Just a few pictures I want for our family journal

we were headed out for our Friday Night Date Night =)

another date night

Our 1st Christmas Tree

The minute Halloween is over… and I am meaning 12:01 AM (November 1)… I bring out the Christmas Decorations!

I think Christmas is the one day a year I LOVE MOST!!!
I love the coming together of friends and families. I love the lights.
I love the smell in the air… and I am not sure its even different.
I love the love.

I Adore it. I Love it. I Live for It.

This year my new husband and I needed to go buy a tree. We wanted a real
one but we thought of the amount of time we will be at home to take care of it- – it was not good idea.

So we went with a fake.

We go to the store and in my mind I am thinking of the most LUSH,
BEAUTIFUL, THICK, EYE PIERCING GREEN, tree. Not too tall…. just right. I had Matt come take a look at the box before purchase and he said ‘it looks good!’

(Seriously though, what is he going to say? Kari I think this tree you picked out is lame…)

And I found it! I found the perfect first tree for us… to celebrate our first Married Christmas Together. And what a celebration it will be!!!!

Now onto the decorations… which wasn’t easy

I wanted my wedding colors… Red and Silver..
The look on his face said it all ‘really? Can’t we do something different??’
On the count of 3 we each called out a color and no matter what.. those are our tree colors…
(imagine us in the middle of the store, with tons of people around…)

1… 2….3…

Kari: SILVER
Matt: GREEN

huh?

I looked at him bewildered…
’the tree is green….really… you want it to be green, but the tree is green…???? ’

*I am sorry, at that precise moment I had to put my foot down*

Ok.. lets try it again..

1…2…3

Kari: SILVER
Matt: Blue

So there it is…

Silver and Blue.

Once we got home, I was sooo eager on getting that tree up I ripped open the box and start setting it up.

Hmm…

Kari : ’matt…? where is the rest of the tree? ’
Matt: ’ what? What do you mean…? ’

That’s right folks, Our tree is 4ft high. He knew that all along and assumed I knew. I didn’t even think about how tall 4 feet is…. in all the excitement of picking out a tree.
Its the kind of tree people put in their front porch…

And the worst part…
Its not even symmetrical.
The left side caves in… its not the beautiful triangle shape..

To give you a better idea with the height of the tree:

*Our TV is taller than our Christmas Tree…maybe I should put it on top of that. Maybe then the little guy will get noticed.
*Our medium sized plant is taller than our Christmas tree..(we had to move it, because well that’s just embarrassing lol
*I think the only presents that can fit under our tree are chocolate bars… about 5.
*If you are sitting by the tree… you are almost taller than it.. (PROOF below)
*Our knees are taller than our Christmas Tree… (ok, now I am being dramatic…
but it is pretty close! I may have to bring out the tape measure.)

And of course, we bought wayyy to many decorations for this little guy. Wayyy to many.
Afterall, I was expecting a giant of a tree.. the tree of all trees… but with this little guy there are only so many branches..
i may soon have to double them up with decorations just to use them..but i fear it might weigh em’ down.
If its not balanced.

So there it is…

Our First Christmas Tree… and it’s a mini… a very little mini. but now I cant return it,
well because… its a memory. Its us. Its our first Christmas as husband and wife.
It only makes sense that we would be the only couple in the world to buy a mini tree by accident.
It’s who we are.
we’re just like that.

I have never been a huge Halloween person... for many reasons...
#1:: I feel ridiculous
#2:: an excuse for girls to wear as little as possible (even when its freezing cold out- i just don't get it)..
-- but let this be put on the record, when I have kids, I am going all out on Halloween...

So this Halloween, he hung out with our good friend Tonnae and Cesar =)
Tonnae doesnt like Halloween either (for reason #1), so we decided to go to the Red Piano in West Edmonton Mall!
LOVED IT!
They handed out Masks and Did a Masquerade Theme (some people dressed up... )
They had two red dueling baby grand pianos!
They played requests, sang songs and well everything- and they were FANTASTIC! the entertainment that night was top notch!
They also had a magician go around to each table and do tricks!
We had this white leather booth right over looking the pianos! So fancy =)




- we're waiting for Tonnae and Cesar to arrive-

-us with our masks (dont you love how my eyes are covered??)-

-Tonnae and Cesar-

-My handsome man posing-

- All four of us-

Myself and Tonnae

Matt made this- so random- and I had NO idea he could make these things.

The entertainment (they were in costume for Halloween)

They were fantastic piano player and singers- i have no idea how they play ALL those songs from memory... i was in awe.

