Single Sister

Something really cool happened this month. My sister Emilee is in the Ensign this month. Her picture is featured in an article about single sisters. She is so beautiful and an inspiration for overcoming things when life turns in a direction you did not choose. Her hair is normally curly so to see it straight is a little strange. I know that her divorce was a challenge for her and I am inspired by her faith and compassion for people. I love ya Em. Now you can say you are famous.

Okay random information. The Ensign only publishes pictures of women with straight hair because it is more timeless.

Scarlet, Velvet and Pearls

My best friend Carrie gave me this book for Christmas "These is my Words". I throughly enjoyed and loved this book, I kept going back and reading passages from it. I loved the main character Sarah. The way they wrote this book as if it was a diary was really appealing. There were times you could taste the dirt, feel the fatique and smell the dust in the Arizona territory.

Here is one of my favorite sayings from this book by Sarah when they are traveling back to Arizona territory

"Something hit my bonnet, blowing in the wind. It startled me some but I was more startled when I grabbed hold of it. It is a piece of paper, but most important it is a piece of a book. A page from a story. It is page eighty-seven, and starts with, carried far out to sea. And the little boat went on into the gale, and ends with, beautiful woman clutched the letter to her bosom in fear as she saw, and then the page is finished and there isn't no more. On the other side is a little pencil picture of a big water and a little ship. I have read it over and over, trying to wish the rest of the story out of the page....She has a dress of scarlet velvet and pearls in her hair, and I don't know what that is either but it must be beautiful and someday I want a dress of scarlet velvet and pearls to put in my hair."

"Scarlet velvet and pearls" represents my yearning and desire for everything good, beautiful, and inspiring. I love being in beautiful places. I want to create a beautiful home and feel good in it. I love seeing beautiful creations. I try to design beautiful scrapbook pages and capture beautiful photographs. I love beautiful things. I like to see them, wear them, and experience them. I, like Sarah, someday want a dress of scarlet velvet and pearls to put in my hair.

I love her desire to read and have good things come into her life. She works really hard to make her life her own. She is constantly trying to educate herself, And treasures books just as much as I do. There are many more passages in this book that I adore.

Thanks for this beautiful book. It has become one of my absolute favorites. I know I will read it over and over as years og by

The Daily Uniform

Noah has a daily uniform. If the uniform is changed or altered in any way. It leads to fit throwing, tears and pulling on his clothes all day as he realizes over and over again that this is not what he likes to wear. I decided this is not a one of the battles I have to win except for on Sunday he does have to wear something else to church. I usually try to plan now with Late church at least 40 min to get him dressed. It is a difficult thing getting a screaming, wiggly 33 month old dressed in something with a collar instead of Buzz Lightyear, at least that is how it is a our house.

Since a little bit before thanksgiving he only wants to wear this. I sometimes can reason with him that it needs to be washed and he will have to wait. We have a ceremony to take it to the washing machine. And he checks if frequently to see if it is done. For bedtime a similar problem. Pajamas don't have pockets so we now go through a hurricane to get pajamas on him. I just don't think that his clothes with be that comfy. I sometimes sneak them out of his room and get them washed that way.

Here is what the beloved outfit contains, It has to be Levi's with pockets and he is not fooled if I tell him tan pants are levi's in a different color. He likes the pockets so he can clip his new Light Saber to the pocket of his pants. If he is playing another game he puts a dowell in one and his Kerrigan Sword from Uncle Jason F* in the other and practices drawing them out like they are guns. He loves his black winter boots, that at the store he kept trying to put on the pink boots with the fur. Well, Dad would have none of that so we convinced him that these cool black boots were just like Zurg and Darth Vader would wear and there is not turning back now. He has a hiding shirt that still has to be approved for underneath his jacket. And now for the inspiration of this entire outfit, his beloved Buzz Lightyear jacket. It came in an entire jogging suit and he has loved it from the beginning. He uses the spaceship on the sleeve as his Buzz laser.

For Noah this is the perfect ensemble. It is comfortable, serviceable but most importantly it just looks really Cool.

Noah the aspiring photographer

Noah has always loved having his picture taken. He loves saying cheese and finds it hilarious. Only a couple of times I can remember has he been camera shy

He found our camera the other day and started snapping pictures left and right. I was making dinner and cleaning the kitchen as seen in the bottom picture. And since he was laughing and having a great time decided not to worry to much.

