The Basement

This is one of those memories I'll never forget because as soon as I light a wood burning fireplace, I'm transported right back to the basement of the house I grew up in.

The basement, now home to a new guest bedroom with a gas fireplace on the wall, and the laundry room was once our main living space. The upstairs living room used to be full of antiques and was more of a formal living room.

There used to be an ugly green and off-white-ish sort of couch as well as a burnt orangish red lazy boy chair.

There was a large hutch, which I believe is still there that used to hold our box TV and if I am remembering correctly it had a dial to change the channels. I remember watching cartoons and Sesame Street on it! I remember my dad coming home for lunch and us RUNNING upstairs

Most of my memories stem from looking at pictures of my childhood which might be why I LOVE pictures so much! But we had many birthday parties down there. We had a long table set up along the front side of the house of the basement... There are home video's of these parties and I love seeing my Grandma in them!

We also used to have Christmas down in the basement. We used to get a REAL Christmas tree that went in the basement every year and the fake one in the living room upstairs. The one down stairs had all the goofy, animated, colourful ornaments and the bead strands. We also have a wood burning fireplace in the basement which is why we lived down there. Once we got the "fake" one upstairs the downstairs ceased to exist as "the" hang out place.

My brother and I used to make some forts down there that were pretty cool! I remember a series of tunnels we made with the amazing cardboard boxes my dad used to bring home from work! I need to remember to bring home random stuff like that for when I have kids!

I also had a fancy tea party birthday down there one year!

I remember falling in love with  Kristi Yamaguchiand Scotty Hamilton's backflips there, snuggled up under ugly but warm (yellow, brown & orange zigzag striped) blankets, sipping cocoa, replacing wood in the fire. Such wonderful, wonderful memories!


One year I hosted a big dinner for 21 girls! It was formal attire, and it was a full turkey & potatoes spread on Valentines Day! After dinner we had an awards show in the basement that Carrie helped me plan! We had a red carpet lined with Christmas lights, and a podium! We invited Anne - the Youth Leaders wife, and we even had entertainment; Nikki & Nicole sang a duet! We gave each girl an award based on something from their personality!  That could be a whole other blog post as well!!  But here's a picture of the senior girls from the party!!

Taking a Class with Mom

Ok a whole bunch of years ago, approximately around 1999... my mom and I decided we wanted to take a class together! How fun is that!! So we signed up for tole painting classes.

Tole Painting:  is the folk art of decorative painting on tin and wooden utensils, objects and furniture. Typical metal objects include utensils, coffee pots, and similar household items. Wooden objects include tables, chairs, and chests, including hope chests, toy boxes and jewelry boxes.

We took our classes from an eccentric lady who taught classes in her barn way out in the country! I wanna say it was Tuesday nights? I specifically remember that the time period that we took the class was the time that "Breathe" and "This Kiss" by Shania Twain were really big! I think every single week we were there it was on the radio at some point during our class.   Anyhoo each were able to do several projects. I did a green calendar holder, we both did matching cornucopia's .....

 

.....and we both did matching teddy bear Christmas ornaments, but the ornaments we painted differently.....  I still put the ornament and the cornucopia up every year at their respective holiday's!

It was such a fun thing to do together with my mom... if you are a mom, you should do something similar! When I'm a mom remind me to do it as well!

(Pictures to come hopefully!!)

A Crazy Fun Friendship

These pictures represent 2 years, the 1st 2 years of this crazy fun friendship. We were both 2 different people back then, so different from who we are now.  She was so anti-technology, the only one on our floor who didn't have her own computer, she had a line up of boys with 1 clear winner, she cared what people thought of her, but not so much that she couldn't get crazy! I was single and eager to have a new friend! We were a lot of fun together. We were all about having fun with very little stress/responsibility in our lives. We had so many things in common! We were also kind of weird.

The Ghost of Valentines Day's Past

This will be our 4th Valentines day together. I think.... but here's a look into my past Valentines days!

The first one was particularly nice... we have been dating for 3 months and I talked him into buying tickets to the Piston's game through his dorm RD. He bought me the Rip Hamilton Jersey. We went with Adam/Cheryl & Chris/Kd. That night after the game, about 1am on the morning of the 15th - we had our 1st kiss.

Our 2nd Valentines day, we had passed the next milestone in our relationship of the saying of "I love you" 3 months earlier after 1 year of dating. We were busy and poor, so we unconventionally had a date in the SAU Library... we took over a study room on the 3rd floor and watched I believe Newsies on my laptop... we hooked up speakers and everything. We ate cougar den food for dinner and spoiled ourselves with coffee from the Sacred Grounds (Starbucks) in the Library. We also babysat Hailey Rae Pollak for a night so that Nich & Jennie could have a night out with out their baby, and me and my Babe got to hang out with the CUTEST girl in the world!

Our Third Valentines Day is documented here: but the nutshell version is 3 roses, swept off feet, a night at the theater.... check it out.

Our 4th Valentines day was our first as a married couple... here's a link to last years Valentines Day, which in a nutshell was Olympics in Canada, 1 small box of chocolates shared, yoga & chinese food.

Before I got the boyfriend, I still celebrated Valentine's day! My senior year of high school, I hosted a party for all the girls in my youth group. 21 girls came over to my house in FORMAL gowns! We all have them, we all want an excuse to wear them more often. I had this idea, and my bestest friends helped me to set it up.

 My parents and aunts helped cook the meal; a full 4 course meal,

with ambiance music, followed by a Red Carpet...

 ....awards show that awarded each girl with an award catered to their personality!

We also had special music!

We even had a photo shoot individually and in groups:

and a Dance party afterward:

You can't beat that! Pretty much a really fun night!

Before that my parents always made sure my brother and I each felt special on this most uniquely weird day that gives an outlet to those who love.  We would wake up to a heart shaped box of chocolates on our pillows every year! No matter if you love, you can celebrate that tomorrow!

Ode to Move-In Day

I started blogging post University, so I need to blog on here about some of the memories I don't want to forget - so here are a few pictures from the Move-In Days of past.....
This is me leaving my house for the first time! This is the outfit (with Jean variations) that I wore on the first move in day and every move-in and move-out day whilst at SAU and I even wore it when I moved into the Pollak household.... I might have worn it one of the days that I moved into the house that Nick and I moved into our house...

This is the only picture that I have from move-in day Sophomore year. Even though it's actually of Mel.... and it might even be of the 2nd day.

These are pictures of my stuff moved into my room of Junior Year!!!

Mel's stuff was moved in a few days after mine... I got to move in like a week early because I was an RA. I spent the week decorating the floor and learning out to be an RA:

This is technically "move-in day" and these are pictures of my girls moving in:

Kate and her mom

Our room again with Mel's stuff... we wanted it to look homey- so that the girls would feel welcome to come in have a seat, and take a cookie off our table!

Our next door neighbours: Kaitlyn & Anna (and Anna's mom)

That guy in the hallway is the President of Admissions... on our floor!

The following pictures are from my senior year! I was the Director of Communications for the Student Government so I was documenting the move-in day Parting at the Plaza ceremony!

All those green people up front are the student leaders for the year, I was supposed to be there, but I got to be on the roof instead, filming the event!

Yep my brother was participating in the events because he had enrolled at SAU - as well as Elise (Kevin's cousin) soo I got to take this sweet picture!

This is the Parting at the Plaza part... The new students are given a piece of the blue ribbon as a souvenir and then are separated from their parents to begin their new lives as college students!