So living in Canada as an American is kind of a challenge at times. Especially during certain holidays like 4th of July and Thanksgiving. Canadians celebrate their Independence on July 1st, and their Thanksgiving on the second Monday of October. In my family those are pretty big holidays to celebrate, apart from Christmas. Thanksgiving has always been my favorite. I'm the baby of my family you see, and so by the time I was married my siblings were grown, and had families of their own and lived all around the States. So it was always a time with my mom and dad, and I to just be together. Watch movies, EAT, talk about what we're grateful for, what we would like to really improve on in the graditude department, and so on. This year is a little different. It's the first year without my Dad.

This week has been particularly hard on me. Being pregnant my emotions are already heightened, and range from all sides of the emotional pole, and I've just been stuck in this sad whirlwind. Thinking has always been my worse enemy, and now all I have time to do is think. Think about how drastically my life has changed in the past few years, and how things are going to turn out in the future. I'm far away from home with no real connection to my family besides a phone call. It's been quite the challenge. It never use to be though. Looking back I loved to travel, and jumped at the chance to be away from my ever so protective parents. And now all I crave is to be close to them. My mom and I have always had a bit of a struggling relationship. Not that we weren't close, we were extremely close. We were just so alike in a so many different ways we couldn't be compatiable with how each other thought, or reacted to certain things under one roof. But ever since my Dad first got sick, up until he passed we've drawn closer together. It pains me to be so far away from her.

Last night Keagan took me out on a little date. We went to Taco Bell to satifiy my ridiculous preggo craving. When we first were walking in there was this homeless man who was also walking inside to use the bathroom. At first I was kind of put off by his odd mutterings, and weird hand gestures while talking to himself, but I didn't think anything more about him when we walked up to the counter to order. While I was filling my drink up, and gathering some much needed sauce packets, Keagan walks over to the front door to talk to the homeless man, who was now standing in the loft area between the outside door and door to the inside. He asks the man if he was hungry and would like some tacos. The man looked shocked, and gracely replied that he would love some. So Keagan walks over to me and just says, "I'm going to give him some of our tacos okay?". I couldn't even react fast enough, he just grabs them and hands them to the man. We sit down, and couldn't help but just stare up at my amazing husband. I say to him, "You know Keags you are the most amazing man ever, and I'm pretty sure I just fell more in love with you." He laughs is off and says, "Why? Because I gave him tacos?" The thing is it wasn't the fact that he gave him tacos. It was the fact that he didn't even think about it. It just came naturally to him. It put so much prespective into my mind. I have been so wrapped up in my own feelings, and depressed thought process to care to think about anything else.

While sitting there I was reminded of a cute story that happened when my Dad was in the hospital. We went for a walk down the hallway, and we saw this guy with his leg strapped up in a cast held up above him in a sling. I said to my dad, "Man that guy is messed up. That is so sucky." My Dad turns, looks and says, "Oh man I hope he's okay." When we got near the nurses station, that was only a few steps from my dads room, he asks one of the nurses if he can bring the boy in the room with the broken leg a newspaper, magazine, a doughnut, or just something to cheer him up. They said that they didn't have any magazines, except some "chick" ones, and that he was a diabetic. My Dad just had this determined look on his face, but let it go. While I'm in his room looking for a movie for us to watch I turn to ask my dad a question, and he's no where to be seen. (Now my dad has been in the hospital for almost a week, and has tried to escape 4 times. So needless to say I was frantically looking for him.) I run down the hall looking for him, go to the nurses station, and they say they haven't seen him, but offer to help look. As I look away from the counter down the other side of the hallway, the way we came from his walk, I see him skipping towards me. I start laughing and ask him where he was. He just said simply, "I went to bring my newspaper down to that boy, but turns out he wasn't a boy. He was a grown man." I just smiled at him. Here's a man dying of cancer, and in tremendous amount of pain, and it just came so naturally to him to help a guy he didn't even know who was plagued with boredom, and a broken leg laid up in his hospital bed. It was such a small gesture, but it meant so much to the man who was released the next day.

