President Gordon B. Hinckley, who led The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints through twelve years of global expansion, has died at the age of 97. President Hinckley was the 15th president in the 177-year history of the Church and had served as its president since 12 March 1995.
The Church president died at his apartment in downtown Salt Lake City at 7:00 p.m. Sunday night from cause’s incident to age. Members of his family were at his bedside. A successor is not expected to be formally chosen by the Church’s Quorum of the Twelve Apostles until after President Hinckley’s funeral within the next few days.

What a bittersweet day this is. I say bittersweet because he is now with his beloved wife and I can just imagine how sweet a reunion that must have been!! President Hinkley was the first Prophet that I really got to know and love. I hold so much admiration for him. What a legacy this man has made. He has done so much for this church in his long lifetime. I will miss his whit and his humor at conference time and I will definatley miss his words of wisdom and his council. Of course here in Utah it is the major news story. I have loved hearing the great stories about him and about everything he has accomplished in his presidency. He is so admired by everyone he has come in contact with-even by those who dont belong to this church. I will miss him more than I can stand but I look forward to getting to know our new prophet and his counclers.

So Disapointing...

Im getting so bugged. I have been to main st. 3 times and the only celeb I saw was one I have already seen-Bono. What I want to know is where are they hiding and why cant I find them. Park City is not a big place for cryin out loud. Maybe im going at all the wrong times, or maybe its the fact that ive got 5 kids with me and cruising in the burb doesnt cut it!!!

Last night, Bill and I went out with a few couples from our ward. They called and wanted to do dinner and a Sundance film. Of course I was all for it-any chance to hang out with no kids on Main St.-I knew I was going to see some stars. NOPE! All I saw was a lot of guys in skinny jeans and turtle necks. I was so disapointed. We ate in a resturaunt on main with a clear view of it all-and still nothing. I think ive figured that they dont even come out until after 11. Such a bummer. Tomorow is the last day-maybe i'll just go hang out at the airport or something. Nah, im not THAT big of a loser. I guess i'll just wait until the news (US magazine) comes out and read about how close they really were and I missed them by that much. Oh well, maybe next year I wont be so sick and I will actually feel like putting more effort into it. Sorry to disapoint!!!!

It is a pretty cool sight to see all the shops transformed into clubs and resturaunts from LA. It really does look like a different place. I especially liked this one...Bill really wanted to go in.

I will say that I had quite the time peolple watching. Such a strange mix of peolpe. I really could have done it all night.

We didnt end up going to a Sundance movie-not the best of choices. I really didnt feel like watching parapeligics (SP???) explore their a..curiositys. Intersting film choices. We instead went and saw 27 Dresses (much to the joy of all the guys) Can I just say how much I LOVED that movie. Soooo cute. I would totally reccomend it. So funny and cute. Bill played blackjack on his phone the whole time, soo maybe leave the hubbys at home.

Ok, Julie, you know who are. I know I told you this before, but she is so you. I seriously got homesick watching this because she reminds me so much of you. I love ya Katherine, I mean Julie!!!!

Baby time!!!

This is a busy month for the Lomu fam. Babies babies and more babies!!!

Scott and Andrea had a baby girl and named her Lia. Such a sweet thing. I still cant decide who she looks like. I love the redish (thats for you Scott) hair.

Barb and Blake rang in the new year with baby Kate. I was lucky enough to be there when she was born. She looks just like her sister. Im pretty sure she has more hair than Avery.

And just arrived is Maile (im not sure about the spelling??? pronounced my-lee) to Mary and Selle. (I missed it by 2 days.) I dont know all the stats, but mom and baby are good. I cant wait to see pictures.
Congrats guys!!!!

That makes 5 girls under 1. I love it!!!

Yikes!!

