Week of January 19 - 25

I am happy to report that Kevin is doing much better this week. He had a followup visit with the doctor on Wednesday and received a clean bill of health. Wow! The doctor was suprised because he doesn't usually see pnemonia clear up so quickly. Kevin is sure grateful to be feeling better and I am grateful to have him up and about and teasing our children into better moods, once again.

After having a few days of inversion which locks all the pollution in, we were happy to get a storm to clear the air. However, instead of snowing, it rained. It has rained and rained. It did clear the air! It is also working on melting the giant hills of snow that have collected alongside our houses. For us, the melting snow and the falling rain means water in our basement. Heavy sigh. I just do not have the emotional energy to panic over it anymore. I told Kevin that we just need to get rid of the carpet, put a colorful glaze over the concrete, keep everything off the floor, and when the rains come down and the floods come up, we'll just pick up our throw carpets and let our subterranean river flow towards the drain. I have always wanted to live on a river. I just didn't realize I would actually live "on" a river. I am exaggerating, of course. It is more a seeping. I have lived in the Midwest where "water in the basement" meant water to the knees or worse! Compared to that, this is quite livable. (I say cheerfully as Kevin vacuums away downstairs with the wet-vac, fighting the good fight!)

We had basketball games again this week. That was great fun. Sarah and Megan are both having a great time as are Kevin and Katy in coaching them. We did some craft projects, I am happy to report, and did activity days and young women activities.

On Friday, I took Sarah in to the dentist because her front tooth was bothering her -- the one that got knocked out a year and a half ago while playing softball. We thought we had gotten through the danger zone and that it was going to live and be fine. Unfortunately, that is not to be. The dentist xrayed it and found that the root was dying. He said it was just about ready to abcess. (!!!) So, he did the root canal. We'll go in next week so he can finish up. Everything will be fine, of course. What can't they do nowadays? Sarah was still mortified, though, and had a heartbroken cry over it. She is doing better now. I guess we all learn that there are things that just happen and we just have to deal with them the best we can!

Our big, Big, BIG news of the week is that Elder Robert D. Hales of the Twelve Apostles came to our Stake Conference this weekend. Can you believe it? It wasn't an area conference or a regional conference, it was just our stake. AND we weren't getting a new stake presidency nor had we done anything wrong! (I was just kidding, here -- I know they don't typically come for that reason either!) Anyway, it has been fabulous. We had a ward temple night Friday. Saturday evening we had the adult session. I always love the adult session of stake conference, anyway, because (as much as I love my children) you can concentrate far more easily when your children are not with you! I always feel the spirit so strongly. But, with Elder Hales there, it was even more amazing. He speaks humbly and quietly but with such power. He knows things. He is sure. He understands the doctrine completely. I want to shout to the earth, "God has given us Twelve Apostles on the earth! Can't you feel that it is true? I know that it is! I heard one speak to me today!" Today at the general session, he spoke incredibly well, too. He taught us as Jesus did on the road to Emmaeus, "opening the scriptures up to our understanding." He would open his scriptures and say, "Let's see what he says here." And then he would explain it to us, almost like he'd been there, definitely like he'd had it explained to him. It was wonderful. I feel so lucky. It was a blessing to have him there today and my heart is full of gratitude for it.

Week of January 12-18

There was no school on Friday so the girls and I went to the aquarium in Sandy. This is a picture of the older girls trying to touch the Manta Ray in the petting pool. (Actually, Megan is just pretending because she didn't really want to touch it!) We also got to touch starfish and urchins and crabs and some spindly things. It was cool! Our favorite things were the jellyfish and the little native Utah frogs.

Actually, Megan wasn't feeling very well that day and has since been camped out on the sofa with a fever. Illness is doing the rounds in our family and it seems to be her turn. We started out the week with Kevin not feeling well. Monday he came home from work in the middle of the day and crashed. I have never seen him so sick. When he was still not well by Wednesday and had hit temperatures higher than 103 degrees, we took him in to the doctor. He was officially diagnosed with Pnemonia. Yikes! The doctor gave him a shot and put him on a strong antibiotic. He has been doing better since then. He is still not completely well. He moves at about half speed and does better with a nap, but the fever has not come back and he has been able to do some half days at work. We feel very blessed that it wasn't any worse than it was and that his Pnemonia didn't require any hospital stays! Poor Megan "only" has a fever of 101, so I'm thinking, "Come on, kid! You're hardly sick at all!" Perspective. I tell you. Not always a good thing.

Here is a cute picture of the twins with their new dolls. Remember Sister Hansen and her doll-making supplies? Those heads were included in her loot, along with two pre-sewn, still in the package bodies. All I had to do was stuff and "sculpt," which is very fun because you get to make cute little fingers and toes, just like you do on a real baby but without the morning sickness! Hallelujah! So, it was very easy and very fun and the best thing of all is that the twins love their new dolls and take them everywhere! What could be better than to have your work so appreciated?

We had basketball again this week. Kevin was way too sick to go coach his game on Wednesday, but he has an assistant coach who also has a daughter on the team, so not to worry, right? I went and watched. Last week they won their game with 36 points. When Kevin wasn't there, the score was 2 to 2 at halftime and they were lucky to have the two points! Wow! I am still laughing about it! Do you think a coach can make a difference? I am thinking so. Sarah did come around in the second half and scored a basket for the team. She actually shows a lot of potential for the sport. Megan did great at my game, too. My problem is letting the other members of my team score some points with Megan and my other returning player, Tyree, playing so confidently and dominating the key!