These Teletubies made us laugh so hard!! But not has hard as the man dressed as a woman with boobs bigger than basketballs dancing around- seriously. (didnt get a picture)

I made my very first homemade cheesecake!!!
Now, if you don't know- This is quite an accomplishment for me!
I don't bake- actually let me rephrase that- I never used to bake- but look at me now,
I am the baking queen!! =)
I am fairly impressed with myself!
If you were to just look at it- its not what you would see if it came store bought, however, it is delish- even matt said so ;)

Also, I was sitting on the couch (not sure what I was doing), and then matt came out with this beauty...
He found one of my hair extensions and taped it to the back of his head.
Gotta love him!
He always knows how to make me laugh.

It was Rockwells second birthday... and I am not wanting to steal Radelle thunder on that one-
So here is a picture of rockwell with his birthday balloons and a picture of me and matt
We got him a remote flying saucer thing, its for children 8+
We obviously think he's advanced for his age!

Saturday Night we went to this charity event! For a girl who has Cerebral Palsy and her dad has M.S.
They had a buffet dinner, a live band, and it was so fun! All my nieces and nephews were there. They are priceless!!!
I guess the charity raised over $22,000 dollars (or thats what my brother told me!)
So here are some pictures of that.

Matt and I went down to Lethbridge this past weekend because I had a wedding to shoot.
I adore taking roadtrips with Matt... we just always have so much fun together
singing, car dancing, laughing.
Best hubby in the world!!!
So we arrived in Lethbridge Saturday morning around 1230AM.
Luckily my wedding didnt start until noon on saturday =)
So we were able to sleep in and go out to breakfast.

On Saturday, my car wasn't running right, it kept stalling in the middle of traffic and the steering wheel would lock up while taking corners (because it does that when it stalls)...
OH MY HEAVENS...
i didnt think i would make to the ceremony alive!!
but alas, i did.
I phoned Matt almost in tears because I wasn't sure what to do... do i keep driving the car that stalls if I dont rev it to past 2.. (its a standard)???
Anyways, Matt came to the conclusion that water was in the gas tank from when we filled up the night before.
I ended up hopping in the limo with the bride/groom and wedding party!
And Matt walked all around Lethbridge to get stuff to fix the car (he did have all Saturday to himself)
And now it works great!!
Love that man!
He is the type of guy who would walk to Canadian Tire (about 1 hr walk from hotel) and then back another 45 minutes to the car. LOVE HIM!

*quick picture before I had to go to the Brides hotel*right after breakfast*

This is the dungy room we stayed in- it was gross...
and i'm not being picky.. it was disgusting.
never staying there again. ever.

So after my wedding finished around 10:00pm, me and matt went and got some treats and drove around Lethbridge.

Watching TV in our room, and eating our goodies *delish*

Matt has never been to PETERS in Calgary... What?!
So on our way home on Sunday we went there... and they had 2 sizes for fries- small or large.
So i just got the large (expecting it to be like Mcdonalds 'large' size)
But nope. This LARGE sized fries could feed an army of 5-6.

Enjoying the milkshakes...best.ever.

All our food from peters.. the white bag in the box was ALL FRIES!!!
(it was a sick amount of fries)
And the bag to the left had our burgers in it. (the fries bag was bigger haha!)

LOVED spending time with my husband
LOVED shooting the wedding
LOVED eating at Peters
and
LOVED the trip =)

The Jensens and us went to the Whitemud Amusement Park (its outdoors), and it was a hoot. We spent around 1 1/2hrs there. We went on these motor boats, baseball, Go Karts.
It was a nice evening and we discovered how well we can do our 'fat faces'...I honestly laugh every time I see them!!

Pay back Radelle.... (for those of you who don't know... refer to her blog in September :)

Oohh its sooo wrong... yet I can't look away!

Winter has come and with no mercy.
We have not even had a Fall... the leaves that were blown off in the snowy wind were all green. Quite disappointing.

So I have been trying this new thing.. Atkins...
I know its not healthy for you.. not one little bit. But you do get results rather quickly which is what I am only caring about at this point.

I have never had any 'stick-with-it-ness'.
but that's just me and I embrace who I am.
The thing that suprised me the most was that
matt knew of lack of 'stick-with-it-ness'.
When I told him that I was going to do it (all motivated and in an excited way)

he asked me
''What do you want me to do when you come to me saying, matt I really want chocolate... do you think a little nibble would matter? Or Matttttt...... your cereal or ice cream or spaghetti looks awfully good... its just that you dont really stay devoted to things and it puts me in a sticky spot because if I say- Kari, no you shouldnt have that you are on Atkins, you'll most likely get annoyed and call me 'stickler' or if I say -Yes sure, have it, its up to you sweetie- then you get annoyed because you think i didnt think from the beginning that you could last.

