Welcome to the kick-off post for my birthday bash! I was going to let you guess my age, but since it is given away in this post, I will go ahead and tell you … I will be 30 on Friday the 17th! Since that is such a big birthday, I decided to do a BIG week long celebration, complete with guest posts, interviews, and – you guessed it – GIVEAWAYS!
For this first day, I figured what better way to kick it off than to let my mom take the reins. She decided to do a list (I LOVE LISTS, they make my OCD happy) of 30 things you probably didn’t know about me. Including pictures of me as a little kid. I am only slightly taller now … :-/ Any notes in italics are my own comments. Everything else is from mommy dearest!
Enjoy!
THIRTY THINGS YOU MAY OR MAY NOT WANT TO KNOW ABOUT LAURA
I was so cute, what happened?
1. She was born on August 17, 1982 at 8:23 am, in a small town in Iowa. I had a C-section because she was breach. Yes, she had strong opinions about how she wanted to enter this world before she was even born. She weighed 7 lbs, 12 ½ oz, and was 18 ½ inches long.
I said "Hi there" before mommy or daddy
2. She was born with black hair and dark eyes. We assumed they would stay that way. NOPE. Her hair is auburn and her eyes are a beautiful blue that sometimes even look violet. A funny story – the day after she was born the nurse had bathed her and washed her hair and made that funny curl on top of her head that was so popular in that era. When the nurse brought her to us she said “This baby has curly hair, where did she get it?” I responded that I had no idea. As soon as the nurse left the room Laura’s dad said, “She could have gotten it from me, I have curly hair you know.” I was pretty embarrassed. (or you know, the milk man)
3. She has 2 siblings, a younger brother and sister. And, she really did draw the short stick in the family. She is 5’2”, her sister is 5’6” and her brother is 6’2”. They love to introduce her as their “big” sister.
4. This next story is not a momma bragging – it is the honest to goodness truth. Those of you that know her in real life won’t be surprised to know that she said her first words at 4 ½ months. Yes, she was only four months old when she began to talk and she hasn’t stopped since. (Love ya baby girl.) Yeah yeah. 
5. From the time she was a baby she loved books. She would bring book after book after book after book to us. After reading six or seven books we would say no more and she would cry. I still cry when there is no more.
6. As a baby Laura wouldn’t eat solid foods. We tried cereal at 4 – 6 months. NOPE! We then tried soft table foods. NOPE! She would eat nothing solid and would gag until she threw up if we tried to feed her. Finally, at 14 months, she began eating and walking the same week. As a toddler she ate things that most kids wouldn’t even try. She loved all vegetables and many fruits. She continues to love a wide variety of foods. Sushi!
7. When she was little she loved playing in her closet with her My Little Pony’s. Are you surprised that she now works with animals? I’m not. What ever happened to those ponies, I bet they are worth some $$ now.
8. When Laura was around 2 years old her dad used to wrestle with her. He would say, “Come here and I will rough you up.” They would play and play and run around the house and he would tickle her and throw her up in the air, etc. Every once in a while she would say, “Daddy, I need to be roughed up.” And, he would do just that. Now that is just adorable.
9. She only played with only one doll her whole life. It was a Cabbage Patch Preemie that she named “Creamy”. She received the doll when her brother was born.
10. At 3 years old she stated that she would never have her own babies. She still says that today. I will make a great aunt. Spoil them rotten and send them home.
Pretty sure there is an evil glint in my eye, despite the fancy dress
11. When Laura was in preschool she insisted on wearing dresses every day. And, they had to be fancy ones. Boy that changed fast.
12. When her brother was little he couldn’t say her name. He called her WaWa. It drove her crazy. She would say LAURA and he would say WaWa. We thought it was cute but she did not. Then, in Kindergarten she met a friend whose name was Lauralyn. Guess who could say that name correctly? Yes, her brother could say Lauralyn but not Laura. We were kind of sad when the nickname went away. He did that on purpose. Ass.
