2 gallons of milk, 5 dozen eggs, 3 heads of lettuce, 3 loaves of bread, 5 boxes of cereal. Cooking for an army? No-just a normal shopping list for my family!

Life in a big family is and has always been fun for me. Who else can come home after work and be grabbed around the knees by a little sister that you can still toss in the air without damage to either party!? There is always someone to talk to or fight with depending on your mood! There is no such thing as boredom or loneliness at our house (though sometimes it looks like a pretty novel idea!!).

My favorite part of the day is after dinner when our whole family gathers in the living room to read together. Dad usually reads aloud while the rest of us work on projects. We just finished reading Farmer Boy which is my favorite of all of the Little House on the Prairie books. Then Mom and Dad tuck the little ones in bed and the rest of us are free to do whatever for the rest of the evening. I just love the coming together for a half an hour in the same room. It is so comforting to have such a feeling of oneness with my family.

I am sure that you can imagine the way people react when they see us coming. We get what we call the "finger". No, people are not being obscene! They are counting us!! My Dad has sometimes yelled the number to the person resulting in embarrassment of everyone but him!!! People all want to know what religion we are Mormon, Catholic. I guess they think that you either have to be insane, very poor at math or highly religious to actually decide to have that many kids. My Dad's reply is no, we are not Mormon or Catholic. Just romantic Baptists! It took me a while to realize what he was actually saying:>)

People often want to know my reaction to having this many siblings. Do I like it? Would I have that many kids? I used to say oh no. I am NOT having 12 kids. My goal is 24!!! Of course I am kidding. But my parents have made having this many siblings so much fun that I would love to follow in their footsteps in my own family.

People often want to know what the downside is to having a large family. My answer? - Walking into the bathroom and seeing my 1 year old sister rubbing my toothbrush up and down the wall!!!!