About My Wonderful Husband

1. Where did you meet your husband? At Reams apartments in Provo Utah. They are called something else now. I was asked to cook for his apartment by one of his room mates. He took me grocery shopping the first time and was there most often when I was cooking. He was one of the most shy people I had ever met and so I took it as a challenge to get him to talk. He was dating someone at the time and I was interested in someone else. We became friends and had a class together the next semester. When we would get together to study we would talk for hours and got to know each other quite well.


2. How long did you date before you married? Funny question, we went on one official date before we got engaged, but we spent a lot of time together and knew each other very well. We got engaged in July and married in January so there were other dates...


3. How long have you been married? 29 years, it will be 30 this coming January.


4. What does he do that surprises you? He is always trying to surprise me most recently the kitchen make over was the biggest and most surprising.

5. What is my favorite feature on him? 1.His smile and laugh. 2. His hair even after all of this time I still love to run my fingers through his hair. 3. His hands, the strength and the gentleness.


6. What is my favorite quality of his? That is easy, his compassion and tenderness.


7. Does he have a nickname for you? Mostly is it Lauri but he often calls me Sweetheart and I love it. Of course when I am teasing or tickling the turkey nickname often comes out.


8. What is his favorite food? Probably the Korean Food at a restaurant in Honolulu, he likes a lot of different things. He's a great cook....


9. What is his favorite sport? Probably BYU football to watch but Diving is his new love.


10. Where and when was your first kiss. April 1978 at my apartment after dinner.


11. What is your favorite thing to do as a couple. I would have to say spend time together since he is gone so much. We like to escape to Newport Oregon when we can. We just love to be with the family as often as we can.


12. Do you have any children? Five of the most wonderful daughters that anyone could ever imagine!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!


13. Does he have any hidden talents? Probably the man can do anything and everything!


14. How old is he? 54


15. Who said I love you first? He did


16. What is favorite music? Oldies-Gordon Lightfoot, Jim Croche, Moody Blues, Cream, John Denver, Kenneth Cope, Michael McClean...


17. What do you admire most about him? His understanding and commitment to gospel. His vast knowledge of everything. His love of family.


18. What is his favorite color? Blue


19. Will he read this? Yes


20. Who do you tag? Anyone who hasn't done this yet and who would like to. Why? It's good to remind you about that special someone in your life.

I love you Kerry!

On a beautiful fall day

While on "vacation" Kerry finished wiring the lights that the kids put up during the "makeover" so now the wires are all hidden and my kitchen is lit better than ever before.

On Saturday Jessica and her family attended the BYU-UNLV game with me. It was fun but I knew that BYU would once again drop in the BCS. You know the "Bull Crap Standing" Poll that is so twisted, it doesn't matter that we won it just wasn't a shut out like earlier in the season and after all we only play "Bo Diddly Tech." No I am not bitter at all.

Never the less, I loved being with the kids as usual, they aren't into the whole game thing yet

but one day...

Hey guys look at the camera.

BYU 42-UNLV 35
and one Happy Grandma.

Family Get Togethers!

Cyd and Ken will be coming here for Christmas-hurray!!! Rachel and Cameron will be going to Maryland, good for the Lunt's sad for us. So we have one window of opportunity to throw a bay shower for Cydney while she is home. We will be having a friend and family shower for her on December 20. We haven't set the time but will get out invitations for the exact time later. It is the only day that all of the girls will be around so we apologize for having a shower so close to Christmas. She won't know at the time of the shower if it will be a boy or girl yet so... More details later.

Wendy's Tag

8 Things About Me:


1. Post the rules on your blog
2. Answer the six "8" items
3. Let each person know they have been tagged by leaving them a comment


8 Favorite TV Shows:
1. Amazing Race
2. Dancing With the Stars
3. JAG-in reruns of course
4. NCIS
5. Grey's Anatomy-but it is losing my devotion!!!
6. What Not To Wear
7. Good Things Utah
8. While You Were Out. (Gee I wonder why)

8 Things I Did Yesterday:
1. 5 loads of laundry.
2. Added pictures to blog and made new blog lists, went through old emails.
3. Washed the 48 chilie sauce bottles, dated, and put away on storage shelves from the previous days canning.
4. Entered recipes and did an anaylsis on them on a new program that I found while I was in Honolulu. Put some of them into a book for quick reference. Boy do I love this.
5. Arranged my kitchen drawers again after Ben came and fixed them so they wouldn't rock up and down anymore, further inmprovement on an old kitchen.
6. Cleaned out my closet and drawers and got stuff ready to donate.
7. Started ironing some of the laundry from earlier in the day.
8. Started to winterize yard by pulling the flowers off of the mound and raking up the endless supply of pine needles from our tree this year.