13. She taught herself to read at about 4 ½ years old.
The tee was taller
14. When Laura was young she did gymnastics and was really good. She later played several sports including t-ball, softball, & basketball. When she was a teenager she loved to play football with the boys in the neighborhood. Because they played “touch” football and she was the only girl, she got to be the quarterback for both teams. She could throw a pretty mean spiral. She still loves football. GO CHIEFS!!!!
The smallest strike zone in the history of softball. Stats on the back (like a real baseball card) Season 1990 Age 7 Ht 47" Wt 45 lbs
Bound for the Olympics!
GOOD LORD LOOK AT THAT HAIR. And the lamb. It is the same hair.
15. Growing up her grandparents had great places for kids to play. One set owned a motel in a small town and the other had a small farm. She got to run in and out of motel rooms and feed lambs bottles. How fun is that? Best summers ever.
16. On my parents farm there were a few cows that were in a fenced (electrical) area near their house. One day, Laura wanted to go pet the cows. I was holding her brother and helping her reach through the fence. She couldn’t quite reach the cow so I pushed her forward a bit to help. The only problem was when I pushed her, her head came in contact with the electric fence. She screamed A LOT!!! The best part, it is on video. Not many people have their first memory on video. I didn’t understand how people could laugh when I was in pain. I totally get it now.
Those chickens were mean. That's why I am not a vegetarian.
17. When she was in elementary school she figured out how to speed read and could read a 200 page book after she got her work done.
18. About this same time, in school, they had to read a certain number of pages a month. In 3rd and 4th grade she read more than 10,000 pages each year. Then, in 5th grade we got her report card and she had a bad grade in reading. How in the world could that happen? It was because she read the books, but didn’t write the reports. That changed pretty quickly. I am still bad about “writing the reports in a timely fashion”
19. The only thing we had to ground her from was books. Do you know how horrible I felt when I took books away from my kid? Do you know how often I capitalized on that guilt?
I never got that pony I asked Santa for
20. On Laura’s first Christmas a friend gave us “First Christmas” pajamas. Who knew that this would start a family tradition that is still going strong? Every year, on Christmas Eve, the kids got to open 1 gift. In it was a pair of Christmas pj’s and a stuffed animal. They would hurry and put their new pj’s on while I was fixing popcorn and hot cocoa. Then, we would read a few books so that they would remember that Christmas wasn’t just about the presents, but also about Jesus’ birthday. The last book would always be “Twas the Night Before Christmas”. The kids then all slept in the same room. We still do some of these traditions – they still get pj’s, we still have popcorn and hot chocolate and we still read the books.
21. When she was a teenager, Laura and her sister (6 years younger) shared the basement in our house. Every night that Laura was home she would sing her sister a good night song in a funny voice. It is still one of my favorite memories of the 2 of them.
22. Laura was in her high school plays and did competitive drama (NFL). Again, I am sure those that know her in real life, are SHOCKED that she did the “drama” stuff in high school. (Laura, aren’t you glad you asked me to do this?) Err, yes?
23. We only had one time when Laura really rebelled. She was 15 and had her own phone line (pre-cell phones). Her phone curfew was 10 pm. One night she refused to get off the phone. She was ALWAYS trying to “save” her friends. Things escalated. I finally took her to a relative’s house for a cool down period. The next day I fretted about the appropriate punishment. When she got home from school she apologized and asked what her punishment was. We had listed everything that was a privilege and she could earn one thing back a day and she could decide the order. Guess what the next to the last thing she picked was? Yes, the phone. The first thing? Riding to and from school with friends. She hated riding that darn school bus. Lord that makes me feel older than anything … pre-cell phones … Raise your hand if you remember “car phones” and if you had one you get a gold star.
That may be a little boy. It's hard to tell.
24. Laura had some of her high school senior pictures taken in overalls and she was barefoot. She also had her pictures taken when she was 19 months old in the overalls her dad wore when he was a baby.
25. Laura LOVED to travel. In high school she went to Santa Fe, Los Angeles, Virginia, and France. And I would go back to any of them in a heart beat … except LA. It was gross.
