That was a first.

Well today was interesting. Started out pretty crappy but it got better of course. I realized I have the best freaking friends and family in the world today.

I love rain. I seriously just lllaaaaaavvvveeee it. You know what else I love? Walks.

Alex Bullon is my favourite choreographer right now. Argh. Lame post today sorry I'm not in the mood.

LIFE ROCKS.

So we're with Grandma shopping, and we pass a magazine that said something about someone 'stealing Brad' and my grandma goes "Who stole Brad?! I didn't even know Brad was missing?!" and my mom and I almost died. It was the funniest thing I've ever heard because she was so serious. LOVE HER.

I made lunch for a bunch of kids today and it was beastly because I was doing a million and one things at once. I'm sorry for bragging. I just felt like a super mom. Haha, I was like DANG RIGHT I CAN DO THIS! It was pretty boss.

http://twoteenstwocontinents.blogspot.com/ is so much better than this blog, seriously.

One more thing: prayer. It works. It's the best thing ever, and keeps me going. I'm glad someone up there is listening because I need it.

So lets cause a scene.

Picture caption: taken out in the back. http://www.flickr.com/photos/lauren-dautel/

I forgot to report back about the dance class! I love it. I was super freaked out because its an adult advanced and I was scared I would embarrass myself big time. Especially because I was the youngest there, they were all like in their twenties. But the instructor was so funny and he was quite a beast. However it was hard because that kind of dance was a little more swayed towards jazz as opposed to hip hop, so I had a problem with that. I'm more tuned to street dance, so I was being mega hard and blocky not flow-y and swift. My mom noticed, haha. But hey I learned a choreography that I loooove so its all good.

You know what I think is the lamest thing about the dentist? Is like they're trying to talk to you and have a conversation and you're like 'ehh, YOU'VE GOT ALL YOUR DANG METAL STUFF IN MY MOUTH, I CAN'T FREAKING TALK!' and it's frustrating.

Abby is gone to girls camp and it's so quiet it's making me nervous... what the, I think I miss her! I love that girl.

An elegant solution for keeping track of reality.

So Caleb is gone. We had fun. It was awesome. The day he left we went on a walk which ended up being the funniest thing ever. Plus I had to use the bathroom so freaking bad for about 1/2 of it, so he had a good time messing with me. I hate to say it but I miss him.

This week is going to be mega hectic because it's my last week before EFY baby! I can't even begin to explain how excited I am. I'll probably end up with 485743295847814 EFY C.O.W.S.... I mean uhh what no of course not. No but it is seriously going to be the best week of the summer and it. will. rock.

Today at church in class we were having a discussion about what we all want to do when we grow up, and Bro. Wooley was going around asking all the people in the class. So eventually he got to me, and I said 'I would like to take the foreign service exam and live overseas... maybe be an expat or something along those lines.' and everyone was like what the freeeaaaak. I was almost really embarrassed... I mean they were like weirded out and totally didn't even get what I was saying. It was weird but whatever, I don't mind. I actually find it kind of funny sometimes.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nj6SO_yKMe8 I like this right now. A lot.

Yesterday someone said I was indie and I almost passed out. Hahaha no bulai, no bulai. I was like YOU ARE ONE LOLO BRAH! Well I didn't really say that because he would have thought I was on something, but you catch my drift. Indie? Wow really?

http://twoteenstwocontinents.blogspot.com/ check this out. It's my new project with a friend in Switz. We're working on it :)

Anxiety to the max.

I just feel anxious today. I'm having a photographer's crisis. I just feel so inadequate, I get on flickr and just freak because everyone is SO GOOD. And right now I would give anything to get Explored. So, stinking, COOL. I'm just impatient today and it's one of those days where I'm just like 'AHHGHHGHGG' all over the place and Abby is trying really hard to get on my nerves.

Another thing. I'm so, so not excited to go back to Texas to be completely honest. I'm just not. I don't want to go back to school, I don't want to go back to the gross weather, I don't want to go back to life. And to be honest I just don't like my school and I feel as if this upcoming year is going to be the death of me. I mean academically it's great, but other than that I just don't care much for it at all. I don't like complaining because it makes me feel like a super bad person so I'm sorry... but I just have to vent somewhere you know? I'm mega sorry, I'm just moody right now.

Lucky Caleb, he gets to deal with me. Haha, we're about to go to dinner then we're seeing Inception (my 2nd time) and it'll be fun. Maybe it'll shake me out of this dang mood.

