THANKSGIVING DAY

I'm thankful for Lara and her not so good suggestions. On my parents way to Las Vegas for Thanksgiving weekend, they stopped off for 2 days in Salt Lake at my Grandma's house. I left my kids home with my husband and went to hang out with the family for a bit and was just sitting down relaxing, when Lara comes up the stairs and straight to my mom. She says "mom, will you cut my toe nails?". We all looked at eachother like-what the heck brought that up? She knows how to cut her own toe nails but I guess she felt like being pampered. So, my mom suggested that "Lyndsay can do it". Lara's quick response was "no, Lyndsay can wax my armpits".

HAPPY BIRTHDAY GIRL!!!

Today is the big 29 for Lara. She has been counting down the days for at least the last month, and has let us all know her birthday wishes (anything country, makeup, dinner etc). Mom and dad took her to her favorite restaurant Garcias, where she had the pleasure of wearing a sombrero - which actually made her quite happy! They both had trips out of town, so they celebrated a couple of days early. The kids and I came up to Idaho to help her while they are gone and surprised her with a great rendition of the "happy birthday song", first thing this morning. I don't think she was that impressed, so we will have to do something else later in the day.

Tyson presented her with a balloon - which she absolutely loved!

Then, we made her a brownie cake, at her request. We only had 24 candles....... but it's all the same, right?



She made a wish.... and blew them out. If I had to guess what it was...... I would say it had something to do with movie stars or romance:)
PERFECT DAY FOR THE PERFECT SISTER

THE "FRUITS" OF LARA'S LABOR

While staying at my parents house this last weekend, Lara kept asking everyday to make blueberry muffins. She has never made them before, but is starting to venture into the oven baking world...... away from the microwave. This makes us all a bit nervous. So we thought to ourselves "If Lara tries to make these all by herself, and we don't help her, then they won't turn out and she won't be interested in trying again. So, we watched as she added all the ingredients, reading instructions word by word as she gathered everything that was needed. She even asked my mom for baking cups. The only thing that we did, was turn the oven on. She knew when it was ready and proceeded to place the muffin tin with 6 perfectly filled cups in the hot oven. When they came out a couple of minutes later..... they actually looked okay. They were a little brown on top, but other than that they looked like something that I would cook up. She even labeled a baggie with her name on them, so that there was no mistaking her precious muffins for anyone elses. When it came time for the taste test, her nephew Tyson happily volunteered. He loves blueberry muffins. The verdict was in...................... "um... mom, these are kind of gross". He then gobbled up the rest of it. So, we had to taste one to find out for ourselves. They were actually not bad. Definitely not great. Not really good. But, not really that bad either. She was very proud of herself and we are wondering what she will want to make next. This is going to be interesting.

MAMA MIA

Lara and my mom came into town this week, on their way up to Idaho where they will be joining my dad in their new home. Who could resist seeing "Mama Mia"? Not Lara (who has seen it now 2 times), or my Grandma (who has seen it 2 times), or my mom (who has now seen it 5 times). So, I headed over to Jordan Commons to meet up with them and a "date" night with Lara. She insisted on sitting next to me, to make sure that I was enjoying it the whole way through. You know she is going to enjoy herself if there is any type of romance whatsoever. This movie has quite a bit of that, so Lara was pretty consistent with smiling and giggling and rocking back and forth with excitement (which she does when she can't contain herself). Half of my enjoyment came from watching her reactions to everything and trying to sing along with the movie. I had my mom take a picture with her grand kids and Lara thought that she and my mom should get their picture taken too. She first went in the house and brushed her teeth so that she would be all ready for her close up. (Look at that tight grip she has on my mom)
Then, as we were saying "goodbye" to the family, Lara thought that she needed a picture with she and Todd. I'm not sure that she could have gotten any closer to "TAW-DEE" as she calls him.
She was so giddy when he agreed to pose with her and made the most of it by cuddling him and resting her hand on his belly:)

This is the longest I have gone without seeing Lara (a little over a month and a half). It is true what they say "absence makes the heart grow fonder ". When I was younger, maybe pre- teens, I remember wishing and praying that Lara would leave me alone. That when I would walk to my friends house, she wouldn't show up 10 minutes after me. I think that I may have even hid from her a couple of times and told the friends to tell her I wasn't there.
I HATED sharing a room with her and wondered why she couldn't be "normal", like all of my friends sisters.
Well, things have definitely changed! I still don't think that I would want to share a room with her, since she likes to have her t.v. on until the wee hours in the morning. She has magazine pictures of Sarah Jessica Parker, Beyonce, Olivia Newton John, Jessica Simpson, Brintey SPears, and anyone else who has been in a magazine taped to her wall:) But, I wouldn't exchange her for a "normal" sister for anything. And actually, I would say that she is more "normal" than all of us "normal" people. I can say that out of all of my sisters, I miss Lara the most (sorry Steph and Car). Maybe it is because I talked to her today which always makes me laugh and have a story to tell Todd when I get off. My latest conversation with her was when I returned her call today. " Hi Lara, what's up?" "um, Lynds....... I have to call you back later, I'm busy right now". "Why, what are you doing?" Well, um.......... I'm at the Dr. and (she whispers to my mom and then gets back on).... when I come to Utah, I was wondering you come see MAMA MIA?"

So, in 2 weeks, I have a date with my younger sister ( by only 21 months, same as my 2 daughters will be) to go to a movie. She lives for movies. Her favorite thing is to sit in front of the her favorite dvds with the remote in her hand, pausing every couple of words or sentences, to either type or write them out WORD FOR WORD! She has notebooks and notebooks full of scripts. If only life were that simple for all of us.

AHHH - PUSH IT!! (THINK SALT N PEPPA'S SONG)

Guess what Todd got for Father's Day and graduation? If you could not tell from these pictures(and may I suggest that young eyes look away) a massage!!! She said that she would massage every inch of his body. I know, I know, I should be jealous, but I'm not! It she does it, that means that I don't.
Yes, Todd quite enjoyed it! You can tell by the look on his face.
He did however get a little nervous as she continued to go down his back, with no sign of stopping. That is Lara - taking it to the limit. I almost had to cut in and save Todd.
Then, she offered me a foot massage for Mother's Day! It was actually nice (except when she would weave her fingers in and out of my toes). I know you are all wishing you had a sister like her!!