26. When Laura left for college she was 17 and turned 18 a week later. Well, Laura being Laura, she wasn’t afraid or embarrassed to do most things. Anytime a friend would want to go to the town’s adult store she would go with them. So one time a friend wanted to go and Laura tagged along. As she walked in the worker told the person at the door, “You don’t need to ID her; she comes in here all the time.” What a proud moment for this momma AND I never went back after that. Probably the single most embarrassing moment of my adult life. *facepalm*
27. When in college she did an internship at a zoo. She worked at the Herpetarium with all the reptiles – mainly the snakes. I thought this was a wonderful opportunity and even though it wasn’t a paid, it was too good to pass up. Then, one weekend we visited and got a behind the scenes tour. We were taken into this secure room where they kept all the snakes that weren’t on display. As I walked through the rooms I noticed cards on the cages. Some were white but many were red. On the red cards it stated what anti-venom to use if you were bitten by that particular snake. On the plus side the anti-venom was in a fridge in the break-room … right next to the lunch table. 
Reality sunk in that this wonderful opportunity was also dangerous. The zoo also had a komodo dragon. Their saliva is deadly. Well, the Komodo dragon got sick and suddenly stopped breathing. Laura gave the animal CPR, including mouth to mouth resuscitation. Of course, she used some type of “tube” breathing apparatus but it was just one more time for the girl to give me more grey hair. Sadly, she didn’t make it. On the plus side, I got to see the necropsy. Did you know that a 7 foot Komodo dragon has a brain the size of a marble?
28. Laura has had some interesting jobs in her life. She worked at Disney (that is how she landed in Florida), she worked for a zoo (not the same as her internship), an aquarium, and a potato farm. Yeah Jungle Cruise!
29. One day Laura’s fiancé went in their back yard and heard a noise and found a kitten that was maybe 10 or 11 days old. The mother had abandoned it. He called to Laura and she began care to save its life. He was flea infested and hungry. She zoomed to the nearest pet store and got a kitten bottle and formula. She hand-raised the kitten and then when she was flying home 4 weeks later for her sister’s high school graduation, she brought the kitten to us. Tigger continues to be an important part of our family. The other part of this story is, that just a couple of days before they found Tigger, we had had to have Laura’s childhood cat, Friskie, put to sleep. Friskie was 17 years old. Friskie was the best cat; he scratched the crap out of my brother.
And I love you pumpkin!
30. Last but not least, I have to say that I love this baby girl (yes, I still call her that and will for the rest of my life) with all my heart, with all my soul and with all my life. I am so proud of the wonderful woman she has become. She has done so many things with her life. She is not only passionate about reading but she is passionate about animals. Happy Birthday sweetheart. This momma couldn’t be happier for you or prouder of you. I LOVE YOU SO VERY MUCH.
Thanks … I think … mom for sharing all the info about me! I had forgotten about a lot of that! And of course, I love you too!
Now, the real reason you all read all of that … (my mom can be long winded, now you know where I get it from!) a giveaway! I will be giving away a $30 Amazon (or Barnes & Noble if you would prefer) gift card, $1 for each year. All giveaways this week will run for a full week, so you have several chances to win! Good luck!
Thanks baby girl for letting me do this. It was a lot fun and brought back a ton of memories.
OOOH Wat a wonderful life..Congrats on BABY GIRl!! There is NOT a greater unspeakable Joy than the journey with Children..((sigh))..simply lovely..! One of my daughters once gave me a pix with her & her siblings that said..now mind U at the time she was Only 6..the pix was wrapped up gift paper . On the back of the pix said..” ThanX 4 the memories…oooh that melts my heart..!! My BABY GIRL ((Jamea)) is now a Second yr. College student. My children R definitely the center of my Joy…too!! Thanx 4 sharing..
extremely appreciative of the giveaway…!
redz041@yahoo.com
Glad you liked it! And that is so sweet. I bet you still have that picture.
I love your list and photos. My favorite fact is: She taught herself to read at about 4 ½ years old.
Thanks!
OMg, Laura. It was all so funny. I don’t know where to begin.The Christmas tradition was really cute but I loved how you refused to eat solid food until later. Kind of reminds me of myself as I refused to eat processes food and survived on only milk until 2 years old.
My favourite photo has to be the pumpkin one. You still look the same.Really cute.
