New on The Spence Family--Snow for Snowmen and Snow for Shackleton

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New on The Spence Family--T Songs

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New on The Spence Family--Good Folks

http://fourspences.blogspot.com/2010/12/good-folks.html

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lazy today...

New on The Spence Family--Christmas Preparations

I made a goal this year. A goal that is probably the opposite of lots of people's Christmas goals. . .

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New on The Spence Family--Sixteen Grains and What Do You Get?

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New on The Spence Family--Happy Halloween!

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New on The Spence Family--Leaving London Friday

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New on The Spence Family--London Thursday Afternoon

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New on The Spence Family--Brighton Thursday

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New on The Spence Family--London Wednesday

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New on The Spence Family--London Tuesday

Photo by my dad

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New on The Spence Family--London Monday

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New on The Spence Family--London Sunday

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New on The Spence Family--T's 4th Birthday, In Not So Many Words

Our first morning in London was Tyler's 4th birthday. We celebrated by playing at the Princess Diana Memorial Playground (Peter Pan playground) in Kensington Gardens . . .

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New on The Spence Family--On to England

We rode along in the coach to the coast. The boys were very well behaved and kept busy coloring and playing. But as we were getting close to Calais, I noticed Jack and Tyler were getting more and more comfortable being themselves. They were getting a little too loud, and I was afraid they would be annoying to the others on board.

So, naturally, I offered them a bribe. . .

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New on The Spence Family--The Battle of the Somme

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New on The Spence Family--Amiens

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New on The Spence Family--The Last Day in Paris

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New on The Spence Family--La Tour Eiffel

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New on The Spence Family--A Day in Paris

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New on The Spence Family--Bonjour and Cheerio

We're home from a 2 week trip to France and England. We survived. We had no stolen wallets. There were no bomb scares. In fact, we had a jolly good time. The kids were marvelous. We had lots of compliments on how well behaved they were on airplanes, coach rides, and all. The only unpleasant thing was R getting dehydrated in Paris, where it was hot and we were walking a lot. Even the jet lag wasn't too bad for any of us (I took unisom and benadryl).

There are lots of photos. It is going to take me some time to sort through them. So, I am breaking down our trip into bits and pieces. I had hoped to post some while we were there, but it wasn't very workable, so here goes the first of a long series of posts.

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New on The Spence Family--At Last, and Backyard Campout 2010

http://fourspences.blogspot.com/2010/09/at-last.html

http://fourspences.blogspot.com/2010/09/backyard-campout-2010.html

I'm lazy today...the links are all you get.

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New on The Spence Family--A Request From Jack, and Labor Day Raspberries

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New on The Spence Family--An Empty Box of Legos for Christmas

I did something dumb.

I know that isn't all that uncommon, but this time it involves money. $43.15 to be exact. And what did I buy with my money? I bought a box of Legos, 32.90 plus shipping (a huge amount of shipping, I might add). I bought this one from 2004. It did seem to be a good deal, but from a site advertising 1/2 price deals, and reconstructed sets from the thousands of pieces of Legos they get... well, it seemed reasonable. I also looked on Ebay for it (after thinking it looked from the one site, not trying to have a collectors item) and one used set was going for $31, another NISB for $199. So, yes, it seemed like a good deal, but not that outrageous that it couldn't be true.

I payed with PayPal. I got a confirmation email from the seller. In it is said to check orders carefully in case there were any errors. I had already read the return policy on their website before ordering, which they claim to be very liberal because a lot of the orders are made by children who may not understand what they are ordering. (Ha! Children...It's lucky I am so bright and I can find a deal like this. Plus, if it's not right, I can just return it, minus the cost of shipping!)

But I started wondering why they put that warning out there in their email. I went back to the website, knowing that they categorized the items by: Lego Minifigures, Lego Bricks/Parts, Lego Set Boxes, Lego Instructions, Lego etc.

So? I ordered a Let Box Set, what could be the big deal? But then I realized what I had done. I didn't order a Lego Box Set at all. I ORDERED A LEGO SET BOX! A BOX. ONLY A BOX! for $43.15.

What in the world would I do with an empty Lego Box?

"Here you go, kids, Merry Christmas!!" . . . (more on Spence Family)

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New on The Spence Family--Busy, Can't Talk Now

It's here already!! Amazon wasn't going to ship it until the 30th! It's better than Christmas!!! So, I am busy, can't talk now. Just as soon as I wipe T's bum, wash my hands, and make dinner, that is.

New on The Spence Family--The First Day

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New on The Spence Family--At the Summer's End

photo by J (right before he dropped my new camera on the rocks as he handed it back to me. Bummer. Nice shooting, though.)

