Up Up And Away

So I was just going through pictures and cleaning up my computer because let me tell you it is was full to the brim with pictures! 90% of them of other people... I have this problem with throwing things away... Just ask my mom, it drives her crazy! I have so many clothes because I somehow form an emotion bond with each article. Yep I am a hoarder so send over TLC to help me if you want. Anyway while deleting folders I cam across one that had pictures from Mitch's last night before he was set apart! After I stopped crying I decided they must be blogged! He is so cute and I miss you so much it is actually ridiculous! Does every missionary sister feel like this? Cause I won't lie to you it is pretty terrible! I mean I am so happy he is gone and serving the lord and I know he is where he is supposed to be but it has been HARD! He is my best friend and going through trials without him there to give me advice has been a huge trial in itself! I know I have def made some mistakes without his help!

So the night before he left we decided to light up these flying lanterns!

The first time was an epic fail... one that almost lit my lawn on fire! Luckily Jordi stomped it out!

Craig and Kodi watching as the lawn lit on fire...

The second time working out much better! Craig and Kody assisted Jordi and it went much smoother! It was actually so cool! I just hope it didn't end up falling on someone house and lighting it on fire! It was a major concern I had that I definitely voiced but was assured it couldn't happen... ya right

Now here comes the pics that jerked the emotional me right out!

See don't we look like best friends! I think so!

See don't we look so photogenic! I think so.... hah  JKS seriously we are so good looking

Such a cute pic of Stangelina! 

Also cannot forget to remember these cute girlies were there too! If I remember correctly they were also a little worried we were going to set the neighbors house on fire...

Also I found this picture... I know that when I laugh I seem to always laugh until I can't breathe.... So obviously this has to stop... Sorry everyone I look HIDEOUS when I laugh... Maybe a cute hideous? haha

Anyway this was such a fun night that I just wanted to remember it! I miss Mitch, he has only been out 6 months and it feel like 6 yrs. I know this is probably going to get old me talking about how much I miss him so either stop reading my blog or ignore me cause it's probably going to happen a few more times! :)

A Thousand Years

I felt like this blog title sums up my life right now. Reasons?

-I feel like it has been that long since I have blogged

-I feel like it has been that long since Mitch has been gone

-It is the title of my favorite song right now  Christina Perri - A Thousand Years

- I feel like I will be editing for that long

-It's going to take that long for me to unpack... again :S

So there you go!

I also feel like I could have blogged a thousand times between now and my last post but somehow that didn't happen! A lot has happened though! So much that I don't even know where to start! 

Well we could start with how my summer was! It was full of really two things.... family and weddings! Two of my most favorite things! I also went on a few vacations that were so much fun! I went on a road trip with Mitch all the way to Cali and it was the best thing I did all summer! I miss that boy A LOT! 

Us at the Jazz vs Laker game!

We went to a session of conference! It was amazing!

and of course seeing Morgs was a HUGE bonus :)

In Cali! Loved the pool and the heat but especially seeing the Cali Maxwells!

We played a lot of horse and honestly no lie I won every game...

Us at the hockey game! Miss him...

After Cali only 10 days later we were off to Arizona with the FOF (aka family of friends... and yes I came up with this nickname and it has stuck!) I seriously have the best times with these ppl!

I think this should be our family Christmas Card this year?
I love these guys more than anything!!

My momma is a fox

Had to add one of Princess Carsy ;) Love you!

Most of the FOF :)

Then of course there was the annual Echo trip the with FOF which was really fun! I didn't really take any pictures though! Which I def regret!! But what can you do! We couldn't boat this year so we had to sort of make up our fun! We played a lot of cards, did some shopping, watched some movies, sun tanned and the usual things! I also went on a canoe trip with Russ and Ty and of course didn't paddle once haha That's how I prefer to canoe... Judge me if you want! We canoed around the lake and saw all the damage the water had done and it was crazy! We also did a trip down the river in inner tubes! Oh boy so many laughs!! My dad and Ken definitely supplied some side splitting laughter! OH BOY! Overall it was a great trip :)

We also went to Fairmont for our Matkin Family Reunion! It was sort of a sad one since it was our last one. We had been doing it forever but we had outgrown Fairmont so we decided to have one last shebang! I will REALLY miss it! We had so much fun though! Lots of swimming, games, and visiting!