8 Things I Look Forward To:
1. Being with familyanytime.
2. Seeing my mom and dad again, meeting my grandparents.
3. Having lots of Grandkids!!!! I never dreamed how much fun it could be!
4. More time with Kerry without the Blackberry and OTHER distractions.
5. Trying new recipes and adding to my blog and using my newly remodled kitchen to do it.
6. Traveling and seeing lots of new places, maybe visiting some old ones again.
7. To be able to make others that I love happy and feel like I make a real difference.
8. Losing weight

8 Favorite Restaurants:
1. Macaroni Grill
2. Ruby River
3. MO's
4. PF Changs
5. Old Spaghetti Factory
6. Applebees
7. Costa Vida
8. Magelby's

8 Things On My Wish List
1. My family to be happy to stay close to the gospel and each other. (Iguess that could count as three couldn't it?)
2. To lose weight
3. More Grandchildren
4. To travel more.
5. To get caught up on some of my projects.
6. To feel good about the upcoming elections!!!!!!
7. To help those around me feel happy and feel like I make a difference
8. To lose weight.

For those who wish to partcipate in the blog I invite you. I probably won't do many fof these anymore but I do enjoy reading them. Hope you all have a great day.

Last moments in Honolulu before the big surprise!

Our last few days in Honolulu were extended a couple of days so that Kerry would be able to attend some meetings that came up after we made our travel plans. (Actually it was very good for those who were here slaving away on my kitchen to have the two extra days!) I had told Kerry I would just fly home on schedule and pick him up two days later, now I understand why he was so determined to have me stay longer. Anyway here are some of the last few things we did together.

Cheeseburger In Paradise is a fun "Burger Joint" right on Waikiki and we lucked out to be able to sit by the open window with a nice breeze.

At lunch time I rode the bus downtown and met him several days. Most of the time I made lunches and we just ate in Bishop Square at a table. I hadn't been to Aloha Tower yet so one day we went to Do Ho's for lunch and these pictures are of the Super Ferry coming into the harbor right in front of the dock we were at. It's funny the boat made me miss the ferries in Washington State and make me want to go up there to visit.

Our last Saturday there we went on a tour of the U.S.S. Missouri. It is a pretty amazing ship. It was kind of cool to walk through it. I tried to imagine my dad walking through a much smaller ship as he was being transfered to the Pacific theatre during World War II and how he would have had to hunch over just to walk through the ship or to sleep in those little bunks. For his size it would have been pretty uncomfortable.

Can you guess why I took this one?

These are for Dr. Dave. Thank goodness you aren't in the Navy Dave.

There were some sobering messages as we toured the ship including this one for lives lost. When you compare the cost of other wars it is hard to believe the difference in the numbers. Certainly the sacrifice isn't any less but I am grateful that we aren't fighting on the scale of other times, it certainly put a lot into perspective. The extreme cost of FREEDOM!


This is a replica of the Peace Treaty with Japan the glass made it hard to photograph.

The view of the Arizona Memorial from the top of the Missouri, or at least as high as they would let the tours go.

After we went on the tour we stopped to get a few groceries to last through the extension these birds were just sunning themselves in the parking lot, we thought it was fun to watch.

On the North Shore there were reports that some of the waves were coming in at 12-15 foot swells and so I wanted to go see them. We waited almost too long to drive over on Sunday afternoon because it was almost too dark to see them by the time we got there. But it was fun to watch them until we couldn't see because it was too dark. Every now and then we would see a surfer come paddling in when we knew darn good and well it was far too dangerous to be out there, they just wanted one more perfect wave.


Trying to be artistic with the camera!

After it was too dark to see the waves we decided to go on over and see the Laie Temple at night. It was such a beautiful evening to walk around the grounds. The flowers there are just like around any other temple they are gorgeous. The Plumeria even seems to smell better there than any other place on the Island as Kerry is showing us.



The moon was so bright that you could see the detail of the palm trees as you looked though them. This is my attempt to be artsy with these as well.

The temple was so beautiful it was so easy to just sit and look at it. What a nice ending to a nice day.

Sooooo, pretty. It's hard to believe it will be closed during the time we are there, if we go.

Exciting News

Kerry and I are going to be Grandparents again!!!! Cydney and Ken are going to have a baby in May. Hopefully with other grand kids to come. We are very excited this grandparent thing is definitely a great experience.

My Hero's!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

(one hero isn't in this picture because we were on our way home when this was taken.)

While I was with Kerry in Honolulu the past few weeks my family were all involved in a remodel of my kitchen. Kerry was in on the project and communicating from Honolulu with them. The spy was Cydney in Kansas as she would call me and ask me a bunch of questions and pass the message along. This plot was all started in Sept. when Jessica and Natalie started tearing off the wallpaper in the kitchen and giggling. Cameron and I had been discussing the lighting in the kitchen and how I would change it, I didn't know he was spying too! They have been plotting since then. I had some questions about the constant text messages and actually feeling a little left out, little did I know. Following are some pictures of the before and after and it is quite remarkable to know how much they accomplished in such a short time. Actually they killed themselves doing it and were all sick in the process. What a great job they did.

