A Few Christmas Memories

So, here are just a few shots of our Christmas; a few of my favorites.

The girls in their Christmas jammies on Christmas Eve.

The girls all slept downstairs together and the next morning
anxiously awaited the "green light" to see if Santa came.

Truly one of my favorites. Hannah wrote a letter asking
Santa to leave his signature and was thrilled that he did!

Sophie and her Webkinz.


Hannah and her Zhu Zhu Pet.

Bella in one of her new outfits and her hat.
This hat has rarely left her head since Christmas morning.
She also got a mini Camelback and at one point was in the
outfit, hat and walking around the house drinking from her
Camelback {so funny}.


Mia and her new lapdesk or as she likes to think of it, her suitcase.
Yes, Santa thought this would be great because it stores writing & drawing
things under the desktop. However, for Mia, it is just another container
in which she can store all of her worldly possessions.

The girls with some of their holiday loot.
Specifically, their dog crossing signs {notice Bella's hat}.

Sleep...who needs it?

Well, the girls have been gone for almost a week and the house has been blissfully quiet. This is not meant to imply that I don't miss them, but a week of peace has been glorious! However, our four canine friends have been lost without their tormentors, oops I mean sidekicks. So, they have taken to sleeping with Justin and I every night. All four of them on our bed, every night. So while our days have been peaceful our nights have become restless and crowded with Justin and I jockeying for enough room to stretch out and enough inches of sheet to remotely cover ourselves. You might be asking yourself why we don't just lock them out of our room for the night or, at the least, kick them off the bed. The answer is simple: these dogs don't realize they are dogs, they think that they are people too and therefore is it is near impossible to convince them that they should not sleep in our our room, much less on a floor.

Great - there goes our week of peaceful sleep!

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A Final Farewell to Fat Ivan

Ivan in his "casket"


Bella laying Ivan to rest.


Sophie starting the burial.


Hannah taking part in the burial.


Mia taking part in the burial.



Fat Ivan, the beloved family guinea pig, passed away last night after a week long battle with a respiratory infection. It is so very sad watching the girls grieve for him {especially Sophie - the animal lover}, but they are beginning to understand that death is also a part of life and that he is not suffering anymore. Today we had a little memorial service for Ivan and buried him in our garden in the front yard. Hannah gave a lovely prayer {amidst sobbing sisters} asking God to watch over him, love him and to let him run around, squeak and play with his friends.
It was so sweet.

A sick guinea pig

It's a very sad time at our house right now; Fat Ivan, our black guinea pig who has been with us for 3.5 years is very sick right now. The vet office told us there's not a lot we can do - either he gets through this, or he doesn't, but it's really out of our hands. Sophie is taking it especially hard; she is the animal lover in our family. We talked about how all living things die eventually, and if he does there is a reason for it.

He did rally a little tonite after we cleaned his cage and he's eating more than he has for the past several days.

Christmas Lights

Here is a shot of the house!

Christmas Lights Are Hung

Well, we finally worked up the motivation to put the lights up this afternoon. We worked on cleaning the house this morning, and headed out after lunch.

This year we decided not to put the lights on the roof line, and instead decorated the trees and hedges. The deer are staked to the ground so anyone with a sense of humor won't be able to introduce them to each other.

Happy holidays!


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What a day!

Well, Thanksgiving has come and gone and we had a wonderful day! The weather was perfect; the food was plentiful & delicious; the company was great; the games were fun and the day was truly one to be thankful for. Below are some pics for you to enjoy!

Cute Kiddos

Tyler, Mia, Aubrey, Bella, Sophie & Hannah

Balloon Animals, Pictionary & Pigskin

Poppy kept the kids {both big & small} entertained
by making balloon animals and hats!

Our adorable {and smart}, 5-year-old niece drew this
picture of "GOBBLE". I guess we left out the direction

that no words or letters can be used! Too cute!

Uncle Zach & JTS playing a little football
in our gorgeous fall weather!

The natives were getting restless waiting for the turkey!

My oh my, we love pie!

Aunty Em LoVeS Nana's famous shredded apple pie!

A sick turkey

It has polka dots because Mia wanted to make it look sick.


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Making turkeys

Bella and Mia are making turkeys to help decorate Nana's house.


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I am thankful for...

Justin; a large, loving family-both near & far; four daughters that always keep me entertained; my parents; a roof over my head; a warm bed; the best friends ever; our zoo (aka Harry, Frasier, MacGregor, Finn, Fat Ivan, 3 fish & 2 frogs); a life, that no matter how crazy it seems, is full and rich; Rock Springs and the opportunities it has afforded our family; our upcoming Thanksgiving meal; Meme; Meemaw; Grums; vacations; and, Wyoming - an awesome place to live. Most especially, I am thankful for this life, it's right where I want to be!