Love these ladies! My grandma is amazing!

Editing. This is where I was a lot of my time there!

All the attendants of the Matkin Reunion 2011

Another cool thing that happened was the Russ made it to the Canadian World Series in baseball and they won! He went with my "other brother's" Tyler Hansen and Brooks Maxwell! Those three have gotten to do so many cool things through sports! They then went to the World Serious in South Carolina and my mom and Mitch got to go! SO me and Joc thought we would try and support from home :)

GO CANADA GO

Pax felt left out.... he's so cute haha

Okay can I just say that I love my little sister SO much!
She is the most gorgeous girl I know inside and out!
She is always there for me and I appreciate her so much :)

I also shot what I feel like was a thousand weddings! OH MY! I loved it of course but has proven to be a ton of work! I edit everyday and still have so much to do.... thanks for any one reading this who is being patient! I love you :) 

We also had to say goodbye to Mitch for 2 years as he goes to serve the lord in West Virginia. I miss him ever day and feel like he should be coming home any day now but he has only been out for 2.5 months... oh boy this is going to be a LONG 2 years! He is the greatest example to me and I am so unbelievable proud of him! He is amazing. His fairwell talk was completely fantastic! He knocked it out of the park for sure! I mean I balled the whole time starting with the opening song... Joc and I really struggled that day in the tear department! Poor Craig had to sit in between two girls on the verge of the ugly cry for an hour! I will miss him but I know he is doing what he is supposed to even though it's really hard!

Mitchy Pants is a handsome boy :)

Overall my life this summer was perfect :) I loved it all very much! I have also moved houses twice and have a new job all of which maybe I will blog about sometime! Also Chelan you are welcome and you should be proud of me!

Once Upon A Time...

Once upon a time there was a girl....

That's her in the middle. She wished that she had a better body. She honestly was so self conscience and always wished to look thinner. I wish I could go back in time and punch that girl in the face. And then tell her to rock a bikini everyday because someday you will no longer have a body that can pull that off.

Okay so I stumbled upon these pictures today and a few just like them and was like DANG I used to be so tiny... What happened to that girl? It also was enough to get me to brave the torrential rainstorm outside and get my larger butt into the gym! It was also enough to get my fitness goals back into gear... hopefully!

Also it really made me think about how I view myself. I hate that I have always hated my body. I grew up a little bit on the chunky side and then in between grade 8 and 9 I lost a lot of weight but I don't think my mind actually ever realized that I did. I was always so self conscience and always compared myself to my itsy bitsy friends and never felt like I looked like them. I look back now and want to shake myself and tell myself that I don't need a boy in order to feel good about myself, I don't need lots of friends to feel good about myself, and I don't need to be a size 0 to feel good about myself (because I was so fat and a size 2 in those pictures..ugh). I also realize that I should probably tell my "now" self the same thing!

I was actually watching Oprah (miss her already) and she had a girl who was once completely worldly beautiful and was involved in a car crash that burned and melted her whole face and body. (Story Here) It was devastating to see. I was watching it with my mom and during a commercial break there was a commercial about a place that can sculpt the small problems we have with our body to make us feel perfect. We both wanted to barf. Here is this girl who is still trying in life and willing to be seen by millions on Oprah with her face so disfigured and we all want to take the tiny things we don't like about ourself and change them. My mom looked at me after and said "You are really really pretty and so am I." This has really stuck with me and woke me up. I could look so much worse and need to be happy that I have hands and my face is normal enough that people don't stare at me and the grocery store or turn away when they see me coming.

New Goal: Start being happier about my appearance! Stop putting myself down and just try be the healthiest self I can be.

I know... really random post right? It has only been like 2 months since I have posted and I come back and post about this. Oh well! If you actually read this all I hope you also can love yourselves cause I bet you are so beautiful and fabulous! Love you all!

Avoiding...

I've been avoiding this blog on purpose lately...

