Mother of Boys

International Exotic Animal Sanctuary

Laurie4 Comments

This week Rebecca hooked us up with at tour at the International Exotic Animal Sanctuary. We arrived quite a bit early, so the kiddos finished the movie in the car while we waited.

Wendi and I swapped kids, because the don’t allow children under 6 years old. She got Drake and I brought her older 2 kiddos. I got the better end of the deal. {{giggle}}

IEAS mission is the care and welfare of its animal inhabitants, as well as educating the public about their needs.


We saw lions,


and tigers,


and bears. Oh my!

The inhabitants include bobcats, cougars, jaguars, leopards, lions, tigers, and bears among other species. As of April 2007, 58 felines and seven bears call IEAS home, with spacious habitats, pools and houses.

It was so cool and we had a really great time. As usual, thanks Rebecca for the awesome and educational excursion!

Girly Girl

Good Mail from Kelly

Laurie5 Comments

Kelly (the first blogger I stalked) sent me the most amazing good mail package!

She wrote in her note, “Thanks for being the incredible person that you are. Every day you amaze, inspire, and encourage thousands of women. Thank you for all that you do. I’ve been thinking about you a lot lately and just wanted to do a little something to inspire you . Enclosed I hope you find a few little things that will hopefully bring a smile to you & your boys.”

WOW!!! The boys and I have been having so much fun with a the fun goodies Kelly sent us. The tattoo’s, bubbles, and cookies have been the biggest hit! Your “daily inspiration” jar is so wonderful and uber thoughtful.

I got Drake to eat dinner because of Kelly’s bubbles. One bubble blow for each bite! I was completely winded by the time he was finished but at least he ate a full meal. Usually it’s only one or two bites.

Lisa stole the cookies on her way out Sunday night. It was a tough sacrifice – but considering she watched my boys for 24 hours – and that was all she wanted in return – I made the sacrifice. 😉 So I owe Kelly double thanks!

On a personal note, this has been a fun but very stressful and busy summer. I’ve been putting so much of myself into Tip Junkie and I’ll admit that at times – I feel like it’s a burden with very few rewards. This was such a wonderful surprise that brightened my week! If what I do inspires someone who inspires me, then I feel like I’m doing my job.

xoxo

Mother of Boys

Say Cheese!

Laurie10 Comments

I finally got the boys pictures taken. The last photo session was so horrible, it’s taken me a year to convince myself to do it again!

I’ve been dreading it because the last time I left in tears the boys behaved so badly. The good news is this time was very different. Jason came home early unexpectedly and we all piled in for an impromptu session at Sears.

It has only taken me 9 years to figure out that when Daddy’s there – the boys behave! Our photo shoot was done in 15 minutes flat and I have lots of cute pictures as a result.

Needless to say, Daddy’s coming to every one from here on out! {{evil laugh}}

Home Decorator

Dining Room

Laurie18 Comments

It’s project time! I’ve been way to wet this summer between the pool, beach, and the lake. I’m ready to dehydrate!

It’s my turn to host Mavens and Book club this month and I couldn’t be more excited. I’ve been wanting to paint my dining room for some time now and even paid a professional to help me pick the colors. Now, I have an excuse to get busy.

These are times that you have to “go with your gut”. The color she picked for the top was just a little to “yellow” for me – so I went a couple shades darker.


Before – Summer Suede


After! Top – Restrained Gold, Bottom – Mannered Gold

I absolutely love it. I’ll be honest, when I was painting I wasn’t so sure. It was a little bright for me, but now that it’s done, I feel like it was always meant to be those colors. It brings in a warmth that was needing.

What colors are your dining room?

Family Cruise Director

Burgers Lake

Laurie3 Comments

This week, Rebecca arranged for us to go to Burgers Lake with the kiddos. Even though it was a little pricey and smaller than we thought, the kids never ran out of things to do!


The boys loved the large trapeze!

Here’s Dylan taking his turn. He couldn’t reach it, so the teenagers took turns helping him up on it.


The 20′ Slide and High Diving Boards were amazing!


Here’s Dylan getting ready to jump!


Way to go Davis!


Dylan making his way up the slide.

It had a sandy bottom which was fun and Drake absolutely loved it! Of course, I couldn’t convince him to play at the beach, so I could sit and chat. So we made our rounds and jumped off the little kids diving board, ran around, and mostly floated.

Jenni came too and it was wonderful reunion for the boys. Our boys have such a beautiful bond. Thanks Rebecca for planning our day we had an amazing time!!

Family Cruise Director

Lake Murry

Laurie3 Comments

Over the weekend we ventured over to Oklahoma and spent the day at Lake Murry.

It was a beautiful and smooth lake – especially considering all the water craft in the water.

We spent the day with the Shanks who recently moved into our area. Their boys are almost exactly my boys ages (within a couple months), so it was a match made in heaven. We first met them pre-kids at BYU. You can imagine our surprise when they came up to us at church one day.


All the boys had fun knee boarding.


And playing in the sand.


It was a crazy fun day!

I had forgotten my camera, so Megan not only made me a CD of the pictures we took, but also made us an awesome Thank You card using the pics. Fabulous!!

Mother of Boys

Drake the Snake

Laurie2 Comments

I can’t believe I’ve gone so long with out updating my blog. These crazy kids are keeping me too busy for me to stick with my priorities. Geeze!

Drake is up to his old habits again, and no longer sleeping through the night. So before I forget what a cutie pie he has been lately, I want {{need}} to document a couple fun things he’s been up to.

Drake is a sucker for older girls. {{As a mommy, I’m not included in this}} He’ll do what ever they want him to do. Right now, I think it’s adorable – we’ll see if it sticks. Here AJ got him to push her in the swing.

Drake loves his batman and superman jammies. Here he is playing with Toby.

I came home from Girls Camp with Chanda to this. Not only had our babysitter spiked Drake’s hair but gave him a “pop collar” as well. Seriously, Drake grew 2 inches that day, he thought he was so cool.

I guess the boys wore him out! He fell asleep like this.

Drake is a lot like Davis was, in the fact that he’s always into everything. Here he found a flashlight.

He had to check out all the dark places in the house.

It was a pretty fun game he came up with. Drake, I love you, little non-sleeper stinker!

Family Cruise Director

Wet ‘n Wild in Galveston

Laurie7 Comments

I’m running a bit behind in my posts…

Friday, we visited Gramma & Grandpa and played a little in Galveston.

We had a lot of fun at Schlitterbahn. The boys loved the torrent river the best. It’s like a lazy river but with tidal waves.

Drake was getting a little sleepy – so I took him on the torrent river and he had a nice nap while we floated the river for over an hour. That’s my kind of fun. {{wink}}

My favorite part was the funnel cake at the end. {{of course}}

Saturday we spent the day at Gramma & Grandpa’s on the river.

Davis knee boarded for the 2nd time.

Dylan kneed boarded for the first time! It took some serious negotiating and finally threatening to get him on it. However, once he got going, he had a blast! We were so proud of him.

Look at that bust. Way to go Dylan, you did an amazing job!

Dylan has decided to collect Indiana Jones Lego’s. This year will be the first year I’ll know what to get him for his birthday. {{huge relief}}

Davis arm-wrestling his cousin. Hmmm – are you wondering who won?

It was a quick, but really fun weekend with our loved ones.