WELCOME THE NEWEST MEMBER OF OUR FAMILY!

No, i did not have my baby..but we finally have our house! We are absolutely in love and are so happy to have a place we can call our own and raise our little family. The girls are having so much fun. It just feels so good to know this is where we will stay. Our community is great. Hayley's school is being built down the street. There is a park across from our house and a pool, tennis courts and community garden down the block. We have a lake close by where you can fish or rent a paddle boat and today I noticed fabulous hills for sledding. And I am certainly happy that a Target and Costco is just around the corner. So here are some pictures of our home. First off..my front door which i love.

Our family room

This picture was taken from the loft where there are 3 bedrooms. Our bedroom is on the main floor. The house has about 26 huge windows everywhere which I LOVE.

Dining room

the girls eating banana shakes..yum!

my kitchen

Our master bedroom

THIS x THREE...for now

ARE THERE ANY BOOKS ON HOW TO RAISE 3 GIRLS IN A ROW?!! Because that is what I am about to do. Yes, the bun in the oven is another girl. We're excited!

GUILTY PLEASURE

I am pretty sure that every person that I laugh at on American Idol will greet me in the next life with a slap in the face. But it is so freakin' hilarious! Sure I am impressed with the good singers but I am absolutely BEWILDERED by some of those people. Who ARE they? WHERE did they come from? WHO is responsible for raising them? WHO are their friends? WHAT on earth do they do when they are alone in a room? And you know Simon is thinking the same thing. At least he showed compassion to Temptress. But did you notice that he did not hug her? And what about the psycho "eye-shadow, Janice Joplin wannabee" who is currently off her meds? Her poor mother. And the deep voice dude...WHAT is up?!? Even Leah was covering her eyes like SHE was embarassed for him. That brings up the subject of laughing at people in front of your young and impressionable children..any advice? Okay, I know it is very WRONG...but that is why this entry has the title it does.

Comforting Comments from my Husband

So Matt likes to start my day off by saying to me this morning " I dont think I want to be a cop forever..if we go to war with Iran, I want to be an Apache pilot."

I LOVE FLEETWOOD MAC

thanks Noelle Bates..my excellent babysitter who i believe unintentionally introduced me to them.

Age Two is a blast.

Leah, Leah, Leah. The child is crazy..a good crazy, nevertheless, CRAZY. I had Matt get the girls ready and loaded up in the car to go out to dinner while I was running an errand and he tells me to grab a brush because Leah was looking a little homely. So when we get to the restraunt I notice that Leah's hair is soaked in lotion. It appeared as though she had been playing in Crisco or she was going through puberty. And I should know by now that if she locks herself in the bathroom and it is silent for more than 3 minutes than she is up to no good. Well sure enough, I just caught her washing her hair in the sink with handsoap. At least she is concerned with her hygiene.

Have You Tried Skeeball?

This evening Matt and I took the girls to the 4th happiest place on earth..Chuck E Cheese. It was so nice to just be together. Matt is always such a fun Dad even when he has been up for almost 24 hours and his eyes are glazed over. For some reason I am reluctant when it comes to playing games..any games. I get nervous playing Uno. I do not have one competitive bone in my body...not even a sliver...EXCEPT when it comes to Skeeball..watch out. I have never played golf but I think Skeeball would be like golf for me. I become incredibly focused and i could spend hours doing it. And considering you have to spend a whole QUARTER for 7 balls, it could quite possibly be as expensive as golf..well almost, okay not really. So of course after an excellent round of Skeeball, Matt wanted to challenge me. UGGGHHH. But i won. All of a sudden my self-esteem is based on how many stinkin' tickets came out of the machine. For some sad reason Matt is always shocked when I am really good at something other than vacuuming in incredibly straight lines. Like when he saw me snowboard for the first time. Mind you, I stick to the intermediate slopes and its taken me 7 seasons to become decent. Anyways, that shocked him. So I left Chuck E Cheese with my head held a little higher..Skeeball works wonders.

It is ALMOST Ours!!!!!!!!!!!!

So we are in the final stages of getting ready to close on our house..there have just been a few glitches in the process and let me tell you, it is TORTURE. We are incredibly ready to be in our own house and be reunited with all of our belongings that have been so lonely and cold in storage. It is very strange that I could miss a piece of furniture so much. I know my kitchen table is just a few pieces of wood that have been put together, but to me, it is a gathering place where bellies are filled, stories are told and people are loved. Cheezy, i know.

