Oma

Early this morning, my Oma (my German grandma) peacefully passed away at St. Mark's Hospital. Even though we are sad and will miss her dearly, we are so grateful she is not sick or hurting anymore and now she is finally reunited with my Opa. Opa died a little over 7 years ago and she has had a broken heart ever since. Then 3 years ago, we thought we were going to lose Oma when my aunt, Gerlinda, found her lying facedown in her home. She was in a coma for a short while (they're not quite sure what the problem was), we all said our goodbyes, but for some reason, only the Lord knows why, she was able to stay with us for a little bit longer. She's struggled with some other illnesses and a broken heart. She really wanted to be with Opa. This past weekend, after being sick all week, they discovered she had cancer in all over her lungs and kidneys. Her kidneys started shutting down and so did everything else. We were able to go up to the hospital yesterday, knowing it would probably be the last time we were able to see her. She looked so tired and sick. She was awake, but seemed a little confused. She started talking to Dan in German. We took one last picture with her before we left. Then my mom called this morning to stay she'd passed away. We are going to miss her but I know she is so HAPPY to be with Opa, her parents and her brothers and sister. Oma, you have been an amazing example of strength and courage to us. We love you so much! God be with you 'til we meet again!

This was taken this past Christmas.

Our kids colored these pictures to give to Oma yesterday at the hospital. Lindsay's is the top portion. It is a picture of Oma and Opa coming to America in a boat and the green person is the Statue of Liberty. She came up with this idea all by herself. She told me she wanted to color a picture of something a long time ago, like when Oma and Opa came to America. That girl doesn't forget anything! Zane's is the middle picture. He drew a flower and on the right side is a treehouse and boat for Oma. Gavin's is the bottom which is just a bunch a cute scribbles.


This is the our last picture with Oma yesterday. She was so tired and sick, but I'm glad we got to see her.

We have a magician in the family!

Tonight we had a Talent Show/Ice cream social with our ward. Zane has totally been into magic lately and it's all because of my dad, Grandpa Harry. Zane thinks Grandpa is really magic and now thinks he's magic. My dad has always loved to do little, silly magic tricks since I was really little and now loves to show them to the grandkids. Lindsay is always trying to figure out how he really did it, but Zane is always amazed and tries them out himself. Some of his favorites are pulling off his thumb, pulling off his head, and taking his eyeballs out, putting them in his mouth and then swallowing them. The other day he was able to get our pantry door open with the childproof knob on it and he said he'd used his magic to open it. A couple of weeks ago he was trying to do something (I can't remember what) and he said, "my magic must not be working today." He also likes to say he can disappear into walls. Well, I thought what a perfect chance for him to show off his magic tricks at our ward talent show. He was awesome! Lindsay was supposed to do it with him, but got nervous and sat back down. Zane stole the show! He wasn't nervous, he did everything like we practiced and really got into it. The bunny trick at the end of this video is a new one we were trying out. He did it perfect! The only thing Dan missed recording while trying to video tape and control our background music was the very beginning when Zane first made his thumbs disappear and when he bowed at the very end. What a stud you are Zaners! P.S. The Spiderman costume was his idea.
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Life has been a little busy...

I hate when I slack on my blogging. It causes me to stress a little when I think of blogging almost 3 weeks worth of stuff. So I've finally updated things for now. I still need to add some video footage and a few more pictures at Heidi's wedding, but at least I'm mostly caught up!

7 years bad luck!

