...he came downstairs last night and taped this cutest "Christmas List" on our hearth. I thought it was sweet... until I read the list... 
Dreamin Big!
Best part about this, making your own fortunes! They made up like 36, we ate some that night, then they passed them out to people at school... a few of their favorite fortunes:While those hardened, we moved on to EGG ROLLS:
Step 1: Veggies
Step 2: Stir Fry
(The essential ingredient is above, SESAME OIL, adds fab flavor!)
First, stir fry your chicken in sesame oil, remove, shred or cut in small pieces. Add all your veggies, with some salt and Ginger. Stir fry a few minutes until cooked, then add the cooked chicken and a little soy sauce.
Then you are ready to assemble the egg rolls!
(You buy egg roll wrappers from the refrigerator section of the grocery store.)
Scramble a raw egg... then to assemble, you get an egg roll wrapper, put filling in the middle, then using the egg to seal the egg roll, you fold it up!
After they are assembled... you fry them up!
(before and after)
To make the lo mein noodles, you use your left over filling. Fry some cooked thin spaghetti noodles in sesame oil, then add your left over filling, and some snap pea things...
Add some soy sauce to taste... and you have quite the scrumptious meal:
What a fun night!
Then afterwards, to work it off, we went iceskating!
And even Lily and my sister came too...
I titled my post "Everybody Wang Chung tonight" because that was a rockin 80's song- after I put it on my blog, I thought I should look up the meaning, you know, just in case... and it actually means:
"go out socially and have some fun"- PERFECT!
Everybody Wang Chung Tonight! :)
She was blessed by her wonderful daddy! 
It was such a beautiful blessing. My feelings of gratitude were so full. Before the meeting even started my eyes were brim with tears. Each time an extended family member walked in the chapel, to come and hear Sophie blessed, I teared up anew. I felt so thankful, that even with our 6th baby, people were still there to support us. It meant so much to me and my emotions were so tender. I have felt so humbled, since having Sophie. I feel more than ever my constant dependence on the Lord for strength. It has been such a growing experience for me. I have felt, more than ever, just how much the Lord blesses us with strength as we seek Him. I have been humbled because as I have brought on more things in my life, I realize even more so how much I cannot do this on my own. I feel so dependant on the Lord. I am so thankful for that. But it has also been humbling because I feel less and less able to "please" others, or meet expectations the world has (or what I think the world has of me as a woman). I feel in my prayers a stronger desire to just become more who God would want me to be, and please Him and let go of worrying what others think of me. As extra time has become more precious and rare, I feel this greater need to spend all the time I can on my family.
Our FIRST family picture with the 8 of us!
Look at my cute baby smiling!
....It's more often like this:
...but also often like this:
ha ha, never lonely, thats for sure!
Here is cute Sophie hanging with her dad on her blessing day, how lucky she is to have such a wonderful father... and look, he doesn't get to be alone on the couch either! ha ha
We love you Sophie!! 
Yesterday morning we woke up to such a beautiful sound... 
We lived in Colorado for 4 years while Bruce was in Vet School. I remember one of the first times it rained in the summer and I wanted to take my little Ashlin and run out in the rain... but to my shocking surprise... it was freezing cold!! We never could run out and play in the rain in Colorado.... that is one benefit of living in hot Arizona!
This picture Logan spent a long time making yesterday. He called it "D & L Extreme". He told me it stands for "Dallin and Logan". I thought it was so cute. I recently have been realizing that even though my children weren't born as close together as I had wanted (we had multiple miscarriages) they are still so close to eachother. Dallin and Logan are 5 years apart (Emma is in the middle of them) but they still play together a lot! Logan usually sleeps in Dallin's bed with him, because he says he's scared to sleep alone. The other night Dallin was doing Rockband with Bruce, so I put Logan to bed first with Lily in bed with him. I told Dallin as he went to his room, "you get your bed all to yourself tonight, Logan is already asleep with someone in bed with him". A few minutes later I went back to check on Dallin.... and he was sound asleep... where.... in bed with Logan and Lily. It made me smile
Sophie's first rain...
Then Ashlin and Macy had their own rain party on our deck with Lily. They took all of these pictures:
Loving the rain and moving on to fall weather... yeah!
...a tuesday night PARTY!!
Bruce likes to have himself some Fantasy Football, has ran the same league for a few years now, and loves the Live Draft Night...
All you need is some candy, pizza, wings.... 
some laptops...
...some guys in football attire....
...(a nice wife- ha ha) and some bumpin Sports tunes
.... and you got yourself a DRAFT PARTY
15 rounds of team picks...
....Can you FEEL the intensity???
Cheri and I laughed whenever we came in the room, because there aint no messin around about your draft picks, and besides the "Jock Jams" in the background, it was silent!
(Some serious contemplation going on)
Lucky for Ashlin and I, Cheri and Alyssa came with Jeff...
...so we had friends to chat with!
This also made Lily happy, because Cheri is Lily's primary teacher....
...Lily couldn't wait for Sis. Poulsen to get here!
We LOVE Cheri, she is THE cutest primary teacher, and a great friend!
(Notice lack of teeth below)
Logan still managed to gum down pizza and wings, even though he has lost 4 teeth in the last month... we keep asking him why he's letting all the teeth fall out of his head!
...and lucky for Sophie, once the Draft picks were over, she got some time in Grandpa's arms:
Draft Parties can really wear a baby out!
Good Luck this season boys!
(Picture by Dallin)
