Time with the Family

My family has just left after being down in Utah for about 3 weeks. When the family was down here we went bowling, to yard sales, camping at Yellowstone, and a family reunion.

When the family arrived it was Erica's 18th birthday and we threw her a birthday party at our house. She had over some of her cousins and friends from EFY and they played the Wii, badminton, and did some fireworks.

I also had a chance to go with my mom to yard sales on a Friday morning and had great fun and success. I found a popcorn popper, fruit basket, cheese grater, cutter board, and alot of other great items.

We also had my younger sisters over for a sleepover. We made homemade pizzas, went on a hike up the rock canyon trail, and watched Gnomeo and Juliet which my sisters loved!

The following week we went up to Montana and Idaho to go to Yellowstone and a family reunion. We saw several bison, a moose, and a lot of other animals on our journey through yellowstone. We had a bison that stopped in the middle of the road and a park ranger had to come to get the cars and bison moving. So we have a new tent and sleeping bag that we got from Lucas' parents for our wedding gift and we were so excited to use them for the first time! We had also purchased a air mattress from DI that we were planning on blowing up and using. We were blowing the mattress up with a hand pump at about 11 PM our first night in camp. After all of the work and exhaustion we were finally ready to sleep and the last thing I said to Lucas was " I really hope I don't end up on the floor in the morning." Well needless to say around three in the morning I could feel the ground and we definitely not a happy camper. But despite this minor set-back, our camping experience was still a positive one. We also had a great time hanging out with the whole family and the best part was the finally event which was a relay race against all of the different families.

Illinois Fun!

We just got back from our first road trip as a couple to Illinois and we had a blast. Some of the activities we did there was visiting the University of Chicago Law School where Lee will be attending in the fall, spend a fun day at six flags, and went to Avantis, a Italian restaurant that is famous in Illinois.

Friday: We started our journey on the 17th just one day after our finals for spring term. We left around noon and drove all day until we reached North Point, NE. However I was not able to drive at all on the way there because the car was a manual and I can't drive a manual:(

Saturday: We stayed the night there and then woke up bright and early to continue our journey to Illinois. We finally arrived at destination at around six or seven. In total it was a 19.5 hour trip! The road trip took us through two states that I have never been through that being Nebraska and Iowa.

Monday: I had another first when we went to Chicago and I saw my first of the great lakes, Lake Michigan. I was so exciting, beautiful, and big!! We had a fun time in Chicago ending our day with a trip to the Cracker Barrel.

Tuesday: The next day we just hanged out at the house and did the registration and licensing for our new car that we were buying from Luke's grandma. The car is a 2001 Mercury Grand Marquis and in his grandmother's word "Lauren won't like this car because it isn't a racing car." lol I don't know what ever gave her that idea. We then went over to his other grandma's house for a BBQ which was interrupted by a big thunderstorm.  However despite the rain we had a great time over there.

Thursday: Then on Thursday we went to six flags which was probably the highlight of the week for me because I love amusement parks and this one did not disappoint. We spent much of the day there and were exhausted by the time we got home.

Friday: Our last day at home was another hangout day and packing up to leave the next day. We ended the day with a trip to Avantis with the whole family which was very nice.

Saturday: The car was all packed so we left around 7 in the morning and stopped by Keith's new business to take a look. After that we were on the road the rest of the day until about 8 when we stopped at a hotel in Sidney, Nebraska for the night. When we first arrived I heard a siren that sounded like a fire truck but to my dismay I found out it was really a tornado warning. I was really worried until Lucas assured me we were perfectly safe and we were.

Sunday: We arrived home from our long vacation around 4 pm and unpacked and set up the piano we bought home with us:)

Overall we had a wonderful time in Illinois seeing family and friends but it was also very nice to be home and back to a schedule...I can only sleep in so much! Well now we are just working for the rest of summer and Lucas is working hard prepping for the LSAT. Also our garden is doing awesome!!

Memorial Day

So this was our first Memorial Day weekend and we wanted to make it a good one. However the weather didn’t want to cooperate with us so it rained almost the entire weekend! Despite the poor weather we decided to buy a small grill from Deseret Industries to have our first BBQ with. Well Lucas being a man found great excitement in the new grill and needless to say we have had a BBQ every day since…which I have loved as well. We have grilled hamburgers, hot dogs, chicken, and our favorite, corn-on-the-cob! It has been such a blast and we hope that we can have a sunny day soon to grill and play outside. We had Lee and Sarah over for our BBQ on Monday and after the dinner we headed to Utah Lake for our first fish of the season. Lucas and I didn’t catch anything but ended up playing catch with a baseball but Sarah catch a fish so I considered the night a success. Also that weekend we cleaned the house, went to see Pirates of the Caribbean 4, did some work in the garden, and made some mud pie.  

The exciting life of Luke and Lauren

So I always told myself I would never be a person with a blog...but look at me now I have a blog. The reasoning behind this blog is that I am not very good about writing in my journal mainly because of my poor handwriting and spelling skills. A blog will help me with both of these problem and it will help my family and friends know what is going on in our life. Also I love pictures so this will give me a good reason to use our amazing camera (thanks mom!)

So now a little bit about Lucas and I and how we meet. We have been married now for 5 and half wonderful months and we are both currently attending school. We were married on December 17th, 2010 in the Salt Lake City Temple. It was a beautiful winter afternoon and everything turned out just perfect. We meet in our ward and started dating after about a year of us knowing each other. On one of our first dates we went mini-golfing and Lucas told me that if I got a hole-in-one on the last hole that we would be happy forever (and I am sure he meant together also) and after a poor game of mini-golf on my part I made a hole-in-one on my last shot and like he promised we have been happy ever since... and together! He is the love of my life and I don't know what I would do without his strength, charm, and love everyday!