Here Comes the Bride...

Well, this post obviously isn't about myself since I'm already married. But last week I helped throw a combined bridal shower for Brooke and Katie, two girls I work with at Allyse's. It was such a fun night, and I am so excited for the girls! Brooke is getting married in less than two weeks! Katie is getting married just a couple weeks later in the beginning of January. It was a great night of celebrating and giving the girls some good marriage advice :) It was fun to put together the shower because most of what we used to decorate were things I already owned but just revamped for the shower (I'll post about that later) :) We had the shower at Allyse's. My adorable friend and co-worker Ashley turned one of our bridal stage areas into a mini photo booth area. Brooke loves chocolate milk, and Kate loves treats, so we had a cookies and milk themed shower. Enjoy the photos!

                                                                      Katie (aka Katherine)

Brooke and some of her guests :) 

I'm obsessed with these straws 

It wouldn't be a bridal "shower" without an umbrella at the photo booth! 

Beautiful brides! 

My cute coworkers and friends! 

Oops :) 

I'm sorry it was just too funny not to post!

Tender Mercies and Reminders

Hi friends,

I know Thanksgiving is over (I still have one of those "I'm thankful for..." posts I'm working on, because I didn't want to post something every day on FB up until Thanksgiving (not hating on you if you did that :) ). However, recently (meaning like, right now) I've just had small reminders, or tender mercies, about being grateful for what I have now.

In church on Sunday the talks were on gratitude. They both came down to being about being grateful for what we have NOW because it's always possible to find something we 'need', that we don't already have, to be happy...but there's no use in that because we have a lot right in front of us now.

So I'm sitting there in Sacrament meeting thinking about how great my life really is right now, even though sometimes I find many faults with it. One thing in particular I was thinking about that I'm grateful for is my health--particularly for the strength and the non-existence of pain in my back. I've mentioned previously, but this past April I experienced severe muscle spasms in my lower back. It sounds like some crazy out-of-control thing..but that's cause it is. Basically I couldn't walk, sit up, roll to my side, or (sorry if this is TMI) go to the bathroom by myself. I couldn't even stand to shower by myself.

It has taken about 5 months to fully recover (I know that might not sound long to someone who has had worse ailments...but for me as I've been active my whole life, this was very difficult because I couldn't do ANY physical activity). So on Sunday I was thinking about how horrible those days were. I told myself that from that day on I was going to take advantage of my good health and all my other blessings, and make the most of them and enjoy them. That was just yesterday.

Yesterday I woke up with some small pains in my back. Throughout the day it progressively got worse. I went to see the dance trainer at BYU, and that helped a little, but not too much. They told me there that I just have a really unique case of muscle problems and that I'll just have to work my way through it. I had a whole list of things I wanted to get done yesterday and today, taking for granted that I could just do them no problem--something I couldn't have done seven months ago. However, the possible beginning of these back troubles has returned, so I've been faced with the question of whether I'm still willing to make the most of the blessings I have in my life, even if maybe one of my 'blessings' isn't as good as it was yesterday.

Right after reading scriptures and praying with Taylor, I came back to my computer to work on my lesson plan for my dance teaching final tomorrow (something I'm not sure right now how I'm going to get through with my back pains), and Facebook was open (don't lie, yours probably always is too :) and my friend's (who is on a mission right now) sister had just updated my friend's status. It was a long story about a woman serving in my friend's mission who has been having severe health issues. At the very end it said something that reminded me to be grateful:

"Live your lives this week for a miracle". The phrase from my friend's mission president was a request to all the missionaries to live in a way that would help heal the sister on the mission. However, this quote had special meaning for me because it reminded me that I have power in the way I handle my trials (and my blessings) in life. I can live to keep my trial a burden, or I can live in hopes for a miracle. My choice is to live for a miracle :)

One year...

