Most intense few hours of my life. MY LIFE.

I never got to tell you my 'getting my driver's license at the DPS story'. Here it is:

-for those who don't know what the DPS is, it's the place where you go to get your license/permit/blah blah blah. it opens at 8 but people get there at 6 to wait in line for it to open. it is not my favourite place in the world.-

So my dad and I get to the DPS at 6:45 in the morning. We both step out of the car and I'm like 'Dad... do you see that?' There's this guy standing on a ladder-stool thing preaching and yelling his booty off talking about how we're all sinners and whatevah. I got kinda nervous because I was wearing my BYU shirt and I was scared he was going to yell at me or something so I covered it up with my pre-cal textbook... Haha. But anyways, we sit down with our chairs (we were not going to sit on the grass so we came prepared) and this guy is just going at it. Then this British guy starts getting really ticked, and is yelling at the preacher bro, and just freaking out. The preacher bro was reading from the bible, and so the British guy gets up, pulls out a random book from his bag and starts reading it outloud, trying to drown the preacher bro out. For literally 30 minutes they're both yelling, preaching and reading, and it was the craziest thing I have ever seen in my life. In. my. life.

Eventually the 5-0/fuzz/po-po/police came and this guy that was in line next to me was like "I just wanna see you tase him!" and I thought that was funny. Unless he was for real, haha. But it was the craziest thing ever.

Oh yeah, then we finally get inside the building at 8am, and I'm in line. This lady absolutely freaks out at me. Holy freaking cow I thought she was going to start a fight. And I mean it's not like I'm a controversial person who goes looking for fights, but I was like DANG GIRL CHILLAX! Don't hate, appreciate! Not really but I was scared.

Not to brag or anything but I'm pretty sure I could have taken her...

I'm like a bird, I wanna fly away!

I would just like to say, YES. That is my mother.

AHHH HAPPY DAY HAPPY DAY!

I got a message from 'The Official Church Call for Photos' again and they've asked for 10 (of the ones they've seen) of my photos to use so far! I'll be filling out the forms and everything this weekend so it'll be a done deal. I'm REALLY quite excited :) Blessing blessings blessings are coming from every direction!

That picture is actually from when we were in Hawaii... old.

Jeff Hasara, I love you to the moon and back.

I never officially posted this post on my personal blog (I didn't on Two Teens Two Continents) so here it is.

I love you, Jeff.

To be honest, I don't know how to start out this post. Right now it's kind of hard for me to process things, so I'm hoping this article will help me collect my thoughts or something along those lines. So bear with me if this doesn't make sense to you, this article is more for my benefit than anything.

I have a lot of best friends. And one of them happened to be Jeff Hasara. I met Jeff two years ago, and since then he's changed my life completely. For over a year he's been battling bone cancer, and since then he's had several surgeries and had to have one of his arms amputated. Cancer was not good to him, and he went through things as a sixteen year old that most people don't have to go through in their whole life. To say the least, the last year has been quite difficult. However, even though this past year has been hard for Jeff, I know he has changed so many people's lives for the better. Especially mine.

Jeff has probably been the greatest example I've ever been blessed to have in my life. The way he waded through the trials he was given truly was incredible. He was courageous, in every sense of the word, and that is a trait that is hard to come by. I can't even begin to explain how remarkable he was. He was constantly being friendly and kind to others, and there wasn't an ounce of selfishness in him. He was concerned about other's wellbeing way before himself. Not to mention, going through what he went through really showed how strong he was. He was so optimistic, and he knew that no matter what the outcome he was in God's hands and that God would take care of him. He knew that everything happens for a reason and we are given trials so we can overcome them and become a better person because of it. Jeff was really into surfing and long boarding, and when you lose an arm that kind of thing isn't easy. But Jeff still practiced and went at it like nothing had changed. He kept on living life to the fullest because he knew life isn't something you put on hold when you're having hard times, because life is a gift. Everyday is a gift, and we need to take advantage of it no matter what comes our way.

