John and Lara

Bad Ideas!

2010-01-15T09:55:00.000-08:00

We just got back from our visit back to utah and we both learned an important lesson. John is not as young as he used to be. He recently turned 30 and I joked to him if he felt any different and he said he didn't. Well now I know that at the exact moment your body turns 30, although you might not feel different, your body immediately weakens pulling calcium from your bones. This calcium deficiency somehow is correlated to your brain giving you an increase in testosterone making you think you are invincible! As you can imagine the combination of the 2 can be very harmful if given the opportunity. That said opportunity was given on our first day in utah.

We got there and kaysen really wanted to play in the snow. Most of the the snow was melted but my brother led us to a large hill that was covered in solid ice! You couldn't really even walk up it with out falling down. We decided to go sledding. For sleds we took the most appropriate items which included one purple sled and two boogey boards.

Well after an hour or so of sledding johns calcium deficiency and testosterone production began to work its magic. We decided to up the fun level by going down the boogey boards in somewhat braver ways. My brother suggested that I go down standing up on the boogey board. Having plenty of calcium and low testosterone levels I quickly declined. I did decide to go down on my knees with one on each boogey board. It was easy and not scary at all. So everyone tried it and we all felt a little bit cool.

My brother then tried his luck with john daring him to go down surfing style on the boogey board. Well being 30 this sounded like an excellent way to start his mid-life adventures. Johns 1st attempt was short lived he fell off in about 5 feet and no damage was done. Thinking that even if he did fall it probably wouldn't hurt john decided to try again. Unfortunately he forgot about the whole idea of that faster you go the harder you fall. He bravely mounted the board and began to surf. He actually was doing great! He was cruising and looking like one cool cat. That was until the final jump! There were two jumps on this ice hill. The first one was minimal but started to calamity by unstabiling john for the second. The second jump put john in the air and from what it looked like from my viewing point on the top of the hill he landed on his head.

Seeing that my husband couldn't get up I quickly rushed down to rescue my damsel in distress. Johns arm was in fact broken!!! He completely broke his radius. I think it swelled up to about the size of a watermelon. So now you see how dangerous turning 30 can be. So I post this as a warning to all those males out there who are 29. I'm not sure how long it lasts but it can't be more that a year or 2 because my brother who will be 32 this year refused to surf after john did seeing how dangerous the outcome can be even if it meant loosing the glory of the ride!

Multitasking

2009-12-20T08:46:00.000-08:00

This has been a very busy and crazy week for us. Work has been so busy. I am running around all day like a chicken with my head cut off. John had finals this week and then has been at a class to review for boards. And on top of everything I developed a kidney infection this week. Which makes me extra tired, in pain, and somewhat sick feeling. I had to work though because it was just so busy to call in so I just pushed through the pain. Well saturday was especially busy and long. I finished up work and just felt completely drained. I took the babysitter home and then kaysen and I waited for john to get done with his class. I feel asleep on the couch for a few moments and woke up in a pile of my own drool when john got home. I felt a little better after my 5 minute power/drool nap so we decided to go out to the mall because we hadn't done anything fun this week.

Kaysen didn't get his usual nap because he was too busy playing with the babysitter so he fell asleep in the car. John carried him as we walked around to a few stores. We decided to go into famous footwear and thats when our troubles started. As many of you know I tend to pass out on occasion. Especially on amusement park ridges that have strong g force or go upside down. It has been a long week and I think my body was just done from the infection and all the work. I think it finally decided to just shut down. We were in the store and I felt weird. I decided to sit down and thats when I stopped talking or responding. So as john held a sleeping kaysen he grabbed my head to support me as I slipped out of consciousness. So it must have been a sight to see. John holding a sleeping 4 year old while supporting his passed out wife from falling to the ground. After awhile I guess I woke up. For some reason my eyes were running with tears I don't know why. We then tried to make our way back to the car stopping every few feet or so to sit down because I was feeling a little light headed. We made it back home and headed up to bed. Of course I couldn't fall asleep. I just felt awful. I was completely exhausted but couldn't fall asleep. In my crazy light headed, exhausted, sick confusion I decided that this might in fact be my last night on earth. I started to say my goodbyes to john and found he was asleep already! This then made me so mad. Here I am about to die and my husband doesn't even care enough to stay awake to say goodbye to me. I then woke him up and told him if I didn't make it through the night I loved him. I also said I wanted him to stay awake with me until I was gone. That lasted all of 3 seconds until he started to snore. I decided it was his loss. He would regret not saying goodbye to me and I guess he would just have to live with that. Well after an hour I was able to drift away as the words "Goodbye world" Slipped from my mouth.

Well you can imagine my surprise when I woke up this morning. It in fact was not my last night on earth! I was just extremely tired and in hind sight maybe a little crazy. So I am happy to still be here and I also learned a valuable lesson. Despite what I believed up until this point john can multitask. He held me up while carrying kaysen and that is a big step in the right direction. And I am happy to report I am feeling somewhat better today. Especially mentally.

Merry christmas to all especially motorcycle Santa!

2009-12-19T17:25:00.000-08:00

Well Christmas is upon us once again. I'm excited and can't believe it is already here. It is at this time of year when I am thankful for a lot of those things. One: Christmas lights. Two: Motorcycle santa. And Three: Presents! There are also somethings I am not thankful for.

I love looking at lights but I am too lazy to put them up, also I think it helps if you own your own house. So kaysen really wanted to put lights up on our house. There was no way that was going to happen. So being the evil mother that I am I came up with another idea. We live in a end unit on a row of town houses. Ours faces the side while all the others face the street. Our neighbors put up lights on their house and it's kind of hard to tell if they are ours or theirs so I told kaysen they were ours. He is really proud of our christmas lights.

It was really windy one Wednesday here. On my way home from work I was talking to John and he said that someone had decorated the bottom of our pine bush. He said it was really weird because they only put a few bulbs and a ribbon on the bottom. Well I forgot about it and never looked at it. On Friday I was pulling into the garage and noticed our wreath on the front door was gone. Immediately I knew where it was. When it was windy it blew off the door right under our pine bush. Since the wreath is pine too blind as a bat John thought someone was trying to give us a Christmas miracle by decorating our bush (and a poor job I might add). When I went out is was so obvious it was the wreath. It made for a good laugh though.

I also love motorcycle santa. If you haven't seen him driving around St. Louis yet then I am sorry for you. I past him on my way to work. He is dressed in full santa gear, beard and hair too. The best part is he randomly waves his hand ever 5 seconds or so even if there are no cars driving by or passing him. I think motorcycle santa is great!

The only reason I hate this time of year is because it flares up kaysens cyclic vomiting like crazy. While out christmas shopping this year at a busy mall kaysen wanted to go and play. We were at the mills mall so we took him to the indoor park which is right next to santa. Needless to say this is the busiest part of the mall. After about 10 minutes of play kaysen slowly started to walk over to us. We knew immediately by his pale appearance that he was going to vomit. So john grabbed him up and I looked for the nearest garbage can. It was right behind santas workshop. Unfortunately we didn't make it the 10 feet to the can. Kaysen started to projectile vomit. Immediately people started to scream and wail and I'm surprised nobody rent their clothes. As kaysen continued to projectile vomit all over the garbage can getting a few drops in I ran to get help. I found a security guard who was willing to leave his post to help me guard the vomit until maintenance got there. Hey when duty calls you must answer. So John and kaysen left to go get the car and me and the guard (known here on out at duty) kept a keen eye on the vomit. Being in the most busy part of the mall next to santa and the park, we tried to stop people from walking into certain doom. I would warn people not to throw away their soda in this particular can because "There is throw up on the ground". Many would just look at me like I can't tell them what to do and then proceed to walk full on into the vomit and to the trash can. Then they would start to freak out that they stepped in vomit and it was all over their shoes. Well at this point I kind of think they deserved it because they were warned. Although to their credit it was a pretty big radius. After what felt like an hour of guarding with duty my Spanish savior arrived to clean up. I told her I was really sorry and felt really bad. She smiled and waved me on. At the time I thought she was nice and understanding. Now I realize she probably didn't understand a word I said and was just trying to get me out of the way so she could clean up before there were anymore fatalities. I think this episodes really takes the cake for the most amount, most embarrassing, and most stinky throw up.

How Things Are

2009-11-23T16:44:00.000-08:00

Well were very excited for Thanksgiving around here. John has the whole week off from school and that is the most exciting part. I only have Thanksgiving day off but at least we can spend it together. We're staying here this year and we don't have any visitors. I'm actually kind of excited about this because I can just relax, do what ever we want, and not have to entertain anyone. We'll probably put up our Christmas decorations and tree that day too.

We got kaysens results back from his mri and he is great! He doesn't have a brain tumor so that is good. He does have a cyst on the left side of his cerebellum but it shouldn't be a problem or be causing any of his problems. I'm glad to know it is just the cyclic vomitting. So now we just are trying to find something to help him deal with it better. We upped his does last time we went to the dr. but its coming back. He's had 2 episodes in the past few days. One we had to pick him up from school. It seems to be worse when its cold. We are for sure living somewhere dry when were done with johns school.

My work is going good. I've been there 4 months now. Were doing good and trying to make it through the end of the year. Kaysens been sick a lot, i've been sick some, and john has been sick too. John is actually the worst at being sick because he is a big baby. He acts like he is the sickest that anyone has ever been and he'll probably die at any moment. So this probably sounds horrible to say but its almost easier when kaysen is sick cause he just sleeps where as John wants a servant to fan over him and basically wipe for him.

Well I hope everyone has a happy Thanksgiving!

Ninja Warrior and Coffee!

2009-10-30T18:24:00.000-07:00

Well I love posting about the funny things kaysen does. If I didn't have kaysen I don't think I would have anything interesting to write about. Well lately Kaysen is into two things Ninja Warrior and Coffee.
Let me explain Ninja Warrior. If you haven't seen it you should. It is a Japanese game type show. Contestants (mostly Japanese) compete in a extremely grueling obstacle coarse. They have to do in in a certain time limit. There are 3 stages and if you complete them all you are a ninja warrior. I think only like 2 or 3 people have ever completed in in the history of the show. Its really intense. Well it is also completely in Japanese. They do have English subtitles. Kaysen loves Ninja warrior. He doesn't even mind that he can't understand it. Every time he watches it he gets so into it and gets so nervous for each contestant. The best part is that where ever kaysen is in the house if he hears Japanese being coming from the TV his will run downstairs yelling, "My favorite show is on!" It doesn't matter if he is upstairs in his room far away he knows that Japanese means NINJA WARRIOR!

Another thing kaysen loves lately is Coffee. Well maybe just the idea of coffee. See we don't drink coffee so I think he must know about it from school. He tells me that all his teachers love it and always have their portable coffee mugs each morning. Well we were at a school event for John and they were giving out coffee mugs. You would have thought they were giving out trips to Disneyland the way kaysen reacted. He was SO excited! He immediately claimed the mug as his. Now every morning he can not start his day with out drinking his milk out of the coffee mug. He gets it and says "Ummmm that's good coffee." I remind him that its actually milk and not coffee. He then looks at me like I'm really stupid and says, "I know mom I'm just pretending." I sad part is I actually feel like I'm stupid for telling him that. Dang he's good.
Well it doesn't bother me I just think he is super cute. I can't help that fact that my little old man 4 year old is addicted to the idea of coffee or "coffee milkee" as he sometimes calls it. Oh well it gives me fun laughs!

The Poopy Prayer!

