Trains

Me: Lauren do you want to be potty trained and be a big girl and go peeps and poops in the potty?

Lauren: I want to be a train!!!

Me: (Confused) You want to be a train??????

Lauren: I DO!!!!!!!!! I DO WANT TO BE A TRAIN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Looks like we have watched too much Thomas around these parts.

Victorious

Yesterday I reached my weight loss goal of seven pounds. Hooray. I guess that is the only benefit of the stomach flu:) Think I'll keep it off????? We are all feeling a little down the last couple of days and today we all napped at 10:00am. We have been filling our daytime hours with Thomas and Maisy and filling our nights with HGTV.

Needless to say we are ready to feel better and get off our couch potato buns. (Even though mine is so slim now). ha ha.

Many blessing to Jeff for staying well and staying home from class and studying to take care of us.

Also blessings to Natalie for watching Lauren whilst I was sick, only for Lauren to get sick at her house.

"Silly Gurl"

Lauren has been saying some really funny things and I wanted to write them down so I would have them.

Conversation #1 -today

Lauren: Mommy you vacuumed your room?

Me: Yep. I vacuumed your room too, doesn't it look so much better clean?

Lauren: Uhh? (A look a disgust on her face) Stepnie, no don't vacuum my room. . . I like it dirty.

Conversation #2 -Yesterday

Lauren: Mommy whats you got? (I popped a zit and had a little piece of toilet paper on it)

Toilet paper?? ha ha Silly! Toilet papers for yours bum.

Conversation # 3 - a while ago

We were at the mall and I was putting Lauren into her stroller and was tightening the straps when my hand slipped and bonked her in the nose.

Me: Oh, Lauren I'm so sorry, are you okay.

Lauren: Daddy going to be a DoCtor?? He get me a band-aid.

Rocker-Do

So I got my haircut on Saturday and this is my new punk hair-do. I am not so sure it is me, but I guess I will rock it as best I can. Peace Out.

I know, I know

I realize that it has been forever since I have last blogged, and many thanks to those of you that have pointed this fact out. It somehow makes me feel loved and slightly pestered.

Let me first explain the reason for my absence, and it is a good reason. I have become an HGTV junkie. (I know that there are plenty of other people who can sympathize with me). Melanie I love your home but it will be much healthier when I am forcefully removed from the satellite. When I was bored I used to just jump on the computer for some blogging, but laying down on the couch and vegging is so much easier. Thus the reason for my lack of blogging.

Our Christmas was wonderful and having Jeff here with us was such a treat. We all miss him, but we express it in different ways. For Lauren she called him on Monday morning when she discovered that he was back at school and started crying when she said "I miss you daddy." Or when he tried to lay her down that night she clung to his neck and said "Hold you daddy, Sleep here on MY pillow." So Jeff ended up sleeping on her floor just to reassure her that he did indeed love her and would play with her when he got home the next day. For me, I just feel lonely without him around during the day and being snowed in doesn't help matters. McKenna misses having me all to herself. When daddy is around Lauren clings to him which opens me up for McKenna.

So here are a few pictures of our holidays and some other random favorite photos.

This is our lovely table spread for our Christmas Eve dinner. Take notice of the ice candle holders. Super cool (thanks HGTV), but melted before we even started dinner. Perhaps in an Arctic climate it would have been better.

Here is McKenna opening her present from Santa. This little lady has her top two teeth and her bottom two teeth and she grinds them together. Before I couldn't hear it before because her teeth weren't out all the way but she must have been able to feel it because she would stick her bottom jaw out a lot, and I just figured her teeth were bothering her, but now I can hear it and it is kind of sickening.

This is just one of my favorite pictures of Lauren. She has really blossomed in her abilities to do everything. I am trying to find an art class for her and she loves to do anything artistic.

My birthday was on the 27th and I turned 24. Jeff and my Mom teamed up to make me eclairs. Don't they look beautiful, and they were delicious. Here is the proof . . .

For my birthday Jeff tackled the feat of buying me clothes. This was the first timed he attempted to buy me clothes and I think he did a great job. The pumps, the shirt, necklace and tank top were all of his choosing. I do have a question for you fashionistas: What is the proper bunch necessary for wearing skinny jeans with heels. I usually just wear boots over them but know that I have heels I need to know. I personally think that the lack of bunch makes these too short.

