Longest Post in History

Wow- I have been so busy that I haven't had the time to download pictures and post anything. So this will probably be the longest post ever. I want to include everything since I use this as journaling- sorry!...

Hmmm....what should I start with- Thanksgiving? My mom and dad came down to our house. Usually my mom cooks for my entire family, but this year she got a break. I'm so glad she came to my house because I have never cooked a turkey or stuffing so she came to the rescue. We had a great dinner and lots of food. It was kind of nice to be at home this year.

Logan as a cowboy, army guy, AND an Indian.

Dad carving the turkey

Nathan and me

My mom and dad

Temple Lights

The Monday after Thanksgiving we went to see the lights at Temple Square for family night. We took Trax downtown. The kids were excited to ride. I'm glad we went early to see the lights before the freezing cold weather arrived. The kids had fun. It ended up being a longer night than planned because we got on the wrong Trax train so had to ride to then end and then back track to the right one. Kind of scary being on Trax at 10:30 at night! But, we survived...

Waiting for our train

Enjoying hot chocolate

Claire's 5th Birthday

On Claire's birthday (Dec. 15th) we went out to the airport with Spence's family to welcome Jeremy home from Iraq! (Jeremy is Spence's nephew.) He finished a 15 month deployment. (The second one...) He got to come home in January for the birth of his daughter, Lily, but then had to leave again. So this was the first time with Lily since she was born! It was so awesome and emotional to see them together. Makes you realize the sacrifice our soldiers are making to be away from their families for so long. Thank you for your service Jeremy and to all the other soldiers!

Proud to wave our American Flag

Jeremy and his daughter, Lily

After the airport we went to the Spaghetti Factory to celebrate Claire turning 5. Spence's mom and sister's family came with us. It was lots of fun and lots of good food!

Nathan and cousin Gavin

Logan and cousin Berkan being silly

Claire and her cousin Brynn

Claire got a new bike for her birthday. It's so hard to have a winter birthday! The snow hasn't stopped her from riding though!

Build-A-Bear Workshop Party

Claire had her birthday party at the Build-A-Bear in the mall. We all piled in the car ready for the slow, snowy drive to the mall. We put a movie on- Spongebob. Once it started playing, a few of the girls said they weren't allowed to watch Spongebob, so we had to switch out movies. (Am I a terrible parent for allowing Spongebob?) In went Polar Express and we were on our way!

Patiently awaiting directions...

Putting in the stuffing...

Claire's new best friend

Shakin their booties...


Heather and Malia giving their animals a "fluff bath"

Claire and Naomi shopping for animal clothing.

Macy's new best friend- Hello Kitty

When walking through the mall with all 8 girls, a man stopped Spence and asked them if they were all his. Uh Hello! Spence laughed and replied "Don't wish that on me!"

Outside walking to the car I was holding hands with Malia and Maddie. Malia looked up and said "I wish we were all your daughters!" I laughed and said "Not me! I would probably pull my hair out with this many kids!" I asked her why. She said "Cuz then there wouldn't be any screaming and hollering cuz I don't like that." I said "Well, there is screaming and hollering in my house too. And why do you scream if you don't like it?" Malia: "Well, I only do to my mom and dad cuz that's fun." I looked at her- then she smiled and said "Just kidding!" LOL

Back in the car I asked what everyone wanted for Christmas. Here are a few answers: Ipod, real cell phone, Barbie, I forgot after I wrote it to Santa... Man, and these girls are only 5-8! What will kids ask for when older??

Thanks Claire's friends for coming to her party and for the gifts and for being so good! And thanks to Build-A-Bear for the easiest birthday party EVER!

Congratulations if you are still reading this post. You have finally reached the end! :-)

*Disclaimer: Not held responsible for dirty dishes in sink, unfolded laundry, dusty tables, dirty floors, dirty toilets and kids running wild due to time it took to read this post. Author of post did in no way force you to read to the end. Author's house just as dirty due to the time it took to write this lengthy post.

