Deep Thought By Loma.......

If mom is thE barometer of the house, then the kids are the mercury!

(This may or may not have come to me as I was reflecting on the fact that 66% of my children are grounded right now from their favorite things, and the 34% that aren't are too young to be rehabilitated by the return of valuable property).

Side question: Does anyone else find themselves watching PBS daytime programming even when there isn't a child around? What kind of mind control do these little people use on us??

Hey Family- Here's Another Oldie But Goodie.....

Birthday gone wild(er)

Our Families Special Birthday Song (Don't be jealous if you can't sound this good. It takes years of practice)

So What You're Saying Is That Not Everyone Celebrates Birthdays Like This???

It started out with good intentions. A celebration for my mom's 60th birthday. Just the family, some food, maybe a little teasing and humor. All in good taste of course.

Obviously it spiraled out of control quickly. I blame it on my dad. He's the one who suggested we hold a mockeral (mock=funeral. Yeah, feel free to make it a new "thing") for our aging mother so she could hear the eulogies we'd give someday at the real deal.

He really wanted to fashion a coffin of sorts, and hold the wake at the cemetery where they have already purchased their plots (uhm, I know it's good planning but can I just say EWWWW! If I wanted I could visit my parent's graves every year on Memorial Day and then have a barbecue with them an hour later). That plan was scrapped at the last minute because she might just think we were taking it a teeny-tiny bit too far. Hence, the mockeral took place in the parlor, which is kind of appropriate as it's a room reserved only for important visiting guests and dignitaries, like the Home Teachers.

Mom posed as if comfortably resting in her casket, her eyes closed and waiting to hear all the wonderful things her family has to say about her on her demise.

Little did she know......

For our "eulogies" we were given 2 guidelines:

1) You had to say the thing you'd miss/remember about her most

2) You had to provide a prop that represented that memory to leave with her in the "coffin"

I was first giving my remembrance. I left her a can of Diet Coke to thank her for setting me on the path of addiction, as well as to make sure she had a "fix" while she waited to be resurrected, and a diaper because for as long as I can remember my mom hasn't been able to cough/run/jump/walk/laugh/breath without wetting her pants. Yes, I take after her. Thank you mom for all you've given me.

For James' gift he left a threadbare towel, because my mom is notorious for not throwing anything (and I do seriously mean anything) away until it falls apart stitch by stitch. He also gave her an eyebrow pencil so she could make sure her brows were on when she went to the next world (I'm not sure if I've shared this story before, but it involves James and mom sitting together in a booth at Iceberg and James deciding to see if he could wipe off mom's eyebrows with his finger. As he found out to her chagrin, yes he could. The story now lives in infamy in family folklore)

My sister Amanda gave her a pair of giant granny undies to thank her for teaching her to be pure and modest

Then she gave her a G-string to thank her for also teaching her to be a little bit naughty.

(Back story: for the last 10 years my mom has given my sister a thong for every Christmas and Easter. They are usually pretty scanty and fugly. It's hilarious. And in case you are wondering, no she doesn't really wear them.)

My brother Chris, the newly returned RM, gave mom a pillow so that she could always remember that he refused to sleep in his own bed, thus sharing hers, for the first 12 years of his life. I'm not sure if he's overcome that yet.- I'll get back to you.

Noah's gift was a remote, because Grandma is always telling him to turn the volume down. I don't have a picture of Tay's gift, and she'd kill me if I disclosed what it was, but let's just say that she did something to my dad in Grandma's honor.

Here's the final picture of all her offerings. They include a plate of unfinished dinner from my niece Shelby (nothing drives my mom more nuts than wasted food), a jacket from my niece Sydnee (because Grandma always gets after her for not wearing one), a fart machine from my sis-in-law Rebekah, a copy of "Silence of the Lambs" from my brother Ben (goes back to a month-long grounding incident in high school), and a double ended key from my dad- one end is the key to his brain, and the other the key to his heart. She was such a good sport, and I'm pretty sure she was glad she had a diaper on because she was laughing so hard something definitely sneaked out :)

After the mockeral, Chris decided to try on the thong.