I am thankful for...by Mia

I am thankful for turkey, chicken & steak (obviously, she's a meat eater). And I thankful for getting to hang upside down too. My pets, even Ivan. I am thankful for my mom and dad and sisters.

I am thankful for...

... A close and loving family;
... A good job that puts food on my table;
... The things that my kids say that make me smile;
... Thanksgiving Day football;
... Maggie's deviled eggs;
... Four furry dogs;
... Beer;
... Green bean casserole;
... Wyoming;
... A warm bed and flannel sheets;
... Warm summer evenings;
... Cold December nights;
... Maggie;
... America;
... Two sets of supportive and loving parents;
... Grums;
... An occasional day off;
... Today!


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I am thankful for...

I am thankful for my cell phone because when I am bored I can either text or go on youtube to watch numa numa guy. And when I take my cell phone to school I have something to do on the bus and on the way home when I get picked up. I am also thankful for my dog MacGregor. (fat-pat.) When I go to sleep I know I'm safe when he is at the foot of my bed. The last is my friends and family. because they love me and listen to me when I am sad. These are the things I am thankful for.

I am thankful for...

I am thankful for my family because they love me. I am also thankful for shelter. I am thankful for the food I get to eat.

I am thankful for...

I am thankful for my grandparents!!!

I am thankful for gymnastics!!!

by bella spicer

Mono's the word...

MONO. Seriously, I didn't know that you could even get that if you weren't sixteen! Guess what!?! You can and I have {with a sinus infection on the side}. Yep no more complaints of "I am so tired today" from me because being tired has taken on a whole new meaning. For the last 6 days all I want to do is sleep, in fact, it's darn near all that I do do. You would think I would be so well rested, but guess what...I am tired, STILL! Thank goodness my mom came up to rescue me so that my children can have some semblance of a functioning mother figure and so that my husband doesn't feel totally abandoned.

I love my mom!

So, I haven't been feeling great. OK, mild understatement, I have been feeling terrible for about 8 days now. Mom to the rescue! I love my mom. I love that I can call her and give her my pitiful sob story about how I need help and I LOVE that she comes! She's such a wonderful example of what a mom is and the kind of mom I want to be. She has helped us ferry kids, made dinner, grocery shopped and she's here for the week! The kids love having her and just having her here has made me feel better. So today, and always, I am so thankful for the love and strength that comes from family!

Regrouping on Sunday Night

We made it to Sunday night, but not without a casualty; Maggie had a flare-up of her ulcer, which put her down for the weekend. I played Mr. Mom for much of the weekend, shuttling the social butterfly Isabella to her various sleepover parties and trying to keep a lid on things.

Our friends, the Yeends from Laramie, were in town this weekend and we had a nice dinner last night with them. Their daughter Mackenzie and our Hannah are great friends, they spent every waking hour together.

Finally, Finn the pound puppy was having some "issues" related to his recent neutering procedure. Dr. Zancanella told us that he was not leaving it alone and we needed to put the lampshade back on him for a few days. Finn has now been running into walls, the backs of our legs, etc. since Saturday morning with the bucket on his head. It is sad, but kind of funny. He has to keep it on till Tuesday.

Busy week coming up - SLC on Tuesday, then back on Friday for the WWB fall board meeting. In between, lots of work stuff and things starting to get busy with holiday concerts and recitals.

-JTS

Party in the usa

This weekend I had two sleepover parties. One was a spa it was fun. After that I had to take a nap. It was not fun. The end by Bella Spicer

My Awesome Weekend

This weekend I got to see my best, best, best friend Mackenzie. It was awesome because we played monopoly and I was so close to winning, but she had to buy one last place. Anyway, we had a sleepover and in the morning her sister fell off the top bunk. Then we were all laughing so hard. Also in monopoly she cheated by taking all the money, but she didn't get all of it. It was so funny!

Happy Veteran's Day

I wrote a letter in honor of Veteran's Day and it was published in the Rocket Miner, our local newspaper. It also had a picture on it of a girl holding a flag saying "I'm proud to be an American." Here is what my letter said:

Dear Veterans,
My name is Sophia and I am in 4th grade at Sage Elementary. I would like to thank you for fighting for the freedom we have now. I know you've been through wounds and lots of loss of many people. The whole country thinks it was brave. But now we have the right to say "we are Americans and we are proud of it." We'd like to thank you for that.

