This one time...

So remember this one time I was going to blog more? Well I am, I promise. I think I'll be able to blog the California trip tomorrow. I know you're all excited to see how ugly I was on the trip. Oh and I'm sorry for my orneriness in my last post. I'm pregnant and get irritated easily. I was just bugged that when I tell people I have a blog or Facebook and they don't blog or have Facebook, they say,"I'm too busy to do any of that stuff." It just really BUGS me! Can't you see how busy I am too? Ok, calm down Heather. I guess I'll go eat a cookie now. The baby wants one. Goodnight!

It has begun....

So I've been slacking a tiny bit on blogging, but I think that I have a pretty good excuse. The nausea started this week and seriously, could I been anymore tired? I got back from a fabulous trip to California on Monday to see my new niece, Mattison, be blessed. So I can't wait to blog that. Also, I started a little night job this week, so that is adding to the tiredness. So maybe Sunday, I will MAKE time to blog. By the way, it really bugs me when people say they don't have time to do a blog or Facebook or return calls, etc... Like any of us really have time. But we all have 20 minutes once or twice a week to do it, so quit acting like you're the only busy ones!!! Ok, I'm tired and going to bed! Love ya'll!

The Headless Horseman!

One of Zane's favorite movies is Disney's "Adventures of Ichabod and Mr. Toad". If you haven't seen it, it's a good Halloween flick for the kids, well the Ichabod portion is. It's the story of the Headless Horseman. Zane has loved it for a couple of years now. Well yesterday he said he was going downstairs to surprise me with something and I couldn't peak. A few minutes later he came upstairs looking like this (picture above). He said he was the Headless Horseman. I thought it was very cute and creative!

Shake my bootie!

For the past couple of months, Gavin has been saying "shake your body!" while wiggling his little bum. Well just recently, he started saying "shake my bootie!" I am not taking any credit for this one. We'll blame it on Lindsay and Zane. Gavin copies everything they say! Here's a video of him Shakin' his bootie! Never a dull moment with this kid.
P.S. You might want to pause our evil Halloween music at the bottom of our blog! :)

Prego, It's in there! (Dan came up with the title)

Yes, Prego's slogan is "It's in there" but it has also become our slogan this past week. We are officially pregnant with baby #4. We are VERY excited and so are the kids. Lindsay even kept it a secret for a whole day until I gave her permission to tell. I'm not one to keep it a secret for very long. I've had several symptoms that got both Dan and I wondering the past week and a half. The first one was hunger. Man am I hungry! Second, TIRED! I am a night owl. I love to stay up late (usually 'til 12:00 or 1:00), blogging, blog stalking, Facebook stalking or watching my shows that I've recorded, but the past couple of weeks, I've been dragging myself around the house and climbing into bed between 9:00 and 10:00. That was Dan's first sign. I've also been a tad bit irritable, but we don't need to go into that, do we honey? For those of you who don't know, we haven't found out the sex of any of our kids until they were born, and we plan to do the same thing with this one. We just think it's a lot funner to wait. So I don't want any comments telling me "you're so brave to not find out" or "I have to know, so I can be prepared". That doesn't make me brave and YES I'm always prepared when I have my babies! Anyways, we'll keep you updated on the latest news. We're due in early June (man that's so far away!).
I'm so excited to get nauseous in the next couple of weeks! NOT!

The Witches

Last Monday night, for Family Home Evening, we took the kids to Gardner Village to see the Witches. This is our third year going and it's kinda become a tradition. The weather was perfect. This was the first time we didn't need jackets or coats. The kids loved it and to end the night, we stopped by the bakery for something sweet to eat.

Dan's favorite witch

Can you see the witch flying in the sky behind us?

Gavin loved the hula-hoop witch

Mom, I need you

This morning, the kids were sitting on the front porch waiting for Lindsay's friend Maizy to come over. I was inside, when I heard the doorbell ring, then the front door opened. It was Gavin and he said:
Gav "Mom, I need you."
Me "What do you need?"
Gav "A paper towel."
Me "What do you need it for?"
Gav "My birthday."