Pay It Forward

Wow! I actually won something. I was the recipient of Allyson's Pay it Forward post as well as Andee's. Thanks so much for the bread Andee and thanks for the candy and comfy socks Allyson! Now it's my turn to give. Everyone who wants in, just leave me a comment by Friday, December 19th and I'll let my kids randomly choose 3 lucky winners from a hat. If you're chosen you can't break the cycle of "Paying it Forward." Good luck!

Wish Bone

Logan kept asking all Turkey Day for the wishbone out of the turkey. Well, naturally Spence wasn't aware of that and threw the bones in the trash. Logan was laying in bed and upset that night. I asked him what was wrong. He said they wrote down their wishes at school so he wanted the wish bone for them. I asked what his wishes were. He didn't want to tell me because he thought I'd think they were silly. I convinced him to tell me. Here they are:

1- I wish for 50 billion trillion dollars.

2- I wish for my drivers license.

3-I wish for the best family.

Okay- I can work with wish #3. I told him that it was one that we can work on. We can try to not scream and fight and show more love to one another. It made me feel kind of sad that he is aware of the fighting in our house and getting tired of it.

Then when I told him some wishes we could work towards to make happen. He goes "You mean I won't just look behind my dresser and there will be money there?"

"Um, nope."

"Well, that sucks."

"Yep, sure does!"

Anyway, the next day him and Claire were playing so good together. He would notice and say "Mom, we are having the best family. We aren't fighting." I'm so glad he is aware of it and making an effort. Hopefully we all can so that we can have the BEST FAMILY EVER! :-)

Marathon Shmarathon

I took Logan and Claire to a Family Beach Night at Logan's school last night. They had a DJ and the kids were having a blast dancing around. I was sitting in between two ladies off to the side. One of them was holding a little baby girl- around 2 or 3 months old. The lady was so skinny. I just shook my head and wondered how it would be to be that thin after having a new baby. (Or ever actually!) She sees the lady next to me and starts talking to her about how the San Fransisco Marathon was. (The lady was wearing a jacket with that printed on it.) So they proceeded to talk about how many marathons they've ran, details about them, etc. OK- so I would love to be able to say I've ran a marathon. I see the people on Oprah, etc who just got in shape, trained and did it. Lost weight, etc. They are so inspiring and I tear up just thinking about what it would be like to cross the finish line at a marathon. Wow, what a feeling it must be. But I don't care if you put 101 motivational speakers in front of me- I still couldn't start running. Just not in me to do it. Anyhow...so I had to sit and listen to "marathon talk" and it just made me feel like crap. Like I've never accomplished anything like that in my life.... Anyhow, the kids enjoyed the night...Here's my first attempt at posting a video. Taken with cell phone so they're not the best quality. :-(

Claire is doing the Twist. (White shirt.)

Logan is rocking- attempting a little back spin- to Barbie World! LOL

Pictures...and More Pictures

Here are some pictures from our weekend at my grandparents' home in Glenwood, Utah for my grandpa's 80th birthday party. The kids love it down there because they can run around and have so much fun in all the open space! There's so much to do in the country. :-)

Patiently waiting for their turn on the horses....Savannah, Claire, Carter, Hailey, Logan

I finally got Claire on a horse. She is never brave enough. She loved it though!

Logan loves to ride.

I loved this one.

Attacking Grandpa (my dad) in the hotel swimming pool.

At my grandpa's party: Grandpa and Grandma in front with 5 of their 7 children.

Julia (my mom), Bill, Karen, Farrell, Annette

Me with my Uncle Farrell

Me with my grandpa and Uncle Bill

My brother Jared and me with my grandparents

My brother Spencer with two of his girls. (He has 4 girls!) and my Uncle Bill

My Aunt Karen and me. She is more like a sister. We are best buds!


