L is for lazy lauren

I have officially been alone for 3 days. Sunday, I drove back to Tallahassee from Orlando without Jared. Some thoughts:

1.  I want to drive 90 but I'm too chicken so I go 77

2.  My bum was numb by the time I arrived home

3.  Maddie is the best car companion ever

4.  10 miles before my exit, traffic STOPS due to a wreck. add 20 min! :(

5.  I was tempted to turn around several times and kinda regret not doing so

The house is way to quiet and loud all at the same time and sleeping in the middle of the bed is not as fun as it should be but I'm getting better at it. Maddie is super sad that her daddy is not here anymore. After I come home, she just sits by the front door and whines

**UPDATES**

Easter was crazy in Nursery. I could tell who had their baskets before church and who didn't. It was really funny though.

Mother's day was really fun. My mom, Jared, and I went to lunch at chili's and then the beach. My step mom and Jared, my almost 7 year old brother (crazy), and I all went to Clark's Fish Camp in Jax! So yummy! yes, i got the chicken at a seafood place! At the Andersen house, ALL of the girl's get a corsage to wear to church so that was fun.

I have discovered Pandora and I'm in LOVE!

Glee was awesome this week!

I've been jamming out to so much great music I could die! :)

My full blown kidney infection is getting pretty bad. The Dr suspects it's starting to abscess due to the amount of white blood cells and blood in my urine. (TMI? sorry) So, I have to go back in 9 days to make sure surgery is not needed. yay me!

oh, and I'm a super dark brunette now. pics to come soon!

Love, Lauren

liar liar pants on fire

I lied. I'm sorry!
I was totally going to do a post yesterday but my eye was over reacting and things got busy so I'm sorry! I'm totally making it up to you (you being my hopefully not so imaginary readers) by giving you one delicious post.

Snuggles before dinner

Oh, how I love thee

Good hair day

Such a stud (even while guarding my bag!)

Love this!

Love him!

The wind was blowing the water all pretty!

J is not J walking!! woot-woot!

Please excuse the tan lines

I love this picture! It makes him seem so young to me!

I petted a dolphin.

Super model shot! haha!

Banana's Foster is my new favorite dessert! YUM YUM!

We went to Harry's Seafood Bar and Grill for a co-worker's going away party. Jared and I somehow ended up at the restaurant 30 minutes early. So we played with the camera and goofed off. It was fun to be silly while all dressed up. The restaurant had reservations for us at 7 so at 6:55 we walked in at sat at the bar with 3 or 4 other co-workers. (note: everyone kept asking what we were drinking and seemed disappointed when we said sprite. :) )

So 7 comes and goes. 7:30 passes and here it is now 8pm. Still sitting at the bar waiting with now, 16 people! After 2 managers of ours went and calmly talked to them about why it has been over an hour, we were seated within 10 minutes. Jared and I were just ordering dessert and nothing looked good to me. (I know I'm crazy but with gluten off my plate, it eliminates a lot)

Anyway, Jared recommends Banana's Foster. All I can picture is banana pudding. (due in part because our menu was lacking one VERY important thing: PICTURES!!!) So out comes this heavenly looking pile of ice cream, saucy stuff, and bananas. DE-LIC-IOUS!!!

I want more just thinking about the cinnamon and sweet stuff all oozy over the cold smooth ice cream. :D

So now, I am now in LOVE with Banana's Foster. goosebumps!!

Thanks for being patient as I ramble about dessert. I also had some fun this week editing some pictures from the SGI trip. My favorite:

I miss the beach.

Love, Lauren

Mini Vacation

It's been a while! my bad! :(

Jared saw an article about a super moon here.

So, when we got invited by the generous Long family to join them at their St. George Island beach house for some fun with the Webbs, we packed up and headed to the beach!

We had fun eating, playing games, flying kites, and hanging out. We learned a lot about Nate's mission to Poland, played the game of "Things" and we loved playing with Natalie and Cali! We stayed 1 night but we packed so much fun into those 24 hours, you would have thought we were there for a week.

Here is proof of our fun adventure!



SGI Lighthouse

THE house (sleeps 14)

Super moon in the background

Jared could borrow my sunglasses if I got a piggyback ride

Even our shadows are in love <3

1st time flying a kite! SO much fun!

We really appreciate the Long's hospitality and the Webb's great company! We also went to church in Apalachicola (tiniest little branch ever!) It was so humbling to see people with more than 1 calling. I was truly inspired to be thankful for my calling and make the most of it.

Sorry for the mini blog-cation. But, don't worry (not that you would) I'm back!

