Wedding Wednesday

Yesterday Dan and I ventured out to check off another thing on our wedding to do list. This time is was figuring out our wedding cake.

Dan was pretty excited thinking that we would get to do the cake tasting, but that is for another day. Instead we got to do a drawing of what our cake was going to look like, and price it out. Our wedding will not be small in size, but spending the original quote of $1300 on a wedding cake seemed a bit crazy. When we left the store we have worked it down to almost half of that, but I just hope that our guests eat it!

My inspiration came from this photo, lets just hope that it turns out!

Eng's Ramble #2

As many of you folks that read Stacy’s blog know, I’m a born and raised city boy (I’ll have a blog to follow later on talking about us “dreaded city folk”).  Since dating Stacy and spending time out at the farm I have been exposed to many things that are well outside my wheelhouse.  From time to time I’ll pick some of these stories and share them with you.  Being that many of you have lived on the farm your whole life you may forget many of the “first times” and hopefully I can take you back down memory lane and remind you of some long forgotten memories.  I figured it probably makes the most sense to talk about the first time Stacy took me out to the farm.

Since we started dating I continually bugged her to take me out to the farm and put me to work.  Finally, in June some time (we started dating in February to give you an idea) she took me out while her parents were out of town.  I’m fairly confident she waited for a time when her parents were away in case I turned out to be a real tool on the farm causing her parents to question her life choices.  In any case, before we went out I told her that she better be putting me to work because I didn’t want to go out there and just sit around.  She assured me that I would definitely be put to work and she’d make sure to keep me busy.  Some of what we did was expected, but much of it was really not something I saw coming…

We checked pastures and did the usual chores, but then when Stacy let three calves into the barn, put halters on them, tied them up, and then handed me a brush, I really had no clue what the hell was going on.  And then yup, sure enough, we started brushing calves.  Really?  This is what you had in mind when I said “put me to work”?  But that’s what we did.  We worked on calves starting the process of training their hair for showing later that year.  Looking back now it really doesn’t seem too foreign and idea at all, but that’s really the last thing I would have expected to be doing my first trip out to the farm.  Since then I’ve washed cows, brushed their hair, used a massive blow-drier to dry them off, and yes I even wiped crap off their backsides when they went to the washroom on show day.  Getting involved with a farm girl I can’t say that this is what I would have expected to be doing, but I thoroughly enjoy all the experiences I have gone through so far and can’t wait to keep learning.

Best Cookies Ever

I love a good cookie, not the store bought kind, but the ones that come straight out of the oven, are warm and of course eating the cookie dough is also a highlight.

 This weekend I decided to make a batch of cookies for Dan and the hockey boys. I love to bake, but I just hate having to eat it all. That is why I am always shipping off  baking to Dan's lab, friends, or the guys he coaches hockey with. One of them has even offered to bring me all the ingredients and just bake for them!

Back to the best cookies ever. My mom has a family recipe that is amazing. It is easy, quick, and really foolproof. I am not quite as good as her making them, I think her Kitchen Aid mixer has something to do with that though.

Chocolate Chip Cookies
Makes 1 Dozen

1/2 Cup Butter
3/4 Cup Brown Sugar
1 Egg
1 tsp Vanilla
1 cup flour
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp baking soda
1 Cup Chocolate Chips

Cream butter and brown sugar. Beat in egg and vanilla. Add flour, salt, and baking soda. Stir in chocolate chips. Bake at 375 F for 8-10 mins.

See I told you it was easy! And when they come out and look this delicious you will have to refrain from making them every week. Just make sure you have some glasses of milk handy to really enjoy them!

Cavalia

Almost 2 weeks ago now I wanted to surprise Dan with a date night. We were going to be in the city all weekend and had not gone out and done anything for a while. After hearing some great reviews, and the show being extended 6 times, I figured Cavalia was the best option for us.

Dan growing up in the city did not have the first hand experiences with horses like I did. I had to refrain myself every 2 minutes in the show to tell him what a move was called, either how difficult or easy it was, the breeds of the horses, all of those fun details. I can say that he definitely learned lots whether he wanted to or not!

The show really is fantastic though. The cast is great, the horses are amazing and the story that they tell is interesting while not taking away from the true talent of the animals. I loved the multiple choice questions at the beginning of the show to both entertain and educate the audience.

It would have been amazing to go into the barns after the show, however, by the time we bought tickets those types were all sold out.

If you have a chance in the next week you really need to go see this production. Not only is it a great family show, but it is just wonderfully entertaining.

