It's been a while..

Whoa, why didn't anyone tell me it had been over six months since I last posted on this blog? As you can probably tell from my two other blogs, I love to write! The problem is...I am altogether too busy to do as much writing as I would like! I would like to say, however, that life is truly good. Our family is adjusting to all this togetherness in positive ways and I am truly, truly, grateful for all of the inspiration and help I have received from family, friends, cute husband and a kind and loving Heavenly Father. Without all you peeps I would be eternally lost.

Although, there has been an extremely large amount of things that have happened in the life of our family since I last posted....I am not going to post specifics. Alas, reader, there are just too many. I do promise that I will post in a more regular way and be more attune to my responsibilities to you, my faithful readers.

Therefore, I will end this post with positive thoughts sent your way and also a funny/darling/inspirational thing Avery said that has absolutely nothing to do with this post.....but...oh well.. LOL

Avery faked sick in a big way the other day. This is actually highly unlike her and I was surprised when I discovered her secret. She did this on a day I needed to be at school and there was nobody around to take care of her. She packed a "sick bag" and came with me for a day at UVU. While we rounded the corner of Santaquin and Payson she saw the temple under construction. She said, and I quote: "Mom, wouldn't living next to the temple be a wonderful experience?"

Touche, dear Avery, Touche...

Truth..

I couldn't say it better than Noah did..

Dazed and Confused....

...oh...nevermind...just nevermind.....LOLOLOLOL :-)

The Mandatory, Albeit Annoying, New Years Fam Update

HAPPY NEW YEARS PEEPS!
Here is my solution to the annoying family update letter. The one I LOVE getting from other people but am truly ANNOYED when having to write one of my own... :-/

I promise this will be quick and painless. ;-)

This has been a crazy year. It has brought a lot of changes and definitely much growth on my part especially.

This year my family grew from 5 Über awesome family members to 9 even Überier family members. ( I DO know Überier isn't even a word....so don't be feeling the need to correct my absurd usage of adjectives!!) :-)

I know I have written volumes of slightly stomach upsetting things about this new family situation so I will keep the nausea to a minimum and use just a few creative words for each person.

If you are reading this you are probably a dear friend. Know that you are loved and missed and I hope you have had a most wonderful holiday season filled with happiness, and surrounded by family.

Here goes:

Rust: Nose Job (much needed!!)

Barb: 4.0!!! Still!

Ashton: Got A Mustache...and a spot on the Varsity Wrestling team. 113 lbs!

Savannah: Became a Teenager (Need I say more?)

Dakota: Dancing Queen

Gracie: Sent Texting Forwards (ad nauseum)

Ridge: Belching (Cuz he's a boy!!!)... His words..

Avery: Stomache Ache (Cuz school takes tooooo long!!) ....Her words :-)

Cedar: Fashion (Wears everyone's clothes but her own!!! Shoes too! :-)

There you have it people!! Us in a nutshell.

Can't wait to read yours!!! :-)

all about Babbz (*Warning..Incredibly selfish post all about me!!! )

(DISCLAIMER: My life is NOT perfect...so don't even be thinking that it is!!! But here is what is good and extremely wonderful.... and I will admit that life seems just a little better than usual today because it was payday....LOL)

Hey y'all...so I' thought I'd update you a little about what is going on in my life.

First of all...today I took the plunge!!! Thanks to the Social Security Office worker I am now known by Mr. Obama as Bar-Fin!! (I am now officially Barbara Finlinson..LOL) Rust thought I was putting it off because I was still deciding if that is what I really wanted....... ;-)

AND...

Life is fab....!!

School Rox!!

Fam is the bestest!!!

and

Future looks and feels AMAZING!!


