6 years of lessons in love

Lauren is this amazing little girl who teaches me new things everyday. The most important lesson she has taught me is the way to love sincerely. And in response, I have a small understanding of what my Heavenly Father must feel for me. This love like no other came into my life 6 years ago on the night of December 29th, 2004. I got to hold her little body in my arms for the first time. I felt my heart melt and grow all at once. And every day since then, my heart has continued in the whole melting and growing process. She shows the simple joys of the flight of a butterfly can bring, or the soft breeze on my face as I gazed at the ever changing shapes of the clouds above our heads. She has taught me the ability to laugh at myself and to not take myself to seriously. The imaginative way she looks at this world and her always sunny side up attitude has made me realize that life is about the little things. Like the two marshmallows stuck together, or the joy of being the one who gets to eat the last cookie. The pleasure of coloring outside the lines, or the dance party in our living room. She is nothing but joy. And she is my joy. I love my Lauren and everyday I feel such humility that I get to be her mother. What an insurmountable honor it is to be the one that gets to watch her grow and mature. Happy Birthday my little girl. I love you with all my heart.

We have been battling this horrible cold that seems to be more co-dependent then Brittny Spears. But Lauren woke up so excited that on this day, she was 6. She said "yesterday I was 5, but not today. Because today I am 6!" So I ask you, how could we just let this day pass sitting in front of a humidifier smelling of Vicks Vapor rub? The answer, there is no way we could. So we draged ourself out of the house and into the car to celebrate. But our first stop was up to Morgan. Evan had a dentist appointment. And yes, I know that there are capable dentists just down the street from me, but I have been going to the same dentist since I was in high school and it is fun for me to take my kids there too. It was Evan's very first Dentist's appointment and the kid was a champ. He had no cavities. When we told them that we would like them to take x-rays of his teeth to see if everything was good, they let us know that 3 year olds just don't do x-rays, but they would try. Evan totally rocked it! (and everything is good).


On our way home, Chad had me check the movie times at the Megaplex. We were in luck, Narnia was about to start, so we booked it over there. We had fun. We spent way to much on candy and pop corn and totally self indulged in the name of celebrating Lauren's birthday.

I love how we spend money on seats, but Lauren and Evan always end up sitting on the steps.



All day long, Lauren kept mentioning that she wanted to go to Applebee's. When we asked her if we could just go to McDonalds instead, then her and Evan can play, she said no. She wanted to go eat somewhere where they sing to you on your birthday. She we went to Applebee's. She was so happy. She didn't even touch her food. She sat there the whole time in anticipation of the servers coming out to sing to her. It was all she wanted and almost to hard for her to wait.

(remember when you look at this frightful picture of me that we had been battling epic colds)


Ironically, the last time that we went to Applebee's, it was in the middle of a snow storm and on Lauren's birthday, there was a snow storm. And Evan got the pleasure of seeing a snow plow in the parking lot again.


Then when the anticipation was almost more then Lauren could bare, they came out singing and clapping and it was all for her. Her eyes were literally shining. We couldn't have gotten a bigger smile for her if we had gotten her the world. It was her own personal cloud nine. See, the simple pleasures are the greatest.



She has been nothing but a joy for the past 6 years of my life. Everyday I wonder how I could be so lucky to have such a fun, quirky, sweet, tender-hearted little girl in my life. She literally is my dream come true. I love my Lauren.