2009-10-29T17:54:00.000-07:00

Well after being severly dehydrated, I've learned its really hard (literally) to get your first B.M. out. So yesterday kaysen tried 2 different times for 40 minutes each time to get it out with no avail. We even tried coaching him by saying "Focus and Push". That usually works when he gets backed up but not today. So after 30 minutes on the 3rd try John decided it was time to turn to a higher power. John and Kaysen then said a prayer that kaysen would be able to get his poop out and that it would not hurt. Well more than 2 minutes later the package was delievered!!!! Then Kaysen proclaimed, "I love Heavenly Father cause he helped me get my poop out!" I just thought that was the cutest and funniest story. See even the little and dirtiest of jobs aren't too small for God. I don't know if I'll send that one into the friend. I just can't see them publishing it.

Getting Better

2009-10-28T14:39:00.000-07:00

I am happy to report that kaysen is doing much better. He slept good last night and woke up at 5 am saying "Momma I'm so hungary!" So I got him a bisquit and he watched cartoons all morning. I'll take a 5am wake up any day over how he was yesterday. We've just been taking it easy today and doing things that require little effort like going to the library and napping.

Kaysen has been super hungary today too. Which is great. He ate his bisquit early and then breakfast. Then at 10:30 he ate a "snack" of fried chicken and goldfish. Then he ate lunch at 12:30 of soup! He is deffinatley making up for lost meals yesterday. He keeps bugging me to get him treats like doughnuts, candy, crabby patty gummys, and anything else sweet. I think maybe tonight we'll get him something since he's been feeling so good all day and since he's ate good too.

Right now were dealing with trying to go his first #2 after being dehydrated. Let me just say that is not fun. We've already tried 2 different times for about 40 minutes each time. I think we'll get some prune juice or something tonight. I never really thought about constipation as a side effect of dehydration but it makes sense.

So were going to see the pediatric neurologist next wed. I was pretty upset that they couldn't get us in earlier after all we went through last night. I just hope he doesn't have any more bad episodes before then especially since this weekend is halloween and he'll be super excited (which can sometimes cause episodes). John is going to try to leave school early so he can come with us. I just can't handle stuff like that by myself.

Today was a hard day for me. I think that yesterday I had to be strong and so didn't really let any emotions in. Today I broke down. Not because I'm worried really but because I guess I didn't get a chance to let my emotions out yesterday. So I had a good cry and held kaysen close.
Thanks everyone for you kind words. I will for sure keep you posted as things progress.

Hospital Stay :(

2009-10-27T20:17:00.000-07:00

Well today was a challenging day to say the least. I dropped kaysen off at school at 9am and he was perfectly fine. He had been running around with the dog in the morning. He didn't eat much that is normal. Well I got a call at 10am that Kaysen was sick and had already thrown up twice. So I figured it was just a normal episode of cyclic vomitting. I went to get him and found him completley pale hugging the mini toliet at day care vomitting into it. I gave him a zophran which usually stops his attacks.
For the next two hours he was completley pale. I could not get him to respond to me either. He wouldn't wake up and he was completley limp. The only time he would move is when he would throw up every 15 minutes. So I knew this wasn't a "normal" episode so I decided to take him to the dr. Unfortuantley I couldn't get him into his normal dr. so I took him to urgent care.
When I got there it was bad!!!!!! I had to carry him and couldn't get him to even sit up on his own. By the time the dr. saw him, his eyes were rolled back in his head and his mouth was open. He was completley flushed and unresponsive. The dr. decided that he needed to be taken to the hospital by ambulance and then admitted. They started an iv at the urgent care and luckily when they poked him he responded and cried some.
After the iv he started to look a lot better. The ambulance took him to the hospital and the dr. at the hospital came to us right away. They did all sorts of blood tests and switched some different fluid into his iv and gave him more zophran through iv. Luckily he stopped vomitting. After being on iv for several hours they did another dehyradtion test. He wasn't where they wanted him to be but since he was no longer throwing up things were looking better. They were fifty fifty if he should be stay over night. I wanted to wait longer and let him eat some crackers and drink something to see if he could keep it down and see how he improved. He still was super weak and sleepy. So that was our compromise. After another two hours he kept down 3 crackers and some sprite (heavy eater I know).
So after two hours I felt he was well enough that I could take care of him at home. So we left in the evening after a extremley long day. He fell asleep the whole car ride home. Since he didn't eat all day and was throwing up and all I had all day was a donut I sent john to get kfc. He was excited to eat and I made him a plate. He stood up to eat and grabbed his head and collapsed crying his head hurt and he no longer wanted to eat anything. We finally managed to get him to eat a popsicle laying down. After that he decided he was tired and ready for bed. We gave him another zophran and his regular medicine and put him to bed.
So they wanted to do a CT while we were at the hospital but I oppted out. The dr.s at the hospital were in contact with kaysens pediatric neurologist and he wants to see him asap and most likely he'll be getting a MRI soon so I decided why put him through more than he needs.
Well thats where we are at right now. He is sleeping and seemed a million times better than this morning but is still really sick. Lucikly hes keeping liquids down and that is huge.
So I'll let you all know how he is tomorrow and how the neurologist goes. What a day! I'm ready for bed!

Bad Decisions :(

2009-10-23T20:57:00.001-07:00

Well as a lot of you know kaysen has a condition called cylic vomitting syndrome. The jist of it is that he throws up A LOT and OFTEN. Since he throws up so much he has a really bad gag reflex. He can't not look at poop with out throwing up even his own poop. Even if he sees mud and thinks its poop for a minute he'll throw up. Well I don't know what I was thinking. Oh wait yes I do,... I wasn't thinking! I (as many slaters do) have gas from time to time. Ok I have it a lot and yesterday it was particuarly bad. Growing up with many brothers and sisters it got farted on a lot. It was all in good fun though. I was thinking about these found memories and felt bad because kaysen doesn't have any brothers and sisters to tease him properly. Well at this point is when the bad decision took place. I decided to do what any good mother would do and fart on her child. As I began to laugh kaysen said "Oh mama you really stink" and then started gagging. At that moment I knew what I had done but couldn't stop laughing. So... John began to chastise me as kaysen began to vomit. Oh man it was really really funny. I know most proper moms wouldn't do such things but thank heavens I'm not a proper mom. Wheres the fun in that? Plus John is more the proper one so I just even things out. Well everything is back to normal and kaysen has no hard feelings against me. I went to bed laughing last night and I still break up laughing thinking about it. But I think next time I will try to think my actions through a little bit, but just a little.

Tylenol Recall

2009-10-02T18:11:00.000-07:00

Hey everyone I just wanted to let everyone know that there has been a recall on all liquid childrens and infants tylenol produced from april 08 to june 08. I guess there was a unused portion of one ingredient that did not meet all quality standards so there are recalling the rest as a precautionary measure. Although I'm sure me and everyone else probably already used it since it was made over a year ago. Any ways to find out if your bottle is being recalled you can look at the lot # and then go to tylenol.com or call 1-800-962-5357 8-8 monday-friday. Also i have a list of all the recalled products lot #'s that kaysens school gave me. So if you are worried just drop me a comment on what the lot # is and I'll let you know. All of the recalled products lot #s start with SB, SC, SD, SE, or SF. None of them start with SJ (which is what I have at home). Hopefully this is helpful.

Need a new look?

2009-09-30T15:35:00.000-07:00

Hey everyone I just wanted to let you know that I am running an offer at my new salon. The deal is you get 15$ off any color service on a tuesday for a first time client. So anyone who hasn't seen me in my new salon would be a first time client. Just call 314-997-5355 to book an appointment and make sure to mention that you are a first time client and saw the deal for 15$ off a color service online. Also make sure you book it with me. Here are some prices of the different services:
Haircut- 35
Haircut w/ blowdry- 55
All over color- 45
Full Foil- 85
(if you want more than one color foiled in add 10$ for each additional color)
Partial Foil- 65-75
And other services can be priced when you call in or contact me.
I look forward to seeing you guys.
The address of the salon is 10411 Clayton Road in frontenanc. We are in the La Chateau Village just west of the Hilton.

Life is GOOOOODDDD!

2009-09-20T10:53:00.000-07:00

*Inside the talking cavern cave at silver dollar city in Branson

*At the dixie stampede at branson

*Our Hotel room in Branson

*Even our long drive to colorado can't get me down. I told you I was happy.

*My hot husband driving the car to colorado. Don't worry he put it on auto piolt.

We'll fall is on its way in the STL and we are loving life. John is off and running in his third year of school. He is really excited because this year he is doing half clinical work and half book work. He gets to pick his rotations for his 4th year this next week so he is pretty excited about that too.

Kaysen is loving school of coarse. He is in the "Pink" room now which for those of you who are unlearned in the ways of preschool, he is the big man on campus. He also started soccer two weeks ago and it is so cute. He is really good and loves it. That makes me excited because I used to play soccer (although I wasn't ever really good). He told me he wants to play scoccer and do swimming lessons. It was like music to my ears. My boy is taking after me. I always thought he would be a swimmer because when I was pregnant with him he was always swimming and I'm pretty sure he mastered the butterfly stroke while still in the womb.

I am loving my new job. It is wonderful to be able to go to work and not feel stressed and to have a different agenda each day. I am very happy right now in life and things seem to be going our way.

We've have a had a really busy summer and what seems like a busy year too. I have missed seeing my friends as much as I used to but hopefully I can get back into the swing of things and attend more outings and blog reguarly. I entered a contest called mommy madness stl. They pick 6 busy moms to drive around either a chevy traverse or a chevy equinox for 4 weeks and blog about it and they also give you gas money. I am really excited. I hope I win. How awesome would that be. We could do so much with a vehicle that big even if it is for a short time.

I am going to post some photos of our summer too. Hopefully within the week I'll get up some video of kaysen's soccer.

August 09

2009-08-17T17:08:00.000-07:00

Well I lost part of my wedding ring today. It has always been really lose and especially this past year. Today it just slipped off and I didn't even notice. At least it was the band and not the engagement part. Oh well crap happens and for some reason it likes to happen to me a lot.
On a good note my job is going great! I really enjoy the people I work with and the clients I work on.
We went to colorado with johns family in july and it was so beautiful.
John is going to start school next week and kaysen has moved into the pink room at preschool which is the big kid room. He is so excited.
So funny thing just happened as I'm writing this. I must be completley crazy because I always wear both rings, always. I even "remember" putting it on this morning. Well john just found my lost ring in my jewlery box. Man I am now officially crazy. I remember putting it on. Which makes me wonder what other things do I "remember" doing that never ever happened. Hmmm this could be bad.

July 09

2009-07-02T18:52:00.000-07:00

Well its been a long time since I've updated the blog. I usually just do facebook cause its so much easier. I graduated June 24th. I got a job yesterday at the Frontenac salon and spa. I'll start the 22nd of July. We went to Branson to celebrate me graduating, fathers day, and our family vacation for the year. It was just a weekend trip but we had so much fun. We'll for sure do it again next year.
John is in clinic every thursday this summer and loves it. He starts his third year in the fall and is really excited to be working on patients and not doing as much book work. Kaysen loves school and is so smart. He amazes us everyday by how smart he is. He can count over 100 all by himself. He also is learning to spell. He can spell all his friends names, his name, our names, and is always saying letters together and asking us what they spell. For example "Mom what does KQSTRQB spell?" Usually he doesn't ever make a word but at least he is learning. He does always through a Q in there though. I tried to let him know that q doesn't really show up that much but he sure likes q.
We got a puppy in may. It was a suprise mothers day present for me. His name is pokey and he is a bichon friese-shih tzu mix. They call it a teddy bear puppy because it looks just like a teddy bear. He is super cute and fun. Although he is having a hard time with potty training. He was doing really well but we boarded him when we went to branson and he kind of forgot. He should learn just in time for us to go to colorado with johns family and then we'll have to start all over again.
We are going to Colorado mid july with johns family for a week. It should be really really fun.
I take my written test next week and then my practical test july 20th then start my job the 22nd.
Well thats it for now. I'll probably post again in another 3 months. If you want to hear more you can check me or john out on facebook.

Easter Sunday!

