Some Cute Pictures (The more recent pictures are at the beginning)

We went to Harper's baby blessing today up at Elizabeth's family cabin. It was fun to finally see this cute little girl and my good friends, Elizabeth and Brady, the proud parents.
Enjoying the mountain air. Seriously it is finally nice enough to be outside all the time and Lucy is loving it. So am I.

I thought this was kind of a funny face.


Lucy's excited face!

Adorable. She is so much fun right now.

The proud papa.

Lucy loves to talk to her dad.

The finished product after the first cake decorating class. PS. James' birthday isn't until tomorrow.

Anna and I are taking a cake decorating class at the provo bakery. It is four classes on Thursday nights. We had our first class this last Thursday. So far it has been a lot of fun.

I love watching these two interact. And taking pictures of them.

Memorial day we visited the pioneer museum. It was a random trip, but it was a lot of fun.

It was cold but a lot of fun. Lucy was ticked.

I love my sleeping baby.

Also for those who haven't heard, I started a recipe blog. lauriskitchencabinet.blogspot.com. I have been wanting to do this for a long time and I am pretty excited about it. Check it out. Read the first posts for explanation.

Lucy Videos

We are trying to see if we can get videos to work on here. So we'll see how this post goes.

For the boys of building 9

I don't know why, but death never gets easier. Yesterday, we learned that one of James' boys, Ben Jennings, who was serving in Chile collapsed and died while jogging with his companion in the morning. He was such a great young man. He is actually the one that helped design our wedding announcement, and he also drew us this picture. He always had a sketch pad in his hand. He had a quiet way about him, but had a good sense of humor when he did talk. I believe it was his apartment that stole tables from 3 other apartments and created a ping-pong table with paper cups. They had a ping-pong tournament that lasted all day. James got really close to all those boys while working as an RA. I loved them too. There was never a dull moment around all those freshman boys and I had so much fun observing the funny things they would do.
On Sunday we attended the farewell of Jacob Cloward. He was one of the last to leave from this group of boys. I got excited thinking about all of them coming home next summer and envisioned a reunion at Gawain's house (where we will be living soon) before we moved away. I was impressed with all of these boys before they were missionaries. I can't imagine the great men they will be when they all come back from serving the Lord for two years. It will be a marvelous sight to behold.
I know that Ben is in the best place he could possibly be right now. Straight to highest part of heaven, is where I understand the Lord's servant's go. I hope that his dear family will be blessed and comforted at this time. Sometimes I think it is harder for us on the outside to know how close loved ones will ever cope with such a loss. We forget that the Lord is providing them with lots of extra comfort and help that we don't see. I know that I have experienced that love and comfort in times when loved ones were lost, so I am sure that it will be no different for others who are worthy.
I am so thankful for all the many blessings I have at this time. I love being a mother and I love being a wife. I have a sure knowledge and testimony of God's plan of happiness. And I am happy and will be happy if I continue to obey His commandments. What a blessing to be a member of God's Kindom on earth!! I would wish the same for everyone on this earth.

12 Weeks

I guess we should call this Lucy's blog because that's all that we really talk about on here and show pictures of, with a little bit about us mixed in there sometimes. The update on Lucy is that she is getting cuter everday, loves to try and sit up but can't without help, and loves to stand. Her new favorite thing that she discovered yesterday is that she has a voice box and that she can use it. We should get some videos so that everyone can hear her lovely sounds. It's actually more like singing than it is talking. That might be because her dad sings to her all the time, making up songs mostly. My favorite song that I made up and we still sing is "I love Lucy." And no, it has nothing to do with the TV show. Lauri's update is that she is in full swing back at work. We did get the most wonderful blessing of having her hours drop from 40 a week to only 30. It's pretty awesome and an answer to our prayers. My update is that all I ever really do right now is school. Anatomy is mostly all I ever think about. Sometimes, especially on Tuesday and Thursdays when I have lab from 8-10pm, I will be falling asleep thinking about anatomy terms. With all of the hours and hours of studying and the help of the Lord, I have been doing well in the class and am very satisfied with all that I am learning. The human body is pretty amazing. We love you all and thanks for reading our blog.

May 15th One year ago........

