Lindsay's birthday party

For Lindsay's birthday party, she wanted a High School Musical theme. We borrowed some cardboard cutouts of Troy and Gabriella from my good friend Hayley ("thanks again, Hay!") and I bought a big HSM banner. We hung the banner in the living room and set Troy and Gabriella next to it. When the kids came in the house, we had each one stand by the cutouts and we took their picture. Dan printed out the pics and we had the kids make picture frames out of foam. I think they turned out pretty cute. They also played "Name That Tune" with the HSM songs and we did a pull pinata where there are strings hanging from the bottom of the pinata and each child gets to choose a string to pull. Only one string opens the pinata. It is much better than the original pinatas because you don't have to worry about the children beating each other with the stick or other various injuries. Then they had cupcakes. The kids were so good and I hope they had fun.

Here's Lindsay's picture frame.

This is Zane's. If you look closely at his picture, you'll see he has his hand on Troy's arm. It cracks me up!

The whole gang!

Lindsay got some fun stuff. Her biggest present that she got from her mom and dad was a new bike. We sent her on a treasure hunt to find it in the storage room. It is a lot bigger than her other one and she's riding very well. (I just realized I don't have a good picture of her on her bike yet).

Happy 8th Wedding Anniversary

I can't believe it has been 8 years since Dan and I were married! Time has flown and we have been so blessed! I still remember waking up that morning to a beautiful blue sky with not one cloud (unlike today, where we woke up to an inch of snow!) Everything went perfect that day. I rememeber thinking throughout that day that everything kept falling into place. We had an awesome sealing ceremony that Hartman Rector Jr. performed. I remember walking into that sealing room and becoming overwhelmed with the spirit and seeing all who came to support us. I couldn't stop crying because I was so happy! Our reception was so much fun and we were so grateful to all who helped put it all together (mostly our families) and for all who came to support us. It is all still so fresh in my mind and am grateful to Dan for all that he's done for me these past years. I love you so much honey! Happy Anniversary!

Happy 5th Birthday Lindsay!

5 years ago we were so blessed to have our sweet Lindsay join our family. I went into labor on Saturday, March 15th, 2003, but she decided she wanted to be our 3rd Wedding Anniversary present and waited until Sunday, March 16th at 6:36 am to be born. Lindsay we love you so much and are so proud of you! Happy Birthday Lou-Lou!

Gavin-isms

March 2008
We've been trying to get Gavin off the binky so to slowly do it we only let him have it at nap time and bed time. So it pretty much just stays in the crib. After he wakes up and we come to get him out, he will either bite down on his binky and hold on for dear life so we can't take it out or he will spit it out and say "plaaaaaa!" It depends on his mood. Well last night, after he'd been asleep for a couple of hours, I heard him yelling "Mama! Mom! Mama!" I quietly opened the door to see why he was awake. He was searching all over his crib for his binky. He would crawl to one end and pat his hand around the matress to see if he could feel it, then crawl to the other end. He only has a little touch lamp in his room that was on low, so it's hard to see. I couldn't wait too long because I felt bad that he couldn't find it, so I finally went in and found it for him. He stuck it in his mouth and laid right back down.

March 2008
Yesterday Gavin learned how to open our door that goes from the house out to the garage! When Dan got home from work, I said, "Gavin, go show daddy what you can do to the door." He proudly walked over to the door smiling and while staring at Dan, he opened the door. Then Dan promptly put on one of those childproof doorknob thingys and Gavin started crying! It was kinda sad because he was so excited to have gotten it open and then we dashed his dreams!

Zane-isms

March 2008
I got the kids Arctic Circle for dinner last night and Zane wanted Apple Juice for his drink. It came in a little, green can. While he was eating his dinner, he said "I have Mountain Goo like Daddy. I need to finish my Mountain Goo." I laughed my head off.

