Spring Break

I can't find the camera to download pictures, but here is an overview of our short , but sweet spring break. The kids only had 3 days off. We went to Dinosaur Park, The Nature Center, Union Station Train Museum, and The Terrace Plaza Playhouse to see The Sound of Music for Family Home Evening. It was so much fun. Our long time friend Leslie Thurman (Gray) and her Mom came to visit Tuesday and we had a great dinner together. The weather was great and the kids had fun playing together out back. We were so thankful they came up to see us all the way from Colorado. Her 3 kids are ADORABLE!!
Yesterday we were back to the school routine plus a few doctor appts. Kathryn and Alex to the Orthodontist and Kate to the Orthopedic/ Sports Med doctor. She fell on her KNEE while ice skating and is needing physical therapy for a while. She was excited about the "no running" RX she got from the doctor to give to her gym teacher.(: Hopefully all goes well and she fully recovers. She also went in for a hearing test. She has had a lot of problems hearing lately. She is going to go to the ENT(Ear Nose Throat) in the next few weeks.
Roodles has a funky thing going on with his skin. He has mollusks and had to have them removed last week. They keep getting infected when he scratches them. Cathy told me to use an alcohol and glycerin compress . We are going to try that tomorrow.
Oh I forgot that we went to the Mountain Man Rendezvous at Ft Beunaventura on Saturday after the Easter egg hunt at our local store. It was a ton of fun until our checkbook got dropped into the OUT HOUSE toilet. I am too tired to elaborate on that right now. (: The kids had fun seeing all of the old fashioned "goods" for sale. All of the workers were in costume and had tee pees etc. A lot of fun.
I'll post pictures when I get my hands on my camera.

Amazing Sunset

Check out this beautiful sunset from our backyard. It looks better in real life because you can see the reflection off of the Great Salt Lake.

Can't sleep

I am up again when I should be in bed. It is 4:30 am. John peed in his bed and had to be "completely "changed, bed and all. I need to break down and buy more pull ups. I swore I would never be a consumer of pull ups. My other 5 kids were potty trained and slept through the night dry from day one. They also slept through the night from a couple weeks of age. NOT John!!!! We have heard his voice or footsteps almost every night since his birth 3 1/2 yrs ago. It is getting quite old. Adam is a light sleeper and gets woke up by John's nighttime escapades. We also have all hard wood in our entire upper floor and the sound echos horribly.
So here I am on the computer because I cannot fall back asleep. Chris could sleep standing up in the middle of the freeway, but not me. I wake up from a leaf falling off of the tree in the yard.
Speaking of yard....we can almost see all of ours. The snow is FINALLY melting. The boys were playing basketball on the court in the backyard yesterday. Yeah. But, there was a snow prediction for last nights overnight weather, but so far I only see rain when I walked past the window.
I have Joy School here in 4 1/2 hours and we are celebrating Easter. We are having an Easter egg hunt. I already have all of the eggs stuffed thanks to my kids help.
Last night we signed up our 4 biggest boys for baseball.(Adam will be in t-ball)There are 2 games a week per kid so you do the math....We will be living and eating out of the Suburban for 8 games a week, plus practices. Why did I do this to myself??? They are so excited though.
Has anyone out there ever made their own laundry soap? I know some of you are laughing, but I am serious. My old neighbor(of 10 yrs ago), Lynda, now lives here a couple miles from us and we have reconnected. She is the type of person you would want to be stuck with in a survival situation. She is so awesome.We are tempted to sell this house and move into the house next door to her. It is going to be for sale and our kids get along great. Well, she taught me how to make laundry soap with 20 Mule Team Borax, Washing Soda, and Zote Soap. It is so awesome and it really works. It comes out to be 1 cent a load!!!!!!!! If any of you can do math you know that is a heck of a lot cheaper than any store bought stuff. And with 14 plus loads a week at our house that is a good bargain! So if any of you all want to come to Utah I will give you a personal lesson on how to cook your own laundry soap. (: You do need an empty 3 gallon bucket, though. (:
This week has been non stop running....not as in a 5k, but in "Mom" running. Eye exam appts 3 days of this week with 3 kids needing new glasses, Joy school 2 days, tending 2 extra kids for 2 days, making meals for a family in our neighborhood with sickness, carpooling, dermatology appt for some freaky infection Adam has on his arm, scouts: we are going to the train museum tomorrow, exercising with a friend (with 3 kids under our feet), 2 days of piano lessons, baseball sign ups, Family Home Evening St Paddy's Day party, out to dinner with our friends, temple night , plus making meals for our house, and shopping (for food, not for fun). I really SHOULD be sleeping!!!!!!
O.k. I am going back to bed....
But, We are really excited because one of our old friends is coming to Utah next week.!!! Leslie Thurman (Gray) and her family will be in town. It will be such a treat to see them. Yeah!...I have something to look forward besides washing all of the peed out sheets and blankets that I just shoved down my laundry chute. (:

Snowmobiling in Yellowstone

Chris and his good old friend Brett went snowmobiling 2 weeks ago to Yellowstone. Here are a few pictures.