This kid cracks me up. He just turned 2 in August and he holds full conversations with us. He also asked me if he could feel my back yesterday so I let him touch it (I have no idea why he wanted to feel my back) then he said "that's disgusting!"

Little Miss Muffet...

So Lindsay has been learning about Nursery Rhymes at school. Today she brought home a Nursery Rhyme book that she's been working on for a couple of weeks. She's been coloring pictures to go with each one. So tonight she was telling them to me and Dan and this is what she said when reciting "Little Miss Muffet"

"Little Miss Muffet, sat on her tuffet. Eating her....chunks.....oh, whatever!"

We laughed so hard. She couldn't remember how to say curds and whey. Funny girl!

I promise, I didn't slap them....or did I? Hmmmm...

A couple of weeks ago, Zane woke up with really red cheeks. I thought maybe he'd slept with his face mashed into his pillow. Well, by that afternoon, they were still red as red can be. So I thought to my little oldish self, "Maybe I should take him to the doctor. Why not? I've only been there like 83 times in the past year. What's one more time?" So off we went. Dr. Edwards knew right away what it was~ 5th Disease, aka Slap Cheek Disease aka Parvovirus B19. What the crap? I'd never heard of any of these things. He said it's a virus that is contagious, but you don't know you have it until the rash breaks out and by then it's not contagious anymore. Well isn't that lovely. Then he showed me Zane's arms and the rash was spreading there. He said it could last up to 2 weeks and there was nothing I could do. Thankfully, it wasn't really bothering him. It just looked like I had slapped the kid, hence, Slap Cheek Disease. I talked to some of my sisters, and Laurel said 3 of her kids had something very similar but she thought it was just a reaction to the new sheet rock they were putting up in their house. Then Karen said Nathan had a rash on his face after being at Laurel's, and she thought it was from the sheet rock too. Nope. 5th Disease! Then a couple days later, Lindsay broke out with it. Her's lasted longer than Zane's. We're now done with it, hopefully and I'm sorry if my kids gave your kids 5th Disease. It wasn't planned. :)

I also threw in a picture of Zane's pinkie that still hasn't healed. I finally took him to a Dermatologist yesterday and he injected it with some meds. Yes, I said injected, folks. He said the topical stuff we were putting on it wasn't strong enough, so he stuck a needle in his pinkie and called him Macaroni. What? Sorry for the lame humor. Poor Zane didn't even know it was coming. But it was better that way because if he would have seen the needle he would have FREAKED OUT! So we turned on Finding Nemo and I nonchalantly held his legs down. The Dr. was acting like he was just looking at the pinkie, when WAMMO! he stuck it in. Zane cried pretty hard (it broke my heart) but he did good to hold still. He still doesn't know that it was a needle. He just thinks the Dermo was poking it. Needless to say, it hurt him all day yesterday and he cried about it a lot. He didn't even want to play with his friends. So HOPEFULLY in about 2 weeks I can post something to the effect of "Wonders of Wonders, Miracles, Miracles! It's healed!" We'll see.

My new BFF

I just wanted to say that Heather Hansen from the Biggest Loser Season 3 is my new BFF. To all of my other BFF's, she's not taking your place. I'm just adding her to my BBF group! This picture was taken tonight after my Get Skinny Party at my parent's house. I just love her. She's helping me get started with my business and the rest of us on her team. Thanks for all your help Heather! I heart you! And I'm so happy that I got my first commission check yesterday, which is such a blessing because I was recently layed off from Paramount Title, where I've worked for over 13 years. Dang crappy housing market! Oh and I've lost 5 pounds! It's a good day!

Tag, I'm it!