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New on The Spence Family--All About Me Posters

It's time for school to start again, and time for T to start preschool for the first time. We filled out his "All About Me" poster today. We filled out his name, favorite color, friends' names, what he wants to be when he grows up, etc. He was busy working on coloring a self portrait when I got up for a minute. When I came back, the stick legs with only a shirt on had grown into something else. . .

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New on The Spence Family--Can we make one?

Lately T has been wanting things--things we don't have. Like a garbage truck (not Jack's), a unicorn, a Mario car, etc.

It all started with the garbage truck. . .

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New on The Spence Family--Pace Bars

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New on The Spence Family--Yellowstone

Photo by J, Old Faithful Lodge

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New on The Spence Family--Come On Over!

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New On The Spence Family--I Think It was the Fourth of July

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New on The Spence Family--Nothing Says Happy Fourth Quite Like

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New on The Spence Family--Big Stuff

The big news at our house today is that J finally lost his first tooth. It's been a long time coming, and though he missed being on the tooth chart at school, I don't think he minded much. His two bottom teeth have been loose since March and he wasn't exactly a vigorous wiggler. He just wanted to wait for it to fall out on its own which is pretty much what happened. We had a loaf of artisan bread from yesterday and newly made jams so J requested crustless bread and jam for breakfast. I said ok for the first piece, but for anything after that the kids were going to eat the crust, not waste it. While he was eating his second, crusted piece, T looked over at him and said, "your tooth is broken. . ."

plus, more of a really long post that should be five little posts, like try these tarts:

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New on The Spence Family--Balloons and Sprinklers

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New on The Spence Family--Some Birthday Posts

http://fourspences.blogspot.com/2010/06/birthday-number-seven-part-one-boy.html

http://fourspences.blogspot.com/2010/06/birthday-number-seven-part-two-cakes.html

It's late. I'm tired. I'm only linking, what can I say?

New on The Spence Family--Ode to My New iPod Holder

I was given an iPod for Mother's Day, as I mentioned before.

I couldn't listen to it on the days I wore skirts. It would fall out of hoodie pockets when I would bend over. When I put it in my jean pockets it would push the buttons.

Sigh. What to do...?

I needed an "iPod holder."

So, I made one. It won't really work for exercising so I guess I will need an arm band too. But for chores around the house, it's lovely.

Posting about it might seem narcissistic, but it's really not me I am in love with, you see. It's the iPod holder. So I can post about it.

Without further ado, meet my new iPod holder:

The general apron idea (with the rick rack, etc) was from an apron at BYU's Campus Craft and Floral, but their's cost $49.95. That's a totally reasonable price for the fabrics, time spent, embellishments, etc., but I am way too cheap. I had cute scraps from my pillows (and Jayne's...um, thanks, Jayne!), so all together I spent about $16. Plus, their aprons were not suitable for use as iPod holders, which was the point, afterall. . .

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New on The Spence Family--The End of the Road

School's out.

First grade has come and gone.

And so has our "popcorn tree."

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New on The Spence Family--Picnic Anyone?

The first graders are supposed to be going on a picnic today. Supposed to be walking to the park with parents that want to accompany the class walking along too. You'd think the last week of May would be safe to plan something like that, but no. It's snowing. Earlier it was sleeting/snowing/hailing. Again. It rained all night.

This spring is a dud. It sure is nice to have this global warming problem, isn't it?

I mean, water and precipitation is great and all. Neither Roger or I can remember a time when we haven't started watering the lawn by the end of May, and Utah is always short of water. But THIS IS RIDICULOUS! Go away, bad weather.

See, the problem is, the warmest spring days we've had were back in March, with just a couple of decent April days. Now, after these last storms roll through, it will be summer. Summer is hot. We didn't get just WARM. And that doesn't bode well for me, or for the garden.

The tomatoes did fine until a cold night in May when they froze. The beans aren't really coming up, and will need replanting. I guess the onions look okay. Just about the only thing happy is the lettuce. Everything else needs replanting. Except, that is, the tomatoes that were in a Wall O' Water.

I think I would be raving over (or ranting over) this product or that quite often if I had a very big readership, but instead I post pictures of the kids so they remember that we did actually do stuff, and all that. But I can't NOT mention how much I love these things. Our 3 tomato plants in these babies are already tall enough to be busting out the top. Their stems are huge and hearty.

