So Many Photos

We had a great Canada Day. The evening before we left to go down to SoAb for the weekend, I told Michael he had to color my hair. It has been 2 months and 3 weeks since I had gotten it colored and it was in desperate need! He was not okay with having to do it, but he looks semi-happy in these photos. haha

Canada Day Parade with Beans. He did a good job with the color hey? 

US

After potluck lunch at the Orrs in Raymond (Michaels Aunt and Uncles house), we headed to my stepdads Moms house (Grandma Janice) to have a second lunch. haha We played soccer with these nets for about an hour with Bryans(my stepdads) nieces and nephews (there are 8 kids, haha). It was soooo much fun playing with the little guys. AWwwww

It was Jaxon's birthday!! He got this for his birthday and was nice enough to let Michael try it out.

Mom and Breanne and my bratty husband. hah. I love him.

Our attempt at a beautiful grassy picture. Not sure what the heck I'm doing.

Grandpa got us first class tickets for the horse rides. Michael and him were in the back. And this other photo is of Michael playing with the little goat in the petting zoo(at this point, we have made our way to Cardstons festivities).

And we met up with a bunch of my cousins... This is Mindy, and we hardly ever see eachother. I got to meet her two year old twins. It was really good to see her and a bunch of other family members!(Also, at this point I have burnt my nose pretty bad-this picture does not show how bad it was)

Ending off the week with a pedicure from Becks!! So comfy!

post number 2 today

A while ago I noticed I was getting spider bites... twice in one week!!! And that scares me a lot because I HATE spiders, and I hated knowing there was one hanging out in my room.

Then I started to notice these guys! RED ants. That's what has been biting me.

I started out by just killing them when I saw them because I had only seen a few in my room. Then on my computer desk in the living room another day, then on the living room floor after that. Phew... only on the west side of our house. "I can control this situation by killing them off with my foot" I kept thinking to myself....

Then more in our second bedroom, and out came the vacuum... vacuum those little suckers up...

Sadly, today I found a bunch in our kitchen near our entry. We live in a basement!! How the heck are they getting in?? I think it's time for some ant traps. As for now, I'll tell ya, I'm not thinking of these ants as this cute little guy here.

Cool Old Men

We went out to my dads in Magrath for Father's Day! Grandpa Parker came over and it was a lot of fun. If us Parkers get together there is definately some card playing! 

Okay so no evidence of cards here, but I promise... we played cover your butt.

Michael learned how to ride a motorbike... My dad has had it for years and finally got it fixed up to run again. Michael was very excited. He still says he needs lots of practice but I thought he did pretty good. 

So Breanne and Becky took the Mini Bike out (I didn't get a picture of it) but it was Beckys first time and she took a corner a bit to fast and they wiped out... here's a picture of some of the damage. Her knees were pretty gross. Breanne only scratched her elbow and hand so we were bugging her saying that she robe Becky on the ground after the wipeout.

 

My dad and I! I look terrible but he's just so cute!

Breanne and Dad... He's gonna be a super cute old man!

We move August 7th! Anyone want to help us move? heh.

Move #4

We are moving!!

It's official. After our landlord told us our rent was going up to $1100 for our small basement suite we said "That's it". We started our search for a new place to live. We have settled on another basement suite about 5 minutes from where we are now for $800!! We move in in August. Although the bathroom and kitchen are historic, the 2 bedrooms are almost double the size we have now, and the living area is so spacious!

I'm finally able to have this in my house.... It's been 2 years!

We got this when we first got married and we are both IN LOVE. We used it for 8 months in Lethbridge and when we moved to Edmonton we had to stash it in storage and it's been there since~due to incredibly small living space.

You have nooo idea how excited I am! Finally we can have company over without offering them our nasty furniture! 

So if you need a place to stay in Calgary-call us! We love visitors! (But you're not sleeping on my couch-haha!!)

looking through old photos

This photo was taken right after we were engaged. (And camera died shortly after) We were backcountry-ing it in Montana. It's not a fabulous photo, but it was a beautiful day in September with a gorgeous view!

As beautiful as the day and moment were, we faced some interesting stuff that I think most people would pass on moments after their engagment.

After driving our old man car back over bumps and turns, we discovered oil leaking ... Hole in the oil pan ...

We hung out in Babb for about 3 hours before we could get someone to look at it, and luckily he was able to patch it up for us to make the ride to Lethbridge back.