Probably the highlight of our vacation was taking part in the making of a guest room in my parents basement. They were kind enough to listen to my input because they know I love this stuff, and I have nothing to decorate. This room had a lamp, desk and the couch in it before. Then in two days the walls were painted, a headboard was cut and covered. We brought down the bed from upstairs (My Dad and Jeff). A curtain rod and curtains were put up. Pillows were made, the couch got slipcoverd, vinyl was cut and put up (don't say anything about the "levelness" of it, or that the 's' isn't cut out because trying to get it straight about killed me and the 's' just didn't cut out)

This is the wall opposite the bed. Look at those pillows. I made them. Well not the green one, we bought that one. It was so much fun. Now all I need is a house and some money and I can play designer a my house.

I know that her eyes are closed, but this picture just makes me Laugh.

I'm posting this one because I think that I look good in it, and those kind of pictures are so few and far between, right????

Here are my two Oreo lovers. Got Milk?????

Jeff brought me down my toothbrush so we could stay on schedule and I've left in my mouth for like five minutes and I think that the toothpaste has burned off my taste buds so, I guess I need to go spit. Hope everyone is having a lovely and encouraging start to their new year.

CAST VOTES HERE

I'll quickly update my blog for those of you who have been nagging me (hmm...Marni). So I pose a very serious question. A couple of weeks ago Jeff was babysitting for our friends and their daughter is potty trained, but needed help wiping after she went poops. Well Jeff has never helped someone go potty before so he was pretty clueless. So Jeff gets a couple squares of toilet paper and starts to fold it, and she told him not to fold but to bunch it.

When Jeff was telling this story I started laughing and said that he was probably one of the only people who folded their toilet paper. He disagreed and now the question is posed to you.
ARE YOU A BUNCHER OR A FOLDER???????? Leave your comments here.

A Message from Lauren

Laruen: "I need to blog. (While hitting random buttons) Oohhh I blogged."
Me: "Do you want to say anything else for the blog?"
Lauren: "Ummm two. I turn it on."
Me: "Do you want to talk about your day?"
Lauren: "Balls in playground Mommy. Playground. Playground Mommy. I flicked Mommy's booger. I Flicked Mommy's booger. (She picked my nose while I was typing (it was quite painful)). I bite my arm. I blogging. Mommy blogging."
Me: "What else?"
Lauren: "Battery....Bad to Bone. Bad to Bone. I need Lauren. (That means she wants to see pictures of herself on the blog) My music stuck (her CD was skipping) My musssssic stuck. My musssssssick stuck. I need to blogging. Mommy-O's shirt. I zip Mommy's jacket. (she unzipped my hoodie). Hold on, Hold on (while moving my hands while she tried to hit the power button. I throw it. I throwed the ball. (She threw a tennis ball)


I always think it is funny to listen to Lauren talk. She has a running commentary and easily gets distracted from the task at hand. When I typed out what Lauren was saying I could see how her mind transferred from one thing to the other. Even now Lauren found a pump bottle and is trying to pull my shirt down to make me pump. Ahhhhhh. This is really hard to have her climbing all over me. So goodbye from a crazy mom of a two year old.

AAAHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!

Today we had our Stake Conference and Elder Quentin L. Cook was there. Nothing makes you feel more discouraged then having two kids at stake conference on hard chairs, with small rows, and a hardwood floor. Needless to say we spent our time out in the foyer running and stealing other kids snacks and toys. My favorite moment was when our stake president asked all the primary kids to sing "I Love to See the Temple" on the way home from conference with their parents. He then proceeded to quote the words and Lauren said "NO SING TEMPLE." Lovely.

Lauren had reverted back to 15 months old. You know when they are learning to walk and explore. Lauren has re found the joys of unrolling the toilet paper, and dumping everything on the floor. Most often her snacks which proceed to then be smooshed to oblivion. And recently she has turned into a bully. Pushing her friends and McKenna.

(Here is Lauren in her general naughtiness)

But on a happier note. We woke up to beautiful snow. It snowed probably six inches and was made all the more fun because I didn't even know it was supposed to snow. We were mesmerized and Lauren and I watched the snow for about 20 minutes. When McKenna went down for her nap Lauren and I bundled up and played for about an hour. I have never seen anybody Love the snow as much as Lauren did. After about a half hour I was cold and ready to go in, so I asked Lauren if her hands were cold and she said "No" How were her hands warm when she kept putting them in the snow.

