the lovely tale of m&b

Hiiiiii. I'm back. 

Bry's birthday, being on the top of my favorite holidays list, makes me excited every year to give him lots of surprises. I love planning things for him that I know he'll love, and I love gift-giving.  

To start off, I have to say I’ve never felt like I’ve lived it up so much in one summer- when Bry and I had even a half hour of free time, we’d use it. Since his birthday is always at the end of summer, I thought we'd go out with a bang. We celebrated it last Saturday, and while he had his early morning soccer game, I went wild getting ready with everything before he got home. 

Streamers, balloons, golf clubs and a round of 9 holes

While we were golfing, I hid my first clue in his bag letting him know what was next after we were done. With each clue, I included a note to him from a family member. (For those who are reading this and don’t know, I asked each family member in our entire family prior to Bry's birthday to write a note telling why they each loved Bry...then I compiled them with the clues so he could read them throughout the day.) Bry LOVED reading those notes throughout the day, so thanks to you all for your words!

Each clue led to somewhere or something else, where he either unwrapped a present or was given a surprise.  They led us to Porcupine Grill for dinner, and eventually up Little Cottonwood Canyon to a spot right above Snowbird.  

That’s where I let him unwrap my favorite gift...  I have been working for a long time on writing him our love story in the format of a children’s book.  (directions at the very bottom of this post)

I did the illustrations child-like similar to the children’s book author/artist Eric Carle (who wrote “Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What do you See?” if that rings any bells...?) I hope to be able to read to our kids, grandkids, and for something for them to know how we met, and how we fell in love.  I have been so excited to finally read it to him! (pics below)

He ended up   l o v i n g   it, and I may or may not have cried when I read it to him. :) I've always felt like our love story played out just like a storybook, so that is exactly what I made it into.

So, the story continues:

I tricked him by going up there because he thought we were heading back down the canyon, until I turned into Entry 3 at Snowbird and said, “Well, I thought if we came all the way up here, we’d just have to stay the night here too.” He looked soooo surprised/confused, and I told him I had booked a room at the Snowbird Lodge for us to stay through the weekend.  I had secretly packed his backpack with everything he would need, and hid it in the trunk.  I love surprising him and watching his reaction. It’s one of my favorite things. 

We had the best weekend with a room that had the most beautiful mountain view. We spent our time swimming, hot tubbing, hiking, a tram ride to 11,000 feet, drinking hot chocolate on our balcony, celebrating his birthday, wandering through Oktoberfest, going on walks, sleeping in, watching the REAL game, and soaking in the last days of summer. 

It really was the best weekend with my favorite boy.  I love him so much, and can’t believe we started dating two years ago YESTERDAY. Time is sure flying by!

xo

meg

HOW TO MAKE AN ERIC CARLE PICTURE BOOK

What you'll need:
1. an empty book. you can find these usually at any arts and crafts store, sometimes target, or other places.
2. lots of tissue paper
3. acrylic paint
4. glue sticks
5. modge podge
6. large sponge paint brush

Start by getting a large sponge paint brush and cover each tissue paper with a color you think you'll need. I painted probably 16 tissue papers with the general colors, and some with multiple color tones and shades on them.  Eric Carle adds texture to his tissue paper, and you can definitely do that- mix colors, get a toothbrush to flick different colors on, do polka dots...be creative! This can be more time consuming than you think, but you could always have someone help with this part! If you're a mom, get your kids to help. :) This is the kind of painting you can let them "go at it!" Once you're done and the pages have dried, you'll be eager to get cutting.

I started with writing our story in the format of a simple child story. I did all the typography by hand, but if that's not your thing... just type the story out and paste it on! Then, I began the art.

I didn't trace anything before cutting... I'm kind of a "wing it" type. But feel free if it makes you feel more confident.  I like just going for it because it ends up looking a little more childish, which was my goal.  So DON'T be a perfectionist on this project... it ends up being more fun if you leave the rough edges around. Once you're satisfied with what you've cut out, glue it on. After your picture is complete, modge podge one page at a time. This can take several days, depending on the size of your book, just to make sure each page is dry.

SUPER fun project, takes a lot of time, wayyyy inexpensive, and pretty awesome. Good luck! I'd love to see what you come up with! 

xo

m