Elegant Blogger Award

Rules

• When you receive the award, link back to you (keepcalmandsparkle1099.blogspot.com) and the blog that awarded you (http://www.myunsystematicjournal.blogspot.com)
• Display the award button in a blog post
• Answer all the 12 questions given in the post (Do not make your own questions)
• Nominate 5 bloggers
• Notify them that they have been awarded

Questions:

1. What made you decide to start blogging?

Mostly reading other blogs by my friends :)

2. What is your fashion style?

Hm,  I have a lot!!  Cute but sporty...tee shirt and jeans.

3. What is something none of your followers know about you?
I live in the middle of nowhere and I absolutely LOVE it!  We have to drive 15-20 minutes to get to the closest town and it's not even that big :) but I've lived here my whole life so I wouldn't be able to change very easily :D

4. What are some of your blogging goals?

Teach others about Jesus!

5. What is your favorite place to shop?

The Mall :)

6. What would your ideal amount of blog followers be?

Around 25-30 

7. What are your talents?
Singing, reading :), etc.

8.  Are you a leader or a follower?

I guess mostly a follower...

9. What is one of your favorite quotes?

"For God so loved the world that He gave is one and only Son that whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life." John 3:16

10.  Do you have a favorite book or book series?

Favorite book is probably The Hawk and the Jewel by Lori Wick and my favorite series is the Life of Faith series.

11. Out of all the synonyms for elegant, which would you describe yourself with (smart - stylish - dressy - graceful - dainty - fine)?

Probably fine :)

12. What is your favorite flower?

Roses!!!!

Now I nominate:

Natalie

Bethany
Shannon
Carrie
Bettie

Busyness!!

Hey there!  It's been awhile since I last posted on here....sorry about that!  The reason is because I have been incredibly busy the last couple of weeks!!  I am only going to be at my home church once this month, and I haven't been there for the last few weeks either!  Around the start of July, our family sang for a Sister Church of ACC (Antigo Community Church, where we go).  The week after that, we were in Iowa for the Family Reunion that I wrote about in the post before.  Last Sunday, I was at my brother and sister-in-law's house where I spent the week with them and they live about 2 1/2 hours away from us so obviously I didn't go to our church then ;), and I was still at Joel and Lydia's on the 4th :).  Next week me and my sister, Carrie, and my brother, Nathan, will be in Milwaukee for the Color Run!!  The week after that will be the one week that I am home, and the next week will be Family Camp!!!!!!!  I am SUPER excited!!!!!!!!!!  This year it came up a lot quicker than most years, which is nice because usually it seems to ddrraagg, and then finally we get there!.......and it's over...  But the nice thing is we always get the next year to look forward to!  For those of you who don't really know what I'm talking about...sorry!  I'll explain.  15 years ago, my family started a Homeschooler's Retreat at a place called Silver Birch Ranch, about 30 minutes from us.  It happens at the end of Summer every year, and our family leads worship for it.  It is just one weekend (and sometimes I wish it went for a whole week :P), but it is SO much fun!!!  I'll try to post about that after we get back :).  The week after Camp, my brother Nathan is moving to Kenosha :'(.  He is going to Living Lights School of Worship and he'll be there for a year.  The good thing is that I get his room when he leaves (mwahaha!), but that is the only thing I'm looking forward to when he leaves.  I know he's going to have a good time there, but I'm gonna miss him a lot!

♥ Lauren Christine ♥  

The weekend!

This weekend was our Family Reunion in Iowa!!!  It was a lot of fun!!  There were people there that I had only seen once in my life and some that I had never seen!  My Mom's parents and her brother and his family live in Iowa.  We went down on Thursday and stayed at Uncle Steve and Aunt Kim's house and came back today.  Here is a list of people that were there......

Grandpa and Grandma Carlson (they live in Iowa)
Don, Chuck and Tom (Grandpa's cousins...this was the first time I had met them)
Uncle Steve, Aunt Kim, Alex and Jeff (my Mom's brother that lives in Iowa)
Uncle Dave (Mom's brother that lives in Milwaukee)
Us :) (Mom, Dad, Anna, Carrie, me and Shannon)
Daven, Ellen, Connor, Ben and Will (Daven is Mom's cousin and they live in Illinois)
Moira (Ben's girlfriend)
Wendy (Mom's cousin who lives in Texas)

Here are some pictures of the weekend.

