Family picture attempts

This time of the year makes me cringe...that is, at taking pictures of my GIGANTIC family!  Not only do I need to think what will everyone wear, but does everyone have the same color.  The answer is always NO...so we usually choose two colors....this year it is black and white.  There was a bit of pressure this year on the photo as last year seemed to bring in lots of comments: 

Our kids' dentist has the photo up and he tells us not one day goes by without someone commenting on the photo and how awesome it looks.  The photo was taken of us laying on the ground in our front yard on an incline...the camera was looking down at us; it was still fall time and great colors.  Anyhow...it was a hit and everyone loved it.  This year may not be as exciting, but at least they are closer shots of our faces to see how the kids have grown and, of course, how Gordon and I have aged raising 7 kids....ugh!  We took many attempts and my idea was to get a photo of all of use holding each other....showing the love we have in our home. 

Well, it was Gordon's idea to send the one where I am making an impatient look at him, Meredith is sticking out her tongue, and the other kids looks depressed...he said, "Let's show them how much love we REALLY have in our family." So funny!

Now it is hard to pick the right one as we now have the kids' commenting on the photos and you all who have teenagers know how critical they are of themselves.....Well, I will just get some of each and everyone will be happy!!! So, here is to our 2008 Family Pic....Merry Christmas! 

How Gordon and I began our eternal journey.....

Sometimes we forget the details of how we and our spouse began or the words that were said and what not....I was thinking about this the other day because I could not remember what Gordon said to me when he asked me to marry him...well, at least word for word.  Luckily, I had a journal back then and I found it!  It was so neat to open it up and see the handwriting and the memories.  I read my testimony of the Gospel during that time and saw how sweet it was too.  

Gordon and I met at Broadway Department Store.  I worked in the cash office running all the previous day's money and Gordon worked on the dock (he was home for the summertime from BYU).  I remember seeing him one time walk by the gift office where I was helping wrap presents as they were short on employees.  As he walked by, I thought to myself....WOW!  He has a nice butt!! (Excuse me, but I was single and looking for a man!!!)  I asked the girl I was working with who that was...she told me his name was Gordon and he was here for the summer and he was engaged.  I was so sad to hear that...not that it mattered, I was still out of his league as.  Men who were that good looking never looked my way......boo hoo!  Well, the next time I saw him he came in carrying a television and I was there and he lifted it so I could wrap it. Oh man, my heart was pounding so fast...I did not even say one word....BUT, neither did he; again confirming I was out of his league.  I found out he played college volleyball and that made it even worse because I LOVE volleyball and played in high school.  A few days later, I handed him his paycheck at the cash office and he actually said hi to me....woohoo!  It wasn't until the next week that a mutual friend of ours (she worked in lingerie :) ) introduced us and asked if we both would go see another mutual friend who was in the hospital.  Gordon looked at me and said, do you want to go...and I, of course, said sure...That was the beginning of a great adventure!!!  After that, we talked every day and went to the beach and drove around looking at houses around Sola Beach and just had fun.  He got me playing volleyball with some of his friends and I loved it.  What was so neat about all of this is he really wasn't engaged, but he was waiting for a girl who was soon to return off her mission..so he felt committed to that and I respected that....that gave room for a wonderful friendship with no expectations.  It was great!  He soon went back to the Y and he called me a couple times just to say hello and see if I was still playing volleyball with his friends...I told him I was and actually went on a couple dates with his friends as well!!! (I wonder if he was jealous....)  From what I understand, this girl came home from her mission and they dated seriously for a while but it just did not work out...Gordon felt she was not the right one for him (perhaps he had that sweet little red head on his mind all the time...hee!).  He called me up the beginning of December and told me he was going to be home on December 19th and was wondering if he could take me out on a date.  I told him I would love to do that! The night he came home he actually came to my apartment to see me....we kissed of course!!!  It was magical and we saw each other every day!  We were at the beach with Gordon's sister and some of her friends on New Year's Eve.  We had a bon fire and all and it was great!  I love the beach at night...that is my favorite place to be...on the beach at night and he knew it!  He asked to go for a walk and I agreed.  Soon after walking he stopped me and said to me, "Leesa, my life would be boring without you; in fact, my whole life would be boring without you.  Will you marry me?"  Oh man...I was melting...I jumped into his arms, hung on tight, and whispered in his ear, "YES!"  That was so romantic and such an original statement!  He did not have a ring at the time and he apologized....but that did not matter; I did not care one bit and it actually did not even come to my mind!  We went out shopping for one the next week...it is humble, yet sweet!  We made plans for our wedding to be held on March 7, 1992.  Wow....things were moving so fast, but it did not matter; it felt right and it was right!  Here we are today reaching our 17th year of marriage this coming March. Much has happened and many adventures have been shared!  We have been very blessed with a marriage full of love and excitement....not even one fight!!  Sure we disagree on things, but never have we fought with each other, yelled at each other, or even called one another a nasty name...that is what I call a fairy tale marriage, and I will take it any time!  I sure do love that cute guy who walked past me that one day! Come to find out, Gordon felt the same way about me when he first say me...he saw me and thought I that cute, tiny (yes I was tiny back then!) red head would never give me the time of day and that I was out of his league....he said he was so nervous when we were wrapping that TV together and he couldn't say a word because he was sooooo shy!  Believe me, he was too shy for my liking, but I have worked on him a bit. Sweet memories to come....