He came in to show me his master pieces. I think he is becoming quite the photographer. And he is getting better at actually aiming and centering the picture. Well, how grateful we are for digital cameras. He loves taking pictures

After Noah takes a picture he thinks he is hilarious. He laughs and laughs and shows you the picture a million times and he will say "Oh, mom mom" and laugh again. So enjoy the talent of Noah and his brilliant photography

100 Random Things about Me

I saw this on my friend Sharon's Sister Diana's blog. ( a little complicated I know) I thought it was so fun to read about things I never knew and I got to know her a bit better. So I made a list myself. I hope I am not being to self involved. But I had a lot of fun making this list and it made me be a bit thoughtful. Enjoy


1. I have always wanted to be a mom and my greatest fear after getting diabetes was that that dream was over forever
2. I love men with curly hair and that was one of the first things I noticed about Kersten
3. Kersten and I met when I was 16 and he just barely turned 17
4. I love having curly hair
5. I was 5 7 1/2 from 7th grade until I was a freshman in college and then I grew and Inch and a half
6. My favorite thing to do with Noah is reading
7. Kersten and I got married on my half birthday
8. I remember random dates and times of things that are important to me, for instance: Kerst first held my hand on Sept 22 at Evergreen park, first kissed me on Oct 1 at 11:35 pm on the roof, First told me he loved me on Dec 24 at 4:32 pm, (I will stop now not to bore you with more details)
9. I am a hopeless romantic


10. I love the color yellow, then red and green
11. When I was little my favorite color was purple
12. I love creating
13. My number 1 thing about what I wanted in a husband, other than the obvious is that he had to make me laugh
14. I collect Children’s Books
15. I wish my hair still looked good long
16. I have flown an airplane a couple of times
17. I used to get out of doing chores when I was in Jr High by writing in my journal.
18. Book Stores calm me
19. I read purely for entertainment and I read really really fast
20. I have an unnatural love for eating out


21. I think of myself as a dancer although I haven’t danced since my senior yr of high school.
22. I secretly wish I was more athletic
23. I am afraid of Drains
24. I hate mopping my floors
25. When I was in 6th grade I started a dance company called Zing, I got 6 of the neighborhood kids and we put together a program and I charged all the neighbors to get into the show.
26. I love taffy
27. I wear a size 10 shoe and have since the 5th grade
28. Kersten and I were married for 6 years before we had a baby
29. I have no patience for technology
30. I cannot remember the authors to either books or music
31. I took singing lessons in high school.
32. I do not like the smell of coffee
33. I did not learn my timetables entirely until I was in 9th grade
34. I cannot stand long toenails, if I see even a tiny bit of white it is gone
35. Kerst and I used to go rock climbing
36. I have a paper addiction


37. I used to hate Diet Coke, but it grew on me and now I LOVE it
38. My entire family loves the Osmond’s, especially the song “Like a Yo Yo”
39. I wish I had taken piano longer as a child
40. I played the violin most of my childhood
41. I loved living close to my grandparents growing up and feel sorry for anyone that does not know their grandparents very well
42. I have a hard time with country music, to many bad associations.
43. I collect quotes especially love quotes, I made a love book in high school after a lesson my Laurel teacher did about love and showed us the one she made in high school.
44. I am not very good at journal writing anymore. That is my #1 resolution
45. I want to be a fabulous photographer.
46. I love tools.
47. I crave Buffalo Chicken wings


48. I love daisies, they are the friendliest flower.
49. I would rather not have Kersten get me flowers, I would rather have him get me something that will last a lot longer.
50. I went to Utah State for 2 years and then graduated from the University of Utah
51. I wish I was more ambitious and confident
52. I love to take naps
53. I love blues music especially BB King
54. Since I have been married I have not moved more than 10 blocks away from my childhood home.
55. My favorite engagement story is STILL my parents
56. I am fascinated with human development, physical and emotional. I still look up studies and read my old textbooks and check out new ones


