curtains or no curtains? that is the question...

guys. you guys.

i don't know how the flip martha stewart does it, but decorating is pretty flipping stressful. is it just me, or does every purchase and every decision feel like you are making a til-death-do-you-part commitment to your decor choices?

i think i have a fear of commitment when it comes to decorations. it's definitely affecting our home life. i'm always seeing something i like better, no matter how much shopping around i do beforehand! and it's not like you can hide it when you come home with a replacement..."no it's just visiting i promise, you'll always have a place on my shelf/wall/countertop..."

how does one make the leap and just go? are there blogs and/or books that help one with such things? or does one just suck it up and realize that it's okay to move on from certain earlier choices? or is one being, as i am sure that one is, much to muchly serious about this kind of a thing?

(pretty sure it's monday and things are always serious business on mondays.)

(i did make the purchase of an absolutely incredible mirror for the front room, and i'm quite positive we were made for each other, however.)

i have also decided that i am indeed among the loyal fan base of ikea, for both awesome home items and unbeatable swedish meatballs. woot!

on a side note, we went camping spur of the moment with wonderful friends and companions in mischief. i always think i'm going to hate spur of the moment decisions like that, until it's over, then i rarely feel the way i anticipated. weird? i think so too! only, camping is dirtier than i remember growing up, so obviously there's just much more dirt now than there was then right? right.

The best thing that's ever been mine.

There is a day that is more dear to me than any other in my memory. 

There are no words to describe it, none that could ever adequately capture it from this now dreamlike place in my mind and bring it back to physical reality. It went by so fast and yet...when I close my eyes sometimes and focus on the dream, every detail comes back to me with startling clarity. I suppose it's because that was the day that defined the rest of my entire life, and lives of everyone that will now come after me.

It was the day that I was blessed to keep the very greatest gift I have ever received...the day I was sealed for eternity to my very best friend.

I never could have imagined this day, or the wonderful blessing it was. I never could have imagined how  in love I'd be, or what the incredible man would be like that walked out of those doors with me into the cold January morning. It was the same world I'd always known, but on that day...it seemed absolutely new.

I never imagined that he'd have eyes like the cerulean crayon I loved so much as a little girl, or hair so blonde that he already looked like one of my own family.

I never imagined the feeling of unconditional love and support that I'd feel every time I was near him.

Nor could I have imagined the butterflies he'd give me, or the feeling of unfailing confidence and security I hadn't previously known existed.

I couldn't have imagined how much he'd teach me about cherishing my own family, the ones I was sealed to first and forever.

I couldn't have dreamed how much I'd love watching him treat his own family with sincere affection and loyalty. I had no idea how excited this would make me to begin our own, and see how many more lives would be touched by his genuinely loving nature.

I had no way of knowing just how much more fun life would be with him around...or how much life he would bring into my own.

I hadn't ever felt the words that could be spoken by the touch of a hand...

...or the thoughts that could be conveyed by the sweetness of a kiss.

I was unaware of how happiness in its complete form felt until that day. I didn't know I could smile so big.

I could have never guessed how unbelievably, incredibly, amazing this man would be.

And that he'd be the best thing that's ever been mine.

Better together. :)

Welp, I'm a Mrs.

A Mrs. Shay Petrone.

A wife, companion, other-half, breakfast maker, laundry doer, sore shoulder rubber, beyond happily married girl. :)

And I have quiiiiite a bit to update about our lives. I was hoping to stay up on this so well that I could give every little detail about every little thing, but then I'm afraid something happened to prevented that. And that something is called "life." And "life" didn't really feel like slowing down to let me dwell on the little details, but instead brought on every big thing.

But then guess what? Life's new companion, called "husband," fell asleep super early tonight so I got a little bored. It's tough when your biggest and best playmate is all played-out. What's funny though is that as he's lying next to me, snoring slightly on his back, he does the cutest thing when I nudge him. He doesn't ask, "What?" or "Mmmm?" or even roll back over moaning because I interrupted his slumber. Without fail, every single time, he mumbles, "Amuvooo." Which translates to: "I love you."

Every time. I think I've done it like six times now just because I wanted to hear it. Hee hee...

Anyway, I'll start with just before the last place I left off at which was prior to the events that will heretofore be listed later on in the duration of this post. And with these bigish things, I'll list as many littleish details as I can! 'Cause they're fun and make me smile, that's why. :)

BRIDALS!!!

The details:

LaCaille is BEAUTIFUL and expensive and has crazy swans.

I was blessed with an amazing photographer and a very patient maid of honor and mother and groom-to-be who were all so much more kind to me than I deserved that day. But that's why they are who they are to me. :)

I was fearful that I'd leave this four hour (yep, FOUR hours in the freeeeeezing cold) photo shoot with only a handful of pictures that would maybe make me smile and go, okay, that works I guess...but no. I am having the hardest time picking out which pictures to post, and if I even posted all the ones I like after narrowing them down, I'd still probably blow my blog up. I wish I could show you the fabulous bride's room that made me feel like a French princess, with mirrored walls and powder puff chairs and flowers and sparkles. I wish I could show you the ducks that played prop for us or the swan that took a snap at our photographer when she tried to get him to do the same. I wish I could show you the fireplaces and winding staircases, the lamp post that I swung around on and the manmade snow cave created by a constantly running sprinkler. Instead, I want to show you these:



Our photographer was amazing at catching our personalities. She got lots and lots of us laughing...because honestly, that's what we do about 80% of the time. I was grateful that she caught on so fast. :)



"All that I'm after is a life full of laughter, as long as I'm laughing with you..."



