Andie 2 Years 4 Months

Andie is two years four months, practically half a year old. Its making me nervous that her third birthday is approaching so quickly (I know I am thinking way ahead right here, but I am really nervous for it). Andie this past month has shown some fun things in her personality...

1. Andie loves Orange Julius. Constantly this girl is asking for juice, running to the cupboard, dragging out the blender and asking to make it. Its so cute! We are going through all our frozen orange julius we have collected in our freezer though, so that's good :)

2. Andie was sick this past month. We all got a really bad cold that stuck around the home for a good two weeks. It was fun to be able to cuddle together as a family and watch Disney movies all week while eating soup but I think Andies favorite part was definitely being able to have Tylenol, she loves that stuff!

3. And loves pizza. This girl is constantly asking for pizza! Good thing I am trying to watch my calories or I would give in to her cute little voice saying "I want pizza". Yes everyone once in awhile we let Andie eat that addiction of having pizza. My cute little pizza lover :)

4. Andie does here own makeup. Andie can open the bathroom door and she knows exactly where Mom keeps the makeup. Quietly crawling up on to the toilet, climbs over to the sink, over the counter to the other side, opens up moms makeup organizer and BAM! Mom's makeup is all over Andies face! I have such a little girly girl and I love it!

5. Andie has more of an imagination. Its cute watching Andie play with her princess dolls and have them talk to each other. I remember back when I did that with my barbies. I love watching her play (from a distance) she hates knowing Mom or Dad is watching her makeup all these fun stories as she has her princesses walk around, SO CUTE!

6. Andie loves Ice Cream. She must get that from her Grandpa Redd ;) Andie has only eaten ice cream when its a birthday and we have cake with it, so Andie thinks that ice cream is called cake. Its funny watching her cutely (is that even a word) run to the freezer, point to it and say "Cake!" Thank you Winco for having delicious "cake" for us to fill our freezer.

7. Andie is our girly girl and her covering her mouth completes it. She has this new thing where if we tell her no or she gets upset she puts her hand to her mouth while gasping. It is so cute to watch and yes I admit Daddy and I do it on purpose sometimes. I don't know where she learned this hand to the mouth thing, such a smart girl!

8. Andie has an iPad and she loves it. I love that I can download learning games on it. She can count to 10 now and is the best matcher out there, puzzle games are some of her favorites! Yes she has some of her princess dress up games or fun Netflix to watch her movies on. I was against toddlers having iPads but now I realize they can be a benefit if used correctly.

9. Andie loves skirts/dresses. If given the choice to dress herself for the day Andie will pick out a skirt, dress or her Ariel outfit. Its so cute watching her spin in her little dresses so happy with the world. I never want that happiness to leave my little girl, she is so perfect.

Andie is such a fun little girl to be around. I love everything about her little personality. She still is the best big sister to her brother Jake and she is learning so much in leaps and bounds. Andie is so fun with all she does and has the most amazing memory of any two year old I know. I love you my Andie Noelle, always and forever!

General Conference Oct. 2014

General Conference, like all the other years, was so amazing! Something about this year made it even more special for me though. I got the opportunity to go to the Conference Center for the last session! It was such a touching experience to sit in the center listening to the prophets words with my husband right next to me. The last session was such a good session too, I took SO MANY notes!

It was so neat to hear the speakers give their talks in there own language. There was two in the last session we listened to while reading subtitles, how neat of an experience that was. This year I couldn't pick a favorite talk (like many other years). I did have a few things I am wanting to work on for the next six months to improve myself and my growing family...

1. Family Home Evening - I am not doing this. I have been wanting to and telling Zachary we should do it complete with a lesson and all. Our schedules are so busy and we sometimes think with little children what is the point, but there is a point. We need to teach Andie and Jake in our homes before the world teaches them the wrong ways.

2. Family Scripture Study - Zachary and I are off and on when it comes to this. We go through a week where we are perfect and go through a week where we never even pick up the book. Yes this is horrible but its the truth. We have been doing good since Conference and will hopefully continue following this council.