So I just re read my last post and yikes-that sounded pretty bad. Apparantly, my husband thought the same thing-he sent me the next day to AZ for a much needed break from the cold and snow. I had so much fun hangin with my Mom and Dad and eating out at my favorite resturaunts. I was even able to eat at Mattas before it closed-so sad, but ran into Amy- Yea!!(Im so glad I got to see you Ams!!)I think the whole city was there for some last time eatings. I got to have dinner with the amazing Christina Brian who has twins that just turned 3 and 7 months old triplets. I have no room to complain-I could have 5 kids under the age of 3-NO THANKS!!! I love Christina to death and I was so happy to see her and talk about the good times before kids-and after kids. Then I met my awesome book clubers at Nelsons for a fun night of talking and laughing until closing time and then standing out in the cold for another hour doing the same. I had so much fun-thanks guys for meeting me with such short notice!!!!! My brothers birthday was on Monday, so we got together on Sunday to celebrate with dinner and cake (which I made and must say turned out soooo good) I love hanging with my fam-we always have such fun. I was supposed to leave on Monday, but because I was flying standby I wasnt able to get out (after spending 6 hours at the airport with a very cranky baby) It wasnt all bad, I was able to hang out with Blake and Barb and Sophie and new baby Kate. Thanks for picking me up and letting me crash at your house!!! I finally got out the next morning and was welcomed by 10 degree weather. Hooray!! When I woke up yesterday, I was soooo sick. My whole body ached, I had the chills and a fever, my head was pounding, my nose stuffed up and my throat was killing. Great-couldnt be better timing. Poor Bill. He lets me go away for a few days and then I come home and get so sick that I cant get out of bed. Bill is taking the bar the end of Feb. and he really has to keep up with his studying-taking care of 5 kids and a sick wife doesnt fall into that catagory. I seriously prayed all day that I would be better by the next day so I could get back to being mom. I have never taken so much medicine and slept so much in my life. When I woke up this morning, I felt so much better. I still cant breathe, my head is pounding and I cant stop couging, but I felt good enough to get out of bed. Thanks Bill for taking such good care of me and letting me get better. I love ya babe!!!! Now to the important stuff.... The Sundance film festival. Dont think the flu is going to keep me from stalking the stars. We have to go into town tonight to pick up Noahs snowboard so while we are there, we are going to cruise main looking for stars. Hopefully I will have some great pics for you soon!!!! Wish me luck.

Prozac Capital of the World

I think I finally realize why everyone here is on Prozac. It completly SUCKS here in the winter. My sister in law told me that before Christmas you will love the snow but after New Years, it gets really hard to deal with. So True. I feel like im going crazy- I never leave the house or my "lounge clothes" Seriously, how do people do it??? I think its been so hard for me because I havent made any friends-so my kids and hubby are really all I got. Dont get me wrong-I love them to death, but everyone needs something outside of the house. Book Club girls-I really miss you guys!!! Its amazing what one night a month does for your sanity. The kids love the snow. Noah just started his snowboarding lessons and he cant get enough. He wanted to go back the next day. Lani, actually hates it. She is like me-she cant stand to be cold. She has asked her teacher if she could stay in for recess because she gets too cold. Tyson and Caleb love to build snow forts and go sledding down the driveway. Im happy that my kids can be happy-but I also feel so bad because we dont ever leave the house. I beg Bill to take the boys with him when he runs work errands just to get them out. And to make matters worse, I almost killed my family on our way home from AZ. I hit a patch of ice and we skid and turned and skid some more. It really is a blessing that we didnt flip or hit another car. We definatly had our guardian angels watching over us that day. If my reluctance to drive in the snow was bad before, its absolutly out of control now. I wont go anywhere unless Bill can go too. Its pretty sad.

Bill has now started studying for the bar, so my only friend will be occupied until the end of Feb. I really need a life!! I have started trying to figure out this new photoshop program that I got, but the technical babble is to much for me. I just ordered a "how to" book, so hopefully I can learn from that and create myself a new hobby.