Out of knowing Jeff I've learned some really important life lessons that will most definitely never be forgotten. I've stopped complaining about things that really don't even matter in the eternal perspective because I know that they actually don't matter. Waiting in line, headaches, traffic, not getting that pair of shoes, humid weather, one bad test grade... those things really won't matter in the end, so why would it matter so much now? I've also learned to live life to the fullest, and even though that phrase is said so much I think it is put so eloquently. We never know how much time is left for us and those we love, so letting our problems get in the way isn't going to help live our lives the very best we can. And most of the time the things we think are 'problems' are just experiences. Life is full of experiences, they're not good or bad. It's just the way you look at it.

From praying and fasting this year for Jeff, I've learned that everything happens for a reason. My faith has grown immensely because I know whatever happens, happens. There is a plan for us, but sometimes we won't understand it until the end. I hope one day I can be like Jeff. Because when someone is that remarkable you want to be like them. He'll never leave my mind and heart and that is something I'll be eternally grateful for because when someone changes your life, you don't ever want them to leave.

And he won't leave me because he's right here with me, always a prayer in my heart. I love you, Jeff.

Kind of just a WEENY bit in shock right now. This rocks.

AHHHHH! I just got a message from the 'Official LDS Church Call for Photos' and was asked to share some of my photos for a photo library that will be made available on lds.org. If so, they'll be available to use for church-related purposes like web pages, blogs, articles, brochures, or magazine articles. Excited to see how this turns out! YOU GUYS I'M SO EXCITED!

Like a G6.

First day of school for my Junior year tomorrow. Am I nervous? Not really. Am I excited? Not really. Am I scared? Not really. I'm kind of indifferent. I just want to get school over with... I don't know. I think Siri and I will have a load of fun and Sarah and Julia will be at Memorial as well so that will be great. But academically... I won't come out of this school year alive. Seriously.

I went to talk to my counselor again and she was like 'Lauren... stop trying to get college over with before you even get there.' Everyone always harps on me for trying to get college credit. And everyone always harps on saying "stop trying to rush through life" but they have me entirely wrong. I just like getting as much as I can done, done. And challenging myself. But holy cow, people are always freaking out at me and it's starting to get old.

So today I had a Youth Committee meeting and we discussed all the upcoming events for this year and I'm SO excited. We have a great group of kids at Youth Committee and we're all really enthusiastic and pumped about it so I think it'll rock. EXCITED TO THE MAX BABY.

The Tri-stake dance last night was AMAZING. Favourite dance ever. It was Siri's first and she absolutely loved it. I got up on stage and introduced her (fail at trying to work the mic, the DJ had to help me...) and after that all the guys were flocking to her. Flocking, I tell you. It rocked. That was the most fun I had in a really long time.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/lauren-dautel/4916891179/ Does this look yummy or what? I uploaded a lot this week. I guess I'm trying to make up for the rest of the school year when I'm going to hardly have time to upload/post/update. But I'm a good time manager so I think I'll fit some fun stuff in. :)

Well, WISH ME LUCK! Love you all to the moon and back. Remember who you are.

-Lo

I love you, Jeff.

New post on Two Teens Two Continents dedicated to one of my best friends Jeff who passed away due to cancer. That's my post for the day. http://twoteenstwocontinents.blogspot.com/

C'est la vie. That's life and that's how it's gonna be. Ohhh yeah.

Monday.

My last Monday not in school, darn. This morning we went to register Siri for school, and we're sitting there waiting and she says 'I swear that guy just spoke Norwegian, but maybe I'm hallucinating..." My mom casually walks over to the guy and his dad, and pretends she's looking at something but instead she's really scoping them out (haha, she's seriously a beast at it) and then asks them where they're from and they say "Oslo, Norway" and she's like "AHHH I have someone for you to meet!" So Siri and I met some little freshman who is Norwegian, it was cool. Poor thing, he seems really nervous and shy. Every time I see him in the halls I'm going to yell 'HEY WHAT'S UP!' in Norwegian (Siri is teaching me!) so he'll feel loved. Haha, I love freshman. So cute.

We just finished playing scum for family home evening and I was prez twice and vice prez once. Yes, one of the times I went out as president with my highest card a 12, no fourteens. ROCK ON BABY, just call me a rockstar.

I hit 10,500 picture views on flickr today! http://www.flickr.com/photos/lauren-dautel/

"Shop 'till you drop" means so much more to me now.

