I found it!!!!!

Well, the trip to Salt Lake was well worth it! Not only did I get to see the Armstrongs and spend a great few days with my mom, we found the dress of my dreams! It is perfect and that is all I can say - I don't want Mat trying to find out about it! He isn't going to see it until June 21!

We really had such a great time! We got there late on Wednesday, so we just checked in to our hotel and then ran to Subway for a quick dinner. Thursday we got up bright and early to face the bridal shops! We stopped in two different shops and weren't wowed by anything there. We had made an appointment at noon, so we headed to that store (with a side detour to a yarn shop above it!). There I tried on lots of dresses and then narrowed it down to two that I really loved. We had another appointment, so we got some lunch and headed to that shop. This appointment was super fancy dresses. Some of them in the store were $5000! Luckily, I didn't find anything I liked there, but it was fun to try on some really expensive gowns.


We had time to hit a couple more shops and then headed to Sarah and Matt's house. They took us to Porcupine, which was a super cute and fun restaurant. They always do the best job at taking me neat and different places. And it was so great to see Sean and Madison. I can't believe how much Madison has grown since July! It is like she is her own little person now! And Sean is too cute for words. It was fun for my mom to meet the family and get to know them a little bit. After dinner, we decided to head back to our hotel, but then realized it was not too awful late and we had time for one more stop. NORDSTROM! We were going to have a bra fitting there because my mom had heard it is the best place to get fitted for bras. It totally was! I can't believe how much more comfortable I feel with knowing how to wear my bras the right way! I highly recommend going there to get fitted if you ever are near one. It is so worth the time. After that, we headed back to the hotel and were pooped.

Sean at dinner

Friday, we decided to take on the largest store I have ever been in. Seriously. IKEA! Neither of us had ever been in one and we were in that store for two hours. I could not believe the amount of things they had in there. It was so overwhelming, but so much fun too! Then we headed back to the two dresses that I really liked, so I could try those on again. I tried them both on and easily eliminated one, which left me with only one and I couldn't think of a dress more perfect for our wedding and me! So we ordered and now I just have to wait until it comes in January. That is a long time. Then we'll start doing the fittings and before I know it, it will be time to wear it! After our big purchase, it was time to head home. It went by so fast, but we seriously had the best time ever.

This is one large store.

Now it is Saturday and I am waiting for Mat to get off work so we can do some more wedding planning. We have a few stops we want to make today and then we'll have a great night relaxing at home. Have a great weekend!

Salt Lake City, Here We Come!

My mom and I are leaving this afternoon for a quick trip to SLC! We are so excited! We have a few bridal shops picked out to go to tomorrow and maybe some on Friday if Thursday isn't successful. We'll get to see Sarah, Matt and the kids on Thursday night and basically shop til we drop the rest of the time. So wish me luck that I find the dress of my dreams!

Halloween 2007

Our first Halloween in our new house was so much fun! We set up our pumpkins outside when I got home from work and you can see a couple pictures of our porch here:





















We only had 6 groups of trick or treaters, but we were so excited since we had never had any before! We also had a very special trick or treater, Mat's niece Justis! She was super scary in her Saw mask. You can see a cute picture of Mat and Justis here:















Mat and I have a tradition of scary movies on Halloween. I think we have done this every year we have been together! This year we were going to watch two, but only had time for one - Scream! It was fun - we love those scary movies.

We are moving right along on wedding planning. We decided on our cake! We're hoping to get some things done this weekend and are going to my parents to talk wedding talk this weekend. Mat is home from work early today, so we'll have lots of time to run some errands. Hope everyone has a great weekend!

Pumpkin Carving! And some other cute pictures

Last night we had Cory and Christina over for some serious pumpkin carving. This was Christina's first time ever to carve pumpkins! We ordered pizza and watched the BSU game. I personally think these might be the cutest pumpkins ever carved in the history of the world. But I'm no professional pumpkin judge.
Cory, Christina and Mat hard at work scraping out the guts of their pumpkins.

