Lauren's Six Year Photos

Since Kiddie Kandids closed earlier this year, I was nervous about what to do when it came to my picture taking. Besides two trips to Sears in 2004, I have ONLY gone to Kiddie Kandids! I decided to try JC Penney. I have to say I was impressed! We were able to take our photos, edit, decide and order all within an hour! The only hard part was that I have to wait for two weeks to get the actual photos! At least I have digitial copies, ALL OF THEM to share! My next blog post will be all about her actual birthday party weekend. For now, I hope you love these as much as I do!














I still can't believe my baby is 6 years old! I love this sweet little girl so much! I couldn't hold back the tears as I tucked her into bed. She is oh so precious!!!

Inspired by Misty! My project!

Back in 2006, I met a girl named Misty. She came to my team at Discover Card right out of training. She was shy, sweet, athletic, TOTALLY in love with her husband and trying desperately to get pregnant. I was also trying to get pregnant at the time, so we had a lot of ups and downs together. Actually, I think she was one of the first people I told when I finally did become pregnant. We became good friends for the short time she worked under me but it was enough to create a special bond. Her TWIN boys are exactly one month younger than Jamie! Even though I have never seen the boys in person, and the last time I saw Misty was when I went to her baby shower (she lives in Payson), I still feel close to her. We have kept in touch through our blogs, through e-mails and on Facebook. She is such a wonderfully sweet, loving and amazing person who is uber creative. I am always amazed at the SUPERWOMAN that she is and all of her little crafty projects. SO...this is for you Misty! You were my inspiration!

I have been wanting to get Lauren a big jewelry box for quite some time now, but never found the right one. Well, I was shopping at the Pottery Barn Kids outlet, when I came across these gorgeous jewelry boxes. I thought it would make a great present for Lauren's upcoming birthday. The only problem is that they are engraved with SOMEONE else's name! Well, I channelled my inner-Misty and began to think of solutions. Here is the documentation of the journey. On a side note, out of curiosity, I went to the Pottery Barn Kids website and this sells for $70. I was able to purchase it for $7.50!

There is a lot of storage for all the bracelets I have made for her!!

I love the name "Audrey" and I adore Audrey Hepburn...but I really wanted it to say "Lauren"...so with an exacto knife and some "Goo Gone", I scrubbed off the name.

Here it is, ALL clean!

For Lauren's birthday I am getting her a new bedspread, because apparently Dora was "so a year ago"....the new one will be brown, pink, and white. I found the PERFECT stickers at Micheals!

AND here is the finished product!

I can't wait to give it to her on her birthday this Friday!!! A special present for my special little girl!

Misty, I hope I did you proud. Love ya!

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas

I am not saying that because of the snow....because actually it hasn't really been snowing here. I've been hearing stories about my family in Louisiana and Texas having snow...so weird!! Anyway, I am saying that because with Valentines Day, I kept telling Matt that it felt like Christmas with all of the gifts piling up. Not that I mind of course. Matt also mentioned that it was one of his favorite holidays, hmmm..never knew that! Well, the only problem with all of this good stuff around is that it has been reeking havoc on my diet! I am a sucker for those Reese's Peanut Butter Hearts...and they are 16 points PER heart! That is like over HALF of my Weight Watchers daily allowance. Good news is...I haven't GAINED any weight, bad news is...I haven't lost any either. Plateau. Is that why they call them "love handles"...?! Ha.

Okay...I had to take a picture of this. Look how cute my mom is. She put together Valentine's Cups for us...and sent them home with Matt in a CUPHOLDER! I had to laugh. I guess my family is a four-pack. LOL! I love it!

In addition to my mom's gifts, my brother and his wife sent us gifts from New Mexico. Also, Matt's Dad and his wife Tina also had a bag of treats for the kids. Lauren also had Valentines Day parties in her dance class and in her Kindergarten class! SOO much sugar around!

Here are the bags that I put together for the kids and Matt. Nothing too fancy, but I wanted to let the people that I love the most, KNOW that I love them the most!


So, although it was quite simple, I might have had the best Valentines ever. We actually celebrated it the day before because I didn't want to fight the crowds on Sunday. For Christmas my sister Sarah gave Matt and I just what we asked for--babysitting certificates, 3 of them, so I redeemed one finally! Matt took me to eat at my favorite place-Tepankyaki! It is so rare that we get time ALONE and OUT. Our chef at Tepanyaki was the best I have ever had, I was laughing so hard. The food was as delicious as always. Afterwards, we got coffee, well, I got a tea and we grabbed a few items at Toys R Us for Lauren's upcoming birthday. It was nice to casually stroll with my hubby. I'd have to say I got more kisses this weekend, than I have had in a very long tme. Sarah and her friend John had fun with the kids (well, the kids had fun anyway) eating popcorn and watching "Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs'. We got home early enough to still hang out with the kids, we even got some ice-cream to top the night off. Matt had enough time to do our taxes and we are getting a return instead of owing, whew! SO...all in all a perfect day!