3. Family Prayers - We are the same with our family prayers as with our scripture study. Good sometimes and bad others. I say my personal prayers every night but saying prayers as a family is needing a bit of improvement. We get so caught up in the world and put our spiritual growth on the back burner, that should NOT be the case.

4. Go to the Temple - Zach and I are trying to make this a second date every month along with our fun dates every month. Every other week we need to go on our dates. Temple attendance is so important! Where else in the world can we feel the sacredness you feel in the temples, or be taught from the savior. Our homes should be like the temples but that does not replace the work we are doing by going to our temples.

5. Family History - I haven't done any family history. My Mom and Grandma are so amazing at doing this that I have kind of let it be up to them. I will need to figure out how to work on it myself and Zach's side will be interesting to see. Until I get to that point I will continue to keep my own family history by blogging. My blog is my journal. I write on here to remember the time we spent together as a family. I write on here to track my children's lives for they will not remember growing up. I write on here to watch my marriage grow by building our memories, going on our dates and watching our family progress throughout life. I don't write on here for followers but I write on here for my own family history. My family as the years go on will read through my words. I want them to be inspired and really know who Laurel is, who Zach is, who Andie is, who Jake is and who all our other kids and grand kids are. What amazing things we can learn by just keeping our journal/blog!

Old Redd

We were in need of a second vehicle with Zachary and I going in different directions constantly between work, school and home. We have taken over my brothers truck. We welcome you to Old Redd :) Once the car is paid off a decent second vehicle is in order (before a third child), but until then he will do!

Women's Meeting Sept. 2014

I had the special privilege this year to go to the Conference Center with my Mom and little sister to watch the Women's Meeting. It was so special to be able to be in the conference center with our prophets. I haven't been to the Conference Center for a meeting in so long, I can't even remember the last time!

The talks were AMAZING and as usual some things stuck out to me so strongly. I have a few things I took out of that meeting that I will be applying to my life. Conference is such a great time to start fresh :)

1. I felt prompted to decorate my home more. I rent and always use that as an excuse not to hang up pictures but I am still living here. I need things on the walls to make my house feel more homely. I will be adding more pictures of my family as well as our church pictures on my walls :)

2. I felt prompted to GO TO THE TEMPLE! I want to start turning my monthly dates into two monthly dates and have one for our fun outing and one for our special outing to the temple. I am excited to start this up. The temple is so important and should not be pushed to the back burner.

3. I felt prompted to get a small notebook to take with me to my church meetings. I always take my phone and use the notepad app but a notification comes in from a social media sight and of course I have to check it. I will be putting my phone on airplane mode so I can still use my camera and calendar and getting a small notebook to take down my notes in.

4. I felt prompted to really try on family home evenings complete with lesson and all, family prayer and also family scripture studies. We do these items when we have time or remember but that isn't how it should be. Doing these 3 things while our kids are still young will only strength their testimonies as they adventure out into a world that will teach them the worldly ways. 

I am so excited to watch Conference and listen to all our prophets speak this weekend. I love making new goals to work on for the next 6 months, until next time!

4 Year Anniversary

Four years I have been married to this guy, and I couldn't of asked for a better guy to spend eternity with! I love my husband and all the memories we have made these past 4 years. I am so excited I get many more years (an eternity) to make memories with him. 

We spent our anniversary doing something small compared to our other three anniversaries. Dinner at LaFrontera (where we had our wedding luncheon) and walking around Halloween stores looking for costumes for the kids. 

It was such a simple date, and celebration, but so much fun :) We are already planning our 5 year now so watch out!!!

Family Sickness

Last weekend the whole family got a sick. For a week we were all sniffles, coughs, pajamas, tylenol, popsicles and chicken noodle soup in our home. It was fun to be able to spend time together as a family but it would of been a million times better if we weren't all fitting a nasty cold. No worries we are all healed up now and back to our happy selves :)