Lindsay-isms

March 2008
I'm not a perfect mom and I've never claimed to be. I've slipped a few (and by few, I mean a lot) times and said some not very good words in front of our kids. About a year ago Lindsay tried one out in front of Dan and I and we told her that wasn't a good word and that was the last we'd heard her say it. Well this past week, she's tried it out again twice (that I know of). Once was at my mom's house in front of Jenny and the other was last night while we were watching "Peewee's Big Adventure." For those of you who have seen it, it was at the part when Peewee is in the car with the escaped convict and a truck with his bike on it drives right past them and Peewee doesn't see it. Well that frusterated Lindsay, but if he saw his bike then that would be the end of the movie so of course the truck goes one way and Peewee goes the other. Lindsay started yelling at the tv, "Peewee look over! There's your damn bike!" I tried so hard not to smile and laugh. Then I said, "Lindsay, that's not a very good word to say. Mommy is trying to not say it too. So let's both try not to say it ok?" I couldn't really get mad at her, since I'm the one to blame, or maybe we'll blame it on her dad!

March 2008
Yesterday, Lindsay was having a grumpy day and got mad at me. She yelled, "I'm just so mad at you and you're making me so frusterated!!!!!!"

Deep in the heart of Texas!

Dan went out of town again today for just a few days, to Greenville, Texas. We were hoping he'd be able to see my little sissy, Amy, who's on a mission in Fort Worth, but we don't think it will be able to happen (sniff-sniff). Sorry Amy! He went to North Carolina last week. I can't really complain because the last time he want out of town was in October when he went to Australia. This trip and last weeks trip were for different reasons. When he usually goes out of town it is because he goes to train other companies how to use their software. But these last two times he went to go check out some of his accounts who have been having a few problems with the software. Anyways, I'm a single mom just until Wednesday. I've decided the only time of day that I really dread is bathing the kids and putting them to bed by myself. I feel like it's such a chore and it takes forever and I'm so exhausted by the time there in bed and asleep. Oh well. Count my blessings. Hurry home honey!

Lindsay got shots

A little over 2 weeks ago (I'm behind on my blogging) Lindsay got her Kindergarten shots and boy did she put up a good fight. She had to get 4 (2 in each leg). It was a traumatic experience for her. She knew earlier in the week that she was going to be getting them on Friday, but I told her we'd make it a special date and go out to lunch and ice cream afterwards, just me and her. She seemed okay with it. Well the day came and she would say things like "why do we have to do it today?" and "I hate Kindergarten shots!" We got ready to go and I left the boys home with Dan. She started whining in the car the whole drive there (the dr.'s office is only about 3 minutes away). Then she said, "I wish the doctor's office was an hour away so it would take longer to get there." I took her inside and she started whimpering while I signed in. We sat down to watch a movie they had on in the waiting room and she was clinging to me. Then they called us back to a room. She instantly started crying and wouldn't let go of me. The nurse told me to pull her pants down to her knees but Lindsay would NOT let us. She bent her knees so we couldn't get them down. She also became stiff. After a minute of wrestling with her, all the while she's SCREAMING, the nurse had me pick her up while she tried to pull her pants down, but Lindsay kept her knees bent in the air. FINALLY we got them down and I held her on my lap, holding her legs down by wrapping my legs aound hers and I had to hold her arms down. The nurse was very quick with each shot, but Lindsay SCREAMED and SCREAMED and SCREAMED! Then it was over. I held her for a few minutes while she cried on my shoulder and then I walked out to see the whole waiting room staring at me. YES, they could hear it all. Then a guy said, "that deserves some ice cream." I took her to Arctic Circle, but she didn't eat much and she ended up limping for 2 days. I think because she tensed her muscles up so badly while they gave her the shots that is made them more tender. I'm glad it's over with and so is she. After we got home and Zane saw her bandaids and that she was limping he said, "mom, I don't want to go to Kindergarten." Sorry son, you will. But I don't think I'll be informing him of his shots next year until we are in the doctor's office on the day he gets his.

Lucille Hanks 1911-2008

Dan's great-grandma Lucille passed away on February 26th, 2008. She was 97 years old. She is Dan's mom's dad's mom. Does that make sense? Below is a 5 year generation picture of Lindsay when she was about one month old, Dan, Dan's mom Tracey, Dan's grandpa, Ted and great-grandma Lucille. We love you Grandma Lucille!

Gavin got buzzed!