Thank You,
Sophia Spicer

I wrote this story because one day in October, at school during free write, we had to write something based on a picture we were shown. It was of a man rock climbing. Yesterday I saw that story and I wanted to write another story. When I started writing this is what I ended up with.

The Unsuccessful Sticker Chart

So, Mia has some sleep issues. At the ripe old age of four and a half years old, she rarely stays in bed all night and I don't mean to imply she gets up once in a while. Oh no, we are talking she is up numerous times, so many that you lose count. Her reasons for getting up are as numerous as the times she gets up. She needs a drink, she needs to go potty, she has a blister, she had a bad dream, there is too much light, her nose hurts, there is too much dark, she wants her stuffed animals moved because they are scaring her and my personal favorite, she needs her back scratched! After trying many things {ok, after making some idle threats}, we decided to devise a chart the emphasized positive reinforcement. A sticker chart. Each row has four boxes and for every night that she stays in her bed all night, she earns a sticker. After four stickers, she earns a prize. Her prize of choice, a shake. Great, I thought! So easy! She's excited about it and agreeable to it. The first four nights go off {basically} without a hitch. She earns her first "prize" and everybody is feeling happier, because everybody is getting more sleep. Fast forward to today, week three of the flopping chart idea. I am looking back at those four, glorious, short-lived nights of sleep longingly. Mia has informed us she "has a great idea!" Hmmmm, I am thinking. "How about I stay in my bed all night when I am 5. That would be great!" She says it so excitedly. That is, until I realize she seriously thinks that it really is a great idea and one that she apparently plans on seeing through. Almost every night, she climbs into our bed, throws off the pillows on Justin's side of the bed and proclaims that "she is getting her side of the bed ready." She has also informed me that it would "great" if we {as in me and her} could just sleep together every day from now on and daddy can sleep in her bed. Well, at least I can "rest" assured that I am so loved!

A Needlessly Bad Road Trip to Laramie

Bella, Mia, Hannah and I took a trip to Laramie today to see our friends the Yeends, as well as to see the UW-BYU game. We left around 7:30am, swung by Starbucks for bagels and hot chocolate, and hit the road.

When we arrived in Laramie, Mia decided that she wanted to stay with the Yeend kids rather than go to the game with me - I was a little disappointed, as I thought it would be fun for her to get a little bonding time with her Daddy without her Mommy being around, but a little relief knowing how high-maintenance she can be. Kevin and Keaton and I headed off to the stadium lot and a little tailgating with the Pivics.

Flash-forward two hours, and the beatdown has begun. And went on for the next three hours (we left with a quarter left to go, something I rarely do). I picked up the kids and we headed back to the Rock.

Flash-forward 190 miles (of a 200-mile trip), and I managed to drive up on a Wyoming Highway Patrolman; not a good idea to cruise up to one of these guys when you're going Mach 5 and not paying attention to the guy in front of you. He slowed down, I slowed down, he headed for the side of the road, I headed for the side of the road, and the ticket was on. The girls have been present for enough of these that they know the drill - hide the weapons, hands up, etc. We did have a minor fracas in the backseat as Bella and Mia fought over a "stolen" cowgirl hat while the Trooper watched. I received my ticket, we drove the final 10 miles, and I was promptly narc'd out when we walked in the door.

So the final score was: BYU 52, Wyoming 0, Justin 1 ticket and a pounding headache.

We survived...even Harry!

Well, Halloween blew in and out of here like a hurricane! Four school parties, 5 additional parties and one Trunk-or-Treat event later, I am thankful we survived! After a crazy winter storm that arrived the week of Halloween, it ended up being a beautiful night to trick-or-treat and that is a rare event in Rock Springs. This year we had "Fancy Nancy" (a character from a popular series of books) complete with her sidekick "Frenchy" (aka Harry in a tutu, pink toenails and headpiece); Dorothy (who refused to keep her hair in braided pigtails); Disco Dolly and a very sassy Juliet. Can you believe the girls are already thinking about next year's costumes!?! I keep kindly reminding them that we have just barely recovered from this Halloween and asking if they could just let me survive the ensuing holidays before we fret about something a year from now!

very rood sub by Bella Spicer

today we had a sub she was very rood and she yells a lot but i didn't get in trouble but it was not fun in fact i wonder if she is hear tomorrow i don't want her hear nither mrs. borrders i just hope they are not hear tomorrow the end

by isabella spicer

9:00pm on Halloween Night

The kids have all been put to bed, despite the fact that their blood sugar is somewhere around the level of maple syrup and none of them can stop vibrating. It's hard to believe that, given the horrid weather we tolerated this week from the "storm of the century," we almost were able to trick-or-treat without jackets. I think we're all exhausted, which makes the fact that the clocks get to be dialed back tonight even better.