Sitting there with Keags I asked him what he was most thankful for in the world. He just sat there for a bit, and finally said, "Honestly, I'm thankful for everything. I can't think of one thing I'm not entirely grateful for in my life." It made me think about what I'm truly thankful for.

I'm so thankful to have such a loving, compassionate, understanding husband who loves me everyday to the fullest of his extent, and makes me the happiest woman possible. Who takes care of me when I am at my sickest, and when I am completely healthy. Who shares the same beliefs, and is always striving for our family to become closer to Heavenly Father. I am so thankful that he will be the father of my children. I am thankful for little Renner inside my belly, who is constantly reminding me just how strong he is becoming. I am thankful that I had a Dad so loving and caring to me. Who made me the woman I am today, and taught me the most incredible things I couldn't even begin to explain. Who taught me what to look for in a husband. Who shared his amazing humor gene with me, along with his other amazing traits. Who taught me to embrace life and death with open arms. I'm thankful that I have such an amazing Mother. Whos strength and undying love, and compassion taught me how to love others unconditionally, and to not be afraid of the life I've been given. Who taught me how to have equal measures of being a lover and fighter. Who taught me how to be carefree, and fun. But most of all how to be cautious of the dangers of the world. I'm thankful for my sister who has always played such a huge role in my life. She taught me how to be an amazing mother and wife, and to look at things always in the best light, even when things appear awful during their darkest moments. I'm thankful for my brothers, who have all taught me how to fight properly, how to respect myself as a lady, and how to be the girly-est tomboy around. I'm especially thankful for my sister in law Becky, who without her I surely wouldn't be where I am today. She taught me what it takes to stand up for what I believe in, and how to live a life worth living. Also, I am thankful for our amazing dog Roxy. Without her my life when my husband is away would be terribly boring, and depressing. She brings so much joy into our life its crazy. If we are this obsessed about our little doggie I can only imagine how it will be for our kids!

I have many things I am thankful for in my life. Earthly things, as well as Spiritual things. I am extremely sad that my Dad is gone now, but I am also extremely thankful for the gospel in my life that has taught me that I will see him again, and that he will never truly leave me. I do have to remind myself of that fact from time to time, but I know that he wouldn't want me to be suffering from him going to do the Lord's work. This coming year things will be different. We will be parents. Who knows where we will be living. But one thing is certain. My graditude and love for life, my family, my friends, and everything else that the Lord has blessed us with will be more intense. Life is constantly changing, and throwing us in directions we want and don`t want to go in, but we have control over how we react to these changes. I want to be the best possible role model for our son, and the best mother I can be. Mistakes will happen. Sadness and joy are always apart of my life. But I will live that life in the best possible way I know how, and better.

 

Baby Names Of My Mind.

Well everyone I've reached the 5 1/2 months point and one thing that is on my mind constantly is NAMES. We're having a boy right? And I want his name to be rad, with a little edge to it. My dad recently passed away and I have the strongest feeling to put his middle name as our baby boys middle name, which is Duane. I love it because its my dad's. It's familiar, strong, and makes me feel like he will always be close with our little guy.

In the beginning when thinking of different names I just knew we were having a boy so that's really all we came up with. One of them was Sawyer. Only because 1. I am in TV love with the character from Lost -- Can't get enough of him! But that shortly died. I absolutely love coming up with names though. That has to be the funnest part about being pregnant I swear -- besides Pinteresting amazing nursery ideas. Anyways, we have come across the typical baby names on the baby websites, but they just aren't speaking to me.

Some name choices that we did start to love were Ayden, Mason, and Karter. Our finally decision though, and I am so extremely happy with is Renner Duane Paisley. It is difficult though. If I think about it for too long I start to change my mind, but then I remember how much I have been in love with the name Renner, and I'm good. The thing that does bother me the most are the people with the opinions when you're choosing a name. My goodness I couldn't believe it! I mean granted I've given my own sister a hard time when she was thinking about names for her kiddos, but geeeeez. So now I've learned to just smile and thank them for their opinions, but I think the name is rad, and he will too. :) The one thing I do love about the name is that its unique, but not in a weird sense. If people want to call him Ren for short, be my guest!

