Hello from sunny St. George!

I’m enjoying this beautiful 95 degree weather and relaxing with my family. We’ve enjoyed sleeping in, eating extremely healthy (cough) I mean…cookies and frosted flakes are healthy right? Mojo and I really enjoyed the king sized bed last night. We haven’t been sleeping well the last few weeks-ever since we got married pretty much. 

Our little full bed isn’t as big as we would like it-but we have limited space in the apartment so the full will have to stay. So we love coming down to our house in St. George and enjoying the king sized bed.

The weather is reaching the high 90’s now and so we’re looking to go see a movie so that vampire whitey over here (meaning me) doesn’t turn into a lobster. Both Mojo and I burn badly-pretty much our kids are screwed.

I just wanted to stop in and say hi and hope you are all enjoying your Memorial Weekend and that your having great weather wherever you are. If you’re new to Newlyweds on a Budget-be sure to stay and relax a while. For some reason GFC hasn’t been working the last few days so be sure to subscribe via RSS feed or email.

Much love,

Gallery Wall

I've seen gallery wall's all over the blogosphere and I feel in love-instantly! And I knew once we got into our new apartment that I would want to start working on my gallery wall-but my heart fell when I saw these...

Cinder block walls! How in the world am I supposed to hang things up on these walls??!!

Well thankfully we have some awesome neighbors that sent us to home depot look for nails that are made specifically for cinder block walls. So off Mojo went and he came home with nails made for concrete and brick-sawheet!

So now it was time to get to work-I have TONS of picture frames so I found the ones I liked and that I thought would go together then got to work painting the ones that weren't already black.

The spray paint can in the background is misleading-I didn't spray paint these I used acrylic paint and a paint brush. After a couple coats of paint and letting them dry over night it was time to put my new concrete hooks to the test.

I laid the design I wanted out on the floor before we started.

Now it would have been really smart to mark the lay out on some sort of paper-but alas that didn't happen. So the original design changed as we started hanging the frames on the wall but you know what? I'm totally okay with it because I love the way it looks on my wall.

After a few frustrations with the new nails (they take a little getting used to) we had our beautiful framed wall-and I love it!

I DO NOT however love the super ugly light fixture hanging next to them-that is going to have to go! When we have the money of course. But I do love my gallery wall-there is about 2 ft between the bottom of the gallery wall and the floor where I'm going to place a table that I plan on BUILDING!

Why yes-you did read that correctly I am going to BUILD a table-I've never built something before so this is totally new territory for me! But my sister has a whole bunch of wood hanging out at her house that she said I could use so I'm taking her up on her offer and I will use that wood gosh dang it!

I'm going out of town this weekend so chances are the table probably won't happen for a couple weeks but the idea is there and I can wait to have it all put together.

So let's talk cost-this is after all all about being on a budget 

Frames: already had on hand so $0

Black paint: already had on hand so $0

Nails: $3 a piece

So for the entire wall it cost $9 (we used three packs of the nails)-that's something both Mojo and I can be happy about!

On a sadder note-I never heard from the scrapbook prize package giveaway winner so that means I get to pick again-yay for you!

Congrats Stephanie! Email me at kari@morganandkari.com within the next 48 hrs with your address and to claim you prize!

You can check out all the awesome parties I'm linking up to {here}.

Sweet Little Angel

This week has been bittersweet.

The sweet part is that my little nephew Baby Z was released from the NICU Saturday afternoon and my sister finally got to bring him home and he is absolutely adorable! By far the cutest 4 lb 15 oz baby I’ve ever seen! He’s so tiny but so perfect and when he sleeps he makes these cute little grunting/moaning noises-just like my husband! He’s got big round eyes and really long legs-potentially a future running back for the University of Utah??

The bitter part is that a woman I work with, Laura whose pregnancy was right with my sister’s (she was due a week early) went into labor at 42 weeks. Her water broke Saturday night and she went into the hospital-after pumping her full of potosen (her labor was going really slowly) and giving her an epidural she finally started pushing at 3:30 pm on Sunday. The baby came out and she wasn’t making any noises-30 minutes later they came to inform Laura there wasn’t anything else they could do-her baby hadn’t made it. Because I just work with Laura I don’t have all of the details about the birth and if something went wrong during labor. But it has floored everyone here at work and we’ve kind of been in shock about it all week. Laura had a difficult time getting pregnant and she was so excited for baby Zophia.

