The Importance of Being Lauren

1) I have just been converted to the awesomeness that is the TV show "Psych". Can I just say this: "I freakin LOVE SHAWN SPENCER and Gus!!!" They are hilarious! Anyway. It's pretty much the bomb dot com! 2) So I spent most of my day yesterday watching one of my new favorite shows "Pretty Little Liars". I know that it LOOKS trashy, and some of the parts ARE trashy. But I was pleasantly surprised. I actually like it. It's like "Clue"....I suck at playing "Clue" though, so all the people I think are totally guilty are probably innocent. Anyway , I highly recommend this show, if you like mystery-drama. I don't like any other mystery-drama shows , so this is a first for me! So yeah. I'm spending my winter break on playing "Connect 4", eating Saltine crackers, babysitting, and catching up on my shows! I'm a bum.....

My sister Natalie and I were walking home from the duck pond yesterday, and we were just having a random conversation as usual. Then something she said reminded me of the movie Penelope" and so I blurted out quite loudly "I'm old enough to buy my own 'Ho Hos', mother!!!" Natalie and I laughed and laughed because we are both in love with that movie. When I was done laughing I looked to the left and realized that I had not seen the lady that was gardening right next to us. She looked at Nat and I and shook her head dissapoovingly. I tried to make the situation by saying "I mean the brown 'Ho Ho's' No wait! I mean the cupcake 'Ho Hos'. The brown cupcake 'Ho Hos'. You know they are kind of like 'Ding Dongs'!!! I don't mean anything bad gosh!!" Everything I said made her dissaproving head shake get worse. So then Natalie and I ran home before I said anything else. Yeah, I went home to the people that understand and...

  Finishing this project has really inspired me. I never knew half the things I now know about my family. I'm in awe of the things that my ancestors have done, and the way they have shaped my life. I feel extremely thankful that they kept records of the important things they did. I never really appreciate the things I learned at Church. They always tell us to write in our personal journals, to search out our family history, to get to know the works of you ancestors. I now realize the importance in that counsel. Without records I would have never known that I am a cousin of British Royalty, or that my grandmother's shaped the feminist movement, or the medical discoveries of my other ancestors. Because of this project, I feel excited to get the chance to read the family records. My dad just showed me today that he has put together 64 pages of our family history. This Winter I plan on helping him do more pages, and learn how to operate the LDS Family Search site with better techni...

 My dad's grandmother and her sister lived during the Mexican Revolution. (1910) Their father owned a larger ranch. During the war the Revolutionary Men would steal women and take them as wives, and help them with things while they were fighting. They would also steal whatever they need from the people. The girls father built secret rooms in the basement to hide his daughters in so they would not be taken. The Revolutionary Men would at times stay for weeks. Because of this the girls would have to stay underground in total silence, and the ranch hands would sneak food to them. My dad's dad's mother was the only daughter of her parents because her twin brother died at birth. Her parents died when she was very young. All the land and animals they left her was stolen by her relatives, and then they sent her off to live with her Godparents. She never got anything back, even when she was an adult. Emilio Brachetti is my fathers 3rd great grandfather. He came to Mexico from Italy...

  This is the video interview with my Great Grandma Dee: Questions For My Interview with Grandma: What year were you born?  "1931" Where did you live when you were little? "I was born in South Bend In where I lived until I was 5 years old then I moved with my Grandparents to Kewanna, In. where I lived until I graduated from high school at age 17." What was your life like growing up "Kewanna was a very small town and we played outside games such as hide and seek, tag, roller skating. My grandparents were very active in church so I did many things that church related ." What did your parents do for a living? " My father had a car agency and my mother worked in a garment factory for some time. But since I spent most of my time with my grandparents my Grandfather was a mail carrier and my Grandmother was an old fashioned housewife." What was something you loved doing when you were a child? "I love riding bike that my father bought for me when I ...

 Making fires fascinates me! I love setting it up and making sure it doesn't go out. I've learned to make the Tepee Fire, the Crisscross Fire, and the Star Fire. This Summer I actually made a fire with flint. It was the first time I had made a fire without matches! I now know how to set up a safe fire, start a fire, and extinguish a fire. Some may say I'm a fire-bug but I'm certainly not the only one! Go to fullsize image This Summer tragedy struck my family. Our kitchen sink broke. It would not drain so it was flooded with gross water and it stunk. My dad thought he could fix it so for a week we went without a sink or a dishwasher. Instead we washed out dishes outside. This was our process: Me: Scrub the dishes in a bucket and then pass it on to mom Mom: Quality control and rewashing the dishes, pass it on to Stef Stef: Rinse the dishes off with a hose (and spray me every single time) and then hand it to Josh. Josh: Dry the dishes and put it away This process happened ...