Person of the Year

Recently Matt decided to take our nice and expensive camera to work with him so he can get "quality" shots of all the "quality" action he witnesses every night at work. Keep in mind that he works in South Salt Lake which has the highest crime rate per capita and some of the most , what i like to call "colorful" people around. So now our pictures consist of crack pipes,meth houses and these colorful people. One of them being "Scuba Steve". I like Scuba Steve because he rides his bike around in freezing weather with a full body wetsuit, a motorcycle helmet and ski goggles. The outfit actually makes sense if you really think about it. He gets an A+ for ingenuity (sp?) if you ask me.

That's my girl!

Since we are moving, hayley just had her last day of her amazing preschool which she attends with two of her cousins. It has been so fun for her. The last day she had a Christmas program that all of the parents were invited to and the children sang all sorts of Christmas songs. Following the program we were able to eat refreshments and I found that Hayley had an interesting assortment of food. It was mostly cookies with a huge pile of shrimp in the middle. She actually ate all of her shrimp first, went back for seconds and gradually finished her cookies throughout the day. This is what i love about Hayley. She loves sushi, Miso soup, seaweed paper and Calamari (fried squid). And she doesnt really like peanut butter.

Hayley and Rebecca

Hayley and Rebecca

Hayley's Rebuttal to Leah's Obsession

For those uninformed, Leah's obsession with Tazan is ongoing..keep in mind that she has not seen the movie in over a month..but continues to mumble nonsensical things about 10 times a day. So Hayley one day was absolutely and positively fed up and came up with this..."LEAH! TARZAN IS NOT A PART OF JESUS'S WORLD!!!" Go hayley, go Hayley..go go go Hayley.
And Leah's response? " but Tarzan lives in the jungle!!"

Mannerisms, Reminders and Memories..A Birthday Tribute to my Dad, Lou Hribar

OR IS IT LOU HAAAARIBAR OR LOU REEEEBAR? *classical music*the sound and sight of a major league baseball game*diet coke w/ lemon*being the scariest tootsie roll monster at our b-day parties* how you will "brake" with your foot in the passenger seat when we dont brake soon enough*blasting in your car"she came in through the bathroom window" by the Beatles or "Hotel California" *watching you body surf* any Billy Joel song*Polo Cologne* scope mouthwash*teaching me how to paralell park and drive stick in St John Fishers parking lot* "feeding" me to the waves at the beach*how you laugh and sometimes snort* how you have managed to keep your desk perfectly organized for 20+ years*how some of the women in your life STILL dont understand what you do for a living*pitching and hitting balls at Ridgecrest*last of all..our good talks..I Love you so much Dad. By the way, its Lou HriBAR..not Lou HriBER..Dad. ENJOY THE SLIDESHOW!!

Check out my Slide Show!

MMMMM....LOVE THIS MAN!

You gotta love a man in uniform. I am realizing that I will probably never see Matt in this particular uniform again. Good thing he is one hot cop! This picture was taken at the Marine Corps ball in Nov. of 02 and I was just baely pregnant with Hayley. I must say that Matt is such a great husband, father, friend and comedian. He IS my circus monkey. I am so glad that he is mine.

THE OBSESSION CONTINUES

The other day in the car Leah decides to sing the Primary song " I love to see the Temple" which is so sweet but at the very end instead of singing "this is my sacred duty". She says " this is my little Tarzan". What??! Then on the way home from church Hayley decides to sing a song about how she loves Jesus and just makes up the words as she goes along..La la la. THEN Leah pipes up and says she wants to sing a song. So in a deep and soft voice she starts to sing a song about how she loves...who else? Tarzan. Matt and I just look at eachother like this is going on way too long. If this continues I will have to hire a hypnotist.

Jennifer's Baby Shower

My sister Jennifer is finally having a boy after 4 girls! So we held a shower for her and some very special people came. It is always good to see friends from your childhood. It always makes me happy.

Some of my favorite people!

Jen, Noelle, Briar, Suzanne and me!

The Polar Express

There is a very generous family here in Utah that have a miniature train that goes all throughout their property and for Christmas they turn it into the Polar Express. There is Christmas music playing and lights and decorations all around and you even make a stop at the North Pole to see Santa. Santa lets all the kids sit on his lap and then he gives out candy canes. He tells the children that if they turn the candy cane upside down it becomes a "J" for Jesus and when it is right side up it becomes a sheperd's staff like the sheperds who had come to see Jesus. Then we sing Jingle Bells and get back on the train only then to see huge pictures all throughout the property of the Savior starting with his birth in a manger to his crucifixtion and resurrection. Of couse I am crying like a baby...a little emotional from pregnancy..right? It was a wonderful experience.