Pretty hot huh? He's single ladies.

Somehow after having cake and ice cream, Tay decided that Grandpa's lack of eyebrows needed to be remedied (are you seeing a trend here? It's not by chance that my parents are so perfectly matched for each other? Please, please let me keep my eyebrows though).

For some reason, Tay decided that if Grandpa really still had brows they'd be red, so out came the red lip liner.

He was a good sport when she said, "Grandpa, if you have eyebrows again that has to mean that you have hair again" Since we all remembered his black fro from the 70's, she decided to recreate it.

From there it just got out of control

Ben came to help with the beautification

Can you tell just how much this man loves his grand kids? What else would convince him to let this happen???

Can I just say that my family ROCKS? They are so much fun- we laugh so much it hurts (and more than one of us pees). But we are also fiercely protective of each other, and we'd go to the ends of the earth to help each other. I am so blessed to be apart of this crazy clan!

Photo Vomit.....

I thought you might enjoy (okay, tolerate) these random photos I just downloaded from my itouch. There is no rhyme or reason- most I can't even remember taking. Oh well, posterity won't care how they got here anyway, just that they can mock us for what we wore.

I'm getting old.

Zach and Dad hit the Jazz Game:

Dad was impressed the Zach lasted the first half sitting upright. After that, it was "whatever keeps him happy".

Cute one of Dad. I'm not sure what Zach was going for.

Cheese!!!!!

Best Friends :)

Zach and his other BFF, "his" Oakey Dokey

Tay at her fall guitar concert.

The next cast of Teen Mom

(notice how dejected my niece Sydnee looks? She really feels the weight of her choice)

Hmmm, we need to work on facial expressions and posing.

That's my cutie boy...

Smexy boy in a smexy outfit.

When he saw this picture, Zach said "Mom look at my muscles!"

Football shirt+plaid shorts+your sister's boots=AWESOME!!!!

House Guest....

RM brother is staying at my house allllllll weeeeeek!!!

Can you tell I'm a teensy, weensy bit excited ;)

I love my little brother Chris. I missed him so much when he was away for 2 years in Australia. It was like a huge piece was missing from our lives. Now he's back, and he's found a great job and is starting college in May. He's at my house this week because he's going through training for his new job, and the training center just happens to be up my way. It has been so wonderful having him in our home. He brings so much fun and laughter. The kids adore their uncle, and love every minute they get playing with him. I really don't want him to go back home at the end of the week :(

I think we need to get our basement finished so my siblings have more reasons to come and stay with us. I'll have to hurry though, because my sister is dating a new guy and they are getting pretty serious. He's a great man and appears to adore and worship her (like all women deserve to be!). I'll keep you posted as things progress!

On A Positive Note.....

Today we had a great combined YM/YW lesson on the dangers- both physically and spiritually- of the Internet and more specifically social media. It is a topic that has weighed heavily on my mind over the last few months, but especially in the last week as we have been dealing with Tay's harassment at school. The Internet is such a powerful tool, for good and bad, and it's so important that children know how to use is correctly and wisely. We had a police detective from our ward speak to the youth about the criminal dangers, and he spoke a lot to the fact that you never really know who you are connecting with when you open yourself up to "friends" on places like Facebook. He showed a picture of a popular male singer, and explained that just this week they caught a 78 year old man was posing as the pop star and messaging teenage girls on FB. He also talked about how kids think that when they post or text inappropriate content or pictures they can just erase it and it's gone. He said that in 24 hours he could pull everything they'd ever done or sent off their phones or computers, and that there was no way to "erase" once you send something out. I think the kids were very shocked, and even scared. He asked them if they would feel comfortable having him go through their phones and computers today. If not, they need to make drastic changes to what they are doing and sharing.

