Do You Know Me?

I'm going to step way outside the box today and link up with the Ultimate Blog Party 2013 since I got a personal invitation from Susan and Janice. I thought it might be fun to try to introduce our family to new and old readers without boring anyone. Think that's possible? I'm going to try anyway.

My name is Sandy although it's spelled S.a.n.d.r.a. Only my mom got away with calling me that. I was named after her best high school girlfriend after a long, drawn out discussion with my dad. His favorite name, Cindy, went to our new milk cow. That's kind of how things worked at our house growing up.

My dad taught math and drivers ed at our local high school. He also had a small farm with cows and sheep and occasionally other animals. I was the 4th child of 8, 5 girls and 3 boys. I like being part of a big crazy family and decided I definitely wanted one of my own when I grew up.

Fast forward to 1983. I was a senior in high school, but since I tend to be a super-over-achiever, I was also taking classes at our local community college. My goal was to graduate from both at the same time. I signed up for a Survey Chemistry class where I made friends with the Lab Assistant. (How else was I going to pass Chemistry??) I eventually accepted a secretarial job for the Chemistry Professor giving me an even better opportunity to spend time in the Lab. I married my Lab Assistant in September after I graduated.

We ran off to college, he eventually became an engineer and I earned my MA in Literature. I had always planned to be a writer, but right out of school I had to get a quick job and I accepted the first writing position I could get as a Technical Writer. That lasted for 10 years along with some part-time teaching for roughly those same 10 years. By then we had 7 children and all I wanted to do was stay home and be a mom.

Now we live in the suburbs in the Salt Lake valley. We've added a few more kids, finishing up with a nice even dozen, 8 girls and 4 boys. (We had to keep the 2/3 majority, of course.) I started blogging in January of 2011. Once I had grand illusions of making money on my blog, but now I just write for fun.

You could read about the kids on the About Me page, but just to make things easy, I will give you 10 seconds of the most current info on each one of them.

Bossy is our firstborn and is married to Gamer. They have two boys together, Taco and Burrito, and Gamer has three other children from former relationships. Bossy has a BS in Social Work and she is employed by the State of Utah. Gamer works for a large paint store and goes to school full time. They live just down the street and I watch the boys before and after school.

Next is the Gym Rat. He works as a loan officer for a bank and he is nearly finished with his BS in Business. In his spare time he likes to lift heavy things and hang out at the gym.

Drama Queen teaches high school English and Film Studies in a small town in central Utah. She loves music, movies, reading, writing and Tupperware. I love it when she comes home for the weekend!

Teach finished her degree in Elementary Education but decided to go on a mission for our church before she starts teaching. She recently landed in Ft. Worth, Texas, and will be there for 18 months.

The Dog Walker is 19 and just started a new job in freight for the local WalMart. He is working on his generals at the community college and he owns his own dog-walking business. He is also mild to moderately autistic. He longs to be famous! He would love it if you would take a second and click on his blog button too.

Princess is 16 and a sophomore in high school . She loves to dance and she has had her pointe shoes for almost 5 years. She just passed her driver's test, earned her Girl Scout Gold Award and is a straight A student.

Prima Donna is 14 and a ninth grader. As a straight A student, she loves school and was just chosen as the Student of the Month. She dances, does theater, plays the clarinet, and plans to be a history teacher when she grows up.

Crafty is 12 and also a dancer (do you see a trend here?) and a reader. She loves hanging out with friends and working at the preschool during her off-track times. She is an excellent student and she plays the clarinet.

Sport is 9 and he loves all kinds of sports but his top four are football, basketball, baseball, and soccer. He is currently playing baseball. He also likes Cub Scouts, cars, Legos, and playing the trumpet.

Scout is 7 and she is playing her first year of softball. At the moment she is playing shortstop and loving it! She also loves Girl Scouts, Jazz, Ballet and basketball, but NOT early mornings.

Curly is 4 and just finishing up preschool. He is playing baseball in the "big" leagues just like his brother this year. He can't wait to join Scouts (either boy or girl scouts!) and he also loves cars and Legos.

Baby Doll is 2 going on 14. She pretty much runs the house and we let her. She would have made a really good oldest child. She loves church and her nursery class, nail polish and high heels. She loves to sing and participate in whatever the big kids are doing.

So there you have it! Our family in a nutshell. A very BIG nutshell. I hope you weren't incredibly bored, but I figure if you were, you will never read this sentence anyway because you would have taken off long before you got this far. Come and hang out with us. I try to post every day. I worry that if I miss, I might not remember to come back. They say that the more babies you have, the more brain cells you lose, and I believe it!