....my newest bit of news is that today Rust scared the holyiness right out of me. I went to the DMV to get my car registered... I told him what I was doing and apparently he quickly made a devious little plan. He called over there (Did I mention that he knows EVERYBODY in this town??? GOOD GRIEF!!) and told the lady working to watch for a girl with curly blonde hair and give her a hard time. Well sure enough when I got there I had just gotten up to the counter to pay when Rust and his crew walked in. They looked like their regular everyday, up to no good, selves so I laughed at them and unsuspectingly gave the lady my renewal papers. She looks me up in the computer and with the sternest of looks and voice told me that my car had been reported stolen, and that I could not drive away, I had to give her my keys and that the police would be notified that the car was there. Ummmmmmmm WHAT THE???? LOL I was freaking out, telling her that it was my car and that I didn't steal it and that I had NOT reported it stolen. I was panicking. All the while Rust sits down in a chair and looks concerned. I asked the lady if she was yanking my chain. I looked at Rust and then I looked at her and she, with a total straight face, said NO! Long story short, she busted up laughing and so did Rust and his crew and I knew I had just been played!! BIG TIME!! LOL I went right over to beat the living day lights out of him. But I was laughing so hard I had tears and couldn't really see him. That big NERD!!!!! Paybacks are not fun........ is all I can say!!!!

Anyways!!!!!!!!!!!! My biggest news was that I was a reporter last Friday!!! And I have to say that it was one of the funnest things I have ever done!!! For my journalism class we were given the assignment to go and interview the "Occupy Salt Lake" Protestors!!! They were at Pioneer Park in Salt Lake. (OK, OK, yes, I do admit to being afraid of that place my entire life!!) But can I just say I had a blast. I told myself that journalists have to be fearless and I went!! Even though I plan on applying to law school, I know that if worse comes to worse and I don't make it quite that far (although that is SO NOT happening!! I am totally making it that far!!!) I can be confident in the fact that I LOVE journalism and the adventure of finding the story!!

Here is a pic...



It inspired me!!! I have made it a long way since I started this journey of school.. It has taught me that I can do inconceivably hard things!!! I can juggle 500 different things at the same time. I can do anything and go as far as I want...It just depends on what I put into it!! I hope through all of this my children are inspired by the pricelessness (is that even a word?) of an education and what it does for a person's self-worth and what it teaches you about life!!

I have also learned that I have an insanely unselfish husband who supports me through all of this without one complaint. I come home to dinner and happy children. I adore him. He is a peacemaker and I so admire him for that. He is absolutely brilliant in everything he does and I love him more than anything in this world.

( but unfortunately...............I still hate laundry!!!)

Until next time, blogging world.....

-Babbz (Bar-Fin)

My Hub-- otherwise known as the "perfect man"

Just wanted to send a shout out to the man in my life! I used to think I knew what the perfect man was......I was so terribly naive!! And here is why...... I hadn't met my husband. It feels so good to be head over heels, dizzingly, disgustingly in love!! I mean...people are really in LOVE???? I had no idea! ;-)
-Barb
p.s. you can go and throw up now.... :-D

"Busy"-ness Equals "Happy"-ness...

ok.................................so BUSY really is an understatement!!! But Fun does not even begin to describe this summer so far. What have we done?? You might ask!! What haven't we done??? Fo' Realz!!! We were finally able to get all of the kids on Friday the 5th of August and we really haven't stopped going since. We started that day with a trip to Lagoon!!! Everyone had a blast. The little kids could not stop riding Bombora. I'll bet we rode that ride a good 5,345 times considering the fact that the ride itself is about 1.3 seconds of roller-coasting beach boys music fun and the line doesn't take much longer. Before that though we started off Lagoon with my patent-pending Lagoon ride order. See...the secret is....as soon as the gates open you run like a chicken without a head to the very back of the park to The Rattle Snake Rapids....and here's why......wait for it.....wait for it.......... Ummmmm there is no line!!! LOL! I know my insane brilliance even scares me sometimes... Anyway you can ride Rattle Snake Rapids 25 times if you so desire before you have to spend one minute standing in line. And if anyone has experience at Lagoon they will tell you that the Rattle Snake Rapids usually has a good 35 to 40 minute wait. I know...I know.... I am sure I will receive many tear filled thank-you cards in the future for this little jewel of a secret!! Ok.....I got off on a tangent for a minute.....Anyway.... We had fun. I would have to say my favorite ride is The Samurai... Ashton says his is either the Colossus or the Wicked. Although he did proclaim the Colossus as being "extremely old" considering the fact that it had been there literally since Lagoon had opened it's doors. (WHATEV!) I, being apparently "Extremely old" (according to Ashton and my dearest Hubs Rust) too, unfortunately remember the day the Colossus was the newest ride in the park!! LOL! Sigh......... So Lagoon was a blast!