Mom's Interview  My mother's grandfather on her fathers side is, James Edward Battjes. My mother's grandmother on her fathers side is, Mary Jane Hybel. My mother's grandmother is Delores Forche. Her history is listed on this Blog. She was one of the first women executives as Head of Computer Security (in the 70s-80s). My mother's grandfather on her mother's side is Billy Cook. He owned "Cook Brothers Dairy" which had been in the family for generations. He also was a police officer. My mother's father James Edward Battjes, was born Denis Ray Case, in Kalamazo Michigan. He was adopted by the Battjes Family when he was a toddler. The records of his birth mother are blocked. The Battjes family has books written on them because they were part of a big immigration in the 1800s from Holland. He had two sisters and a brother. He owned a car repair shop in Texas. My mother is his only child. He had six grandchildren. My mom's mother Jacqueline Cook, dau...

  I admit it! I'm a spoiled camper. I've only had to sleep in a tent three times in my life. When I go "camping" it's usually to an air conditioned cabin in the middle of nowhere, with a pool and cafeteria. This Summer though that all changed. I went "real" camping with a group of 15 year old girls from my Church. We went to a river about two hours away and canoed for 5 miles! After the canoeing we drove another hour to our camping grounds. It was beautiful because it was next to a huge lake. This is what it looked like at night. I didn't bring my camera to the camping trip because I didn't want to ruin it.                  I had to help put up three tents when I got to the camp grounds . And because I'm not an experienced camper, it took a while. After an hour of attempting to put up the last tent, which kept falling, we finally figured out that we had put the stakes in wrong. Yeah, like...

Life has been crazy busy these past couple months!!!! I'm eargerly awaiting and at the same time dreading the end of the semester. I can't wait for it to end, but I'm worried about Finals. *sigh* I never feel like I get enough sleep. Not only that I'm sad to say that I've had to work really hard and my brain is on overload!! I'm not even making fantastic grades like other semesters. One good thing about my life right now is that I'm finally making friends in my new ward!!! So yeah. Just a quick update before I have to go and do MORE homework! *bleh* Have a nice two months! See you at Christmas!!!

I was so happy to be able to go to the Renaissance Festival this year! I got to go last year with my whole family, including my uncle and grandmother on my mom's side of the family. But this year I went solo, well with only  one  of my siblings. Josh and I had a lot of fun together, and we bonded over this amazing experience. I never expected that to happen! We could not find half the people on the list because they were either not at the Faire that day, or escorting other school children to and from events. I was very sad about it, but I was able to have a great day of learning and fun anyway! My mother fixed my hair into a "crown braid" and I felt like a fairy princesses". What I learned about Queen Juana of Spain. She is the daughter of King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella who funded Columbus’s explorations. She has 6 children with her husband King Felipe of Spain. She calls him “Phillip the Handsome”. Her sister is Catherine Argon who was married King Henry the 8 th...

Hello! I'm Lauren Cordova and this blog is dedicated to my "Living History Journal Project". I go to Lone Star College- University Park and my history 1302 Professor's name is J. Quiroga. And this project is going to be amazing! So I hope you keep reading my other posts! -Lauren 

Oh my goodness! Brain.......Dead! That's all. I'm exhausted and I'm STILL not done with my homework! *sigh* I'm going to sleep so I can pay attention in Seminary tomorrow morning!

School is totally killing me!!!! For realz. I have had to study more than I have for all of my other classes combined. *blah* Seminary is really fun this year, and my teachers are crazy and funny. I seriously love them the end. I see my friend Diane (from computer class last semester) twice a week at school now and we talk in the hall while I wait for my mom. If I don't die from all the work of school, and making new friends in my new ward I will be very happy!!!! So yeah! How is school or work for you guys?

I MOVED to a new house!!!!!!! This week has been INSANE! I haven't read Mockingjay yet. :( I keep having to listen to Stef and mom whisper to themselves about how amazing Mockingjay is. I started school and all my classes are intense. Everything I own was packed into three boxes, and now it's spread all over my room. I'm in love with my closet. I need to lose weight.....And I've been feeling really horrible about myself lately. So I went JOGGING tonight, and actually enjoyed it, I know, I shocked myself too and I plan to do it every night. This house became my HOME as soon as I got the Internet. Our house backs up to a cute little park. I need to unpack stuff right now, but I'm Blogging instead. I LOVE Pushing Daisies reruns. Lee Pace is so nerdilicious, and he went to the High School that I would go to if I went to Public School!! *sigh* I love him and Kristen Chenoweth! She is sooo much better on Pushing Daisies than Glee ! Well, I'm off to go and unpack stu...

