december partying

1. My siblings always make the best Christmas cards so this year I decided to make one of my own! Including Burns and Kobe of course. Arianne is the best! Thanks so much for making it for us.

2. Next up, emo pics of Burns and me:

3. I was working with one of my Cause and Effect kids at the library and I saw Alex with Nitty and Naves there! Alex was in the process of doing an act of kindness for her 25 days of service. I'm going to do this next year some time. Perhaps for my birthday. They left a toonie and a loonie in a couple books for kids to find. 

4. Lita and I went to Brentwood Ward's Relief Society Christmas Party. We made gingerbread houses. I'm probably the best there is. Exhibit A:

Notice the dead Santa stashed behind the gingerbread man.

5. Because Lita and I sometimes don't work Fridays, we decided to get some breakfast at Cora's.

Again, I wasn't too impressed with their food, especially because my grapes were rotting. Remind me to never go there again, but it was nice to go on a friend/roommate date.

6. Kyler Hudson held a Christmas party at a community centre. It was pretty hoppin'! He had asked Burns and me to play a couple songs. We played the cover that Walk Off the Earth does of "Fairytale of New York" and "Christmas Lights" by Coldplay. One person said we made their night by playing the first song and a different person came up to us and said we made their night by playing the second song haha. Great food, great live music, and so many people came! In fact, no one could hear the live music because all those people were talking so loudly. Burns and I had a good night.

Here is Christine in the process of texting me a picture of Burns and me snuggling. Wait... I never said that cause we don't do that...

7. Denise and Rick are missionaries for the Mandarin Branch and she made all the costumes for a Nativity play they put on. She also asked us to sing a short song. Here are our costumes:

8. There is a girl at the day home I work at and she always plays with my hair. The boy I work with joined in and together they made this masterpiece:

9. According to Wikipedia the world was predicted to come to an end 43 times since I was born. The most recent prediction, December 21, 2012. Here is a picture of 12:12:12:12:12.

10. Burns and I are so famous. We're even in Les Miserables.

11. Burns and I went skating at Bowness Park the other night. Man that place is so great.  

12. Burns always serenades me so passionately with Bach.

13. On Thursday night Burns and I went to the Banff Hot Springs with Rick and Denise for their Christmas prezzy. We all had such a relaxing and great time.

14. Burns got me these babies for Christmas:

It's about time that I got some legit winter boots. Haven't owned any for 5 years.

15. I love skype.

This is me making a chin person smile. Just imagine eyes at the top.

 Burns showing off his hair:

Good times even so far apart.

16. Kobe is such a little stud. Marshie let him borrow his bow tie for the picture.

17. Denise got me this hoodie for Christmas. I'm in love haha.

 18. This is an example of how deep our conversations can get:

19. Dad makes the best breakfasts for us brats. German pancakes this morning.

20. Naves being a cutie pie.

Aaand the boys snowboarding hillbilly style.

I love Christmas time!

maid of honour

Bryanne and Trajan Ogden were married on Saturday December 1, 2012. As you know I was asked to be a bridesmaid for this wondrous occasion. About a week before the wedding Bryanne asked if I would like to be her maid of honour. Of course I said yes! This is a post all about their big day.

After Bryanne's Bridal shower I was asked to make snowflakes to add to the effect of a lowered ceiling. I made about 83 in two days and Lori, Bryanne's mom, made over 600 in a week. Insane. The Thursday before the reception I went out to Cochrane to help hang the snowflakes. It turned out to be gorgeous.

The next day Haillee and I treated Bryanne to some Tango Bistro which certainly lived up to my expectations based on Alex's raves about it. We had some pretty tasty dishes! Haillee, being the fun girl she is, brought some bandannas to tie around Bryanne's wrists and eyes because Bryanne was going to "tie the knot" soon and because "love had made her blind". She had to eat like this haha!

Tying the Knot

Blind with Love

The waitress noticed Bryanne's tiara that said "Bride" on it and she asked when her big day was. Bryanne responded with, "Tomorrow!" so the waitress brought out a sparkler for her!

I would definitely recommend Tango Bistro to anyone who wants a very tasty dinner but isn't looking to get stuffed. The amount of food was perfect.

After dinner we picked up Alyssa and we headed out to Cochrane for some partying! Oh and what's a bachelorette party without a little embarrassment? We went to Shopper's Drug Mart and had Bryanne buy a ring pop. We then went over to Tim Hortons where she gave people kisses (chocolate haha) and then we had her propose to a random guy. It was a good thing he was with a group of fun friends. They all had a good time laughing about it.

After the proposal we had a little spa night and watched Pride and Prejudice.

I had one of the worst sleeps of my life and I wasn't even the one who was getting married! The next morning my roommate, Amelia, came over to do Bryanne's hair while I did her makeup.

My oh my was it a foggy day. So beautiful though!

Mr. and Mrs. Ogden!

Bridesmaids with the bride:

Haillee was looking so pretty:

What better "light" lunch than a beef dip sandwich at Tony Roma's?

We bridesmaids are just so cute all the time.

Maybe not. But one thing's for sure, Bryanne's little 4 year old brother is dang cute!

 After lunch we went to the Ramada for some picture taking.

Alyssa and Brant are engaged and they were both in the wedding party. How darling can you get?

Snowflake cake:

I sat at the head table and I even made a speech! That was nerve wracking.

They had a nice little ring ceremony and a program, then we danced the night away!

Lori also made the bridesmaid dresses. She is phenomenal I tell you! I didn't get a picture of them but I'll post one once Bryanne's photographer gets the pictures to her.

It was a long day. It was fun and beautiful and nice, but it made me realize how little a lot of it really matters to me. I think it's great that I experienced this before my own wedding. Now I have an idea of what to expect and how much time everything takes I can get some ideas for the day I get to do all of this.

That was a good day.