S is for Skiing (and Slacker)

Sorry I haven't been keeping up with the blogging. I think of all these great posts and when I finally have the time to blog, I forget what I was going to blog about!

I went skiing on Saturday at Brighton. I forgot how much I love skiing. Too bad it's the end of the season. I decided that I will take ski trips every year and teach my kids to ski when they are 3.

Anyways, I went skiing and Meredith and Breanna went snowboarding. I was constantly waiting on them the whole time, well, until I decided to do some runs by myself. Mere and Bre took a break and ran into the Thomas family. It was good to see them and to go down a few runs with them, however, they weren't too happy with me about going down blues and blacks as beginning snowboarders.

Here are pictures from the day.

On the way, early in the morning.

Me and Bre

Me, Bre and Mere

Beginning of the day. I love the mountains. Yes, I am wearing sunglasses. It was such a beautiful day, I decided to leave my goggles in the car and just wear my sunglasses.

Mere, after falling.

Me, waiting.

Bre and the beautiful view.

I was so tired of waiting on them, I decided to take a nap.

Jack, Me and Seth

B is for Bran Muffins

My darling friend, Ashley Q, has the best bran muffin recipe ever. Not only are these bran muffins delicious, but they are filled with fiber--approx. 9 grams per serving -- maybe I'm making that up, I can't remember. Point being, they contain a lot of fiber. After reading my friend Logan's post, I decided this week to finally make the muffins and let him try one to see if they help. And let me tell you, these babies are miracle workers. Logan is forever indebted to me.


To all my dear readers, here is the recipe:

1 cup water
3 cups 100% bran
1/2 cube of butter-melted
3/4 cup honey
2 eggs
2 1/2 cups whole wheat flour
2 tsp baking soda
2 cups buttermilk

Boil 1 cup water in microwave for 1 minute, then add the 3 cups of bran and the 1/2 cube of melted butter to the water and mix (set aside to let bran soften).In a seperate bowl mix together the remaining ingredients. Then add the bran/butter/water mix to the remaining mix and mix them together. Poor into greased muffin tins.


Cook at 375 degrees for approx. 15 minutes (sometimes it takes longer)



Love Lauren

M is for Many Things

M is for Marriage

I have lost too many friends to this M word. Marriage, Matrimony, Mating. All mean the same thing. In the past two years, the majority of my friends have taken a dip into this word. Today I called five of them asking them to be single for the night and hang out with me. They all "have plans". Point being, I have been replaced. By men. Quite unfortunate. However, I am happy for them.

Brynn (Knibbe) Edwards, LaRen (Wallace) Johnson, some random guy, ME, Brittany (Hutchison) Eckersly, Janelle (Meador) Isaacson

M is for Moving

If I don't lose them to the one M word (Marriage), I lose them to this one (Moving). Either I move away--like I did when I left for college and left all my dear friends--or they move away from me--like Ashley Burnett leaving me for NYC or Ashley Q Peterson leaving me for Las Vegas. This M word will happen again in April as I move away from Provo for good and leave a lot of friends behind.

Me and Ashley Burnett

Me and Ashley Q

M is for Midterms

It's that time of the semester again that this dreaded word comes into play. So what do I do about? Do I spend hours at the library? Do I pour myself into my books? Do I form study groups? No. I blog. Just kidding. I do study, in groups sometimes, but I don't spend hours at the library, and I don't study as much and for as long as I should. Midterms aren't as bad this year, seeing as I'm only taking 12 credits and these are the last ones I have. Ever. Unless I go back to school.

M is for Movies

More specific than movies -- home videos. I love them. Also, I discovered a program on my computer where I can make movies. I know, amazing. I decided to make a tribute to me and bee and our summer together in New York. I haven't finished it, so don't judge it, I was just so excited about the fact that I could do it! It's so easy, all I had to do was pick the pictures and put them into some program and it did all the work. Easy. Ok just kidding the one I made won't post, but here is another one I tried to make on another program. But maybe it was a lot of work and I didn't finish it...

I also have a great home video, filmed by Breanna and Mere, of Ashley Q and I dancing to High School Musical. I would suggest putting your computer on Mute before pressing play. And don't be too jealous of our wicked dance moves.

M is for Miracles

I realize my pity party in the first part of the post may be slightly morbid, so I decided to lighten things up at the end with M is for Miracles. My home teacher, Steele, came over the other night and shared a message from 2nd Nephi Ch. 4. He had a pity party, but it was just for a minute and then he realized he had so much to be thankful for. I, too, have so much to be thankful for. This month I'm especially thankful for the medical miracle--my Grandfather. Or Gramps as I like to call him.

Well folks, that's all for tonight.

Love Lauren

elle is for lauren

Many of you have been wondering and inquiring about the blog name. My newest nickname "elle" developed this summer in New York with one of my dear friends, Bridget Fuentez. She is adorable, if you don't know her, you need to. Anyways, we have always called eachother "L" and "B" and one day I told her, "ya know, whenever I call you "B" in my mind I think "bee"." Then she commented that "That's so funny because when I call you "L" I think "elle"!" So from then on, we have always referred to eachother as "bee" and "elle" with a whole new meaning.

elle and bee

O is for Oklahoma

Last weekend I went to Oklahoma for my little sisters birthday and baptism. Alli is just about the cutest thing!

For her birthday she had a gymnastics themed party and we rented out the place where she takes gymnastics classes. It was a lot of fun--especially seeing Dad and Tay on the balance beam and dancing on the floor. The bars were a painful experience for me. I think the video was lost, but my Dad and Uncle Kenny convinced me to jump on a bouncing thing and thrust my self at the bar to grab on and do a flip over it. Problem was, everytime I did it I either fell short, or thrust myself so fast and high that it would hit me in the stomach, knock the wind out of me, and bounce me off so I landed on the floor. After several times of this, I decided to stop. I guess the bars aren't my thing anymore. I was able to pull out my A game for the high balancing beam and my B game for flipping on the floor (B for back--several times I ended up flat on my back)! The pit was also fun, below is my favorite pic. Thats me barely making it out of the pit in time, and my brother jumping over my Dad. Scary, I know.

The day before the baptism, my dad, Mere, Tay, Alli, and the Christie boys went to the zoo. It was a blast. We had several great photo ops. Too many to post, but maybe I'll make a facebook album for them. Here is a peak into the fun we had.

Yes, Taylor did kick one of the little kids out of that spot so his face could fill it.

I was starting to fall so I put my legs in a death grip around Mere. She wasn't too happy about that. Big kids can have fun on the monkey bars too.

I got to see my friend, who is currently serving a mission in Oklahoma City, while I was there. He came to the baptism and to dinner at my house.

Elder Taylor Burnett and I at mi casa.

The group (minus my Uncle Kent and fam) who attended the weekend festivities.

Well, I believe I have procrastinated my homework long enough for tonight. Keep checking back for more great posts later this week. Also, if someone knows how to do the whole design thing, feel free to help me! And if you have a blog, lets link.

Love Lauren

A is for Awesome

This blog is going to be awesome. Once I figure out how to work this...