or how to function with out him! He carries a lot of the weight with house things right now like laundy, making the bed, making my lunch, making my breakfast, fixing my car, and pretty much anything that has to do with cleaning. I am actually going to have to be a grown ass adult and do things for myself....and Bugsley!

I have been so spoiled with him always being here with Bug, taking her outside, feeding her, playing with her, and pretty much everything else with her. Now I am going to get to do all those things. I have been so spoiled! Bugs is going to miss Shane too because she is always following him around! When he was sick last month she never left his side. When I was sick...she could've cared less haha. On the bright side it will be great bonding time for Bugsley and me. Maybe I can get her 100% potty trained and teach her some cool tricks to impress Shane when he comes to visit.

All in all this is a really great thing for us. I am excited for the opportunities we have in Salt Lake to really grow and make some good money. I know Shane will kick major ass at his new job and everyone will love him. I am also extremely happy that he has to wear a dress shirt and tie every day! So many amazing things are in store for us and by making this move I feel like we are taking a step in the right direction.

I thought this was fitting

I'm losing my gym buddy!

This is Shane and Bugsley being reunited when we got back from our honeymoon

I told you he does everything for Buggaler!

Hey, Mr. Blue Eyes

Everyone has their struggles in life. Some are bigger than others. Some people never overcome these struggles and others find the willpower to slap them in the face. I know a man who has done just that. A man I am proud to call my father. In order to really understand this story I need to give a little background on our history.

My mom and real dad, Benji, divorced when I was a tiny little baby. I have zero memories of them ever being together. My mom remarried when I was about 3 years old to my wonderful step dad, Paul, who raised us as his own children. Benji struggled with life, with us kids, with addiction.

This particular struggle I am speaking of is a life long struggle with drugs. Having a father do the types of things that I heard and knew Benji was doing was one of the hardest things I have ever had to deal with. I had so many emotions towards him growing up. I felt hopelessness, fear, unconditional love, betrayal, hatred, deceit and so many many more. I'm almost positive those feelings are nothing compared to the feelings he felt towards himself.

For as long as I can remember my dad had been a user. He never used openly in front of us kids but he also didn't always put us first. From the age of about 5 to 22 I dealt with the emotional roller coaster my dad took me on through out his addiction. The strangest thing is that no matter how bad it got or how long we went with out talking to each other I always had this little light of hope inside me that one day he would become clean and I would get to see this wonderful man everyone would tell be about. This sliver of hope literally reminded me of the tiny sliver of a moon we get every once in awhile. Throughout all the darkness in the sky this little sliver seems to find enough light to shine over the whole city.

It was around this time last year I decided to call the TV show Intervention and see if they could get my dad on there to help him. The producers called me and were on board to get things rolling. However, little did I know, my dad was already starting to build up his courage to be done with his addiction. I think, for him, things had gotten so out of hand he knew he either needed to clean himself up or he was going to be spending his time in prison. He got the opportunity to enroll and be apart of an outpatient rehabilitation program in Utah called DORA. He has gotten clean, has a steady job and from what I have heard he has been making great progress!

As his daughter one of my biggest fears was that he wouldn't be in my life to see me walk down the isle, or dance with me on my wedding day. Well, that day has come and gone and not only was he there physically but the fun, loving, outgoing guy that everyone talked about was there. My dad was there. Physically, emotionally, and mentally. It was the absolute best wedding gift I could have ever received. His eyes were this crystal blue color I have never seen before. I can actually look into his eyes and see how much more alive his soul is. It is literally a dream come true.

If you are reading this dad, I love you to the moon and back. I also admire what you have overcome.

Our Father Daughter dance to "My Girl"

I love him

That One Time I Got Engaged and Never Blogged Again...

Oh heeeey...I'm married now. We also have a dog, my parents are getting a divorce, oh and Shane and I will hopefully be moving to California.

I guess you can say that A LOT has happened in 8 months. I have literally had the absolute most amazing and most stressful moments of my life since I have last blogged! Getting married is a lot of work and I don't think I had any idea how stressful it would be! I want to blog about everything now that it is all over with and I'm not a headcase anymore. I am going to try and start from after the engagement....