I know I could do a post about how great my life is, or how much fun I am having, or post about a new song I love but I know I would just be avoiding the inevitable. So I am just going to get this out of the way. After all this is supposed to be a journal for me right? Which means I cant just skip over the events that are actually really changing my life just because they are sort of hard to talk about right? Ugh fine...

Last Wednesday I got up. I didn't go to work that morning because I went to a press conference for Mitch but after I headed off to Raymond. I do two things first always. Check the email messages then the phone messages. Then I have free rain to do whatever I want as long as I can answer the phone when it rings and design and ad when I need to. I check FB and then all the blogs I follow. Then watch whatever TV show I have missed or any  new movies on Netflix. I have gotten REALLY good at keeping myself occupied on the computer for 8 hrs everyday. Anyway I was just getting ready to pack my stuff up for the end of the day when one of my bosses pulled his chair next to mine and I instantly knew something was up. He told me that the rent on the building was going up and they could no longer afford to stay there. They were either going to move into their home offices or into their mom's basement. This mean that there was no longer a desk for me to work at. Which means in 1 week from now I will be an unemployed girl....

It has been quite the experience for me. I of coarse had the melt down on the way home. Held it together at work though. (Good job Meg!) I called my mom first. She was actually excited for me? I was like no mom you aren't listening to me!

She said... 

...now you can focus more on your photography! 

...you can travel more! 

...you can find a job in Lethbridge so you don't have to drive so long anymore!

... you can find a new job you love!

  I am lucky to have such a positive mom! She let me know that I was capable of handling this and that no matter what her and my dad would be here to help me. Like I said I am lucky. 

Right after I got off the phone with my mom I headed to Osho's. Katelyn, Marissa, and I had already arranged to have dinner and I think heavenly father knew I would need them that day so he let it work out in our schedules to be able to be together. I was the last to arrive. I sat down and not even 5 minutes later they asked "okay what's wrong." I told them. I honestly felt so silly complaining about this problem. Only 2 months earlier we were together comforting one of us who had suffered a much greater tragedy than losing a job. I told them I was just being a baby and I was sorry. But they didn't care and still gave me great advice and let me know they were there for me no matter what. 

I have blogged about them before but I honestly don't know what I would do or would have done with out Katelyn and Marissa. They have been there for me through everything and I have tried to be there for them! I am so grateful for my two best friends. 

After Osho's I headed home. I walked in the door, went to my room put my purse down and walked into the kitchen. I hadn't been home 2 minutes before Megan asked me "Okay what's wrong?" (Seriously am I THAT easy to read?) So I spilled it again to her and Amber. Again they were amazing. They gave me a hug and told me I would be okay. They were just like my mom and actually excited for me. The next day Amber told me she knew what my next job would be. "You are going to be a wedding planner. I am serious Meg! You could be a Mormon Wedding Planner!" She's the best! And lets be honest I actually could. I mean I have been to enough weddings and look at enough weddings blogs...

Anyway by the end of the day I was filled with an overwhelming feeling of gratitude.I couldn't have gotten through that day alone. Amber also reminded me of the quote that goes something like "Heavenly Father never gives us a trial we can't handle." I also know that this trial is so small. So many people close to me are going though such worse things and I am grateful that this is all I have to go though. I guess Heavenly Father knows I am a big baby and that if this is all it takes to cause a melt down he has to be careful with me! 

So there you have it. I am taking the month of April off and going to California on a 10 day road trip with Mitch cause he's leaving on a mission soon! (he put in his papers last week) Then I am going to Arizona with the whole family plus the Lows, Dahls, and Hansens! I can't wait! When Paxton first saw me after he heard he told me he cried for me and was sad I was sad but not to worry cause this just meant I would have more time to spend with him! Oh that little boy just melts my heart.

I have NO idea what my future holds. Seriously zero clue. So if any of you have some ideas for me feel free to let me know! Or if you are a bride that needs a wedding planner... ;)

2011 Academy Awards

It was the Oscars/ Academy Awards last night! So of coarse I felt the need to tell the internet my feelings on the fashion choices of the rich and famous! If you would like to see my fashion favorites of the night head over to

Meghan Maxwell Photography & Design

I'll give you a clue as to who my favorite was....

Michael Kelso wouldn't have been able to keeps his hands off her!