Johnny

Last month we went to the John Mayer/Colbie Callait concert at Usana. It was the highlight of our Utah adventures this summer. There are few things that top seeing JM in concert as it is, but wait, add Colbie Callait, an outdoor venue, and my parents and Dean, are you kidding?! It was a fantastic treat. We are a John Mayer-loving family.
Lacey and Ashton were only a few rows away - and Ben's good friend Devon took Dean up to the tenth row for the final hour of the concert. Dean had the time of his life up there. When we were walking out he was walking in a daze and said, "mark that off the list of things to do before I die..." :) It was a really fun. There were some crazy girls next to me that kept wanting us to "get up! get up and dance!"... peer pressure. By the end of the show I was rockin' out so much I decided to get a picture with my new friends... it was really funny to my mom, dad, and Ben, who weren't standing up and never were... maybe you just had to be there. It even looks like I'm holding a drink. I hope my new friends don't mind their debut on my blog.

Las Vegas Market

Last week my two fantastic bosses invited me to Las Vegas for 'market'. What a ball! There are three huge buildings right off the strip (by the outlets) - at least 12 floors in each. Driving, we left at 5 am on Wednesday and returned Friday morning at 3 am. With less than 48 hours in Vegas, we hit the ground running.

too bad we missed Rod Stewart's concert on Monday... I just love "have I told you lately." I smooched him for good luck...

We visited all of our current vendors and then hit a bunch of new showrooms to look into picking up new lines. At every turn I was saying, " I love it, let's get this! Can we open with them?!" I was like a kid in a candy store... shiny accessories everywhere, beautiful chandeliers and best of all, taffeta drapes! That is my idea of heaven on earth.
Most of all, it was eye-opening to see more of the furniture and accessories we carry and all that is out there. It gives me more confidence to work with my clients. And I felt so cool hanging out with Kathy, Ruth and Derek... just like makin' it to the big leagues.

Me and Derek at the end of the trip... by this time I'd ditched the stilettos. The rolling bag was a life-saver... full of all kinds of freebies and catalogs from 36 floors of showrooms.

Vegas in July is a crazy idea, but market was a blast! Now, for my blisters to recover...

Montana Vacation

It's time for another installment of Summer Fun in Monty. It's one of those trips you never want to end. After over ten days of vacation at my parent's house, Ben and I were still sad to drive away. "Where did the time go??" seriously?! We were so baffled that we actually recapped each day's activities on the way home just to be sure we didn't skip a day.

We had a BLAST - of course. Ben and I woke up and walked down to the tennis court almost every day. Ben and Dad (and Dean and the Duffster) got at least nine rounds of golf in, not to mention the holes they'd play walking out on the course after dinner each night. They are a match made in heaven.

It was wonderful to have the family together again. Whatever we were doing, it was fun. Here are a few of my highlights:

Watching Dean play summer baseball (here's a shout-out to your awesome hair, while I'm at it)
Actually wanting to get out of bed early to see if Reese was awake
Lake fun at Lake Blaine with our new bff's the Smith's
Late night bar-b-ques and dinner parties hosted by mom
Two words: Gee-tar Hero! Tessa and Duffy - we'll never be the same!
Tubing on Echo Lake with the MacLennon's... near death but completely awesome
Mom's delicious cakes and brownies
Dad's steaks and BurgerTown - in that order
Dressing up Reese every day



and last but not least, Lindsey and Mike's engagement!!!! Hooray for weddings!

LP 2008

Our third year at Lake Powell was nothing short of entertaining. You might remember my posts from year one and two... well, I keep posting on the trip because each year stands alone. Last year we were fewer in number due to all the babies born right around summer time. Also, we had a terrible windstorm and a non-functional ski boat that kept us near the marina for two days.

This year we were back with a wave of new toddlers coming to the lake for the first time. It's fun to watch them experience all the newness of the place. Also, we had no boat trouble and three jetskis to boot! It was fun every minute, with exception of bedtime. We all sleep up on the top of the boat, so when the little ones have to get ready for bed, they're overly tired, burned, chapped, and totally wasted from the day. Ben and I and the other child-less couples just excused ourselves until it was quiet up top.

Ben and I had a great time swimming with the kids, catching lizards (my first!), a little fishing, and lots o' food. I packed mucho sunblock and of course my visor. I had to be reminded to lose the visor after dark... I got so used to it! The weather was really hot and pretty windy. By the end of the day and especially the end of the trip I was covering up to avoid the wind and hot afternoon sun (which can still burn by the way). It made me so exhausted and my skin so dry! Thus many of the pictures of me turned out a little strange. But luckily I can report no burns or peels after five days of exposure... only the lip-liner variety of chapped lips.

day one - visor only

day three- visor, shirt and towel

last day... can you find me?
still have the visor! and shirt and two towels... yet everyone else is dressed normally

Thanks Kathy and Jed for another crazy adventure!