She and her husband would have made great parents and they couldn’t wait to be able to take their sweet baby girl home, instead their ordering an autopsy on little Zophia and having to make arrangements for a funeral. No one should have to go through that-to lose a child would be one of the hardest trials I think we as human beings can face.

I ask all of my loyal readers and everyone else who may come across this post to please keep Laura and her husband in your prayers and in your thoughts. This will be one of the hardest things they face and I just wish there was more that I can do. I feel helpless. I’ve never been pregnant so I don’t know what it’s like to be so excited to bring your bundle of joy home to only have to burry her in the ground.

All I can say is-I’m so sorry for your loss and I know that Zophia is in a better place.

Tutorial Tuesday #7

Good morning everyone I hope you are all having better weather then we are-it's raining ALL the time here and I'm beginning to get really annoyed with it. It's freaking the end of May for goodness sakes-the weather should be in the 70-80 range and I should be soaking up all the heat....there is definaetly something wrong with this picture.

But enough of my complaining and onto this week's line up of amazing crafts.

*born-again crafter* made this awesome and super cute side table! You all know how much I love yellow which makes me love this table even more!

I'm about to start on some chevron canvas's for my bathroom and I thought you should see how great these ones from artsy-fartsy mama turned out.

I'm also in the process of putting together 2 gallery walls for my apartment and I love how this one turned out from LIFE is sweet.

And since I'm all about saving money these days I thought I'd share with you two tutorials that can help you save a few bucks-

The first is how to make your own cleaning supplies she's got everything from laundry detergent to furniture polish which you can find at From GARDNERS to BERGERS

The second is from own of my crafting idols Girl in Air-she is a crafting genius! But this isn't a craft post but how to make your own baby wipes! 

Thanks to all these awesome blogs for showing us such fun stuff. Be sure to grab a featured button and keep coming up with amazing stuff!

<center><a href="http://www.morganandkari.com/"><img border="0" src="http://i218.photobucket.com/albums/cc27/morganreyn/Featured.png" /></a></center>

Couponing-am I doing this right?

Winner Winner Chicken Dinner-our scrapbook giveaway ended last night and it's time to announce the winner!

So Congratulations Kari from The Sunset Lane-you are our winner! Email me at kari {at} morganandkari {dot} com with your address within the next 48 hours.


So (staying true to our name) we are trying to stay on a very tight budget-that if I'm not mistaken seems to have gotten tighter over the last month.....

With that in mind both Mojo and I have decided that we need to jump on the coupon band wagon as a way to save. My sister-in-law has started a coupon group when she found out that her neighbor (who works at the paper) could bring her home a HUGE stack of coupon books that never went out-apparently they would just recycle them at the end of the day so he was nice enough to bring them home for her. She takes the time to divide them up and then using the website Pinching Your Pennies her group (which includes two of my other sisters) are able to get amazing deals on a lot of things.

They're not at the caliber of the TLC show Extreme Couponing-I feel like that show is trying to find candidates for their other program-Hoarders. But they do get a lot of stuff free. There's only one problem-I'm coming in late in the game-my sister-in-law only gets a certain amount of coupons each week and each of the ladies get a certain amount given to them so if I show up the ladies already in her group get less, which kind of sucks for me but I'm okay with it-I understand why they want to have as many coupons as they can-their feeding entire families, I only have Mojo and I.

Which is why I'm okay with not getting massive amounts of products-just enough for two people. That being said-the Pinching Your Pennies website is REALLY intimidating.....I went through this weeks ads today and clipped the ones that I thought looked good but when I went to try and be money saving savvy on the website I started to get really intimidated.

There are so many great money saving blogs out there that are awesome at posting great deals-there's only one problem...I have no idea where to start! With a craft there is a clear start and finish-but with couponing I feel (kind of like I did with blogging) that I'm coming into the game when we're already in the 4th quarter. Everyone is so far ahead of me that I feel bad asking people to stop and try to explain the whole concept of couponing to someone as naive as me.