A couple of weeks ago, we decided to buzz Gavin's hair like we do Zane's. This kid has had a lot of hair since day one and every time we have Dan's mom cut it, she has to cut off about an inch because it grows so fast. Well we thought it was time to do an easier cut. The only way we could get him to stop squirming and screaming was to give him a sucker. I wanted to gag because he kept putting the sucker on the little tray and it would get hair all over it so I'd have to hurry and grab it and wash it off before he'd stick it in his mouth. Gavin had so much hair that fell on his back as Dan buzzed it that he resembled a grown man with a hairy back. We're glad we did it and now he gets gel, hairspray and the whole spikey hair do. However, almost every time we finish doing his hair and he walks away, he hurrys and pushes his hair down just to bug me (little stinker).

The after shot. Look at those eyelashes!

February Blizzard!

The night before Valentine's Day, we had a snow storm that turned into a blizzard. The wind was so strong that when driving Lindsay's friend, Maizy, to her house which is just down the street, I could not see 5 feet in front of me. It also knocked the power out for about 8 hours. It took Dan over 2 hours to get home from work (it usually only takes 15 minutes) which is nothing compared to some of our neighbors, in which it took some of them 4-5 hours to get home. We had cold cereal for dinner and we snuggled the kids up in sleeping bags in their beds to keep them warm. The power came back on at about midnight, so we weren't freezing all night long. The following pictures are what we woke up to. The wind blew the snow up onto our windows and the way our driveway/garage sits, the wind blew the snow right up against our garage door. It took Dan almost an hour to clear out the snow so he could go to work (Happy Valentine's Day to Dan!) and that was even with the help of our neighbors snowblower. Anyhow, this storm made us realize how unprepared we are for a really big emergency. We later found out that the road that takes you out to Eagle Mountain was closed off for the night because of a 16 car pile-up, so people had to got to the nearby Smith's grocery store and Young's Family Dental for the night because they couldn't get home. So we had it easy compared to them.

Engaged!

So, my little sister Jenny got engaged on Valentine's Day to Ben (together, we call them Bennifer!) Ben flew into Utah on Valentine's Day and when Jenny went to pick him up at the airport, he was in a tux, with a rose and a ring. How cute is that? They will be married in June and we're so excited for them. The only sad part is that Ben lives in Arizona, so that is where Jenny and little Carter will be moving. But at least there are several extended family members and good friends that live nearby where they will live. Ben has 2 kids that also will be added to the Skousen family (Noah and Molly). Congrats Bennifer! (If you're keeping track, that's 2 of my sisters getting married in the next 4 months!)

Disneyland 2008

Our Disneyland trip was a blast! We went with almost all of my family (Missy and Chad didn't come because they went last April and are due with a baby in a month and my littlest sis, Amy is on her mission). But Granny Annie and Grandpa Harry (my parents), Laurel & Sam and their 5 kids, Karen, Christian, & Nathan, Jenny & Carter and Heidi all came. We met up with my brother Matt and his wife Lauren for a few days too. Matt works in Disneyland doing landscaping.

Anyways, Dan and I flew with the kids on Saturday, February 2nd. Gavin cried and had a fit for about the first hour of the flight. I think he still wasn't feeling good from his strep throat. But about 20 minutes before we landed, he fell asleep - of course! But everyone around us was so nice and didn't give us dirty looks. We checked into our hotel (Best Western Park Place Inn, which is right across the street). We shared a room with Karen and Christian to save money. We went into Disneyland that night, rode a few rides and watched the Electrical Parade. The next day, Sunday, we woke up to pouring rain! We pretty much just layed around the hotel and relaxed. When the rain stopped that afternoon, we went into Disneyland for a couple of hours, then went to Knott's Berry Farm just to eat at their yummy Chicken Restaurant.

After Sunday, the weather got nicer and warmer each day. By the following Saturday, when we left, it was about 81 degrees. It was pretty depressing coming home to about 10 inches of snow in our yard and 20 degree weather. But we were very grateful to get out of this icky stuff and get some sun.

