Easter 2008

Because Trevor had his mission homecoming on Easter, we spent most of the day at the Doney's. But later we went to Granny Annie's and Grandpa Harry's to dye eggs, eat Ham and funeral potatoes and have an Easter egg hunt.
Dyeing eggs. Notice Gavin's bruise on his cheek. He fell off the couch in St. George and his face hit the coffee table. That kid was havin' it rough!
Dan is wearing that apron so proudly
Zane
Lindsay
The best picture I could get of Gavin. The following pictures are my other attempts to get a good picture of him, but he was so grumpy from being sick that he wouldn't cooperate and he eventually threw out the stuff in his basket and then his basket. It was pretty hilarious!

St. George 2008

This past week we went down to St. George for a little vacation with Dan's family. The weather was perfect (70's). Ma and Pa Doney rented a vacation home in the Sunbrook Golf Course. It was a nice home with 3 bathrooms (sorry Nanna's Cottage in Palmyra, this one wins the prize - Doney family joke). Dan and I got the master bedroom with the 3 kids. The king sized bed was comfy and helped because we had Gavin sleep between us every night and somehow he always ended up horizontally. We got there late Wednesday night. We had hoped the kids would have fallen asleep on the way and then we could quietly take them in the house and then they'd stay asleep all night. WRONG! None of them fell asleep until around 10:00 pm and that is when we were in Cedar City (an hour away from St. George). Then when we got there, they all woke up because they were so excited to see the house and see Dan's family. So we ended up going to bed after midnight.

Thursday, we drove to Snow Canyon and played in the Sand Dunes. Dan's brothers had all sorts of races and pretty much had sand in all their nooks and cranny's. It was pretty funny though. Of course Lindsay and Zane had to join in too. I'm still finding sand in bags, shoes and clothes. Gavin had a cough that had turned into Croup through the night so he was pretty miserable and didn't want to do much. After Snow Canyon, we stopped by the house to get our swimming stuff and headed to the Sand Hollow Aquatic Center (the SHAC). It's an indoor pool with a water slide. It was a lot of fun. That night we went to Applebee's for dinner and Gavin was still not getting better. Later, after giving him a blessing and putting him to bed, we went to check on him and his breathing was sounding really bad, so we decided to take him to the hospital. Lindsay and Zane were asleep, so Ma and Pa stayed with them. We got to the hospital a little after 10:30 pm and they did a little check up on him (temperature, oxygen level, etc...) then we sat in the waiting room for an hour. Gavin was doing a little better because we had taken him outside and the cold air had helped open up his chest a little. Then they put us in a room and said the doctor would be in. Well, I didn't think that meant an hour later! After 45 minutes of sitting in the room with Gavin screaming, then sleeping, then screaming, I went out to find someone. They said we were next to be seen. Well, about 15-20 minutes later, the doctor came in, checked him and said we needed to do some breeathing treaments on him and he would send someone in to do that. That took another 10-15 minutes before they came back. I was so irratated that they weren't being faster considering that this was a baby having a hard time breathing. They did the breathing treatment, which Gavin HATED! He screamed and kicked and fought! Dan and I both had to hold him down. Then a while later they did another one. It was sad to watch my baby being put through this. Then a while after that, some nurse and some nurse guy came him in to give him a shot of a steroid and they apologized that all of this had taken so long. I don't remember exactly the reason (I was so tired I wasn't fully paying attention) but something to the fact that we should have been seen a long time ago and the doctors kinda screwed up on not coming to us sooner. Ya I think so? I thought a pediactric respritory problem would take a higher priority. And I guess it was supposed to be. I would have made a bigger deal about it, but Gavin really was breathing ok while we waited those 2 hours to be seen. Anyways, they gave us a prescription of a steroid to give him for 2 more days that we went and got at Walgreens on the way home and it was 3:00 am by the time we got back to the house. What a LONG night!

Friday, we slept in a little because of the events of the night before, then we packed lunches and headed to Zions National Park. There we hiked to the Emerald Pools. I'm not a hiker (unless it is a paved road, with very small hills, preferably at Disneyland) but I did it and without complaining too. Gavin was still not feeling good and was grumpy some of the time. Zane and Gavin both rode in backpacks which made it a lot easier. Zane said, "I like hiking. It's easy." Ya, because you've been carried the whole way, son! Funny kid. Lindsay hiked all the way up and back, with little complaining. A few times she kept threatening that she was NOT going to take another step. But we made and it was very pretty up there. Afterwards, we ate a picnic lunch and Dan and I headed back to St. George with the kids, while the others stayed to hike some more. We were exhausted and Gavin was too. But he screamed the whole way home (almost an hour and a half) because we didn't bring his binky! I thought I was going to lose my mind!!!!! He FINALLY fell asleep just as we pulled into the golf course neighborhood, of course! That was at about 6:00 pm and he slept until 10:30pm. Then we changed him, fed him, gave him his medicine and he slept until 9:00 the next morning. We got a good night sleep that night!

Saturday, we packed up and did an Easter egg hunt throughout the house. Then on the way home, we stopped by a campground near Hurricaen and did a wienie roast (Doney Easter tradition) and the kids played in a little stream. We also roasted Peeps, which tasted really yummy. We made it home around 6:00 pm all in one piece. It really was a fun trip (minus the Croup) and we enjoyed spending time with Dan's family. Thanks for the memories and thanks for being so patient with us and our 3 kids! (We missed you Sis, Zach, Carter & Austin and Travis!)

Engaged!

I've been meaning to post this for a while now but I kept forgetting to get a picture of these two. Dan's brother Mike is engaged to Brie! They will be married on June 20th in the Logan Temple. We are very excited for them and Lindsay and I are loving having another girl around the Doney house. Congrats Mike and Brie! (They usually don't dress like this. They decided to dress up for Trevor at the airport who came home from his mission last week - it was pretty funny seeing these two walk in like this!)

Welcome Home Trevor!

Dan's little brother, Trevor, came home from his mission in Tonga on Tuesday night. He looks the same except he's a lot tanner. Lindsay remembers him, but Zane doesn't and Gavin wasn't born yet. But Gavin can say "Trevor". It is so good to have you home Trevor!

Trevor is the one in the front.

Hugging Ma Doney

Hugging Pa Doney



Mike and Brie dressed up as a cowboy and cowgirl to be ugly and embarrass Trevor. They brought some fake mustaches so the rest of the boys put them on. Dan and Zane decided to make theirs unibrows. It was pretty funny and yes, Trevor thought it was ugly.

Happy Anniversary and Birthday's!

For our Anniversary we decided to go out to dinner with Karen and Christian and Melissa (aka Beans) and Mike. It was Melissa's birthday on the 12th and Mike's on the 14th, so we decided to celebrate their birthday's and our anniversary together. We went to Tepanyaki to eat and I ate so much that I was going to burst! Then we decided to go to Coldstone afterwards for dessert. I told them all that I was too full for ice cream, but when we got there, I couldn't resist! Then I really couldn't breathe! Oh, but it was so worth it! The food was great and the company was even greater! And none of us had kids with us! Let's do it again soon, VERY soon!

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