Thanks! I really haven’t changed at all.
I think my favorite was the one about the adult store. I had the same thing happen to me at the liquor store, except it was on my 21st bday, my mom was with me, and when the lady didn’t id me, my mom said, “aren’t you going to card her? It’s her 21st birthday!” and the lady gave me the stink eye bc I had been going in there for at least a year! Lol. Anyway, I loved all of these stories, and knowing you as I do, I can honestly see all of these things occurring. You are such a great friend, and I’m glad you are one of my bestest friends. Your mom is awesome and I hope I get to see her next time she comes to visit! I love you!
Aww, thanks Mel! I love you too! And I will definitely make sure she visits you when she comes down.
Great post from your momma! I loved fact #11, that you wore fancy dresses every day in preschool. Cute pic & yes, I think I do see an evil glint in those eyes!! LOL
Hey now, watch it!
Can you see me wearing fancy dresses now? I think not. Lol
I love #26…hilarious!
Thanks for the super cute post!
Glad you liked it!
The PJ and popcorn and hot chocolate on Christmas morning.
Yum, me too!
Happy Birthday!! We have a lot in common!!! My parents punished me by taking away books, I was a big fan of My Little Ponies, I am of the pre-cell phone age and I do remember my parents having a “car-phone”, and I am the oldest of three and yet am the shortest as well!!!
Are we twins?
This was a sweet post! I loved all the facts but my favorite is that you had your picture taken at 19 months and in high school wearing overalls! I think that’s great! Happy Birthday!!
What can I say, I am not original.
Very cute biopic and pics! You were so cute!
Thank you!
Happy Birthday! I loved all the facts your mom wrote. My favorite was that the only thing they could ground you from was books. Heehee. Worst punishment ever!
I know! I thought I was going to die!
Being raised in Kansas City, I love that mom mentioned your love of football with GO CHIEFS at the end!
My favorite fact, hands-down, has to be the adult store. I think I laughed so hard I darn near spit coffee all over the keyboard! lol An embarrassing moment, but I’m sure the most memorable. He! He! You sound a lot like me.
Happy 30th Birthday!
Go Chiefs! It was a funny/embarrassing moment.
I enjoyed the whole list of facts.My favorite fact is : “She was born with black hair and dark eyes. We assumed they would stay that way. NOPE. Her hair is auburn and her eyes are a beautiful blue that sometimes even look violet. ” One reason I like this fact is I have never heard of a baby having dark hair and eyes then turning auburn and blue.It is usually the other way around.And I like the fact about her eyes sometimes looking violet becaue I read a few books whose characters had violet eyes.I had thought that was strange and that is was made up because violet eyes?never seen that before but I love purple and violet falls near purple so I bet those are some pretty eyes.
Thanks! Sometimes they are grey too. I always wanted purple eyes, and my grandma got me to eat my carrots by telling me they would help my eyes turn purple.
Happy Birthday! I love that you had some cool interesting jobs. I love animals and would have loved to work in a zoo.
mythic021@gmail.com
Thanks! I do sometimes miss the exotics!
OMG, this was so awesome!!! It was funny, yes (you are a brave woman to turn your blog over to your mom!), but also so sweet it brought tears to my eyes. I love your Christmas Eve tradition – I may have to start copying your family because that sounds like THE BEST way to spend Christmas Eve.
Happy Birthday! 30 is GREAT!!! It only gets better and better after that!
She kept telling me if there was anything I wanted to change or remove I could. But then It wouldn’t be hers
And if you want more detail about the Christmas Eve tradition, let me know. 
I even have color copies of all the books, so I can “read along” even though I am out of state.
You also have a couple of the actual books. There is only one of them that was out of print.
Oh yeah! I forgot about that :-p
Happy Bday! Happy image of feeding the lambs a bottle.
To this day there is nothing better than bottle feeding an animal.
REALLY?! Talking at 4 1/2 months? WOW
Happy Birthday in case I forget to tell you later.
Now if I only had something worthwhile to say …
Such a nice little biograhy. Your Mom loves you very much. You are so lucky!
Thanks, I am pretty lucky.