On my way to the trashcan.
This was my hilarious trick camera shot so I could get us all in the picture.

The finished pumpkins! From left to right:

Christina, Cory, Mat and my silly witch!

Pumpkin carving is quite hard work! But we had fun and it is always great to get together with Cory and Christina.

Last week the kitties had a photo shoot. It started out when Puff came to sit with me and was touching Ben and we think it is too funny when they sit next to each other.


They look so excited to sit next to each other!








Ben


Puff

And the cutest picture of the day:

Preparing for a wedding is hard work!

Wedding Planning Extravaganza!

Mat and I have really started moving on our wedding. We have several things finished already, but we want to get all our big things done in the next few weeks. We met with a cake baker on Monday for a cake tasting and we have more appointments set up over the next few weeks for cakes, florists, event management (set up and take down of chairs, tables, etc.). It's so much fun! I am so anxious to get all of our big ticket items nailed down and then we can start concentrating on all the little details.

We went on Saturday to look at invitations, some rental company and we started our registry! Well, it took forever. So we decided to leave and come back and finish this weekend. I never thought it would take so long to register. But I guess that is what you get when Mat and I go together and seriously look at each item and then decide if it is something we want or not! It was probably really funny for the staff who kept walking by and we had only moved ten feet in thirty minutes! It was a ton of fun though.

We are carving pumpkins tomorrow with Cory and Christina! I can't wait. Mat and I carved pumpkins our first year together and then haven't done it since. It was fun and I am excited to carve me a cute pumpkin! We have three little pumpkins on our doorstep, but they are not really big enough to carve. But they are super cute!

Saturday we are going to Alana's Halloween Party and that should be so much fun. I haven't seen her in way too long, so I can't wait for that too! I don't know what we'll do Saturday during the day though. Maybe go to the library for research for our honeymoon!

Tonight I am going to spend hanging out with my sister and Violet! I'm out of here and hopefully I'll write more tomorrow.

Viva la Mexico!

We're back from Mexico! Oh boy, did we have the best time too! Mat and I took 501 pictures when we there. But I did pick out the cream of the crop to put online so no one has to wade through that many pictures! You can get to the highlights here: http://picasaweb.google.com/mat.kristin/Mexico2007





The recap:





Mat and I were set to leave at 7:20 am, which meant we had to be ready by 5:45 am. Ugh! So we rushed around and my dad was waiting to take us to the airport before we knew it. Our flight to Denver was great and then we transferred to Cancun from the Denver airport. We originally booked Frontier, but the flight wasn't full enough, so we got put on a United flight. AND we got to sit in their "Economy Plus" section that has a little more leg room. We get to Cancun and get through Customs with no problems. Then we had to go on a little van/bus to get to our hotel. We were so ready to get there and Joy and her family were supposed to arrive a couple hours before us. We get to the hotel and throw our stuff in our room, throw on our bathing suits and run around trying to find Joy, Chad and the Igos. Walking around the resort was a long process. It was huge and to get from one place to another took forever! But it was so pretty and there were all kinds of beautiful plants and little animals running around.

Well, we finally found out that their plane was late and so we settled in at the lobby bar to wait for their arrival. We still hadn't gone to the beach! They all arrived - Joy and Chad, Ryan, Jeanne and Johnny, Mary and Chris (Jeanne's friend and our travel agent)! So we got them all settled in to their rooms and all left to eat some dinner at the buffet. This was overwhelming! There was so much to choose from and your plate was already loaded up by the time you even got down one row. After dinner, we all went out to the beach, even though it was already dark. It was so fun to put our feet in the ocean finally!