Who wants to be stuck in BABB moments after engagement? I wanted to tell everyone but had to wait until that night.

How about we add an extra $300 to the cost of the engagement ring-haha.

Welcome

Welcome to the blogging world... Cassandra!!! She's my sister and I'm excited she has joined us all. How about you all visit her new blog and give her a little love(comment)!! You can see her blog HERE 


Alsoo, my mother has been blogging for a while (about 4 posts in a year). But she had started back up and she's looking for followers. If you don't know her, then no worries, but I have a lot of family who blogs so you can find her HERE


Michael is now contributing to the blog!! YES! His contribution can be found on the left side where you will find a poll. haha. I feel like it's just my blog (I guess it kind of is) and he just creeps on it from time to time, so its nice to have him doing something. Maybe one day he can do a post... we'll see.

Getting impatient for summer, and a tan....

pictures

DELISH!!! Underneath that heap of fruit is quinoa, milk, and sunflower seeds. Probably our favorite breakfast ever.

At my mom's work party Luau. Good food, fruit drinks, entertainment, prizes, hula hooping, limbo... probably as close to Hawaii as we'll get for some time.

Me and my hun!

These "Hawaiian Donuts" were AMAZING. The white stuff is a coconut sauce. Here's Breanne and Bryan. I'm sure he'll love that he's featured on my blog.

This guy and his wife and 6 kids were our entertainment. Different outfits, dancing, singing... we all loved it. (And after all this when it got dark there was a dance, but we only stayed for a few minutes)

Remember that one weekend recently when it was beautiful out? I'm sure you know when I am talking about because it's the only time it's been nice in months. Well after sunday dinner at our place with Devin, we went to Princes Island Park and enjoyed HEAT and these friendly little birds.

Feeding the birds.

I hadn't posted pictures in a while so I thought I would update you all.. And I usually update my photos to facebook, but I'm off all week. So far so good. A lot of you were saying you wanted to try it. I actually got the idea from a good friend of mine who went on a facebook diet. Challenge yourself! It's really not THAT hard, but it's nice to get away from it, and find other things to do. 

facebook fast

Michael and I are not going on facebook this week.
Reasons:
1.We want to see if we can.
2.A serious waste of time.
3.We want to get some other stuff done around the house.
4.Find ways to better use our time/be creative.


I'm finding its not so hard and it's actually a nice challenge. It has given me a chance to knit a lot more. My little sister taught me how to knit last weekend and now I'm just knitting away.


Work is SOO busy this week! I loveee it. I have so many clients who come see me a lot and it feels so good to have a clientele, though it is small.


I'm looking forward to enjoying SUMMER, if it comes. We have July 1,2,3 and 4th off, however, we have nothing planned yet. Except to possibly go to Raymond for the parade and family BBQ. So if anyone has any suggestions for our looong weekend, let's hear them!

she's so lucky

I'm not sure what it is but I'm pretty lucky. Over the past 4 years Michael and I have been together I just haven't been able to control my winnings. Here's a list of them...

-David Usher concert tickets and CD (This might not sound awesome to you, but it is. Michael's first concert when he was 13, which he went alone to, was Moist. David Usher was the lead singer of Moist. Seeing David again was so fun for him and Michael was such a kid. It was pretty cute to watch him so happy)

-Nintendo Wii and Wii Fit with extra game and controller. (This was very exciting to win)

-Christmas Card template. So this isn't a huge thing. But it still was fun to have super cute Christmas cards!

-50/50 draw. (about $65)

-Couple Photo Shoot with Meghan Maxwell (Our shoot is next month!!!!)

-Last weekend I won a cuuuute apron with cupcakes on it from my new favorite home decor store Twisted Goods.

-And this weekend we went to a Luau for my mom's work party and they had prizes. After a few draws, Michaels ticket didn't win, so he gave up and handed it to me... I then proceeded to WIN! haha. I won a Magic Bullet Deluxe and a really extensive Emergency First Aid kit for our car.

I think there was another prize, but can't put my finger on it, so I'll just post it when I remember.

We have been entering for a trip to Switzerland for the past month and a half... My mother-in-law won't like to hear that when she reads this because she's been entering too, haha, but I'm realllllly hoping I win this prize!! The winner is annouced sometime in August I think.