Wedding Wednesday

A few weeks ago Dan and I headed out for an afternoon of pictures. My friend Jade from the Naked Lip was over that morning doing some make-up, and soon enough we were off and running.

Because our photographers are coming from the USA, it just was not practical to have them come and do engagement photos as well. Dan had a good friend who does photography in Edmonton, and they were the perfect option to do our photos.

3 hours later we had been to the farm, the pasture and the lake to snap some pictures. We just got them all back this week and are having a really hard time narrowing down to just a few to use for the wedding!

Eng’s Ramble# 1

I figured my first rambling session should be about the day I decided to propose to Stacy. Once I decided that I wanted to take the plunge and ask Stacy to get married, I took my mom to look at rings. Stacy had gone before to look at some so that I could have some sort of an idea as to what she wanted, but after seeing the ones she picked I wasn’t totally happy with any of them. After a long day of searching and deliberation (it was probably only an hour or two TOPS, but for a guy like me shopping for jewellery this is a really long time) I definitely found the one I wanted. Being the stubborn male I am, once I find something I like, or get an idea in my head, it’s usually set for good and this was no different. This whole shopping ordeal was in April and I finally got the ring in July….


Buying the ring was one thing, but now deciding when and how to give it to Stacy was going to be another. Most people thought I was going to ask her when we took a trip to Hawaii in May but that obviously didn’t happen. Even if I had the ring I probably wouldn’t have since everyone thought I was going to and I would like at least a little surprise. After humming and hawing about it for quite a while, I decided I’d do it before the Garth Brooks concert at the Stampede. We met because of Garth’s show in Vegas and we were going to be surrounded by friends and family the whole weekend so I figured it’d be perfect.


Of course, the whole asking thing was just brutal. I text my sister earlier in the week to pitch my final idea to her just to make sure I wasn’t totally out to lunch. She loved the idea and timing so I figured that was the green light. I had no doubt that she would say yes (you can say that sounds cocky but she did buy a house with me so saying no wouldn’t make a whole lot of sense), but just the thought of actually putting a ring on her finger definitely sent things to a whole new level. I was on the deck having a cigar and was on about my third beer when my sister sent a text the night before asking if I was nervous. When dawn broke the next morning, I asked her before we left for Calgary and she said yes!! This was a massive weight off my shoulders and we got to spend the rest of the weekend with friends and family. It was definitely one of the best weekends of my life.

Eng’s Ramble: Intro

I must start by saying that I have never, ever, written a blog before but I will always read Stacy’s blog. Whenever she slacks on her blog I will give her a hard time because I don’t have any reading material during my morning coffee break. Finally, after taking a fair amount of my abuse she decided she’d fire back and tell me that if I wanted blogs all the time I should have to write one once in a while too. So, here I am, writing a blog. Over the next while all you Slycattle followers will be graced with my presence as I, her fiancé, write the odd blog contribution for Stacy. It has been entitled Eng’s Ramble because it will be exactly that… a ramble. I’ll be sure to give opinions, tell the odd story, and provide some insight into my life as a cattle girl’s future husband.

Engagement Pictures Option #3

Another one of our stops on the engagement photo tour will be the University of Alberta. Dan has done all of his post secondary schooling there, and is currently finishing up his PhD in Mechanical Engineering. I spent a lot of time there with friends going to school, so we thought it would be a great place to do some pictures. 

The idea for these ones is a little bit city. After all you can't have a great shoe collection and not show them off!

Engagement Pictures #3 by slycattle featuring chain jewelry

Engagement Picture Outfit for Dan #1

Of course I am not the only one that needs outfit options. Dan was shocked the other day to find out that he was going to actually come up with outfits as well. Since he has been busy with hockey the last month, and I know he will be reading this, here is an option that I thought would be great for him to match either of my first 2 options.

If you haven't noticed either, Dan has become quite the farmer in the last year!

Engagement Pictures Dan #1 by slycattle on Polyvore

Coolest Day Ever!

This year we were all really excited to go to the Calgary Stampede and spend a few days with our friends down in Calgary. Dan had got 6 tickets to the Garth Brooks concert, and we were really excited to have a little mini summer vacation.

Dan & I had met in Vegas when we both went down with mutual friends to see Garth Brooks. The show was amazing and we had a great time hanging out. Long story short, we started dating, bought and house together and things were going great.

The morning we were to head to Calgary, we had plans to meet up with Dan's brother and one of his best friends for breakfast. We kind of had a lazy morning, and after talking about the concert later that night, he popped the question! After a whirlwind day of lots of phone calls, congratulations, a new job (will share about that later on), and the concert, it was by far the best day of my life!