There are many that I really loved. I think #10 is one of my favorites because I too don’t have children but love being an aunt to 5 wild kids (ages 5 to 18). It is so much better to love ‘em, spoil ‘em, and then give ‘em back to their mamas, lol. Hope you have a great birthday and get lots of books
June
manning_j2004 at yahoo dot com
I hope I get lots of books too! Thanks!
OMG I have the same gymnastics picture from when I was 5!!!
Happy birthday!!!
HA! We are blogging twins after all. It only makes sense.
Though your mom and I are internet friends, I also consider her an IRL friend — and will look forward to someday REALLY meeting her! Her love for your dad, you, your brother and your sister are so evident in her life. I think she is an amazing person, just from what I know of her, and she is an amazing writer also! (Excellent job on this guest post, Nan!)
Thanks! She is pretty great. I hope you get to meet her too.
I think it’s pretty cute that Laura wore overalls her dad wore when he was a baby! Awesome!!
I don’t think I ever knew they were my dad’s; I love it!
I love all these fun facts about you, but I relate with you most to #10… even though I do remember that personal phone line you had in high school! Those slumber parties at your house were some of the most fun I had in high school, even though you kept having to “kick out” Kirk and Jessica!
I still remember the phone number. Lol. We did have some good times.
I have to say that is the Best birthday Post EVAR!!
**Happy Birthday** Hope you have a wonderful week!
SupaGurl
Thanks! My mom did a great job.
Thank your mom for such an enjoyable read! Moms are absolutely the best and I enjoyed what she shared with us very much. Hope you have the best upcoming birthday!! Following you with linky and through email.
Thank you for the dual follow! I do have the best mom
I love the story about sharing the basement! There must be such good memories!
OH my gosh I do the Christmas PJS every year. Its something fun for us and the kids. I even get ones for me and the hubby. I love Christmas. So we all take a family photo in front of the tree with our new jammies!
We still do it.
My favorite fact would probably be a tie between you working at the zoo and the cool info about the Komodo Dragon or you singing to your little sister in a silly voice. So cute!
HAPPY (early) BIRTHDAY!!
and thanks for the giveaways =D
-Becky
Thank you! And you are welcome! I love the zoo. Poor Koko (the dragon) didn’t make it though.
We worked on her for 5 hours. Can’t say we didn’t try.
I love that you named your Cabbage Patch “Creamy!” Awesome!
She was one of the “Premie” series, but I couldn’t say that, so I called her “Creamy”
Happy Birthday! I just loved this post. I think I like #12 the most. My brother (who is 40) refuses to call me by my name to this day! he calls me “sister” drives me completely batty and he definitely knows it.
cms72023(at)gmail(dot)com
Brothers … what can you do?
#17. Why? Because I wish I could speed read! I’m so slow >.<
#27 as well, because YOU GOT TO WORK WITH SNAKES AND KOMODO DRAGONS. Jealous doesn't even begin to cover it!
Plus I love that you worked at an aquarium and raised a kitten on formula. I have a soft spot for baby kittehs
What a neat post! And Happy Birthday, by the way!
Thank you so much! Yes, I do miss working with the snakes and exotics. I DON’T miss having birds and sugar gliders bite through (yes, through) my fingers. They are a-holes.
My favorite was how she worked at disney!!! I LOVE Disney and am incredibly jealous that she got to work with them. I always wanted to be one of the princesses at one of the amusement parks, but I hear you have to be at least 5’6″ while I am 5’3″ so that’ll never happen unfortunately… but it’s awesome that she got to!!
When she was in elementary school she figured out how to speed read and could read a 200 page book after she got her work done.
How did you learn? I would love to know.
#21. It made me smile. (: It would be super fun to share the basement with a sister (even though there was probably tons of fighting ! )
haha
& its super adorable about how she sang songs !
I liked reading about the Christmas pajamas tradition.
chrisdeglen(at)gmail(dot)com
What a cool way to celebrate your birthday! I should have my mom do one. Although my mom is totally into ‘short and sweet’ and I’d bet she’d come up with maybe 2 or 3 things.
My favorite fact is you interning at the zoo and giving cpr to a komodo dragon.