The news came at the beginning of the new year. I think we kind of expected it but none the less it was official. My parents were separating, and getting a divorce. Honestly it is for the best and they will both be so much happier. None the less, it doesn't make it any easier to swallow. It also makes it slightly difficult to plan the biggest day of your new marriage when your parents are going through the process of ending theirs. Buuut that's enough of that.


Our puppy is the most wonderful decision we have ever made! (Aside from getting married). Her name is Bugsley, she is a shihtzuh, and she is the cutest furbaby ever. We are in love with her. We got her Easter weekend and she is the best thing I have ever found. I'm not sure how great of trainers we are though because she is 6 months old and we are still struggling with the potty training thing. Any tips would be more than helpful!!
 

This was the first day we got her!

This was today! She has gotten so big!

The engagements were amazing! I felt like a model! We towed the bus up to Evanston, WY and Park City, UT. We had the most phenomenal photographer alive. SK Photography is a magic maker! Sarrah is the most wonderful person to work with and her editing is unreal. Shane and I had a blast doing all of the photos together. Not to mention we had 3 outfit changes and at one shoot we were up at 6am to get the "good light". Totally worth it. Here are a few of our engagements:

The Wedding was a dream come true! But it obviously deserves it's own post!! So when I get the photos back from our photographer I will blog away about the whole thing!!   

So This Is Life.

Before I say anything I want to say thanks to all the awesome comments I got on my last post! Seriously it helped so much! Shane and I have decided to cut our list down and are finalizing it this week. We thought about doing no kids but I really want his nieces and nephews in our wedding so we are cutting it down to close family and friends. I really hope that those who are not invited don't get offended.

I have another question though! Do you send out wedding announcements to people you aren't inviting? Or just send nothing at all? That part confuses me.

Anyways! Shane and I got a huge taste of life this last week. He was let go from his current position at Good Year Tire and Auto. Why you ask? "The owners are wanting to go in a different direction with you." is the answer he got. He asked if there was something he had done and they said his work ethic is great, his sales were above theirs, but the owners just wanted to go in a different direction. WHO SAYS THAT?!?! The really messed up thing is that the two managers that were telling him this sat there and acted like this was all new to them and they pretended to be in shock. They kept telling Shane that they would figure something out and make sure he still had his position. They sat and told him how they have his back and they are going to make sure everything works out. They text him all last weekend reassuring him of this. However, literally the next day they had a new guy in his position. Who is this new guy you ask? THEIR FRIEND!!

I'm not worried about what Shane and I are going to do about our bills or anything along the lines of money. We are extremely smart on that end. I am just frustrated that there are shady and back stabbing people out there that do those kinds of things. I thank God that Shane is an extremely productive person and he will find a new job very soon. In the mean time he is finding ways to make money on the side which is something I absolutely adore about him.

I am a firm believer in karma and that what you put out into the universe will come back to you. There is always a plan for everything and there is a reason that position didn't work out for him. It may feel unfair and frustrating right now but down the road I know we will look back and be grateful that it happened. I don't know what will make us do that but I do know we will feel that way. I'm glad our relationship and our love for each other is strong enough to overcome these types of obstacles in life.

 

That last one definitely reminds me of Shane. I hope you have all had a great weekend! :)

Help!

So our wedding is in about 6 months!! Holy cow. I am starting to get stressed out! Shane and I are trying to put a list together of who to invite and I feel like it is really hard! Especially for someone like me who is a total people pleaser....I want to make sure everyone is happy and no one feels left out or is mad at us. The only thing is...if we invite every single person we can even think of then our budget for our wedding is exceeded which puts us in a hard spot.

We were lucky enough to get the most incredible venue for our wedding which has seriously made planning things a lot easier! I'm assuming next is booking our caterer...which is why we were writing down our guest list.

Which brings me to all you fellow married bloggers! Help me out! I have some serious questions that need some serious answers!

How did you cut down your guest list?

How did you avoid making those people that weren't invited not feel bad?