Beth is saying, "Da-da-da," and it is the cutest thing EVER! I don't know why I find it so endearing, but I just love it. She jabbers it in the happiest way and it is so cute to see her little chin dance up and down. We tried to get it on tape for you, but she just wouldn't do it! If you watch it, you will mostly hear the rest of us saying, "Da-da-da." We're quite good at it, too, you know.

I also went and got her 6 month pictures taken and do you think she would give one of those great no-teeth smiles? No. Not that day! She just looked at the picture lady like she was a nut. She gave a couple of small, long-suffering smiles. Mostly, she just wanted to go back to sleep. That's okay. We got some sweet shots of her still.

Week of January 5 - 11

One of my New Year's Resolutions is to spend a little one-on-one time with each of my girls each week and hopefully teach them a few homemaking skills in the process. So, this is our first week of success!! Sarah, Megan, and Mariah each learned how to make these little, finger-sized dolls this week. Cute, huh? Hopefully, we'll get a little more advanced as the weeks go by. (Hopefully I can stick to my resolution as the weeks go by!)

Savannah is not so interested in dolls. She's sewing together a quilt top instead. Before you get too excited, just know that I have never pieced a quilt in my life. This is a quilt from the Humanitarian Aid Center. They gave us a bag full of 12 inch squares, we'll sew them together 10x10 and give it back. Then someone else will tie it and bind it. Savannah did lay it out in a nice pattern. This week I'll show her how to sew them together. I did do that a bit at an Enrichment meeting.

SPEAKING of the benefits of Enrichment meeting . . . (you didn't realize we were speaking of the benefits of Enrichment meeting, did you?) . . . I mentioned at our last meeting (while we were sitting around sewing cloth footballs) that I was hoping to make dolls with my daughters. Well, Sister Hansen, sitting next to me, just happened to have a whole bunch of doll-making supplies that she had bought back when she was planning on making ones for her granddaughters. Now her granddaughters are all grown and she knew she'd never get around to making dolls again and so, would I like to have them? Would I! She brought over such fun stuff! Stuff I would have had to pay alot of money for if I had tried to buy it myself! It's really going to be great fun! I love Enrichment! I love Sister Hansen!

Other topics of note: Kevin and I joined the local exercise "gym." It is a really small neighborhood place, but after one whole week of using it, I am really liking it and so is Kevin. We are feeling the joy of exercising once again as we look out from our warm, bright gym on the dark, cold, snow-covered streets. Yek!

We also had our first basketball games this week. Kevin is coaching Sarah's team and I am coaching Megan's team. Savannah is not playing this year. :( Sarah's team had two games this week. They won one and lost one. We don't keep score in Megan's league. When my team asked why they weren't keeping score, I told them it was because in this league, the team that had the most fun were the ones who won the game. From all the hollering I did from the sideline, though, you would have thought that it was the coach who made the most noise! Oops! There's just so much I want to say!!! I'll say less as the girls learn the game better. . . I think.

Week of December 28 thru January 4, 2009

We’ve had the great fortune of having my brother Pete’s daughter, Samantha, visiting with us all week. She is just six months older than Savannah, so she fits in beautifully in our home. They have had a great week partying up their last week of Christmas vacation. I think they went sledding every day on the hill that borders the big empty lot on the road behind us. They came back with wet gloves, wet pants, wet boots, and wet coats and frozen extremities but they were happy! They enjoyed it enough to do it again . . . and again . . . and again. How do you dim the love of a desert kid for the pleasures of snow – and the cousins who want to be with her? With Savannah’s friends, they had an Italian soda party, an antiquing trip, and even went ice skating. Great times were had by all! There were some moments of jealousy, but Samantha was cheerful throughout and did a great job giving attention to everyone and smoothing any hurt feelings. It was really a pleasure to have her with us.

One of Kevin’s business partners gave us the DVD of Seven Brides for Seven Brothers for Christmas and the girls watched it this week. Now, instead of just Pirates of Penzance songs around here, we also hear, “Going Courtin’” which is not a word my children know, so I’ve heard all variants from “Going Coring” to “Hoeing Coeling.” They all have the melody, though, so it’s all good. I also had to explain a shotgun wedding. (Ah, those nice clean old movies.) It’s been fun, though!

Unfortunately, Savannah has been sick almost the whole week. She is only now starting to get her strength back. Her fever started the night of the 23rd and after two trips to the doctor and two different antibiotics and a priesthood blessing, finally broke January 1st. Poor girl. She was sick for Christmas and New Year’s Eve and half of her cousin’s visit. She still has dark circles under her eyes, but she has started to smile again and tease her sisters – definite signs of a return to health.

New Year’s Eve was a party again at our house with our friends the Groslands and their five children and the nine of us Skinners and Samantha. That’s seventeen! No wonder it was so loud. It was so loud when we cheered the New Year that we even made Cheyenne cry! Poor girl, she didn’t have any idea that was going to happen. I should have warned her a little. We played games and snacked and had a great time.

My birthday was nice, too. I’m now thirty-six. Crazy, crazy! I celebrated by letting Kevin tend all the kids while I sat on the couch and read a book. Oh, lovely indulgence.