Im not ashamed to call myself a back and forth type of person. I just get totally into something and then after a while the desire is gone, and then I find something else and so on and so on. I always go through reading phases. I will just want to read all the time-any book I can find I will read, and then sometimes, I just cant get my self to sit and read for nothing. I go through the tv phase. I will have like 20 shows I like to watch. I never would miss Dr phil or Oprah. I watched all the CSI shows, and a bunch of reality shows. I would watch Monk, and Medium, Crossing Jordan, Veronica Mars... You get the picture. I have also gone through the hair phase. I would study and teach myself new techniques, attend classes, try really hard to find new clients so I could try all these new things out. I go through the cleaning phase where all I want to do is clean and organize (Bill loves this one) and re arrange my entire house-but most the time im in the I dont want to clean anything phase. But most recently, its been the blogging and photography phase. I could spend hours on the computer-blog hopping or fixing pictures. I always seem to be in one phase or another. Since I have come home from our AZ vacation, I cant seem to get myself to be interested in any phase. The good thing about this is I have been spending tons more time with the kids-which is the most important thing anyway, but my interest in anything is gone. I think thats why it has taken so long to blog about Christmas. Today is the first day that I have even looked on anyone else's blogs. I cant get myself to clean, or to cook. I dont have any interest in reading (except the scriptures-but thats always been a hard one), I dont really care about TV. I still record the few shows I watch, but I rarely watch them, and dare I say it, I have not been into blogging. I have tried. I will sit down and try, but I just cant bring myself to do it. Ive really just been so tired that I just go to bed early. What is wrong with me??? Hopefully this too is a phase that will pass as quickly as all the other ones do. Maybe when the snow melts!!! ha ha.

American Idol is on tonight and I really could care less. I will still probably watch it, just because I have with all the seasons, but Im not really into it. Strange. Maybe this is my reflective phase. I think alot about where I am in life and where my family is and what can we do to change and to be better. I think almost killing my family did something to me. It made me think that what I have can be taken away from me in seconds. I better get my act together and make the most out of the time we have. My kids are crazy and most times out of control, but they are all such good kids. They all want to do whats right (most of the time) and they all have such distinct personalities. I couldnt have been blessed with better kids. I know that life is hard and it will be my whole life, but we can either learn from our trials and our mistakes or we can let it bury us. Its hard to be here in a place that im not familiar with and to not have friends. I dont mean to say that im a loser and cant make friends, its different where I live-everyone is older and no one has 5 kids. The average age is 37 and the average kids per household is 2. Its the "im going to wait until my 30's to have kids so I can have a career" types. I really do enjoy the ladies of my ward. They are all so sweet. Its just different from what im used to. I loved my last ward. We had young and old and everything in between. (im jealous of you Julie!!) I think people are kinda scared off by the whole 5 crazy kids thing. You would think that wouldnt be so here in Utah.

Anyway, I have vented enough. I always know its time to stop when I stop making sense. I was inspired by Missy to make this more of a journal and to not let what others might think affect what I write. I am what I am (and thats popeye!! Office fans anyone??? one phase I will never grow out of. Favorite show of all time)

Christmas 2007

I am finally getting around to the Christmas post. I dont know why it has taken so long-but here it is....

We started it off with treats from school. The kids had gingerbread house partys in each of their classes and they both got Dad to come and help-they loved that.

Then, the baking began. I seriously baked for 2 days and then I didnt even give anyone plates. I tried a bunch of new things and I didnt think any of them turned out-so most of it ended up in the trash. But, it was fun to try. Maybe next year!!!!
We only have Bills 2 brothers here in Utah and they both have their wives families here so we decided to get together on the Sunday before Christmas (which also happened to be Calebs birthday). We had a yummy dinner and then we had a gift exchange for all the kiddos. Bill went to the dollar store and grabbed a few things to wrap. Its so funny-you could spend tons on toys that they kinda like but you go to the dollar store and they are in heaven. We played a fun game with the presents and when they opened them they all switched with someone else. It was a fun night hangin out with family.
I just had to take a picture of these two- Sunny and Avery. Sunny is a few months younger than Avery, but she is way bigger. Its amazing that I actually have a lightweight.

It was different this Christmas not being with family on Christmas Eve, so we wanted to make it fun for our kids. We planned on going out and looking at lights and then going to Temple Square to check out the lights, but that plan got squashed thanks to the all day snow blizzard. We decided to make cookies for Santa-sugar cookies. While dinner was cooking, the kids did their own cutouts. Who knew it would make such a mess. Only my kids!!!!

After a meatloaf (Bills favorite) and potatoes dinner (note to self: the kids do not like meatloaf), it was time for Christmas jammies. I love this tradition. This year, Bill made each of them a treasure map and they had to follow each clue to find them. It was so cute-they loved it.