Were you scared people would be mad at you?

Did it help a lot with your budget?

There are a few of my questions. If you have any other wedding planning advice please feel free to fill me in!

Here is a sneak peek at our venue!!

The Engagement!

Once upon a time, I got engaged. It was on December 23, 2012 to be exact. What's that? You want to hear how?? Oh fine...you talked me into it! Here is the story:


Shane had told me earlier in the month that we had a family dinner to go to on the 23rd. The day of the "family dinner" Shane's brother Charlie came in to town for Christmas and I was so excited to spend the whole day with him catching up on everything! We spent the morning, and most the afternoon, at Starbucks talking about anything and everything. After that we went back to the house and I started getting ready for the family dinner! Shane had specifically told me to get really dressed up because everyone was planning on having a DSN (dress sexy night). I was so excited and even put awesome eyeliner on! (Bad idea in the end)

This is Charlie and me after I had gotten all ready and was feelin HOT!

We jumped in the car and headed for the place we were having dinner. After Charlie drove around for what felt like FOREVER.....we pulled into this empty place where there were NO cars....I was so confused! Then Charlie says to me, "I have a confession to make. You need to get out of the car right now." After he said that and I looked over that the path way made in the snow I had an idea of what was going on.

As I got out of the car I saw a giant white arrow pointing to the pathway cleared in the snow. Above this pathway was a giant sign that read "Memory Lane". It literally had Shane's creativity written all over it. It was right then that I knew this was all going down. I was so nervous, excited, scared, excited, more nervous, and then really excited!

He made this whole sign himself!

As I walked up to the pathway there was an envelope hanging. I can't remember exactly what it said and for some reason we can't find the letter! But it said something along the lines of "You look gorgeous tonight. I can't wait to see you. Your whole life is about to change so take your time walking down this memory lane I have created for you. I love you." I looked down the path and there were so many pictures hanging down. There were mason jars with candles inside of them lighting the path where balloons hung from Shepard's hooks lining the path.

I was literally freaking out! I couldn't believe this was ACTUALLY happening!! My smile was seriously painted on my face. This memory lane was AMAZING and I was sure to take my time taking it all in.

After my wonderful walk down memory lane I came to another envelope...now don't judge me but for the life of me I can NOT remember what it even said. My nerves were so out of control I can't even explain what was going on! I was excited and nervous and I honestly felt like I was in a movie!

All I can remember is that at the end of the letter it said to wait for him right there. As I waited the song "Here Comes Your Man" by Meaghan Smith came on and out walked Shane. I literally froze!! I was so shocked that all of this as happening and how perfect my almost fiance is! So Shane made his way up to me, and he will kill me for saying this buuuuut....he was choked up!! He got emotional people!! This is huge. Honestly, it sorta freaked me out because I have never seen him get emotional, especially from happiness. He told me how beautiful I looked and that I mean the world to him. He told me I was supposed to be the one crying and all emotional and not him. He then went into telling me that like this memory lane he wanted to keep creating many more memories with him. He got down on one knee and asked me to marry him!!! Of course I said yes!

But WAIT!! That wasn't all....after I said yes, Shane stood up and pulled out another box. He said he had another surprise for me....He handed me another box! I opened it up and inside was an old key...

THAT'S RIGHT! I GOT A VW BUG!!! She is a 1967...with 65 fenders :) I am the luckiest girl in the whole entire world! Now we have the bus and the bug. I am in heaven! Wanna know the 2nd best part?? Shane got all of my family to come down so they could be there! It was the best surprise I have ever had! We were able to have both of our families be a part of our engagement. After he proposed and we started walking towards the bug I noticed my Mom, Dad, Kjandyce, Braxton and Ashley, and even my GRANDPARENTS!!! I am extremely close with my grandparents so I about died when I saw that they were there! Seriously....best day of my life.

So there it is! My engagement story! I'm sorry it took me so long to finally blog about it. Since then there have been a few family things going on and I have to admit I slightly lost the motivation to blog about it. Buuuut here I am! I promise I won't have such a loooooong amount of time between posts ever again!!