Old Faithful

my bday

Check out my birthday brownies. John got to them while Chris and I were talking to our friend. That's what we get for not putting them in a vault.
the#5 candle is for 7x5=35 we didn't have enough brownie available to stick 35 candles in.
Ryan made this for me for my bday.

Joy School

Seven little boys here with me all morning. They were very hyper, but very cute. I was VERY JOYful when I said goodbye to them all at 11:30. I do not know how a mother of septuplets would survive without help.

St Patrick's Day

We had so much fun yesterday and I didn't get many pictures. Here is Katie before school at 6:30 am. Thanks to Gramma Betsy for the awesome socks!!!! They were a hit at school.

Here is Johnny helping to decorate for our Family Home Evening party with our friends David and Lynda and their 4 kids.We had corned beef and cabbage, Irish soda bread, green drinks, green jello and green cookies for dessert. It was so much fun. We had Irish music and played "Irish hot potato" while Lynda and her daughter played the violin and the Irish drum._

I wish we would have taken pictures of the decorations and the party! ): We got too busy trying to feed all of the kids.

Little Drummer Boys

Ryan had an African drumming performance on Friday. He did so well. I think it is in his blood.(from Daddy) Here are some pics of he and his friends and John and Adam hopping on the drums at the end of the show.

Steven

Steven has been learning about engineering in Cub Scouts. Our friend ,Jerome, who is an engineer for the F22 jets came over to teach him a few things. I learned a ton just observing.

Lucky Dragon Droppings with Special Sauce

The Cub Scout's Blue and Gold Banquet's theme this year was Chinese New Year. Each father and son were supposed to make a dessert together for a contest. Leave it to my husband to come up with an "authentic" chinese dessert. LUCKY DRAGON DROPPINGS with SPECIAL SAUCE. a.k.a a pile if chocolate cupcakes drizzled with chocolate glaze. Here they are making them.
The best part of the deal..... licking the spatula! Too bad it was 7 am when they made them.

Boy Oh Boy

Boy Oh Boy have I been busy! As I predicted I did not have much time to update my blog this last week. Having 8 kids is no small task!!! Applause to all of the moms of large families out there. We have had sick kids ALL week. Fevers, coughs, runny noses,tummy aches, and tonight the first VOMIT of the week. I went in to rub vapor rub on Caleb's chest and he had thrown up on the bed and I sat in it. I didn't turn on the light because John had just fallen asleep and I didn't want to risk waking the giant. So I had to strip down Caleb, the bedding, and then myself. It was a lot of fun for a Friday night.
Chris is out of town until Sunday night. He and his old friend Brett Black went to Yellowstone National Park to go snow mobiling. I am so happy he got to go because he really NEEDS a break more than anyone I know.(besides myself) (: He has been working so hard lately at work and home and school. He was out late last night helping the boys(Steven and Ryan) make their Pinewood Derby cars for Scouts. The race is next week. I was asleep by the time he came in and started packing to leave early this AM. He was so sweet to pack in the dark with only the bathroom light on so I wouldn't wake up. Since the light was off he did not see the wool socks laid out for him and proceeded to go down to the basement and hunt for 2 more pair. I saw them laying there when I woke up this morning and he was already gone.
Alex and Katie went to the school dance tonight and now Kathryn is sitting here telling me all about it while I am writing this. It is so cute to see her so excited. She looks so beautiful. She said she danced with 4 boys. (: Wow....my little girl is growing up.
All in all it has been a sweet week. I have loved having Caleb and Ella here with us. Having a baby in the house has been awesome. The big kids have been so much help.I am so thankful to have great helpers. I love all of my kids.
This week Alex signed up for the Jr. Lacrosse Team. He is really excited and I am so proud of him. He wanted to go out for baseball, but he and his friend decided to try lacrosse. We will see how it goes.
I gotta run and pick up Alex from a friends house up the hill. I will try to write again soon.

Oh yeah, our dishwasher broke this week. We are waiting for the part to come in. It has been so interesting to see our kids LEARN to do dishes the old fashioned way. And also our upstairs heater went out. Luckily it has been warmer... 20-30's at night. The guy came and fixed it this morning.Yeah!

And Another one for Rex and SueZan

Here is Katie playing with Ella


The boys were playing hide -and- go -seek and just found Steven in the closet. (:Claeb was a little scared and almost knocked Adam over while hugging on to him. It was sssooo cute.

Another one for SueZan and Rex

Ryan insisted on saying hi to you, too. Ebony and Ivory
side by side on the piano
Caleb and Johnny getting ready to make cookies with Alex.
Yummy....chocolate chips

For Sue Zan and Rex

Here is Ella...happy girl Messy munchkin
Hi Dad!
Hi Mom!
Sweet big brother.

Hey everyone ! We are watching our friends 2 little ones for 10 days while they are on a cruise. I am posting pictures on my blog so they (SueZan and Rex) can check them out while they are away this week. Kaleb is 3 and Ella is 1. Aren't they cute??? We have loved them being here since Friday. It is so FUN to have a little baby girl in the house!!