Promising a post tomorrow,

Love, Lauren

in no particular order

I LOVE:

blogging

Jared

Maddie

family

church

fresh sheets from the dryer

friends

the gospel
trampolines

bobby pins

pink

polka dots

hair bows

the colors yellow and navy blue

hydrangeas

pearls

candles

gluten free cupcakes with pink icing and sprinkles

sleeping in

rinsing my hair in cool water

nail polish

flip flops

ballet

babies

pregnancy

law & order

crystal light

chap stick

peppermint

pineapple

Scrubs
beaches
getting goosebumps
kisses

Green with Envy

Happy St. Patrick's Day! I had the day off so I spent the early morning doing some chores with a migraine. I eventually laid down for an hour or so which helped in combination with Tylenol.  Jared had a 4 hour break from 12-4:30ish so we went grocery shopping and then came home to take care of some more little stuff.

 

Then, the magic happened. We made a delicious green dinner!

 

 Green Mac n Cheese!

I just added green food coloring to the cheese sauce!

Basil Chicken Breast with Zucchini

More Zucchini with carrots and a light butter sauce

Green Jell-O Jigglers (lime)

We then took a walk (2 miles) and ended with a lovely movie! 

 IT WAS HILARIOUS!

I cried, laughed, and almost wet the couch from laughing so hard! (4 stars!)

 

I am not lucky so much as blessed!

Love, Lauren

I'm a big girl now!

I worked my very first 8.5 hour shift today. I LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE my new job! It's so fabulous and everybody is so nice! I also get unlimited free sprite! Oh goody!

I am so tired right now! I woke up at 6 am and worked from 1-9. I am so ready for bed!

Also, Glee was MUCH better this week! I need half of those songs to be on my ipod stat!

Maddie is down 1.5 pounds! Only .5 to go!

This is all that's new in the Andersen hiz-house!

Sweet Dreams,

Love, Lauren

P.S. I got an "I <3 Beef" button and a bumper sticker from the Florida Cattleman's Association (they're staying at our hotel)! I'll post pics when I can hold my eyelids open!

<3 L

little things matter most

I am named after a lovely woman. The kind of woman everyone wants to know.

Her name is Virgina Kathleen Cheek-Mitchell and she is my great-grandmother. She passed away in July 2010 and is still being a wonderful great-grandma. A wonderful Grammy.

This is Grammy way back when...

Grammy LOVED costume jewelry. Big, colorful, and sometime a little tacky! I loved looking at all of her necklaces and clip on earrings as a little girl.

Today, my Nana (Grammy's daughter) sent me a box of Grammy's old jewelry. One necklace came with a note that said,

 "These beads I bought for a dress to attend Bob's promotion to manager"

Bob was my Great-grandpa. He died in 1969 so I never met him...neither did my parents. When Grammy passed away, my Nana said she pictured Grammy and Grandpa Bob dancing in heaven. They liked to dance.

These are the beads on me...


I can't figure out how to flip this! sorry!


Nana has a picture if Grammy in these beads and she's going to send it to me soon. I love all of these old treasures. Some are from the 60's and many look to be about 1950ish.

 This is a pearl bib necklace. Sorry it's sideways!

The most gorgeous clip on earrings! and a necklace 

My most favorite piece. An encrusted brooch.

When I was a little girl, my Grammy lived in San Diego. She always reminded me of a Golden Girl. She would sometimes send me a stick of big red gum with a small note. Just one stick of gum. She always did cute thing for me and I miss her so much!

Grammy had breast cancer and was suffering from a lost memory. How I wish I could know of her memories. This is an excerpt from her memorial page.

"Kathleen was born on February 2, 1922 in Akins, Oklahoma to Beaut and Stella Cheek.  She attended schools in Sallisaw.  In 1942, Kathleen went to Washington D.C. to work as a “government girl” in the newly-built Pentagon.  After leaving Washington, Kathleen worked as a switchboard operator at Camp Gruber when it was a P.O.W. camp.


Always an adventurous spirit, Kathleen traveled across country to California where she met and married Bob Mitchell on December 10, 1949 in San Francisco.  He preceded her in death on September 1, 1969.  Kathleen carried on, first moving to Florida before settling in Coronado, California, a place she loved.  She enjoyed Padres baseball and listening to Ted and Jerry broadcast every game. When her health began to fail, Kathleen moved to Muskogee, Oklahoma in 2007 to be near her family."

I love that she was adventurous. I love that I am named after her. I love that she was my Grammy!


Love,
 Lauren Kathleen