Have you ever won something??

long weekend

we are blessed to have amazing friends. thanks to the bennetts for letting us camp in their backyard on May long weekend. we set up the tent at 12:30 am in the pouring rain. so cold.

baby and mom

me and baby. shes just so cute to snuggle up to like this.

bennetts, malmbergs, and mendenhalls playing soccer

nicole roasting a smoky

my best friend jessica got married in february. here are two pictures from her wedding day that i ordered and framed. they both sit on my bookshelf and i just love them.

i did two posts today. the one below is more boring, but read on.

weekend

this weekend was really good. friday night we went to see "how to train your dragon" which was soo cute. saturday morning we got up at 7:45(earliest i've gotten up in months) to go clean the church. afterwards we went to Cora, an amazing breakfast place that serves crepes and tons of fruit. then we walked around the mall and checked out the new Ipad... afterwards we went to the grand opening of the shopping complex i work in. they had a BBQ, snacks, prizes, testers, entertainment. it was pretty fun actually. i won a really cute apron from "twisted goods"-my favorite home decor store. then enjoyed being at home and cleaned the house a bit. sunday was stake conference and it was so good. i love hearing from leaders within the church. i especially enjoyed elder pace's talk. afterward, we went back to the grand opening for some more free food. haha. cam, michaels brother, came with us to that.

i finished organizing all my photos and videos!! but i'm going to put off getting a camera until i really know what i want. even after looking at so many different cameras, i still dont know what i want. so i'll let you all know when i get a new camera!!

i love....

*pouring rain
*GLEE (or just Rachel Berry's voice)
*a summer tan
*when someone loves their hair i just cut and colored/highlighted
*friends
*kitties
*Carrie Underwood
*Taylor Swift
*good books
*road trips
*amazing family (i'm so blessed)
*my sisters, ok so this is family, but i just love having sisters
*a good pair of jeans
*my hair spray
*the gospel
*most of all, my best friend, my husband Michael. i. love. you.

*and a hundred other things, but these are just some of the things i love

my michael

when i first saw all michael's childhood albums, my heart honestly melted!! i just think he's soo adorable!! here are some of my favorites that we used in our wedding slideshow, which i should actually upload on here. 

taking a nap... sad thing is, WE now have this couch. its old, springs are gone, but because our place is soo small, we can't fit our furniture.

what a little STUD hey?

here is michael with his big sister jody.

first bike i am assuming. 

so now we take you into the hair-bleaching stage. i believe this photo is from the paper is his hometown, vermilion. apparently he was quite the basketball player, but since i didnt meet him until seven years after, i wouldn't know from experience.

michael and devin goofing off- in their long haired stage. there are some pretty white-trash pictures from them in this stage, but we'll keep those a bit more private. haha

michael is a lifeguard. he worked at the ramada for a few years during university, and then also at the henderson outdoor pool in lethbridge one summer. i dont think many of you know this but i use to have a crush on michael when he worked at the outdoor pool in lethbridge. a friend and i would go there summer after grade 10 nearly everday for about a month, and michael caught my eye. his job was to keep the kids entertained and play games with them, and i just thought that was the cutest thing. he wore a tank top (different uniform than above), and sunglasses, sometimes a hat, and swim shorts. i wouldn't follow him around or stare at him because i knew he had to be much older than i (which is true-7 years) so i kind of just had a crush. 3 years later- i met him, when he had moved to waterton for the summer, while i was living there... and when i had realized it was him, i didn't want him to know i even recognized him, because i didn't want to seem creepy, which it probably is. anyways, i ended up marrying a crush i had when i was in high school! haha 

camera

michael told me when i got all my pictures from my computer onto CDs, I could get a new camera. sounds easy right? it's not. when i got my computer, michael transferred all his pictures from his computer to mine. i also had my external hard drive, and as well as my memory on my computer. so i used iphoto, and it was good for a while, but then all my pictures wouldn't show up. they are now scattered all over my computer. i probably have over 2000 photos on my computer, and about 1500 of them are missing. so i have to manually go through and find each photo and put them into a new folder. very time consuming. i am now organizing like mad, really wanting to get this new camera i have been saving for. so i have about 500 more to go. i can also put the new operating system on my computer when all this is done. so my goal is to finish finding the photos by end of next week. lets see how i do.

