40

I turned the BIG 4-0 a few weeks ago. When I was in High School my mom turned 40 and man was that old! :) Now that I am 40, I feel differently about it! It's not bad, at all!! I've been looking forward to this birthday for a while and excited for it to come. We celebrated on my birthday and then entire rest of the week and into the weekend! It was great!!

I wore a tiara Scott bought for me. Scott also bought me 40 red roses and a small blue box from Tiffany's. The boys all got me darling gifts. My mom had 40 red, pink, yellow and white roses delivered to my house. It was awesome!!

On my actual birthday we went out to a Mexican restaurant with several cousins. It was great food and wonderful company.  The next day, I went out to dinner with some of my closest friends. We ate at Tepanyaki and it was a lot of fun! I plan on having a birthday party; but I want a luau, so I am waiting until the end of May or so. 

There's been a few things I've wanted to do but always said in the back of my mind, "I'll wait until I am 40 to do that...". Dumb little things. Most I've already done.  Having my eyebrows professionally threaded. (That was weird!!), My armpits lasered. Teeth professionally whitened. New hair-do. Just to name a few.

20th High School Reunion

 A couple weekends ago was my 20th High School Reunion from San Marcos High School. Our first one, ever! 20 years does seem way too long ago... and I don't feel or look like I graduated 20 years ago. Weird. When I was in high school 38-40 year olds seemed OLD to me. Now, that's me! Weird.

Jennica, Preston and I hopped a plane and headed for beautiful Santa Barbara. Preston was pretty good on the flight. It was so fun flying with Jennica, we talked and gabbed the entire time. Such a wonderful friend!

When my mom picked us up from the airport, she hadn't put in the car seat, and I didn't bring one. So, my big boy Preston, sat like this all the way to Nana's house. Thank goodness it wasn't too far!

On Friday night a bunch of the girls headed downtown to eat at a Mexican restaurant and catch up. It was so neat seeing these wonderful women again. Most are married. Most have children. It was really neat to see some of my childhood friends as mothers now. Great mothers nonetheless! It was so fun chatting and catching up on their lives, their occupations, their families. I headed home first, at around 11pm. The rest of the gang hung out for a couple of more hours!

The next afternoon we headed to the beach for a family BBQ where several other wonderful classmates were. Again, it was great to see so many familiar faces and to catch up with all of them.

Here we all are looking through our Senior class book. It was fun reminiscing of the good 'ol days. There were several people I haven't seen since I graduated.

Later that night we headed to Harry's Plaza, an awesome restaurant in Santa Barbara. More people were there that hadn't made it to the beach BBQ earlier that day. It was great to see so many people. Everyone looked great! There was one guy and another girl I had no idea who they were. (oops!) Other than that, I spoke with everyone. The picture above is of Jody, Minda, myself and Natalie. Jody, Minda and I went to school from Kindergarten all the way to high school!! All 3 of our parents are still in Santa Barbara, in the same house!

More CUTE, CUTE ladies!!

I am so glad I went to the reunion and can't wait for the next one.

It was very strange being around so many people drinking. Drinking before dinner. After dinner. Drinking at the beach. Drinking as we're chatting. Unfortunately, most of my friends were drunk by the time I headed out. It was so weird.

And, there were many of my friends going through a divorce. Divorce sucks!! It was sad to see such wonderful people having such problems and hardships. 

 Here I am with Liz and Mindy, ladies from my basketball team! Go Royals!!

 Of course I went to Pascucci's, my MOST favorite Italian restaurant in SB with my dear friend, Minda.

On a random stop to get a coke at Chevron I ran into Flavor Flav!! I was robbed in this photo though because he wasn't even wearing his clock!!

On Sunday we headed to church. Back to my home ward full of so many friendly faces. Then, to the airport to head on home. The Santa Barbara airport is gorgeous. The tile work, artwork, land-scaping, aritecture...Beautiful!

On the flight home, Preston spilled an entire cup of cranberry juice on Jennica. Moments after we had it all cleaned up, she spilled her beverage all over herself! We must of looked drunk or something! The stewardess brought her another drink, in a cup with a lid and straw! It was so funny!!

Color Run

Last weekend we headed to Arizona to visit lots of fun friends and different places we enjoyed while we lived there. We also ran in the 5K Color Run. Will and I were suppose to run it but he woke up with a fever and decided to stay in bed. Jackson took his place but Tyler and Gavin joined us for the adventure. It was raining the entire time. Sometimes it was pouring, sometimes it was sprinkling. All the time we were having a blast! 

 Tyler and I ran together the entire time, and he was a great running partner. Gavin started far ahead of us but then fell a little behind and finished running with Jackson. 

 We were totally covered in different colors, it was awesome!!!

 After the run, there were tons of booths with free samples. There was also live music and dancing. Everyone was still full of energy and excitement. 