Yesterday was kind of a bad day. Nothing horrible or tragic happened (thank goodness) but it was a bunch of little things that just made me grumpy. First, the kids woke up a lot earlier than normal and my sore throat that I've been fighting for over a week was worse. Then I went to go get our Winder food out of the cooler on the front porch and there was a note saying that they couldn't redeem the coupon I had in there for the organic Frosted Flakes I thought I ordered because apparently it wasn't on my order, neither were the apples. I guess I didn't click the right button on their website. While the kids were eating breakfast, I hurried and got in the shower but Lindsay kept knocking on the door telling me that Gavin had his hands in his cereal and was throwing it. So that ended my shower very quickly. I came out and cleaned that up (and made Gavin help me) then took Lindsay to Preschool. I made a doctor's appt. to see if I had strep, so I was trying to hurry to finish getting ready for the day so we could leave. My bangs were not working. They looked so ugly! While trying to put on my mascara, Gavin sat down next to my full length mirror in my bedroom and somehow managed to shatter it all over him and the floor! Panicked, I threw my mascara brush into the sink, getting mascara all over the sink, and ran over to Gavin. I wasn't mad, just worried. But I think he thought he was in big trouble. I picked him up, shook him off, checked for cuts or bleeding and sat him on my bed. He only had a tiny a cut on his thumb that wasn't even really bleeding. I told him to stay on the bed and I ran to put on rubber gloves and to get a box to throw it all in. He just sat on my bed for about 10 minutes staring at me with this guilty look while cleaned it all up. I vacuumed about 20 times to make sure I got all the tiny pieces of glass off the floor. I am very grateful Gavin was not hurt. Then off to the doctor's we went, ugly bangs and all. Strep test was negative. If my throat is still very sore in a week from now, they want me to come back to test for Mono. Great! When I got home and got the mail, there was a bill in the mail from Dixie Hospital for over $400 for Gavin's trip to the emergency room in St. George. I don't know why the insurance didn't cover more of it. I called and they think there's a mistake with the bill and our deductable. So hopefully it will end up being less. So I guess things could have been worse, that's for sure. I am grateful that we're all still alive and nothing more happened. I think that Gavin is the one with 7 years bad luck, not me, since he's the one who broke the mirror, right?

I still don't know how he shattered it!

This is how he sat on my bed for about 10 minutes, looking so guilty. But he's still so cute!

PB and J

A couple of days ago, Lindsay and Zane decided they wanted to make their own sandwiches for lunch. So with a little supervision and Gavin trying to make his own (I let him help me spread the jam) they did a pretty good job. Zane asked me to take his picture with his and put it on our blog. They make me laugh!

Dance, dance, dance

This past week on Tuesday and Wednesday nights, we had Dance recitals. There are so many girls that we had to do 2 recitals. I went Tuesday night (without any kids) to help out backstage and with the girls that I help teach. It was pretty stressful. The first 4-5 dances had to dance mostly without their music because the people running the music up in the sound booth were having trouble. But then they figured it out and the show went on. On Wednesday night, Lindsay performed her 2 dances, Tap-"You've Gotta Friend in Me" and Ballet-"I'm a Cloud". She was so good. She was so graceful, smiled and knew almost all the moves. For the finale all the girls did a short dance to "What Time is it?" from High School Musical 2. Thanks Trevor and Josh for watching Zane and Gavin in the hall during the recital.

Lindsay got balloons from Grandma Tracey & Grandpa Kevin and flowers from Granny Annie and Grandpa Harry. She looks beautiful!

Thanks for coming to see Lindsay perform! It meant so much to her!

These are pictures with the girls that I help teach. They were so cute!
"Hound Dog" and "Child's Prayer"


"Desperate For a Dog" and "Boogie Woogie Piggy"


"Zippidy-doo-dah" and "Three Blind Mice"

"Twinkle, Little Star" and "Parakeet in Tap Shoes"


"Six Little Ducks"

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Here comes the bride...

On Friday, April 18th, my little sister Heidi was married to her sweety, Jeff, in the Bountiful Temple. The whole day was so nice (minus the wind at the temple). They are such a cute couple and I'm so happy for them. Here's some pictures of their big day. I'm hoping to add some more when they become available.

My cousin, Alex and his wife, Tonya, were their photographers. This is one of their pictures. They do an amazing job. You need to check out Tonya's blog http://www.tonyapetersonblog.com/

The Bountiful Temple

Here they are just coming out of the temple.

Being silly at the reception

Here we are with the Happy couple

Jeff and all the boys/men. I love how Gavin is raising his hand, copying Tonya as she's trying to get their attention to take the picture. Zane is so cute with his hands in his pockets. And yes, all those little boys and babies are all my nephews!

It's a Skousen tradition that me and my siblings (minus the one who is getting married) sing "So Long, Farewell" from the movie Sound of Music to the married couple at the end of the reception, but we change the words to fit the sibling getting married.

My youngest sister, Amy, is on a mission in Texas but she was there in spirit (or, uh, um, cardboard). My sister, Missy, made her dress and badge out of paper and I think she did an awesome job. Dan took a ton of pictures of Amy throughout the whole reception doing various things. This is just one of them. She was even in our "So Long, Farewell" song!