Compare that to the miserable little 6 inch frozen plants (that wilty thing next to the green things in the picture), and it's pretty amazing. Each one is a miniature greenhouse and you can even plant in February if you set them up a few weeks in advance of planting and let them warm the ground for you. We just planted when the ground was warm (before all this winter revisits again and again nonsense) and it has kept it that way.

Like tomatoes? Live in a cold climate? Give them a try. Home Depot runs out quick but next year I'll have 8 or 9! Ha! You'll see, dumb ol' weather! My tomatoes won't care!!

Ok, I'm done. (P.S. I just spelled done, "dun")

New on The Spence Family--Wyoming Is

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New On The Spence Family--Mothers' Day

Sunday was a happy day. J helped Roger make me breakfast in bed, T helped me eat breakfast in bed, and I was treated to chocolate strawberries, kids' pictures, a pot J made me, and a new ipod. (I've never had a real ipod and I am excited!) For our annual Mothers' Day walk we went to BYU and walked across campus. . .



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New on the Spence Family--A notice to Jayne, and all other moms

I haven't been posting much lately lest all the posts say how I am tired of the cold winter weather, snow, freezing winds, etc. It is MAY ALREADY!! Where's the warm? I wanted to have a May Day party with a May Pole and all, but you know, it was snowing.

Moving on, then.

J thought this was a "dumb" thing he wrote down at school. I'm not sure why. I liked it. Perfect for Mother's Day...

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New on The Spence Family--To Infinity and Beyond

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New on The Spence Family--Trees

Tonight after dinner (Papa Murpheys, by the way, nothing too exciting), I was doing the dishes and looking out the kitchen window. Actually, to be honest, I was sneaking in a Krispie Kreme donut while I was pretending to do the dishes, but let's skip over that part. I was looking over our run-down deck at the little flowering plum tree we planted a couple of years back. Its bright pink blossoms are exactly what I love about spring. The only problem is, it's not a very tall tree yet. In the annoyed tone of much of my day today, I wished the tree would hurry up and grow taller, hurry up and block the view of my neighbor's deck and back yard where I can't help but stare when I am at that window. I wished the other trees we planted in our yard would hurry up and grow too, so the shade could make our hot backyard enjoyable. . .

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New on The Spence Family--Garden Time

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New on The Spence Family--Spring Break

When the first half of spring break was over,
the sun came out,
the snow melted,
and we went to the park for a picnic,
feeding ducks, picking dandilions,
and playing at the playground.

Then we headed out to do Spring Break Wyoming style.

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New on the Spence Family--An Easter Post of Some Kind

I hope you had a Merry Christmas yesterday!

Oops. I meant to say a Happy Easter.

I keep getting confused by the snow.

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New On The Spence Family--Here's Some Cheer on a Cold and Gray Spring Day

VIDEO

Gotta love when T dons the purple blanket as a cloak and becomes a dangerous Star Wars character (Ventress), full of threats of death and destruction. Of course it only lasts between "booger wipes," but it's sure to bring cheer to any cloudy afternoon.

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New On The Spence Family--Night Night Little Ninja

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New On The Spence Family--Random Thoughts From My Thirty-First Birthday

http://fourspences.blogspot.com/2010/03/random-thoughts-from-my-thirty-first.html

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New on The Spence Family--Babysitter

Usually, hiring a sitter makes a dinner date a lot more expensive.

But with our way,
the sitter actually gives us a gift card for dinner,

. . .

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New on The Spence Family--Self Checkout

Really, what is the deal with those stupid self checkout lines? They're somewhat tempting from the get-go, simply because the lines are shorter, but in the end, they always take longer and cause me much more anxiety.

On Orcas Island in Washington, the grocery clerks were appauled that we were unloading our own groceries onto the conveyer belt. There, they actually unload your cart, ring you up, pack up your groceries, and I think even deliver them to your car. They couldn't believe that in Utah we were starting to have self checkout lines. Where has service gone?

So who actually wants to use those lines? J, that's who. And T. They are in cahoots. The other day we went to Ikea. Just me and the kids. The weekend lines were long, and after a long (but successful and rather fun) trip through the winding maze of the store we were ready to be done...

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New on The Spence Family--Sunday Comics

We stopped the daily paper when J was 4.

He had been sneaking reads about a boy getting nearly cut in two from a stray 4th of July explosion, fires in Provo Canyon, and other scary news. Plus, I never did the crosswords, so why pay for a paper? But for some reason, we kept the sunday paper. Roger likes the ads and the news, and J, he reads the comic pages.

So Sunday mornings around here are often like this, while he reads the whole section aloud, whether he gets the "funny" or not (today there was only 1 which eluded him, not included here due to the fact that he mumbles nearly incoherently when that happens). He's not always sitting around in a bathrobe, crossing his legs, and wearing a crown, however:

video

*Please be advised the word "stupid" appears twice during this video.