Grandpa's cake- all edible. Turned out sooo cute! If anyone needs an awesome cake- call me and I'll give you Brenda's number. She makes the best cakes ever!

The "spread." I was so nervous to set it up and have it look okay without the help of my catering boss. I think it turned out alright though!

Thanks for letting me post so many pictures! (And Jen- do those count for pictures of me posted on my blog? hee hee)

Any Ideas?

Spence and I really want to have a Christ centered Christmas this year. We are not going to buy as many gifts for the kids. We have so many stinkin toys cluttering up the closets. I hate it. They get played with for a few weeks and then just sit around. All the kids do with them is throw them all over the room for me to clean up. Anyhow...this weekend I will be cleaning out closets while getting ready for new carpet and getting rid of TOYS!

So here is the question I need help with. Do any of you have any ideas of a service that my family could participate in this holiday season? I really want my kids to learn the joy of service and to see how blessed they are. It doesn't have to be a monetary service- better if it weren't. I just don't know about any programs, shelters, soup kitchens etc in the area that might have volunteer programs or whatever. I wish I had the money to take my family to Africa or some other poor country to help with kids in need but I just can't. I'd rather do something for local kids anyway. Ideas?

Carpet Update

So I totally made Spence call the carpet man and meet us somewhere before he took the samples back to the store so that I could look at it. GOOD thing I insisted because I made him order something else. Didn't like it the one Spence picked out as well. Don't get me wrong- it wasn't awful, but it wasn't my first pick. Whew. Being a B**** paid off....

Question

Here's the question of the day:

Would any of you be upset at the fact that your husband ordered carpet for the upstairs of your house before you even saw the sample of it??? Or would you just be happy that you were getting carpet.

Just wanted to know what you all think- because I am very upset and have a KNOT in my stomach. I am the woman of the house- I should be the one to decide these things shouldn't I?

My Red-Headed Temper

Over the weekend our family went to Glenwood, UT for my Grandpa Oldroyd's 80th birthday party. The entire family was there and it was so much fun to see everyone again. My mom and I were basically in charge of the food and setup of tables, etc. I borrowed a catering set up from my boss at Cosmopolitan Catering. He was so nice to let me use it. Saturday morning, mom and I were running around Walmart getting last minute food items. We were running behind and worried about getting everything set up and done in time. We loaded all of the sacks into my car- which was parked about 2 cars down from hers. She just left the shopping cart in the parking lot. (Calm down Valerie if you are reading this- I know it is a pet peeve of yours when people do that! 99% of the time she puts them away in the cart rack but we were in a huge hurry.LOL) Well, this guy (customer in parking lot) takes it upon himself to yell at my mother and tell her what a "lazy a**" she is for not taking her cart back. He was saying all sorts of things to her. I noticed this as I was getting into my car and my adrenaline and anger kicked in. I was so appalled that a man would speak to my mother that way. I did what my first instinct was and got out of my car, walked up to the man as he was getting in his car, flipped him around and PUNCHED him! I told him he would NOT speak to my mother that way. He started yelling a bunch of crap to me about how she sure has taught me well, blah blah blah. Yeah, she sure did- better than his mom taught him than to speak to a woman the way he was. I went over to the car and grabbed on to it. He thought I was going to take it to the cart return so said "Thanks for returning that cart." Well, he doesn't know me very well. I took that cart and stuck it right behind his car so that he had to get out and move it before he could leave. (And no, he didn't return it either.) The adrenaline was really kicking in me now so I got right in his face with my finger a pointing and said "If you EVER speak to my mother that way again I will HUNT you down and hurt you." GO GIRL!

So for those of you (Jen) who thought I was this shy, quiet little person- I do have a mean streak that is not to be messed with. Especially when it comes to my family. :-) So if you see me on the 10 o'clock evening news from the Walmart surveillance cameras being wanted for assault and battery- please don't turn me in. LOL

Pictures of our family fun to come in next post......

