Nannie and Poppa's 60th Anniversary!

In today's times its almost become a rarity to find anyone who has been married to the same person for over a decade. Thankfully, there are still golden examples of the way things were meant to be. Sunday we celebrated two beautiful people in our family whos love has stood the test of time. It was Nannie and Poppa's 60th Wedding Anniversary! They are the back bone of our entire family and we are all so blessed to have them. We had a small get together at the church in their honor. It was hosted by Aunt Shane, and Aunt Vicki, and Mom. Several of the church members attended as well as Poppa's sisters. I love days that make me slow down and remind me what life is all about and yesterday was one on those days. Chris and I hope to model our own marriage after Nan and Pop. You can see how much they still adore each other after all these years. Poppa asked Nannie to marry him after about 3 months of dating. He asked her would she like to "make circles around his flour barrel?" I'm still not sure exactly what this means but I think it has something to do with making biscuits in the morning! Then he presented her with a beautiful one caret diamond that she still wears today. He has always wanted her to have the best. They lived with Nannie's parents until the ring was paid off.Poppa has always built houses and drawn house plans. He later started working for the railroad and retired from there as well. At the anniversary party one of my favorite things to look at were all of the old pictures of them that the girls had layed out. I know I'm a little partial but they were seriously such a gorgeous pair, still are, but in all the pics they look like old Hollywood movie stars :)I was proud to share this special day with them. Their legacy will live on forever. I love you Nannie and Poppa Happy 60th Anniversary!!! More pictures to come!

Office Christmas Party

Christmas is offically in the air now. I find it hard to believe that its already the 18th of December! As part of our usual holiday festvities here at work, we head over to Steve's house for our office Christmas party. We always have such a great time. This year was a little more eventful than usual. We were all sitting around talking and as Steve begin doing sort of a year end review I happen to look over towards the dining room table at what appears to be black smoke billowing up towards the ceiling. I looked off for a half a second and was like... no that wasnt real. I dared to look again and there were bright red and yellow flames danceing around all over the table. Just a side note I have a tendency to totally freeze when danger happens..NOT GOOD! I dont understand why I do this b/c I think very fast on my feet and I'm pretty high strung so it just doesnt make since. The only words out of my mouth were "Umm I think there is something on fire" in a calm almost scarey monotone voice! Of course everyone else screams and jumps into a plan of action as I look on.Thank goodness no one was hurt and the only thing that was really damanged ended up being a center piece! I had a great time but by the time the night was over I was ready to get home to my boys!

Kal-el new fun sounds!

Kal-el has always loved to make motor boat sounds with those cute pouty lips of his! Well this week he's started a new thing. He makes the little humming sound but doesnt move his lips. Thats b/c he wants one of us to move our fingers over his mouth and make the noise for him. He provides the sound and we provide the instrument! Its the cutest thing ever. He is really coming into his own and as of this last week Chris and I discovered what a HUGE flirt little man is. He babbles and stares at every pretty lady he sees. I'm afraid that Mommy and Daddy may have there hands full!

Stop pulling me over!