(Our humble little snowman who after this picture did get raisins for eyes. I went out later that night and all that was there was the two raisins, the snowman ran away)

On to McKenna (Reese, for those of you whom prefer that name). I think it is safe to say that she is a crawler. She is just starting so she doesn't go far fast, but she will. She doesn't get frustrated with trying like Lauren did. Anyway she is also eating cheerios now. What a big girl so fast.

Oh just in closing. Lauren learned a new word on Friday. No word has ever brought such fear to my heart. Are you ready for this: "WHY?????"


(This is a picture of the cake for Alissa's shower. The more I look at it the less pleased I am. Over night the top layer of cake squished out the frosting in between the layers on the bottom tier so it looks lumpy. Next time I just won't put the top layer on till morning, or I'll have to put dowels in the cake to help support the weight).

Distracted

I'm so sorry to all of my blogging friends and by that I mean that you are my friends on a much deeper level and in a very non-cyberspace way. I haven't really been that busy, just distracted. I blame it all on Melanie because she has satellite, which will end soon so I'm trying to soak it all in before it is gone.

Other than that I have been reading a lot. Usually 2 books every week or so.

Jeff loves to make pumpkin pie, like cut up a pumpkin and bake it in the oven kind of pie, any other way is an impostor pumpkin pie. He spent all day today making pies and they were great. What a great spouse.

I promise to post again semi-soon with pictures. I made a cake this past week for my sister's shower that I am totally proud of and will post of picture of that too.

Loves to all.

Funny Faces

I was just looking through the pictures on the camera and had to post my girls and their cute, and funny faces.

Our apartment is now officially a disaster area (hmm...do you think the government will give us money for that? (a man made disaster)). I packed the pots and pans tonight, mostly so I don't have to cook for the rest of the week. (Maybe I'll just lose that box in the move, sounds like a good idea huh)???

Life is good and we are just trying to wind up our summer before school starts again on Monday. Some of these pictures are of us feeding some geese. Well I actually didn't get any shots of that, but Lauren was so cute throwing bread into water, really it was more like she was dropping it into the water, but either way it was still really cute.

Hope all of your summers have been filled with bliss, I know ours has, and we will really miss our special Daddy-O!!!! Enjoy the rest of our funny faces.

This is was McKenna's first time going swimming, so we had to take a picture of her cute little swim suit. I posted two pictures because McKenna's smile in the first one is so cute, and Lauren's face in the second was just too funny not to post.

This here swing was a garage sale steal at only five dollars. Whoohoo. Lauren and McKenna Love it. And no it was not cold enough outside to warrant a hat, but it was windy that day and Lauren is really sensitive to the wind. So she was just holding her hands over her ears while she swung, so the genius that I am, went and got her a hat to put on.

YUCK!!!!!

She actually made an ever better face than this one, but I couldn't ever quite get it. She really holds no love for peas. (And yes Mom, I DID warm them up AND thinned them) Side Note; she is now six months old, I can't believe it.

YUMMM!!!! I'm starting her off right.

LOVES TO ALL

Gushy

This week Jeff and I celebrated our third anniversary. It has gone by so fast and has been so fun and so irritating (at times). We started the day off (or I should say that Jeff started his day off) by taking his classmate and his wife to the airport at 4:30am. He then came home and said that he couldn't go back to sleep and that he felt cold. (Alarms were going off in my head). I got up with the girls and played with them while Jeff slept until 10:00am. (Did I mention that we had anniversary plans at 9:00)? He had a fever and took some medication and then got ready to go to a luncheon for school tutors. The car wouldn't start when he tried to leave, so the poor guy had to walk to a gas station to, obviously, get gas. He then went and got me flowers and a violin bow, and went to a part store to find out about our car. When he got home is was about 3:30pm and was so tuckered out that he passed out on the couch until the girls went to bed.

He somehow suckered up the will to get ready to take me out to dinner as planned and then went to go see the proposal. (really funny p.s.) So all in all it was a semi disappointing day but one that reminded me of what love is really about. And one that reminded me of how much Jeff loves me.

