Lissables

Yesterday I was lucky enough to be home to celebrate 2 of my nephews Birthdays. We rarely get to see these two so it was special that we got to be a part of their celebration. I cannot believe they are already 2 years old. I can still remember being told there was going to be 2 new babies joining the family. It seems like yesterday, but here they are already running around like 2 crazy little boys. I’ll treasure that we were here this summer for all these get togethers. I love being around family.

More awesome summer memories. I know I’ve been slow posting. Too busy having fun with everyone here, waiting on a baby to pop, missing my hubby, and other memories to be made. I will try to remember to get back on here to share it all!

4 years ago. On July 4th, but I was just scanning pinterest. (my daily late night treat.) Thinking I had nothing to blog about lately. {Ps. I am on vacation so its bound to be a bit slower.} But I came across this lovely little “before I die/bucket list” type pin.

“Be Proposed to in an unique way” And I thought, Ive never shared my story with the blog. And I happen to be biased and think its about the best one out there. Especially when Brandon just left me to go back home and work a bit. I find myself missing him already! Funny how the heart does that. But on with the story.

This was back when we thought doing long distance love was a brilliant idea. Brandon was already living in Las vegas, and I was back in Calgary after doing the Toronto to London, UK. for a month and a bit. It was July 4th and a long weekend, and I was so mad that Brandon wasn’t taking advantage of the extra days to come back for a visit. He was being distant and was going to watch a football game, a convenient 3-4 hour break from texting. I’ll give my mother credit for trying to get me to look presentable that day. Though I should have known something was up, since the only other time she was that persistent was my sweet 16 surprise party. The only other big surprise event of my life. There was definitely signs, I was just completely oblivious to them.

My parents went out to dinner and refused to let me join them, even though I was bored out of my mind. So then I flat out refused to get ready. I mean no make up, hair a disaster, and an awkward outfit to tie it all together. The real kicker came when they got home and decided to watch a movie with me in my room. On my as tiny as possible 7 inch screen. Looking back it makes me wonder if I wasn’t just sleep walking through the day.

About 10 minutes into “Narnia,” my dad points out a noise on the window. I immediately told him it was probably just birds. It came again and I chalked it up to rain. Finally after a couple more they asked me to just check the window. And here comes the most romantic part of the story. There under my childhood window, was my future husband throwing rocks at my window. Something I had told him I had always wished for, but would never experience growing up on an acreage. I had said it when we first started dating, and hadn’t thought of it again. But he remembered. And I went into shock.

The next minute I was down the stairs and out the door, and there he was on one knee, pulling out the perfect ring. And asking the perfect question. Will you Marry me.  And the rest is History!

That was the start of our story. It was special and unique and perfect for us. And there has been many more moments just as dear to my heart, but this was the beginning of it all. Sometimes we focus too much on the negative and forget all the little moments that have made our lives so treasured. Take a moment to look back on a favored memory too. On that note, I’m off to finish watching home video’s with my “about to pop her baby out any minute” sister. Goodnight!

Feel free to leave your own engagement story too, I love hearing them all!

Follow me on pinterest for more quotes.

I celebrated my 25th birthday last Saturday. 25 years. Saying that might give me a 1/4 life crisis. Crap.

I always dreamed of being 25. Of course when I was younger dreaming of these days, I was somehow taller, skinnier and beautiful without any makeup. It was a dream, why not. How ever, 4 years of marriage and 1 baby later, those dreams are gone. Instead filled with even more amazing dreams. Each smile brighter with the smiles of my little boy. Each laugh louder at my husbands jokes. A life perfect for me at 25. I am truly happy with each of those 25 years. All so different. And each a little more special.

This year we celebrated for the second year in a row with our friends and family. A quick review of the highlights:
> My own birthday cake failing. Sigh. And then on top of failing, I didnt tell my sister NOT to put the cake in the fridge. {So not entirely her fault haha} but she put my butter cream cake in the fridge and that sucker was rock hard when we went to eat it. -See the picture of me attempting to murder it with the knife and having no luck.
> My hubby waking up with Sawyer when he decided my birthday morning should start at 4:30am.
> Followed by them napping together and when I went to wake him up, how he thought it was only 9am, and he still wanted to take me to my favorite breakfast place. But I broke it to him that by 11:30 that ship had already sailed!
> My 2 yr old nephew wishing me a “Happ Birtday Lissa” {if that didn’t melt your heart, you don’t have one.}
> My mom ruining the surprise of where we were going. To be fair she lasted longer than everyone thought she would.
> The super cute birthday Balloon my sister made. It had a whole bunch of pictures from my past birthdays, all the way back to my first.
> Sawyer swimming and loving it, so much that he stayed up till 9:30!
> The never ending “Happy Birthday” soundtrack at the King’s house. {thank you, they are still stuck in my head.}

Here’s the highlights in pictures, my favorites!

