7 things about me tag...

Before I begin I must say, I cannot get the spell check on blogger to work. In other words, I'm doomed.

• Here I am at age 2. I thought I was the proverbial "bees' knees" didn't I? Look at that pose.
  
  My wonderful friend, Suzanne Bree tagged me, and now I am supposed to tell you 7 little known things about myself. This will prove to be fascinating, I'm sure...did you detect a little note of sarcasm there? (If I knew how to link, I would link Suzanne's fabulous blog so you all could read hers...but alas, I have only been blogging since November, and I have yet to figure the whole linking thing out.) Well, without further ado....here goes...

1. My sisters, Stephanie and Megan once had to stage an intervention in hopes to inspire me to buy new family room couches. I believe Stephanie's inspirational words were something along the lines of, "Lauren, you need new couches like nobody's business." My response to the intervention was...well, typical denial. I remember saying something like, "Why? I have 3 active boys...why would I buy new couches just to have them destroyed in record breaking time?" Shortly after my loving sisters initiated the intervention we did purchase new couches. I believe another intervention is in order. My new couches are already in really sad shape. We bought some kind of magic sounding "micro-fiber" couches that are supposed to repel stains. Hmmmph...too bad that didn't work out. I wanted to spring for leather couches but Mike said they feel too cold. He is probably right, besides my boys would probably have leather couches so scratched up they would look like wolverines had been climbing all over them. Maybe I should just shellac the new couches and get it over with. Okay, enough about couches...
2. Speaking of things that are, "like nobody's business"...My brothers Frank and John can make me laugh, like nobody's business. Seriously, they make me laugh so hard that I can barely catch my breath. If I didn't know better, I would think they are actually trying to make me laugh so hard that I actually pass out. Wait a miniute...I think I just put two and two together...I think they are trying to make me pass out. My brother-in-law Jon Clay is included in the dubious distinction of being extremely hilarious. On a funny side note, my brother Frank and Jon Clay (my sister Stephanie's future husband) used to be roommates in college. People used to call them "hetero-life partners" because they got along so well. We used to joke that Jon Clay married Steph because he couldn't marry Frank and still be an upstanding member of the church.
3. When I was in college, I really wanted to be a theater major. I took an acting class and I was really drawn to performing. It didn't take long for me to realize that the roles being offered at the small liberal arts university that I was attending were not conducive to having the Spirit with me. For example, the spring production that all of the theater majors were auditioning for was a play entitled La Ronde. The plot of the play involves all of the characters taking turns sleeping with each other. I kind of chuckled to myself envisioning what on earth I would say to my parents if they ever came to see me in such a production. "So, Mom, Dad was I convincing as "The Whore" in Scenes One and Ten?" It was a very confusing time for me. What came as a surprise to me, was that I was seriously tempted to audition for some very questionable productions. It was one of the most difficult times for me in terms of having the desire to choose personal righteousness. I finally went to counsel with a church leader. After much discussion, he spoke strongly with the Spirit when he explained that if I continually put myself in a base mindset, in order to develop these performances so that the characters I was portraying were believable, it would wear away at my ability to feel the Spirit. I decided to remain an Elementary Education major and leave the theater program at Radford University behind me. If I sound righteous or noble, to you, I really should confess that it was a very arduous decision. (Recently I auditioned for a stake production of Kenneth Cope's Women at the Well. I wanted one of the four narration parts. I was not cast. (As Gab said to Stie once in a comment about Stie wanting a puppy), "Life is rich with irony, isn't it?"
4. In my first area on my mission in Texas, my companion and I helped to organize a fireside (kind of like a devotional) for the youth in our ward (our congregation), and their friends that are not members of the church. I was a brand new missionary, or a "greenie" as new missionaries are often referred to. The fireside was held in the home of a wonderful family in our ward named the Packards. Brother Packard was a former stake president, they had, if I am remembering correctly, 11 bright and beautiful children (some were grown and gone by the time I met the family) and Sister Packard never ceased to amaze me with her talents and organizational skills. The fireside was a success, and after it was over the youth were all enjoying refreshments and socializing. My compainon and I were sitting on the couch chatting with Sister Packard who was sitting on the arm of the couch. Out of the corner of my eye I saw Brother Packard approaching us...and next thing I knew he used my upper thigh to help him kneel down and sit beside me on the couch in between his wife and myself. He then began to lovingly stroke my knee. I completely froze...there was never any training in the MTC (Missionary Training Center) to help a missionary deal with a situation like this one. I believe I would have taken detailed notes on a lesson entitled, "How to discourage a church going, family man from caressing your knee right in front of his wife and in full view of his children." I kind of sat there, stunned, but I did notice my companion's mouth gaping open and her eyes as large as two pizzas. Just as I decided I was going to politely excuse myself and move, Brother Packard finally, looked me right in the eyes and said, "Oh! Oh, my!" Everyone burst into laughter, except for me and Brother Packard, as Brother Packard explained that he had thought I was his wife. His ability to see was not as keen as it had once been, and when he was approaching the couch he saw his wife sitting on the arm of the couch, I was seated beside her with a little space between the two of us and after one glance he saw a brunette with big bangs (it was 1991, after all) and just got a little confused. Ahhhh, memories. The Elders had a good time torturing me at our next district meeting when they heard this story. I didn't have the foresight to take a picture of Brother Packard, but here is a picture of my wonderful, big bangs on my mission. These sweet little girls are the daughters of one of our investigators (someone we were teaching about the gospel), Lori Cathey. (L-R : Allison, Amy and Ashley) Notice my Franklin Planner in the background...good times, good times.....
5. I have a problem with being a little too verbose in my writing. I think you may have noticed, already.
6. Mike and I were sealed in the Washington, D. C. temple. When we arrived to the temple on our wedding day, we immediately noticed the spires of the beautiful temple were covered in scaffolding in order to clean and repair them. I was so giddy and excited that day to be marrying Mike, that I said without a care, or properly thinking it through, perhaps, "Oh, we will just take pictures on the lawn and not of the temple since the scaffolding is kind of ugly." In retrospect, I really regret that decision because, I would love to have pictures of us with our wedding party in front of the temple on our special day, scaffolding or not. Besides, not many people have scaffolding in their wedding pictures, right? They would have been unique. Oh well, at least I got the most important thing: an eternal marriage, despite not having a good photo shoot. Here is a picture of our special day. You can't tell it is the temple but, you can tell it is 1994 by the poofiness of my dress. I had a hard time letting the 80's go...

7. I adore all of my sisters. We call each other "sistows" and are a tight knit group. I have so many hilarious stories of our antics growing up. I am sure these will surface in future blogs. I also adore my sisters-in-law (how does one write that, it isn't sister-in-laws, is it?) Anyway, I not only have hilarious, and handsome brothers... they also have impeccable taste in women. :)

My sistow Stephanie, her husband Jon Clay, behind them my sistow-in-law, Tracy and her husband, my brother Frank.

My brother John and my sistow-in-law, Amy.

My sistows, Lisa and Megan

Well, there you have it...I was also tagged to write 50 random things about myself...I will have to ponder a little more, so I can make myself sound interesting...I mean, eh hem, so I can give a proper representation of what I am really like.