2009-04-12T16:32:00.000-07:00

Well today was a great day. We woke up to Kaysen at 7am saying "The Easter Bunny Came!" He ran downstairs and got his basket he made at school to collect all the easter eggs. At the end of the hunt he found his basket. The easter bunny left jelly beans, fruit tootsie rolls, a big bunny shaped sugar cookie, a book, a monsters vs. aliens shirt, and a blue blob toy from monsters vs. aliens. What a good easter bunny. Kaysen was happy the bunny knew not to leave any chocolate since it triggers his cyclic vomitting.
We went to church but it was stake/regional conference so it didn't start until 10 and was only 2 hours long. It was neat because it was for all the midwest states so some general authorites talked and it was broadcasted by satelite.
We made our easter meal at lunch and grilled filet minon, had shrimp, and rolls. Then the best part of the day was sunday nap!!!!!
John had to go do some school stuff so Kaysen and I planted a small planter of flowers for the pourch and then I installed a garage door keypad opener all by myself!
We also watch space buddies and let me just say first class. Cinematics at its best!
We had a great day and it was a good mix of the real reason for easter and the fun holiday side.

Round 3

2009-04-10T08:51:00.000-07:00

I advanced to round 3 of the junior style stars competiton today! There are about 77 left from the over 200 enteries. I am excited but also super nervous! They changed the date of when the winner should be announced from april 15th to sometime in the end of april. So I guess that means I'll have to wait longer but it also means more time for me to still be in the competition. I am super excited!

ADVANCEMENT!!!!!!!!!!!!!

2009-03-26T15:42:00.000-07:00

I just wanted to let everyone know I advanced to the next round of competition. They cut it from like 200 to 120 or so. That is still a lot of people but I'm pretty excited!!!! You can check it out at http://www.juniorstylestars.com/ my number is 9139.

Junior Style Stars Competition

2009-03-14T15:51:00.000-07:00

My photo has finally been posted on the junior style stars website. To check it out go to www.juniorstylestars.com then click on 2008/2009 competition photos gallery 10 and my number is 9139. You can follow the judging online too. The judging has just begun. I wish you could see the back and sides of my entery but they only posted 1 photo but the judges will judge from all 4.

It's Been Awhile

2009-02-24T16:50:00.000-08:00

Well lets just say its been a really long while. I have been using facebook mostly because it is so easy and fast to load photos on. But I will try to post some things here to for those of you who don't have face book. We moved at the end of January to a bigger place. We just really really needed the space. We were all so frustrated in that tiny house, we were on top of each other, and it was chronically messy. Now we are so happy and I feel like my house is actually clean.
Christmas and birthdays were all great. Kaysen is now 4, I'm 25, and John is 29!!!! We went to my sister Jenn's house in Buffalo, NY for a few days during christmas break. It was cold but fun. We went to nigara fall on the canada side too.
I entered a national bridal competition that judging starts mid march and ends mid april. After March 15th you can check it out online at www.juniorstylestars.com my number is 9139.
Schools are all going good. Life is great. I'll try to come back to the fold but we are all really busy. I'll post some photos too. Ok I just tried to post photos and it is being difficult so photos are to be postponed. But your welcome to view them on facebook and at the junior style stars site.

twilight

2008-11-10T18:34:00.001-08:00

Fall 2008!

2008-11-07T15:45:00.001-08:00

*Me, Kaysen, and my brother's boy Jet at the City museum in STL.

*Kaysen, Me, and John at the City Museum

*Me cutting my sister-in-law melaney's hair.

*Everyone loves underwear head!

*Kaysen gives the best hugs!

*Me in my school uniform.

*I'm off to orientation at cosemtology school. (August 2008)

DiScOuNt!!!

2008-11-04T17:19:00.000-08:00

Hey everyone! Print this coupon out and bring it in to recieve a 50% discount on services over 20$ preformed by me. If you can't print it out from my blog e-mail me and I will e-mail it to you! I need to make a new one because I spelled off wrong and the discount is only for services done on Wed. or Thurs. so it should be up and up to date in no time at all. Check back soon or e-mail me and I'll e-mail you the coupon.

Come to me I make you Beautiful!

2008-10-22T06:18:00.000-07:00

Hey everyone! I am now on the floor at my school meaning I can preform services on clients. I would love for those who want to come and see me. I have some coupons for 20% off a service for a new customer. If you want one e-mail me you address and I'll send it to you or I can bring you one at church or at the bookclub movie on friday. Also John has some to give out to those at his school. The phone number of the salon is 636-447-0650. The address is 5065 Highway N., Cottleville, MO 63304.
To make an appointment just call the school and say you'd like to make an appointment with the fabulous lara. I am there Wed-Sat. 10am-5pm. you can ask the school for exact prices on things or I could look them up when I get to school if you let me know what you want. Besides extensions the most expensive thing is a all over highlight or lowlight foil (also called a weave). It is 35$ for one color and then 5$ for each additional color. Which isn't bad at all. I think a hair cut is 12$ or 15$ and it includes a blowdry and style. The school will know for sure. Please come. I will take care of you. I love to do this and I am so excited to get things going. Hope to see you all soon. Also if you have a special occassion I can do updos. I think they are 25$. I am pretty good at updos and I really enjoy doing them too!

Model filled!

2008-10-16T15:45:00.000-07:00

Thank you so much to everyone for all of their help. Becca will be my model. I'm so excited. I will for sure keep you all posted when I need more models for haircolor/highlights, perm (or relaxer), facial, acrylic nails, and extensions. I have the best friends ever. I was so scared that I wasn't going to be able to find anyone but I shouldn't have worried at all. I'll send you all cards next week when I get on the floor that you can bring for I think like 20% off a service I provide to you. To let you know what I can do I do: facials, all types of manicure and pedicures (the pedis are nice because we have those nice massageing chairs), weave (or foil highlights and low lights), all over color, touching up color, haircutting, facial waxing, all type of perms including spiral, relaxers, updos, scalp conditioning treatments, and uhm that is all that comes off the top of my head at the moment. Well thanks again guys and I'm so excited Becca!!!

Model Needed!!!!!!

2008-10-15T19:20:00.000-07:00

I need a model. On Tuesday October 28th at 10am, I need a model for a haircut, style, and mini manicure. It wont cost you anything and it will be really helpful to me. If you've been wanting some "you" time and you want a new do this is a perfect match. The only thing is it has to be at the specified time. I'm sure an hour later wouldn't be too big of a deal. Don't worry about me being a newbie I'm freakin awesome. Oh yes and there are teachers there to supervise. If you can't voulenteer this time there will be others in the future (perm, color, extensions). Please Please Please someone help me. I don't know anyone besides my friends from church and kind of Johns girls at school. Oh and if it wasn't clear the haircut, style, and mini manicure will all be preformed on the same person so I just need one. Whoever responds first you're in! Just please make sure you can make a solid committment. You are all amazing and I love you so much. Thanks so much!!!!!! I promise I'll take care of you!

Family photos!

2008-10-13T18:05:00.000-07:00

SO we got our new family photos taken last friday. I know we just got them in January but we all look so different. Plus I needed proof that we were skinny at one point in time. As a family we've lost about 50lbs! So I'm so proud of us. I think we look great and John is so hot! He is back to the perfect weight I think.

So onto other things. I've been feeling sick latley. Lots of different things have been going on that I don't really want to go into but I got some xrays done and we are moving forward from there. I have another appointment on Thursday. But something totally besides the point was that when we were looking at my xray I found out I have scoliosis! I was in complete shock. I mean they did the whole test in middle school and everything but I guess they missed it. My spine looks like an upside down question mark. I guess that explains the pain. Well I'll update everyone on what we find out about my health.

Onto other things. I'm lovin hair school. I get to work on clients starting oct. 21st! I've already cut a few peoples hair and highlighted and low lighted a friend at schools hair. I love love love doing hair. For all of those who live in missouri you'll have to come and let me work on you at the salon. I'll give you a card for a discount when I get them next week and then you can come get anything done from manicure, pedicure, facial, to eyebrow waxing, to haircolor, haircut, or perm! I can't wait. Well that is all for now!

Hair School

2008-09-07T07:58:00.000-07:00

*Me with an updo my friend sami practiced on me. It was really cute.

My no hair project. Read below for an explanation.

Yes that is a bird and it is supposed to look like a nest.

So I've just finished up my 4th week of cosmetology school and all and all I love it! We've done lots of different things. So far I've done manicures, pedicures, facials, makeup application, virgin relaxers, retouch relaxers, virgin tint/lightner, retouch tint lightner, highlights, perms, roller sets, 0 degree haircut, 45 degree haircut, and of course styling, updo's, blowdrying, shampooing. We've learned a lot all the stuff with product we've just used cholesteral to mock our manikins with but we've learned how to put it on correctly. Oh we've also done lash and brow tints, fake lash application, and waxing.

You have to have 1500 hours to graduate and after 4 weeks i have 139.5 hours. At 350 hours i get to work on clients. Right now we've just been doing each other and manikins.

It is safe to say I love love love cosmetology school. When I'm working on something I just am having so much fun. I know this is the right career for me because I have been so happy the past month. John can testify! We've had two tests on our text book and I've got 98% and 100%. i've only missed one question so far.

I just finished up a no hair project. We get a bald manikin to take home and we have to design it using anything but hair. There are some pretty cool ones at school like marge simpson, edward scissor hands, a geshia, and a pharaoh. So mine is themed autumn. I decided to make it some what of a birds nest. It has a bird on top and I put twigs into a spray painted styrofoam tube. I also glued glitter leaves all over it. The photos don't do justice but let me know what you think. Have I mentioned I love hair school?

Cardinals Photos

2008-09-07T07:43:00.001-07:00

*Hot Hubby at with the field in the back ground.

*I can't go to a baseball game with out getting cracker jacks it would be sacreligious. It was pretty sacreligious when I opened them up and the toy inside was a red soxs tattoo.

Oh yah and you have to get a hot dog with sauerkraut!!! Yum!! and you had to get nachos and hot chocolate but I opted out of those photos.

Of course we forgot our cameras but luckily our phones take okay photos. So all the photos are from our phones. Best Date ever!!

Cute couple! We are so excited. I wish there were more games this year. i am for sure going to a couple next year. I loved it!

*Busch Staduim is amazing. I love that you can see the St. Louis Arch right from the stadium.

This place is huge but i felt like we had pretty good views of everything. The white ants are cardinals the blue ants are marlins. No the photo doesn't represent how close it was in real life.

Take me out to the Ball Game!

2008-09-06T06:09:00.000-07:00

Last night John and I went on a big date to our first ever Professional Baseball game. It was my first professional sport of any kind. It was the Cardinals vrs. Marlins. It was so much fun. We had a neighbor boy tend kaysen and we rode the metrolink down to Busch Stadium. That was fun too. Busch Stadium is amazing. Alougth we were really high up we had such a good view it was crazy. I don't think a seat in that place is a bad one. We were by third base. We got hot dogs, nachos, and cracker jacks. Sorry no peanuts. It even looked as if the cardinals would win. They scored in the bottom of the 7th then the marlins scored in the 9th. So the game went two extra innings and the marlins scored in the 11th. We left right before they scored in the 11th because it looked like they would with a man on 2nd, 3rd, and only 1 out. We had to get home to relieve the babysitter. It was awesome. I loved it. We will have to do it more often next year. When we got home kaysen (and the baby sitter) were alseep. I don't blame him though it was late. This morning Kaysen woke up crying. We asked him why he was crying and he said because "his friend was gone. He couldn't find him anywhere." How cute huh. That makes me happy he had so much fun. We'll for sure use him again. I'll put some photos up of the game and us after school today.

The Results

2008-08-10T08:54:00.001-07:00

*Kaysen's picture all done and framed hanging up in his room. I love it!!!