The Day I Met Reese

Last weekend I caught a flight to Kalispell to see my family and to finally meet my brand new niece. Maybe I am prejudiced as she is my sister's baby, but I think Reese is beyond beautiful... she is exceptionally cute and just the sweetest little one. I knew we'd be best friends the second our eyes met.

I had three-months worth of goodies to give Reese and mommy - how can we pass baby girl clothing and NOT buy it?! (please someone help!) Reese enjoyed all of her gifts, especially the BYU pink/white baseball cap that Tessa and I couldn't pass up when we were at the bookstore last month.

I had such a fun time with the girls - Taryn and Mom are great companions! We basically did nothing... except hang out with each other and watch Dean play baseball. He had a junior legion tournament and it was great to watch him in action. Reese is a cutie, but Dean is still the ultimate mush to me. I can't believe that he is a sophomore. Dad, Mom and I worked the concession stand for a while and made a lot of fun out of it. I had my camera out all weekend and must have taken hundreds of shots, but especially at the game... so many photo-ops... we kept asking people to take pictures of us, and I took many (many!) pictures of Reese in various poses, the stands probably thought I'd never seen a baby before. annoying? who cares.

Reese is so tiny, look at her! such expressive eyebrows!

Saturday night mom hosted a party for the graduating seniors in the ward, and Taryn got to practice more of her culinary genius. She raises the bar with every event! For the special occasion, Reese had just the thing... a casual but preppy and appropriate party dress. Here she is before the big event. (taryn and I hoped that by dressing reese so cute, guests would be diverted from the fact that we didn't 'get ready' ourselves - it totally worked)


Sunday it was church and then more leisure time with baby Reese. I put her in the baby Bjorn and it was off to water all of the container planting we had done the day before. Reese loved learning about all kinds of flowers and plants and the tricks of watering... she paid great attention :) We had so much fun together over the weekend. Here were some of the highlights for me:

...
meeting Reese
seeing taryn as a mom, just as perfect as I expected she'd be
watching my parents with the baby, as grandparents, ahh!
playing with Reese
seeing Dean hit an awesome line drive for a base hit
cracking up with dad while he watched Blazing Saddles
planting pots with my mom
laughing with Reese (yes, she laughs!)
packing only jammies and wearing my mom's clothes all weekend
eating Taryn's yummy cupcake treats
laughing with taryn and mom, and dean, and dad, (okay! all y'all!)
beautiful Montana weather and late sunsets
playing dress-up with Reese and giving her new nicknames almost on the hour

...

Reese - with the custom rhinestone binky I made

here we are before I left, Reese woke up for the send-off with the craziest hair!

I cannot wait to see Reese again. Just when I thought I was becoming less baby crazy, I had to meet one of the most precious and perfect little babies. I think Ben may be in a bit of trouble...

La Jolla weekend

We had a fantastic time in California last weekend. Ben and I flew down with my mom on Thursday (SLC was getting snow as we left) and went straight to the beach for the sunset. Just flying into the city put a smile on my face. Ahh!
Friday we picked up Lindsey and went to the temple. What an experience. It is more beautiful inside than you can imagine. It was great to be there. The rest of the day we spent at the Beach Club in La Jolla. It brings back so many memories and it was great to tour Ben all around the town and tell him lots (too many?) of stories from when we lived there.
We met Mike and Dad and had dinner at Piatti at La Jolla shores. So delicious - and great company.
Saturday the boys played a round of golf with Ashton and his dad at the San Diego Country Club, so the girls took the opportunity to hit the beach again. We spent the whole day with Lacey at the Beach Club... what a treat.
No trip to La Jolla is complete without dinner at Mandarin House... popcorn shrimp and cashew chicken to die for! Ben and I met up with my parents and a group of their friends from the 7th ward... such a fun get together. I used to babysit their kids, and that night they were filling me in on their weddings, college graduations, etc... wow how time flies. We did a 'musical chairs' dinner and had a great time catching up with everyone.
After church on Sunday we checked out of 'Hotel Brazier' and went to Coronado for two nights. Coronado island is one of the coolest little places. (to remind Ben where we were I told him "this is the bridge that Will Ferrel kicked that dog from in Anchorman...)
The golf tournament began early Monday morning and the boys had a great time I think! Dad invited Ben to play in his group - who can complain about playing at the SDCC, for charity, with free goodies and food at almost every hole?? Mom and Lacey and I walked a few holes with them and got our share as well. The Billy Casper Foundation does a wonderful event every year with a golf tournament followed by a dinner and auction. We had a really fun time at dinner and were even treated by a performance from the local showchoir. Talk about flashbacks!
We had such a fun weekend, with Lacey and Ashton, Mom and Dad, Lindsey and Mike!

D-O Double G

I've been wanting to post for a while on a few more of my favorite things. One of which was a newer reality show "Snoop Dogg's FatherHood." I kept thinking, "no, I can't post about that... people will think I'm a ganster or that it's irreverent..."