I hope that you all felt some love this weekend as well! :)

2009 Best and Worst (Misty, I'm stealing)

I got this idea from my friend Misty. Here is a re-cap of what I consider the BEST and WORST of 2009 in LOVATO'S LIVES. No pictures included.

Milestones:
*One year in our new house
*10 years being married! Woo-hoo!
*Lauren's first crush on a boy.

With our own bare hands, er mainly Matt's bare hands:
*Renovated our old house and got it rented out to some awesome people
*Put in a sprinkling system and a new lawn in our new house

Cool Things We Got To Do:
*Be on the "Clean and Beautiful" Committee for West Valley City
*Attend a few Jazz games, once getting to do the "Tunnel" with the kids at their first ever game.

Trips:
*Spending the 4th of July in Park City with Matt's brother and sister and our kids, so much fun!
*Going on our first two-nighter away from the kids in Las Vegas
*Just two trips to Jordanelle on our little boat

Great Events:
*Getting First Row tickets to the Britney Spears Concert
*Going to see "So You Think You Can Dance" in concert..amazing!
*In Vegas, seeing "Peep Show" with Mel B in aforementioned Vegas. She is gorgeous!

Our Favorites With Family:
*Sister Movie nights with my sisters, the coolest girls ever!
*Having a few "babysitting" swap nights with Matt's brother. The coolest part was getting to spend time with our two cute nieces!
*Celebrating Matt's birthday with a Halloween Dress Up party

Technological Advances:
*Using my digital camera like a pro, my first one ever
*Getting my very own laptop
*Becoming a texting wiz! PLUS for the first time ever, getting on a family plan with Matt and getting him to start texting too!
*Actually figuring out how to play on Facebook, I love to keep in touch with family and friends.
*More blogging, yippe!

Visits With Out of State Family:
*My Aunt Anita and Uncle Howard visiting, love them so much
*My Cousin Amy staying with us at our house, taking them to Lagoon and Cafe Rio.
*My Brother visiting from New Mexico, twice
*My Aunt Shirley and Uncle Jim visiting

Hard Times:
*My cousin Ryan passed away unexpectedly. I still miss him.
*Discover Card having a huge lay-off and losing many dear friends after so many years together
*Having our Furnace go out in the old house, on one of the coldest days of the year

Work Triumphs:
*I won the Lone Peak Award (Team Leader of the Year) for the 4th time, despite being moved 3 different times...(have I mentioned I HATE change?)
*Matt and I both make "the cut" and survived the lay-off at work

Best Albums:
*Matt and I are definitely goo-goo for Lady Ga Ga! Love BOTH the Fame and the Fame Monster...she is amazing!
*Britney Spears "Circus"
*Rhiana's "Rated R"

Our Favorite Movies:
*We both enjoyed seeing "Zombieland"
*We both enjoyed seeing "The Proposal" oh and "The Fast and the Furious"
Actually I think those were the only three movies we saw in the theatre, besides "Bolt" and "Alvin and the Chipmunks Squeakwel"

Our Favorite TV Shows, ones we BOTH like:
*Big Brother and The Amazing Race
*Modern Family and Cougar Town
*Ghost Lab
*Okay, this list was too difficult....we also love all the trash on VH1.. Tough Love and Daisy of Love..."we've never laughed so hard!"

New In Our Lives:
*Our new cat, OREO
*I got to get to know an awesome person who has become a great friend, Beth Landgrebe
*New friends for Lauren; Chrystie Middleton, Morgan Macpherson and Guillermo Rodriguez
*Our new niece, Maddie..the cutest baby girl ever!
*Two pregnant ladies...my sister Ashley and Matt's sister Kristen who we both just found out are both having BOYS!
*Getting to know all of our new neighbors, all of them great, so far!

Our Favorite Restaurants:
*Tres Hombres
*Mikado
*Famous Daves

Now Normal:
*Lauren starts school and is now in the KINDERGARTEN routine
*I think this house is starting to feel like home now!
*After I switched shifts in February, I switched BACK in May and now we have our routine down...which includes daily visits with my folks.
*Lauren now taking dance class on Wednesday nights, which Matt gets to now taxi her to.

Things That Make us Feel Warm inside:
*Conversations over Coffee, one of our favorite things to do
*Hanging out by the Fireplace, my first fireplace!
*Playing Dance Dance Revolution on the DVR

Health Achievements:
*Rachel losing 20 pounds
*Lauren losing her first tooth
*Jamie talking more and whining less
*Matt not having any health issues at all for the first time in 3 years!

Sometimes Matt and I think we are boring, but when we take a look back over the year, we realize that we do get to do some fun stuff and have been able to do a lot of cool things!!

Thanks for the great idea Misty. Mine wasn't as fancy as yours, but I think mine was longer. Seriously though, I want you to come visit, and if you bring some cookies, that'd be great too!