*Kaysens painting in his room. It just makes the room and it is totally him and so cute. I love it.

*My eyes were really hurting yesterday. Well I woke up this morning and I looked awesome. My eyelids are totally swollen. I tried to take photos but you can't really tell in the photos but they are horribly swollen. They feel like they are really tired and like I need to sleep. They are red and just feel heavy. So as a result I will not be attending church today. John thinks that I am allergic to my make up but I've been wearing it for a long time so I don't know why I would just one day be allergic to it. I think it is because yesterday I went running 8 miles and I was sweating like crazy into my eyes and I could hardly open them during parts of the run. I think I am allergic to sweat in my eyes. I dont' know though. Hopefully it will be gone tomorrow because I start school.

So since I lost weight and had to get all new clothes I took my old clothes to Plato's Closet. Thank you to all of those who helped with info. It wasn't scary at all and I got 98$ for them!!! Yes! So now I need to take Kaysen's old stuff to once upon a closet since. Thanks everyone!

"I'm just a poor boy nobody loves me!"

2008-08-08T09:13:00.000-07:00

So I need some advice. We are poor. I've heard people talking before at book club about selling old clothes and baby clothes. I've heard of plato's closet for adults but I don't know where to go for kids. Where do you go to sell old clothes and when do you go. What happens when you go. What can I expect. I get really nervous about things like this but I don't just want to give all that good stuff away especially since I could really use the money. If anyone has so pointers that would be really appreciated. Do you have to go on certain days at certain times or can you just show up whenever? Please help me!

Other Random Utah Photos!

2008-08-07T14:39:00.001-07:00

*The Slater boy cousins just being boys. Kaysen, Hayden, and Jet!

Kasysen 3, Hayden, 4, and Jet 2.

Kaysen and John's mom Ellen playing an intense game of Othello. I'm pretty sure Kaysen let Grandma win. He is so nice like that.

"Utah we love Thee!"

2008-08-07T14:02:00.000-07:00

*Kaysen playing at the cute water fountain in St. George Utah.

*This is my neice Aliyah and nephew Hayden. Alyiah makes this little body builder position when she is trying to hold her poop in.

*The boys playing at the water fountain in St. George, UT.

*It was all fun and games at the water playground until Kaysen poop his pants. Man that made me mad! He never does that!

*My sister Jen, me, my sister Heather, my mom, and my niece Aliyah. I know I looked really pissed I'll explain below why.

*So this photo was taken before Kaysen pooped his pants. I look pissed that is because of a few different factors. One: it was 111 degrees! Two: I had just gotten a parasite the day before and it was starting to take over my body. Three: I took some benadryil to stop the allergic reaction to the parasite. I don't do so well with benadryil. It makes me angry and lazy. My sister said that Day I just kind of phased out. What was going on in my head was I had things to say but I just thought it was going to be too much work to try to talk and get them out so I just didn't talk. When I did talk it was only because things were making me so mad. So basically I was really fun to be around. John wouldn't let me take any more benadryil unless it was right before bed.

******************************************************************************
So we had a great time in Utah for 3 weeks. I forgot how beautiful it is there. I also forgot how huge the mountains are. I actually can say I miss Utah. We had so much fun visiting our families. We spent the first week and a half with John's parents in Orem. We got to see our friends Kevin and Malana while in Orem and we even went to Salt Lake to visit my brother Dan and his family. While in orem I went running a lot with Kevin and Malana. We ran a 11 mile run the first saturday I was there. That is the furthest I've ever run in my life. It wasn't bad at all. I was so proud of myself. I'm just glad I lost my 11 mile virtue to Kevin and Malana. I couldn't think of better people to loose it too. I also ran during the week and another 10 miler the next saturday. Yah me!

We went to Cedar and visited my family for a week. My sisters were both there so that was awesome. We went swimming at Sand Hallow. That was so much fun but of course it was bitter sweet. I got a freakin parasite from the water! I'm not joking either. It wasn't even a sweet parasite that would cause me to eat tons and still loose weight. It was a freakin pussy parasite that made me look like I had a horrendus (or however you spell it) case of the chicken pocks all over my body except my face. On my arms there seriously wasn't a spot that didn't have a red pimple looking dot on it. They said it was supposed to itch really bad but it didn't itch at all so that is good. I just go horrible looks wherever I went like I was a leper. Oh well I guess I'd rather have this parasite that one that would shoot out my butt or eyeballs it a few years. That would be gross. It lasted about a week and a half. You can still see a few marks on my arms.

After my family we went up to visit my brother Dan and his wife Melaney and their son Jet for a few days. Actually Dan wasn't there because he was off flying for a few days. My sister Jenn, her husband Brad, and their Son Hayden were with us. We had so much fun. I met my new love while we were in Salt Lake. And it's name is IKEA! It was so much fun. They freakin watch your kid for you while you shop!

We ended the trip in Orem with John's parents. The drive wasn't bad at all but I will say the Mullet is alive and well in Wyoming, very well. I never thought in all my life that I would have spent so many nights in Nebraska. It just didn't make the list of places I'd like to stay over night in. Paris, London, Tokyon, Austraila, Nebraska. It just didn't seem to fit but it was pretty nice.

I am excited to be back. I love my missouri, my house, and my friends. I missed my friends really bad.

I start hair school on the 11th. I'm really excited for that too. I'll post more now I promise!

Some cool photos especially the last one!

2008-08-07T13:58:00.000-07:00

* We passed fields of these huge windmills in Wyoming. I just thought they were so cool. I made John take a butt load of photos because I just thought it was amazing. There were so many of them. They went on for miles. Lets just say I am easily pleased.

* This photo is of me and Kaysen before we went to the pool. This is before our big trip to Utah. Luckily now I am a lot tanner. I can't believe how tall Kaysen is getting. He is like half my size.

Painting 101

2008-08-07T13:53:00.001-07:00

So we thought it would be cute to buy a cheap canvas and let Kaysen paint it. We picked out 3 cute colors that looked good together and let him go to town. Outside of course because we used oil paints. I wanted the texture to show up so that is why we didn't use water colors. Kaysen loved it. After a few days it dried and we put it in a cute wood frame and hung up his art work in his room for permant. It ended up being so cute. I'm really happy with it. I think we'll have to do this as a tradition. It is totally him and way better than anything I could do. We did this awhile ago but as many have commented I haven't posted in a while sorry!

what up?

2008-06-13T07:00:00.000-07:00

So I don't have much time to do all the cute posts and everything. Hopefully on sunday I can get some cute photos up of Kaysen painting a picture and it in his room. Things are good. My diet was struggling there for a while. I actually gained 2 lbs. But this past week I've been really good working out and eating right and I'm back on track. At this mornings weekly weigh in I had lost a total of 20.2 lbs!!!!! Yeepeey!!!!

church!

2008-05-29T04:51:00.000-07:00

So today the new Hollister store opens and I begin a normal schedule. I am getting Sundays off finally so I will be able to go back to church. I've missed everyone and I've missed church too. I should get every sunday off from now on. Thank Heaven, literally I guess. I'll see you all Sunday.

Lara's Update!

2008-05-26T07:16:00.000-07:00

*So as most of you know I've been trying to loose weight for the past 3 months with diet and exercise the good old fashioned way. Well after a lapse for the Disneyworld trip I am back on course. Oh it was a wonderful lapse though with burger, fries, ice cream, and no working out. thankfully we were walking all day long in the hot sun so i didn't gain any weight. I also didn't loose any. Well as of today my total weight loss it 17.2 lbs. I am so happy. I am almost to my goal. Only 7.8 more lbs and I'll have lost my goal of 25 lbs. I think that is awesome. there have been hard times and easy times but all in all it has been going great. It is diffentaly worth it. Especially when I put on my old clothes and they look huge on me. I've dropped 2 sizes in pants and dresses and 2 inches in my waist and as a side effect my boobs have also gone down a size but I am willing to pay the price so long as they don't shrink anymore.

Well heres to the next 7.8 lbs!

Our Disney world trip!

2008-05-22T21:46:00.000-07:00

So I'm sure everyone wants to seem so photos from my trip. So I've organized some of the photos by our days and what parks we were in. We went to all the disneyworld parks and then to wet&Wild. We had so much fun I can't even believe it. I want to go back so bad. It was just perfect and magical. So the first 3 days we were by ourselves just our family. We went to Magic Kingdom, Hollywood Studios, Shopping and Wet n Wild. Wet and Wild was fun. It had a little park with 10 slides just for Kaysen size people along with a mini lazy river and wave pool for kids.
then Our good friends Kevin and Malana came and we spent the last 3 days with them at Animal Kingdom, Magic kingdom, and Epcot. Kevin suprised Maland with the trip a few days before and she had no idea we were there until we "bumped" into her at the park. As soon as she saw us she screamed and turned and walked the other way for like five minutes. We practically had to chase her down. It was so funny. I think she was happy to see us though. We had so much fun with them. I had the best time ever. Enjoy our photos.

Epcot Day 6!

2008-05-22T21:40:00.000-07:00

John's favorite place. Germany in Epcot.

don't mind me I'm just enjoying my schnitzel, sauerbrauten, rocough (i don't remember how to spell it but it's my favorite), knoodle, sauerkraut, brautwurst, and many other yummy things.

This if us in the german buffet. It was authenic and yummy.

Our goal is to all meet in 2011 in real Germany. We went in 2006 minus Malana but it just didn't feel complete without her there

Magic Kingdom day 5!

2008-05-22T21:37:00.001-07:00

So this is love, da da da de da da da de!!!!!

The best week ever!

I think this is how it works. I wisk him off his feet and carry him to the tallest tower to live happily everafter.

Animal Kindgom Day 4!

2008-05-22T21:30:00.001-07:00

Kaysen and his Malana.

Despite the face Kaysen was so happy and only cried once the whole trip and that was because he bit his finger. This is Malana my amazing friend.

You give him 1 shot and he's tipsy sheesh! Just kidding he is just blinking (I think). we are getting ready to watch the lion king show. I think it was one of my favorite show out of all the parks. I think John looks super hot in this photo.

Just chillin in the animal kingdom waitng for our turn to go on the mt. everest roller coaster.

We are on a safari looking for animals but luckily we didn't have to look too far because the wild and rare kevin is seated right next to me. This is Kevin, John's best friend and mission compaion. his wife Malana (we actually introduced Kevin and Malana on a blind date and they got married).

Day 2 Disney Hollywood studios!

2008-05-22T21:26:00.000-07:00

Kaysen could hardley wait his turn. he ran up to mike and sulley and hugged them both.

I'm pretty sure this is every boys dream to meet Lightning McQueen.

We watched a cute live playhouse disney show with all the characters. Kaysen's favorite is Qunicy but he wasn't avaliable to meet so Leo and Annie made up for it.

Magic Kingdom Day 1!!!

2008-05-22T21:21:00.000-07:00

Kaysen loved Buzz Lightyear. Buzz shot Kaysen's gun and Kaysen said buzz was cool.

Happiest family in the happiest place on earth.

Getting ready for the park day one and then for a short tennis match afterwards.

We are ready for a week of fun!!!

don't his eyes just look like any dream you every have could be possible. I think he got what he wished for.!

What we've been up TO!

2008-05-08T07:45:00.000-07:00

Well it has been a busy few weeks. Work has been going great. I really like it. I feel like I am alway busy and always have something to do which is great and is what I wanted. Kaysen is liking preschool more and more. He gets to do a lot there and whenever we drop him off all the teachers and kids say "Hi Kaysen". They really like him.
John is finishing up finials this week. Only two more. This semester went better than last so improvement is always good. John has been looking for a summer job. But if he doesn't find one our plan is to put Kaysen in preschool for the mornings and then john will review all the stuff he learned this year everymorning so he will be better prepared for boards and next year.
My diet is going so so. With this big change in my life it has been hard to find the time and energy to work out and food temptations seem harder to pass by. I am still loosing weight but it is a lot slower pace. I've lost a total of 17 lbs so far. It is awesome but you know how you get your mind set on things and when they slow down it kind of gets you depressed. Well I am kind of feeling bad about the slow down in weight loss but i should just be happy that it is going slowly down instead of slowly up.
well We get to go on vacation soon so I am so excited for that. We are really going to enjoy it especially because John will be done with school and I will be getting a break from working.
sorry this post is boring but I don't really have anything too cool or funny to write about.

