First Christmas Together

Our first Christmas tree. I put my wrapping in front of the tree and Jason's duct tape wrapping was hidden behind the bows.


Our first stockings together. How cute!


Jason filled my stocking with about 30 different gifts and he ran out of tape and so decided to use duct tape to finish it off. Silver is one of my favorite colors :)

For our first Christmas we spent Christmas Eve in Calgary with Jason's mom. We had Mexican food and played board games. Jason's friend Vince also came over to spend the evening with us. We opened pj's back at our condo that evening and then went back for morning breakfast and afternoon with Mom/Judi. Every Christmas morning for breakfast Jason's mom makes a meal called "Christmas Morning WifeSaver" It is full with just about everything that you would cook for breakfast - eggs, bacon, ham, cheese, bread, milk. It was just missing fruit :) This is Jason's favorite breakfast and so I guess I will be learning how to make it.

This is my crazy husband


For our wedding present my brothers and sisters gave us a gift certificate to Lake Louise. We spent part of our Christmas holidays to go for an evening. It was so beautiful and very relaxing. Thank you again for the thoughtful gift. It was really appreciated. Love you all

HONEYMOON

We spent a week in Cancun. The weather was awesome. We visited Chichen Itza, went on a speed boat for a jungle tour, snorkeling, golfing everyday, basking in the sun and of course eating as much food as we wanted. It was just a great trip and we will definitely go back one day.





Honeymoon to Cancun

After our Honeymoon it was back to work and to start our lives together as a married couple. I had to pack up a lot of my things and put them in storage. Jason and I had to merge all our belongings and try to make a nice place. I tried to not "girly" it up too much. These are pictures of Jason's condo and were we lived the first few months of our married life together

10-10-09 Wedding Day

This is how the Temple looked on the day of our wedding. What a beautiful sight and how grateful I am to my Heavenly Father to be sealed to my best friend for all eternity.



This is how my schedule looked the day of our wedding:
7:30 Alarm clock goes off and time to get into the shower
8:00 Cherisse and Kristi come to start on Hair and Makeup
9:00 Kimberly comes to start shooting pictures of the entire day
10:00 Home to pick up my mom to go to the Temple to marry my best friend
11:00 Sealing
12:30 Family Dinner and Program
3:30 Photography Shoot with Kimberly Pratt
6:00-8:00 Reception
9:00 Off to our Honeymoon

Jason's schedule went something like this......
9:30 woke up, showered, breakfast and to the Temple all my 10:00




Kimberly Pratt is very talented and captured every moment of our wedding day. We were more than happy with the results. Enjoy the video.
www.kimberlyprattphotography.com/jasonandcarmen.mp4











My younger nieces and nephews sang at our reception. My mom had changed the lyrics to "Popcorn Popping" and it went something like this.
"I looked out the window and what did I see, Jason asking Carmen will you marry me
He has brought her such a nice surprise Diamonds popping right before her eyes
I can be your husband it would be so neat, a life full of kisses that would be so sweet
Was it really so, yes it came to be, Carmen married for Jason for eternity.

Also on the program was My Aunt Janice and Uncle Paul sang "Danny Boy" and Jason's cousin Morgan and Uncle John played the guitar and violin. For the reception my cousin Cam Clark and Morgan played such wonderful music throughout the whole nights.

Here are a few pictures of some of the small details from the wedding. Kimberly made our guest book which I absolutely loved. Melanie made our wedding favors which was a CD of all our favorite songs. I gave compact cases to my friends.

My wonderful sister in law, Andrea and friend Micah decorated and arranged the dessert table. Thank you to all who made the delicious desserts and thanks Tyler Francis for eating all the food.

It was also so great to have family that have traveled far distances to be there. Family that I haven't seen for a long time. It was so great to have the people that mean the most to me there for the most important day of our lives. My dear friend Julie (Low) Brinkerhoff and Shauna (Bester) Johnson also went out of their way and traveled far distances to be there for the wedding. I love you all and thank you for being my greatest supporters. As I said on my wedding day .... " I am grateful for those who have traveled 5minutes away to 24 hours away. I love you all and thank you for being apart of my life and making me the person that I am" I truly feel so blessed to have such a wonderful family and friends and now also my wonderful husband

I have the best girl cousins around. We get along so well and have a lot of fun with. I consider them my closest friends and even like sister. Love you all and thanks for all your help with wedding prep.


This is so terrible but two of my very bestest friends I did not get a picture with my wedding dress on. Amanda and Kristi have been my friends since Junior High and through all the craziness of the day we did not get a picture until I was running out the door at the end of the night. I love these two sooo much and I am so grateful for our friendship for so many years.