I liked fact # 10. At 3 years old she stated that she would never have her own babies.
Happy Birthday!!! What a beautiful photos and thank you for the giveaway.
I loved all the facts but my favorite are your Christmas tradition and that She worked at Disney.
I love that you worked at Disney. I have always dreamed of working there.
When you made your mama proud having the adult store workers say you were a regular.
She worked at Disney
I like the fact that spoke her first words at 4 ½ months. Wow
My favorite fact is that Laura loved to travel and has visited Santa Fe, Los Angeles and France among other destinations!
#26 Anytime a friend would want to go to the town’s adult store she would go with them.
27 was my favorite.I would love to intern at a zoo esp. with reptiles.
I love the fact that you were born today in 1982. Exactly one day before my birthday.
Happy birthday to you. I liked everything your mother said. It interest me how our lives were completely different, but yet, in some ways, still the same. I had a doll as well that I grew up with. She was a prayer doll that I loved and called April. Oh and what I mean by a prayer doll is she had velcro that would stick her hands together and her feet to her knees. I always wanted a my little pony, but we couldn’t afford it. I love the traditions you have which are similar to my family’s and your memories with your grandparents which are similar to mine since my grandfather had land in the country where I would help him with the animals. I was scared of the bull though cause it kept trying to flip the truck over lol Thanks for sharing and enjoy the big 3 0!!!
It’s cute that Wawa was said instead of Laura!
I love the idea of the high school picture barefoot and on overalls
What a great post! I like that you loved to wear fancy dresses.
She taught herself to read at about 4 ½ years old.
I like that the only thing they could ground you from was books! This was such a cute post
#19 My mom would do the same, she would take away my Hardy Boy’s books, my computer books (was programming logo/basic by age 6), my comic books, anything where she knew I could escape to by reading, (but it taught me) it didn’t happen often (was a pretty good boy) but when it did, wow…hit hard.
Thanks for Sharing! Happy Birthday!
medictom@gmail.com
I loved the fact that you would bring book after book for someone to read to you (and that you still like books!).
That She taught herself to read at about 4 ½ years old so cute
My favourite fact was the places you worked including Disney and a zoo.
favorite fact: I will make a great aunt. Too cute!
I liked the working at the zoo fact. Happy Birthday!
places you worked including Disney and a zoo
My favorite was probably #25, because you were able to travel anywhere, which is something I wish I could do.
Lonerwor@aim.com
I liked that when in college, she did an internship at a zoo.
I thought it was cool that you worked for Disney. I would love to work for Disney someday.
Happy birthday! I liked hearing about competitive drama, since I’m not familiar with that term.
Haha..love the “fact” that you were a regular at an adult store at 18.
Very cool that she worked at DisneyWorld!
I like the fact that little brother couldn’t pronounce Laura. I had twin cousins named Patricia and Theresa that were 9 years older than me. I couldn’t pronounce their names until I was about 5 correctly. I called them Peepee and Teetee. You can imagine how they felt about that.
I love the last fact, #30, because it is sweet.
I found that you had interesting jobs, especially Disney.
I liked fact #15.
My favorite fact was that she worked at Disney
“24. Laura had some of her high school senior pictures taken in overalls and she was barefoot”. This ays a lot about what a free soirit you were (and probubly still are).
I like fact #16 and love the picture of you and the lamb
favorite fact: she taught herself to read at about 4 ½ yo
I liked the fact that you had your picture taken in Overalls that your Father had worn. Thanks!!
Fact: your momma loves you <3
I love that she started to talk @ 4 and 1/2 months. Leave it to us females to starts talking early and never stop
Nice post. #26 is funny
Laura worked at a potato farm.
Laura had some of her high school senior pictures taken in overalls and she was barefoot.
I like that you worked at a zoo because I hope to do that in the near future!
She taught herself to read at about 4 ½ years old.
i liked how she only played with the premie and her brother called her wawa!
Please Enter Me In Your Birthday Bash Giveaway .
It Would Be Great To Win The $30 Amazon Gift Card.
In Response To Your Question Of What was your favorite fact?