Our day of BIG first!!

2008-04-22T20:10:00.000-07:00

So today was my first day at my new job as a Manager in Training at Hollister! I loved it!!!! There was so much to learn and do. It was so much fun and it is exactly what I was looking for. The people were really nice too. I think it is such a great fit for me and my family at this time in our lives. It was a 10 hour day today but it went by really fast because there was so much to learn. I even got to sit in on and observe a group interview to learn how to conduct interviews. That was probably my favorite part of the day. I get tomorrow off so that is nice.
Kaysen had his first day at school today. He was so happy to get there. When he got there he said "Wow that's a lot of friends". John called at like 12:30 and then I called at like 1pm to check up on him. He was doing great when we called. John picked him up at 4:30 and he was ready to go home by then. They said that after nap time (he didn't want to take a nap and didn't) he said that he was ready to go home and have his daddy come and get him. Today was a long day at day care for him. He will only have long days once maybe twice a week. The other days he will only be there for a few hours so I think that will help him.

So all in all it was a great day of firsts!

Tag!

2008-04-16T20:21:00.001-07:00

So here is a new tag. I got tagged by Amy so here goes,....

10 years ago:
Well this is going to date me. Even though everyone already knows I'm younger than them. I tend to hang out with people older than me. I always have. I don't know why. Even my husband is 4 years older than me. Well onto the tag. 10 years ago was 1998. What was I doing in the spring of 1998. Well I was getting ready to graduate from 8th grade! Yah thats right. I had recently become a woman (yah you know what I mean) and life was good. I was off to high school. But alas I didn't make the cheerleading squad ( I tried again 2 years later and made it but that is another long story for another long day).

5 Places I've visited:
*Berlin/Potsdam Germany
*Honolulu Hawaii
*Cabo San Lucas Mexico
*Orlando Florida
*Puerta Viarta Mexico

5 Things on my to do list:
*Finalize Kaysens day care/ preschool
*Clean the bathrooms before my mom comes
*Get the essentials and then some at costco
*Put the laundry away
*Take the bills to the mail

3 bad habits:
*I like me some diet soda!!
*Constantly getting on the internet and doing usless stuff
*Some times I nag John (well probably a lot) but I am getting so much better at stopping that

5 life time goals:
*To own a house
*Raise righteous child(ren) who get continue to keep the faith
*Be a good mom
*Not let myself be pushed aside but persue my goals and dreams too
*To live my life to it's fullest and endure to the end

5 things you might not know about me:
*I get a little bit of hair on my big toes that I have to shave ( I am so gross)!
*I have blue contacts I wear sometimes for fun. I do not repeat not look good with blue eyes so I haven't worn them in a long long time.
*I love to watch reality shows like real world, the gauntlet, and all those horrible ones.
*I've only had 3 cavities my whole life and 2 were just this past january. I guess I have been slacking in brushing my teeth.
*I pretty much always had a boyfriend from high school on. If I broke up with one I quickly moved onto the next or had the other lined up or switched one for the other. It is kind of a Slater thing. We don't like to be alone.

I tag Laura, Carolyn, Jenny, Marie, and Tracy.

I GoT iT!!!

2008-04-16T13:04:00.000-07:00

I got the job!!!!!!! I am so excited! I start on Tuesday. I am going to be starting at the Galleria Hollister until the 18th of May then I'll help open the St. Clair Hollister and it opens on the 29th! I am so excited. So today I've been searching for day care and I think the one I signed him up for in the fall to go part time is going to let him start next week full time. They are just checking to make sure but they said it shouldn't be a problem. This is all working out so great!!!!! I am so excited. Kaysen is going to be so happy when I tell him on Monday that he gets to start school tomorrow. He has been waiting forever!!!! Yes!!!!!

Household or Rock Stars!

2008-04-16T07:14:00.000-07:00

*I got a nice straightner and it works on John's hair too. So he let me try it. Then I did his hair, and then he decided to dress around the hair. I think he looks uber hot!

*So update on my workout/ weight loss progress. So I've become somewhat of a runner lately. I ran 6.6 miles yesterday! It wasn't bad at all. I'm not sore either. I've really gotten into running. In the last 4 days I've ran a total of 17 miles and that is because sunday is included in those four days. My weight loss is going good too. I've lost a total of 15 lbs! I can't believe it. It makes me so happy. I also got 2 new pairs of shorts and a new pair of pants and they are all a size smaller.

*So funny story with this picture. John and I have always made fun of guys who cut the sleeves off of their t-shirts and work out in them. Well two days ago John comes downstairs to work out. He takes off his work out shirt and heads into the kitchen. I hear some snipping and look over to find John cutting the sleeves off of his work out shirt!!!!! I almost died!!! I said what about all the people we've made fun of and he told me that "I like to look in the mirror and see my muscles." Well I guess with all of his hard work he deserves to show a little skin. So I took the left over sleeves and put them on my head because it made me look tough. I then took the other sleeve and put it on John's head. I took some photos of him and died laughing. I told him I was going to post them on my blog and he then told me he would literally kill me if I did. Which for no shame John is a pretty big deal so I respected his wishes to keep his dignity and decided to give up mine and post my tough guy photos.

* I look like a 15 year old hoodlum boy who hasn't hit puberty yet.

*Rock star hair, Rock star life. John has been working on the guitar and has gotten pretty good. When I did his hair cool he had to play his guitar so I took his pitcure. After taking a few photos I noticed that his eyes looked really yellow. I decided it was just the light and the camera. I didn't say anything because I didn't want him to feel bad. Well later that day he told me that at his clinic the night before they put all this yellow stuff in his eyes to check for scratches. Well that explained it all. That explained why my husbands eyes looked like he had jaundice, why the photos turned out looking a little weird, and why my white towel (not John's) was covered in yellow spots. You have to love guys. They are so sweet and innocent.

Butterfly House

2008-04-16T06:59:00.000-07:00

* He had to ride this exact horse so he didn't even get to ride by his friends.

*Kaysen in the cute butterfly chair at the butterfly house.

*Just pose for this cute photo and I promise I'll sneak a butterfly home in my purse.

*Do you like my hairclip? This is my stalker butterfly. I'm glad he at least chose a cute spot to land in. Luckily this photo is really close up so you can see all my chins.

We went to Faust park for our play group last week. We played at the park, went to the butterfly house, and then rode on the carousel. It was so much fun. Most of the kids were freaked out by the butterflies. They went crazy whenever one came near. Kaysen and one or two other kids acutually liked the butterflies. Kaysen loved seeing them all and being able to have them so close to him.

When we walked in, I think because I was wearing a yellow shirt, I had a butterfly land right on my head. It wouldn't leave either. I kept trying to shew it off and then it would just go to my shirt or some other part of my head. It took it forever to leave. While I was shewing it Kaysen turned to me and said "Mama it's just a butterfly." How funny. Him telling me not to be such a freak out. Here are so photos from our fun day. It was really hot and steamy in the butterfly house so the photos are really blurry.

Finally! with Update!

2008-04-11T13:17:00.000-07:00

Whoo HOO! So I have a first interview. On Monday I am meeting for a first round interview to be a manager in training of a new Hollister store that is opening up. If all goes well I'll get a second interview, then get put into the training program, then will be an assistant manager.
Wish me luck.
We'll see though huh! I don't want to get my hopes up too high too quickly.

*Update!
So the first interview went well. I have my big interview tomorrow (tuesday) at noon. If I get hired on as a manager in training then I will start immediatley. I'll train until the 18th of May and then go to the new store at St. Clair Square mall in Fairview Heights, IL. I'll help that store open on May 29th and work there for a few months. Then I should get promoted to be assistant manager and that could be at any store. So I am excited. I hope it all works out. If it is meant to be it will. If not oh well. But I hope it is meant to be. I'll let you know how my interview goes tomorrow.

SO Cute!!!

2008-04-08T06:49:00.000-07:00

Well our first day of soccer pratice was a success. It was so cute. All the kids were really excited but they paid pretty good attention and did what I asked pretty good. They all improved from the start of practice to the end. I absoultley loved doing it. The cutest part was when Olivia told me "Thank you Coach Lara."
Practice lasted about 30 minutes and then the kids were no longer to pay attention so I passed out the treats and we let them run around and play with each other for awhile. Kaysen loved playing soccer with his friends. Mommy loved it too. The weather was perfect and the ground was dry. Everything was great. I can't wait until next week. Thanks for coming Noah and Olivia! Thankyou Laura and Rebecca for bringing them. I hope you guys liked it as much as I did.

10 lbs!!!

2008-04-02T08:23:00.001-07:00

YaH! So yesterday I hit the 10lbs mark! I've lost 10 lbs since I started my diet on 2/29/08! Only 15 more to go. I haven't been this weight since a few months after having Kaysen when I was breast feeding and loosing all those calories. I am working hard and am so happy to see some results. I'm now having to wear belts with all my pants. I doubt I'd fit in a size smaller yet but heres to hoping!!!!!! If it sounds like I am bragging and being a little prideful it is probably because I am. I am just so proud of myself for stickng to it and actually seeing results.

Soccer Practice!

2008-03-31T07:21:00.000-07:00

So I'm thinking that we will do soccer practice at 4pm on Mondays at Waphelhorst park by the church. I want to do it in the field by the tennis courts so don't go in the main park area but the second enterance by the tennis courts. I think we'll start the 1st monday in April and go through the end of May. I will be out of town May 10th-17th but that is just one monday. I am really excited. I hope you guys are too. I think the practices will be about 30-45 minutes because that seems to be the amount of time I can keep Kaysen's attention.
I've applied for some jobs and they are closing soon so it is possible that I might get a job then we would have to move practices to probably saturday or later in the day but we'll see.
So I'd like everyone to have a ball of their own. You can get them anywhere but they should be a size 3. If you want to you can get shin guards to protect from all those little kicks and little cleats. At sports authority they have a lot of soccer stuff. We got Kaysen a ball for $5.97, shin guards for $4.97, socks for $3.97, and cleats for $17.99. They even have packages with a ball, cleats, and shin guards.
So we'll see you guys who want to come at waphelhorst (or however you spell it) in the grass by the tennis courts starting Monday April 7th at 4pm. If the weather is bad just call me and I'll let you know if practice is cancled or not.

Me being anal.

2008-03-26T20:59:00.000-07:00

So those of you at book club who were in this conversation (since there were like billion going on) Newsies was released in 1992! I checked for sure. I was born by 1992. I was 9 in 1992. I was born in 83. I am old enough. And this is the conclusion of Lara being Anal.

Sports Practice.

2008-03-26T20:40:00.000-07:00

*He Swings...........

* It's a Home Run!!!!!

*Mom and Kaysen practicing dribbling skills.

*Kaysen practicing his ball skills by knocking down all the cones.

*Goal!!!!!!

So Kaysen has really been active latley so I decided to put him in a sport. Well I wasn't able to find anything for 3 year olds so I decided to teach him myself. We went at got all the gear and now he has soccer practice and baseball (tball) practice once a week. He is sooooo good at soccer. I love it. He didn't pick the ball up at all. He could dribble, pass, and shoot really good. He just amazed me. he loved soccer too. It kept his attention great and he loved it. T-ball was fun too. It was harder to keep his attention for it though. He bats better left handed though. Which is weird because he does everything else right handed and he did most of his soccer stuff right footed.