I said
'huh?! I dont do that.'

But i do.
I know I do.
I give in to my moments of weakness..
and frankly.. I dont really care...
Or at least I didnt until I realized that people noticed my lack of devotion.
I guess I forgot that people had eyes and have connected the dots of things I didnt complete
from Piano to Running in the mornings to, to scripture study to...Atkins. The list goes longer i can assure you.

This statement from Matt got me thinking... do i lack devotion???
and after 10 minutes of pondering...
I made a list to show him that I do have devotion in some things.
-Devoted to our marriage
- Devoted to my family
- Devoted to music
- Devoted to the Gospel
- Devoted to the Internet
- Devoted to Photography
- I showed devotion to Massage Therapy Training
- and I am sure I am devoted to a lot of other things that I just can't think of at this moment

and he said
'yup. you are right'

and that is all i needed to hear. those sweet sounding words that i kept saying in my head over and over and over again.

So Last night- I had a bowl of cereal and matt busted me with the dish... a
and I said ' what?? I am devoted to this marriage- would you rather me switch my devotion to Atkins?? cause i can only be devoted to so many things at once.'

He just smiled and kissed me =)

I was telling Radelle on the phone all about my atkins ordeal.. and I stated well

'I would rather fail at something I love then to succeed at something I hate'.

We both just laughed..
I like the justification of it.

Matt and I went for a walk this past Monday as he had the day off...
I love all the time I am able to spend with him.
I love him.

And that Evening we had the Jensens over and played our new favorite game
Settlers of Catan *best 'board game' I have EVER played* and ate thanksgiving left overs...Oh have mercy (said like Uncle Jessie off of full house :)

Thanksgiving Weekend.
Oh what bliss.
There is nothing like a turkey cooking in the oven, the smell of Yams with marshmellows on top, gravy boiling away..
This year it was at my house.
Matt parents wanted to come see where we lived and wanted to see Edmonton so they drove up from Salt Spring Island for the weekend!
It was so great having them here.
We had Thanksgiving in our little basement suite and we invited the Jensens over!
The More the Merry-er.
we had so much fun
and the food was delish!
(probably because I hardly cooked anything)
Matts dad, Derek did almost all of the cooking- and boy does he cook!!

This is what we all looked like after eating the thanksgiving dinner..
Believe me... i was 100% devoted to that feast!

Last Friday,
Matt came home and swooped me up and bundled me in the jeep and we went for a drive... totalling in 2 1/2 hrs of driving.
We drove north of Edmonton for about 20 minutes for our date night and matt wanted to show me our future home...our future community..

After we creeped out all the gorgeous HUGE mansions... we went to the far south side of edmonton picked up some amazing chinese food- and went to Jasper Ave- this little walk way path overlooking the river with cute benches...
we were starved.. we couldnt get that ginger beef, orange chicken, rice, and veggies out fast enough- until we realized they didnt give us forks..or chopsticks...
they remembered the fortune cookies- but the fork/chopstick (the thing neccessary to EAT the food), must have slipped their minds...ooo well...

so we headed back home (and I cant even look at our place the same anymore after seeing the mansions...their 5 car garages were bigger then our entire house!)

So Last night, I wanted to go rollerblading- it is going to be my new form of exercise...
however, I am terrible.
matt held me almost the entire time...
until i decided to venture away from the womb.
I was building up speed on the smooth sidewalk...
i felt the wind through my ..err...ponytail...
I turn my head around to give my hubby a 'Look at me!' smile,
and as i was turning my head back to 'starting' position...
i saw it..
I saw the curb...
I scream...
Not knowing how to slow down...
I look Back at matt and give him this look as if 'oh sweet mother of mercy...HELP ME!!!'
but there is not enough time...
and matt see's my dilema
and he yells
'Jump the curb!!'
and I had no choice...
I did...
...
and I landed..
=) now, it didnt look glamerous, or professional by any means but the fact still remains- I cleared a 4 inch jump...
and landed.

(this jumping picture of matt was before my huge jump.. but this does resemble what my looked like... i should go pro ;)

( The upcoming curb is right ahead...)


And Last Night while the Jensens were at there Scuba Diving course, I got to watch rockwell
and he was a gem. seriously.
We put in Madagascar for 1/2 hr, changed a diaper that wasn't used...
and put him to bed...

Both my boys were sleeping soundly before 9pm..
i think i did pretty well =)