Tuesday, several more people arrived to the hotel throughout the day. There were 42 guests total coming to the wedding! We spent the day on the beach, playing in the ocean and soaking up rays. Mat and I loaded up on our sunscreen and tried not to get our Idaho skin burned! That night we had reservations at the Japanese Restaurant. The hotel was an all-inclusive resort, so all your food and drinks were included, but there were several specialty restaurants that you could make reservations at and those were included too. So we tried out the Japanese Restaurant. It was fun and they put on a fun show for the group. That night we had Me and Mat, Joy and Chad, Chad's parents Don and Sheila, Matt and Pat (Chad's friends), Ryan (Joy's brother), Jeanne and Johnny (Joy's parents), and Mary and Chris (Jeanne's friend and our travel agent). That night we all went to La Mascara, the discoteque at our resort. There were about 3 other people there besides our group and we did some fun dancing! Everyone danced and it was such a great night.

Wednesday we had several more arrivals and I think the entire group had almost arrived by that evening. Mat and I decided to go into town where all the little shops were and did some walking around. There was a ton of shops, but nothing that we really wanted to buy. But it was fun! That night we decided to all go into town to check out the nightlife. It wasn't too crazy. We hit a couple bars, but I think this time of year isn't really party time, so we went back to our stomping grounds, La Mascara! More fun dancing there and we had an even bigger group! Tal and Gini had arrived, Eileen and Alyssa, Alf, Josh and more!!! We closed that place down and I believe some people continued the party out on the beach, or so I hear!

Thursday was a late start for Mat and I. We're not used to staying up so late and we had to sleep some of that late night off! We decided to walk down the beach to see what we could find. Well, anything we went out in the sun was a huge ordeal. We had to lather up on sunscreen and that took forever. I had this great idea to buy this natural sunscreen and it was basically like trying to lather on something that won't spread. It didn't soak in like normal sunscreen and it was what we probably spent the most time doing! That night we had dinner at the Italian restaurant with Joy, Chad and her family. We all really enjoyed our meal and ended up going back the night before we left! We did go to La Mascara again, but we decided to make it an early night since the wedding was the next day.

WEDDING DAY! Friday at 11:30, the girls in the wedding party (Joy, me, Eileen and Tal) went to meet for mimosas and then we all had massages at noon! It was so great and relaxing! Then we had some lunch and went back to our rooms for quick showers before we had to get ready! I couldn't believe how fast the day had flown by. Tal came and picked me up at 3:28, even though she was supposed to be there by 3:25 and we walked to Joy's room together. Joy had already started getting ready and had ordered us a couple bottles of champagne to drink while we got ready. I think the next hour just flew by and I don't know what happened. But we were all ready and Joy looked so amazing. She was so beautiful and her dress was perfect! The golf carts picked us up and took us to where the wedding was on the beach. We hid behind part of the hotel so Chad couldn't see Joy. And then it started! The wedding was so beautiful, the day was so perfect and they both looked so happy. Chad didn't stop smiling the biggest smile I have ever seen someone have! After the ceremony, all the guests met for a quick champagne toast and then they started in on pictures. Pat gave an amazing toast and then I started giving mine and think I said about three words and then just said I love you guys!! I know, I am the best at toasts! I am so happy for both of them and we are just so happy that we could be a part of this most wonderful day in their lives.

Then it was reception time! We had a great sit down meal and then it was dancing time! Mat and I really had on our game faces. This was why we had practiced for months on our routines. Kidding, but we had so much fun dancing and just being silly. Everyone headed to La Mascara after the reception, but Mat and I decided to go get some food at the late night buffet. Then it was a night for us.

Saturday morning we all went snorkeling. This great little boat took us about ten minutes down the coast and then we all got out and looked at fish for about an hour. At first there weren't any fish and we thought, geez this is dumb, but then we swam further in to the reef and there were tons of fish! All kinds of great colors and it is just so amazing to be so close to them. I made Mat swim right next to me so that he could protect me from sharks. Although we didn't see any, you can never be too careful! That night we all took it easy. Mat and I had reservations at the Mexican restaurant and had fun eating some yummy tacos.