FIVE- Pound Challenge!!!

I had my first session with the trainer at Rush Fitness this morning; I decided I needed some help besides pounding the trails to lose some weight...the trails were building  my endurance, but I was losing no fat.  So, I was quite nervous, but it was so fun!!!  The trainer worked me real hard and I loved the feeling....from crunches throwing a medicine ball to a full on circulating ladder to weights, I was sweating and getting a great core workout!  So, my challenge to myself is to lose at least 5 pounds by Christmas....I think that is do-able!  So, am not making any high expectations that I cannot meet, but I feel this is realistic considering I meet with the trainer twice a week, run three times a week, and stay away from the COOKIES (oh no....)  Does anyone want to join the challenge??  Oh...I forgot....all my friends are ripped and HOT!  So, I guess I just need your rooting and cheerleading!!!  

Random holiday questions!

I saw this on Shena's blog, so I thought I would copy it from her and add it to my blog for fun....

1. Wrapping paper or gift bags? wrapping paper
2. Real tree or Artificial? Artificial  9 foot prelit 
3. When do you put up the tree? Day after Thanksgiving
4. Do you like eggnog? Yes...my father loved it and I adopted the same taste for it!!!
5. Favorite gift received as a child? rollerskates
6. Hardest person to buy for? Gordon
7. Easiest person to buy for? My friends
8. Do you have a nativity scene? Yes...small one with a wooden stable that sits on the credenza
9. Mail or email Christmas cards?  Mail, of course!  Why ruin Christmas....
10. Worst Christmas gift you ever received? A book
11. Favorite Christmas Movie? Elf
12. When do you start shopping? November
13. Have you ever recycled a Christmas present? No...cannot say I have recycled any gift
14. Favorite thing to eat at Christmas? Ham
15. Lights on the tree? White since last year...colored the past 16 years.
16. Favorite Christmas song? What Child is this? 
17. Travel at Christmas or stay home?  Do we dare go anywhere with 7 kids??? 
18. Can you name all of Santa's reindeer's?  Only about half of them...was never good at that
19. Angel on the tree top or a star? Star
20. Open the presents Christmas Eve or morning? One Christmas Eve and the rest Christmas
21. Most annoying thing about this time of the year? Crowds and rude, greedy people
22. Favorite ornament theme or color? It's all kid stuff right now...that is the season we are in!
23. Favorite for Christmas dinner? Honey Baked Ham
24. What do you want for Christmas this year? My own iMac laptop
25. Who do I tag? Devon, Keri, Susan and Dede

We gave our kids' their names because.....