I've been tagged several times and I don't think I've done one yet. Sorry to everyone that has tagged me. I'm lame! This tag is from my cousin Heidi and I can only answer in one word:

1. Where is your cell phone? Counter
2. Your significant other? Dan
3. Your hair? Blonde (ish)
4. Your mother? Organized
5. Your father? Hilarious
6. Your favorite thing? Family
7. Your dream last night? Forgot
8 Your favorite drink? Lemonade
9. Your dream/goal? Money
10. The room you’re in? Kitchen
11. Your hobby? Dancing
12. Your fear? Caraccidents (see how I made it one word?)
13. Where do you want to be in 6 years? Rich
14. What you’re not? Shy
15. Muffins? Blueberry
16. One of your wish list items? Debtless
17. Where you grew up? Utah
18. The last thing you did? Laundry
19. What are you wearing? PJ's
20. Favorite gadget? Phone
21. Your pets? NONE!
22. Your computer? Obsessed
23.Your mood? Happy
24. Missing someone? Amy
25.Your car? Love
26. Something you’re not wearing? Bra
27. Favorite store? Walmart
28. Like someone? Family
29. Your favorite color? Green
30. When is the last time you laughed? Tonight (we made pathetic carmel apples and me, Dan and the kids were laughing so hard at how they turned out!)
31. Last time you cried? Sunday

I tag Karen, Debbie, Meghan, Angela and Jenny Hunter Love ya!

September 11th

I can't believe it's been 7 years since that tragic day on September 11th. At times, it feels like it didn't really happen; like it was just a bad dream or something out of the movies. I remember waking up that morning to take a shower and get ready for work. I knew nothing had gone on until I went downstairs of our West Valley duplex to turn on the t.v. to watch The Early Show which is what I always did while I ate breakfast. I turned it on to see footage of the World Trade Center buildings ingulfed in smoke. The second plane had just hit and I was thinking "how the heck does a plane fly into a building in the middle of New York?" Dan was still in the shower and I saw that we had a message on our answering machine. It was my mom and she said, "turn on your t.v. You won't believe what's happening!" I had missed her call because I had been in the shower. I was glued to the t.v. I struggled to get ready for work, not wanting to miss anything. At this point we didn't know who did this or why it happened or if it was terrorists. I finally got ready and walked next door to where my sister Missy lived. We chatted for a bit about it, then I drove her to a class she was doing for her job. On the way there, we heard on the radio that another plane had crashed into the Pentagon and then into a field in Pennsylvania! What the crap is going on? When I got to work, my boss had his little t.v. on in his office and some of us just sat in there watching it. I had the hardest time working. I remember listening to Chunga and Mister on 107.5 and they weren't playing any music. They were just talking about what was going on. I remember I heard them say that they heard that this had to be an act of terrorism and there had been reports from the hijacked planes of men speaking another language. I remember how enraged I felt. How could these bas#$*@! do this to our country? Of course the days that followed I was watching the t.v. constantly after work. Dan didn't want to hear or see much of it because that's how he is. He doesn't like the news because of how negative it is and he hates hearing of the horrible things that go on this world. A few days after it happened, I remember lying in bed and Dan was asleep. I bawled like a baby for a long time. Here I was all warm and safe in my home and these people and families across the country were in despair. I felt guilty. We didn't have any kids at the time and I think I would have held them for days if they had been born. Exactly one month after 9/11, Dan and I flew to Hawaii for 10 days, a trip we'd been planning for months. I don't remember being too scared because there were Military men and women and dogs all over the airports. Also, I told Dan, "I guess if we die, at least we'll die together and not leave any children behind." :) I am so grateful for every single person that has fought for this country, not just in the past 7 years, but since this country was founded.

So now I want to know where were you and what were you doing when you heard the news.

Watch out Logan, here we come!

Last Friday, me, Karen and some friends, headed up to Logan to visit Michelle, who recently moved up there. We spent the night at her cute apartment and had a lot of fun. We headed to Walmart after we ate dinner and Debbie insisted that we wear our pj's there. Some of us did. Then she brought her video camera and our digital camera's and took pictures and acted like we were 14. Michelle was embarrassed and acted like she wasn't with us most of the time. People kept thinking one of us a celebrity because we were taking so many pictures. It was pretty funny. We stayed up late eating banana splits and watching "What Lies Beneath". Thanks for a fun weekend girls!