Our wedding is set for September 14, 2013, so we will have lots of time to plan and share some fun details with you until the big day!

Hawaii Convention Center

The whole reason for us going to Hawaii was that Dan was presenting a poster at the American Association of Orthodontics Annual Conference. The conference is not always held in Hawaii, but it was a great incentive to the trip that's for sure!

The conference center was located right beside our first hotel. Not only was it handy to be so close for Dan to run back and forth, but we also had this great view of it from our hotel window! To me it looks so much like the Denver Airport.

The convention centre itself is not only huge but really beautiful. It is extremely open and airy so that you feel like you are outside not stuck in at a conference. I have been to a few convention centre's through my work, but I have to say that this is one of the nicest that I have seen.

There were about 14,000 conference attendees and another 6,000 people there with the tradeshow. Because of these large numbers the session rooms were massive. In this one I think I counted enough seating for 860 people, and Dan said that they were full every time.

And of course the real reason we were there. Dan's poster was an e-poster, which means that he really did not have to present anything. People would walk up to the computer, search through over 100 papers and read the ones that interested them. If you had questions or wanted more information you could email the presenters right from the computer you were reading it on. A pretty neat idea if you ask me.

Although the convention centre was really beautiful, we both could not wait to get back outside and enjoy some Hawaii sun!

Birthday Boy Facts

Well today is Dan's birthday and because he is getting featured on the blog more all the time I thought I would share with you 10 things you might not have know about him!

10. He is getting his Ph.D. in Mechanical Engineering, with his thesis being on orthodontic appliances. Yes he is a very smart guy!

9. Before dating me he had only been to a friends farm a few times. He was young so he never did much, but we have changed that in the last year

8. He is very well "trained". Everyone thought that when we moved in together I would have lots of bad habits to break, but the truth is that I think he might be cleaner than I am!

7. When he is not at school, he is coaching power skating with Elite Power Skating. You can even see him here in action

6. He officially has his first animal. A bull calf of mine that was born this January came out not quite the colour I was hoping. I disowned him and now he is Dan's calf. Now it is up to him to halter break, feed, and sell Wildcard.

5. He is an iphone guy and bugs me about having a Blackberry.

4. He is a big nerd at heart. We now have a playstation, xbox and wii in our house and he loves the Lord of the Rings trilogy.

3. He is 345 days older then me.

2. He is a serious scotch drinker liking unpeaty scotches.

1. He may have a slightly smaller closet then me, but he has just as many clothes as I do!

Thinking of Home

Dan and I have been in Hawaii since Friday afternoon. The weather is amazing, and it is stunning here. If it were not for these guys we may never come home!

Elle up to her knees in mud

Elle x Joker Bull Calf- Wildcard

Sweet Talker heifer

This guy has the baldy gene! He was 90% this year

Farmer Dan and his dog Bud

See all of you next week with lots of updates and pictures!

Arizona Grand

One of the things I wanted to do while in Phoenix was to go golfing. With my last time on a course being September and our courses not opening until May, I was itching to get out there and enjoy a round or two.

No sooner then 2 hrs after I landed I was teeing off at the Arizona Grand. This resort course was a great way to start the weekend with the Romanyk's.

"The Eng" and my white legs

The Romanyk Boys

So many cute bunnies!

A Story For the Ages

I have always found the stories of how couples meet to be great to listen to. Everything from high school sweethearts to neighbourhood friends, or even fierce competitors. My story is original in itself as I met my better half in the most unlikely of places!

One year ago Brett and I headed to Vegas for a girls trip and to see Garth Brooks. It just happened that one of Brett's coworkers was going down with a friend as well. We thought we may see the 2 guys a bit, help them fill their shopping requests, but would just see how things played out.

One Year Ago

As the 5 days went on we actually spent most of our time with the guys. It turned out that this other friend that came along was pretty cute, and despite thinking his name was Tyler for the first 24hrs, Dan was a great guy. He asked if he could take me out for dinner when we got back and my response was, "Probably, and that's more then most of the boys get!" (I may have had a few drinks at that time)

One Year Later in Phoenix

Flash forward one year and we are still together. We spent our one year with Dan's family in Phoenix and enjoyed some shopping, golfing, and most of all the heat! I never would have guessed that the trip to Vegas would turn out with a boyfriend, owning a house with that guy, and being more happy then I ever thought possible!

To top it all off I even got some pretty great jewels! No girl will ever say no to Tiffany's and Swaroski....