Now that I look back on this day there were so many other friends that I missed getting a picture with. I love you all and know that you mean the world to me. That was one thing that I spaced out on the day of our wedding. I guess I was pre-occupied with other things going on.


I really didn't know who made a mess of my car until my friend Jamie sent me this picture. Ryan and all the girls once again. Inside our car was nice basket too. Thank you friends and brothers for your nice work.

Wedding Prep

I want to say thank you from the bottom of my heart to my cousins, friends, Mom & Dad, siblings, in laws, Aunts & Uncles that help make our day so beautiful. It was everything and more that I excepted and dreamed of as a little girl. Thank you for all your time and preparation with planning and decorating. Love you all

Day before the wedding we are off to get a pedicure :)



Many hands make light work. Thank you again and again and again. "Yep looks good keep working" Hopefully I wasn't too bossy. I envisioned this day and look since a little girl. It came together just they way I dreamed about.

"The best part of life is when your family becomes your friends, and your friends become your family."



To top it all of My Aunt Vicki made our beautiful cake. I gave her a picture I saw in a wedding magazine and she duplicated it to perfection. Absolutely stunning! The lace table cloth on the table was my Grandma Doreen's. I missed both of my Grandmas that day.




After many hours of hard work this was the final outcome of the gym. If only I could have got rid of those basketball lines on the floor. Hahah - just kidding





My dear friends that I had in California made the long cold trip to Canada for our special day. I put them to work right away hanging drapery around the gym. They were so willing to help and it was so much fun to be with them again. Jamie, Jennie and Tera thank you from the bottom of my heart. Sorry about the cold weather. It wasn't suppose to snow yet :) -16 degress on October 10, 2009 in Cardston, Alberta



I stayed at the Super 8 in Cardston the night before our wedding. My dear friends Daina and Shaunie came all the way from Seattle to be apart of the wedding. It was so fun to have them there and I really appreciated their effort to come. They also stayed at the Country Inn and so we stayed up chatting for a few hours until I forced myself to go to bed. Daina and Shaunie also gave me such a cute present. They filled the container full of "His & Her Favorite Things" Some of the gifts were. Favorite store - Target gift certificate, favorite game - skip bo cards, favorite candy - chocolate mint M&M's and lots of other treats, favorite outfits - pj's. It was such an adorable idea and one that I will copy. Love you both

A week before the big day

October 4, 2009 -The Saturday before our big day I was running a half marathon in Calgary. It was called the Harvest Run and it was really cold out. The morning of the race I woke up at 5:45am to get ready for the race at 7am. It was a cold winter day, still pitch black out and I asked myself what I was doing? I wanted to crawl back in bed so bad but I had committed to run this race a long time ago. I had signed up for this race before I was engagement but I'm glad I had decided to run this race. When I got stressed with wedding stuff I would go out for a run and relieve some stress.



I was still smiling with 10miles into the race. While running the race I couldn't stop thinking that this time next week I would be married to the most wonderful man in the world.














I made it! I finished 11 minutes faster than the Rock and Roll 1/2 Marathon in Seattle. I have not always been a fan of running but as I have really learned to like it. I am still contemplating about running a full marathon one day but I know one day I will check that off my "Life Goals List"




My parents came up from Cardston to support me and my fiance was there to cheer me on at the finish line. My parents are so wonderful. They would drive around the course to see me and take pictures as I was running. I feel so blessed to have such wonderful parentsWe went out for breakfast after at Cora's.

Bridal Showers

My Mother-in-Law had a shower for me in Calgary

It was really fun. At this shower Jason was invited and we played the "Dating Game" After many questions we came to a conclusion that I knew Jason better than he knew me.



For every question that we got wrong we would have to chew a piece of gum. Jason was having a hard time blowing a bubble with his big wad of gum.



Friends and Family Shower in Cardston:
Thank you to my sisters for putting on this shower. It was so nice of you and thanks for being the best sisters ever


Natisha and her mom have been wonderful family friends over the years. Also Marina Pilling Wood and her mom came too and they have been wonderful friends over the years. I always love seeing the Pillings :)



My friend Stefanie Guenard was also there. She has been a great friend over the years and has always been there for me.

Yeah for TUPPERWARE! Thanks Andrea




My Aunts and Uncles gave me this beautiful picture of the temple

Cousins Shower:
Stacy's daughters gave me this "teddy" to wear on my Honeymoon. How sweet are they?


Melanie gave me a book of my favorite engagement photos. I love it!

AMANDA MADE THIS AMAZING CAKE!