Sneak Peak Pics

Some of our pics from our engagement session are up on our photog's blog! The link to their blog is under our "Family & Friends" section to the right -------->


I can't wait to get the whole disc! I think this is my favorite of the ones on the blog:

The Chaos That Is My Life

You know that country song Going Through Hell by Rodney Atkins? Well that's how I feel lately!
(in case you don't here's the lyrics)

Well you know those times
When you feel like there's a sign there on your back
Says I don't mind if ya kick me
Seems like everybody has
Things go from bad to worse
You'd think they can't get worse than that
And then they do

You step off the straight and narrow
And you don't know where you are
Use the needle of your compass
To sew up your broken heart
Ask directions from a genie
In a bottle of Jim Beam
And she lies to you
That's when you learn the truth

If you're going through hell
Keep on going, don't slow down
If you're scared, don't show it
You might get out
Before the devil even knows you're there

Well I been deep down in that darkness
I been down to my last match
Felt a hundred different demons
Breathing fire down my back
And I knew that if I stumbled
I'd fall right into the trap that they were laying, yeah

But the good news
Is there's angels everywhere out on the street
Holding out a hand to pull you back up on your feet
The one's that you've been dragginig for so long
You're on your knees
You might as well be praying
Guess what I'm saying

If your going through hell
Keep on going, don't slow down
If you're scared don't show it
You might get out
Before the devil even knows you're there

Yeah, If you're going through hell
Keep on moving, face that fire
Walk right through it
You might get out
Before the devil even knows you're there......

So the week started off okay. We called the man we wanted to be our officiant for the wedding and he's happy to do it. We settled on a start time and I printed the invitations, so that I can do the stamping, and start assembling them in the near future, etc, etc.

Well, that was the calm before the storm. Little did I know, my progress would be overshadowed by the chaos that would ensue...here comes what makes me think of the song.

Thursday evening I finally give into the outrageous heat and pay to have my AC fixed, as my new mechanic is pretty inexpensive. By the time we leave Bu is blowing ice cold air (YAY!). However the next day, no cold air, hot air only :( I call him up, he says there must have been a leak they didn't notice when they were filling it, bring it in tonight. I had plans, so I agreed to bring it in Saturday morning, not a big deal, he's been great so I know he'll take care of me. Friday at lunch I go get all new tires for Bu, since I failed safety for low tread. They only took 20 mins to put the new tires I paid $500 for. I'm thinking this is great!

I needed to get going on bridesmaid dress shopping, but Dakota has been very sick so Kass can't make it, but Heidi was planning to go with me and my mom. However, Heidi had some dental work done, that the pain got worse and she couln't make it. Not a big deal, because I was still excited to go with my Mom, I was just bummed I didn't have either of my girls there :( [Which was who we were shopping for]. We ended up finding some options, so it definitely was a worthwhile trip! Got back to my Mom's house and headed home.

I decided to stop at the bank. As I was leaving my car got really wobbly and it slams me into the curb. I could barely steer to get off the road into a parking lot, since Highland doesn't have shoulder lanes at that point. I get out the car to see the front one had come OFF the wheel rim and the back one was flat. I was so frantic and beyond myself. I'd had these tires for 9, yes count it up, 9 hours before they crapped out on me! Granted only one did, which caused damage to the other and possibly my rims. I called up Matt freaked out! (Thank goodness for having a man to come deal with car issues). He didn't even understand what I was saying. I was like "No the tire isn't even on my wheel!" I think I just kept saying that until he asked "Where are you?", then said "I'll be there right away". At the time we didn't know the rear wheel was punctured, we thought it was flat. We tried putting air in it, hoping that we could put it back on, and put the spare on the front one that the tire was no longer on. But, no, it was punctured!

So we called AAA, well Kassandra DeMilt called them since my sister was still on the plan and I wasn't, but I've carried her card around just in case. So I was my sister for the night :) At first they told me it would be 60 mins. Okay, whatever, I have to wait for the flat bed, since my car is down 2 tires. I call back after 60 mins to find out it was posted with an ETA of 1.5 hours, but they didn't tell me that. Fine whatever, can't do anything about it, we need the tow. Now the 1.5 hours has past and they tell me that at 11:15 it was noted that the time got pushed back to 2 hours total. I was on the freakin phone with them at 11:15, but she neglected to tell me!!! I was livid and chewed out the lady on the phone, who tried to use the excuse of "they're backed up". I told her that I didn't care about how long, just that they kept telling me different times, and if we'd known we would've gone home for an hour or two instead of waiting on the side of the road! In those 2 hours, we actually saw 2 other trucks from the same company go flying by us, which what are the odds? Finally our driver showed up, and he was a hoot! He said he felt bad, but what had happened was that we got pushed back for freeway calls, which take priority because of the lack of safety. Totally understandable, it wasn't his fault AAA lied to us, if they'd explained this I wouldn't have been so mad. Anway, we finally get the car off the tow truck and get to bed at 1:30 AM.