Zane was able to ride the Matterhorn (which he had already ridden last year), Splash Mtn, Space Mtn, Thunder Mtn, Star Tours, Soarin' Over California and Tower of Terror, but only with a certain pair of shoes. He was wearing these brown shoes one of the first days and they wouldn't let him on Splash, so I figured "well, he won't be able to ride any of the big rides then." But the next day, Dan put a pair of tennis shoes on him and while we were getting Fast Passes for Thunder, I thought to my little old self, "maybe we should try measuring Zane again because he has different shoes on." Well, he BARELY was tall enough, so they let him ride. He LOVED it and the rest of the week, he wore those tennis shoes and they let him on all those rides! Lindsay rode all of those rides too, but this year she was also tall enough for the Grizzly Rapids and Mulholland Madness. She loved both of them and rode them both twice. It's so great to have the kids getting big enough for these rides and it's even funner that they love them. After Zane got off of the Tower of Terror he said, "that was so fun! My bum was going up and down!" Pretty funny, huh?

We had annual passes so of course we went into Disneyland every single day we were there (8 days). Some people think we're crazy (including Dan) but we were able to go on every single ride, some several times, see every show and parade we wanted and we did it all at our own pace. So, the next trip is in the planning stages - 2010. Can I really go 2 years without going? I guess we'll see!

Here's some of the pictures - Hope you enjoy!

I love you too!

THANK YOU SO MUCH, Heather!! I loved it.

• I love your laugh
• I love the faces that you make when you're telling a story to someone on the phone
• I love the look you give me when I tell you that you're cute and you really believe me and appreciate it
• I love your smile
• I love the way you smell
• I love your beautiful big blue eyes
• I love the way you plan everything out
• I love how organized you are
• I love how you listen to my nerd stories even though they don't make sense
• I love how you take care of our kids
• I love how you are so concerned and thoughtful of others (neighbors, family, etc)
• I love how outgoing and personable you are (we have friends because of you...as long as I don't screw it up)
• I love how you can laugh and have fun
• I love how you make me laugh
• I love how you laugh at my jokes even when they are occasionally not that funny
• I love how you serve in the church. Whatever calling you have, you will give it your very best.
• I love how beautiful you are
• I love how you still take my breath away
• I love how you keep the house organized and clean
• I love how you love me
• I love how you complete me ;)

I LOVE YOU HEATHER!!

Happy valentine's day!- Love Dan

How do I love thee? Let me count the ways...

• I love when you get home from work, you take the time to kiss and hug me
• I love your laugh
• I love your jokes, even when they are lame
• I love that look you give me when you think I look good and then you say "I love you"
• I love that you still give me butterflies in my tummy
• I love that you're so smart
• I love that you are so dedicated to your job and that you love it
• I love that you are always concerned about what's best for me and our kids
• I love that you help give the kids baths
• I love that you are ALWAYS willing to help me around the house
• I love the way you kiss me
• I love how you know when I've had a bad day and you come home and take care of the kids and pick up the house, while I take a break
• I love that you'll go outside in the bitter cold and shovel/snowplow our driveway
• I love when you call me during the day to see how I'm doing
• I love to snuggle with you
• I love your blue eyes
• I just love how you make me feel
• I love your dimples
• I love that you play with our kids
• I love the way you analize things
• I love how patient you are
• I love that you are a postive person
• I love your big hugs
• I love that you honor your Priesthood
• I love when you act silly with me to make the kids laugh
• I love that you hold my hand in the car
• I love when you are cooking/baking something and you put a hand towel over your shoulder
• I love that you still open my car door
• I LOVE THE WAY YOU LOVE ME DAN! HAPPY VALENTINE"S DAY!!!!! I LOVE YOU SO MUCH!!!!! Love Heather

Are you serious?

I ended up taking Gavin BACK to the doctor's today because last night he was very grumpy and was not acting like himself. He sat on my lap for an hour and watched Winnie the Pooh. If you know Gavin, you know that he doesn't sit still for longer than 30 seconds. He slept all night, so that was good. Then this morning, all he wanted was for me to hold him. He just kept crying and crying. I tried to look at his throat, but he fought me. He wouldn't eat much for breakfast or lunch. After about a 45 minute nap, he woke up crying. I decided to attempt checking his throat again. I finally got a look and he has white spots all over his tonsils. I got into the doctor right before 5:00 and sure enough, he has strep throat! I wish I would have had him checked yesterday when I hauled all 3 of them in there. Oh well. I am kind of glad it's strep so he can be treated. So off we go to Disneyland with all of our kids on antibiotics!

