We are family!

This past week my sister Mariann and her family came out to visit from Alabama. It was so fun having them here and I am so happy that they were able to come out and visit. Since they can only come out once a year my mom always makes sure that we take family pictures while they are here. This year we decided to take the pictures up at the cabin. Of course there was the usual chaos of trying to get all the kids to look at the camera, but it was pretty fun.

The Whole Family

All of my nieces and nephews

The Madsen Family

The Stubbs Family

The Stubbs Family

The Izatt Family

The Waters Family

Me!

Mom and Dad

Grandpa and Grandma Stubbs

My Blue Suede Shoes

So I believe that everyone should give themselves a birthday gift. This year I was trying to think about what I wanted to get for myself and I decided to get a new pair of shoes (really no surprise there! ha ha!).

So I was trying to decide which pair to get when I was reading the blog No Sex and the City. She did a post on Tom Shoes and I decided to check them out. They are a great organization that for each pair of shoes you purchase, they donate a pair of shoes to a child in need! I fell in love with a few pairs but ultimately decided on this pair. They are not suede but bright aqua blue and I love them!

Another reason I decided to get these is the fact that I don't have a lot of flat shoes. I need to work on walking in these without tripping over my own two feet. So far I have had good luck in these shoes so here's hoping I have finally learned to walk! ha ha!

Happy Birthday To Me!

Monday was my 21st birthday! Of course I had stayed up the night before to celebrate at 12:05 a.m. (the time I was born), then at just before 8 a.m. I had a wake up call from Mariann and her family singing happy birthday to me! I heard the same well wishes from everyone else in my family throughout the day (except for Keldon, the little punk was on a cruise in Alaska though so I guess I will forgive him this time!) I had such a good day. My mom took me for a pedicure and bought me a new game. Then I was able to go to lunch with my parents and Grandma and Grandpa Stubbs. That night I was able to go to dinner with my parents, Amanda's family, Shalane and her kids, and Angie and her kids.

After dinner we came back to my house for cake. This year I decided on punch bowl cake (also know as Better Then Sex Cake ha ha). The best part about the cake though is the candles. My mom always forgets to buy candles so this year I had 1 crayon candle and a number 1 candle! ha ha It looked like it said I was 11 instead of 21!

After cake I opened a few more gifts. Amanda gave me a pearl necklace that I love! Shalane gave me a scripture purse she had made full of treats and 2 movies. The funniest part to this was one of the movies was Edward Scissorhands. When I pulled them out to show them to everyone Kassidy saw the picture of him and freaked out! She is slightly scarred of him so when she is not expecting to see a picture of him it always makes her scream. It was pretty funny though.

After cake and presents we went outside and played with some sparklers. I know it is not the 4th yet, but I love sparklers so I wanted to have some on my birthday! The kids had fun, and so did I. It was a great day. Thanks everyone for helping make it a special day for me!

Saturday Nights Alright

When I went up to Provo for Kami's birthday I ended up staying for the weekend. That Saturday was pretty chill, just shopped a little and hung out at the house. Then that night we went up Provo Canyon. Kami gave herself a long board for her birthday and needed to try it out. Kassidy and I were the transportation car so while we waited for them to go down the canyon we went up to Sundance. Kassidy had never been up there during the summer, and I love the mountains in early summer so we walked around and took some pictures. As soon as I get them from Kassidy I will post them!

When it was time to pick Kami and the other girls up, we figured we would give them an extra ten minutes (because Kami is always late) and they still took another fifteen minutes after that! So Kassidy and I took this picture while waiting for them. ha ha!

That Sunday we went to church at a science building on BYU campus (that was really odd being in a classroom for church!) Then that night we went over to our friend Crysany's house for dinner. Crysany got married last summer so she was so cute and cooked for us. It was so fun to see her with her husband and how great they fit together. I had never seen them together and could never picture it, but they are an awesome fit!

The next day I had the chance to go to Lagoon with my friend Scotty and his family. They are some of the nicest people so it was great to spend some time with them. I also had not seen Scotty in a few months so it was good to catch up with him. We had a ton of fun at the park then met up for dinner with Kassidy. The picture of me is while we were waiting for Wicked. Scotty took it and I actually really like it! The other is obviously right before we went on SkyCoaster!

After dinner Kassidy and I headed over to the E Center for the No Doubt concert!!!! It was AMAZING!!!! I think it could very easily be my favorite concert I have ever been too! They are awesome live! I love when a band sounds the same as on a cd, but change up a few things and put on a great show with it! And they did all of this! They also had Paramore and The Sounds open for them, so it was great. Paramore was great live, and The Sounds were ok. Really though I would pay for it all again to see No Doubt! I am so happy I went to this concert! Thanks Kassidy for going with me! I know I look horrible in this picture so when I get the one from Kass I will switch it out!

They say it's your birthday...