This holiday season has been pretty hectic for me so far! I have felt like there is so much to do. I probably just need to learn to slow down.... literally. Tuesday night Chris was at practice for his upcoming MMA fight Mom and I were at home with Super and were really wanting a bite to eat. Unfortunately we were already in our jammies and it would be an hour or more before Chris arrived home. After a fierce battle of paper, rock, scssiors I was the lucky winner of the drive to Mcdonalds for our gourmet meal. I mumble words of disapproval and head out the door in Moms car. The drive thru is only a few miles away so I was expecting a pretty non eventful trip. Umm what was I thinking this is my life we are talking about here! As the golden arches are approching in the distance I come a stop sign and b/c I'm wearing house shoes and I'm not really used to driving my Moms car my foot slid to the side of the brake causing the car to barely stop at the stop sign. I'll be honest here I have a habit of doing rolling stops in my car but only in our neighborhood b/c there are very few cars there. But this incident was completely innocent thats why I was a little surprised when I saw all the pretty blue lights. I pull over to the side of the rode and begin fumbling through my purse in anticipation of the dreaded question "Drivers linesce, registration, proof of insurance please". I pull out the required information and silently pray that I dont receive a ticket. The chubby rookie cop walks back to the safe warm haven of his patrol car and takes a ridiculous amount of time running my information. Before its all over there are THREE police cars there with their lights on. Coooome onnn maaan are you serious! I'm a mother of a 9 month old in my pjs going to grab a bite of food but to everyone else passing I look like a drug dealer/bank robber. I thought that surely for all my trouble and embarrassment I would at least be given just a warming. Umm again what could I of been thinking! He walks back over and proudly announces in a southern drawl ..."Maumm I wrote you a citation" ...Naw, really Sherlock??!!! Good grief thanks for ruining my night but hey at least he is keeping the city of Sheffield a little more safe ..what a joke....I called the next morning to find out just how much my little stop sign roll would cost me here at Kal-el's first Christmas! WOW $138 Merry freaking Christmas City of Sheffield grrrrrrr! I try my best to get it off my mind and remind myself that nothing can be done now and I just need to put things in prospective and move on lesson learned. Well that was all fine and good until.....fast forward to later that evening. Mom, myself, and sweet Super decide that we want some cheese dip from Casa. We had a great time eating and playing with Kal-el. We head out of the restaurant after being stuffed and start our little journey home. As we drive along we pass the neighborhood where Chris and I used to live and we decided to drive through and look at some of the Christmas lights of our old neighbors. What a joy then all of a sudden it appears that some of the lights from the houses are following us ...oh no wait ...thats me getting pulled over AGAIN for the second night in a row. I bite my tongue to keep the profanity from pouring out of my mouth. Thank you Kal-el. Mommy was so upset if it weren't for you she might of gone to jail! You have got to be kidding me! I look up to my surprise and here comes tubby again. Wow hes really an over achiever for the Sheffield PD! You go boy! He recites his poetry again " umm drivers licence, registration, proof of insurance". I gaze at him in disbelief that he doesnt recognize me yet. I pull out my drivers licence he eyeballs it and has a pensive look on his face then blurts out "Ummm didnt I see you last night?" Ding Ding Ding what do we have for him Bob???!!!! I reply with a simply "Yep" to which he says did you know your tag is expired...."I do" I stated. He "graciously" allowed me to leave the scene with a "well you'd better get that fixed". Of course my nerves were shot at this point! Only me! Chris and Poppa got my tag taken care of the very next day thank goodness. So I hope not get pulled over again this week, month, or year! This morning I decided to make a quick run threw a drive thru on my way to work I look up and low and behold there was my cop "friend" leaving with his little boy. I was in a chipper Christmas spirit sort of mood so I yelled out to him..."Hey!"...No response ..."hey" he finaly looks up...I replied with a "So do you work tonight" He dryily shook his head no. I laughed and said "Well good I'd like to finally get my Christmas shopping done" ....He sorted or laughed and waved me off...I thought it was hysterical!

Strike a pose...over and over again!

My days of modeling have left many imprints on my life that I apparently just can't seem to shake. While I'm pretty grateful for the heightened sense of awareness when it comes to things such as posing, makeup, lighting, fashion and esp POSING...(oh boy did the posing ever stick) I often times find myself the butt :) of jokes related to it! I honestly almost don't even notice that I'm doing it. Its truly second nature when someone brings out a camera that I try my best to find the best light and angle. I have a catch all head tilt pose that I feel after 6 years of experience shows what I'm fully capable of LOL. I break it out at family functions, holidays, church pictures, drivers licenses, passports, and most recently our work picture for our office website. All of my coworkers find it hysterical. Every time we have a picture to make here Wes uploads the pictures and superimposes my head to other shots of myself and they ALWAYS fit. I literally do the exact same pose in EVERY picture b/c I know its one that works for my head shots. If you didnt notice that everyone else in the picture had moved you would swear its the same picture. For this mornings photo shoot I absolutely could not stop putting my hand on my hip they finally had to ask me to stop. Would this have been embarrassing to anyone else? Yes probley but its me were dealing with. Steve had to repremend me a couple of times b/c the old arm kept trying to creep its way back up to perch on my hip. The picture here shows some of Wes's finest work in copying and pasteing my head! I think it makes me look like a mutant from Xmen. Flying face attack! Bahaha We have a great crew here at the office :)

Birthday duck, sexy onesies, and no more paci!