 The cake...it says Happy Reunion Carlson Family

in Swedish because we are a Swedish family :)

 Top row from left to right- Connor, Carrie, Ben, Anna

Bottom from left to right- Shannon, Jeff, Will, Alex

and me laying across them :) :)

The whole group! (all except for Moira who was taking the picture)

Front row from left to right- Connor, Will, Jeff, me, Elsie the dog :), Shannon, Wendy and Alex

Middle row from left to right- Chuck, Don, Tom, Grandpa and Grandma

Top row from left to right- Daven, Ben, Dad, Ellen, Uncle Dave, Mom, Uncle Steve, Aunt Kim, Anna and Carrie.

Saturday was the main day, and we had a lot of fun!  We had Beanbag, Horseshoe, Bocce Ball and Badminton tournaments, and we did Water Balloon toss too :). 

Sunday, after Daven and Ellen left, we went to the fair in Monticello!  Jeff and Alex are in Boy Scouts and so every morning that the fair was going they would go at 6am and clean the fairgrounds for the day.  Sunday morning Carrie and I went with them and everyone who did that would get either a daily pass ticket or some free ride tickets.  So we all got do everything for free!!  At night was a concert by Capital Kings, Jamie Grace and TobyMac!!!  It was AWESOME!!!!!!!!  I think it was one of the best concerts I've been to!  For Capital Kings and Jamie Grace we were way up in the stands but for TobyMac me, Anna, Carrie and Shannon got to go in up by the stage :D.  It was really loud, but it was worth it!  By the end of the night my voice was hoarse from singing every song :).  It was amazing! 

Shopping and Nathan coming home!

Hi!  Today me and my dad and 2 of my sisters (Carrie and Shannon) went shopping!!  I hadn't been (clothes) shopping in a long time so this was really fun for me ;).  I got some super cute clothes (that I love :)) at Maurices...here are pictures of them.

my shirt :)

my outfit that I'm wearing to Church this Sunday :)

I L♥VE shopping at Maurices!!  They have really cute clothes :).

In other news, my brother Nathan is (most likely) coming home tonight!!!!!!!!!  I'm so excited!  I missed him a lot ♥♥.  Their flight from Haiti to Miami, Florida got cancelled yesterday due to the Tropical Storm Chantal, so they didn't leave Haiti until this morning.  They're plane was supposed to land in Chicago sometime this evening then they had to drive to Fond du Lac and he wasn't for sure if he was going to drive all the way home tonight or stay over and come tomorrow morning.  I really hope he comes tonight!!!!!  I haven't seen him in almost 2 weeks!  Thanks so much for reading and please comment!! :)

♥ Summer Days ♥

I just love summer!  I think it might be my favorite season........ Last night Brady and Beckett got to sleep over!  We had a lot of fun :) we're going to Tyler and Jessie's house tonight for supper and the boys are going back then.  Today is beautiful!!!!!  It's warm and sunny with a little breeze.....I love it.  Playing with my nephews in the sunshine, the sound of the lawn mower in the background, bees buzzing on the flowers....♥♥  Here are some pictures of Brady and Beckett this morning :)

 Brady on the rope swing :)

 me and Beckett Leander ♥

 Brady and Beckett!!

And this afternoon Michael and Lindsey are coming over too!!  So we'll have all the cousins together at Grandma and Grandpa's house (except for Janae Catherine, Joel and Lydia's baby girl due in October :)).

And please pray for my brother, Nathan, who is in Haiti right now!!  Pray that they (everyone he went with) will stay safe and won't get sick from heat exhaustion or anything like that because it is really hot in Haiti in July!  Thanks so much!

Carrie and Shannon photoshoot!!

Hi all!  I took a photoshoot of my sisters Carrie and Shannon yesterday!  We had a lot of fun :).  Hope you like the pictures!!

 Shannon

 Shannon again :)

 I love the sunset behind her!

 sisters ♥♥

 L.O.V.E.

I love wheat fields :)

 aw :)

 this one was fun! ♥♥ Telling secrets...:)

 Carrie!!

Carrie again!!

I just love the way their hair looked in this lighting!!

God Bless,
Lauren

randomness.......

I was just thinking that I haven't done just a plain old post, with no pictures in a long time!  So that is what I'm going to do. :) This morning we are watching my niece and nephew, Michael and Lindsey!  They are adorable!  I love them to death :).  Right now they are playing matchbox cars with their auntie Shannon, and pretty soon Grandma (my mom) is going to give Michael a haircut.  So that's what's going on this morning!  Then this evening we are playing Church Softball in town, so that will be a lot of fun :).  Thanks for reading!