This post is a little late, but I figure better late then never! :) Last weekend I went up to Provo for my best friend Kami's 21st birthday! It was so good to see her for her birthday! We were able to spend the day doing things that Kami loves. First we went to BMW and test drove an X5 because we had heard you have to be 21 to do that. Kami in the car!

Then we went shopping at the Gateway (her favorite mall) and spent lots of money we shouldn't have! ha ha! Then after that we went to dinner at P.F. Changs (I had never been there but I WILL go back, it was AMAZING!) The girls at Dinner, Shanna Kami Kassidy Me and Sista!

After that we met up with some of her friends from SLC and they took us up to Ensign peak. Yes I know the pictures are a little blurry, but it is the plaque on the monument at the top, all of us who were up there, and a view of the city. All in all a great day.

Shabby Apple

So as some of you may know, I LOVE LOVE LOVE wearing dresses!!! I found a new site (Thanks to the blog No Sex and the City!) called Shabby Apple that sells the most adorable, modest dresses! There is probably a good twenty dresses that I want! ha ha! Anyway I follow them on twitter and they said they were in search of a "prego" woman for some of there dresses. I nominated my sister-in-law Shalane! Here are some pic's we took of her today with Braxton and Brooklyn in the back-ground on some! Hope you love them! I think she would look great in your clothes!

The nicest thing I've seen

I found some new videos on YouTube that I am in LOVE with! If you know me at all then you know I have this thing for slow, slightly sad, love songs ( I swear I am not depressed, I just like depressing music, ha ha)! These new videos take some of my favorite songs and do an animation of them. This particular video is Kate Nash's song called Nicest Thing. It is so cute! Check it out! When you are done I also highly recommend checking out Snow Patrols You Could Be Happy that has also been done this same way!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wYWv_NSBZQI


P.S- If someone knows how to make the actual video show up on the blog would you please let me know! Thanks!

These are a few of my favorite things...

So I was looking on the blog Rockstar Diaries and Naomi has put up tons of lists people have made of things that make them terribly happy. I thought it looked so fun so I decided to make my own list!

1. Sitting at the edge of a lake listening to the sound of the waves on the shore.


2. The smell of rain in the mountains, or on the pavement, really just the smell of rain.


3. The first flowers that pop up in spring to show you that winter won’t last forever.


4. That moment right before you kiss where the world goes a little hazy and nothing else matters except for the person who is leaning into you...


5. When a niece or nephew tells me they love me and give me a huge hug.


6. Finding a song that describes how my life is at that moment.


7. Watching a musical...because who doesn’t want everyone to break out into a perfect song and dance at the same time?


8. Sunday afternoon naps


9. Reading a book so good you don’t even realize you are turning the pages.


10. Looking at the stars with someone who you can just sit and appreciate the beauty with!

Smile here we go...

I have been wanting new pictures of me taken for quite some time now so on Friday Shalane took some of me! It was really fun because we could just be kinda chill and do whatever we wanted without other people around. I also wanted to take some that showed a little bit of my personality so we took some with a cowboy hat on and some in my homecoming dress! It was so much fun! Thanks for taking the picture Shalane I really appreciated it!

Rain...

So I was browsing on YouTube and found this amazing video!!! If you are a Pride and Prejudice fan (like me!) and also like slightly sad love songs (also like me!) you will love this!!! The maker of this video has a user-name on YouTube of wikidwitch, and I love her work! She is amazing at showing a story with a new updated song that together just make magic! Check out her work!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pB23y8E1ZdE

Six years ago today our family had an angel sent to us for a very short time. Madison Angie Stubbs was born May 8, 2003 at 22 1/2 weeks. I remember this day like it was yesterday and will share what I remember of that day. You don't need to read it unless you want to, but this was how I felt.

The night before Shalane went to the hospital with contractions and they gave her medicine to stop the labor. When we went to school the next day we hadn't heard anything about how she was doing so my mom said she would call us if anything happened. After 1st period I was walking to my next class and a kid splashed mud on my pants so I went to the office to ask my mom to bring me some new ones so they wouldn't get ruined. I walked into the office right as Margaret Khyl, the secretary, was getting off the phone. As soon as she looked at me I just knew. She walked over towards me and asked if I knew what class Amanda was in and started to walk with me down the hall. My mom had called and we were supposed to go to the hospital. I went to Brother Poulsens class and got Amanda and we went to the hospital. When we got there my parents told us that the contractions wouldn't stop and that there was nothing else the hospital could do to stop the baby from coming. At this point I went kinda numb. We sat and waited in a room next door while Shalane's sisters showed up, and other family members kept coming. While we were waiting we started to talk about if the baby would be a boy or a girl. Shalane is the oldest of six girls and so all of her sisters wanted it to be a boy. My family had already had two little girls born two months before and one other one due a few months later so I thought it would be a girl. Finally just after three the nurse came and got the parents and they went in the room so that the dad's could help Keldon give her a name and a blessing. After that was done we were allowed to come in the room a few at a time to hold her and see her. She weighed 14 oz. and was 11 inches long. She lived for 1 hour and 47 minutes. That night Mariann and Sam showed up. They had already been planning a surprise visit and they just drove through the night so that they could be there for the funeral and all the planning of that. It was a very touching experience to have this sweet spirit brought to our family, for even a short time. I am so grateful for my family. Keldon and Shalane are amazing parents and have since had two adorable children, and have one more on the way. I am so thankful for them and they are amazing! I love them and hope they know that!