{ps from the Left top to bottom; my 24th, 6th? 1st, 20th, and 18th Birthday’s & Right top to bottom, 19th, day I was born,5th, 16th, 21st, and 20th Birthdays.}

No I wont be that beautiful model of my dreams this year. A beautiful closet of expensive clothes happily replaced by sweat pants. A flawless face, unflawed with earned laugh lines. A skinny body gone, to give birth to the most beautiful precious little boy Ive ever seen. My life is different than I dreamed about at 9 for my 25th year. But I wouldn’t change a thing.

Thank you everyone for the amazing birthday wishes! And celebrating this year.

And what a better way to start off your birthday than making cake! I almost didnt bake my own this year but felt I would regret it. So I have no time to actually post anything because I’m off to finish my cake! Thank you everyone for the birthday wishes!

Thank you everyone who posted a comment on the last post! I loved hearing from each and every one of you. Hearing how you found it, or why you continue to read it. The support is always overwhelming. I thank you from the bottom of my heart!

I have a favor to ask each and every one of you today. I am wondering who is still reading the blog, or who followed it for Sawyers story. Please leave me a comment so I can see how many people I’m reaching. If its a big enough number I could start thinking about doing giveaways and such to keep your interest! It doesn’t take long, even if all your write is “hey!” I’d love to see it!

Thanks everyone for the continued support of lissables!

OK I lied.

I said I was done posting about books yesterday but I have some very important books to share today. How could I have forgotten. They are the most looked at books in our house! My shutterfly picture albums. {Yes, they totally count as books!} I am always growing my collection, currently I have 6. With about 4 in the making still. For some reason I can never be up to date with them! Be warned this post is going to  be very, VERY, picture friendly! 😉

Meet the collection: I have 3-8×8’s, 1-8×11 & 2-12×12.

The 8×11 was my first book ever. It’s 2008. An entire year in one little book. Going through it you can see we were apart a lot of the time. There is very few pictures, {other than the wedding} because we were busy trying to make a relationship work London-Toronto, Calgary-Vegas, Engaged and Married! But there is many books that followed so we all know it did turn out in the end!

I upgraded to the 12×12’s for the family year books. Its no secret I have A FEW pictures. Just a few. So I bumped up after seeing my sister in laws books. The size and the layouts slightly changed. I love them. I only just got the 2010 book this spring. That’s how far behind I am! But it takes some dedication to sit down and do one. Make sure it’s perfect, write in all the stories, and then actually order it. I usually wait for some coupon’s. Which was another reason I liked the 12×12 format. It is the one that gets the 50% off sale the most. Worth it.

All my 8×8’s have been “free books.” I get coupons in my emails all the time. But my favorite is the free book coupon! You can only use it on the 8×8 size, so I use it for mini stories. When I want to showcase a distinct event. I’ve used them as gifts, for a friend and our trip together, my mother got one as a thank you for the year of Disneyland, {for my 23 birthday I got a Disney pass, I used all the photo’s we took over the year, to make the thank you book.} I made one of Sawyers Birth story, and his first month.

And the most recent one is Sawyers Craniosynostosis story. I knew I wanted to make a special book about this. So when he is old enough, he can see what amazing strength he had when he was just 8 months old. I am going to forget those little details, but now the entire process is documented! I am in love with this special book. His book is the only one that is a different style. And I have to admit I liked working with the embellishments and different colors. There is so many to choose from, find one that suits your story!

My favorite two pages were the Cranio timeline. To see how many changes he went through in such a short time. And the thank you page. Because we were absolutely blown away by the generosity for Sawyer and ourselves during the surgery. I was extremely touched by each and every one.

If you don’t already have shutterfly, you should sign up! You get some bonus coupons when he sign up for a new account. Such as 50 free prints and other promo’s. For most of us who don’t print out all our digital pictures anymore, this is a great way to actually remember all the excitement of each year. Don’t let your own memories slip through the cracks.