I'm still diggin Renner. ;)

Entitled Bliss.

Well people of the blogging world last month was Keagan and mines ONE YEAR anniversary. Quite the crazy and most amazing year it has been. We have barely begun to know the basics of each other, and you know what? I'm okay with that. We are constantly changing; growing into what, and who we want to be for tomorrow. And I love it. Here is a cute, ridculously long, video I made for my incredibly sexy husband for our anniversary. Enjoy!

Entitled Bliss. from Kayla Paisley on Vimeo.

Then There Was Four.

It has been FOREVER since my last post. I suppose because everything has been a bit crazy, hectic the past few months. But the most crazy one I have to say is that WE'RE HAVING A BABY BOY! Probably the biggest decision of our entire life, and we made it. Here are some cute "pre-pregnant belly" pictures for your enjoyment. :)

Pictures were done by my cute sister Stephanie with my camera phone. <33 

Mulitiple Me's.

Keagan and I have been on and off with watching the show "United States of Tara" on Netflix, which is about a woman who is struggling to deal with her multiple personality disorder while raising her family, and it is quite hilarious. While we were watching it a few weeks ago he turns to me and says, "You know Sue, you kind of remind me of her...". I turn to gape at him, and he quickly backpedals by saying, "Well, not that intensely, but kind of. Sorta...".  Wowww, haha okay? Thanks? I think.... Oh the things my husband says without his filter turned on.

Now with that thought implanted, and roaming freely around in my head it got me thinking... What the freak did he mean by that!? So I casually bring it up one night while we were snuggling, and I just simply say, "Love... What did you mean when you said I reminded you of Tara?" He giggles and started to say he was kidding, but he stopped and looked at me and said, "You really want to know?" -- Well DUH! That's why I was asking silly kid. -- When I nodded he starts telling me all of these ideas that he has formed inside his cute head about my "alters".

He started saying how he pictures that there is 3 of me inside my head trained to handle certain situations. "There's Kayla, the serious but funny one; who loves wearing jeans and a t-shirt, and is pretty passive about everything; acts cool and quiet, plays video games, and watches movies. She's the domestic side of you. Then there's Sue, (which is my middle name) who is loud, carefree, laughs about everything, a bit dramatic, fearless and is willing to do anything, and every time I picture her I see sweatpants, an over sized shirt with no makeup on and with her hair tied up with a bandana wrapped around her head holding up the peace sign; she's your teenage side. Then of course, there's Nikki (which if anyone has ever seen the show Heroes, you know what I'm talking about) who is the scary, yet sexy side of you. She wears tight skirts, and high heels, flips out about the smallest stuff, gets jealous, acts provocative, is ruthless in a fight, isn't afraid to say what she is thinking - even if its mean, stands up for herself, rolls her eyes at everything, and to be honest is just plain scary, in an extremely hot way; she's your "dark side"."

Hearing all of that, and letting it sink in my curiosity starts stirring rampantly inside about which one he fancies the best. When asked he turns to me, and cradles my face and says sweetly, "Kayla Sue I love all of them. Simple as that. They each play a part in who you are, and how you handle certain things, and I wouldn't have it any other way. And besides I knew you were crazy before I married you." Ohhh I love this man! He definitely knows me better than I know myself because I would never of even begun to think of myself as having 3 different people take turns inside my head.

I've had some friends, and my family tell me I have certain "sides" they like better, but I never really paid attention. Its so funny to me that my husband figures it all out by watching a silly TV show.

Obviously, to anyone reading this, I do not have a multiple personality disorder. I am a girl, who has a lot of personality, with an amazing husband who puts up with it all.



Have you ever been accused of having multiple personalities? Or just being a girl in general, like me?

Pet Emergency.

You know how a lot of people are so attached to their pets that they get overly emotionally when something or even nothing is wrong with them? Well, I became one of those people the other night, or should I say... Like my mother, who freaks out even if her dog is just coughing. I have always loved animals, and have gotten super attached to every one I own, but Roxy is different. Roxy is our 4 year old pug/chihuahua mix doggie, who we adopted from our sister in law a few months back, and she is like our daughter. Yes, yes I said it. Daughter.