This weekend we celebrated Chris "Bear's" Birthday! We had such a great time with our family and friends. This year Chris picked the Olive Garden to celebrate his day. This was a wonderful unexpected surprise being that we usually go to Fiesta. Since we were celebrating 5 days before his actual birthday I was so worried that his present wouldnt make it in time but I was pleasantly surprised when it showed up the same day as our dinner. I went ahead and gave Chris his present which wasnt actually a surprise anyway. It was his fight shorts for his upcoming debut fight on December 19th in Columbia Tennessee. The shorts are green and yellow in true UO fashion with a snake on them and I must say he looked pretty cute in them! We are all sooo excited to attend his fight! This Friday was a rushed day at work for me. I had to go pick up his Birthday cake during lunch so we could be ready to leave that night and make it to the restaurant by 7. His cake was also green and yellow representing the Oregon Ducks even more than his shorts :) He loved them both! We had a very yummy Italian dinner at Olive Garden. Kal-el loved looking around and socializing with everyone he is such a little flirt. After we all devoured several rounds of bread, salads and showed no mercy to our entrees it was time to cut the cake. I was glad at this point that I opted to leave the actual Oregon Duck off. I'm a little weird about cutting into things sometimes. Dont ask me about the year that Mom put my face on a cake. Ouch! lol...This year Chris's cake was mint flavored. He loves mint. I'm not so crazy about it so this is one year that he doesnt have to worry about his wife eating all his cake up! After we were all stuffed Chris and I headed to the mall with two of our friends Jody and Candice while super headed home with Mimsy, Nannie, and Poppa. As we walked in the door we all notice the sexy santa lingerie. Everyone is oohing and ahhing at all the lace, ruffles, fur, and feathers. Then here come Chris and I and Chris makes a statement that is a dead giveaway that we are parents. He reaches for the one that is the sexist number in the store , eyes then ensemble holds it up glances at the crotch that apparently snaps and announces with pride and in a serious fashion something that is very familiar to us..."Oh look Lauren its a onesie". I wasnt much better I look up in mommy mode tilt my head sideways and affirm his statement. "Well look at that babe it is!" LOL Ever the parents we are! After doing a little shopping we bid our friends farewell and called it a night. Kal-el was already asleep when we arrived home so we settled into bed as well. We had a great night celebrating Chris's Birthday! I love you Chris Bear and I look forward to many more Birthdays together! Saturday morning Chris had to work so Mom and I decided that we would take Kal-el to the mall to visit Santa. My sweet son was virtually unimpressed with the chunky guy in the red suit and Mommy was pretty unimpressed with the more horrible than expected photograph quality but its super's first Christmas so I knew it was a must! To our dismay when we arrived at the mall for this tradition we soon realised that we were without Kal-el's stroller! Noooooo! We spotted an empty Sears bugee looking lonely and just begging for a child to be put in it to be rolled around Sears only we didnt stay in Sears we gave the bugee the ride of a lifetime all over the entire mall. We looked like crazy people I'm sure. We looked even crazier when Kal-el realised that Mimsy was walking around sipping on a smoothie and he didnt have one. Mom appeased him by feeding him a little through the straw but one taste is never enough so while he protested loudly for more sips, she quickly obliged as I pushed the gorgeous Sears cart around! Needless to say I was thrilled when we arrived home finally!
Sunday was paci no more for Kal-el. Before you think I'm a mean mommy and Chris is a mean Dadada you need to hear my philosophy. I'm a firm believer that children have the rest of their lives to be miserable adults lol so I would never begrudge my sweet baby of his paci if he were just crazy about one BUT Kal-el is only mildly partial to his paci as matter of fact its usually only a last resort for him if hes bored but he rarely protest if we take it out of his mouth. That being said we have tapered down to using the paci as a bedtime source of comfort and during the day he is just fine with not having it. This is working great so far. This is going to be such a busy month with Chris's first MMA fight, Nannie and Poppa's 60th wedding anniversary, and Kal-el's First Christmas! I look forward to experiencing and sharing all three :)

Turkey, uncles, vampires, and guns!