Topsy Turvy 2008

A few years ago, my family decided to make up a holiday in January since it's kind of a depressing month. Well, we really didn't make it up. We took the idea from the Disney movie The Hunchback of Notre Dame. There is a song in the movie called Topsy Turvy where they have a festival of fools on the 6th of January. We haven't done it every year but we decided to celebrate this year, just later in the month. Some of us dressed up (everyone was supposed to), we played games, and ate food. This year we each brought a white elephant gift. It was a lot of fun; just something different to do during this dreary time of year! Thanks Karen and Heidi afor planning pretty much everything!

This is what my dad came up with for his costume. Don't ask!

Here's Karen's hubby, Christian. Do you like his fairy wings?

This is Lindsay dressed as Shirley Temple. We had done her hair in curlers that day and she said, "I look like Shirley Temple. Can I wear a dress like her?"




Zane in his Festival of Fools mask and hat.



We put Gavin's clothes on backwards, rolled up his jeans and spiked his hair.

I just put on unmatching clothes and my snow boots. Dan dressed up Hawaiian style.

Dan also decided to shave down the middle of his head. He shaved the rest of it off that night. Actually, I really like it shaved really short. He says he's trying to embrace his baldness.

Dan playing Pin the Hat on Quasimodo

Lindsay is singing "I Gotta Go My Own Way" from High School Musical 2 on the Wii.

This is what Dan and I got for our White Elephant gift from mom and dad. It is siding samples that they had from when they re-did the siding on their house.

I know this is really gross! This is the white elephant gift we brought. We bought the white bowl which somewhat resembles a toilet, put lemon jello in it and added tootsie rolls. We taped the toilet paper on the side. Melissa and Chad were the lucky winners!

Sick of kids being sick!

So I've decided that I'm so sick of having sick kids! I haven't yet counted, but I have been to the doctor's office over 20 times in the past year. Not to mention the 2 days at Primary Children's Hospital last March for Gavin's Croup. I do have to say that I am grateful to have a doctor that is only 3 minutes away, with receptionists and nurses who know us all by name because of our frequent visits and I am very grateful to have insurance. So this week Lindsay is getting over her cold and cough but started getting a fever, hot and cold chills and achey. Gavin is still getting over his cough and cold (RSV stuff) but got another ear infection (this makes 9 ~ 7 before he got tubes and now 2 since). Not to mention he's so grumpy. Zane has been the healthiest this time. He only has a little congestion and that was it until the past few days. He gets these little pimple-like bumps on his body that he's gotten since he was a baby. They itch, so he scratches them and sometimes they get infected. A little over 2 years ago we took him to a Dermotologist and he didn't quite know what to call it but he gave us a cream (Dermatop) that works great. We haven't had any problems for a long time. Well, we recently ran out of his cream and I (slacker-mom) kept forgetting to call in a refill for it. So there is one of these little bumps on his leg that he's been scratching and now it's about the size of a quarter and is gross looking. Last night we noticed that about 1/2 an inch away from it was this big red spot that looked like a spider bite and was warm to the touch. This morning it was huge and Zane said it hurt. So I decided to not go in to teach dance today and took ALL 3 into the doctor's to be checked. Lindsay and Gavin both had fevers. Lindsay's strep test came back negative (I thought she might have it) but she has an ear infection. Gavin's ear infection is looking better so I just have to continue the ear drops for a couple more days. Zane's leg is infected, that is why it's all red! If you ask Zane what's wrong with his leg he'll say "there's an ear infection on my leg." Funny! SO, I've got Lindsay and Zane on antibiotics and I'm getting the cream he needs refilled so he doesn't have another outbreak! We're leaving to Disneyland in 3 days. I'm praying they all get healthy and stay that way, at least until we get back! The picture above is of Zane's leg (in case you couldn't tell). The scabby sore at the top is where he scratched until it got infected. The redness below that is the infection that has spread. Poor kid. I think I should win mother of the year for not getting his cream refilled and causing an infection!