No, it hasn't yet been a year since we got married (almost 8 months though!), but a year ago Taylor proposed to me! Time flies so fast. A year ago today I remember going to church with Taylor and him telling me he had to go "home teaching" (ok I think he did go, but then he was "still" home teaching for a reallllly long time getting stuff ready for the big night). I told one of my roommates that I thought Taylor might propose soon (not that day though) because he had been acting a little fishy. That night I was SOOOO excited that my anticipation waiting to get that ring on my finger was over (I hated planning a wedding and not having it seem legit). Taylor makes me SO happy. Don't get me wrong, we have our moments, but honestly we spend most of our time laughing at each other and having fun. It really is funny the way life turns out. On my wedding day my grandpa lectured me right after coming out of the temple telling me that a year before that I was complaining to him telling him that there were no good guys out there. Well, I was wrong. Taylor is perfect for me and I'm so happy he decided to ask me to marry him one year ago :) 

New Blog!

Hey guys!

Just a little announcement that I've started a separate blog for my Buttons & Bows shop. If you would like, please follow it and share with your friends! It's because of all of you and your recommendations that my shop is even open, so thank you!!! I love what I do, and I really couldn't do it without all your support. :)  (click here to see/follow the blog)

Sweet!

So I posted a couple weeks ago about a contest my blog is in. I had sort of just stopped checking to see how my blog was doing because there are so many contestants at this point (and unfortunately a few that obviously have a LOT of time to vote)..I basically kind of gave up because I really just entered for fun (I mean, who wouldn't take a free shot at winning money?). Anyway, after working for way too long on my homework, I decided to see how the contest was going. To my big surprise my blog is in third place right now! The contest goes until November 15, and the top three blogs win a money prize! If you have some time and want to vote, go to here . I mentioned before, but it takes some time because you have to pick on your favorite out of each two it gives you until mine pops up.
Thanks guys!

Hibbs Halloween 2012

Happy November, friends!

Today's post is dedicated to Halloween 2012! We had such a fun Halloween this year, especially because it was our first married Halloween together! We dressed up last year....but we accomplished a failed attempt to correctly portray what we were (tooth fairy and a cavity...yeah, it was a stretch. haha). Taylor came to me this year with the idea for us to be Charlie Brown and Lucy. I thought it was a cute idea, but of course that meant that I had to figure out how to dress us up without spending a fortune (because you know that when you just go buy a licensed character costume you spend so much money!)

Creating a Charlie Brown shirt for Tay seemed pretty simple, but I had no idea where to begin with the non-fitted, kind of frumpy-but-still-cute Lucy dress...they don't exactly just sell those all over. I decided to start with two extra-large t-shirts and turn them into a dress. Here is the creation of our costumes: 

Started out with two of these super big shirts, one for the bodice, and one for the skirt. 

I found a little tunic-y dress I have that goes about mid-thigh, which is about the length of the top part of Lucy's dress. 

Traced and pinned it 

Cut 

I also cut off the sleeves in hopes to make the sleeves a little shorter and slightly more feminine-looking. 

(I didn't photograph this part too well..oops) I cut the second shirt in half horizontally, getting rid of the neck line and the sleeves. I then had two big circular pieces. I cut the ends, leaving me with four long rectangle pieces. I sewed them all into one big long piece so I could gather it for the skirt. 

(please excuse our messy house...it was Halloween week!) Here is the skirt and top part sewn together. 

Sewed on four buttons. 

I didn't document the sleeves...it wasn't that interesting/I forgot. I was wanting to make a ruffle on the neckline and sleeves, but I didn't have time. I plan to do that in a few years the next time we use this. Basically long story short it was really fun trying to be creative creating a dress out of two large shirts! 

Cute Charlie Brown (just sewed a zig-zag and sewed it on his shirt :)

Finished product! Nothing professional, but I think it turned out pretty well!

Side note: We bought a wig for me since Lucy has front curly bangs...but it was hideous. I ended up rolling a big portion of my bangs under and bobby pin and hairsprayed it a ton to get the frilly-little-girl-bang look :) I was also happy about making a matching bow :)

We went to our ward Trunk-or-Treat that night, which was SUPER fun! Neither of us had ever been to one, so we didn't know what to expect. Our ward was awesome and provided a variety of soups and rolls for dinner. I was sad, however, to find that people decorated their trunk super cute and Halloween-like...which we didn't know was a part of trunk-or-treating. I'll make sure to go all out next year with our trunk! 

                                      Here are a few of my favorite kid costumes of the night:

Well I hope you also had a wonderful Halloween! I'm excited for the other upcoming holidays!