Baby Jesus

The girls were very protective of baby Jesus. They would have taken that baby home if I let them!

Just a little Christmas fun

One evening We took the girls and Matt's mom Linda down to Temple Square to see all of the pretty Christmas lights. We met my mom and dad and rode the Trax train to Temple Square. The girls thought that was super cool and i felt like I was riding a NY subway for a split second, except for it was much cleaner and lacking the crazies that I grew so fond of.

Happy Days

Sometimes when my kids ask me to make a meal and I am NOT in the mood to whip something up (but I do anyways) I sigh and think to myself how great it is to be a kid and not have a care in the world. I ALSO have to remind myself that I really was a kid once and i most likely ordered my mother around, mostly for McDonalds french fries. I was the 6th child so i am guessing my mom was pretty tired by the time i was making these demands and just simply gave in. Sorry Judy. I am on kid #2 and I am exhausted! What to do?! And I am having another?! I figured I have made it this far and i can keep going. That is why we are usually given 1 kid at a time. (Deep thoughts by Lori.) Anyways, I have been a stress case lately and i need to remind myself that these sweet, innocent children will grow up to be teenagers and may choose to throw something AT me instead of throwing fits. By the way, if you have not seen the movie "Dan in Real Life", go see it. Its one of the best movies I have seen. By the way, if anyone knows where I can get one of those Palos Verdes California t-shirts I am wearing, PLEASE let me know.

Hayley and Hunter

Our Zoo

This is our newest exhibit..well not really. But Leah does act like a wild animal sometimes.

SNOW MUCH FUN!!!

Its only 9 am and its been an excellent day so far! I woke up to breakfast in bed. Yum. I didnt quite have the heart to tell Matt that I was still feeling full from dinner the night before. But my baby (who is currently 4 inches and finally looks human) needs to eat! Sure. Then I looked outside and it was a winter wonderland! We promptly woke the girls and bundled them up to play. I am so glad we finally got a good snowfall..Appropriate for December 1st , dont you think? Its starting to look alot like Christmas!

A Thought About Pregnancy

WHAT IS UP WITH THAT BOOK "WHAT TO EXPECT WHEN YOU'RE EXPECTING?" It says (pg.135) that I will possibly feel "INSTABILTY COMPARABLE TO PREMENSTRUAL SYNDROME, WHICH MAY INCLUDE IRRITABILITY, MOOD SWINGS, IRRATIONALITY,WEEPINESS"...AND THEN IT SAYS I WILL FEEL "A NEW SENSE OF CALMNESS????!!!" WHO WROTE THIS BOOK? So most of you know that I am expecting a baby. I am at that stage where I just look like I need to do a few sit ups, but if I eat a big meal I can successfully look about 5 months pregnant. So unfortunately, I have just been AWESOME at cleaning my plate.

A Tribute to my Sisters!!

Justa few days ago both of my sisters had birthdays! Catherine's birthday is the day before Jennifer's , so growing up my mom always threw these fabulous parties for them. I just love both of them SO much. Happy Belated Birthday CHICKENS!

" HAVE COURAGE FOR THE GREAT SORROWS OF LIFE AND PATIENCE FOR THE SMALL ONES; AND WHEN YOU HAVE LABORIOUSLY ACCOMPLISHED YOUR DAILY TASKS, GO TO SLEEP IN PEACE. GOD IS AWAKE."

I like this quote. I have seen alot of great people i love through every chapter of my life go through sorrows. And whether they may seem trivial to us, it could be the hardest thing they are experiencing. Everyone has different strengths to handle hardships in different seasons of their lives. A stressful, non-stop, messy house, burn the dinner type day sometimes seems like my absolute breaking point. But then the next day is better. I dont think I have a negative outlook on life, but sorrows WILL come. Very few people go through life without experiecing them. It is a refining experience that hopefully helps us look upward. Boy, what would we do if God went on vacation? Never. He is around, involved, concerned, even when we go about our day in our messy house with our burnt dinner.

A Silly Misunderstanding.

