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!

Birthday

I had such a wonderful birthday! It's been a weird adjustment to have birthdays away from my family (at home) and my twin sister, Taryn. I have to say that Ben takes over the responsibility very well. He took me to a nice dinner. (I love when he lets me dress up)
Among the many birthday greetings and nice little gifts was something I could only imagine... my very own sewing machine! My mom surprised me with a package at my doorstep, underneath my mat. I thought, "hm, what is that?" and then the large letters- s-i-n-g-e-r. EEEE! I shrieked!

I have been dreaming of learning to sew. And today, after some tedious manual reading, I SEWED! Check it out here:
An extremely bumpy start. yipe. But someday I'll be able to whip up a room like this:
Mom, now along with the many, many other skills/talents I attribute to you, I can add this one! (once I'm good). THANKS mom.

December Wish List

Who likes the bitter cold? The icy sidewalks, the dry skin, (the white skin!), the dirt on your car that turns all your clothes dirty? It was a long time ago, maybe the first winter we spent in Mississippi twelve years ago, that I realized if I was going to make it through the long winter, there were a few things I'd need... here they are, along with some of my other favorite holiday treats this winter.


Philosophy Cinnamon Buns
I love this stuff. It smells heavenly. I can smell it now. I used to think it could help me with my diet, like if I could smell the buns it would be like I were eating them. Not exactly. This season I want to try the "candy cane" holiday flavor.




Stephen's Hot Cocoa
Can you get this stuff outside of Utah? I was introduced to it at the creamery at BYU. I've never had so much hot chocolate in my life as I've had this winter so far. Combine the cold weather with my weird inability to eat things too cold or hard (strange dental dilemma) and get my addiction. Stephen's is yummy.




Ahava Mineral Hand Cream
For a senior graduation gift in high school I was given a tube of this. I felt like I was pampering myself at the time, but now I seriously consider this a staple. It works so well without any greasy leftovers, and I can use it year-round. Give me something else that works as well, and I'll take it. Until then I'll recommend this to everyone.



Sarah McLachlan Wintersong
I'll admit I don't have the whole cd. But I am obsessed with "River" and I listen to it on repeat when I am home alone. It makes me daydream about skating down a river. (without the whole "I made my baby cry" part)



Glass Glittered Doves
I was wandering through Potterybarn a few weeks ago, and with a little money left on a gift card, I bought a few of these cute little doves, I couldn't resist. When I got home to the tree, I just couldn't bear to separate them, so I made them kissing! When Ben came home I said, "look! two love birds. that's us" As cheesy as it is, I still think it's pretty cute and I'll enjoy putting them together on the tree from now on.



Vietri Foglia Bread and Butter Plates
After 10 months of being married, I had to hurry and decide on a few things with a credit I had at a gift shop in Tupelo. I chose these plates without seeing them in person. They are so fun! Love the green color with my current creamy plates. Now if I could just learn how to cook really fantastic meals so I could have a fabulous dinner party with these cute plates. Taryn, where are you when I need you?? I just know I shouldn't serve microwaved nachos to my guests.

Fresh Garland
In hopes of bringing some nice woodsy smells into our place (we have an artificial pre-lit tree that I love), I thought I'd buy some fresh garland to hang. I found 15 feet for $10 and hung it over a window like this. It looks so festive and was inexpensive and easy to hang.

One Year Ago...

I can't believe how the year has flown by. In some ways I feel like my wedding was yesterday, but in other ways I feel like I can't remember my life before Ben. We've been looking forward to celebrating our 1st anniversary. November 10th fell on a Saturday this year, so we got to celebrate our big day on the actual day and spend the whole day together. Ben planned the whole day as a surprise to me. We started out walking through the Gateway - it was the most beautiful day outside- almost the same weather as the year before. We got in some shopping (how did he know me soo well?) and a little bit of golf in the afternoon. Then we went to The Roof at the Joseph Smith Memorial Building for dinner. What a spectacular view.
I thought it would be fun to go to the top of the Wells Fargo Building to remember our reception, but sitting almost right on top of the temple was so much more memorable. I felt like we had the best table in the whole place. It was just incredible. I had the belt taken off my dress and I wore it with a black dress, I felt like a princess all over again.
The night wouldn't have been complete without eating the top of our wedding cake... and I have to say it was just as delicious to me as it was last year. After we had our bites, Ben said, "should I throw it away now?" um, no, let's keep it... I'm looking forward to eating the rest of it! As soon as I'm off this sugar high from all the desserts at the buffet.

We had a fantastic day. I'm so nostalgic I love these days to come and I'm sad when they're gone. Help... I still want to get teary when I drive by the Wells Fargo building.