So this week will be an interesting one-both of my cute sisters have offered to lend their couponing skills to help me and hopefully, maybe, one day I'll be able to consider myself a couponer too!




P.S. Does couponing scare you as much as it does me?

Welcome Kim from Mama's Monologues-

Happy Sunday! Glad to know everyone made it through the end of the world-I would hate to be the people who predicted it today.....just saying.

Today I'm so excited to introduce to you Kim from Mama's Monologues she is the mother to 3 adorable little boys and the author of an amazing blog. I love Kim's blog because of the open honesty that is there-she writes about her struggles being a teenage mom, about the not so pleasant moments of mommyhood, and about the funny things and sweet moments she has with her boys.

Today Kim has written an amazing post about marriage that I think we can all learn a few things from-so be sure to head over to Kim's blog and leave her some comment love-and be sure to look around you'll love what you find!

Take it away Kim-

Hi I'm Kim from Mama's Monologues and to celebrate Kari's recent marriage I wanted to remind us all what marriage is all about-

Working Hard For The Marriage

 

You've done it. You've met the man of your dreams. You've built your relationship, grown closer, and took that final leap. You said your vows and the two of you are now joined as one. You're in for a lifetime of happiness, love, and great memories.

 

But not so fast. Yes, while all of that is still true, it takes work getting there. It takes work to maintain that relationship. Work to continue and succeed.

 

There will be bumps in the road, hurdles to jump, kinks to unravel. There will be disagreements, compromises, and sacrifices. Just because you've said "I do" doesn't mean you're guaranteed a lifetime full of puppies and rainbows. You can certainly achieve that, but remember it takes work...

 

Lean on each other. Your partner is your best friend, your confidant, your strongest supporter. Tell them your fears, your worries, your wishes, hopes and dreams. Share your triumphs and success with them. Discuss your feelings, the good, the bad, and everything in between.

 

Learn to compromise. There will be conflicts and disagreements. Instead of demanding that things are done your way, following your rules and your schedule, stop. Listen to your partner. Hear what their concerns are. Learn to meet each other halfway. Give a little, take a little.

 

Stay true to yourself. Don't turn into somebody that you aren't. Your partner fell in love with you for you, your uniqueness. You don't have to share every aspect of their life, every like, dislike, viewpoint or interest. Don't lose sight of who you were. Keep your identity.

 

Challenge each other and yourself. Push your partner to be the best that they can be. Have your partner teach you new things. Set goals and create objectives. Then work towards them, both together and separately.

 

Show your love. Express how much your care through your actions. Do little things to let them know you think about them.

 

Remember who you are as a couple. Once you have kids remember your partnership, remember the love you have for each other. Don't let your partner feel like they're push to the wayside. Find time for just the two of you, to reconnect, to share your love.

 

Yes, it takes work, but it's worth it. Every second, every disagreement, every misunderstanding, every compromise is worth it. You have a beautiful relationship, a loving partner, and lifetime of joy, bliss, and love ahead of you.

Thanks Kari for having me and if you have a second come check out my adventures being a wife and mother at Mama's Monologues

Soccer Games, Birthday Parties, and the end of the world

The world must be coming to an end tonight because the Sun is shining in Utah. The past week has felt like I was somehow transported to Seattle without my knowledge-I've never seen so much rain in one setting before-note to self DO NOT move to Seattle even if Microsoft offers Mojo a bunch of money.....well it depends on how much money is offered.....

Speaking of money-don't you ever wish you had more of it? I sure do. Mojo and I did our budget for the next couple months a few days ago and we have it budget to the last few dollars....seriously. And in that budget there is a teeny tiny amount of money given to me for crafting. It's so small that all my grand craft ideas (like re-upholstering my chairs and covering my cupboards in fabric) are going to take a couple months to gather all the supplies. So until I have the supplies for the big ones I'm trying to make myself content with the small ones like the scrap book tree I did a few days ago which everyone (including myself) is loving.