Picture caption: one of the pictures from the shoot today with Siri :) some of them here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/lauren-dautel/

HOLY COW. Never have I ever shopped so much. So yesterday we woke up, got ready, went grocery shopping, ate lunch, then drove the the mall. Then the real craziness began.

So we get to the mall, and start with shoes. Siri bought 3 pairs of rockin' shoes. Then I bought 2 pairs of shoes (both which I didn't need HAHA) that I loved. I honestly can't even begin to count how many stores we went to after that. By the end of the 5 hours we both had at least 20 kilos on both arms. No kidding. Okay well maybe not that much but it was dang heavy and we were SO tired and hungry it was ridiculous. But it was the funnest thing ever, nonetheless. I love having her here, she's like me in the sense that she just likes to have fun. I like to have fun, and not the weird kind of fun. Just normal, fun kind of fun. And we're already super close, so I'm really quite grateful. It's already a blessing, I mean it's like having a built-in best friend at home. I love her!

Today she went to church with us and it was really different for her. She liked it and she has a lot of questions now! Haha, I'm sure she has quite a lot. But she got to meet a lot of people which was fun. Anyways, we're having a bunch of people over for dinner so I should probably go help.

Lots of lovin',

Laure

Operation family of 6 is now a GO.

The new addition to our family has arrived! I absolutely LOVE HER. LOVE LOVE LOVE HER. She is awesome. Her name is Siri and even though she hasn't even been here a full day yet, I'm totally freaking out because she ROCKS. But really, this is going to be so great. I'm so excited for all of the experiences to come. This. year. will. be. PHENOMENAL.

So we were at the store today and we put clothing articles on our head. It was quite the experience... To be honest, I'm surprised Siri hasn't tried to run away yet. I mean, out family can get pretty wild. Haha, oh dear, I hope she's not just acting like she likes us and insides she's like 'GET ME OUTTA HERE, THEY'RE CRAZY.'

Oh yeah, and we were looking at cameras for Siri, and so I thought 'oh, I'll just take the opportunity to talk to the camera guy about lenses/camera bases and blah blah blah' so I did. And this other guy comes up and he just joins into our conversation about it, and he's actually a photographer who takes portraits for lawyers, and takes commercial shots for buildings and he has the same camera I have! So we totally bonded and started talking about different lenses and what I should get and he was so helpful. We were like two peas in a pod, I just wanted to give him a hug. He kind of looked just like the guy in avatar/bones. But seriously, I was like I LOVE YOU SO MUCH RIGHT NOW, LET'S BE BEST FRIENDS. He rocked.

Wherever you go, no matter what the weather, always bring your own sunshine.

Picture: Utah (you can tell by the mountains, Texas doesn't have mountains... *sob*). And no I totally did not take that picture while driving....?

It's raining today, and I absolutely love it! I love it when it just pours here. Except when I'm out running or something and I'm like "great, this just bumped up the chances of me turfing it times like a billion." What especially rocks is when you're having a movie night with a bunch of friends over and it's pouring. Now that rocks.

My room actually looks like someone lives in it now! I mean we've been here for a year so let's hope it looks like it... Wow, one whole year in Texas. I don't know how I did it. It's weird, I still don't feel like I live here, I feel like I still live in Switzerland, or I should be moving again. This whole moving all the time thing has messed up my brain, I swear.

HOLY FRIGGIN COW. WE'RE ABOUT TO GO PICK UP SIRI. Have I ever been this nervous? No. There are now 6 people in my family. How weird is this...

Blame it on the weather, but I'm a mess.

This school year I'm hoping to be a volunteer at Memorial Hermann. After the 15 hours you do where they help you get familiar with the hospital, you can choose where you want to do your volunteering, if I understood that correct. I'm hoping to get into the cancer center, that's where my heart is. I'm so excited I can hardly contain it!

The Doobie Brothers are having a concert in SLC that I won't be there for... really long sigh. That would have rocked the house big time.

Siri gets here tomorrow. Am I scared out of my pants? YES. YES YES YES YES YES. YES I AM HOLY COW.

Julia is on holiday and I miss her like... like someone who misses someone a lot or something. Picture is of me and her. She's transferring to Memorial from Kinkaid this school year and we are going to have more fun that anyone has ever had. Freak yeah. Even though I'm taking all higher level classes and it will be the death of me.... darn.