pictures to share

here are some pictures from the BBQ we had at beckys a few weeks ago. lots of fun

michael and i

he's a goof

becky with her gorgeous dark hair

sisters. bad lighting, but still fun.

mom in her camo sweater.

and this one is of michael... not at the BBQ, but we went to the shooting range one morning, and it was really nice out. nice view of downtown!! 

worst day

i had a bad day. i really bad day. started with two free cuts and colors and another free haircut (so im not actually getting paid to work), water alllll over my shirt at work, half hour last clients, ended with car completely dead in a huge wet snow storm. windy, cold, snowy... thank goodness my mother bought us a jumper battery! you should all go buy one. life saving. worst. day. ever.

but my husband can always make me smile. and he did a few times through texts, getting me through the day. now to watch a chick flick and have some salt and vinegar popcorn.

get to know me

A fun little get to know me quiz! Go ahead and steal it and do it for yourself!!


4 years ago I was:
Just about to graduate... and months away from meeting my sweetheart.

My best friends were:
Jessica Payne, Nikki Byam

5 Things I must do before I go to bed tonight:
1) make some money at work
2) read scriptures for 30 minutes (we're on a roll right now!!)
3) go on a run (im not on a roll with this right now)
4) call some primary mothers
5) do some picking up and cleaning around the house (yes i still have to do this even though my husband has 2 weeks off)

My Favorite Treats:
haha popcorn with salt and vinegar kernals flavoring, dill pickle chips.. i know a lot of salt, but i try not to add salt to my meals anymore!

What if I suddenly became a billionaire:
Ummm, holy! I'd quit my job, go on a 2 year trip around the world, i'd pay off michaels insane student loans, buy a beautiful home and decorate it how i want, buy michael any camera he wants (its his new hobby), buy him a canoe (this is year three of him wanting to buy a canoe-why you ask? i dont know. he says hes gonna go on a big canoe trip.. hes been maybe twice since ive KNOWN him, we cant afford it, and we have no where to put it, yet he is insisting that we get one.... im hoping by summer this annual urge will pass), id buy myself a beautiful kitten, more books, take our families to Hawaii! And the list goes on and on. Sooo I'm ready to become a billionaire....


Places I've lived:
Lethbridge(1 yr), Stirling(5yrs), Fort Macleod(1yr), Coalhurtst(3 yrs), Raymond(4yrs)

Lethbridge
Two different houses with my family (south and north side) and one house with my husband when we first got married, since then our homes have downgraded to small basement suites.

Edmonton
House #2 with Michael, so small, no room for our kitchen table, our couch, and numerous other things.

Current living situation:
Basement in Calgary.. lets just say I'm definately looking forward to upgrading.

Jobs I've had:
1) Phone girl at Pizza Hut with about 6 of my friends at the time. Pretty close to my dream job, haha. Then I was promoted to cook, which was enjoyable.
2) Busser at the Keg, then promoted to hostess
3) Server at Waterton Lakes Lodge (where I met my true love :) he was the life guard at the pool in the same hotel)
4) Merry Maids (worst job ever, lasted 3 months)
5) Subway Sandwich Artist (and I was dang good at this!! I actually liked this job, haha)
6) Server at Ric's Grill 
7) Wife
8) Assitant at Swizzlesticks Salon Spa 
9) Hairstylist at Curious!! (current)
10) Travelling Hairstylist (I do peoples hair as I travel from Lethbridge to Calgary to Edmonton, I love it) (current)

A Few Things You Didn't Know About Me:
1) Im the oldest of 13 kids (2 sets of twins, 10 girls) Its crazy
2) I loveeee Glee (k maybe you did know that) but I also love BONES!! (The tv series)
3) I love to PLAN.. 
4) I've watched The Little Mermaid  more times than I know of anyone else doing...(and i still get teary eyed when she says "i love you daddy"
5) I LOVE to read... 
6) I LOVE kitties and cats! I reallllly want one
7) I love surprises!! (hint hint michael)
8) I don't enjoy cooking. I'm blessed to have a husband that does. And I'm trying... trying to learn, trying to enjoy it. 
9) I have nightmares almost nightly. Last night, I was in world war two but it was in someones house and Rics Grill (lol) and people were trying to kill me... Most nights someone is trying to kill me, hunt me down, attack me, its not fun!!

artwork

i often compare myself to da vinci, van gogh, and picasso. i have always had an artistic talent. not only in hair, but in painting. see for yourself.