A List of the reasons I chose Jeff

1. Jeff is the most sincere man I have ever known

2. Jeff is the eternal optimist (very refreshing when you are as pessimistic as I am)

3. Jeff is a hard worker (the whole time we have been married Jeff has handled school, me and the girls and usually two jobs)

4. Jeff is a perfectionist (well this is actually a totally irritating trait to me, but I know that if I want something done well, I know who to turn to).

5. Jeff once brushed my teeth for me when I was sick (he was a CNA and I knew then that he would always take care of me when I needed it)

6. Jeff once came and threw rocks at my window and went for a walk in the rain

7. On our first date Jeff made me a bouquet of candy bars.

8. Jeff is a good dresser (shallow, I know, but important).

9. While we were dating, Jeff sent me a dozen roses while I was in Utah. I remember I seat-belted them into the van on the way home).

10. A week before we got married Jeff brought me 7 gladiolas, one for everyday until the big day.

11. Jeff surprised me with a limo ride on our wedding day, because he knew I really wanted to have a limo.

12. Jeff would very occasionally skip class to spend time with me while we were dating. (He put the kibosh on that one after we got married).

13. Jeff would come over while we were dating and he would end up watching a movie with my Mom because I would fall asleep in the first ten minutes.

14. Jeff always helped me experience new things like four wheeling, golfing, rummy, apple cake, and dumb and dummer

15. Jeff does everything in his power to make, and keep me happy. (Except playing ticket to ride on Sundays)

16. Jeff is always giving of himself to others.

17. Jeff has no enemies. There is no one that Jeff doesn't like.

18. Jeff is morally astute.

(Jeff singing Forever, and Ever at our reception)

This is just a short list of the reasons I fell in love with Jeff. He always treats me so well, and not just part of me. He is always conscious of my emotions, my physical comfort, my mental fortitude and my spiritual well-being. Jeff is an amazing person, as all those who know him would agree. I am truly lucky to have a such a fine and dedicated man as my husband for all eternity.

Ups' and Downs'

Today had been a surprising and disappointing day. I won't go into all the details, but it involves a car not starting, Jeff being gone, walking in the heat of the day, and Hy-Vee AND Walmart NOT having "17 Again" at red box.

But on the up side, we had a really great time with Scott, Kim and Tyson who bailed us out of car trouble and invited us to dinner. YUM! They are really such wonderful friends (thanks again).

Another happy thing is when Lauren and Jeff were leaving to go to the park this morning, Lauren blew a kiss to McKenna and said "I Lub you McKenna." So adorable. I thought Lauren was handling things really well when we first brought McKenna home from the hospital, but as I look back a pictures she always has a blank stare on her face, or a slightly confused one. I can really tell that she is back into her happy, exuberant self (even though I didn't realize she had been missing until yesterday when I had this epiphany).

More happiness is that we are making fried ice cream tonight. I also re-stocked my Swiss Roll stash tonight so I can have a fix when I have days like today. Hope all are well.

Go With the Flow

Today when Jeff got home from his busy day we went to the mall to get a new charger for my phone. The guys was selling us a car charger, which was fine, when Jeff said "yeah we have this one, but the thing broke off." So the guy just gave us the replacement piece for free. Totally awesome.

While we were there I saw my old spanish teacher Senora Johnson from when I was a freshman and sophomore. She is really the only teacher I would ever go up to and say hi, but that is because I always helped her shop at Younkers when I worked there.

Well actually the whole point of this blog is to ask for your opinions; while at the mall we stopped at the play place. There we about twenty kids running around and jumping (a lot of them were about 9 (which by the way totally annoys me)) and Lauren is just not very good at going with the flow. For instance there is this one toy that could be a slide either way you go (if that makes sense) but the kids today were doing it backwards than the way Lauren usually plays with it. It didn't make a fuss, but would still just try to go her way, which meant that she would be trying to climb up while others would be sliding down.

I sat there and wondered why some kids are just so easy going and could just change directions because that was the flow, while my sweet Lauren was so insistent that it be her way. Is this something that I need to work on with her; to just kick back and let it be? And if so, how?

This is really just one example of Lauren's insistence. Another good one was when everyone in the room had their socks off except Jeff and she noticed and told him to take his socks off too. When he said that he liked his socks on, she went over and started to take them off for him. Is this behavior obsessive.

Anyway just wanted to know your thoughts on my sweet little lady's temperament.