Ginger and Me

Kim, Christy, Karen and Debbie

Our wonderful hostess, Michelle

Sisters by chance, friends by choice (these are meant to sound cheesy)

God made us sisters, love made us friends

If sisters were flowers, I'd pick you

Debbie was sisterless, so we improvised

Our State Fair is a great State Fair. Don't miss it! Don't even be late!

Ok, if you've never seen the musical "State Fair", then you probably don't get my title. So go rent it, then you'll understand. Anyways, last Saturday we took the kids, along with Heidi, Karen and little Nathan to Utah's State Fair. Dan is still wondering how Christian and Jeff got out of going. But it was fun and I didn't think it was too crowded for a Saturday. So being with 2 prego's, oh wait, I never posted that info. Three of my sisters are pregnant and all due in April! Laurel is due with her 6th baby at the beginning of April, Heidi is due with her first baby around the 12th and Karen is due about the 23rd. This is such exciting news! My sister Amy who's on a mission will be home just before all of this so that will make it even that much more exciting! I know, now you're all going to comment and say, "ok, Heather, it's your turn." So let me just get this out of the way. We ARE trying for number 4, we have been for a few months. The Lord will send this little spirit to us when he's good and ready. The end. :) Anyways, back to the Fair, so being with two preggers, we couldn't stay too long around the wretched stink of the Farm animals, so let's just say we pretty much ran down the aisles so one of my sissy's wouldn't gag and hurl. Seeing a family sitting next to their prized cow eating pizza didn't help either. Who would eat their dinner around that smell? If you want to read a more detailed and funny post of our experience, check out my sister's blog http://faxprincessandfamily.blogspot.com . Our favorite thing to do was the little Hands on Farm. It is adorable and it's free! The kids get to put on a little apron and get a basket. Then they go to different little stops and pick up things to put in their basket (everything is plastic), like pick an egg from under the chickens, milk the pretend cow and take a carton of milk, take a pretend seed and plant it. On the other side of the garden they get to see what grew and take it out of the garden then they got to ride a little tractor bike. At the end they turn everything in and get a pretend dollar then they get to buy a little treat with their dollar. It's the highlight of the Fair for our kids. The main reason we chose Saturday to go, was because I was asked to demo something scrapbookish in the Creative Arts Building. Now, I am not a professional scrapbooker. I like to do it but I'm not extremely creative. But I told them I would. So I had to come up with something for people to make (a Make and Take) as they were passing by. I chose to do a little Christmas tag. It's nothing fancy but people liked it because it was simple and their kids could even do it. Hey, I got 2 free tickets into the Fair (our kids were all free already) and free parking for doing this so it was worth it!

Zane's first day of Preschool

Today was Zane's first day of Preschool. He was so excited to go. He went last year and loved it. He really enjoys Miss Nicole. So right now, my house is silent, except for the tapping of the keys on my keyboard. Lindsay is at Kindergarten, Zane is at Preschool and Gavin is taking a nap. I planned this perfectly. I started teaching dance again this morning so this is my down time. I should be doing something productive, but hey, blogging is the way I journal, so technically, this is productive!

Ich liebe meine Mutter und Schwestern

Last week, my sister Jenny, her little boy, Carter and her hubby, Ben came to visit. So my mom, sisters and I decided to have a girl's night. Since my youngest sister, Amy, is on a mission in Texas, we thought we'd go and see "Errand of Angels", a movie about a Sister Missionary who goes to Austria. It was a good movie and they spoke German in it a lot which made it even cooler. My grandparents are from Germany. So, Karen insisted that we bring Amy's dang cardboard cutout to take pictures with. No, we didn't bring her in to watch the movie. We didn't want to have to pay for a seat for her. Then we went to dinner at Spaghetti Mama's. It was a lot of fun!





Here's some pictures of Gavin and Carter before Jenny and Ben went back to Arizona. It was so good to see them and spend time with them. Carter is growing up so much! You can see how huge my son is next to Carter. Carter is only 4 months younger than Gavin!