Well next year when he is old enough to join a team he is going to be so good and such a stud.

I think it would be fun to teach other kids in the ward too. So if your kid is 3 or 4 and would like to learn soccer let me know. I think i'm going to do soccer practice every monday at like 4:00 for a half hour or so. i want to do it for free because I think it would be fun and Kaysen would love it too. the only thing i ask is that they are at least 3 and that you pick up a size 3 soccer ball to bring for you child to use. Let me know if you want to participate and I'll get you more info. They have size 3 soccer balls at sports authority for 5.97 and little shin gaurds for 4.97. i hope someone wants to do it!

Easter!

2008-03-26T20:30:00.000-07:00

*Bubby was amazing at finding eggs. We had to tell him to slow down so hayden could get some. Which was exactly opposite of last year.

* on the Hunt!!

*What a great Haul!

*I'm not sure if he liked coloring Easter eggs or not.

*Coloring Easter Eggs.

So we decorated Easter eggs on Friday then the Bunny came early on Saturday because Jenn and fam had to leave early Sunday morning. The boys loved the hunt. They got tons of Candy. We then took them to the Easter Extravaganza at New Town. Basically they went trick or treating for easter candy at the local buisnesses. It was so cute. They had a great time.

City Museum with the Fam!

2008-03-26T20:20:00.000-07:00

*Kaysens favorite part of the City museum is the caves. He just takes off and loves to find the smallest whole and places to crawl into.

*I think this photo looks like I am being spied on from far away by some pervert and don't know it. Well i guess it pretty much is what it looks like.

*Every body is having a lot of fun!!!!

*I think Hayden's favorite part was the train.

So I think my favorite thing we did while the fam was here was go to the city museum. We stayed for a long time and did everything. Out of all the stuff we did there my favorite part was when we went to the big ball pit. I was laying down in it when Jenn came up and thinking it was deep and trampoline like underneath the balls, she jumped it. Well it isn't deep and concrete isn't that absorbent so she just collapsed. I sound like a horrible person writing this but it was so funny.

Where in the World is Lara San Diego?

2008-03-26T19:50:00.000-07:00

*Hayden and Kaysen just chillin at the Zoo.

*Jenn, Brad, and the kids at the zoo.

*So funny story. Kaysen was inspecting the ape, found the nipple, and then began to pinch it while Hayden spanked its butt. I'm not making this up either.

*Getting Ready for a Day at the Zoo.

* So every morning Kaysen and Hayden would have a wrestle mania match on the air matress when Jenn and Brad slept. Sometimes they were still sleeping. Sometimes they would wrestle while the air was being let out which was found to be less effective because a jump from the couch wasn't absorbed by the bed but he ground.

Well for all of you who have been wondering where I've been and why my blog has been very much lagging here is some new stuff! My sister was in town all last week so that was so much fun and took up my time. This week is John's spring break so I have been living it up with him all week. Now he is working out and I just got back from book club and made promises to update my blog so here goes.

The MaNy TaLeNtS of KaYsEn (cont.)!

2008-03-16T08:07:00.000-07:00

So I finally got a video uploaded! It took forever. I think the other videos are too long so I think this will be it. Kaysen just started taking an interest in Letters. He has loved numbers since before he turned 2 and now he is learning his ABC's. He knows even more of the song now then when I took the video a few days ago. He just started singing the song the day before I took the video.

The Many Talents of Kaysen!

2008-03-13T16:57:00.000-07:00

Kaysen is good at contorsion. Or how ever you spell it. You Know what I mean. I tried and tried to upload videos of him singins but it wasn't working yesterday or today so this is all you get for now. Hopefully the talents will continue.

So my weight loss is still going great. I los 2.2 lbs this past week. My brother and mom aren't coming anymore because stupid Southwest airlines got a ton of their planes grounded which in turn booked up all the other flights coming to st. Louis so there was no way they could get home once they got here. So we are sad. Luckily my sister is still coming on Monday. There is no way she isn't coming because they have paid for flights instead of coming stanby for free. It was so sad when we told Kaysen that Grandma, Dan, Melaney, and Jet weren't coming. His eyes welled up with tears. Then he said he wanted them to come. I tried to explain that the plane couldn't bring them anymore. I told him that Hayden his cousin was still coming and it helped a little. He said "I need Hayden." Which broke my heart. I told him Hayden was still coming and he then said, "I'm still sad." Then I'm pretty sure my heart shattered and fell out of my chest.

We haven't really taken any photos lately or done anything too cool to post about. So alas it is kind of boring to read. I hope I can get those videos up later of Kaysen singing. They are really cute.

Happy Annivesary!!!

2008-03-07T06:51:00.000-08:00

March 6th was our 4th Anniversary! Wow. That sure doesn't seem like very many years. I feel like we've always known each other and have always been together but it's only been 4 years of marriage and 2 years of dating. 6 years total. I am so happy that we got married. John is the perfect match for me. He gets me and lets me be me completley. I love him with all my heart. I am so happy that we got married in the temple so we can be a family forever.
For our anniversary we got each other gifts. I got John some new work out stuff because of our new commitment to working out and dieting. John got me a cute new Coach sachel purse. It was really really on sale so I didn't feel too bad about spending the money. In fact I spent more on John than he did on me and I freakin got a Coach purse. He (well I kind of got them when we were at costco and claimed they were from him even though he was in the bathroom when I picked them out) got me 24 long stem red roses. What a nice guy ;) We ate at Applebees for dinner and then just came home and did other things;)
Tonight Kristy from John's class is going to come over and watch Kaysen so we can go on a date together. He set it all up isn't that so nice. I am very excited.

*Update! So my weigh in date was this morning. Drum roll please! .......... 5.2 lbs in one week. That is a record for me for sure. I have been working out diligently and my diet is going great. I really like it because I can have little things here or there that I want and I don't feel like I am starving at all. The reason why I like it most is because I am seeing results. Hopefully I will still see some more results next week. John will weigh in on Tuesdays because that is the day he started working out and really watching what he eats.

*Update #2! So my mother, brother, sister-in-law, and nephew are all coming now on the 14th- the morning of the 17th! I am so excited to see them. We are going to be very busy around here for a few weeks because we are going to have a constant stream of family here. My sister comes the morning of the 17th when my mom and brother leave. She leaves the 23rd and John's parents are most likely coming the 24th and staying for a week. I am excited!

Fat Cow!

2008-03-03T06:32:00.000-08:00

So it has to happen. I have finally gotten the real urge and desire to loose weight by really working out hard and dieting. I decided to start really working out hard and consistantly two weeks ago. So I joined the new town gym and have been going 5 days a week. I love going to the gym but my biggest weight problem is food.
I hate tryng to diet because as soon as I decide that I am going to diet I get really hungry and I hate not being able to eat what I want. So I joined weight watchers online and have started to cook better with their recepies and eat better. I really really like it because the food I make is really healthy and fresh and it tastes great. I can still eat things that I like (like popcorn at the movies).
So I got out some photo ablums from when I was in High school, college, and when John and I first started dating. Man did we look good. Did being the correct word. So that really really motivated me to loose weight and keep exercising and dieting. But the best part is that it motivated John to want to join the gym and start dieting too. That is a huge thing for him because he tends not to really care. So I am excited for both of us to not only get healtheir but to start looking hotter.
So I decided to post our decisions on our blog so we have some extra accountability. I've heard that if you tell people about your weight loss goals your more likely to keep them. So I'll add updates so people know if we are doing good or not. My goal is to loose 20-25 lbs. If I do then I'll be back to my senior in high school weight. John's goal is to loose 30 lbs. So here goes. My weekly weigh in day is on Friday. I better see some results!

To Recieve the Holy Ghost or Not to Recieve the Holy Ghost?

2008-02-26T20:03:00.000-08:00

So On Sunday in Nursery Kaysen learned about the Holy Ghost. They taught him that the Holy Ghost is a comforter to him just like blankets comfort him and make him feel good. Then they gave him a small green fleece blanket to take home as a reminder of what the holy ghost does. I was so impressed by his teachers and so thankful for them. I know it made him just feel great and excited to one day get the holy ghost. Unfortantley not all kids I know might feel that same way.
My sister lives in Buffalo New York and on Sunday her son learned about the Holy Ghost too. He is 3. He woke up that night and was crying saying that he had a night mare. She said that he mentioned the Holy Ghost and then said he learned about the Holy Ghost in Church that day. When she asked who the Holy Ghost was this is what he said: "the holy ghost comes to your house at night and rings the door bell. Ding dong. Then he rings it again DING DONG!! Then he drags you away!!!!"
I kid you not he said that! How funny! Apparently they aren't teaching the same things in all the classes across the church. I'm just glad my son came home with a blanket instead of a nightmare.

He's Still Got IT!

2008-02-17T19:46:00.000-08:00

So John just got put into the Young Mens as the Young Mens Secretary a few weeks ago. Well it was his duty this past Saturday to Chaperone and drive to the youth tri-stake Valentines Dance. Well it was a sunday dress dance and before he left he was looking good! I know you think I probably am biased but please read on to see that my opinion is validated.
Well at the dance John noticed two girls who kept looking at him and whispering. Then he noticed one of the girls put her tractor beam on him and zoned in. John tried to hide behind Martie and Tracy (the two yw leaders he was with) but she got him and asked him to dance.
He said yes because he is a nice guy and didn't want her to feel rejected. After dancing for a moment she asked him if he was a Chaperone. The conversation was exceptionally dull after he explained that he was.
I couldn't stop laughing when he told me he got asked to dance by a junior in High school!!!! I love it. I mostly feel bad for the girl. She was probably so embarrassed and then even more embarrassed when she knew he was a chaperone and then they continued to dance for the duration of the song.
How funny. I'm just glad to know that he has still got it and I'd better watch my back because I've got competition.

What a sweet little girl!

2008-02-10T17:08:00.000-08:00

Every now and again I wish i had a little girl to dress up and play with. Not instead of Kaysen but in addition too. So I have to work with what I've got. Sometimes Kaysen gets a toe nail or two painted or gets to put on chapstick. Well he usually asks to paint his toe or chapstick when he sees me do it. I've never actually initiated it but on this day I did. I thought it would be so funny to put pig tails and a head band in his head. He thought it was funny too. We couldn't stop laughing the whole time. Daddy didn't think it was quite as funny as we did. Let me just say that Kaysen makes a cute little girl. Although in the middle picture she kind of looks crazy.

YeS!!!!!!!!!

2008-02-10T16:32:00.000-08:00

So I just found out today that my sister and her husband and 3 year old son are flying in from New York to visit us for a week in March!!!!!! I guess her and John set it all up and they have been keeping it a secret from me this whole time. They are coming for her spring break from Dental school March 17th-23rd. This is the best news ever! We used to do everything together and hang out every weekend and at least a few times during the week. But since we've moved we only saw them for a few days over christmas and it seemed we didn't really get to hang out because so much was going on. I am so excited to see them, play, and show them our life here. This is the best suprise ever. She wanted to just show up on my door step on March 17th but then they finally decided to tell me. I'm glad they did because now I can plan and have something great to look forward too. I can't wait it's only a month away. This is a photo of me and my sister who is coming! After looking at this photo I finally realized that the reason we only really hung out with each other is because no one else probably wanted to hang out with us. Oh well it doesn't take away what we had. The other photo is of my sister Jen and her Husband Brad and their son Hayden.

I love TURBO TAX!