Since I've been such a debbie downer today lets think of one good thing... uhhh... errr... ehhh....

EFY IS IN 10 DAYS! And Spencer called me last night. That was two good things. BAYUM!

"love wins, love always wins"

Okay, I re-did the post for http://twoteenstwocontinents.blogspot.com/ and I'm sure glad I got that off my chest... phew.

So in about an hour I'm going to get my hair cut and I almost want to dye it some crazy colour but I'm pretty sure that would not go over well... And then I get to go to dance tonight. It's an advanced adult class so I hope it goes over well. We shall see.

I read all 192 pages of Tuesdays with Morrie last night. I started and finished all last night, and I cried. I actually cried. I never cry with books, so that was a first. I loved it and I highlighted and noted a bunch of things in it. Go read it. RIGHT NOW. Haha, no but really. I'm not like a mega avid reader but that was so worth losing sleep over. Now I just have to go work on a humongous ACT book, read the Scarlett Letter, A picture of Dorian Gray, The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, and my B.O.M in French by the end of the summer. Oh and I want to read Agent Bishop (a true story about a Mormon bishop who was a full time FBI agent at the same time, HAHA).

Anyhoozle, I love you. Don't forget.

-lo

SO MAD RIGHT NOW.

I just wrote an absolutely HUGE article for http://twoteenstwocontinents.blogspot.com/ (i'm Miss L.... haha don't laugh.) and I actually liked it and guess what? I didn't properly save it, so it only saved the first line in a draft. I'm sorry, but I am so ticked right now and I had to vent somewhere. UGH. I am just so mad. Okay Lauren, calm down. It's not the end of the world. Oh wait... yes it is.

Reading the book of mormon in french is a lot harder than I thought... Its not like its the french we use everyday. Its old french. Holy freak.

So I was on the treadmill today at the gym, and this old man gets on the one next to me and he's the cutest little thing I've ever seen. Then about 15 minutes later, he turns to me and says

"You don't look like a football player." and I'm like "umm..." then I remember I'm wearing a BYU Football shirt and I say "Oh yeah, you'd never guess would you?". He was so cute. Then my phone vibrated so I stopped the treadmill for a sec and he's like "Are you tweeting?" and I just laughed my head off. I love old people.

I went to get an eye exam today for new contacts and I have astigmatism. Yay. Oh and just a couple of seconds ago my mom scared the living daylights out of me because she randomly started singing REALLY loud and I wasn't prepared for that. I should have been though, that is a frequent occurrence in our household.

Picture caption: Went bowling today! And Cory always had my score doubled or tripled, but why is that a big surprise? I suck at bowling. But it's fun when you do it with fun people :)

One more thing: today I realized the importance of patience. So far in 2 days I've spent 7 hours on this project of mine and it's something that requires a lot of patience because there are SO many things you can do wrong. You have to be accurate and even though there is room for mistakes, it will cost you even more time and frustration. But I realized if you want to dream big, you've gotta be patient.

I love you. Don't forget.

We could talk for hours.

Picture caption: old photo I found of one of my class in Holland. Can you see me? I loved the BSN so much, I had the best time ever. So many funny stories came from living in Holland... Oh and I will go camera crazy in all of those tulips if I ever go back.

I'm pretty sure my mom and I are best friends with all the girls at the BP/Point of View section at Nordstrom. We have been there for at least an hour a day for the past 4 days. The new fall line came in and we can't help but come back every day... It's sad (especially the part where I almost had a nervous breakdown choosing between two bracelets, that was a first for me, I ended up asking all the girls and we all decided on one) But we've become best friends with the really fun and cute Utah girls that work there! I don't normally pick favourites but... Whitney, Jocelyn and Dominique are my faves. What the heck. All these Utah girls are so fun and outgoing and just PERFECT! What is this!

I saw Inception last night and it was so dang good. Go see it, it's really original and totally worth every minute. Oh and a little bonus... Joseph Gordon-Levitt is in it. Wowza what eye candy. I mean whaaaat?

So I'm afraid that I may not post as much (or even remotely close to how much I've been posting this summer) on this blog once school starts. I think I'll keep it up though, it's kind of been good therapy for me... haha. But a friend of mine and I have started a writing project on this blog just to see how it goes, so I may keep this one more updated when school starts more than this. Not sure yet, just a heads up: http://twoteenstwocontinents.blogspot.com/

I love you, don't forget. Be happy.

ps- If you couldn't find me, I was in the second row down from the top, fourth over from the left. I was so cute, what happened?!