Halloween Pics- Late

Thought I'd post a few pictures of the kids from Halloween. We went to Spence's mom's house with a few other cousins for cornbread, chili and games. Then back home to our crazy, madhouse neighborhood. And I won't get started on that..... I'm glad the holiday is over and Thanksgiving and Christmas are on their way. Thanksgiving is my favorite because I love being with my family and I LOVE my mom's cooking. (I just love to eat.)

Logan trying to eat a donut off a string and grandma's house.
Claire had a "crying tantrum moment" because she didn't want to play the donut game. She just wanted her donut without the string!

Berkan just sat down and took his time eating his donut.

The kids with three of their cousins- Gavin, Brynn and Berkan (who makes the best Yoda!)

Thanks Grandma Sue for a fun Halloween! We love you!

Sleeping Beauty

Logan and Claire decided to bring the "outdoor" fold up chairs into Logan's room to watch a video a few nights ago. It was complete with popcorn and blankets. I walked up into the room to see how it was going and this is what I found:

I imagine that would give you quite a kink in your neck!

Ethan's Visit

It has taken me awhile to post about Ethan's visit. I was so lucky to have him in my home for an entire week. His mom, Gayle, was here for a nursing conference at the Salt Palace so brought him with her. I feel so blessed that Gayle would give me the chance to spend time with him and that the rest of my kids can get to know him. I couldn't have ever asked for better adoptive parents for him. He is so loved and happy. They have always been so honest and open with him from the beginning. They want him to know the family where he came from and that he has so many people that love him.

Gayle and I went to a session at the Salt Lake Temple. It was the first time at that temple for both of us. It was such a spiritual experience. We were in tears just sitting in the chapel before the session even started! Then to be in the celestial room together was so awesome. It just brought it all together. I knew that without her and Mike, I wouldn't have even been sitting in the temple. Who knows where I'd be. I am so thankful for the tender mercies of the Lord. I have been so blessed because of my sacrifice. I know that that's why Spence was brought into my life so soon after Ethan was born. Anyhow, then we had dinner in Park City one night with some of her friends here for the conference.

At the end of the week my mom came to visit and stayed a night with us. We had lunch along with my brother Jared and his wife Jeni.

Me, Ethan and my Mom

I think Ethan had a fun time here. Lots of video games were played. We went bowling one day. Nathan got his butt kicked. His score was 18! And half of that was mine when he let me bowl for him once! By the end of the week Ethan was really missing his dad and starting to get annoyed at Logan and Claire fighting over him. He said he wasn't used to that much attention. He always had to sit in the middle of the two of them. Whatever he wanted then the kids would want- same treats, slurpee flavors, etc.

I am reminded of the song by Michael McLean- "From God's Arms to My Arms to Yours"

Tear jerker!

Aren't they all so beautiful? Man I make good lookin kids. LOL :-)

Sometimes I feel guilty or wonder if I am normal because I am able to spend time with Ethan and not be overly emotional or upset by it all. It is not difficult for me at all. My mom kind of had a hard time seeing him and just shook her head and said to me "I don't know how you're doing it." I don't know either. I guess maybe because I am at peace with my decision and don't have any regrets. Of course I wish I could've kept Ethan and raised him myself, but it wasn't in the best interest for him. I could see how difficult it was with Nathan. I just think the Lord has helped me to be so strong through all of this. Don't get me wrong- I still have times of tears. Mostly it is when I think about my last day with Ethan as a baby. I remember Mike and Gayle giving me time with him in the bedroom and how I just laid on the bed next to my newborn son. I just cradled him in my arms and told him how much I loved him. We fell asleep for a bit. The hardest thing was holding him when it was time to go and handing him over to his new parents. I knew it was the last time I would hold him. The next months were very hard but I had family and friends that helped me through it. This experience in my life has made me really want to help others who may be going through the same thing. I would want girls to know of that option of adoption and be able to help them through it. Maybe some day....