Sunday was our last official day. Mat and I decided to take the ferry over to Cozumel. It was raining most of the day, but we did eat the best meal of our whole trip in Cozumel. We found this little Mexican place and we had the best salsa, queso, enchiladas and tostadas! Then we headed back to our hotel. The last remaining guests all went to the Italian restaurant for dinner again and it was great. We all talked for a little bit and then it was time to call it a night.

Monday was our travel day and when Mat and I had to say goodbye to Joy and Chad. Yuck. I hate saying goodbye and leaving from a wonderful vacation. We got home about midnight and were so glad to see our sweet kitties and sleep in our own bed. Then it was back to work for both of us and we have been busy ever since!

Mat passed his CDL driver's test, so now he is officially a truck driver. Last weekend we had a great meal with my parents to catch them up on our trip and the wedding and it was so fun. I don't know what tonight holds for us, but I know it won't compare to our wonderful week in paradise!

That's all for now. Enjoy the pictures and I hope to see some from other fellow travelers as well. I can't wait to see the official wedding photographs. I know they are going to be awesome.

Pictures!

Hello! So I have started working on organizing all my pictures on my computer. This is a huge task. BUT I did take pictures of our house, so you can see them here: http://picasaweb.google.com/mat.kristin/OurHouse9907. I thought that would be easiest instead of trying to put all of them in my blog.


So things have been busy around these parts. We had some great weekends and Mat and I have been enjoying our new house so much. We did some yard work and that was a lot more work than I thought it would be! We went to the zoo over Labor Day weekend to see the Butterfly exhibit. We went a couple years ago and it is quite fun. They have them all flying around and you can walk around and see tons of them. We got some fun pictures, so I thought I would put them here.


We didn't really take any pictures of the animals as we were walking around. I feel bad for them sometimes, having to live in cages. But they are all so cute and it is so amazing to see them so close. I think I like looking at all the big cats the most.


This weekend we went to Art in the Park. We have always talked about going, but never actually have. It is basically a ton of artists, mostly local or regional, that come and set up booths to display their art. You can buy any of it, of course! I was surprised at how expensive it was. Most of the artists were pretty well established, so they can charge a lot more for it. We were hoping that there would be some young artists and we could get some art for our house fairly cheap! No such luck. We had a good time though and listened to some music with Mat's boss and his girlfriend for a little bit.


I should have a really busy week at work this week. We leave a week from today for our biggest conference of the year. So this week is kind of a last minute scramble to get everything finished.


If you noticed in the pictures of our house our big cat, Ben, was outside. We decided he can go out, but only on his leash with a harness! So he gets to outside sometimes, but is still getting used to the harness and leash. Sometimes, he is totally fine with it and walks normal. Other times, he acts like he can't use his back legs at all and just falls over. But he is getting used to it and likes going outside.


Today I made some muffins from one of my South Beach Diet cookbooks. They are quite delicious. Which is good because I didn't plan on having anything else for breakfast!


So here is my creepy story from the weekend. We were taking care of my parents cat and went out to feed him on Friday night. As I was walking to the door, this comes scrambling out of the garage, ready to kill me.
For those of you who don't know Mat that well, he loves, loves, loves anything alive. Bugs and lizards and snakes and frogs and cute animals too. He catches things all the time and then lets them go. Of course, he wasn't scared of the spider and got down real close to get a good picture. I was in the car with the windows up! He caught it in a cup and took it out to the field to let it go. We went home and were sitting on our couch and then I was like what is that! There was a similar looking spider behind our entertainment center. I thought maybe it chased us home, but Mat said it was a male. The one at my parents was a female. Anyway, we looked it up and that was how he knew the difference. But both of them were hobo spiders! EEK! These are poisonous spiders from around the Northwest. So then I started packing our things to move. Kidding. But eek, I don't want creepy crawlies in my house that can poison me! He tried to get pictures of the one we found in our house, but they didn't turn out. Here is the best one though.



These things were seriously creepy.

It is about time for dinner and I am going to try to get some more picture organizing done. Hope everyone had a great weekend.