Blessings: count them.

So I need to do an early post today even though the day isn't over yet because today is going to be CRAZY busy and I won't have time later.

I would like to share a story that one of my best friends shared with me that I thought was absolutely hilarious. So my friend works at this restaurant, and this cool Asian guy comes in and is like 'I would like to die with butter on a roll' and she's like... 'Sorry what?' and he goes 'I would like to die with butter on a roll.' And she says 'I'm sorry uh... I don't think that's on the menu, is there anything else you want?' and he says 'I want to die with butter on a roll!' and so she asks him to write it down and he writes down 'I want two thighs and butter on a roll' and THEN she gets it. Turns out he really didn't want to die with butter on a roll... it was just his accent.

I didn't sleep to well last night because I kept waking up but when I was sleeping I was having weird dreams. I can't remember all of them but one was like me getting married. I woke up and was like 'What the...' Sometimes when I eat like chocolate before I go to bed I have weird dreams but last night all I had was watermelon. Huh. Maybe I'm just a freak. I'm just lolo (crazy in pidgin)

A couple of days ago we were at temple square and we went to the Garden Restaurant overlooking the temple for lunch. So we're sitting there and Abby is singing a Justin Bieber song in my face so I'm like 'Dean (Abby's nickname, don't ask our family has a million and one nicknames) if you don't stop I promise I'm going to slap you.' And as always, she keeps doing it to annoy me even further. So I turn and slap her on the arm and it makes the LOUDEST noise you could ever imagine, and some people next to us look over and Abby and I just put our heads down and were sobbing from laughing so hard. It was the funniest thing ever because everyone probably thought I was abusing dean but little did they know this is normal for us and we love hitting each other. Hahah oh dear, this sounds like we're weird. Oh wait...

One of the funniest things my mom and my sisters and I have ever done was what we did yesterday evening. We had to go to the store to go grab some things for dinner and right as we walk in Abby and I make up this idea to speak french only and pretend we're french. So we all stand there huddled and we're like 'Okay make sure you talk really loud and you do your best accents and it doesn't matter what you say because no one here probably speaks french anyways' So we're walking through the store talking SO loud and we're getting these mega funny stares. It was the best thing ever and I almost wet my pants. The most fun I've had in a looong time, seriously.

Holla if you feel like you've been down the same road.

Picture caption: a swiss (and canadian!) missionary I searched for FOREVER whilst at temple square! Wooh I love her!

Last night I stayed up until 11:30 looking at pictures. What of? My mom's mission in the DR. They were SO COOL. It was so fun to see her and all the other missionaries and I loved the ones of my mom and all the dominicans. There was one of this huuuuge frog on the wall in their room and I almost passed out. It was HUGE I tell you, huge. Looking through those pictures makes me want to go on a mission even more! My mom is the best.

Another thing: Having a sister is like having a best friend around your whole life. I'm lucky to have two :)

So as I was at the distribution center (actually getting a french book of mormon!) right next to deseret book today. It was dead silent, and my phone vibrates so I pull out my phone. 'Oh! A text from Emily, how exciting!' I should have known better than to open it. Because you know what happened? I let out this really loud laugh in the DEAD SILENCE and so I ran out of there like you've never seen before. I'm pretty sure I can never show my face there again. At least I got the book of mormon haha...

Last year I think I was a weeny bit paranoid about timing. I had to have the perfect timing for everything and I put a lot of thought and effort into it. It wasn't abnormal but for me it was, just considering I'm a person who likes to be around people and have fun and whatnot... I just always felt like my timing had to be right. But I think I've improved so much with that and I didn't really realize it until now. I think I've just become more comfortable with just doing what feels right, when the moment presents itself. I don't know if that made sense at all... But I guess what I'm trying to say is this: If you sit around and wait for the perfect timing for everything, then you probably won't be doing much of anything.

And every moment, no matter how dull it may seem, has something to offer us. Every. single. moment.

Gummy Bears.

Have you ever had an experience that made you want to shout "STOP STOP STOP I NEED A DO OVER!" and everything would just... stop? I feel like I've been having those a lot lately and it's really bugging me. Sometimes I just feel like I just want to re-do everything so I can do it even just the slightest bit better. No matter what it is I always bug myself with 'I could have done that so much better' even when I try my hardest. It's so annoying. But hey- its all about making mistakes and growing up right? Right.