Had a job this morning to video a military funeral, something I've never seen in person before. The deceased was a WWII veteran who was given full military honors by the Naval chaplain from Riverton as well as the local VFW honor guard. Very neat, even if the wind and cold were almost unbearable. It's going to take some tricky post-production to clean out the wind noise from my mics.

Maggie's parents finally made it this morning from Colorado Springs after 27 hours of travel. The roads are still not great on the other side of the state, but they're open anyway.

How about a "Fun Free Halloween"?

I LoVe Dave Barry! And although he has retired from his column, I like to go to his website and read it. Justin has a desk calendar that is quotes from Dave and he brings them home periodically as they apply to us. So here is an excerpt from one of his old columns about how to provide your children with a "Fun-Free" Halloween:

1. Never allow your children outside on Halloween night.

2. Or in the daytime, either.

3. Your children should spend Halloween locked inside a windowless room, sedated and wrapped from head to toe in reflective tape.

4. If, God forbid, some neighbor, somehow, manages to actually give one of your children a treat, you must immediately snatch it away and destroy it with a flamethrower.

5. Never use a flamethrower while sleeping.

Honestly, don't we all wish we could actually do some of these things!?! Some years, by the time October 31st finally arrives, I am so Halloweened-out! From parties, to strolls, school events and the like (not to mention worrying about keeping them safe for the actual event), it's just a lot. Ahhh, the things we do for our children.

We are Suckers...

So you can see from Sophie's post that we added another furry animal to the family, and not another daughter. Finn (Really "Phineas" like from the kids' show "Phineas and Ferb") was in the paper Saturday as a dog that needed a home, we went and saw him this morning at the RS Animal Control office. He is a Cairn Terrier mix, which means he's similar to MacGregor except without the long jaws and snout.

So far, he's adjusting fairly well to the shock of being adopted into a family that already has four screaming-loud girls, three jealous doggy brothers, and very little chance to sneak off for a quick nap. Right now he's perched up on the couch watching football with me and snoozing.

I think he's going to fit in well, and at this point, can anything make our family more over-the-top? I don't think so.

Meet Finn...

Today after school, my parents told me that they had a big surprise. My sisters and I guessed cell phones and guinea pigs. Then my dad came home and we looked in the truck's windshield and saw a puppy. I screamed like there was no tomorrow. Then a fuzzy face hopped out of the truck. I grabbed the leash and walked in quickly. My mom gave me a hint earlier and said it started with phhhhh. So his name was Finn. My mom told me we rescued him from the pound. When my sister got home from gymnastics Finn was outside as soon as we told her she ran outside quickly and gave him a great scare. He sniffed her hand a while and he finally got used to her. Right now he's getting used to my poodle, Harry, my Scottie, MacGreger and my Boston Terrier, Frasier. He has been growling at our poodle. So that is my story for now bye!

A work in progress

I am new to blogging. Who knew you could add so much to your blog? Bear with me while I figure it all out. It's actually kind of addicting and already taking way too much of my time!

Hannah and the wrist incident.

Last week didn't go so well because I broke my wrist when I fell off the monkey bars at school. It didn't hurt as much as you'd think it would. How it happened was I was standing by my friend Parker by the monkey bars and they were very slippery and I said ''that looks like fun''. So I went over to the monkey bars and got in line. I thought that whenever I play freeze tag I always get frozen on the monkey bars and whoever is it always makes me hang by one hand. So, I thought I would just hang by one hand like I always do, but after I took one hand off, I slipped off! So, the monkey bars didn't end up being so fun after all.

The last lawn-mowing

We all went outside this afternoon and raked leaves (and doggy poop) and generally cleaned up the front and back yard - I even mowed the lawn. It's always kind of sad to know that this is the last time the lawn mower will be out until sometime in April; I don't mind working in the yard, and during the winter it's tough to be stuck inside not getting any sun or fresh air.

The nice thing is, the lawn looks good for the rest of the Fall now. We actually had some leaves this year thanks to all the trees we've planted over the past two years, so there was more to rake up.

One more week until Halloween, and daylight savings time ends next weekend, too. It's going to be another busy week of parties and meetings and whatever tends to come up. We were just invited to another party on Friday (that makes three we need to make), and the girls have two. I have a video job to work on Saturday in addition to the normal Halloween activities. Thank God I don't have to attend the AB meeting in SLC on Tuesday - that would have been too much.

How it started...

I recently read an article on the value and benefits of family blogging. We thought this might be a great way to share current events in our lives and allow the girls to document things that are of importance to them. So, here we go. Our goal is for every family member to post at least once a week. We'll see......