Anyways, back to why exactly I was so overly emotional. So with living in our new apartment we aren't allowed to have Roxy here, at all, and every time I try to have her home with me someone from the apartment management comes by to either ask us questions, or move our beds (which only happened once), or just anything. Every time, no joke. Why don't I hide her from them? Well, I do. But she whines and whines when she gets locked in our bedroom to hide her, and they obviously can hear her. So, it doesn't work. But anyways, so to kind of bend the rules a little bit we let Roxy stay with our lead techs, who have a dog of their own, during the day, and we keep her at night.

So when Keagan came home the other night, and he brought back Roxy I noticed something was kind of off about her. He said that they told him that Roxy was super tired all day, and just slept on her bed, but she seemed fine. It's not unusual for Roxy to sleep all day, but not usually when she is with other people. But when she got home she wasn't licking me, she wasn't all excited, nothing like how she usually is. She was just trying to fall asleep. So I picked her up to look at her, and her right eye was completely swollen shut, and she wasn't supporting herself at all. She was just closing her eyes, and falling down. Then I start freaking out then. I was yelling at Keagan to look at her, that something was wrong, and that we have to take her to the Pet Emergency. I was freaking out! Finally, Keagan calms me down, and I just bundle her up in a blanket and just hold her. He gets on the phone with the Pet ER, and he starts talking to the Vet. The vet said that she might of gotten a scratch on her eye (since she does have big eyes), and that she is probably just nursing it by sleeping it off - but if she starts vomiting, seizing, or not breathing right to take her right in. He said that she probably got the scratch from playing with the other dog (who is a little bit bigger than her), or just by itching herself, and that she will heal.

Talk about a freak out session. I literally thought she was dying, and it made me so sad. Keagan and I said a prayer for her, and snuggled with her all night. That next morning when we woke up you could tell she was feeling a bit better. She could open her eye more, but you could tell she was still babying it. Now that it's been 2 days later, she can open it all the way, but she is stilling sleeping a lot, but no vomiting, or any of the other things. Which is such a blessing. I couldn't even imagine if we lost her. It would be so awful. I am just glad that Heavenly Father is protecting our little family.

Feeding My Supernatural Addiction.

 Caution! May contain spoilers.

Did anyone else think this past season of Supernatural was kinda lame /& annoying? Because I sure did. Sure I understand that they wanted to spice things up a bit, and get out of the "demon" era, but really? I'm glad that Dick Roman is finally gone! Him and all the other leviathan were driving me crazy. I really am hoping this next season will be their greatest one. I seriously can watch all of the others on repeat, but Season 7 doesn't really fit in. Season 6 was even kind of sketchy for me, but hey Sam didn't have a soul, and it was kind of hilarious at some points, so I was fine with it. Anyways, my rant can go on and on about this last season. I do still love my boys like crazy, and always will. I just hope that Season 8 will be freaking spectacular so they can redeem their selves a bit. But who else was loving Castiel's crazy brain though! He is so funny. I do miss the old him at times, but man he is crazy now. Also, what made me sad about this season was that BOBBY DIED! What crap is that!? Ugh. Talk about gut wrenching. I was super sad about that. I loved Bobby, and now he is officially gone. ): I was starting to hate ghost Bobby, so I'm glad he is finally at rest, but really? Oh wells. People come and go from seasons all the time. I've always like Meg though. Yeah she's creepy, and a bit evil, but she is definitely the most loyal out of all the other demons on this show. And now she's becoming more and more of a bad a. But freaking Crowley. I love and hate him. Now Dean and Cas are stuck in PURGATORY? Okay then. I can't wait for next season to see what happens with that!

 What did you think about last season? Did you love it? Did you absolutely despise it? Or are you on the fence about it like me?

Start of Summer.

View from our balcony.