As part of our daily summer routine we wake up early to go to the gym, and I was up on the track on the treadmills watching the younger kids do the basketball camp on the court. It made me laugh so hard because there was only one girl in the whole camp and I was totally having deja vu. That was me a couple of years ago. This girl was doing this competition with this group of guys and she was left in, but the guys who were out were like 'GET THE GIRL OUT!' and so she just started playing even more aggressively and rough. Even though she got out, I was like 'YOU GO GIRL!' It made me think of me when I was that age because I was most definitely the kind of girl who would get even more rough when people were messing with me. It was really interesting that I noticed that about myself, I had never really thought about that before! Haha, what we learn about ourselves every day...

When we got home and I showered/got ready, I went upstairs and Bubby is in the shower singing 'I'm a gummy bear I'm a gummy bear I'm a gummy bear!' and it was the funniest thing ever. EVER.

So today as I was reading SLAM I kind of toyed with the idea of possibly being a sports writer. How much would that rock? A LOT. Or even a sports photographer. Probably just NBA though, I think that would be the best. That would be a fairy tale come true.

I hung out with Jacob today and it was the best thing that could have happened this week. :)

Detail is Everything.

So I have this old relative who has this car collection that is worth over 2 mil, and my dad had seen it multiple times but I hadn't so today he took me. It. was. incredible. Absolutely fantastically beautiful, and I was utterly in heaven. Let me tell you about it. He had a:
Chevy Impala from the 50s that was gorgeous
'29 Pierce Arrow with rumble seats TWELVE CYLINDER! It was gorgeous, and he restored it an hand painted the dashboard to look like real wood. Amazing.
Cadillac El Dorado Brougham (only 400 made that year)
1915 Model T (one if the first fords)
Model A Ford ( SO cool, lots of brass and the hood ornament was like art itself)
Another 1914 Model T with GLASS headlights!
Packard 120 that Teddy Roosevelt rode in! Only one of 5 in the whole world, only one in America. In my top 3 for sure.
1916 Oldsmobile, which is one of only 6 in the world because it was a prototype made for the world fair in San Francisco
'39 Lasal (sp? sorry can't remember) Cadillac with Russian stainless steel on the hard top
An absolutely BEAUTIFUL Auburn 851 (super charged!) by Duesenburg Company! Loooved that one.
Buick Skylark ( so, so pretty)
And probably one of my top 3 was the Hot Rod that he restored. It. is. so. unbelievably gorgeous. Incredible. Engine was beautiful too. Wowza.

And a lot of these cars have been in movies and such. It was heaven, honestly one of the coolest things I've ever seen and I could have just sat in there and looked at the engines alone for hours. And a freaking 12 cylinder? Dude. That's really rare. It was just unreal, eveything. It was such an awesome experience I almost died of happiness, haha. I walked out of there on cloud nine.

I bought my first SLAM magazine today and it was a special edition split in half on Lebron and Kobe. It was legit to say the least. Brah totally subscribing.

Tonight for dinner as we were walking to our seats, I saw this family of 5 with 3 girls and 2 parents. Just like my family! Except all three girls were sitting there on their phones texting, not even looking at each other. The parents looked like they were having a ball... not. It was really sad. It made me so grateful I had a family that is normal. Okay hold up- that's a lie. We're not normal in any way shape or form. But at least we know how to have fun and interact with each other you know? I love my family.

I realized I need to get back on the ball. I have a load to do this summer, seriously. My summer has already been seriously busy, but there's so much more I need to be doing. 4 books have to be read (2 of them annotated), and I have to go through an 850 page ACT book by the end of the summer or else that will not not not go over well with Dad... yay. Plus I need to be working on Pre Calculus. Fun! But it's okay. I'm used to it I guess. Whatevah, brah. It's just kuleana. And so what if my head is kapakahi. Da kine? I guess. Wow I'm such a Haole. What I learn from my mother...

Whaaat *fist bump*

I had a Psych marathon last night with my cousin and we ended up getting two hours of sleep. It was legit to say the least even if I feel like I'm half dead right now. He left today to go back to Georgia. Sad day.

But I will cope hopefully. I have plenty of things to do. I just need to get the motivation to do them. Yay. Wow I am tired and boring right now and I don't even feel alive, haha. I feel like that poor little kid after the dentist. What's his name? David? Yeah, David.