Update on Zane/Gavin's 2 year checkup

Many of you have asked how Zane is doing. He is good. They tested his urine again last week and there is still a trace of blood but no protein so the doctor is not too worried. If there continues to blood with protein in his urine them we will do further testing. As for the dang sore on his finger that he's had for about 5 months, it's still infected. He's on a different antibiotic that is stronger and it is looking better. So hopefully this clears it up. They took a sample of it to culture but I haven't heard back yet what they've found. As for all the diabetes symptoms I was concerned about, he still drinks a lot which makes him pee a lot (but that could be because it's summer and he's hot) and he doesn't seem as tired lately. We are very grateful it is not diabetes.

I took Gavin in for his 2 year check-up. This kid is huge! Everyone thinks he's 3 and his full sentences and vocabulary would make you think that too. He was 32 pounds (90%), 37 inches tall (95%) and his head is just huge (95%). When Lindsay heard the nurse say how tall he was, her response was, "he's tall enough to ride the Matterhorn at Disneyland!" She knows that the height requirement is 35 inches for that ride. I don't know where she got that from, hmmmm.... :) . Dr. Edwards gave me a prescription for a steroid so that if/when he gets Croup again, I'll already have it on hand to give him. He thinks that he's just a kid who gets Croup easy. He doesn't think it's Asthma. He got one shot and only cried a little bit. Lindsay and Zane were more traumatized by it. They hid under the chairs and plugged their ears so they wouldn't have to see it or hear Gavin cry.

Happy 90th Birthday Grandma Skousen!

My cute Grandma, Jewel Skousen (whom I'm named after, my middle name) turned 90 years old today. I think she looks amazing for 90. She is the sweetest person you'll ever meet. I've never heard her say a mean thing about anybody and never heard her raise her voice. I asked my dad a couple of weeks ago if he ever heard her yell when he was growing up. He said he cannot remember one time she ever yelled. Man, how would that be? She has been an amazing example to me throughout my life. She always supported Grandpa in whatever he did; his many speeches and seminars across the world, his many books he has written, the many times he would have random people stop by their home to meet and visit with Grandpa.... She always stood by his side. Grandpa passed away over 2 years ago and she has remained strong. She never feels sorry for herself and is still always happy! Grandma, we love you so much! Happy 90th Birthday!

We had a big open house for Grandma at her church, where friends and family were able to come and see her and have cake and ice cream. My dad made a video of her life too. It was so fun to see many of my cousins and their kids. There are 50 grandkids (I'm #23) and as of right now 86 great grandkids. But there about 7 more on the way! Here we are with Grandma. I think she looks beautiful! Gavin had a little too much fun playing in the drinking fountain.

Grandma with 7 of her 8 children and their spouses. (my dad's little sister Kathy died when she was 20 years old, hence the 7 of her 8 children)

Grandma with her children

L-R Back row Brent, Paul, Harold (my dady-o), Rick, Dave

Front Row Sharon, Grandma, Julianne

Me and my cousin, Misty, who I haven't seen in years!

I am 5 1/2 going on 17....

So I just read a post on my friend, Val's, blog about her daughter and wearing deodorant... and it reminded me of some things that Lindsay has been saying lately that I've been meaning to blog. A couple of months ago I was kneeling down helping her with something and here's how the conversation went:
L "Mom, you're squishing those things that make you look pretty."
H "What are you talking about?"
L "those things."
H "what things?"
L "those", then she pointed to my self-made cleavage that was somewhat showing because I was bending over. Apparently those are what makes us pretty gals!

Then she asked a little while ago when she could start shaving her legs and wearing a bra! I told her when it was time, I would tell her and I would show her how to shave her legs so she wouldn't cut herself.

I've finally given in to reading the "Twilght" books and 2 weeks ago (after hearing me talk a little about it) Lindsay asked "when can I start reading those Twilight books?" I said, "when you're 18." She said "no, 15." I told her "we'll see". Then she kept asking me everytime I'd sit down to read them, "what's happening?","what did you just read about?" She cracks me up!

Then last week, we were eating dinner (Dan was out of town) and Zane asked "why does Daddy have to go to work everyday." Lindsay told him, "so we can have money for our house, our cars, food, our health insurance..." I am almost peed my pants! HEALTH INSURANCE!!!! Where does she get these things?

