Announcing the arrival of

Holly Faith Spendlove

December 22, 2008

1:54 p.m.

7 lbs 3 0z

19 in

American Fork, Utah

It had been a long hard 9 months and I must admit I was thrilled my blood pressure was high and I needed to be induced!

Vaughn had to wear a mask and gown.

The baby was breech so I had my first c-section.

Noelle thinks "Dad looks like a lunch lady!"

I was sad I couldn't hold my baby right away.

Finally!

It was all so worth it!

The weather outside was frightful the day Faith was born so by the time the Vaughn was able to bring the kids to the hospital to see their new little sister they were unable to see her up close because she had been moved to the NICU.

Our Family Welcomes Xiaoyi!

On August 14 Vaughn, Ashley, Cami, and I went to Maeser's Back to School Night. While Ashley and Cami socialized and I waited in the long lines to pay fees and get schedules, Vaughn wandered around the school. He came across a stack of papers that contained profiles of students from around the world who wanted to be foreign exchange students but still needed host families. A cute girl from China, Xiaoyi, really grabbed his attention. He brought me her profile and told me, "I really think we should do this!" It didn't seem very feasible. Sure it would be fun BUT...We have 7 children already! I am expecting in January! and we aren't exactly made of money! How could we host a foreign exchange student!?!

We called the phone number of the Nacel Open Door Representaive anyways "just to see" what it all entailed and ... it sounded like a lot of work... forms to fill out, a home visit, a background check.... Vaughn and I AVOID extra work so we decided not to bother, "We had enough on our plate already and besides, on Nacel's website it didn't even look like Xiaoyi still needed a host family and if we were going to do this we had our hearts set on her!"

The Rep didn't give up like we had. She somehow managed to get us excited enough to at least fill out the forms. Then she invited herself on over to do the home visit. I had to beg for a day to clean! She wanted to come in an hour! We must have passed the background check because on August 26, Vaughn received an e-mail from Xiaoyi thanking us for being her host family!

We picked Xiaoyi up at the airport on Thursday, August 28 (only 2 weeks after first looking at her profile)!

And I must say it has been a WONDERFUL EXPERIENCE to have Xiaoyi as part of our family! I stongly feel Heavenly Father has had a hand in this arrangement. I am very grateful to Him for making it all work out so well.

Too Sick to Blog!!!

As much as I have enjoyed blogging, for right now due to "morning" sickness that lasts all day I don't feel up to blogging or anything else. Hopefully I will be able to resume living in a few more weeks.
Yes, if you haven't already heard, this is an announcement! I am expecting my last baby the first part of January!!!

Spendlove Family Dinner

We had the Spendlove family over for dinner Sunday evening. We celebrated Katarina's, Rebekah's, Enoch's, Derek's, and Josh's birthdays! It was fun to see everyone again! We missed Larry,Venise, and Will.

All of the cousins

Another Softball Update

Some of us are spending a lot of time at the ball park. It's been fun to watch Cami play. On Monday the Indians won their game against the Blue Jays 13 to 12! On Wednesday it seemed they were going to win again against the Gators. They were ahead the whole game until the last inning and then nothing went right for the Indians. The final score was 10 to 17. Oh, well we can't win them all.

Happy Birthday to Enoch!

Enoch the day he was born

May 11, 2006

Happy Birthday to you!

Happy Birthday to you!

Happy Birthday dear Enoch!

Happy Birthday to you!

Sweet little Enoch turned 2 on May 11, Mother's Day! What a blessing he has been to our family! We are so grateful Heavenly Father sent him to us!

Enoch blowing out the candles on his cake!

Our Weekend

We had quite the weekend!

Vaughn lined his sister, Debbie, up with Steve, a friend from work. So on Friday night Vaughn and I went on a double date with them to The Gateway. We ate dinner at Biaggi's Italian Restaurant, and watched Ironman. It was an enjoyable evening for me, except I slept through some of the movie!

That night Ashley went to a school dance with her friends. When she got dropped off at home she found the door locked. She borrowed a cell phone and called the house and she and her friends pounded on the door but nothing woke Josh, Rachel, Rebekah, or Enoch. (Cami and Noelle were tending Preston and Katarina at Debbie's house.) So she got to have a sleepover! When Vaughn and I got home we found a note from her on the door and heard her message on the phone: "Hello, wake up! Come let me in!...."

On Saturday morning, Vaughn went to work. I went to pick up Ashley. And Noelle fell into our deep window well head first! Miraculously she wasn't seriously hurt. She got a bloody nose, and a small cut on the bridge of her nose. Cami and her friend Meeghan were the ones who handled the crisis. When Ashley and I got home they had her all cleaned up and feeling better. Now Noelle's nose is slightly swollen and a light purple in color.

Shaylee, Aubrey, and Chance came to play on Saturday! Everyone was excited except for Chance. He wanted his mom!

Our awesome new neighbors invited us to come over Saturday afternoon for a barbeque. They didn't even care that we had 4 extra kids (Meeghan, Shaylee, Aubrey, and Chance) . They still wanted us to come! We had a great time getting to know them a little better and the food was great!

Saturday evening we went to the park with the Kearl family. Everyone came except Uncle Rich. Grandma Kearl prepared a picnic dinner. Thanks Mom! We celebrated Mother's Day and Enoch's and Aubrey's birthday.

Enoch hanging out in the swing

Rachel (above) and Rebekah eating cake

Enoch enjoying his birthday cake

Josh did 25 push-ups! I can't even do one.

I think I will take on the challenge and learn from Josh's example to do 25 push-ups!

Here's my goal: 25 push-ups by August 1, 2008!

Noelle being pretty even with a sore nose!

Naaman, Ella, Dad and Tyler

Jodi in the background and Mom

Marci and Amy cleaning up!

Kasen wrapped up in his blanket

Mother's Day was great! The High Priests and the Elders ran Primary so I got to go to Sunday School and to Young Womens with Ashley and Cami. The YW leaders prepared a special lesson and light lunch for the girls and their moms. Thanks to all the High Priests, Elders, and YW leaders!! It was a real treat!

After church Vaughn and the children showered me with cards and gifts and I got to relax the rest of the afternoon and evening.