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Car Accident

I don't know what it is about me and getting rear ended. I must have a target on the back of me! As of April 16th, I have been rear-ended 4 times! NONE of them are my fault. The first time, I was in high school in a friends truck (3 of us in the truck) and we got hit driving home from Provo. The 2nd time, I was with a friend in my Ford Escort, with my friend, Travis, sister Karen and friend Melissa driving behind us in Travis' car. We were at a stop light and a drunk guy slammed into the back of Travis' car which was then pushed into the back of my car. The 3rd time, I was in downtown Salt Lake dropping off my sister Karen at work. I was headed to my work, when the car in front of me stopped to let a pedestrian cross, so I stopped, then I looked in my rear-view mirror to see this GINORMOUS Station Wagon come barrelling behind me and slammed into the back of me. The 4th time was on April 16th. I was coming home from having my eyebrows waxed (and boy, did they need it). I was stopped at a weird stop sign in American Fork, that merges into State Street. The sun was pretty blinding, being that it was almost 7:00 pm and it was starting to set. I had my head turned to the left, watching the constant flow of traffic go by, waiting to pull out. Suddenly, I was hit from behind. My sun roof cover flew open! I was in shock at first, "did I really just get hit, again?" I pulled over and could see the young teenage boy with his girlfriend in my rear-view mirror with their hands over their mouths in shock as well. We all got out to check out the damage. The front of his mom's little Hyundai Sonata was smashed in and smoking. My solid Dodge Durango had only minimal damage. A little paint scratched on the bumper and the license plate crunched. Thank goodness! The kid thought that I had already gone through the stop sign. I guess the sun was bright and he didn't see me still sitting there. The police were called, a report filed and as of today, our Durango is in the shop getting fixed. Of course, he was at fault and no injuries, except a headache that immediately followed the accident and the front right side of my neck was very sore and tender for the next 3 days. It is feeling a lot better now. I'm glad the kids weren't with me. Lindsay would have wigged out! She is very paranoid about car accident's, just like her mother.

Field Trip

On April 10th, we went to the Dinosaur Museum at Thanksgiving Point with Lindsay and Zane's Preschool for a field trip. We went there last summer and they loved it then, and still love it. Zane thinks that it is the same Museum as the movie "Night at the Museum," so he asked where Larry was and if the Dinosaur in the front foyer (that looks exactly like the one in the movie) was going to come to life. He makes me laugh. Gavin didn't like being in the stroller while the other kids were running around exploring everything, so I let him get out for most of the time and he loved it. I did have to chase him a couple of times. They had a really fun time and if you haven't been there, I recommend going.

Left my heart in San Francisco...

Ok, I really didn't leave my heart there, but my heart belongs to someone that is there right now. Dan is in San Francisco for the week. This time he's there for some technology conference. Hope he comes home more technologically informed. :) Whatever. Really, he's just on vacation with a little bit of work thrown in there. Tonight he went bowling. Good thing he lets me do lots of Girl's Nights to make up for all the times he's out of town. I love you honey!

Didn't move a muscle!

Well, he did it! Last Friday, Zane and I went back to the dentist to have his 5 cavities filled. Dan came home for lunch that day to watch Lindsay and Gavin. It really helped not having the other two kids with us. We made it a special date. He wasn't scared at all (mostly because he had no idea what he was getting himself into) and got right into the chair. He asked to watch Bunnytown on the Disney Channel, which helped so much. It kept him distracted. Because the cavitites weren't very deep, they were able to something called sand abrasion instead of drilling. They didn't have to numb him, thank heavens! So the dentist just took a little sander thing and sanded out his teeth, then filled them. He didn't even move. He just stared at the tv in the ceiling the whole time. At one point, he almost swallowed the cotton pad that was in his mouth. Oh, gaggy! Those of you who know me well, know that I can't stand the feel of cotton balls, wet yarn (sweaters), etc... , so this was making my skin crawl to see it in his mouth, then almost swallow it. But the dentist quickly grabbed it before it went down his throat. The whole thing only took about 25 minutes. He was awesome! I was NOT expecting that at all. They let him choose 2 prizes for being so good. He chose a dental bracelet and a little penguin. Then I had promised him that he could go to Smith's and pick a prize from me. He chose this big stuffed monkey, he named George (go figure!). It cost me $10, more than I was planning on spending, but hey, I didn't care. This kid deserved it! Way to go Buddy! Love you Zaners!

Waiting for the dentist. He's got his earphones in so he can hear the t.v. He brought Pooh Bear for support.

This is how he layed the entire time!

Zane and his new friend, George.