yes.

One question can change your life in an instant.

I won't get ahead of myself though...let's start at the beginning.

My family went to Arizona for Christmas this year and we spent the first few days of the trip Christmas shopping. On the 22nd, just a few days before Christmas, we had been shopping all day. After spending a couple of hours at the mall my mom suggested I take a trip to the nail salon while my dad and two brothers went to get haircuts so that she could finish up some last Christmas shopping without our curious eyes snooping around. Where did the third brother go during all of this? No worries, he went to get a manicure with me!

A full set of freshly painted nails later and we were headed to yet another mall. By this time in the evening we had been shopping for a good five or six hours and were all pooped. The boys begged my parents to return to the hotel and they finally gave in. BUT, we had to stop at Costco first. Why couldn't we go the next day? Who knows...the parentals were being very secretive, but hey, it was Christmas time after all and according to my father, "you don't ask questions around Christmas"!

Finally my parents decided we could go back to the hotel and we were all relieved to be going back! As we were making our way up the stairs my mom gave a warning that we were not allowed to enter her room without permission while they sorted out the purchases of the day. So I got into my jammies and was kicking it with the brothers in the living room area when my mother came out carrying four gifts. Apparently these early christmas surprises were the reason for their secrecy all day. An early present? Yes, please! The presents were opened one by one going youngest to oldest and when I opened mine I was surprised to see it empty!

My parents bantered back and forth about who was supposed to put the present in the bag and my mother apologized for forgetting. My dad told us all to close our eyes because the present was not wrapped and he went to grab it from their room. I was trying to think of what little present could fit into the small bag when my dad told me to open my eyes...

One question can change your life in an instant.

"Lauren, will you marry me?"

My cute boyfriend (or should I say fiance) flew out to Arizona and surprised me! I had absolutely no idea it was coming and he is the best Christmas present I could ever ask for! And now...

WE'RE GETTING MARRIED!!!!

xo

lauren

day 7

A picture of someone/something that has had the biggest impact on you...

Ok this one is so hard...there are so many people and things in my life that have had a huge impact on me and I don't have pictures of all of these people so that makes this tough too so I just put down two.

1. My family...extended family and all...wish I had a picture of everybody

2. The Savior and His Gospel

xo

lauren

ps. i told you this get to know me in 30 days would take forever...7 days in two months hahaha. we'll get to 30 eventually

i will try to be good

Forgive me, for I am in the middle of finals and may be an awful blogger...

I hate finals...argh! Oh well...

But hey, happy news...my birfffday is this week! YAY! I love birthdays!

Until then, wish me luck, and good luck to all of you as well!

xo
lauren

ps. HAPPY BIRTHDAY to my cute Papa! Love you!

sometimes i scare myself...

Ok, so two nights ago I went to bed wearing these fuzzy socks...


Cozy and cute right? Not what I'm trying to get at though...

I woke up after a good night's rest and realized that I wasn't wearing my socks anymore. Now, this is not a rare occasion...that happens to me a lot so I didn't really think that much of it, right? I just figured they were at the bottom of my sheets or something. So I went to go find them stuck somewhere in my bed and...they were nowhere to be found. Seriously...nowhere. Not in my bed, not on the floor, not under the bed, not under the pillow, not stuck between the bed and the wall....NO. WHERE. I couldn't not find them if my life had depended on it.

Well I was late for school so just brushed it off as kinda weird and went on my way.

Then last night I went to bed and had totally forgotten about the socks. Again, another good night's rest and I woke up this morning to get ready for school. And guess what??

The socks appeared...right there...laying exactly like this...


ps. if you can't tell, they are on the edge of my bed right next to the pillow I was laying on.

Umm...how did they get there? I have no idea. They were not there the day before when I had searched high and low for them. So...either they are magic socks that can walk on their own and thought they would play a funny trick on me, OR, I am a freakishly crazy psycho person when I sleep and subconsciously decided to hide them from my conscious self just to find them and lay them out the next night in order to really freak myself out.

Neither options sound very solid, but I'm pretty sure it is probably the second one...so it is official...

I am a freakishly crazy psycho person when I sleep...you better watch out for me.

xo
lauren

why helloooo there

How are you? How was your break? Good, I hope...and I hope you all had a splendid Thanksgiving!! I just wanted to drop by and say hi...

You know something that stinks about coming back from Thanksgiving break though? Thinking about all that dang crap you have to get done in the next two weeks before finals!! GAH! I might die...wish me luck...and I wish you the best of luck as well!

xo
lauren

ps. can't wait for Christmas though! I've been rocking the Christmas music for three weeks already!

in case you haven't already noticed...

...winter is upon us, my friends.

Oh joy.

In happier news...it is almost Thanksgiving break!! YIPEE! I have exactly four classes and two shifts at work until I'm homeward bound for Thanksgiving! Can't wait!!

Also, it is my dear friend, Katie's, birthday today...HAPPY BIRTHDAY!! I love this girl to death! She is bombdiggity and we have had some seriously awesome times together!