Upload Mania

So this is a very long post of our summer fun. Jeff goes back to school in 2 1/2 weeks, and we are so desperately going to miss his presence, and adventurous spirit.

I'll do this in chronological order. May garage sales were good to us as we found this stellar table and chairs (with a leaf) for $125. Thank you Stacey and Greg for loaning us your table for the last three years (and sorry about the crayon/paint/glitter on your table).

McKenna Reese had her first bath in the big tub with Lauren in the month of May. It is a little tricky because McKenna is such a stander.

Our first visit to North Platte this summer saw a couple of projects; The picture above is building a swing set. (Which Jeff did very little of, since he only worked on it one day). And also fixing up an old pick-up truck his Grandpa gave him. It had been sitting outside for pretty much 30 years, so basically it is a piece of rust. Or I should say that it was. Jeff, Calvin and Bill took it all apart and sanded it down to nice shining metal. (Well, two fenders and the hood). I got to help for a while and it was pretty fun using power tools.

Just a side note on Jeff's projects; He has a rocking chair sitting in my parent's garage that he has sanded and primed and started painting for Lauren's room (well it was for Lauren's room when we were going to buy a house).

Side note B- Much of our Summer was devoted to the process of buying a home. We found one that we really liked and made an offer. We didn't get approved for the loan that we wanted, but we did get approved for an FHA loan. We prayed and fasted about it and decided that we should just wait, after all we don't have an income. After all the phone calls and the faxing and the questions, we were a little bummed about not getting a house. I joked to Jeff that maybe an older couple in our ward would go on a mission and let us live in their house. I used this same joke when we were on a picnic with some friends from our ward (What can I say, if it is good joke I'll use it more than once) Anyway our friend called me the next day and long story short, Jeff and I are going to house sit while her husband is in Iraq (she'll be living at her Mom's in another state). So many blessings.

Back to side note A- Jeff also bought an outdoor glider on craigslist for $25. It needed a lot of work so he has been working on it in Jeremy's garage while they are out of town. (Sounds like we need our own garage, huh)? Jeff is a very good wood worker and strives for perfection.

Our first trip to North Platte also saw lots of fun, here are the cousins at the rodeo. It rained for the first twenty minutes or so, and it made the ground all muddy and soppy. I HATE MUD.

We went to a fun little water park, Lauren loved, loved, loved it.

Here is evidence.

Here is a picture of Marlene with all of her grandkids. Lauren Loved them so much. And still a few times a day she'll say "Connor far away" in a really sad voice, and continue through each of her cousins saying that they are far away.

In between trips to North Platte my brother Daniel and his wife Jessica and kids came to Nebraska for a visit. It was so fun to see them. We roped Jessica into taking some familia pictures for us while she was here. A couple of weeks later my nephew Dillion was in town and went house shopping with us and gave his expert opinions (the house we made an offer on did meet his qualifications).

Now for the second trip to North Platte. We went for the family reunion and one of the days we went to the lake. Lauren as you can see preferred to eat her fish on the sand then to play amongst them in the water. (I don't blame her though, lakes have the funniest smell). She did one time go on the rope swing with Jeff.

Lauren got so dirty everyday that we were there and when I would tell her that it was time for a bath she would recruit her cousins to take a bath with her. Here is one very crowded tub.

The 27th was Jeff's birthday. He started the day off right by going golfing with Calvin and his Dad. It started pouring on the 7th hole so they came back soaked and were welcomed with omelets that I made. (I'm not sure if that was a treat or a punishment, I had never made omelets before).

Later he got to do an experiement. You'll have to go to his blog for the science part of it, but here is a little teaser for you:

This is a picture of Jaylin and I (you can't really see it, but we are sporting Zac Efron rings that came on the high school musical cupcakes that I bought Jeff for his birthday (okay so they were more for me)

And here is a picture of our photographer.

Sweet Ava was in love with McKenna and loved to hold her. One morning McKenna decided to just take a little nap in Ava's arms.

And this last picture is just for a laugh. We were getting ready to go somewhere last night and I came out of the bedroom and Lauren had packed everything we needed into McKenna's carseat; four pairs of jammies and two pairs of shoes. Looks like we were all set.

I'm sure that has been more summer fun, but at the moment they allude me. So this will have to suffice on our summer journey-ings thus far.