2008-02-09T10:12:00.000-08:00

Oh what a great day today is!!! I finished our taxes last night. I feel like I am the most amazing and most accomplished person in the world. I went onto the internet last night and found John's missing W2 that we kept calling his Utah work about and they kept feeding us crap but I found it!!! Then with the help of amazing Turbo Tax I did our federal, Utah, and Missouri taxes in a jiffy. This is the first year I've used anything like turbo tax I've just done them myself in the past and let me tell you this was an amazing expeirence.
Isn't it wonderful how something so small that everyone has to do can make me feel so good about myself. I think the fact that I was able to get us a great refund with the help of all the deductions Turbo Tax found and thanks to the earned income child tax credit probably makes me feel even more great.
Thank goodness for kids! Man I should have more kids just to get the tax credit. That is a great reason to have kids. And yes I am an amazing mother.
This post probably didn't make sense but i sure feel great.

Another get to know you Tag.

2008-02-08T08:02:00.000-08:00

Here is another Tag thing that my sister-in-law did. So you can learn a little about me!

A- Attached or Single? Attached
B- Best friend? Well John and Kaysen always says I'm his best friends.
C- Cake or pie? Hmmm I only really like pumpkin pie so I'd say cake.
D- Day of choice? Friday
E- Essential Item? toliet paper I can't live without it
.F- Favorite Color? Royal blue
G- Gummy Bears or Worms? Worms
H- Home town? Cedar City, Utah
I - Favorite Indulgence? The internet, some times coke or pepsi with sugar, and camerl corn
J- January or July? July
K- Kids? Krazy Kaysen
L- Life isn't complete without? Kaysen taking a nap so I can read and or sleep
M- Marriage date? March 6th 2004
N- Number of brothers and sisters? 2 brothers 2 sisters
O- Oranges or Apples? Oranges
P- Phobia and fears? John dying and leaving me with debt, kids, and no job and no one to love. Also John not getting a optometry job and us having a butt load of debt.
Q- Quote? Right now I like the one my sister put on a beautiful tile for a christmas present "In all of living have much fun and laughter. Life is to be enjoyed not just endured." Gordon B. Hinckley
R- Reason to smile? Kaysen and all the wonderful things he does. This also sometimes is my reason to frown because of all the naughty things he does.
S- Season of choice? Summer for sure. I love being in the water and outside doing outside things. Plus you can't beat a tan.
T- Tag three people? Laura, Tracy, Carolyn
U- Unknown fact about me? I am a pretty gassy girl but I do try to hold it in while in the company of others minus John.
V- Vegetable? Fresh ripe red tomatos cut with with lemon pepper.
W- Worst habit? Bringing up old stuff when we have a argument.
X- X-ray or Ultrasound? I've had both. Though Ultrasound was more exciting. Well at least the one when I was pregnant with Kaysen. I had another in 5th and 9th grade and found out I have cysts on my ovaries. That kind of sucked
Y- Your favorite food? Right now it is avacado. It had been spagetti my whole life.
Z- Zodiac sign? Capricorn (hmm maybe this is why I love pop corn so much)

Restless Butt Syndrome?

2008-02-03T19:35:00.000-08:00

For all of you wondering out there no this is not a story about diherria so lets now move on. So I don't know if you have ever seen the commericals for RLS or restless leg syndrome but I get it all the time. It is when you try to relax and your legs just hurt and feel like they need to move. The pain is the worst when you relax though.
Latley though instead of getting RLS I've been getting what I like to call restless butt syndrome or RBS. It is exactly like RLS but instead of my legs aching when I sit still it's my butt and upper side thighs/ hips. I've gotten it like 3 times this week. It kills. I can't even lay on my butt or sides and I just want to move them. It is the worst when I am trying to go to sleep.
So when I get RLS I usually take tylenol, ibuporphen, or if it is night tylenol pm and then I rub icy hot on my legs. Well let me tell you it is pretty dang hard to rub icy hot on your own butt! So I enlisted the help of my husband. Apparently John has never rubbed icy hot on a butt before and he didn't know what he was doing. It was way too thin and he didn't massage it into the muscle. Well i tried to explain this to him and I guess because I was in so much pain I kind of was more of complaining it instead of explaining it. So he got mad and left me on my own.
I really appreciated what he tried to do for me but I also feel like if your going to do something for some one don't do it half assed or I guess in this case half the ass. Sorry for the swear but I felt it was appropriate.
Well luckily I haven't gotten any RBS the last two nights so our marriage is doing good.

Dentist or Horrible accident?

2008-01-31T16:33:00.000-08:00

*Oh yah! That is one hot slightly handicapped mama! And yes I am trying my hardest to smile in both of these photos. Feel free to laugh enjoy and share at my expense. I don't mind so long as you have a good laugh.

Well I went to the Dentist on Tuesday to get 2 cavities filled. It went great and it only took 30 minutes. Well after I went to eat with John and Kaysen because I had church stuff to do and no time to make dinner. Well half my face was compeltely numb. I'm pretty sure the people at McDonalds thought that John was such a wonderful man to marry a girl with a face like mine. I think they thought I actually couldn't move half my face because they were extra nice and came over and brought kaysen free cookies and were talking to us for awhile. I tried to smile to say thankyou but I'm sure that just confirmed what they were already thinking because I looked so bad smiling. John couldn't stop laughing at me. We took some photos to savor the memory. To top it off I had to go to Choir practice and practice a solo song and a duet. Needless to say I probably didn't pronounce the words very good. The numbness wore off by the time of Young Womens. Which is probably good for my self esteem because I'm pretty sure the youth would of had a hay day with that. I know I would of. Well I hope you enjoy the photos. Notice how not only is my mouth sagging but my eye is too.

City Museum

2008-01-31T14:39:00.000-08:00

*Outside of the City Museum

*John and Kaysen climbing up to the playground in the ceiling at the City Museum.

*3 story slide that Kaysen just loved. I liked it too.

*I always knew he was a little monkey.

*On the Choo Choo Train.

*The caves have to be my favorite part. We just climbed in every crack and whole. It was completley dark by the way but it looks light because of the flash.

*Going down the 3 story slide to get to the caves.

*Photos of the outside of the City Museum. All the metal and everything is safe to climb on and lead to different slides and other cool stuff. There is even an old plane you can climb up to and play around in outside. There are 2 huge ball pits outside filled with balls the size of baskteballs.

So for MLK Day we went to the City Museum. For those of you who haven't been it is amazing. If you ever come visit us we will have to take you there. It is a old building with just everything you can imagine in it. You can climb on everything. There are tons of slides, ball pits, and caves to get lost in. On the Outside of the building there is a bunch of wire that kids can just climb all over in. Inside there is so much fun. They have a train that Kaysen road forever. We went to a circus where kids did acrobatics. It was amazing. So next time any friends or family are in town we are so going there.

*Here is a video of part of the City Museum.

Book Tag

2008-01-29T09:14:00.000-08:00

Book Tag
For those that I'm going to tag, here is what you gotta do:
1. Grab your nearest book.
2. Open the book to page 123.
3. Find the fifth sentence.
4. Post the text of the next 3 sentences on your blog along with these instructions.
5. Tag 5 different people.

"And when Paul Slater did it... well, let's just say that the last thing I was expecting was to like it. I mean, this was the same guy who'd tried to kill me not so long ago...."

from "Haunted" of the mediator series by Meg Cabot.

Now I tag Laura Clark, Tracy Pulley, Marie Peterson, and any body else who wants to do this. You don't have to do it if I mentioned your name and you don't want to. It think it is fun to get a little insight though into other books. Thanks Carolyn for tagging me awhile ago.

It's a Wonderful Life!

2008-01-27T20:09:00.000-08:00

Well as most of you probably know President Hinckley passed away today at 7pm MST. It is bitter sweet. I am so happy that he can join his sweetheart but I am sad because I loved him so much. He is the prophet that I grew up with and remember the most. He was so loving and just made me feel like I was the best person I could be. He was so optimistic. I am so happy for him that he has finished his mission here and did so with amazing strenght and wit all the way to the end. He looked so great at October conference who would have thought.
Well it seems that with every new prophet a new era is ushered in and a new bar is set. It will be great to see the church move forward and see what new and wonderful things will come. President Hinckley you will be missed and thank you for all you've done for us. We love you!

Book Club Idea

2008-01-23T07:22:00.000-08:00

So my sister-in-law marie, just invited me to this site called shelfari.com I invited lots of you too if I had your e-mail address. What it is, is you make a book self of all the books you've read or are reading. You can even rate the books too. I think it is a great idea because you can look at all your friends lists and get ideas for your next book. I think it would be a great idea for those in the st. charles book club to do because then we can share easy. Well if you want me to send you an invite and you haven't got one yet let me know your e-mail. Or you can set up your own account at www.shelfari.com and then invite me. I would love to know what your reading so I can think of what I can read next.

Bubby's Birthday

2008-01-14T20:24:00.000-08:00

* I think he likes his new choo choo computer game! I looked pissed huh! This is how I look in all the photos we took at chuck-e-cheese. Maybe I was a little stressed.

* Kaysen inthe back and Noah in the blue dancing at Chuck-e-Cheese. It's crazy time.

*Kaysen went to Build a Bear and Built Shrek with the money Grandpa Lee and Grandma Ellen gave him for his b-day. Now he plays duck duck goose with it.

* One request Kaysen had for his b-day was tons of different colored balloons. He got 9 and loved them.

*Coming out of the slide at Mickey Donalds (what he calls McDonlads) for his b-day.

*brand new big boy bike he got for his b-day. He looks so old on it.

Well for Kaysen's had his 3rd Birthday on Friday the 11th. He got a brand new big boy bike. He loves to ride it and makes us keep it in the house. We went to McDonalds for lunch. Then he got a bunch of balloons. We went to movie that night to top it off. The next day we went to Chuck-e-Cheese and met up with the Clarks to have a small b-day party. I didn't want to do anything big because I didn't really have time to set up anything. It was kind of a last minute thing but it turned out good. The kids loved it and Kaysen was happy to have Noah there. It was crazy at Chuck-e-cheese though. We got there at 5pm and it was so busy. The clarks got there a little later and had to wait in line for like 20 minutes because they were full to maxium capacity and because of the fire code the cops wouldn't let anyone else in until people left. This is the only chuck-e-cheese I've ever seen that has real city cops on staff and actually has to refuse people because of the fire code. Well here are some photos.

Lara's b-day

2008-01-14T20:15:00.000-08:00

* All dressed up for my b-day. I feel great!

So I'm kind of late but here are some photos of my b-day on the 30th of December. I had a good birthday. We ate at the Cheesecake factory. We shared a meal and shared one piece of cheese cake and it was still like 32$. Oh well thats why we never go there. It was fun though. I got new nike running shoes. They are the ones that you hook your ipod up to and you can track your pace, distance, time, ect. I really like it.

ice skating

2008-01-14T19:17:00.000-08:00

Ice Skating

2008-01-14T18:48:00.000-08:00

* Kaysen's first time ice skating!

New Bike, New Camera!

2008-01-14T17:46:00.000-08:00

* Kaysen got a big boy bike for his Birthday. He loves it. He is so much better at it than on his Tricycle. This video is of him riding his bike around our neighborhood. We took it on our new digital camera. Yah your read that right. Not on a video camera but a digital still camera. Our new camera also shoots amazing video with sound right onto a SD card so we can download it onto the computer and then put it on the web or onto a cd, or dvd. I really like it. Thanks lee and ellen for the b-day money so we could buy it. Now we don't have to take a camera and a camcorder with us. Two birds one stone!

Introducing Poo Poo in the potty!

2008-01-14T17:42:00.000-08:00

Well I have to add this little tid bit too. Now Kaysen goes poo poo in the potty. He doesn't have accidents at all! ( to be read in Horatio Sands voice from SNL) "Not in the day, not during naps, not at night, not at church, not while in the car, not while playing games, not at chuck-e-cheese, not in the slide at mcdonalds, not while watching tv, not while taking a bath, not at the grocery store, not at target, not at the library, not anywhere." I love my boy!!!

Peepee in the Potty!

