Lauren's Happenings

1. So first things first, shout out to Lourena, our cute friend!! It was her birthday on Sunday and we are so grateful she was born!  She is a "soon to be" foreign exchange student from Africa. She is the sweetest thing! Also her name is Lauren in Portugese, so we just have an instant connection!! Anyway, she is in my ward, and although she is the "new girl", she is the one that is constantly reaching out to others! In honor of her birth, we went out to dinner to celebrate last night!

Valentines Day

For the record, I've never been dating anyone on Valentines Day but I still love the holiday! It is a nice little break in the month and helps me remember how many great people are in my life. In high school my dear friend Sarah Campbell was always my Valentine. She was the best Valentine too! She got my flowers and would buy me jewelry. This year my little sister, Alison was my Valentine.



Anyway I had practicum all day, which meant 2 things. 1) I got to dress up and get ready for Valentines Day. 2) It made me grateful to be out of high school. All the girls carried huge stuffed animals and balloons all throughout the halls. It was like a competition. I definitely don't miss that. Side note: In one of the classes the student had a flower in a water bottle, well at one point he took out the flower and drank the water. Then he put the flower back in and acted like nothing happened! My partner and I were trying not to crack up laughing!

During my break, Steph and I went to Sonic to enjoy a milkshake. Then I was off to take a test, then back to practicum.

Once practicum was over, I turned on the tv and was in heaven! Chick flicks were on every station! I was home alone for a few hours and decided to take a selfie to share with the world how romantic my day was. :)



By about 7 Steph, Bert and I went to get dinner! We got hamburgers at a place called Zinburger! It was so good! I definitely recommend it! They even had cute little heart balloons on the chairs for the occassion.

After dinner we went back to our house to find adorable cupcakes that Annabeth made! Bert and Steph then had a jam sesh which soon included Chris, AB's boyfriend! They are all talented people!!

In the middle of the jam sesh I turned on the game against ASU. It was a huge disappointment. I was throwing pillows, and shouting at the team. Once I realized Jahii was on ASU's team, I felt less upset. Jahii is a MHS alumus that was an all-star on our basketball team and he now plays for ASU. So I had some pride for my high school!



Saturday.

I went on a temple trip with some lovely people in my ward. We got there at 3 but didn't walk out of those doors til 6. While we were in the temple, they lost our names, so we got to spend a lot of extra time in there. I absolutely loved it though. Usually they get us in and out so fast that there is no time for reflection. So I really enjoyed the additional time.

The temple has such beautiful flowers all around right now! I definitely loved walking around and taking them in!






After the temple, we went to Costa Vida (my second time in one week). Shout out to Ali for buying all of us din! She is a saint! Also shout out to Kevin for being chivalry back! Everytime we got in the car, he opened the door for all of us girls, and he threw away my plate at din.

We got home around 9, and I came home to a RS movie night at my house. I only stayed about 20 mins and then I went on a night hike with Ali, Aubrey, Bryce, Bo and 2 of Aubrey's friends. To be honest, it wasn't really a hike, it was more like a walk through the desert. We stopped half way and played signs, which is one of my favorite game. No it does not involve ASL, but I feel like I'm at an advantage because my eyes are trained to notice when someone moves their hands in the slightest bit. Safe to say I was never caught/out.


Sunday.

I set my alarm for 10, but just naturally woke up at 8. So I did something I never have time to do, I read. It was so relaxing and once it was time for church, I felt mentally ready! Church was great, and I got my recommend for the Gilbert Temple Dedication! After church we had linger longer, then a meeting to plan the next activity for my ward. By the time we got home, I was exhausted!







Later that night Travis and Steph had a jam sesh! I was getting myself organized for the next week, but it was great background music. They have some serious talent.


Monday.

For FHE we went to my husband's house (fhe partner) to watch the Olympics and eat carmel corn! Can i just say that the carmel corn was heavenly?! It was so good!! As for the Olympics I didn't really watch it, I just chatted with Clary and Reagan.

I also had a meeting for my Ecuador trip and it made me SO excited!! We skyped with a man in Ecuador that plans mission trips. It helped resolve my worries about crime, and made me even more pumped!!

That's all I feel like blogging about. Hopefully I will be better about keeping up with it!

So this blog post will mostly be about the wedding but there are some important things to go over first.

1. Shoutout to my dad! His birthday was today but I didn't even get to see him because he was in New York! Typical, always working hard and never thinking of himself! Happy Birthday Dad!! I hope you treated yourself to a Diet Coke!

2. I got the iphone 5s! It is an early birthday gift and probably my only gift. Haha! But it is worth it. My favorite part is the camera! It is amazing!

3. This part isn't so happy… My dear great uncle, Ben, that has been battling Leukemia for a year, passed away on Monday. Saturday night when I got home, I received an email saying he wasn't going to live much longer. My heart was shattered. I went outside and called my mom. I just wept. I know I will see him again, I don't doubt that for a second. I knew he would be out of his misery, it's just sad. In that moment, all my feelings of when JaKelle came back, so everything was doubled. Sunday, for the first 2 hours in the morning, I just cried in my bed. I did eventually get up, and go to church. Not gonna lie, it was a struggle, and so I only stayed for the first hour. Monday morning came and I just knew it was time. During practicum I saw a text saying he passed. I am really good at hiding my emotions when others are around me (I often can't cry in front of people anyway). Once I got to my car, I wept again. I am so grateful he is healed and with his son that passed away at a young age. Prayers are of course with my aunt and his children.

Okay now onto the happy, because life is still good! Right?

So I'm going to give you a brief history about Kelley and my relationship so you understand how important today was! When I was 2 1/2, my family moved into a new house, which just happened to be 4 doors down from hers. We were in the same ward, and school class. We went through all the typical little girl drama while growing up (accusing eachother of liking a boy we both secretly liked, hiding shoes and locking the other outside the house, etc). Once junior high hit, we finally got over those stupid drama days, and became closer than ever. We would walk to the bus stop everyday, and those were great bonding times to talk about our successes and frustrations and boys of course! During junior high, we also danced together at a studio all night long. So we were together all the time. High school hit and we would car pool, dance after school, dance at a studio, etc. Once again, dance held us together. We solifided our relationship and knew we would be Best Friends FOREVER. Any activity I went to, so did she. We were pretty inseparable. College came around, and I moved to Tucson, but the distance meant nothing. When I would come back home, it was like no time was lost. Kelley is my third sister, simple as that. So today was her wedding day to her sweet boy, Eric!

Vanita and I arrived at the temple at 10, so we could watch Kim's (Kelley's sister) children while they went in the temple. The kids definitely entertained us!