Today we're making a trip to home depot (thank you wedding for providing us with a home depot gift card!) and we're FINALLY going to get some of those special screw/nail/thingies that let you hang things on cinder block! If you want to see how cool it is to have walls of cinder block check out the tour of my new apartment {here}. Yup-you're all jealous of my super duper cool cinder block walls. And now I'll be able to start hanging things up so my house looks less like a warehouse and more like a home.

Mojo and I are headed to Tooele (about 45 min away) to see my oldest nephews soccer game and my younger nephews 4th birthday party! If you never seen 6 yr old's play soccer your really missing out-I'll be sure to take some videos/photos to share with you-it's pretty adorable. And Trae-bug is turning 4 today-I can't believe he's already 4! I'm pretty excited to go to his party-it's technically for his friends but his mom and I thought it would be fun for Aunt Kari and Uncle Mojo to stop by for a bit-besides I want some birthday cake...

And the best news of all....my newest nephew Baby Z is being released from the NICU today and is coming home!!!!!!!!! He was born a week ago today and even though my sister was at 39 weeks Baby Z was only 4 lbs 15 oz. He was a small little thing-and from the way his skin hung off him the doctors believe he had actually weighed more but had lost the weight somehow while he was in the womb. They did lots of tests on the poor little guy and he's been through a lot the past week. But he's a fighter and he's finally gained some weight so the hospital gave him the OK to go home. Mojo and I were on our honeymoon when he was born so we are so excited to be able to meet him tonight-and it's such a relief to know that he's a healthy (although a bit small) baby boy-my sister and her husband are so excited to have him here.

Now I have to get off twitter, facebook, blogger, pininterest, etc and get to work cleaning my apartment and getting ready-we've got a lot to do today besides the end of the world is tonight so Mojo and I have 50 years of marriage to get through in the next 8 or so hours......it's going to be an interesting day...

Peace and Blessing y'all Peach and blessings! (If you don't know what I'm referring to please take a moment to go to YouTube and type in Tracy at the Park-enjoy!)

Scrap Book Tree

****************Have you entered the {GIVEAWAY} I'm hosting yet?

This is a great (and cheap) way to bring some color into your home. I moved into our apartment about 3 weeks ago-unpacked within a couple of days and was all excited and proud of myself. Then Mojo started moving in slowly up until the wedding and then all the presents from the wedding invaded my house and my nice organized house went out the window. Now, a week later we're starting to get things into place and finding ways to save space in our tiny 700 sq ft apartment.

But with all the unpacking, organizing, and cleaning I haven't had any time to actually decorate and put some color into the place. I have a few things here and there but I wanted more. I got the idea for this scrapbook tree from one of my favorite crafting blogs Two Girls Being Crafty and Mojo being the amazing husband (so fun that I can call him my husband now!) that he is helped me out with this craft.

Supplies:
-Scrapbook paper
-Floral Wire
-Cardboard
-Glue
-Vase
-Twigs

This project cost me NOTHING! Those are my favorite kinds of crafts. I had bought the floral wire forever ago for about $2 at Hobby Lobby-and I already have a bunch of scrapbook paper. Instead of using cardboard I cut the side out of a gift box one of our wedding presents came in and it worked perfectly. I already have a bunch of vases and I had a sign-in tree for my wedding (pictures to come soon) so I used the twigs from that.

To start off gather your paper and from your cardboard (or gift box in my case) cut out different sized leaf shapes. I decided to do 3 shapes but you can do as many as you'd like. Then turn your scrapbook paper to the backside and start tracing the shapes-try to fit as many as you can on each page but be sure to have two of every kind-you're going to be pairing them together later on so you always need to have doubles.

Then cut each of the "leaves" out and pair them together. Be sure to have your glue on hand. I used a glue gun because it's what I had but any glue would work. Cut your floral wire into strips-I started out with mine about 3-4" and realized once I went to put them on the branches that they were WAY to long-1" should be plenty-2" is more than enough. Simply put a thin line of glue on one leaf, place the floral wire in the glue, and then line up the other leaf and lay it on top so that the patterned side of the paper can be seen on both sides of the leaf.