This year, we decided to start a new Christmas eve tradition. The week before Christmas, we had the kids draw names (They couldnt keep the secret any longer than that!!)We gave them a limit and they each got to chose a gift for who they picked. It was fun to see what each of them thought the other would like. The kids loved their presents and it was cute to see them say thank you and give hugs to each other. I think im going to like this tradition.

Christmas morning: you can see they are all real excited to get going. I really think Lani was dissapointed to not see "Butterscotch" sitting by the tree.


Avery loved her orange from her stocking.


They all got the one thing they wanted most. It really was a fun Chrismtas!!!


Noah got his beloved Marble Mania set. (Noah is our future arcitect (sp?)



Tyson got a "cars" pillow

Caleb got a Choo-Choo!!!

Lani got her much wanted American Doll. (thanks Mom)


And Avery had had ENOUGH!!! She just wanted to go to bed.

We really did enjoy ourselves this Christmas. As hard as it was not being with family, it was nice to not have to rush from one house to the next not really being able to relax. The kids got the play with their toys before we loaded up and headed home to AZ. We left the house a complete mess, but I didnt feel like cleaning on Christmas-so I didnt and because of that, it has taken me over a week to get organized. I would have to say though that it was all worth it!!!

Happy Birthday Caleb!!!

Our little Wild Man is 3!!!!

I have such a special place in my heart for this little boy. He was born on the 23rd of December-10 days early. Of course this would happen two days before Christmas and when Bills family Christmas Eve party was at our house. I came home from the hospital Christmas Eve night and went straight to my parents house for my family party and then to my house for another party. He was such an easy going baby-so calm and peaceful. When he was about 10 days old, I noticed he was getting a little congested and he seemed to have trouble breathing. I think I took him to urgent care 2 times and to his regular doctor once all in 2 days. Finally I took him to the ER because I just felt that something wasnt quite right. That was the worst night of my life. There is nothing worse than seeing your little helpless newborn being poked and hooked up to tubes. It turned out he had RSV and pnemounia. His oxygen levels were really low, so they they admitted him to the hospital and there we stayed for a week. I think I only left that hospital room a couple times that week to take a walk and get some fresh air. It was just me and Caleb. I think we developed a special bond during that time.

The top 10 things we love about our Scrubs!!

1. His smile

2. His playfulness

3. His beautiful blue eyes

4. His stubborness (he gets that from his mama!!)

5. His soft side. He cant stop giving Avery kisses and loves.

6. The fact that he is ALL boy

7. His sense of humor

8. His infectious laugh. It really is hard to stay mad when he is laughing in your face.

9. How much he loves his brother Tyson. He follows him everywhere and wants to do everything with him. He is always concerned when Tyson is not around.

10. His competitivness. Everything is a race with him. He loves sports and playing with his Dad.

Things Caleb Loves...

1. Choo-Choo's

2. Dora and Diego

3. Cars

4. Guns

5. Balls

6. Oranges

7. Running errands with Daddy

8.Caillou

9. Wrestling with Tyson

10.Throwing anything and everything

We had a Birthday/Christmas party with our Utah Family. Caleb got the one and only thing he asked for-Choo Choo's!!!!

It was such a fun night. We stayed up late, ate cake and ice cream and he ran and ran with his cousins until he collapsed on the floor..gun in hand and ready to pull the trigger.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY SCRUBBA!!!!

Good to be Home...

We are finally home and I have so much to do that I think I already need a vacation. We had such a good time and such good Holidays and I have so much to write about but its going to take soooooo long and until I get things back in order (which will probably be next year!!) they will have to come little by little. My house is a disaster (whats new) I still havent unpacked, and all I want to do is blog and play with my new photo software. Right now its a blizzard outside and we are expecting about 3-6 new inches today to add to our already 4 feet of snow. Poor Bill is outside shoveling so we can get Noah off to school. Its 11:00, but he said he was sick this morning and it was pouring snow so I didnt argue, but I see I have a faker on my hands. Lani has been home sick with a fever for 2 days now and I think he wanted in one some of the sympathy. Life never seems to slow down and its always one thing after the next, but I dont think Id have it any other way!!!! Hopefully I can get a Christmas post in sometime soon and get caught up with all my fun pictures-I have 2 new neices that were born 1 day apart and one more on the way. If only sleep werent an issue, I would so be on top of everything!!!