We are officially in Red Deer, and we are love love loving our new place! It definitely is the nicest place we have lived in so far in our almost 7 months of being married. We don't even want to leave its so pretty! But we are enjoying every minute of it that is for sure. We even have a forest that we can look out over our balcony! It's just awesome. The only sad thing is that Roxy isn't technically allowed to stayed with us... So we have to sneak her in and out of the building anytime we take her out. We got caught with her once, and the guy said we had to get rid of her. Psssh. Even though I think that's lame because we're only here for a month or two, to be on the safe side we keep her at one of the techs houses during the day, and then bring her here at night. One of the good things though is that Keagan is going good so far on his selling! It's definitely been a bit of a challenge. More than we thought it would be, but its paying off.
I for surely have a lot of time on my hands! I've been keeping busy with different things. Exploring around town is definitely a big one, hanging out with new friends and family, reading a lot, and watching movies. I didn't even realize how awesome it is to actually be in a house again! Don't get me wrong I loved the hotel. It was fun, and an adventure, but its so awesome to actually have a stove again! We'll be in our apartment for a couple months, and then off to another hotel for a few more weeks in Cranbrook, BC, and then back to Calgary.
This has been such an amazing adventure! I can't wait for the rest of the summer to play out. It's been a blast to meet new people and to just explore all of the different towns.

183 Days.

For anyone who doesn't know, Keagan and I have been married for exactly 6 months since last Saturday. And what an amazing 6 months it has been! It's crazy how time is flying. But anyways, I just thought that everyone should know what a cute husband I have! So since he had to work on Saturday, he decided to surprise me with an early date night :) We spent the day over at my sister's house that Friday, and all day I kept thinking "What are we going to do tonight!?". Seriously. I knew he had to work on Saturday, so I secretly hoped that he had something planned for us. Well, on our way home I kept trying to drop hints, or get him to tell me what we're doing, but he just acted all casual like, and didn't say anything. So when we got home he told me that he had to go run an errand, and he'll be right back, but he told me to get all dressed up. Hmmm. "Okay", I told him.Well, I waited, and waited, and waited some more, and he STILL wasn't home. It literally was about an hour until I got a text on my phone that said to come outside. So I did just that, and when I walked outside there was chalk written all over the sidewalk, and arrows leading me to a spot in our back yard. When I got to the spot, there was Chinese food (with chopsticks! my fave.), Cherry Dr. Pepper, flowers, and movie tickets to go see the movie The Lucky One. I could die. This kid acts like the non romantic type, psssh! He is super cheesy, and romantic! And I love every minute of it! 

So, here are some cute pictures I took of the night ---

The set up.

Ginger Beef & Cherry Dr. Pepper <3

Deuces.

Place 1: Camrose, Alberta

Place 2: Red Deer, Alberta

Place 3: Cranbrook, BC

Well, its official! Keagan has taken the job selling security all around Alberta - AND I GET TO GO WITH HIM! Oh what a happy feeling it is. So here is our schedule! Starting at the end of April, so in a few weeks, we are moving to Cramrose - which is near Edmonton, which is exciting because then we get to be near the Paisley Clan - for 2 to 3 weeks. Which is pretty sweet because we get to be stayed up in a hotel there. Not quite sure how I feel about that, but hey if there is house keeping I'm sold. Then after that adventure we get to spend almost the rest of the summer in Red Deer! Which I am the most excited about because we get to be near our Auntie Cathy & Uncle Alfred! We are super stoked about that. Then after almost 3 months being there, we are getting transferred up the Cranbrook, BC for another few weeks. I've never been to BC, but I hear it is a beautiful place. So we are pretty excited about what this journey will bring! Now, the next thing on our list of things to do is figure out what exactly we need to bring with us, and also how to keep our place here in Calgary -- but not have to pay the full rent for it. Hopefully everything works out with that! Now the stressful part is deciding what we are taking with us (can fit into our little Celicia), and what is staying here. Obviously, all of our (AKA. My) clothes are coming. But to decided what should be or can be left behind for a couple months believe it or not is kind of a rough choice. I'm just glad our big furniture will stay, because everything is furnished. So that's pretty sweet. But in the end I will have my awesome man, and our cute puppy dog having fun traveling around Alberta/British Colombia for the summer so I'm stoked!


