How could I be more blessed than to have these two as my mom and dad! (You're the best!)

I am continuing to work on my personal history and this page will be a part of it. I've written about 12 pages so far. I'm sure one day it will likely be an "Oprah Book Club" pick. I'll send you all autographed copies. It's lots of fun to document my life when I can add photos to go along. "A picture is worth a thousand words." :) I've been teaching classes in Digital Scrapbooking, (Photoshop Elements), for RS Enrichment. I'm getting better at it, so if you need advice, call Natalie. She's my teacher! :)

Shayla turned 13 on Friday!!! I love this page that I asked Natalie to do for her! Shay loves it too! What do you think? GREAT JOB NAT!

Nie Nie Dialogues

So last night Sharm and I went to a dinner/dance at BYU. Long story as to why we were even there, but that doesn't even matter. A man, about 28 years old, came over to greet our friend who we were sitting by and explained that he had just resigned from his job in Arizona, because of an accident. When he turned and sat down at the table I could see that one side of his face and neck were severely burned. He explained that he and his wife had been in an airplane crash. It was a small plane that went down in Eastern Arizona and the pilot was killed. His name is Christian Nielson and he was burned over 40% of his body and his wife, Stephanie Nielson was burned over 80% of her body. They have 4 small children between the ages of 2 and 7, who were cared for by family members. The accident happened in August and they were in a medically induced coma for 3 months. He was such a gracious young man, so curtious and kind. We asked questions about it and basically he and his wife are looking at about 20 more surgeries between the two of them. Their little kids have had a hard time because they don't fully recognize "Mommy" and "Daddy" now. Wow, I thought my life was rough sometimes. He told us that at present, his medical bills were in the millions!
His wife wrote a blog called Nie Nie Dialogues that was followed by over 1000 people prior to her accident and now, since the accident, there are over 20,000 people following it. After 3 months in a coma, she woke up to celebrity"ville". Matt Lauer wanted an interview as well as others. Her blog is popular because she talks in a very positive light about being a mom and wife, even though it's tough.
Take a look at the blog and read the story. It will put your life in perspective!

Love to all,
Laura

Lizzy First "Tea Party"

This one's for you Mary! :) Enjoy

Here are a couple of layouts of Will and the fam! :) Enjoy!

Hi all, Valentines Day 2009

Just wanted to add an update. Today I attended the funeral of my sweet friend Kim Madsen, who has been battling ovarian cancer now for 4 years. She was such a remarkable example of living life to its fullest. She was a master gardening, and very talented in directing, acting and choreographing theatre productions of all kinds. She loved dance, computers, writing and to read, but most of all she loved people. At her funeral, she was given special permission to do a video of her testimony and a say final goodbye. Her words truly touched me as she talked with such courage and wisdom about what she knew would be certain aspects of her life after death. I was especially touched by two things that she said. First, "People are so much more important than things and nothing in our lives is worth withholding forgiveness". She chose forgiveness in her life and it made a world of difference. She also said something like, "We don't want to look back and see one day that we could have had more in this life, had we just made different choices." She was the kind of person that created magic wherever she went. She was an incredible gardner and found peace and rest there. She also remarked, "You can always find beauty among the thorns." I'm so grateful I was able to know and learn from such a beautiful person.

Here's a quick little layout of Lizzy!