President Hinckley 1910-2008

I can truly say that I am deeply saddened about the passing of President Gordon B. Hinckley. I know I probably shouldn't say I have a favorite prophet but he is my favorite. He was the prophet for almost half my life so far. I remember President Benson a little. He was good friends with my Grandma and Grandpa Skousen and he came to their 50th Anniversary in 1986 and I had the chance to meet him. I was only 8 but it is a special memory. My mom took us kids to his public viewing after he passed away and I remember that. Because President Hunter was only the prophet for a short time, I don't remember much. I heard the news about President Hinckley while at my parent's house last night at about 8:00. Heidi's fiance, Jeff, texted her saying he had died. We all couldn't believe it so we quickly turned on the tv to see the breaking news. Of course, Lindsay heard us and went running downstairs to tell all of her cousins. Then she wanted to start calling any family and friends she could think of. I told her she could call Karen and Christian (who had just left my parent's). I was glued to the news until 11:00 last night when we got home. It didn't really hit me until they showed people down at Temple Square singing "We Thank Thee Oh God for a Prophet." That is when I started to cry. I feel like President Hinckley was so connected to the youth of the church, well, actually everyone, mormon or non-mormon. I know people who are not members of the church and they loved him too. What an amazing example he has been. I LOVED his sense of humor. He always made us laugh during his conference talks. I am so grateful that he was able to be our prophet for so many years and will miss him, but I know he is with his sweetheart again and that they are happy together. I am grateful to be a part of this true church and for the knowledge that we have of life after death. We love you President Hinckley!

Gavin is sick!

So last Thursday, Gavin started getting a cold and cough. It got worse through the weekend and he was not sleeping well AT ALL! Because my nephew, Nathan, had just recently been hospitalized with RSV (he's home and doing good, by the way!) Dan and I watched him carefully so we could catch any symptoms. After 3 sleepless nights of Gavin coughing, crying, weezing every 5 minutes, I decided to take him into the doctor yesterday to have him checked. The doctor said he has RSV, but not too serious to hospitalize him ~ yet. So we're supposed to give him Benedryl, lots of fluids and a humidifier and watch for the other symptoms (fever of 104 or above, more weezing than he was and/or deeper stomache retractions). Well, last night, Dan and I got 7 1/2 full hours of sleep! Not one of the kids woke up (well, if they did, we didn't hear them!). Gavin perked up a little more today. So hopefully we're almost out of the woods. Lindsay and Zane both have colds and Lindsay has a cough. So we're just staying home all week to get better. We have a trip coming up next week and we want to be healthy! Cross your fingers!

Pray for Nathan

Our nephew, Nathan (Karen & Christian's baby) has been at Primary's Children Hospital since last night because he has RSV and he's extremely dehydrated. They were hoping he'd be able to go home this morning but he's still not having wet diapers so they are keeping him until at least Saturday morning. This picture was taken last spring (it was one of the only pics I have of him) at Disneyland. Nathan is on the left, Carter is in the middle (Jenny's baby) and Gavin is on the right. Please keep Nathan in your prayers!

Engaged!

My sister Heidi is ENGAGED!!!!!! We're so excited for her and Jeff! The wedding is set for April 18th in the Bountiful Temple! We love you!

Line up!

The past couple of months, we've noticed that Gavin likes to line things up in a row. The first time we noticed it was at Dan's parent's house when he lined up a few toy cars, bumper to bumper, all facing the same direction. Then he did it again a couple weeks later. The week after New Year's, I was downstairs excercising and turned around to see that Gavin had pulled about 10 DVD's off the shelf and lined them in a row. Well the other day, I was cooking dinner and he came in, started scooting the dining room chairs around and he lined them in a perfect row, then got up on one of them, as if it were a train! So, we're not sure if this kid has a little OCD or just likes order. I guess we'll have to see as he gets older.

Christmas Video 2007 (make sure to pause the music at the bottom of our blog before watching the video)

We have a tradition on Heather's side of the family, where every Christmas, each of Heather's siblings and their families makes a Christmas video (with the editing help of Heather's dad) and then we all watch them on Christmas Eve. It's been fun to see what different ideas we all come up with. The kids were very cooperative when filming ours. We want to give a big "thanks" to Grandpa Harry for his help with editing ours and also a big "thanks" to Lindsay and Zane's good friends, Lydia, Cole and Macie, for being our "friends" and saying "yoo-hoo!". Hope you enjoy!