Yesterday was a crazy day. We went swimming at the Wells and I honestly think I went up and down that slide with the little ones like 50 times, each time with at least one child on me. Oh and no to mention those times where I had like 3 kids behind me and 3 kids in front of me all going down the slide at once. It was crazy I tell you.

I love it here though. This summer has been great just because last year was the most stressful year of my life on so many different levels, and this summer has seriously been the first 'normal' (well, fairly...) summer I've ever had in my life. I know that sounds weird but like... yeah.

So GO SUMMER. I love it.

Temporary Home

So yesterday was one of the funnest/most exciting days EVER. Recap:

Woke up early and got all dolled up for the fourth of July parade, got there, then realized I had forgotten my battery pack so Grandpa took me back to the house like a speed demon to get it. The helmet messed up my hair buy I was just happy that I got my battery pack haha. So the parade was a hoot and my mother was absurdly hilarious the whole time. It consisted of a lot of "movin' and shakin'" as the fam bam calls it haha. It was beast. Then we came home, everyone changed and went swimming, got stuff done, hung out and such.
Then around 7 30 So we got to the Stadium of Fire and found our ROCKIN seats. I was so pumped. Our of 50,000 people we got some beast spots. And it's BYU tradition to start all games/events/concerts with a prayer so all 50,000 went quite as the prayer was said. It as the coolest thing ever. Then Aunt Jenny played incredibly and we were all yelling our heads off. She looked so gorgeous! Then my favourites the 5 Browns played and I freaked. I'm in love with ALL OF THEM. Carrie Underwood came out and did a couple of songs, then uncle Matt come out and got Dallin & I to go DOWN TO THE FIELD! We were RIGHT behind the press. It was amazing. Then I turned around and there was Greg from the 5 Browns and I freaked! AND WE TALKED! It was the coolest thing ever. I'm in love with him.

Then after everyone was done performing... the craziness started. The fireworks were amazing, and I sat by Greg! As they started doing the fireworks that were placed in the actual field where the press and the performers, and me and Hannah (my little cousin who was on my lap) on of the fireworks malfunctioned right next to Hannah and I, and we were sitting on the grass. It went STRAIGHT passed my head so I grabbed Hannah and ran because there was smoke in the seats by the press and the VIPs, and Aunt Jenny's 750 dollar performance dress was burned on her back because she was holding Matthew and she turned. It was scary as freak. I think my 'mother' instincts kicked in while I was holding Hannah, haha. No but seriously, I was like bustin' outta there. Then after we went to the executive performers room to escape the crowds and Jenny/Matthew had to be checked out. It was quite the exciting night.

But I loved it :)

Never take anything for granted.

Never.

Never let your prayin' knees get lazy...

... and love like crazy.

We've made it to the motherland (utah)! Let's recap yesterday, our traveling day. It was quite the experience. We left a little late so mom went down the highway like a speed demon and we had time to spare. It was rockin'. We got on the plane, and it was a really fast plane right. I was like yeaaa. Except for that time when it was dead quiet and Bubby loudly exclaims 'I wish I wasn't wearing pants'.

Then we got off and that's when it really started to pick up. We were taking that train thingy to get to the baggage claim and this woman walks up to my mom and is talking to her in broken english and my mom just flat out starts talking to her in fluent spanish and the lady just stared her down and this is what her face was saying

"DAAAANG white girl speaks spanish!"

It was the funniest thing ever. EVER. Her face was priceless. Then they started talking about stuff and she was like 'So where are you going?' and my mom said Utah and she was like 'Oh, my daughter met some people from there! Baptists!' and my mom was like 'Are you sure they weren't mormon?' and she was like 'OH YEA MORMON!' And it was funny. Little did the lady know that my mom was mormon too and served her mission in the DR. Hahaha.

Then we went to go get our bags and I realized when my sisters and I get going and laughing we are obnoxiously loud. Seriously, I act like I'm 10 when I'm around them its kinda weird.

So today I went to the rec center. First I played basketball by myself. It was sad. Then I did the track with mom, elliptical, then a couple of lay ups and left. Then went walking to get a drink with mama. Then went and helped grandma shop for the big party tomorrow which is going to be craziness but I'm super excited!

I haven't heard 'Let's hear it for the boy' by Denise Williams FOREVER and I heard it on the radio today and I freaked! I can't stop singing it, and I'm sure someone around me it going to put duct tape over my mouth sooner or later.