My name is Jennifer.  I am married to the most amazing man in the world.  We’ve been married for 13 years.  He is my Mr. Wonderful.  We have eight children, ranging in age from 12 years to 2 months.  No twins, no adoptions.  They’re all ours and we love them!    This is a snapshot taken of all of us (when we had 7 kids) in August 2008 at my brother’s wedding.  It’s the most recent family photo we have.

And here is my little group of favorite people at the beach, June 2009:

And finally, in August of 2009 our eighth child arrived.   What joy!

We live in Utah, a unique state with many strengths.  Neither my husband or I are from Utah, and it’s not where we intended to raise a family, but it’s ended up that way.  Two years ago we built a white house on a little street nestled in an older part of town where we are surrounded by wonderful, down to earth people.

I love my husband, love my kids, love my house, love being a Mom.  My experience so far has been that motherhood is both harder and more wonderful than I anticipated.  It’s also been an effective way for God to show me MANY personal weaknesses as well as an opportunity to develop skills and talents that could have come in no other way.  I feel like I’ve been stretched a lot by my large young bunch.

I’ve never been a Mom before, never created a home before.  This life is my first go at it.  I am far from perfect, but I am hopeful.  Hopeful that I can create an atmosphere that my children will remember fondly, an environment where they can grow and learn and reach their potential.  Hopeful that we will always love one another and enjoy the journey of life with each other.  Thus, I call myself a hopeful homemaker.

I’ve given up a lot of personal interests and goals to raise my children, but I decided a few years ago that I might as well try to make talents out of the things my life requires of me right now.  I mean, if I’m going to do countless loads of laundry every week I might as well try to do a good job of caring for our clothing, and it doesn’t hurt to make my laundry room a pleasant place to be!  If I’m going to spend most of my time in my kitchen feeding people, then why not learn to be a good cook?  I try to focus not on what’s been given up but on what I’ve gained by choosing this path in life.

Many things I’d like to be really good at, but most things I’m just OK at.  I enjoy cooking but have plenty of nights I don’t feel like doing it.  I’m always on the lookout for new recipes but we’ve eaten our share of hot dogs this summer.  I love to read but feel like I can’t afford to pick up a book too often.  I love vintage linens, vintage silver, beat up wooden tables and chairs.  I love colors, especially white and blue.  And red.  I love flowers, U.S. flags, stars, and mirrors.  I love pretty dishes, great deals, and one of a kind finds.  I love my fabric stash and dream of doing a lot more with it than I ever get to.  I have more unfinished projects than I care to admit, but sometimes I manage to get things done.  I make tons of lists, but I’m pretty sure I’ve never yet had one that I could cross everything off of.  I dream big but execute with less-than-perfect outcomes.  I love quiet days and nights at home with my family, and I love soccer games on cool, breezy evenings or sunny, dew-covered mornings.  We have our challenges, our imperfections, and our heartaches.  But life on the whole is really, really good.

So welcome to my world!  I started this blog at a busy time when I really didn’t have time for it but I needed it badly.  I needed a way to pause, focus on the good things I was doing and to catalog it for myself somehow.  A way to stop and smell the flowers.   I have this terrible tendency to see only the gaps between my performance and my vision or intentions instead of appreciating what DID get done.  This blog is proof to myself that I’m doing something worthwhile, that I’m more of a success than I feel like, and that there’s a lot in life worth celebrating.  Come celebrate with me!

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