I don't feel like writing a lot about today so here are some words that describe it:

one whole watermelon

new beige rug

driving like a mad woman

cleaning

PSYCH

chiddy bang

shortage of models

spain...

cosby kids

clean and organized

badge of courage

siri= 2 DAYS

fresh ideas

alex bullon

feeling like you're new... again.

watching mission calls on youtube

walking with mom

2438

humidity to the max

letters

-----------------

Back in Texas...

Picture caption: I took this one in Utah. I like it. Sadly, Texas is ugly (in comparison) so I won't be having too many shots like this here...

It is Monday. I like Mondays, but only in the summer. I'm teaching FHE tonight and never have I ever been so prepared. It's going to rock the house!

SIRI. OUR NORWEGIAN FOREIGN EXCHANGE STUDENT. HOLY COW. She'll be here on THURSDAY. Okay so I'm not gonna lie... I'm scared out of my pants. What if she's crazy?! What if she's weird? Those Europeans can get a little wild, I would know. Haha joking (not really) but I'm just really quite nervous. Maybe she's not the one I should worry about being crazy... maybe I should worry about our family being crazy. That's more of a legitimate thought. I mean seriously, we are quite unique. Wanna hear something funny? My mom texts me while I'm at EFY and this is what it said I saw today that someone had posted something on Siri's wall about Mormons. It was a southpark link. Her friends probably think she is going to live with polygamists. She must be scared;) HAHAHA.

What I'm listening to: Remady ft. Manu L- Give me a Sign.

check it out: http://twoteenstwocontinents.blogspot.com/

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Alright, alright, alright alright alright HEY.

Company name: The Greater Light.
EFY rocked. At first I wasn't so hot on my company, but they got cooler as time went on, haha. I got to see Spence, Johnny, and Soren too which was SO exciting. Swiss reunion! Not to mention Gavin came to visit too. It. was. fabulous. The theme was Courage to stand strong and the scripture was "Be strong and of a good courage; be not afraid neither be thou dismayed: for the Lord thy God is with thee whithersoever thou goest." Joshua 1:9. It couldn't have been a better theme.

So I learned a lot this past week. I took a buttload of notes, and I've all of them right here with me so I'll share some with you:

- adversity is when God is rubbing off our rough edges and sensitizing us for our great responsibilities ahead.

- why do bad things happen to good people? maybe because God loves us so much more than He loves our happiness (think about it)

- come what may and love it

- don't set the Lord's watch because he doesn't wear one.

- no one can dictate who you are

- keep your standards high, even when you're standing alone.

- 'faites-vous un festin des paroles du Christ' (feast upon the words of Christ)

- kisses aren't like apricots.

- our choices impact today, tomorrow and forever.

- always put God first. always.

- Familes: for ever. for always. no matter what.

- it's not the

At-many-ment

or the

At-all-ment,

it's the

At-one-ment. Atonement. One. Jesus was the one.

When the guys and the girls split for classes, Bro. Bettinger took some notes some of the guys had given him and put them up on the screen. They had to do with modesty and respecting your body, and one note from a guy in the session said this:

'Why do girls compromise when they are queens?'

And holy cow, I think every girl in there had a tear in her eye. I don't think girls these days realize the guys you want to attract don't like girls who flaunt and disrespect their bodies. But we kept hearing comments like this (I wrote them down) I wish the girls understood how hard we boys work at keeping our thoughts clean. But there are times that girls make the choice to wear things that make it harder for me to honor that. It takes courage for a girl to be modest, and it's not just helping themselves, but us. Just wow. And if a guy doesn't think like that, then he's not the kind of guy you want to waste time on anyways. Guys like that rock.

But anyways, it was an incredible week. I learned so, so much. Not to mention so many phenomenal teachers who you know care about you individually. Bro. Scott was such a huge help to me, I waited after class one day to talk to him about something that was bothering me, and even though I couldn't hold myself together, he just seemed like I was the only thing that mattered right then. I could tell he genuinely wanted to talk and help as much as he could. If only he knew how much that meant to me.

What I've waiting for this past year.... it's finally here. EFY 2010!