I am going to write as much as I can before Lucy starts begging for my attention. May 15th was one of the happiest day of my life. I was sealed to James Stewart in the St. George Temple for time and all eternity. It has been a blessing beyond words to be his wife. He is such a good, loving, and respectful husband. I first fell in love with him because of his desire to do good. He read and reads his scriptures daily. He prays both day and night and is the best example to me that I could have found. He is a wonderful patriarch for our small family. He is so good with Lucy and has always been so good with children.

Because of my line of work and all that James is studying in school to finish his special ed. degree it has been fun to have a common interest and love for people with disibilities. We often stay up late talking about things I have learned in trainings, or research James has studied about in class. James loves to learn and is always so excited to share with me all that he has learned. James is taking an anatomy this semester. He comes home each night and rattles off big words he has learned for a muscle or bone. I am so grateful he shares with me each day. It sort of fulfills my desire to be in school with him.

James makes me happy everyday. He can make me laugh and smile faster than anything. He will let me cry and is the best support in all that I am striving to do and be. I love being a Stewart.

Ode to Lauri

On this Mother's Day, I would like to celebrate the motherly qualities that Lauri uses everday with Lucy. All five of these qualities show forth the love that she has for our daughter as well as the great love that she has for the Savior and how she strives to be like Him.

1. An effective teacher: Most of the time when I see Lauri interacting with Lucy, she is trying to teach her something. Sometimes it's a motor skill and other times it's reading her a book or singing to her at night. Like any effective teacher, Lauri seeks to take any moment that she can to teach Lucy.

2. A wonderful cook: This is one of Lauri's most favorite qualities about herself and one of mine as well. You know you've met a great cook when you start to enjoy different types of foods that you've never had before. That's what Lauri does. The other day we had an asian salad dish that I was a little skeptical about that was delicous.

3. Patient: With Lucy having been sick with a stuffy nose for a few days, she has really tried our patience wanting to be held all the time. Although this has been frustrating at times, Lauri has had a great attitude about it, knowing that Lucy will get better and be herself again.

4. Preseverance: This trait goes right along with patience, but shows itself differently in that one who preseveres is one who won't give up, but will stay faithful to the end. For instance, I was putting Lucy to sleep and she just kept fighting me. I finally gave up, but Lauri took her and pulled out all of her motherly tricks out of the bag. After a while, she finally got Lucy to sleep and never gave up until she did.

5. Creative: Lauri really wants Lucy to get to know all of the family members before she meets all of them. In order to do this, she has cut up old family calenders with pictures and pasted them on 4x6 cards with the names of the family members on them. She themed the book "A Family of Stars."

This wonderful woman, whom I call my wife, is a terrific example of what it means to be a mother who loves her child (and future children). Lauri wanted me to include on here what I did for her for Mother's Day. I made a big heart out of 3x5 cards and tape and then wrote a poem on the front of it. Here are some pictures of what it looks like. I had to change the poem somewhat because I realized that "relies" was a bad word to use so it should say this (look at the first letter in each line to find out what "is revealed within these lines"):

My wife, I love, and
Of her I think, when
The many blessings that I
Have are brought before my
Eyes; and her greatest trait is
Revealed within these lines.

Lotsa pictures... are you ready for this?

Lucy was blessed in the same dress Traci and I were blessed in. It wasn't quite as white but she sure looked cute.

Lucy met her Grandma Cora for the first time.

Blessing Day: with Grandma and Grandpa Stewart

Uncles Mason and Kyle, and Grandma Wells

The Stewart and Wells gang that attended. Several of Gawain's family was in attendence as well. We appreciate their support, and my Uncle Gawain and Aunt Gayle for letting us host everyone at their house. It was a lovely day for a blessing.

The Mummy with her "Mummy"

This was my first full day back to work. Lucy spent the day driving around visiting family with James and his parents.

I love that I get to come home to this.

The very happy family

My sweet girl.

This one is for Traci, Anna, and all of Lucy's great Aunt's that she will learrn to love and claim as her own. Lucy shares a birthday with her mom's favorite Aunt Joyce.

Update: I have started back to work full-time. I take Lucy to work with me where she is cared for by our onsite childcare staff. I love visiting her on my breaks and taking her home with me each night. James watches her the rest of the time, but actually this is proving to be one of the most challenging semesters he has had up to this point. Several days a week I don't see him until after 10:00 pm. It's rough, but luckily its a short semester so we can manage for a little while.