2008-01-10T07:48:00.000-08:00

My son is freakin amazing. He is all potty trained (minus the # 2 part but that usually takes awhile). He hasn't had any accidents in 2 days and he tells us when he has to go. He even can take a nap and not pee his pants during a 2 hour nap!!! He wears a pull up at night but most of the time it isn't even wet in the morning. I am so proud of him. He is doing so good and has been such a joy to potty train. I was so scared before we started but it all worked out better than I could have ever hopped for. He is getting so old. I can't believe it. He will turn 3 tomorrow. I'm so proud of him being pretty much potty trained before he turned 3. Well at least pee pee potty trained. He loves wearing big boy underwear too. He doesn't like to wear a pull up at night but you do what you must.

Miss Utah

2008-01-07T20:36:00.000-08:00

So Guess what Miss Utah is Jill Stevens. I worked with her in Presidential Ambassadors at SUU. Right now there are doing a reality show leading up to the miss america pagent on January 26th Friday nights on TLC. This weeks episode they said that she was in the top 3 out of all the girls. You can go to the TLC website www.tlc.com and vote for her to be one of the finalist at the real pagent as the viewers choice. I really think she has a great chance. She is a combat medic in the military and served in Afgahnistan. She is really nice and watch the show and vote for her. I may know Miss America!

OUR NeW FaMiLy PhOtOs!!!

2008-01-04T13:51:00.000-08:00

*Here is our new family photo. I really like it!

*Just chillin lookin all daper.

*What a cute little monkey!

*He loved this wagon.

*Can you believe we got this guess shirt for $2.10? Crazy huh. Doesn't he model so good?

*Yah he is such a good little model. He is getting so big.

SNoW DaY!!!

2007-12-16T09:36:00.000-08:00

*Our Yard and snow man.

*Kaysen is all dressed up in his gear for fun. He can barley walk.

*John and Kaysen in our sweet snow fort.

*Kaysen showing me his snowball we used for our snot ball fight.

*Our little snow man and man.

*Kaysen with his mohawk and new hair cut.

Well it's another Sunday and Church is yet again cancled due to weather. This time it is snow. I freakin love Missouri. It is really Sunny today but very cold. It snowed all Friday night and all day Saturday into Sunday night. We got probably like 6 inches or so. Yesterday Kaysen and I built a snow man and snow fort for snowball throwing fights.

Today we built up our fort even bigger and I pulled Kaysen around on a sled because there aren't any hills within walking distance. So last week when church was cancled we cut Kaysen's hair to pass the time. This week I don't know what I'll do.

*John did really well on his finals. So far he has passed all his classes that have been graded.

Twilight casting!

2007-12-11T20:43:00.000-08:00

We'll my friend Laura Clark told me that they cast Edward for the movie. Needless to say both of us were pretty disappointed. He is not nearly a gorgeous and stunning as he is in our minds. I don't know what to do. Because now on I am going to think of this guy instead of my Edward who I've been fantasizing about in my head for almost every moment of the day for like the last few months. Ohhh woe is me!!! I guess I'll just have to start fantasizing about my husband again. At least Cedric does look kind of mysterious in these photos. (I call Robert pattinson cedric because Laura told me he played cedric in Harry Potter and he was so not hot in that.) He isn't ugly and his mysteriousness kind of makes him attractive but i was expecting greek god attractive. Oh well at least I wont be jealous of Bella and I will be able to watch the movie for the story. He is way too skinny too! Kristen Stewart is the name of the girl who is to play Bella and I think she is perfect.

*You know what is crazy Each time i look at the photo's of "Edward" I actually think he is hotter and hotter. It is the mystery! I'm dying I want him now!!!!

Silly time!

2007-12-09T13:39:00.001-08:00

* What else is there to do on Sunday when church is cancled besides re-enacting being pregnant with your almost 3 year old son? At least he enjoyed it as much as I did.

* weird but this is actually exactly how I looked pregnant with him from a profile view. (well minus the extra head and all)

* I just cut his hair today too. Man I am bored.

*Kaysen and I in our cute winter puffy coats. We both even have faux hair on the hoods.

Neat-O-!

2007-12-09T08:32:00.000-08:00

So today we got our first taste of an ice storm! You would think that most people wouldn't be excited about it but I was very excited. Mostly because I couldn't comprehend how an ice storm came about. Everyone described the effects of an ice storm to me (like ice and more ice and everything covered in ice) but in my mind I didn't understand how it couldn't be just rain or snow like in Utah. I mean if it is cold enough to freeze the rain into ice automatically why doesn't it just snow?

So let me see if I can describe what I saw to those of you who haven't seen an ice storm. Well it wasn't raining and it wasn't snowing. It had rained some yesterday so that rain then turned to ice but the weirdest thing was it was somewhat misty in the air like all the humidity in the air was encoumpasing everything and then freezing on contact. When we went outside we came back in with all our clothes damp but it wasn't raining at all. It was pretty cool. This morning when I looked outside every plant individual leaf, branch, or blade was covered completley in it's own ice casing. It's not that thick though and it doesn't look like it was really even that bad of an ice storm. Probably just a really really mild one the the people who are used to them.

I thought it was very neat-o though. They even canceled Stake Conference today! Can you believe it. I've never in my life had church or school cancled because of weather. The weather report said today is just supposed to get more ice and more ice and tomorrow is supposed to be even worse. Than on Tuesday it will finally be warm enough for just rain and no ice. Well I hope this was as interesting to every one else as it was to me.

LA(U)RA Day!!!!!

2007-11-30T19:53:00.000-08:00

So I thought this subject deserved it's very own post because it was freakin awesome. So what is La(u)ra day one might ask. Well it is a magical day when people who are named lara or laura get to leave this world and enter one of no kids, no worries, no husband, and endless amounts of money and fun.
Well I was lucky enough to participate in this wonderful occassion last Saturdy. (I've heard it only happens once in a 150 years like Haileys comet). My good friend Laura Clark was the other lucky participant.
It was GLORIOUS (to be sung). It all began at 3:15. My date, Laura, came over and we were swept away in a stylish dark green 2003 camery, can I get an ooohh yahh? We were taken to the beautiful Chesterfield Valley where we visited a magical village I believe called Mall. In this mall there are many shop keepers and merchants with wonderful nick-nacs and whoo haas. I purchased a few minor indulgent whoo haas (can I actually say that with out it sounding bad?)

Then when the day couldn't get any better Laura muttered the magical words P.F. Changs and our taste buds began to dance and sing. Lettuce Wraps, Changs Spicy Chicken, KUNG POW, and water with ice; it just can't get any better than this. After a most sensational dinner we did some window shopping at the chesterfield commons.

Finally to end the night we took in a movie called "Enchanted". It was the perfect movie for and enchanted day. I hope this La(u)ra dy can come more often because I had so much fun and I think I deserve it!

WHAT THE BUNNY!

2007-11-29T20:32:00.000-08:00

So these are our cute little new friends. We noticed about two weeks ago that a bunny sits in our yard in the same place everyday all day. If you go outside and get close to it, it runs away, but it will be back like 15 minutes after you go back inside. So we went out to make sure it wasn't burrowing or had babies and then we noticed that directly across from it in a place we couldn't see from inside was his friend. So these little free loaders have been basking in my lawn for weeks and have no plans to move. I let them know that I'm watching them so they better not pull anything funny like start digging or killing the grass. I opened the door and pointed to my eyes and then to the bunny and told him "I'm watching you!" I think it worked because they're pretty good bunnies. They are really cute too. I'll update you on how long they stay.

*It hurts me to write this but as of 12/3/2007 9:47 am Centeral time our bunny is MIA. He has been gone for 2 days. If you see him tell him I'm not mad. I was just trying to be funny before. I just want him warm and safe.

It's all a blur

2007-11-29T20:03:00.000-08:00

*Some one got matching Jammies!!! We got Kaysen his awhile ago and then found out that The Children's Place had them in adult sizes too. I couldn't pass it up. I know they are really not very figure flattering but it was just too cute and they are really comfortable. Weird but John didn't want any. Hmmm. Whenever I have them on Kaysen asks "I want to wear my jammies like mommy." Doesn't that just melt your heart.

So this week has flown by!!!!! Which is kind of good because that means it's closer to christmas. I am so excited if you can't tell. John is back in school and studying like crazy. Kaysen I and I just sit on the couch watching movies and eating bon bons all day like all other stay at home moms do. On a plus I think I'm going to repost my photos upright so no more neck cramps.

I did go to a book club yesterday at the St. Louis Bread Company. It was amazing. First of all I loved the book like all time favorite book ever, I loved the atmopshere of the bread company, and last but not least I loved the people. I love my friends out here. They are so fun and we do so many fun things together. If you haven't already read the book "Twilight" by Stephenie Meyer then read the other two "New Moon" and "Eclipse". They are the best.

So today I went to play group which is always nice because Kaysen gets to be with people who have as much energy as him. Tonight I played basketball with my friends. It was so much fun. I freakin jammed my finger though. I swear 9 out of 10 times I will jam my finger playing basketball. But I enduring all the pain, sweat, blood, and tears (well mostly just pain) to write this blog that is how much I care about the people who view it, all two of you.

Thanksgiving Day

2007-11-22T19:38:00.000-08:00

* It's all uploaded and upright! This is our Holiday photo that we sent out with our Christmas card. I love it. We only took two and they were both by timer. The other one was really cute but part of our bodies were cut off.

*Our Christmas Tree. Our Christmas Tree. We really love our Christmas Tree!

*Our Thanksgiving Feast.

*I told John that is was just juice but it didn't seem to phase him.

*Our Christmas Tree!

We had a great Thanksgiving day. It was our first time as just our little family for a holiday and it was really nice. I love getting together with our extended family don't get me wrong but there was something wonderful about it just being us. Maybe it was the simplicity.

Any ways we woke up and started the turkey. It was still frozen so I gave it a bath in warm water which smelt awful. Then I made Slater's famous clam dip. We ate at about 1:30. We had turkey, potatos and gravy, olives, corn bread stuffing, and rolls. Then, too over come by tryptophen, Kaysen and I subcomed and took naps. When we woke up we ate pie and decorated the Christmas Tree. Kaysen loves the tree and keeps kissing it.

We had a wonderful Thanksgiving. Day We also took a photo this morning that we are going to send out with the christmas cards because it turned out so cute. Well I hope everyone else had a wonderful holiday too!!!

We took Kaysen to sit on Santa's Lap in the mall yesterday. We weren't sure how he would do because he hated it last year. He kept telling us he wanted to though. So he did it and loved it!! He told santa that he wanted toys and we got a really cute photo that I'm going to try and figure out how to post.

2007-11-21T08:32:00.000-08:00

*Kaysen as Buzz Lightyear and his cousin Jet as Woody! What a cute perfect pair.

*My brother Dan and his wife Melaney and son Jet came to visit us at the end of October. This is Dan showing off his bruit strenght by hold up a whopping 28lbs on each arm. We had so much fun when they came!

*Kaysen going down the insanly fast and steep slide at the Pumpkin Patch we visited with the Clarks.

*Our Playgroup Halloween Party. The other half of the adults in attendance were lined up taking photos.

ThAnKsGiViNg BrEaK!!!

2007-11-19T21:01:00.000-08:00

*This is us with our good friends. Laura, Noah (in the red), and Brady Clark at the Trunk-or-treat!

* John showed up just in time for this photo. I was the one who actually did all the work.

Well it is finally Thanksgiving break. John got out on the 17th and doesn't have to go back until the monday after Thanksgiving. I am so excited!!! We are not going any where though because it will be too expensive to go both holdiays this season. We are staying home and I am making my first Thanksgiving dinner. The nice thing is that I won't have to make any of that crap I hate. No sweet potatos!!!! Well I doubt anyone even reads this blog because we just set it up. We're going go have to get some friends though so we don't look so lame.

The Petersons

2007-11-18T14:49:00.000-08:00