Honestly I like to watch the show and for some reason I'm always fully entertained when I tune in. Something about his demeanor just makes me laugh. Re-runs are shown a lot... so if you happen to catch it on the tv, look for the part where Snoop's wife is singing her version of his new song, "sensual seduction"... a song which I think is hilarious.... (I know, are you seeing a side of me you wish you hadn't?) Click here to hear a sample of the song, and P.S. I like the video even more...

It's not like I've been a huge Snoop follower forever, but his music brings back fond memories. A few of you may have seen a music video Lacey and I created to his last hit, "drop it like it's hot" on our way to Celine's show in Vegas. (special thanks to Heidi for shooting and Taryn for driving).

So after six weeks of not posting on "FatherHood" ( I even love the show's theme song)... I got this article e-mailed to me this morning. Click here to read the article about Snoop's conversion to Mormonism. CNN reports have always seemed credible to me... take a read for yourself.

After having this post 'up' for only minutes, my dear reader Blythe informed me that this was some sort of crude April Fool's joke by some source pretending to be CNN. How rude. What a dirty trick. What's so funny about april fool's anyway? Well, I still like Snoop. It's not the first time I've been duped... and certainly it won't be the last.

Reese

I always miss seeing my sisters and brother and parents... vacations just don't happen often enough for us, and it's hard to get anywhere on the weekends, let alone Cincinnati, DC, and Montana at the same time.  Who could choose?  

I miss you all equally, please know that.  But right now I am longing for a trip to DC to meet the newest addition to our family... Reese.  I've only seen photos via e-mail so far, but to me she looks like the picture of perfection! Oh Taryn, we all knew you and Michael would have beautiful children, but we never expected this! Be sure you blow up my picture, point and say, "here is aunt lauren. she loves you THIS much"  Maybe I'll make you a cardboard cut-out so she can get to know me. :)

Love you Tar and Mike. Congratulations on the most precious little baby girl.

Going Private

After a few random posts/scary virus links left on my comments page, I have decided to go private. Which is bittersweet because I like for my friends' friends, etc. to be able to click around on my blog if they are lost while blog-surfing. It's such a fun way to re-connect with old pals, isn't it?

Leave a comment and let me know if you'd like to be on my list of allowed viewers. If you don't feel comfortable leaving your e-mail but you're not sure I have it... just leave your name and I'll try to find your e-mail through my existing network. :) If you do leave your e-mail, once I receive the comment I'll write down your email and delete the comment. 

Dream Home

Every day since January 3 I have logged on to hgtv.com and entered the Dream Home Giveaway. I entered the sweepstakes last year, but never really got into it. This year, for some reason, I am obsessed with entering and make absolutely certain that I never miss a day for my chance to win! The house to be given away is brand new and located in the Florida Keys in a place called Islamorada, doesn't that just sound like paradise?!

I've never been into sweepstakes much, I guess I always figure that there is a catch, or that there are just too many entries and that there's just no way I'd ever win. But with this, for some reason, I want it sooo bad... and, what's worse, I've been deluded into imagining that Ben and I could actually win this prize worth 2.2 million dollars!

Tomorrow is the last day to enter... and then after that the winners will be chosen on a show that will air sometime in March. I could only imagine how many millions of entries there have been... but still I know I'll be crushed if we don't win the sweepstakes. (you can laugh, I know I'm crazy!) Oh help.

Tribute

I was sent this clip from my Granny- Glenn Beck's piece on President Hinckley. Click here to watch it. I think there are other clips of the prophet on this website. Also - for those of you who dont' know, ksl will broadcast President Hinckley's funeral and service tomorrow, Saturday, starting at 10 mst I think. Oh how we'll all miss President Hinckley! He was the dearest man.

Christmas 2007

We had the greatest time in Montana this Christmas celebrating with my family. It was my parents' year to have everyone home - and my mom has been excited for/ planning this two-week stay for the past 11 months!

Each day we awoke to an itinerary of the day's events. For example: 9:30-12 - wake up at your leisure, check e-mail, hit the gym, etc. 12: lunch together at home, 12:30 - head to Lake Blaine for hockey and skating, 5:30 Dinner at home and then to National Treasure movie. It was SO much fun! Planning for ten adults is a must (without the itinerary one day we just sat in our pj's watching sportscenter until 2 p.m., yikes).

We had so many fun things to do, despite the cold cold weather! There was hockey, skating, skiing, sledding, shoveling, last-minute shopping, paint-your own pottery, puppy visiting, quilting, movies, dad's homemade popcorn, dinner parties, make your own sushi night, snow bocci ball, 2-on-2 basketball, gingerbread house contests... to name a few!

Here are a few pictures of the adventures. There were about 40 pictures of the puppy visit (we each had a yellow lab to hold, there were nine in the litter!)...so I had to practice some restraint there. The golden retriever puppy we saw was my personal favorite. :)

Mom, thanks for a vacation that HAS to top the Stimpson charts. And Dad, we are seriously missing your popcorn!