Dear Katie...

Friend! Do you remember how we became friends in 9th grade because we were on the same cheer squad? Do you remember how extremely awkward we were? Here is a little reminder...

YIKES! How could we seriously have looked so sicknasty?!?! Please don't hate me because I put that on the blog...we are taking a flashback :)

Then do you remember how we thought we were so cool because we were sophomores in high school??

At least we finally started to get out of the awkward phase!

Then do you remember how awesome we were as juniors because we weren't the bottom of the totem pole anymore? And how we had some radical times just taking gooney pictures? And how this was the summer you introduced me to Chris Brown? Thanks again for that...I owe you one.

Then do you remember being seniors and having American History together? Do you remember how we were freaking crazy and were ACTUALLY awesome this year because we were the top dawgs? hahaha we fo sho ruled. (and jk, we were actually awesome always...and still are)

Then do you remember how we went to college and now live in different cities? Ya, I remember that too. Do you remember how badly that stinks? But, even so, we will always be the bestest of friends because.... "Katie is my friend, Lauren is my friend...we are such good friends!!"

I FREAKING LOVE YOUR GUTS! HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!

xo

lauren

experimenting

The supplies...




The finished product...Peacock hairclip!


Do you like it?!

xo
lauren

willard and things

This cute girl has such a cute life with a beautiful home, a husband she adores, and a crazy puppy (who I might have to steal away from her)! I love reading her blog and she recently tagged me in a fun little post, so here it goes!

Four Shows I Watch:
1. Grey's Anatomy
2. How I Met Your Mother
3. Glee
4. Modern Family

Four Things I'm Passionate About:
1. The Gospel
2. Family and Friends
3. Dance
4. Sweets :)

Four Phrases I Say A Lot:
1. ?? not sure...I may have to get back to you on these!
2.
3.
4.

Four Things I've Learned from the Past:
1. Laughter is the best medicine
2. It is while in your lowest points that you learn the most about who you are and who you want to become
3. No one can make you feel inferior without your consent - Eleanor Roosevelt
4. Our relationships with people, especially with those in our families, are our most valuable possessions

Four Places I Would Like to Go:
1. Italy
2. France
3. Spain
4. London

Four Things I Did Yesterday:
1. Went to school
2. Danced
3. Went to work
4. Slept

Four Things I'm Looking Forward to:
1. The holidays
2. The end of the semester
3. Vacation with my family
4. The weekend!

Four Things I Love About Winter:
1. The warm, friendly, grateful atmosphere of the holiday season
2. Coming together as family to celebrate
3. Christmas music
4. Hot Chocolate

Four Things on My Wish List:
1. To make it through until the end of semester
2. A new straightener...mine is dying :(
3. To get more sleep
4. A super secret something that you can't know about!

Ta-Da!

In other news...
Willard really wanted to say hello...

And to show you his favorite trick...standing on one leg

xo

lauren



day 6

Favorite superhero and why...

Batman, hands down, is my all-time fav super hero. Why? Because he is freaking awesome. He doesn't need real super powers, has a sweet car, and has awesome villians like...

The Joker

Two-Face

Riddler

Catwoman

Penguin

and Poison Ivy

And last, but not least....because Batman is played by Christian Bale.

I love me some Christian Bale :)

Who is your favorite superhero?

xo

lauren

jazzercise

Can I just say that Jazzercise is so ghetto, so bizarre, and so ridiculously cheesy...

...pretty sure I absolutely love it. Don't judge.

I'm tempted to start doing this for real...

Plus, I already have the outfit...

Pure awesomeness.

xo

lauren

a time for change

Please read this...

http://www.danoah.com/2010/10/worthless-women-and-men-who-make-them.html

What did you think?

His words were so powerful and touching. Coming from someone who has said or thought almost every statement on his list of the "worthless woman", I just want to thank him from the bottom of my heart.

This really made me think about the way in which women see themselves, myself included, and what the reason for this distorted view may be. It is something that SO many women struggle with every day...how sad is that?

I stand behind him 100 percent and am so grateful for his sincere and heartfelt words. I am also grateful that there are people out there willing to make a change...how great would it be if we could spread his message until hundreds, thousands, or even millions of people were also willing to make a change?

I will try to do my part to spread his message, will you?

xo
lauren

intruder

Ok, so I know that this has been everywhere and that you probably have already seen it, but I still have to share it.

This would be an awful thing to experience and I am in no way dismissing the fact that she was probably scared to death, but whoever made this next video was freaking genius!

The reason I had to share this with you was becuase if you didn't know about the story and the song then this next picture would not make any sense...

BEST HALLOWEEN COSTUME EVER!

xo
lauren

day 5

A picture of somewhere you've been to...

CANCUN with Chris and his family! So fun and breathtakingly beautiful!

xo

lauren

happy halloween

Happy Halloween my friends! Here are some awsome pictures for you!

Hope you all had a great Halloween!

xo

lauren