During this summer extravaganza we also went to the Barbara Petersen Family reunion. Which was fun. There the girls sang in the talent show. Cedar and Avery sang "I am a Child of God". (And forgot a bunch of the words....I know, I know...you don't have to say it....I do get the mom of the year award!!! LOL) Savannah and Kenna sang a Taylor Swift song... and Gracie, Dakota and Ridge....did their amazing "pushed-out" laugh for the crowd. LOL LOL.... Ashton....well Ashton....ummmm Ashton watched. heheheheh....

Speaking of Ashton, he did his best at driving us all crazy this summer. With his trademark "Ridgy-Ridge!!!" and blanket fort dismantling he won the hearts of all and brought many a tear. ;-) He also became the "Professor of Backflips" on the tramp. He spent many hours coaching Ridge until Ridge was able to finally do a backflip. He also did his best with Savannah and Dakota... (and me...) But unfortunately we did not pass his class........LOL Although I did receive some sweet front-flipping skills... He also had my hot hubs show off his extreme back-flipping skills just to show me how lame I really am.....Thanks Ash!! Speaking of the hubs...he has no mercy during pillow fights on the tramp....just sayin'....

We did also attend the Juab county fair. We saw the R.C. cars race, we saw the Lead Line competition, the ATV Rodeo (BORING!!), watched Juab County Idol (LOLOL) and walked through all the displays. We watched the movie in the park at the fair. It started at 10:00 p.m. So we all showed up in our pajamas with a pile of blankets the size of Mt. Everest and watched "Mars Needs Moms" The movie was awesome! Just ask Ridge and I. Everyone else fell asleep...LOL After the movie Ridge proclaimed that they needed to do a second movie like that entitled "Mars Needs Dads." I emphatically agreed. We tried to go to the Demolition Derby but one event into it we were told to "Please DON'T Panic...but this is an emergency and everyone needs to exit the arena RIGHT NOW!!" LOL! So we did our best not to panic and went back to our car to watch the Demolition Derby get rained and lightninged out..... BOO!!!!

So here we are on our last week before school starts....blah!!! We are going to take Savannah to get shots. Do school clothes shopping for a herd of small human beings and hopefully go swim in Mona Reservoir.... Someone said there was a rope swing out there we needed to try out.....?????!!!
Then it's back to the pencils, notebooks and desks for another year! And even though life is the busiest it has ever been....It is the happiest too...... I hope you are all enjoying whats left of your summer too.... ADIOS!

p.s. There was some other craziness going on in the background too...here are a few pix....
Did I mention Ridge got two teeth pulled at Cedar View Pediatric Dentistry??? Yep...We did that too!! All 7 kids at the dentist at one time!! Doctor Tyler is the bomb!!

Gracie, Avery, Ridge, Cedar and Dakota all tried their hand at being Sheriff.... Rust wanted to but chickened out...(I still love him anyway ;-)...)






Savannah and Dakota had the bottom half of their legs amputated as well.......



Cedar and Avery were princesses and Ridge was their protector...with his weapon...(the green fish)

and on a side note I did ALMOST win a chocolate-cream pie eating contest at Doctor Tyler's house..... "ALMOST" being the key word. I was rudely reminded that second place is the first loser. The Hubs also came in second place in his pie eating contest... wish I had a pic of that!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! My daughter Savannah did however win her pie eating contest!! She makes her mother proud!! :-) LOL!! Dakota, Gracie, Avery and Ridge did good too! :-)

......and yes...the laundry did get done... ;-)