Before we made the drive back to the hotel, Scott had searched when the next Color Run would be. It's coming to Salt Lake City in September 2013! And we're all doing it! It's a very fun, family friendly activity.

Personal History- In Depth

I found this GREAT site, This is ME Challenge. I was so inspired to participate, so here is my FIRST post about ME! It's broken up in sections you write about yourself, family and interests. There are several areas to choose from. I plan on doing this about once a week. It's a great way to get information for genealogy and your posterity to have.
Here is the first one:

Your birth and family:

*What is your full name and how did you get that name?
Lori Anne Nielsen Thompson. My mom was going to name me Christy (Crazy, I know!) But, during labor my mom kept saying "Lori". I just found out that Lori was a nickname of my Gram's. Cool!

*Do you have any nicknames?
Belle or Loribelle. It was given to me by my Salt Lake City cousins when I was a few months old and the family still refers to me by this adorable nickname!

*What are your parent's full names and birth dates and places?
My mom is Julie Dee Nielsen and she was born in Salt Lake City, Utah. I was also raised by my moms mom, Dolores Dee Nielsen. We call her Gram. Her birthday is March 21st, 1907

*What is the date of your birth?
February, 19th 1975

Where were you born?
Santa Barbara, California in Cottage hospital (where a couple of my own kids were born!!)

*What are some of the circumstances (when your mom went in to labor, how long, her doctor, your dad fainting, etc.) of your birth?
She went to the hospital and labored for sometime with no progress. The doctor decided to take me C-section. I was healthy at 9lbs 6oz on my due date.

*What are your sibling's full names and birth dates?
I have 1 older brother, Clarence William Nielsen. He goes by William, his friends call him Willow. He was born on November 3rd 1971 in Santa Barbara.

*How is your relationship with your siblings and parents?
I have a great relationship with both. I talk to my mom on the phone almost daily. We fly and visit each other every other month or so. We are both close to my brother, when he's home and healthy.


*How did you help in your home?
Oh, man. Not sure I did! We were never in trouble. Never grounded. Never had chores. We were both spoiled by our Gram and mom.

7th son, born on the 7th day of the 7th month

Well, I made it to 7-7. I truly can't believe it. The end of this pregnancy was tough and I was miserable a lot of the time. On Friday evening my mom flew in and we headed out to dinner with some cousins. Later that night it was hard to get to sleep. Scott and I were super excited, like we were heading to Disneyland the next day or something like that. Silly us...

On Saturday morning, Scott woke me around 7am and we were off to the hospital. We arrived around 7:20am to check in and do some paperwork.

 It was really weird walking into the hospital, not having any contractions, but knowing I was there to deliver a baby. Besides Scott, my mom, Will and Tyler were there. I received my IV, the doctor broke my water and I received an epidural. While laboring, I put my eye mask on and listened to classical music trying to stay relaxed, calm and focused. My cute boys were playing Xbox the entire time.

 Dr. Yamashiro is my doctor, and one of the coolest people I know! Scott works with his wife (she's a doctor too!) Both wonderful people and great doctors! Scott delivered the baby less that 2 hours later. Well, hang on there... I delivered the baby and Scott was there to assist me. :)

 Will saw Brigham delivered, cut his umbilical cord and in a few years will be able to baptize him. Cute Tyler figured out that the age difference was perfect for him to someday baptize this baby. So Tyler witnessed the delivery, cut the umbilical cord and will one day baptize him.

I asked Jackson if he wanted to come to the delivery and he looked at me with disgust and said, "Ewww, no. That's gross!" It's not for everybody!

 Cute pie baby boy #7 was welcomed to the world. He was really purple, but his coloring changed quickly and he was healthy.

 Literally seconds after he was born, I said with much happiness, "Thank goodness that's over!" And by the way, another swear-free delivery! That's two in a row for me! YEAH baby! Drugs are good, in the hospital!

 Tyler also got to put on Preston's first diaper! He did such a great job.

 Here I am, as happy as can be with my new little angel. And yes, I delivered with my crown on. I am a princess! No tearing, no episiotomy, no hemorrhoids... I couldn't be happier!

 Way to go Tyler! You are a champ with a lot of courage to be part of a delivery and you have a lot of love! You are a great big brother!

 Cute daddy and son time!

 His weight was 9lbs 9oz, 22" long.

 First bath in the nursery...

Here we all are! One big happy family!!

28 Weeks and feeling GREAT!!

I'm 28 weeks now, and time is slower than a turtle. Seriously! I'm always excited to have a newborn join our family, but man I am ecstatic for #7 to come!

Tulips and the Temple

 The temple is so lovely this time of year with the tulips in full bloom and other plants and trees just starting to bud.

 28 weeks and feeling great! (This dress does not photograph well...I'm getting a little sick just looking at it!) Cute Nathan has started pointing to my belly and saying "Hi baby!" and also kissing the baby! So cute!