Once your done tracing, cutting, and gluing your ready to put your arrangement together. I started out with a smaller vase and realized that my branches were to tall-I didn't want to cut them so I just upgraded to a taller vase. To attach the leaves you simply place the leaf where you want it on the branch and then wrap the floral wire around the branch. My floral wire was green but it still blended in really well and it's only when you look closely that you can see it. 

Mojo was so great to help me trace and cut out all the leaves-I'll warn you you'll need a lot!

To hold the branches in place I put some rocks at the bottom of the vase and I added a pink ribbon around the vase for a little bit more color. You can add as many leaves as you'd like-just keep adding them till you're happy with how it looks. 

I decided to put it on the side table next to the chairs I have in what can be considered my living room. It's one of the first things you see when you walk in because it's so tall and I love the color it brings to the room!

This whole project took me about an hour to do. The most time consuming thing was tracing and cutting out all the leaves everything after that was super fast. 

So turn on a good show (in my case Modern Family and Law and Order: SVU) grab all that scrapbook paper you have lying around and get to work. You'll love how easy, cheap, and fun this project is!

Check out my linky party page to see all the fun parties I'm linking up to! 

Who doesn't love winning free stuff???

I don't know about you but I'm a pretty big fan of winning free stuff. Like the amazing Summer with Mathew Mead magazine I won a few weeks ago. I am in LOVE with it. There are so many amazing ideas and fun ways to throw summer parties. I can't wait for this crummy weather to go away and for summer to finally be here so that I can put his great ideas to the test!

But this post isn't about the fun things I've won but about the fun things up for grabs in the blogosphere right now!

Of course first and foremost I would love for you to enter the giveaway I'm having sponsored by The Scrap Barn. The scrapbook prize pack up for grabs is a great addition to any craft room! Because I've been on my honeymoon and I didn't promote this giveaway as much as I normally would I have extended the deadline so it ends this Sunday! Also, there are hardly any entries which means it's the perfect time to enter because your chances of winning are so high. It's a win win for everyone.

The second giveaway I want to make you aware of is happening over at A Bowl Full of Lemons. I personally am SO excited about this giveaway....she's giving to one of her lucky readers....a Silhouette machine! I have wanted one of these for ages but it's way above the price range of two poor college students. I have seen countless projects that I've wanted to do but in order to do them correctly you need to have a silhouette machine...so I enter every silhouette giveaway I can find. If your as exited about this giveaway as I am you should head on over and enter!

Next up, we have a giveaway extravaganza! A Fairly Fabulous Life is having an entire week full of giveaways to celebrate her birthday! It starts tomorrow so I'm not sure what's up for grabs yet but I absolutely LOVE her blog and I know she'll have some amazing giveaways. And she's such a sweetheart that on her post today she's giving you hints on ways to get extra entries-be sure to keep her on the top of your list to check out this week.

The last giveaway I spotted this week is happening over at Craft-O-Maniac. She's got a fantastic package full of craft essentials that every beginning and advanced crafter could use in their stash. She makes it super easy to enter and while you there be sure to stay awhile and check out her blog-it's super cute and she has some amazing tutorials!

Be sure to check out these great giveaways as well as enter mine! And I'm excited to post about my scrapbook tree that can show you a great way to use extra scrapbook paper tomorrow so stay tuned for that.

Tutorial Tuesday #6

Tuesday has rolled around and it's time for one of my favorite posts-Tutorial Tuesday. Five fun new tutorials that I'm so excited to share with you and use in my home.

I really like this tutorial-I"m excited to go around my neighborhood and find fun letters to spell REYNOLDS my new last name. What would you spell with an alphabet sign?

photo credit

I thought this was adorable and I'm thinking about doing something like this in my bathroom. I'm still playing with the idea in my head but I think it'll look really cute.

photo credit

I love love LOVE the fact that these pillows aren't sewn but made with a glue gun! That is my type of pillow cover-I'm so excited to try this out!

photo credit

I love this idea of putting my name on all my fun new dishes that I got for the wedding-and for poor people like myself who don't have a Cricut or a Sillhoutte she shows a great way of doing it without having those. 

photo credit

If you've been featured on today's Tutorial Tuesday be sure to grab a button!

<center><a href="http://www.morganandkari.com/"><img border="0" src="http://i218.photobucket.com/albums/cc27/morganreyn/newfreaturedbutton.png?t=1303092259" /></a></center>

As always I love the projects I found this week and I'll be blog-hopping all week long to bring you more! Be sure to enter the The Scrap Barn Giveaway that I'm hosting right now!

Coming Home

This last week was an interesting one to say the least and I'll warn you-this is going to be a LOOONG post...

First off I feel so honored that Gin over at Life as Topher's Mama awarded me the One Lovely Blog Award! Wahoo! I can now officially say I'm an award winning blogger-that's right! I'm doing my happy dance in my head and I have a huge grin on my face!

Here are the award guidelines:
1. Post linking back to the person that gave you the award
2. Share 7 random things about yourself
3. Award 15 recently discovered blogs. 

4. Drop them a note and tell them about it.
So 7 random facts....

1-I'm obsessed with BSG or Battlestar Galactica. Go ahead-make fun of me, I can take it. Now that your done laughing do me a favor and watch the first 2 episodes-if your not hooked by the end of them feel free to continue to laugh at me.
2-I love sweat pants. I am one of those girls who loves to come home from a long day and slip into my big baggy comfortable sweat pants. I love them so much that I have made public appearances in them and I have a hard time leaving them at home when I have to go to work in the morning.
3-I LOVE to read. I'll read pretty much anything you put in my hands-I love curling up (in my sweat pants) and escaping into another world for a bit.
4-I have a huge celebrity crush on James McAvoy and Michael Buble-Mojo is very aware that I would leave him for them (don't worry he has his own celebrity crushes)
5-My phone is my best friend. If (heaven forbid) I should leave the house without it I will generally make myself late to wherever I'm going to turn around and get it-I can't live without it.
6-There are 6 girls in my family (including myself and my one SIL) and I consider each of my sister's to be my best friends. We are closer then I ever though possible and I have and do share everything with them.
7-I love being warm-I hate the cold (go figures that I would live in Utah). I'll come outside when it's 110 degrees and I'll sit in my car for a good 5 minutes before I turn on the AC just soaking up the warmth.
I would love to give this award to....

1-The Shabby Nest
2-Born Again Crafter
3-Yeah, that's macho and tough
4-A Fairly Fabulous Life
5-My World-made by hand
6-Mama's Kinds of Crafty
7-The Highly Educated Housewife

My bachelorette party was Monday night and was a blast! I had so much fun hanging out with my girlfriends one last time before the Big Day and I loved being able to reminisce about the old days.

After the bachelorette party I headed to Mojo's house for a bit and that's when my stomach started feeling a little queasy. I figured it was because of the massive amounts of junk food I had eaten and decided to go home and get some sleep. I'm glad I went home when I did because as soon as I walked through the door the real fun began. I proceeded to throw up like nobodies business be sick. I was vomiting sick every 15 minutes for the next 8 hrs. I should mention-that as good as the quesadillas that we had at the party were-I will not be eating black beans for a VERY long time-the thought of them is actually making me a little nauseous right now. At around 2:30am I called up Mojo (he was still living at his parents until after the wedding) and told him that I really needed some help-he being the great guy that he is rushed over and stayed up with me the entire night. He was my superman. He rubbed my back when I was vomiting not feeling well. He emptied the "bowl" and at 7:30 he helped me down 2 flights of stairs and loaded me into the car for a trip to the E.R. the day before our wedding.

Yes, you read that right-the morning before my Wedding, as in one of the biggest days of my life, I wound up in the E.R. At this point looking back I should have been freaking out-but I was just to tired to even care. I had been up all night-if my memory serves me correctly I did not get one ounce of sleep that night. I was at the E.R. for 3 1/2 hrs and they proceeded to jab a giant needle in my arm, give me two crappy blankets (I was freezing!), pump me full of LOTS of fluids, and hook me up with Zofran. Zofran=the most amazing anti-nausea medicine a person can have. Then they sent me home to get lots of rest before the big day but of course by that point the entire planet had heard about me being sick and I was so fortunate as to have a phone/text every 10 min until my wedding dinner that night.

A smarter person would have silenced and/or turned off their phone-but I didn't want anyone to worry about me so instead of taking the time I needed for myself I worried about everybody else worrying about me and left my phone on. Looking back-it was ridiculous and my logic makes no sense whatsoever.

The wedding dinner that night is a big blur. I remember them placing food in front of me but not touching any of it. I remember my family doing some silly skit about how Mojo and I met and fell in love, and I remember Mojo and his sister singing a song about Peanut Butter and Jelly. But the one thing I do remember is Mojo singing to me. I wish I could have recorded it for you-it was beautiful. Mojo has one of the most amazing voices I've ever heard and he sang the song "Marry Me" by Train, he even got a little chocked up as he was singing which made it even more special.

By some miracle I woke up the next morning feeling OK and I actually ate. I was pampered all morning long-I got my nails done, my make-up done, my hair done, it was fantastic. And before I knew it we were getting married and taking pictures with family and friends. I was exhausted but thanks to a very skill full make-up artist and the excitement of getting married I did a pretty good job of hiding it. I started to reach my breaking point when our photographer had us running (with me in heels) so that we could get a picture with a fountain that was going off behind us. We ran for what felt like forever only to have it turn off right as we reached it. It was soon after that that we called it quits on the outside pictures and made our way to the reception.

My reception was gorgeous! We had it in a church gym and hired someone to come in and decorate it. I was a little worried about how it would turn out but it was amazing and all of the DIY projects I had completed worked out perfectly! I was able to muster up the strength to make it through the reception, the bouquet and garter toss, the cupcake feeding (we didn't have an actual cake but two tiers full of cupcakes instead), and lots more pictures. But the minute the reception was supposed to be over (I was planning on it going longer then originally planned) my body was done.

It was like it just said, "I've given you this day-it's been perfect and now it's time for bed." And I called it quits long before I was planning to. Mojo and I changed and we headed out the door. His adorable Aunt paid for us to stay and this cute little Inn for the night and then the next day I got a massage while Mojo got everything ready to go to Bear Lake.

Our honeymoon-while small was absolutely perfect. We went to his parents cabin at Bear Lake-about 2 hrs away from Salt Lake and had a very fun, romantic, and relaxing weekend together.

With all the stress of getting sick, wedding, and honeymoon a few things fell to the very bottom of my list-including this blog. I had so many plans for posts for the week I was gone but as you can see-none of them happened. I apologize to you all for not being able to better about posting and I apologize to the two lovely ladies who wrote guest posts for my wedding week.

That being said-I am so excited to share with you two amazing guest posts this week-as well as the DIY gift I made for Mojo. And because my life has been so out of whack lately I've decided to extend my Scrap Barn Giveaway. This is an amazing giveaway and I didn't want anyone to miss out because of my slacking.

So be sure to enter the giveaway and be on the look out for some amazing posts this week.

Also, a BIG thank you to all of my readers who stick with me even when I fall of the face of the world for a little bit!
 

Did I hear someone say {GIVEAWAY}?

*************GIVEAWAY CLOSED***************************

Hello all my AWESOME readers! I'm so sorry that I have been MIA lately-with only two days before the wedding I've been running around like a chicken with my head cut off trying to finish everything on time. But it's all coming together perfectly and I just finished my last day of work for a week!

To celebrate my upcoming nuptials and the fact that May is National Scrapbook Month-I am hosting an amazing giveaway from our newest sponsor The Scrap Barn. Heidi has an amazing Ebay store that you need to check out. I'm just beginning to understand the vast world of scrapbooking but as far as I can tell-Heidi has everything you could need at great prices! She ships all over the world and is great about getting her orders out fast.

And just like my last giveaway Heidi is being super generous and is giving on lucky winner an entire scrapbooking package! She has put together an amazing party themed package that I am so excited to share with you-so without further ado it's party time with Scenic Route's newest mini line, Surprise! Vibrant colors combined with whimsical, hand drawn candles, cakes and party hates create the festive palette of Surprise. This brithday themed mini-line with coordinating paper, stamps, die cuts, stickers, and chipboard is perfect for capturing your fun memories, and what better way to celebrate National Scrapbooking Month (and my wedding) than with this fabulous kit!

One lucky winner will get to add all of the following products to her scrapbooking stash:

·        (4) 12x12 Double-Sided Sheets of Heavy Patterned Paper, including:

o   Butterfield Drive

o   Skyview Drive

o   Young Street

o   Surprise Scrap Strip

 
 

·        (1) 12x12 Sheet of Cardstock Die-cuts

·        (1) 12x12 Sheet of Cardstock Alphabet Die-cuts

·        (1) 12x12 Sheet of Chipboard Alphabet Stencils

·        (1) 6x12 Sheet of Cardstock Stickers

·        (1) 6x6 Sheet of Chipboard Numbers

·        (3) Sheets of Pink Alphabet Stickers (no picture available)

·        (1) Sheet of Flower Color Rub-ons

·        (1) Sheet of Black Date Label Stickers

·        (1) Mini Clear Stamp Set

This is an amazing giveaway-and as all crafter's know-even if your not that into scrapbooking you can always come up with a great way to use these products to spruce up any craft project. I want to say a BIG thank you to Heidi for giving us such an amazing giveaway and I'm so excited to be able to provide my AWESOME readers (that means you) with this. 

Okay-now to the important stuff-how to win!

1- Head over to Heidi's site The Scrap Barn then come back here and leave a comment telling me what item you would love to have from her amazing shop! 

2-Become a Google Friend Follower, RSS Subscriber, E-mail subscriber, etc. of Newlyweds on a Budget (if you already are leave a comment letting me know)

3-Follow Newlyweds on a Budget on twitter @kariandmorgan then come back and leave a comment telling me you did so

4-Like Newlyweds on a Budget on Facebook and come back to leave another comment telling me you did

5-Tweeting about this giveaway gets you another opportunity to win (don't forget a comment)

5-And share it on Facebook as well to get another chance to enter (leave a comment about this as well)

6-I got this idea from Kim over at Mama's Monologues-to get more entries and because I love comments-just leave a comment about anything you'd like! 

The giveaway will will end Sunday May 22 at 12:00 am MST. Be sure to spread the word about this amazing giveaway and check out Heidi's site-you will be amazed with all the things waiting for you!

Thank goodness its Friday!

Good Morning Folks!

I don't know about you but I am SO grateful it's Friday. For some reason (probably because I'm so excited about next week) this week has been draaaging. It feels like Monday was a lifetime ago-but we have reached the ever allusive Friday which means (after 8 hrs of work) it's the weekend!

This weekend is going to be a lot of fun-Mojo's brother and best friend fly in tomorrow for the wedding and my brother flies in next week. It's Mother's Day and since Mojo's brother lives in France and his sister (who got her last Sunday) lives in San Diego-this is the first time in a while that his mother will have all her children here for Mother's Day which I'm sure she's really excited about.

Ok-so today is my weigh in for Fit and Fabulous Friday. Although there really isn't anything to report. Because of my wedding working-out and trying to get fit has fallen to the back of a VERY long list of things to do. I've continued to try and stay within my 1200 calorie diet-I haven't been doing as well with that lately either but I believe it's helped me stay at the same weight as last week-so at least I haven't gained anything. But I didn't work out at all this week-not even once. Sad I know but in my defense I've really only been home once this week and I was so stressed and tired that day that I needed a break from my to do list and that included working out. So unfortunately I don't really have anything to report for Fit and Fabulous Friday but I promise that I will start again once this wedding is over.

I get married in 5 days! Holy Cow! It's so soon and I'm so ready for it to be here. I'm pretty sure this last week has gone slower then the whole engagement-but that may just be a mind thing. I'm scrambling to get last minute things done-so much for thinking I had everything done. And I'm praying that I have the strength to get through the next 5 days-I'll admit I'm exhausted. This whole wedding planning, stress at work, moving, etc really plays a toll on you after a while and I'm beginning to feel it. But luckily for me I get a much needed vacation next week with the most amazing man in the world!

Well I'm headed to work-be sure to head over to this weeks Tutorial Tuesday and enter your crafts into the Link Party I'm having and check out the awesome Crepe Paper Wreath I made for only 2 dollars!

Have a Fantastic Friday!