I love Thanksgiving. It's such a special time of year for the gathering of family and friends, delicious food, the making of new memories, and the beginning of the holiday season! This year I am a mother and I am extra thankful for this new role. Chris and I had a special treat this year. Chris has five brothers from his hometown of Portland Oregon. Brandon, Dustin, and Nick are attending school in Iowa so they made the loong 13 hour drive to come see their nephew for the first time. Chris, Mom, Kal-el and I couldn't not of been happier to have them spend Thanksgiving with us. Hopefully next time all five of them can make the trip. They arrived late Tuesday night and stayed until early Sunday morning. Wednesday, Chris and the boys came in to see me at work. They drove the little smart car around and apparently had a photo shoot with it to! After I got off we all got ready and went over to a spaghetti supper hosted by one of the Chris's fight crew friends. We played pong and had a really great time. I of course had the shot of a lifetime. lolThursday morning is Thanksgiving and by the time it arrived I was officially ready to kill some food. There was entirely too much delicious food and I'm angry with myself for not taking a picture. We ate at Aunt Shanes this year. Her dog Scout is an adorable very lovable little Yorkie but for some strange reason Kal-el freaks out when Scout trots by him. I think it may be b/c he is used to such big dogs at home . After we were all stuffed beyond belief we sat down for a very fun board game called Apples to Apples. Someone *Leah* actually hide the game from me b/c games with our family are always over the top dramatic and someone always ends up not having a clue whats going on. Lucky Lea fessed up and the game of choice is kind of fool proof! Even for our bunch. Its a game of comparisons where each player gets a turn being a judge and lays down a card with an adjective on it. All of the other players then lay down one of their seven noun cards that they feel best describes the card on the table. The judge then picks the word they they personally feel fits best with the card on the table. Its a hilarious game b/c the winning card is subject to the judges objective opinion. Apparently Helen Keller is a fake according to the first card play lol :) We all had a great time.Later that night Chris took the boys and I to see New Moon. I was getting on every ones nerves with my talk of Edwards swagger. They thought he was pale and gross and the ones that actually admitted liking the movie were team Jaboc all the way. Dustin looked a little miserable during the two hours of vampire romance or at least he wanted us to think he was :) After the movie we called it a night and headed home for ...you guessed it yummo leftovers!Friday was pretty non eventful. Chris had to work all day and I stayed home with our guests. I had several fun suggestions for how we could spend our day. Just a few of the things on the list were going shopping with me, going to a bookstore to read, watching me get my nails done, playing more board games. I know you didnt see this coming put I totally got shot down. LOL So we opted to relax at the house so the boys could get caught up on football and I cuddled with the super baby. After hours on end of this we took a drive to go see Chris bear at work.Saturday Poppa, Chris, Jack(Poppa friend and church member), and the boys were supposed to have some Alabama style fun down at the local shooting range. I was told to stay home by Chris and Poppa b/c this was such a manly sort of outing lol whateva..They were all just petrified of my mad busting caps skillz. So they left me :( Unfortunately after they made the long drive and started unloading their guns they were ran off by a psyco park ranger who is sure to receive employee of the year for his bravery in saving the day from the armed and dangerous boys with no fishing license which apparently you need to shoot. So he shewed them away. Sounds like they still had a southern experience to me! We finished up the day and night with homade cheese dips, more board games, and a late night run to Sonic. Geez I beat Brandon, Dustin, and Nick think all we do here is eat! When we got back the boys had to start packing up b/c they had to be on the road at 5 am. I was going to try to get up with Chris to wish them a safe trip but I didnt make it. So I just send a be safe text. Very 21st century lol!Sunday we slept in and unfortunately didnt make it for church. After we recuperated I helped Mom put up our Christmas tree. We got through it without a single cuss word and I must say it looked beautiful. I was eager to see Kal-el's reaction to his first Christmas tree but he was a little dismissive of all of our efforts and seemed more interested in his little toys.My most fond memory of this Thanksgiving is my family. We always hold hands and form a circle for our Thanksgiving prayer before we eat. This year I thought of what I was so grateful for in each person. There's my grandfather Poppa standing there so proud the most loving, good man of earth. My inspiration. The backbone of our family holding Nannies hand who has shown unwavering love for me since the time I was born and who is so tender and kind in all her ways. She holds Mothers hand. A hand that I see is now filled with so much strength and perseverence. I'm thankful that she has always been my number one supporter and biggest fan, she believed in me when no one else did. I love her so much.I couldnt of hand picked a more more perfect mother for me. I hold Chris's hand. Its a hand I know well b/c it cradles mine so often. Easily twice the size of mine. My soul mate and my best friend. I'm thankful for his love and support and his ability to understand me which is not always easy to do .You have my heart Chris Bear.Then there is Aunt Shane. I have always admired her kindness and faith. She is such a fine example of a believer. She is so strong in what she belives but she always leads by example. I'm a grateful to her for so many things. She is always there for me if need to talk and was so helpful during my preganncy. Uncle Raymond holds her hand. Its really hard to belive this he hasnt been in our family since day one. Raymond is a good man and is always so helpful and willing to lend an ear or give good advice. I am very very thankful for his since of humor. Even though I think we are on a lonely island with loving puns! Zach is my first cousin who is really the closest thing that I have to a brother. I am thankful for his intelligence and his abiltiy to have deep conversions with me when everyone else heres crickets chirping lol. I adnore his synical since of humor. Zach holds Leahs hand. They have been together for some time now and here recently got married. She too seems like she has always been with us. I thankful for her soft spoken insight and endearing childlike qualities. Shes a precious girl. Aunt Vicki is part of the cirlce I have always been grateful for creavtive and outgoing qualities. She is so much fun and I have so many fond memories of her from my childhood. She stands beside Harrold is the new member of family and I am grateful that he and Aunt Vicki have found what they were looking for in each other. And finally the special treat this year was having Chris's bothers there to share with us. I already consider them family. I grateful for the extra life and exuberance they breathed into this special time of year. They are so much fun and they each have their own amazing qualities. Brandon can relate so well to people, Dustin is very true to himself , and Nick is fun loving and endearing. We had an amazing Thanksgiving!