Mattison Brooke Skousen

My little brother (my only brother) is a daddy! Matt and Lauren welcomed a new baby girl on Tuesday, August 26th, 2008. She is precious! I started crying when I saw this picture on their blog! In my family there are 11 grandsons and only 3 grandaughters (12 and 4 if you count Jenny's stepchildren, which we do). Lindsay was the last granddaughter born 5 1/2 years ago. There has been 8 grandsons since her. So this is a really big deal to us! Mattison was 10 pounds and 1 oz, 20 inches long. They ended up doing a C-section because obviously she was too big. They live in California, so we've only seen pictures. Lindsay is so excited to have another girl cousin and Zane is excited to share his birthday with Matti. I am so excited for you guys, Matt and Lauren! I'm so excited to come and meet little Matti in October!

Happy 4th Birthday Zane!

Today our Zane, Zaners, Zaniel turned 4 years old! Zane we are so happy to have you in our family. You are such a sweet boy and you make us laugh! We hope you continue to be our happy, helpful little boy. Happy Birthday! We love you!

Lindsay's first day of Kindergarten

My little Lindsay started Kindergarten today! I can't believe it! I'm so proud of myself, I only cried a tiny bit as she walked through the door to her class. She says she LOVED it. I'm so glad that she knows some of the girls in her class. That makes it easier. Her teacher is Miss Gourney and I've heard so many good things about her. I'm sad to think that she's growing up but so excited for this next step in her life. It's weird or maybe depressing to think that we'll be doing this whole school thing for about the next 20 years!

As a tradition, Granny Annie always takes the grandkids out to lunch and let's them pick a new outfit out when they go to Kindergarten. Lindsay loved her special date with Granny. She also makes them a German tuta (not sure on the spelling) that is filled with treats and school supplies. The cone shaped thing is the tuta. Thanks Granny!

Grandma Tracey made Lindsay this cute skirt to wear. She woke up early and got dressed in it and she doesn't even go to school until 12:45!

Miss Gurney

Orem Owlz

On Saturday night, Dan's work had a company BBQ at the UVSC Baseball field. We had good food, then they got us all tickets to watch the Orem Olwz play Baseball. Lindsay is the only one of our kids who's been to a Baseball game, but she was only like 4 months old, so this was a new experience for us. The kids did pretty good. They only lasted about an hour (about the time when all the treats and drinks ran out). Not to mention it was so dang hot! But it was fun!

Dang Canker Sores!

As long as I can remember, I've gotten Canker Sores. Some have been so bad, I could hardly eat and talk. I'm pretty used to them now. It always bugs me when people say, "Stay away from me! I don't want one!" because they ARE NOT CONTAGIOUS! My dad always said, "it's because of not enough sleep, too much sugar and not enough water." As I got older, he'd say all of that and then he added, "and PMS." Whatever dad! You don't know what you're talking about or does he. I found this on the interenet after I Googled Canker Sores:

"Canker sores are shallow, painful sores in the mouth. They are usually red or may sometimes have a white coating over them. You might get them on the inside of your lips, the insides of your cheeks, the base of your gums or under your tongue. Canker sores are different from fever blisters, which usually are on the outside of your lips or the corners of your mouth.

Anyone can get canker sores, but women and people in their teens and 20s get them more often. Canker sores may run in families, but they aren't contagious. Doctors don't know what causes canker sores, but they may be triggered by stress, poor nutrition, food allergies and menstrual periods."

Well I had a Canker Sore last week that was on its way to being gone, when I bit it the other night while shoving a Casita Burrito from Taco Time in my mouth. Then I kept biting it because it got swollen. Well, I pulled down my lip to show my mom and Karen how big it was and they almost gagged! They said it was blue and purple. I ran into the bathroom and almost gagged myself. What the heck? So it's been 2 days and it's still ugly looking (it's more red now) but not as swollen. So I don't know if I broke a blood vessel or what! I'm not a doctor. I'm sure Dan will be so excited to kiss me when he gets home from San Francisco tonight. HAHAHA! PMP!