home....with 13 of us!

when gigi comes to town everything is better. tt didn't leave her side, or gigi's lap for several hours the first day she got her.  it really breaks my heart that these girls are no long just a tiny car ride away from their favorite people, cousins and grandparents.  but we will have to get some good substitutes while in texas.

this is a bad picture but pretty much how the nights looked around our house.  poor jo and manda slept on the floor and only had 1pillow for 10days....that shows you how much they love me, they would sleep on rocks if it meant we could be together.

mckena and reese taught the twins 'double double this this, double double that that.'

literally one day tenley came up to me and wanted to do it.  these girls are like sponges soaking everything up, i can't believe how smart they are.  

trying to get a group picture with 7 kids under seven was pretty much impossible.

1-7yr old, 3-5yr olds, 1-4yr old, & 2-2yr olds.

and it wouldn't be a party if there wasn't dancing going on. 

 sorry for the pose, but this girl can dance!

and even though we have a house that has 4bedrooms the kids always seemed to be right by each other none stop, breathing each others air and bugging each other 24/7.

tenley has really taken to my 85yr old grandma the great.  it was fun to see them interact, but tenley was a little rough with her i thought she would break her because she always seemed to run and jump right into her lap!

having a full house with kids and my amazing sisters was the best thing for a successful move to texas.  it really let me settle in slowly and my sisters helped me find all sorts of fun things around town.   spence had been in our house for 2wks so when we arrived we just needed adjust things and hang pictures.  my sister jo is a interior decorator at heart and really knows how to put things together.  so glad that they came to help me get adjusted to texas, i couldn't have done the move without them.  jo and i flew with our kids from the Provo airport to denver and then down to austin.  i was too nervous to fly alone with the twins so jo came and made a family vacation out of the move.  it really meant a lot to me that they would take time off work to come to hot texas just to make it easier for me. ....can you see now why its hard to move away from such

an amazing family. (don't worry i'm already planning a trip home to visit in dec)

 we also got a great laugh because we have such a humble home....in our bed room alone the dresser, desk, book shelf and bed sheets are all hand me downs from my sister amanda. the tv, cribs, clothes, toys, chairs, kid stuff are all also hand me downs from my sisters...so we still have a humble home an unless its $20 at a yard sale or free it won't be in our house.:) spence and i both think that is great, its who is in a home that makes it, not what is in the home!  in fact the best thing about this house is it has a dishwasher and we finally have enough kitchen utensils and plate ware to actually use it! best thing ever.