May 27,1982 - October 7, 2012

Matthew Aaron Compton

May 27,1982 - October 7, 2012

My best friend and husband, Matthew lost his battle with cancer Sunday evening, surrounded by myself, his parents and two of his oldest and dearest friends.  

We always knew that Matthew's diagnoses was terminal, but he fought such a valiant fight and survived so much longer then everyone expected. Sunday was a day to let go of hope and say our last good byes. He was loved by so many and that was evident by everyone that came and saw him, said prayers, gave hugs, shared a favorite Matt story or two, shed tears & told him how much he was loved just one last time.

Room With A View...

I know that everybody is expecting a post with all the details from the wedding, as well as other pictures that I've promised, but apparently life has other plans. 

I do have pictures though! 

This is a little taste of what I've been up to starting the wee hours of the morning last Thursday...

A digital frame that shows off our honeymoon pictures.

 My wonderful husband decided that he had so much fun on our vacation that he decided that he needed to spend another one in the hospital. (Totally sarcasm, btw.) 

Because of complications with his cancer, he's stuck in the hospital until certain things are able to get under control. The frustrating part is that it takes time to assess how medications are doing and if they are working or not, so we don't have a clear idea of when he might be able to come home. The other annoying part is that while I'm there I have zero internet access, because they don't have wifi and I don't own a smartphone. 

Which means updates to this blog are on hold until he finally gets to come home. 

In the mean time, I did point out that if he has to be stuck in the hospital, at least he's stuck in one with an amazing view...

View from his hospital room.

 

Healing thoughts, well wishes and prayers are currently being accepted. 

Thanks for understanding & hopefully I'll return soon. 

 

Home Sweet Home

Hello? 

Is anybody there? 

*crickets chirping* 

Yeah, I didn't think so... 

I feel like I need to maybe explain the absence of any new posts lately... or maybe I should just sum up... 

I got MARRIED!

If anyone might be reading this and you've already gone through the torture joy of planning and having a wedding, of say, roughly 200 people, then you'll understand. If you haven't yet had the pleasure of doing so, I'll just summerize what happens the week or two before the big day. 

You get really, really, REALLY busy. 

And you forget stuff, like say, your blog...

  Then when you leave two days after said event for 9 days, where you have no computer access for any of that time, it gets even busier. 

That might explain the crickets. 

But I do have LOTS of stuff to share, including wedding pictures, a summery of wedding projects and TONS of pictures from our honeymoon to Yosemite National Park that I got to take with our new camera that we got as a wedding gift!

So please bear with me a few more days while I catch up on what's been going on in the world, get started on tons of thank you notes and work on the mountain of laundry that accumulates after being on vacation for 9 days. 

So what's everyone else been up to lately? 

 

Do Me A Favor! Vote For Jackson!

My little nephew Jackson is competing in The Gerber Generation Photo Search 2012! 

 

Just look at that adorable face! 

But he needs your vote to win!!! 

All you have to do it go to The Gerber Generation Photo Search Facebook page (here) and vote for my nephew, Jackson! 

You can vote once per day, so vote daily!  

Don't Spill!!!

I found the cutest idea on Pinterest (love Pinterest!) and decided to borrow it for my wedding prep. 

I decorated reusable drink cups with straws to reduce spilling anything on ourselves as we get ready for the ceremony. I made one for myself, my maid of honor, my Mom and my niece, Kirra since they'll be there for the getting ready part before the ceremony. 

I used my awesome Silhouette machine to cut out the designs, and names of everyone and applied the vinyl to the cups.  I'm pretty excited with how they turned out! 

 5 days to go!!!

The First Man I Ever Loved

It's wedding week!!! 

I can't believe how fast the past few months have gone by! I feel like it was just yesterday when Amazing Boyfriend became Amazing Fiance and in a few more days he'll become... well, I'm still working on that...

But before ABF, there was another man who I loved with all my heart. 

 

 

My Dad

 My Dad has always been there for me when I've needed him, and taught me by example to the importance of family. I've always knew that my Dad had to walk me down the aisle, but earlier this year we had a major scare when he was hospitalized at the end February and spent most of March and April in and out of the hospital because of complications. Because of these complications, most of his foot was amputated. It's been a long hard recovery process, but I'm so proud of my Dad because he's worked so hard in rehab and this Saturday, he WILL be walking me down the aisle! 

I wanted to make something special for him and found the perfect idea on Pinterest. 

I wrote out my message on the frame then carefully painted over the pencil with brown paint. I love how it turned out, especially since I used my own handwriting, which I feel like it makes it more personal. 

I also had to give Dad and IOU on a picture to go inside it. 

I can't wait to give it to my Dad! 

And speaking of pictures...

  
This is a picture that my Mom's cousin, who was also her maid of honor, sent me recently. It's my Uncle Ron (who is no longer with us) helping my Dad with his boutinere just before he married my Mom! 

Seriously, it's too good not to share!

6 days and counting!!! 

Happy Birthday...And Many S'More!!!

I know many crafters that have a hard time coming up with crafty gifts for guys. That being said, I'm always on the look out for great ideas for crafty gifts for guys. Quite often, the best gifts I've found are simply treats. 

For my friend Ray's birthday, I found this rather genius gift idea.

I took all the ingredients for s'mores...

and repackaged them into clear treat bags and tied them off with some manly twine (because ribbon is too girly). 

 
And made a tag that says "Happy Birthday & many smore!!!" using my stamps. 

Now, I've seen this idea done a few different ways. I've seen the ingredients put into a mason jar as a gift but I'm hoarding my mason jars for my wedding next month, so that option was out. I've seen it put into a little basket, but I didn't have a little basket so that option was out. I'd also seen it put into a cardboard carrying container, but I didn't have that option either. 

So what did I have?

A brown paper gift bag. 

(Please tell me I'm not the only one that buys these in bulk.) 

 But anyone that has a few stamps and an ink pad knows that you can dress up these bags quickly and easily. 

Not too bad!

All that was left as to fill my bag with the s'more goodies and add my little gift tag with some more manly twine. 

Now all I have to do is deliver it to the birthday boy!

I'm sure he's going to love it.