Next James spoke to them about the spiritual dangers of technology. They discussed very briefly the problem of pornography as it is covered a lot. He asked them about the time they spent on the internet, and how it changed the dynamics of their family when they were on. Did they eat dinner together without texting interruptions? What activities have they stopped doing becuase they are on FB all the time? Social media can become a huge time sucker and time waster if not regulated and kept under control. He also talked to them about the importance of remembering that what they say and do on FB represents who they are. For instance, when you "like" something on FB what you are saying is "I approve of this" or "I like this". Should we really be "liking" a song with inappropriate lyrics, or a friend's comment that is off color, or a group/activity that conflicts with our beliefs? I thought this was a most poignant point. So often we forget that what we say and do on the Internet allows the world to interpret and make assumptions about who we are. I closed by reminding the kids that even if they aren't texting right now or aren't on FB, they will be someday and the world revolves more and more around social media outlets. So even if it doesn't apply today, it will someday and they need to be prepared. I challenged them to spend a "negative free" week on the Internet and their phones- that every day this week they would only send out positive messages, texts and comments. If they aren't texting or FBing, they can be positive in the interactions with their friends, avoiding gossip and contention.

All in all, I think it went really well. The kids were very reverent but offered up lots of comments. When youth do that you know something is sticking :) I'd love it if the adult groups did their own lesson or meeting on the subject, but geared to how parents can teach their children to use technology in a responsible way. The biggest thing they can do is be aware. Be aware of what their kids are texting and posting. Be aware of what their peers are saying, especially to them. Know their passwords and control their access to the internet. It is so, so important and, in my opinion, the greatest challenge to the youth of today is the free and unsolicited access to everything the world has to offered at the touch of a button. Where they are stronger, more valiant and more prepares, Satan only has to become craftier and more subtle in his attempts to drag them down. He's using the same tools that the Church uses to spread the message of the Gospel and love, but to drag us down and tempt us into sinful acts and behaviors.

We're going to try to tie this lesson into our upcoming Youth Conference this summer. One of the girls suggested taping videos to submit to the Mormon Messages channel on YouTube. Hopefully we can find some fun ways to incorporate the lesson into our weekly activities as well.

All That Church is Paying Off...

Last night the kids were fighting in the truck (as usual) on our way to Tay's basketball game, and apparently I wasn't the only one who was fed up with the constant bickering. From the back seat we heard Zach yell,

"Choose the Right everyone! Choose the Right!"

Good thing I was driving or I might have passed out from shock.

This kid might just turn out alright :)

How We Roll......

Rather than write about just how much our family loves football, I thought I'd post our game pictures from the '10 season. We've had University of Utah season tickets for 10 years now, and it's so much fun sitting my my brother and his kids, my dad, and my sisters. We've also taken up tailgating which is a blast! We can't wait for the '11 season- we're Pac 12 now baby!!

This last fall was also Noah's first playing football. It was a huge time commitment, but totally worth it. Noah learned so much and did so well on the offense and defense lines. I was surprised to see how tall he is compared to the other boys his age. He loved hanging out with all his pals on the team, and (as an added bonus for all the ladies) he got pretty buff- unlike his normal stick thin physique :)

Noah at the Halloween Carnival

Not a lot of love for that "other" Utah team :)

Tay and Noah

My Favorite picture of all time!

Tay sitting in the endzone after a win!

Tay and her cousin/BFF Sydnee

Storming the field after the BYU win!

Tay and James at the Utah/BYU game

Noah's '10 Syracuse Storm poster

Post game exhaustion

Cheering on his cousin Jackson's team

Noah and his awesome grandpa (who was a U of U football player! See, it's in the genes!!)

Noah and his wonderful grandma (isn't my momma lovely?)

My studly guy

Loma, Tay and Noah

Loma and James at the away game in Wyoming

With the other U fans at the Wyoming game

Loma with Zach at a rare game he attended (he's not quite ready for 3 hours of football)

Braille competition encourages literacy - ksl.com

Braille competition encourages literacy - ksl.com


Check out Noah at about 2:04 in the video. He's the super cute, super cool boy in the white hoodie with the haircut formerly known as the Beiber.

We are so proud of this boy!

Here's our pictures from the day: