why is there so much piano?

last week was fun. mama joanne and brother dale were in town. we ate lots of good food and stayed up late and had fun being together, along with jen & robert & joviah & the baby that is coming soon! brian served his mission in south america and brother dale just got home from his mission is south america. they enjoyed talking about the culture and food and people. and they made us south american food and we all drank mate together. thanks for coming to visit us!

yesterday was the primary talent show. and it was awesome. so many talented kids! we can't decide what was our favourite...the twins reciting "jack be nimble" and then jumping over some candlesticks, the boy who shot a bow and arrow into a target (a real bow and arrow) or the kid who hauled an electric guitar on the stage, played the opening riff of "smoke on the water" and then said into the microphone, "that's all i know." our sunbeams were awesome. although none of them sang, they all jumped at (kind of) the right time, and mostly wooed the audience with their cuteness. brian sang most of the song by himself while i tried to encourage the kids. brian was real cute, too. after the show part was over, we saw all the displays, including paintings, stories with illustrations, delicious cookies and even a replica of our city's lrt station, where brian discussed the lrt expansion with the ten year old who made it. we really love being in primary!

oh yeah. and then i got my hair chopped off!

"i do not know this man"

have you seen "true grit" yet?

brian & i & little brother dale cut up our general mills cereal boxes and went and saw it on thursday night. its a remake of a film from 1969 starring john wayne. classic western. full of cowboys and shoot outs and little girls who have such gumption and horses named 'little blackie' and spurs and other such things.

and it was awesome.
it made me want to watch lots & lots of westerns.*

also. matt damon?
your mustache is rad.



* so on saturday night we watched "3:10 to yuma." intense!

to our family

a day appropriate shout out to our favourite people in the entire world.
(happy family day!)



i love my family. lots & lots!
i love my husband and my mom and my brothers and my sisters and my brother in laws and my sister in laws and my nieces and my nephews and my dad and my grandma's and grandpa's and aunts and uncles and cousins and mother in law and father in law and more sisters and more brothers and even more nieces and nephews and more aunts and uncles and more cousins and every one in between.

i've been blessed with the best. they are the people i love and need most in my life. i want to grow up to be just like them. i admire them. i adore them. i love them. and i really like them, too! i just enjoy being with them.

dear family,
we love you.
-l & b

for the record

we had a really great week here in our house. really really great. not to say it was all rainbows & butterflies, but it was a good week. it felt good.
(please note: its okay if you don't wanna read this whole thing. this is mostly for us and our record. but if you wanna read it, great! go on ahead.)

-we got to babysit baby nephew haylen. although he is getting to be less and less of a baby every time we see him. he is so cute. and so so fun. we had a delightful time, eating dinner and playing and bath time. when uncle brian got there haylen liked to touch his beardy face and wave at him. but when did he go from this...





to this...



it seriously blows my mind.

-i got sick on monday. i had been feeling something coming on, and it actually felt good to let it finally hit me. i slept lots and relaxed and dranks lots of water.

-we didn't fill up with gas at all this week. yay for tiny cars running on minimal amounts of gas!

-on thursday, i worked the late shift. when i went to pick up brian from school, he suggested we go get burgers. we were at harveys in like, 38 seconds flat from the time of the suggestion. i love spontaneous burger dates.

-when we got home after the burger date, we found a letter from brians school. whaaat? more student fees? something else we don't want? nope. a scholarship! wooh-ee! go brian! we feel so blessed. we've been given so much.

-then we skyped with little brother dale, who just got home from his mission in argentina. growing up, i was right in between brian and dale, one a year older and the other a year younger. both such great friends! it'll be fun to have dale home!

-brian got some midterm marks back. this semester is really trying him, but he's keeping up!

-on friday night, brian got all spiffed up and went to the alberta chamber of resources banquet. he was invited and sponsored by a company called ledcor. he shmoozed but didn't booze and had an incredible time meeting people and discovering things about his future career. he came home looking ridiculously handsome in his suit and telling me delightful stories about speeches and ceo's and fireworks. he is so enthusiastic about his future, and even though he is incredibly busy with school, he loves it. even though sometimes he says he hates it.

-while brian was off interacting with impressive people, i stayed home and got to spend some time with my dear friend rachael.



we've known eachother for a long, long time and its always a delight to be with her. we made fresh salsa and watched armageddon. and yes, we did cry when bruce willis throws ben affleck back into the spaceship elevator thing so that he can go home and marry his daughter. and then he blows up the asteroid and saves the world. yes!

-on saturday, brian & i went out and finally explored the "antiques and collectibles" store thats been hiding itself from us for the last six months. its so close to our house! i tried on awesome hats and we looked through records and flower plates and other treasures. if you know us at all, you'll know we came home with some vhs movies. yes. we have a vhs player. yes. we use it regularly.

-my sister in law called me on saturday to chat. i love her. i really love all the girls my brothers married. couldn't have picked them better myself.

-saturday night party! its rachaels birthday (today), so we partied (last night). we played broken picture telephone (if you don't know what it is...you should probably learn) and stock ticker. fraser schooled us all. it was so fun! we watched community too. (again, if you don't know what that is...you should probably learn.)

-church was so so great today. we had such fun with the kids in singing & sharing time. class was awesome! we learned about the Holy Ghost, but also about constructions sets, crayons, yellow dresses, and the tooth fairy...we love our kids. we're having a talent show in a couple of weeks, and our kids are going to sing "Jesus wants me for a suuunBEAM! to shine for him each day. in every way try to pleeeease HIM! at home, at school, at play! a suuunBEAM! a suuuBEAM!"....well, you get it. its going to be adorable.

-aaaand, then we came home and skyped with my mama and sister and babies and then had the worlds longest nap. after we woke up we had dinner and took shakey face pictures. (i'll post them later. maybe. ha ha.)

we love our life.

love,
-blt

elegant & versatile!

i have no words...



hilarious, right?
0:18 is the best; "...or just hanging around!"

but seriously though...i want one.

just because

dear laundry,
please wash yourself. and dry yourself. oh, and you can fold yourself while you're at it, too.

dear noah & the whale,
thanks for making saturday so rad. and for making music that makes bri & i dance around in our living room and sing really loudly. (we really like their older album, "peaceful the world lays me down.")

dear mama thomson,
thanks for writing this post about brian. adorable baby brian! he is so dang cute! i love that last picture, of big brother and big sister inspecting new baby brother.

dear brians homework,
i don't like you very much. ease up a bit, will ya?

dear sister,
i really appreciate your last blog entry. everyone else, go here for a smile, a giggle, probably a full on guffaw. that kid is a hoot.

dear house,
i really like it when you smell like brownies.

however

dear leftover brownies,
i hate you.

sincerely,
-lauren

24!

brian is 24 (!) today!
its astonishing, how quickly time passes. wasn't it just yesterday when brian & i were just kids, playing on the trampoline and in the tree house with little brother dale? and was it really seven years ago that he asked me on our first date?
nuh-uh.
no. way.
i don't believe it.

i love this man, through and through. he is my very best friend and i love being married to him. i enjoy him! he is strong and very hardworking. he is a little smarty pants and does so well in school. he is fun! we have such fun together.

we do things like plant flowers in old toilets...



and go on really awesome road trips! such adventures we've had.



oh! and we're on a bobsledding team together...



he always looks out for me, cleans me up on our way out the door....



and he's not afraid to get his hands a little dirty.



he's really in tune with the animal kingdom...





and he loves sports and staying active.



he's really good with babies and kids. they adore him!



he's from saskatchewan, too! we love our home...



he rocks animal shirts like no one else i know.



he looks dang good on the beach...



and can grow the raddest of all mustaches. really...







he loves me. lots & lots.



and i love him. lots & lots.



brian, i think you are the best man!



happy birthday, my love!

do you mind?

dear brian,


(isn't he handsome?)

i sure hope you don't mind eating chili every day for the next five days or so. and then facing two more containers in the freezer a couple weeks down the road.
apparently i not only dream about our future family of 5 or 6 (or more!) kids;
i'm cooking for them too.

love,
-lauren