Thanks for following the 2012 Book Week! As always leave me a comment if you have enjoyed the blog in any way!

Well I am not feeling up to my blogging self today. Brandon is back after being away for another 4 days. So finally spending some time together combined with watching footage of the awful Colorado Movie Shooting, isn’t inspiring any amazing blog posts. So today I am going to just list a whole bunch of my other favorite reads! Its going to be the last post  for book week, so I’ll just pump out a bunch of recommendations.

The Help by Kathryn Stockett– If you followed me in the past you know I read it back in 2010! And waited in line for 2 hours to see it at an early screening, while 8 months pregnant and huge! If you didn’t catch the craze int he last 2 years, this is a definite keeper!

The Book of Negroes by Lawrence Hill-(I just realized that my copy is Canadian and that in America they have renamed this to “Someone knows my name.” As they believed the title to be offending to American history. Whereas he chose the title because it was the name of an actual historic document of the same name.) Regardless of which title you buy, this is a wonderfully written fictional piece that intertwines with actual history. You won’t be able to put it down. It is about a young girl in Africa who is kidnapped and brought to America as a slave. It follows the strong willed girl through her entire life and she refuses to give up on freedom.

The Red Tent by Anita Diamant– Another story following the life of a strong willed girl from 400 years ago. It has over 1000 5 star reviews on amazon. Its that good. In fact, it’s been said that The Red Tent is what the Bible might have been had it been written by God’s daughters, instead of her sons-quoted from the books description on amazon.com

The Distant Hoursby Kate Morton– I have read this and her other works, The House at Riverton and The forgotten Garden. And I love them all. She always weaves between the past and present and a mystery tying them together. They are all page turners and I really connect with her characters.

Bel Canto by Ann Patchett– This is a slow paced book, and while I usually dislike that style of writing this book remains a favorite of mine. Set in a party in South America with many high profile attendees, being held hostage. It is an unexpected story of the beauty of life and human compassion. Give it a chance and enjoy a lazy day read. Not all books have to be page turners to be beautifully told.

Philippa Gregory -I can read almost anything from her collections. It started with The Other Boleyn Girl. I read the entire book in one day. I couldn’t put it down. {If you saw the movie, you still need to read it. They left out massive important parts, and gave no character development.} It was followed by The Boleyn Inheritance, which was just as engaging. I’ve read the entire Wideacre series, and just finished The Lady of the Rivers. She writes fiction that follows history. I fell in love with London and the Tudors though these books. I love her style and I love her books.

Jodi Picoult – Another Author that I can’t pick just one book from. My favorites include. Nineteen Minutes, A story about a school shooting, from the point of view of the bullied from kindergarten young boy. You find yourself sympathizing deeply for him. Change of Heart, about a young girl in need of a heart transplant, and an inmate on death row. And how their story intertwines. The Tenth Circle, which was the first of her novels I read. About a young girl who has a strong family relationship, is raped and her father dealing with the aftermath. A journey through hell and back as he puts it. My Sister’s Keeper. You’ve probably all seen the movie, which didn’t come close to the book as usual. And they actually changed many major outcomes. Anna’s story is so much stronger in the book as she struggles with her own inner demons about wanting to help her sister, and living her own life. And lastly The Pact a love story that starts with a suicide pact gone wrong. The 17 yr olds that grew up side by side make a suicide pact and when one survives, it follows his story and the two families, once inseparable and now devastated, now unspeaking. She always writes controversial topics mixed with some legal cases on the events. I don’t like all of her work, in fact I flat out dislike some of them. That is why I shared the specific ones I enjoyed.

Wicked by Gregory Maguire– how can you go wrong here. I love Oz and every new way its retold. I am absolutely in love with the Broadway hit of the same title. I saw it in London with Brandon, courtesy of my then future father in law. And again last summer in Calgary. {sawyer is also a fan as he did incredible dances in my bump every time they sang.} And its got a sequel too! Son of a witch, the continued story of elphaba’s so called son.

Is that enough. I could definitely keep going. So if you are ever looking for another book recommendation, you know where to find me and my inner nerd self. You can follow my Books Worth Reading pinterest page for other favorites and awesome reading quotes. Until then, go read a book and enjoy the little things in life.