My Favorite Fact Was 12. “When her brother was little he couldn’t say her name. He called her WaWa. It drove her crazy. She would say LAURA and he would say WaWa. We thought it was cute but she did not. Then, in Kindergarten she met a friend whose name was Lauralyn. Guess who could say that name correctly? Yes, her brother could say Lauralyn but not Laura. We were kind of sad when the nickname went away. He did that on purpose. Ass.”
Thanks For Having This Giveaway!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I loved the article, my favorite part about the abandoned kitten.
love the car phone post
I like the Christmas tradition of new PJ’s!
Herpetarium story!
My favorite fact is that she was born with black hair & ir turned reddish!! Olease wish the beaty avery happy birthday!!
I love that her punishment was to have books taken away from her! Lol!! Sounds like your family had a lot of fun times!!
I liked the part about the Herpetarium and the anti-venom being next to the lunch table
# 28 That’s so cool, working at Disney!!
I’d have to say my favorite was Laura singing her sister a good night song in a funny voice – my sister used to do the same thing when we were growing up!
She taught herself to read at about 4 ½ years old.
I love the pumpkin picture and that you still call her baby girl. We still call ours that too!
This will sound awful, but my favorite fact is the electric fence. It reminds me of 2 things–how easily something can happen that is not intentioned, and how fascinated I was when my brother slashed his head open (he was where he shouldn’t have been!!) and I listened while they stapled the cut shut. He was NOT silent!
i enjoyed this whole post but i especially like the my little pony fact because i was literally talking to my boyfriend yesterday about how i used to collect them and now that we have a baby girl i wanted to start a collection for her when she’s old enough
I found #17 about speed reading interesting
That you loved sushi as a toddler! Wow!
I like the facts your mom wrote and all the pics
Laura loved to travel.
I THINK IT IS GREAT THAT SHE TAUGHT HERSELF TO READ AT 4 1/2 YRS OLD!!!
shebebes@yahoo.com
i liked 24. Laura had some of her high school senior pictures taken in overalls and she was barefoot. She also had her pictures taken when she was 19 months old in the overalls her dad wore when he was a baby.
I think this is cute
That you were breach birth.
Love the kitty rescue story!
ceriehl at gmail dot com
When in college she did an internship at a zoo. Wow. That’s quite interesting.
The barefoot HS Senior pics! What a free spirit!
Being the reader that I am, I’ll have to pick #5 as my favorite fact.
Hope you had an awesome birthday yesterday!
Katharina angelsandmusic[at]gmail[dot]com
the Christmas pajamas tradition
Number #15 was my favorite, as long as she didn’t have to clean up after the goats then i would have liked to do that as a kid too
i thought being grounded from books was funny
Happy b’day!
I liked about finding the kitten right after the older cat had died. My parent had something similar happen to them. They found a little kitten on the side of the road about a month after their 16 year old dog died.
My favorite fact was #19 when you were grounded from books. I’ve been through the same thing with my mom, as well. Even today, people will always see me with my nose stuck in a book. There’s just something about reading that you can’t get enough of.
#28 Laura has had some interesting jobs in her life. She worked at Disney (that is how she landed in Florida), she worked for a zoo (not the same as her internship), an aquarium, and a potato farm. Yeah Jungle Cruise
When the person at the adult store said, “You don’t need to ID her; she comes in here all the time. Rotflmao!
That you worked for a zoo.
Thanks for the contest.
From the time she was a baby she loved books.
loves moms facts
All the interesting jobs Laura had. Disney the zoo, quite the variety.
I love the fact that she started talking at 4 1/2 months old. My son said love at 5 months old. At least that what it sounded like. I’m convinced it was love
His first real , audible without a doubt word was cracker 
fav fact She taught herself to read at about 4 ½ years old.
brich22 at earthlink dot net
I liked hot chocolate on Christmas morning.
I love that she taught herself to read! Wow!
I love #10. Reminds me of my daughter.
My favorite fun fact is that she only played with only one doll her whole life and that it was a Cabbage Patch Preemie named “Creamy”.
longbarb1@aol.com
that she worked at disney!
I liked the story of WaWa.