Mockingjay!!!!! The book is finally here!!!!!!! I'm so excited to read it!!!!!!!! Eek! I might not be Blogging for the next few days! (I'm off to fight my mom and Stef so I can read it first!!!)

Last weekend my family got another guinea pig! She is so tiny. She was a lot smaller than the other guinea pigs with her. Her name is Annabel but I always slip and call her Annabeth. She is so cute! She is clever and always finds ways to escape her little home so she can run around the toy room. My brothers call her the lightning pig because she is so fast! I love her a lot!

Last Monday I went to an Amusment Park. On that day I accomplished three of my life goals. 1) I rode a roller coaster 2)I overcame my fears of dying 3) I fell in love. This is the first ride that I went on. It really fun! The first time I rode on it I gripped the seat, but by my third time I started to put my hands in the air and instead of screaming in panic I started screaming in joy. I rode on the Wipeout: At least 10 times! The Inverter !! Man, even the name sounds intimidating! My mom really wanted to ride this right after the Wipeout. I was so scared because I saw the ride before they opened it. I wasn't even on it and I felt my stomach want to throw up my breakfast. I went on it so I wouldn't look like a wiener. The first time I went the attendant seated me net to Natalie, and Stef. I was in the corner seat. I screamed like crazy! I was really afraid of falling out when they made us stop in the air upside stinkin down! But I survived and actually started enjoying it! Tim...

Next month I'm going to meet Kelley Armstrong, Cassandra Clare, Melissa Marr, and Holly Black!!!!! I'm so stinkin excited!!!! I love these authors!!!!! They are so amazing! The last book in the Hunger Games series comes out next month too!!!!! Eeeekk! I cannot express how excited I am for it to come out! My mom pre-ordered the book back in March or something! I'm dying to read it, so I think I'm going to have to fight off my mom and Stef to read it first! Team Peeta forever!!! I go back to school August 30. This semester is going to be a killer. I'm taking ten credits, so I'm really nervous about the amount of work I'm going to have to do. This year I'm taking Spanish, World Literature, and History 2. The class I'm most worried about it Spanish. My dad is from Mexico and my mom understands a lot of Spanish, but I don't know anything. I do, however, know enough to survive if I get stuck in Mexico one day. I know: baño, agua, and burrito. I am now ...

I am having some serious writers block right now. It's just pitiful. *sigh*

Happy Monday everybody! I hope everyone had an amazing weekend. And I will write about my spectacular weekend tomorrow or something! :) Kay! Bye!

Last Friday my dad took all of us chillins to the library. Of course since I'm a big book dork I got six books. (That was on reserve for me) I'm serious, the librarians practically know me by name now. So not I'm going to share with you the books that I got and why I adore them. The Darkest Powers Trilogy There are so many reasons why I love The Darkest Powers Series. It's clean, the story is amazing, and I'm in love with all of the character! Even the characters that are kind of mean. I was sucked in by the first book, and I almost died waiting to read the second. And right now I'm dying to read the third and last book about Chloe and her friends. Another thing I love about these books is that I can read more than once and still love it. I'm seriously obsessed with these books. Kelley Armstrong is an amazing author, but sadly I cannot read her other books because they are supernatural romance novels. The Wicked Lovely Series This series is fairly clean. Th...

So.....I bet you can't guess what I'm doing tonight! I'm watching "Last Comic Standing" and "Blind Date Edition: Wipeout" reruns and catching up on my favorite comics and dorky people competing for money!! Plus I'm writing this Blog post, so I think that shows that I'm kind of productive with my time....Oh and I'm babysitting my siblings. Wanna know why? Well too bad I'm going to tell you anyway! My parents are going out partaying ....ALL....NIGHT....LONG!!!!!!!!!! Seriously! They are going to a reunion party from the church school that my dad went to when he lived in Mexico! You know you're a lame teenager when YOU are the one at home awake super late waiting to chastise your PARENTS for staying out too late! (My Mia Maids Advisor said that her dad would sleep in their beds until her and her sisters got home from dates, so they would have to wake him up when they got home even if it was past curfew. I might have to do that, because m...