Got back up Saturday at 8 AM to call my mechanic and tell him that I can't come in to have AC fixed because my tire fell off and my car's not driveable! I call the tire guy on his cell, since they weren't even open on Saturday, and left a message in shorter detail that "um, those tires you put on yesterday, one fell off my rim, and I slammed into a curb and punctured the other, CALL ME!" Went back to sleep for a while, then got up and got ready for Lagoon (my work's company party), and he still hadn't called. We took Matt's car and finally made it to Lagoon. Around 1:30 he calls and leaves a voicemail, as we were on Colossus :) I call him back and re-hash the story. He was very apologetic and glad I wasn't harmed or in an accident. He is sending a mobile unit today (Monday) to replace the tires for me, and I will have to go get them balanced tomorrow. Hopefully it all turns out well, but I just couldn't believe it happened on the same day as getting them! I was mostly freaked out that I'd have problems trying to get them fixed! I was worried they would make me pay for 2 new ones, but Matt was very reassuring that if they gave me crap he'd tear them a new one :) I mean honestly, you'd think new tires would last at least 24 hours, right? :) I guess for their reputation's sake, I should have expected they'd take care of me, but I wasn't sure if I could take much more, and was expecting the worst!

Oh, yeah, Lagoon. We didn't bring the camera, so no pics....sorry! We didn't ride that much, and it was wayyyy hot, 96°, and very much crowded! Matt won me 2 stuffed animals at the games, one on Spill The Milk (in one shot!), and one from Pick The Ducks. He had wanted to win me something, since he never had before, and I ended up with 2!!! We stayed for 7 hours at the park then headed home, as we were still exhausted from the day before.

Posing, Browsing, Chalk Art & Babysitting

Weird title? Yes, but that was all in one day!



Our Saturday started at 6 am, getting up and ready for our engagement photo shoot. This was the first time we'd actually met our photogs in person. We met with them downtown, not far from where the wedding will be, to have our e-session. It's weird that I've lived in Utah most of my life, and Matt all of his, and there are areas we've never been in downtown before. We wanted a urban feel, so we traversed through some back streets, alleys and buildings to get cool shots. I won't have the pics for about 2 weeks, and will post them then, but I just have feeling I'm going to love them! Our photogs, Mark & Brent, were awesome. They had great direction for us, and kept us laughing. From the amount of shutter clicks I heard, they had to have taken like 500 shots between the two of them. I have been tracking their blog (http://www.ambphotocompany.typepad.com/), so I know they take great pictures.

So we were done with that by about 9 am, so we headed over to the grand re-opening of the downtown farmer's market, in the newly re-opened Pioneer Park. There were a lot of people at the market, everyone and their dog, literally. Even living in Seattle, I have never seen so many owners and their pets converged on one area! I will admit, we enjoyed the baked goods best, since the produce sellers aren't going to be there for another week or two.

After walking through the entire market, we meandered down to The Gateway to see the Chalk Art Festival, sponsored by the Utah Foster Care Foundation. It was still early, so not all the artists were done with their pieces, but we were still in awe at the talent of these people! Here's some of the pics to give you an idea how good they were with that chalk!

Later that evening we agreed to watch Baby Skye.....overnight! I think we were both a little nervous to have a baby at the house, let alone overnight! His parents kept thanking us for the favor, but to be honest, it was them doing me the favor to spend so much time with him. I needed my baby fix, and I definitely got it. He is such a good baby, and so pleasant! He only woke up once at 4 am (I was definitely not used to being up at that hour) and once he'd had his bottle he was back sound asleep. He is such a sweetheart and I really do feel blessed that he is in our life, and thankful that his parents trusted us to have him overnight. It was hard to get a pic of his darling smile because he was curious at what the camera was. He had this contemplative look, like he was trying to figure it out. He's very expressive with his face. He is also very cute, because if you get right whatever he's complaining about, he gives you a big grin and gets all happy like he's saying "Ya, ya that's what I wanted. You got it right!"

Matt the Photographer

So I come home last night to a very excited fiancé, because his photos made it in the monthly weather photos online for Fox. I must admit he takes far better shots with the camera than I, although he bought the camera at my request for me. I guess I really wanted photos of us and our life, not that I personally wanted to take them :)

Here's the link to the June pictures (his are the first 3 in the slideshow!):

http://media.myfoxutah.com/weatherphotos/2008WeatherPhotos/June%202008%20Weather%20Photos/index.htm

To top off the night, we were driving back from downtown and Matt got through on one of those "Call-in & Win" radio contest. The best part was Matt didn't have the list of songs, but the DJ told him what they were and had him repeat them back!!! Thank goodness for editing! He only won a 3-pack of CDs, but it was funny that the DJ helped him cheat!

Matt was due for a win though; he gets through and wins stuff ALL the time. You think I'm joking, but, really, I am not. I do, however, joke that his really good luck and my really bad luck should even us out when we go to Vegas, and maybe we'll leave breaking even.

Dancin' Take 2

So we had our second dance class tonight, and it went much better for both of us. This time around was more practicing and finessing of the Foxxy. We got some personal attention from the instructors, which helped us a lot. It was much smoother for the both of us, so there is some hope! Next week is Swing which should be more exciting! However, you will have to wait for our wedding before you get to see some of our moves :)

International Peace Gardens

Today was another gorgeous weather day, and seeing how it's supposed to rain this week, we made the best of it. We went visit the International Peace Gardens at Jordan Park in Salt Lake (at 1000 south 900 west). I think it was a bit early in the season, because not a lot was in bloom, but it was fun nonetheless! Besides, it ended with chasing the ice cream man through the park like little kids....what more fun could we have had?!

This was the squirrel that we chased around to get pics of:


This tree was huge (about 40' tall) and looked like it was blown over just recently:


We made sure to visit the Canadian section for our friend "Pork Chop". Does this count as a visit to Canada Pork Chop? Or do we still owe you 2 trips?