OK...here is to another great blog idea from my friend Devon!  Thanks Devon....before I know it, with your help, I will have an ongoing successful blogging site!!!  This is great journaling!

Why did we give each of our kids their names...let me see if I can remember:

Jeffrey:  It was between Jeremy and Jeffrey and he looked like a Jeffrey...strong masculine name that we both liked.  Gave him the middle name of Robert after Gordon's father.  Come to find out, we forgot Gordon has an older cousin whose name is also Jeffrey Robert.  Our Jeffrey and cousin Jeffrey met several years ago and that was a neat experience to see both of them admire their names.  

Nathaniel:  We had a list of names coming into the hospital, but none of them seemed to fit Nathaniel.  Gordon went down to the gift shop and purchased a baby name book...we searched through the whole book and after two days we found the name, Nathaniel, and we both loved it and gave him that name...Grandma Virginia said his name was bigger than him!  Gave him his middle name of Loren after my father.

Hannah:  I have always loved the name Hannah and I believe it is my great-grandmother or great, great-grandmother's name....so a family name for her.  Her middle name was kind of tough.  I wanted Marie after my Grandma Minnie Marie, but Gordon did not like that name, so we decided on Nicole as it sounded nice.

Jared:  Again, it is so hard to name boys!  It is so easy to come up with girl names....took us awhile again, but we have a thing for "j" names...we both liked the name Jared.  We gave him the middle name of Gordon after his Daddy.

Noelle:  Well, I bet you can guess why we named her Noelle.  Actually we had considered a lot of names that were very pretty and would have suited her well, but since she was due on Christmas (came on the 22nd) we were going to name her Paige Noelle....Gordon thought about it and really wanted her to be Noelle Paige, so that is what we named her.  Paige is just a pretty name I liked for a girl.

Meredith:  Another beautiful name I have always loved for a girl!  I choose this one before she was even born which is unusual because we never decided until after the baby was born.  We did not know she was a girl though but had not decided on a boy's name.  Funny thing is our OB's name was Mary and nurse who helped delivered was Marilyn, so they both got a kick out of us naming her Meredith...similar in name.  We gave her Amelia for her middle name because that is also a name I found in my geneology.

Levi:  It was between Broch, Broden or Levi....Gordon really liked Broch, but I held my ground in the end and said I wanted to name him Levi and since this was our last baby I kind of asked if I could name him.  If Levi was a girl the name would have been Annalise after me...Gordon wanted a baby named after me...so Leesa Ann backwards would have been Annalise.   We gave him the middle name of Jacob at first (another J name...) but Gordon came back the next morning and said he wanted to make sure this baby was named after me and we gave him the middle name of Bogart which is my maiden name.  

So, there you have it....how our kids received their names!!!

Gordon's Surgery Date

So....after like sitting in the doctor's office for what seemed like an eternity...(I was home waiting for Gordon to get here...his appt was at 2:15 and he did not get home until 5)....his surgery date is scheduled for December 22nd.  Go Figure????  Why  so long...man, is there a lack of surgeons who take out gallbladders or has our diet today caused all these gallbladder attacks - something to think about!!!  AND....this will take place on Noelle's birthday which I am sure will not be a pretty day...I mean, anyone who knows Noelle and her beautiful, sassy, stubborn, independent personality.....she may have a few words to say.  SO, we are celebrating her birthday early.  OK...back to Gordon - he is not in much pain anymore...I think the stone dislodged itself and is now floating around with the other stones.  I guess the only thing that would get him to have the surgery earlier would be for him to have another attack which I am sure he does not want EVER AGAIN.  We will keep you posted...to those who actually read my blog!!!

Update:  Surgery is scheduled for December 22nd.