There is a Tri-Stake dance coming up next Saturday!! I'm really excited for it because I haven't been to a dance in forever! The last one I went to was at the end of April and it was sooo boring! Seriously, the music stunk so bad people just sat on the floor in groups to talk. They didn't play any dance music. It was kind of sad. Speaking of dancing I found this new show called The LXD: The Legion of Extraordinary Dancers. The episodes are between 3 and 7 minutes long, and they are kind of awesome. It is from the people that brought you the Step Up movies. Since I have never seen those movies I cannot compare the show to it. The show is kind of weird so you guys might not like it. But I love it! The dancers are amazing! I guess the reason why I like it is that they look awesome doing silly dance moves, and um..Well I can't quite pull it off. Seriously, I can't even do the "One, Two Step", the "Chicken Dance", or even the "Cupid Shuffle...

Oh my goodness! It's already Friday! Okay I realize that I just stated the obvious but seriously! Where the heck did this week go? It totally blew past me! I didn't get anything done this week. Well, at least my parents are going to force me to feel accomplished this weekend. We (meaning my siblings and I) have to clean the house top to bottom because some person is coming to look at our house. Wow. That sounded professional and stuff. I'm not positive what he's going to do, all I know is that I have help my sister clean the bathroom....Something that I'm dreading. I had that chore for a whole year! Been there, done that, and almost DIED! So yeah. That's all. The End.

Okay! Everybody who reads my Blog needs to watch this video. It's seriously hilarious! I love it. It's a pug that barks the word "Batman"! http://news.yahoo.com/video/odd-15749658/pug-says-batman-when-it-barks-20966846 This is the very weird/interesting video to an amazing song!!! I love the Broken Bells!! And watch this adorable video by a girl that is my age but...Um MUCH more successful than I am! I pretty much LOVE these guys too! So even if the video is kind of boring, the song is amazing! It makes me all teary and stuff. Okay, more posts to come this week. I'll probably write about my "adventures in babysitting", maybe a few movie reviews, or maybe I'll post about my new favorite book series. Oh, so much to write...Too bad I'm too lazy to write all of it.....

Last Monday my family went to the most amazing place almost ever: Main Event. It was my very first time to go there, and it was super fun. We went bowling, played a bunch of arcade games (mostly skee ball and need for speed), and we all got to do four rounds of laser tag!! I adore laser tag! And the last round was really fun because we were the only kids in the group and it was amazing!! During dinner Joshua made the fatal mistake of telling our mom that he played the "Toy Crane Machine" three times. Which I may add was 50 cents each and he didn't win anything. My mom has always told us not to play those machines because she said it is practically throwing money away. I've had that hammered into me and I have never wanted to play that game, beside stuffed animals are not my thing. So, when my mom heard about his failed adventures she said, "Let me get this straight. You used MY money to gamble. And you lost." She shook her head at him and went back to eat...

I have a ton of things to write about. I've done a bunch of fun things since last week, but sadly no matter how I write the posts it doesn't turn out right. So yeah. I'm not even going to try to write a normal post today. Instead of all that I'm going to write a goofy post. Alright I guess all my post are pretty goofy, but this post is going to be some of the things that I love: 1) I love my amazing shirts from my favorite Internet site Threadless!! ( http://www.threadless.com/ ) I especially love it when their shirts are $10.00! I have five shirts from Threadless and these are my absolute favorites! ("Millipedes are like 10 times better than Centipedes" Shirts) (Caterpillar and I) and...... Well, shoot! I couldn't find a picture of it! Take my word for it, it's is amazing! 2) I love the shows "The Marvelous Misadventures of Flapjack", and "Adventure Time". Cartoon Network has fallen a long way when it comes to most of their latest ...

It's official now. My love affair with Facebook is over. I know, I know. No one cares. Sadly for you, I'm going to share what's going on in my life anyway. You're welcome. I was not willing to end my relationship with Facebook, but my dad tore us apart. I loved him and all the things he told me about my so called "friends". I loved him because he was always there to make me laugh when I was sad. He was there when I didn't have any real people to talk to. He was my everything. The moment my sister called me with the news that we were no longer allowed to be together I died a little inside. I was to the point of tears, and I was a bit angry. When I found out why my dad broke us up I was even more mad. Apparently I got hacked. After hacking me, my dear Hacker decided to send spam to my dearest father who then proceeded to open the file at work. Um yeah. I will probably never get back to my beloved Facebook until I'm 41 or something. Another thing that h...