And she got some super romantic ones. Like that one above. I absolutely fell in LOVE with that picture, and with the guy in it all over again.



I have such a studly husband! This was during Shay's solo with our photographer while Kari and I went back to the bathroom to fix my hair and warm up.



I love the symbolism in this picture. It's the biggest print that we had made for the wedding, because I adore what it seems to be saying. Isn't every love story that way? Two people coming from different roads, joined together finally on the same path and dressed in black and white. :) Neither really with a good idea of what to expect or what might happen, but neither really focused on that as much as they are on each other. Because really, that's what is going to get them through whatever lies on the road ahead. Each other. :)

The next adventures each deserve a post of their own, so in respect I shall defer those details until a later date.

One of those moods...bahaha!

How did you meet?
We met in March of 2009, though the story started long before either of us were aware of it. Shay comes from a town outside of Toronto, Ontario called Cambridge and served in the Wisconsin Milwaukee mission. About a year into it he trained a young American Forker named Tyce Henderson...who lived down the street from me pre-mission (though I didn't even know it). Shay and Tyce became super good friends and he stopped by Tyce's house a couple times on road trips through the states to pick up packages, etc. so he could take them back to Tyce on his way home to Ontario. Shay ultimately checked out the schools here to see if he could find something to his liking, and crazily enough, UVU made the cut. He packed up his car, took $1000.00 and two passports and left home. He stayed at Tyce's parent's house for a couple weeks until he could get settled in Provo. That's where I come in: Shay came to my singles' ward a few times during that period and became good friends with my sister, my ward friends, and even a group of my friends in Orem. He was everywhere all of the sudden and all by what seemed to be coincidence. It took us a few months and many more adventures, but soon we were inseparable. :)


What's a funny dating memory?
Our first date was funny and tragic all at the same time...he invited me to his house to make cakes for his Canada Day party (July 1st, celebrating Canada's "independence"). Afterwards we went to Trafalga to play miniature golf with friends, during which he thought he'd be funny and poke me as I tried to putt. I started swatting his hand away without looking and missed one time...welllll, missed his hand anyway. I hit him somewhere else with my club that caused him to buckle over and collapse on the nearest bench. I was so embarrassed and we were both laughing even though I felt horrible and he was in pain. We tried to hide it and act like nothing happened, but Mandi yelled out, "What happened? Did you hit him in the crotch?" At that point I lowered the daisies onto the grave of our first - and what I thought would be our last - date. Guess I underestimated him a bit. :)


What was your first kiss like?
Basically...it was the most perfect first kiss ever. :) And I truly mean that. You know how first kisses are always so awkward? I had always been kissed for the first time on the doorstep, and it never ever went well. Somehow Shay got the timing exactly right. We planned an outdoor movie at our friend Scott's house in his backyard, and Shay brought over his HUGE lovesac for us to cuddle in. We had been doing this nuzzling thing for a few days where we'd never really quite kiss, but I could tell it was on his mind big time. :) I could also tell he was scared, so this time I just held very still during the movie when he started the nuzzle move, and what do you know. It worked. :)


How did you fall in love?
That's a hard one to answer, and I bet we'd both have a different one...hmmm. For me, stubbornly...he basically held my hand (both figuratively and literally) the whole way. I even remember him reminding me very subtly that this was a good thing, it wasn't killing me, so why should I be so scared? He was always very patient with me. He finally told me he loved me one night after about three weeks of dating, and I responded after a long pause, "Really? Are you...sure?" (Doh!!! Score one for team Allison!) To his eternal credit he didn't run right then and there. I think that was one of the things that made me love him the most. He answered, "Yeah...I don't really know what else to call it." Then he told me I didn't have to say it back if I wasn't ready, he just needed me to know. I heard the Colbie Caillat song the next day called "Fallin' for You" for the first time, and that did it. I told him two days later that I loved him too. And I shook the whole way through those three words. :)


What's your favorite thing about each other?
I'll have to guess for him...I think he loves that I love him. It's as simple as that. I think he loves the way that I try to take care of him and the way that we communicate about everything. I think he loves that I love the gospel and that I support him as a priesthood holder. And he likes my eyes and my giggle. :) I love that he is and has always been my best friend. That we can go from a serious conversation to a tickle fight to determine who gets the pirate ship (couch) all in one night. That I can tell him everything and that he not only wants to hear it, he remembers. That he always makes sure that we pray before saying goodnight. That his eyes remind me of California. And that he somehow makes me forget everything I'm stressed about with the most perfect hugs in the world.


What would be your theme song?
Hahaha...he'd say "Knock You Down" by Keri Hilson, or "Super Human" by Chris Brown. I say it's either "Easier to Be" by Lifehouse, "When You Come Back Down" by Nickel Creek, or "Then" by Brad Paisley.


How are you two most different?
I stress out, he's laid back. I read, he dances. I doubt, he trusts. I sing, he pranks. He drives safely, I drive fast. :)