Song for the mood --
[Deuces - Chris Brown]

New Addition.

                                           Roxy Mookie Minkie Paisley.

We have just adopted our first dog into our little family! She is the cutest thing of our life right now, and we love her to death! We got her from our sister in law, Keshia, and her amazing family, for the price of 10 free babysitting jobs :) Thank you guys so much!

Her new toy Super Saver.

I'd Come For You.

Well, tomorrow morning I'm off for 2 weeks down in the states visiting my parents without my beloved husband. You know, I didn't think it would be this hard being away from him for such a short time, but man it is HARD. This is the first time in 8 months, since we've been married and dating that we have been apart for this long. I think the longest time we have been apart was a week, and we both about died. I couldn't even imagine how military woman can handle their men going away for a year at a time. There is no way I could do that. 2 weeks is nothing compared to 2 months or even 2 years. Goodness. They are incredible people.

Keagan and I are O B S E S S E D with the series The Unit, which is fantastic by the way, (Another great show on Netflix y'all should check out.) but as I watch and see how the wives deal with their husbands having such secret lives, and having to deal with the insaneness of not having their emotion and physical support for months at a time is just craziness to me! I know I would be able to handle it if I was put in that position, but honestly if I had the choice to not be away from my husband for weeks/months at a time I would gladly snatch that opportunity right up.

Which brings me to my next thing.. A few weeks ago Keagan was given the greatest opportunity to sell security around Northern Alberta. I was kind of okay with it, because we would be making bank, and not have to worry about making it pay check to pay check.. But on the other hand being away from him for 4 months probably wasn't the best thing right now. So we started doing some serious praying and pondering whether or not that was the right choice for us, and it just wasn't. Not that I couldn't handle him being away for 4 months, but I just in rough shape for him to leave me here, or even for me to go travel town to town with him. And since I don't have my residency up here in Canada yet, so I would just be in bed the majority of the time. That just sounds like the road to the great depression to me. Well, lucky for us our family is the bomb diggity, and my sister's husbands best friend is the manager of another security company called Vivint, and they told us to give him a call and see what our options could be. So Keags did, and we had the best feeling. Our prayers were answered!

Our options were either staying here in Calgary, or traveling to Red Deer for the summer. Well, we do want to do some traveling around in our first year of marriage, even if it is just a couple hours away, so we decided to move to Red Deer. Its perfect because we'll living near family in Red Deer, as well as Calgary, and Edmonton, and if we ever needed anything, or if something happened we have support everywhere!

Heavenly Father has blessed us at every turn we make, and we are so happy! We'll be moving to Red Deer probably around the end of April or beginning of June. Either way we are stoked, and can't wait for a new adventure!


Song for the mood --
[I'd Come For You - Nickelback]

We Should Get Jersey's, Cause We Make A Good Team.

This day was probably the most stressful, but most incredible day of my life. It was the day I married my best friend, and better half. He made it so wonderful. And although we barely ate anything, and we both had raging headaches - all of our friends and family worked their butt of to make it so special for us. Thank you everyone who drove down to Kalispell on the 21st of October to attend the Wedding & Family Dinner party, and then raced back to Calgary the next day to attend our reception there as well. You guys are so amazing, and this day wouldn't have been as romantic and beautiful without all of  your help. Especially to my love ladies who helped me get ready as fast as possible (even though we were still 45 minutes late! Whoops) 
- Note to ALL Brides -  

DO NOT HELP. Just get ready.

 Everything will fall into place the way it should. As mine did.

 

 

 

In order: Jane, Abbi, Tayler, Stella, Me, Keagan, Myles, Davin, & Jordan.

We didn't have any flowers at the wedding - Just Feathers. Best Idea Ever.

 

Stella was my helper with my dress :)

Keagan's dad Drew & I.

 

All photographs are not to be used else where unless permission is granted.
Photographers Include - Jane Blomfield, Rebecca Jones, and Keshia Larsen.