57. I am on the cover of 3 of Anita Stansfield’s Books.
(The Gable Faces East, Gables Against the Sky, The Three Gifts of Christmas)
58. I like a little creative clutter
59. When I was little and shared a room with Amy, I made up a game so that I would not have to clean up our room. I would take the vacuum and go beep beep when I came to something that needed to be cleaned up and Amy would pick it up and put it away
60. I replay conversations in my head, and talk to myself about them
61. I love the Fall, I love the crisp air and the smell of the leaves
62. I love movies and miss being able to go see one anytime
63. I want to be the kind of mom that they can ask any questions to or talk to about anything and they know I will be straight with them
64. My love language is Quality time and words of affirmation
65. My friends are very important to me and I hold onto them closely


66. I am really picky about shoes and
67. Marriage is so much easier and harder than I thought it would be
68. Kersten is my match in every way and I cannot take another breathe without him
69. I love being cheesy
70. I have never been out of the country, but I dream about it all the time.
71. I love hearing stories about my ancestors.
72. I hate pets, I hate it when people have pets because I always get sick
73. Since I got pregnant, I gag really easy
74. I love to vacuum.
75. I cherish my eyesight.
76. I love notebooks
77. I like to write poetry but I am afraid to share it even with my husband
78. I have always loved my name, Laurie Elizabeth. I thought it was a name just like a princess when I was little
79. I crave time to myself where I can be alone with my thoughts
80. I avoid driving at night. I cannot see anything and it scares me
81. I love ice cream but don’t like it plain must have some pizzazz to it but no nuts


82. I can’t stand rubber, the texture, smell grosses me out
83. I love that I have obsessions
84. I love French fries and fry sauce
85. I am grateful I was born into the church
86. I wanted to be a cheerleader since I knew what one was, but the week before tryouts I found out about my surgeries and diabetes. It obviously was not meant to be
87. I hate haunted houses.
88. I don’t like gooeyness

89. I love penguins
90. I was on the Seminary council in 9th grade
91. I wish I was not so easily irritated
92. I had dreams about Noah starting about 3 months after Kersten and I got married
93. I love imagination. I think it is so important to believe in magic and have places to escape too
94. I love fun mail and cherish handwritten notes and letters and save most of them
95. I wish I wanted to sew better
96. I love to have things I cherish all around me
97. I love catalogs and magazines
98. I am not a morning person, it takes me a good 45 min to comprehend what is going on around me in the morning.
99. I am not a night person anymore either. I am definitely a midmorning afternoon person, (duh that is when most people are at their best)
100. I am grateful every day that I work from home and I get to be with Noah all day long. Although it is more than challenging sometimes. I feel so blessed

There you go, I hope you enjoyed all these random facts about me. I would love to see more lists like this out there.
Love you all

Signs

In 2006, my dear friend Kieran taught me a lot about different ways to make my house beautiful and a place I liked being. I was sick and tired of hating all my furniture and just living with it. She helped me paint numerous pieces of furniture in my home. The best part was that it gave us an excuse to get together. Before we had not made it a priority, we live on other sides of the valley and we always had excuses. Well we had a blast. When we completed our projects we decided we needed to find other projects to do so we still had things to do. She has the most beautiful home. She has a talent for color, design and just making things beautiful. One thing I love about her home is that there are signs everywhere. It was a fun reminder to be a little better, live life a little more joyful and to be grateful for your blessings. I am a lover of words, quotes and poetry. And now I am addicted to making signs. I made signs for my dad and stepdad for christmas and for me. I love having these reminders in my home. I am grateful for a wonderful friend who has made my life happier and better. I have learned so much from her. And Noah, Heber and Avery have become great friends so it is always a party when we get together. So here they are.





I also made one with our family name and established date with the year and it is in my top 2. It turned out really beautiful

Today's silliness

Today Noah is grounded from the TV from throwing a fit. He threw a fit because being the "horrible" parents that we are, we made him wear a coat outside. Time out did not phase him in his fit. So no more tv today. He keeps asking me if we can turn on the tv. I just remind him of his fit and we move on.

I have been making signs for our house which I will blog later and started taking pictures of them around the house. Noah of course then wanted to take turns taking pictures.

Most of the ones he took were of my knee or of my neck and chin etc. He is budding into quite the photographer. so these are some of the silly Noah pictures we took.

Having no tv days are good for the soul. Although some say it can be hard on Mom. He has played more with toys and he wants more of my attention than usual. I think I will just take advantage of it and play with my son today.