For some reason I can't explain...

So I was blog surffing today and Larissa had put up a link for a Jon Schmidt song. He combined the piano from Taylor Swifts Love Story with the cello of Coldplays Viva La Vida. The result is AMAZING!!!! Check it out!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0v3d6SFcDys

School's Out

I finished my semester back at college! I am so happy that I went back to school. It has been worth the move to finally figure out what I want to do with my life, and work towards getting there. Finally I fill like my life is moving towards something, and not just standing still. I finished up the classes for the semester on Monday and then had finals the following three days. I must say I am really happy to be done with most of these classes, but will miss some of the other classes. I met some really great people in class and hope that I will still get to see some of them.

I have decided that since I took so much time off in between high school and college (except for one semester at Dixie) that I really needed to buckle down and get to work. So to help this I have am going to attend summer classes as well. I am taking three online classes and two right here in Richfield. It will be good to get them done and out of the way so that I am closer to my goal.

Some of the best news from all of this though is the fact that I no longer have to commute!!!! I drove from Cedar to St. George for a year while I worked at Verizon, and when I moved home for school I would drive three days a week to Ephraim for classes. Now that these classes are over I am finally done commuting! I don't regret the decisions of living where I have, but it will be so nice to not spend two hours in the car so many days a week.

Well that's all for now! I will try to update again soon!

Yo Ho, Yo Ho, A Pirates Life For Me!

Lately my nephews have all loved playing with swords. Then my teacher told us how he has a ship in his back yard and lets kids come and play on it. So this week we decided it was time to take them and let them play. They loved it!!! There was a fun box full of costumes for them to wear and then we had brought lots of swords too. It was great to let them just have fun and to join in with them.

I Think I'm Ready For It...

Wow I really should work on updating this thing more often! ha ha Life has been good for me since my last post. I got a job at Maurices in Richfield (finally a job!!!) and it has been great! Now if I could just work on bringing home more money then clothes...lol! I love the girls I work with there though so that has really helped. This is a great environment for me and I finally love my job! The nice part too is that since I have a retail back ground it was really easy to adjust to this job, and since I love clothes it has been a fun and exciting adjustment!

School is coming to a close and I am so ready for it to be done! I have really enjoyed being back in school, even though sometimes it gets in the way of other things ha ha! This semester has gone by so quick it feels at the same time though! It is crazy to think I am already done with it (well in 2 weeks but still). I have signed up for summer classes though so no break for me! Then I have also decided to attend Snow this coming fall as well. The best part about this is the fact that I am going to move there so no more commuting for me!!!! WOO HOO!!!! I am so excited for that to be done. A year and a half of driving is far to long! Also by staying there I can work on getting my prerec's for my major done quicker and for less money! I have decided I am going to go into Elementary Education (which is funny because that is what I always wanted to do but then never got around to doing it ha ha!) It is a good fit for me I think and it should be really fun!

One thing that has been driving me crazy lately though is this stupid weather!!! It is April, snow should not be allowed! I hate driving to Ephraim when it is crappy weather, it is no fun. My one teacher always try's to tell me that Sevier and Sanpete have the same weather but he is so wrong! The other morning I left Richfield and the sun was shinning, then on my drive I was probably 10 feet from the Sanpete county sign and it started to rain and just got worse as I continued on my drive!!! I think that is proof enough that Sevier has better weather but either way it is time for it to warm up. I haven't even been burned yet this year, something is odd with that! ha ha

Other fun things that have happened since the last update are my cousin Sarah got married (crazy! she is younger then me by almost 2 years!) I also have enjoyed being able to chill with my family more and get closer with some of them. Tonight for example I went to a flag football game that was Keldon and Jim's team verses Kaden's team. It was freezing though so my parents, Amanda and I all left at half time. Also Jim and Angie are going to have their baby any day now so that will be fun! I love being the fun Aunt to all these kids and can't wait to spoil one more!

Speaking of being the fun Aunt one of my favorite things lately has been with Aubrey. If she comes over to our house in the morning (well really anytime of day that I am there lol) she comes up to me and say's, "I want make-up!" So we go down stairs and put make-up on and do our hair. She is so cute! I let her play with one brush and my one powder while I do everything else. We always listen to music while doing this as well and I have gotten her to start saying things like, "We need a good song" or "Dance to the fun song." It is so cute! I love it! And then after we are done she always has to "Go show mommy." When she does this though she always says "Come on Laurie" and take's my hand to go find Amanda. It is so fun! I love my Aub's!

Well hopefully I can work on keeping this updated more! Wish me luck! lol