(Before)

They had my entrance all planned for me to come through the front door and into the hallway and then see the changes in the kitchen and then jump out and yell surprise. Guess what I blew it, I knew that neither Kerry or I had house keys so I went through the garage and into the dining room. Despite Kerry and Rosemarie's effort to convince me that we could go through the front I was determined we couldn't get in. I noticed the ceiling fan was on a sofa in the garage and a ladder by the door, then I could smell paint so I guessed they had stripped the remaining wallpaper and painted, which was true but only a beginning.

This is where they were hiding when I came into the kitchen and below is my response.

After I looked around for quite awhile I noticed the shirts that Rebecca had printed up that they were all wearing, they were cute.

Even Ken and Cyd were there from Kansas (we wish) and Rachel and Cameron were at work and at school so I sent them all text messages.

For many reasons they are all my hero's, they include my immediate family, my sister, Rosemarie, and my mother-in-law, Pat, and most especially Kerry. Not just because they redid my kitchen but what a task, they truly amaze me.

Jessica has documented all of the events, fun, and stress. You can check it out at

jessicassecretjunk.blogspot.com

whilemomwasout.blogspot.com

When the cats away the mice do play

I can't begin to tell you what an amazing family I have!!! The show While You Were Out hit my home while I was out. Much to my surprise when I came home this morning my kitchen had been seriously updated!!!!!!!!! I love it and now all of the questions and texts make sense! I can't thank them enough for all of the LOOOOONG hours and sleepless nights . I will write more when I get some pictures from Jessica. You are truly amazing people.

Wow

You do WHAT???

RULES:-Link the person who tagged you- Wendy sort of
List your quirks-Tag 6 other bloggers by linking them-
List the rules on your blog.

1. Clutter on the counter tops in my kitchen drives me crazy. Piles of mail or something that should have been put away. Usually found on respective beds at point of frustration.

2. Sticky or Crumbs on the counter top, for goodness sake wipe the counter after you make something to eat!!!

3. Shoes by the front door, we have a no shoe policy in our home to try and keep our new carpeting clean. As a result there is often a pile up of shoes from those who are coming home instead of taking them to the respective rooms and they wear something else the next time.

4. Like Wendy and Jessica I don't like to leave my house dirty when I go on trips. It just depresses me to come home to a dirty house. I try to clean before I leave and it usually takes place after everyone is already in bed for the night.

5. Leaving cupboard doors open is a frustration to me, I can't tell you how many times I have clocked myself walking into open doors as I go into the kitchen and I am looking down at something in my hands.

6. Nothing grosses me out worse than finding hair in the sink after someone has been getting ready for the day and hasn't bothered to wipe it out before anyone else uses it. I guess I would have a hard time working as a maid!

7. I don't mind doing laundry unless I find that someone has started doing some while I was in the process and has just piled my clean laundry into a laundry basket in the laundry room without folding it. Especially if it is left on the floor because my buddy Quate' loves to sleep in a basket with clean laundry rather than in his own bed which is in the laundry room. I love him but not redoing what was already clean laundry.

8. I love to collect dishes and trust me we don't need anymore dishes, but I still love them. I am trying hard to stay away from some of the collectibles here in Hawaii. I guess cookbooks fit into that as well.

9. My worst quirk is that I try to be organized and I am constantly rearranging the kitchen to find a better system much to my families chagrin. As a result I often put things where I will find them easily and then I can't remember exactly where I put them.

(Ok girls I know you will back me up on a lot of this, bring it on!)

I tag, Jessica, Natalie, Rachel (who still has to start her blog first), Cydney, Rebecca, and Nichole!

Benihana and the Aquarium

Kerry and I decided to check out the aquarium on Saturday where he delighted in showing me some of the species of fish that he was seeing personally when he went diving. The aquarium is right next to the beach and quite small but fun to see none the less. The monk seals were fun to watch,they can tell by the announcements that food is coming so they start to perform for the crowd. Makes me want to go back to Sea World again.

As we walked back along the main drive of Waikiki I couldn't resist taking a picture of the Ginger that is blooming in the Park there. I love the Shower Trees that bloom with such gorgeous flowers. I spent a lot of time taking pictures of them last time but didn't know the tree name, now I know it is the state tree.

We ended up on the other side of Waikiki at one of our favorite spots for an early dinner. It's hard to imagine that with all of the resorts and tall buildings that exist around that this property has a shrimp bus sitting on it but I am sure glad it does. It always has a crowd around it we had to wait a few minutes to get a picture without someone standing in front of it. Last night after walking a long long time we went to dinner at Benihana's it was fun and the Chef was a real card. From the heart of rice to the onion volcano and the great cooking in between it was a lot of fun.

Today I had to buy a heating pad to put on my legs because of the shin splints. I have walked so much (a good thing) on the sidewalks with my sandals that I can hardly walk today. What a pain! But I am getting some of the reading done that I wanted to. Just a few more days and we will be headed home once again.