So, I have this friend who I believe, is one of the funniest people I have met. The great thing is, is that she doesnt have to try..she is just FUNNY. And I can never repeat any funny comments from her because the humor is the combination in HOW she says things and her facial expressions. If you have read the slightly embarassing "about me " section on my blog, you will learn that my dream is to "dive with humpbacks"..its true..I must repeat (read carefully) DIVE with HUMPBACKS..you know..the giant things that swim around in that big blue place out there...Well, my funny friend must be a speed reader because she thought it said that I wanted to live with hunchbacks..I repeat..LIVE WITH HUNCHBACKS. I am pretty sure she didnt call me for awhile because of this unfortunate misunderstanding. Living with hunchbacks eh? Not so much. Maybe if you are a gypsy and you like really loud bells.

Leah's Boyfriend

As I have mentioned a hundred times before, Leah is STILL obsessed with Tarzan, and going to Tarzan's treehouse at Disneyland didnt help the unhealthy obsession. This was my conversation with her tonight.

Lori: " Leah, why do you love Tarzan so much?"

Leah: " Betus, betus, betus..I wuv him!"

Lori: " Why do you love Grandma so much?"

Leah: " Betus, betus...She has Taryan."
Lori: : Why do you love Grandpa so much"

Leah: " Betus, betus, betus, betus..........betus.....betus...Taryan is weeping (sleeping).

YET AGAIN....NO PROGRESS.

THE COMMENTS OF MY CHILDREN

Matt: "Hayley, we are going to your cousins house and they have lots of Barbie movies!"
Hayley: (thrilled..and then she becomes dramatic) " Dad, I am gonna watch a Barbie movie and then I am gonna cry, and then I will watch another one...and then I will take off my skin." (What?! that was a little Hannibal Lector-ish if you ask me.)

Hayley: (pretty upset) "mom, this kid took this book from me and it made me mad!"
Lori: "I am sorry..what book was it?"
Hayley: (practically choking on her tears) "Build the Bobber! "

LEAH
So Leah is still working on her English. But you know, according to her she speaks perfectly.
Her "S's" dont quite come out, so she will say something like " mom! I can ying yo yong" (I can sing your song)

The HIGHLIGHT of the trip!

Dreams DO Come true!

Just this last week we took a family trip to Southern California to see family, but to also take our kids to magical place where they rip you off left and right...Disneyland! Dont get me wrong, I am not bitter that I spent $14 on TWO balloons or $9 on a plastic Ariel necklace that broke 20 minutes later...its okay...I am getting over it. No really, it was such a fantastic trip. I think Hayley was in shock the whole time, not believing what her little mind was seeing. Or it could of been her recovering from adrenaline rushes from Space Mountain and Big Thunder mountain Railroad. Who knows. And all Leah could think about was Tarzan's treehouse. Could you blame her? Tarzan was LIFE SIZE..he's not bad. I was impressed with the stamina of my kids and how Hayley practically walked a total of 20 miles in 3 days. We were also able to be with Matts sister and her kids, my sister and her family and Matt's mom. It was such a party!

MICKEY!!!!!

Even I felt honored to be in the same room with him!

Leah..future adrenaline junky

Tigger

Goofy

My RHCDS family!

Many of you reading may not know that I attended a small private school in California from Kindergarten to 8th grade and graduated in a class of about 30 kids. So we are quite close and have kept in touch all of these years. I love, love , love these friends. All of them still live in Southern California and we try to get together whenever we can. This trip they were able to meet my girls and that meant so much to me.

BOSCOE! ...need I say more?

So on our trip my girls had quite an interesting experience with my sister Karen's cute little chocolate lab puppy named Boscoe. Apparently this puppy had not played with a 2 year old for quite some time, or never, because he thought Leah was a giant toy and would jump on her any chance that he got. I seriously did not know whether to stress or pee in my pants. Neither did Leah. But she kept wanting to love on him! So our second visit was more of a success. He was much calmer. Leah kept trying to feed him pieces of chalk and marshmellows while she downed a few marshmellows herself. Thanks Karen for the entertainment!

Can you BELIEVE we are sisters???

Chocolate and vanilla, Lamanite and Nephite, Olive skin and Pale skin (wanabee Olive skin), Lou and Judy....

Catherine's Kids

We had some quality time with Catherine and her husband Dave who just recently ditched us in Utah and moved back to California! We made it a priority to eat really yummy food with them..you know, Pat and Oscars and killer sushi. We went to church with them and also played with them at Disneyland.

Visiting my oldest sister...

We also had a wonderful time seeing my sister Krista. She made the most DELICIOUS dinner for us and we were just able to hang out and chat. My girls loved seeing the dogs, playing Pac-man and staring at the pool they were dying to swim in. We saw her hubby Peter and her 2 boys, Jake and Brandon. LOVE THE FAMILY!