*Please note T sneaking a short turn with J's lantern while he can.

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New On The Spence Family--Good Painter, Bad Painter

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New on The Spence Family--Which One?

Since I am probably the last person in the world to read the Twilight series, I am curious about something. From ages ago when Janssen talked about these books/characters on her blog, I've been aware of her absolute favoritism towards Jacob, even though I didn't know who the character was. Since then, I have heard several people speak highly of Jacob vs. Edward. I'm afraid I just don't get it. While reading Eclipse, I thought I might get more fond of him, but no. Even with Eclipse ending the way it did, with Jacob full of pain and Bella kind of torn up about her decisions, I was just relieved that she didn't choose him over Edward. The last book worked for me. It made sense for Jacob to imprint on the daughter. It made sense to me that Bella was still only slightly torn over Jacob until she was immortal; she was over him completely even before discovering about the imprinting. I am glad she got Edward.

Am I the only one who prefers Edward? I wonder.

So if you've read the books, vote for your favorite:

Jacob or Edward,
and if you feel so inclined, say why.

New on The Spence Family--Valentine's Day

This year I hadn't locked down on a menu for Sunday's dinner. I didn't print up cute little menus. I didn't even have a proper Valentine's gift for Roger. I was kind of lame. But Roger, he took over the menu planning. He made me dinner (so good!: an Indian/Asian inspired *Grilled Pork Tenderloin with Basmati Rice Pilaf with Apricots.) He gave me roses and a new shirt. He's the right kind of Valentine, though he claims I am wonderful. I did manage dessert, but that doesn't equal wonderful to me.

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New on The Spence Family--A First Grade Boy

A first grade boy

should be at school with all the other kids, and with the Valentine's mailbox he worked so hard on decorating and helping me build. He should be delivering his mad-lib valentines, and seeing his mailbox get filled up by his friends' valentines. He should be frosting big pink heart cookies, and playing Valentine's Day games. . .


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New on The Spence Family--Scaredy-Cat

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New On The Spence Family--Flatbread with Pancetta and Asparagus

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New On The Spence Family--Just Call Me Dumb

If you were to have all these boot shopping dilemmas, find the most comfortable pair of shoes/boots/whatever that you have ever walked in, would you exchange them for a different pair just because the perfect feeling pair was a floor model (staples in the bottom, one had clearly been tried on more than the other one, etc.)? No, probably not. Comfort over anything else, right?

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New on The Spence Family--A Little More Help Please

So, I am having boot dilemmas.

I have a pair that I really like the look of, but are a little (a lot) small. After giving birth foot growth... anyway, they are pretty dressy if they want to be, but not overly so.

(they are a pretty, warm, dark brown, but here they just look blah)

I ordered some new brown boots to "replace" them, and didn't like them as much as I thought I would. They looked very similar to the ones I already had, but didn't have an ankle buckle. They weren't all leather, the heels were a little too high, and they hurt my weird right foot (I have a weird callous spot that kills me even in flats---what, you probably have a weird foot, too). Anyway, I took them back. Another reason I didn't love them is that I want something a little more casual, and something with little or no heel. I like heels, but if they are higher than 2 inches...they hurt me. I know I am a wuss.

So today I tried again. I am way too picky. Picky about how tight calves are, and how many dang buckles there are, and I am not that into suede because I always ruin it, and the heel height is a big deal, and...on and on. Yesterday T and I covered everywhere in Provo and Orem, and didn't like really anything but these. And today when I went to return a different pair, they were an additional 30% off their clearance price. So I bought them; last pair in my size--who wouldn't? Buy now, decide later. That way you don't miss so many things. But I am interested in knowing what someone else thinks (no, I am not an independent thinker in cases like this).

Cute, or not? Do they look casual enough with still being stylish enough to dress up? Or would I look like I am trying out for a band? Not sure, but I know I like them.

What do you think?

New on The Spence Family--Paris

I dreamed last night that we went to Paris. We were so excited.

Except all we did was go to an Italian restaurant for pasta, go to an American Museum (a made up one), and then drive out to the country. Then we left. On the plane ride home, Jack asked us why we didn't go to the Eiffel Tower (his would be dream come true!) or any other sites. Roger looked to me, said that he wasn't in charge of the planning. How had I planned absolutely nothing in Paris. . .

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New on The Spence Family--What to Wear: A Little Help, Please

If I were trying to dress like John Wayne, in Red River, say, I would know just what to wear...


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