Week of February 16 to February 22

Well, the neatest thing for me this week was that my big brother came to visit me! He was here in Utah for business so he drove down from SLC to visit me in my house for the first time ever. (He is a bit of a homebody -- which we will boast as a virtue rather than a vice!) He and I got to chat for about four hours -- just him and I (not without interruptions by little people, of course, but still, pretty continuous). Wow! He's a cool guy! I really do like him. I was glad he could stop by.


This week marked the last official week of city-league basketball here in Springville. Megan and my last game was actually last week. We had a lot of fun and, on my league, Megan can drive in and score just about every time she has the ball. Also, too bad if you're the girl she's assigned to guard, because she will steal that ball from you every time! Here's a picture of our budding basketball star:

Wednesday night was Sarah and Kevin's last game. Sarah had one of her best games ever, grabbing rebounds, making shots, and stealing balls. She was even fouled on one of her shots and made BOTH her free throws! (Her dad said, "Wow, Sarah! Your mom can't even do that!" Nice, huh?) Here's Sarah:

Kevin did a great job as coach and Sarah learned a lot and had a great time, as well. Watch out for the future Skinner Family Women's Basketball Team!

Here's a funny blurb from our life. The girls have discovered The Brady Bunch and have been recording all the episodes to watch after dinner. It is very funny to watch them watch those shows. The other day, Peter pulled a large black box out from under the bed where Marsha and Jan had been telling secrets. My girls said, "What is that?" I had to tell them that it was a tape recorder! Weird, huh? The other funny thing was that when I mentioned that Alice was the housekeeper, Mariah said, "No! She's the Grandma!" That really made me laugh. It just goes to show how much our Grandmas help around here!

Oh, I also had temporary color put in my hair, which is what my friend who does my hair recommended for "color virgins." LOL It should last about eight weeks I was told. The good news is that I really like it! Most people can't tell because it is so close to my haircolor. I had to ask Kevin if he noticed anything else different about my hair besides my new haircut. LOL

Week of February 9 - February 15

This week the unthinkable happened. My oldest daughter became a . . . teenager! How could that be?? Wasn't it just a few weeks ago that I lay in bed wondering how she had grown old enough to be a kindergartener?Isn't she beautiful, though? She's kind, too, and confident and smart and athletic and talented. She's much better than I ever could have dreamed her to be -- even from the moment I first fell in love with her when they placed her in my arms. So, even though she is "old" now, I can't complain. It's been a lovely thirteen years. Happy Birthday, Savannah!

Here is the chubby, little imp who is reminding me that I get to start all over with her:

She eats solid foods now, of course, so we had to do the "messy baby-food picture." You will notice how she has two spoons of her own in her hands. That's because after she stole my first spoon, I got a second, and then she stole that, too. So, yes, it's a three-spoon job. She sure is happy, though! Also, she has stopped doing the cute baby-consonant sounds and has moved on to monster noises. We can hardly have a conversation at the dinner table because of all Beth's hollering! I just watched her roll from her back to her stomach. Just now! Oooh, mobility is not too far away!

I hope you all noticed my poll in the top corner of my blog. Please take a moment to cast your vote. I have always thought that when my hair started to go grey, I would just leave it. Unfortunately, I didn't count on the reaction my children would have. My three oldest, all at different times, have looked at me with these big mournful eyes and asked, "Mom, are you getting OLD?" I guess they think that if I have grey hair then I am going to kick the bucket any day. They have been laying in bed imagining themselves as orphans. Poor dears. Still, maybe this is an important lesson for them to learn -- haircolor has nothing to do with how hale and hearty a person may or may not be! AND, growing old is not something to be afraid of. What do you think? Here's your chance to have a say!

Have a great week!

Week of February 2 - February 8

So, I had this terrific brain wave about three weeks ago that Kevin and I should take our kids to the circus! It happened to coincide with finding free children's tickets offered for a circus coming to Orem (which is just ten minutes down the road). Funny, that. But still, it sounded like a great idea. Afterall, it's winter and yucky and we needed something fun to look forward to. Also, circuses are much more affordable than trips to Hawaii (or trips to anywhere for that matter). AND we had never taken our kids to the circus!! You can probably see from all my enthusiasm that I had my family pretty hyped up over it in no time. We twins and I checked out books from the library about the circus and talked about what we might see. We were all pretty excited. Finally the day arrived! We had planned to go to the 4:00 show (it was a Monday) so the kids wouldn't be up too late, but Kevin forgot about an appointment at work so we had to go to the 7:30 show. Still, we were ready to have fun. Here is all of us in our seats waiting for the circus to start:

It was a small circus, of course, but they still had elephants and bears, lions and tigers, and even scooter-riding poodles. It was a good taste of the circus. They didn't have any tight-rope walkers and the trapeeze act only used one swing, but they had a guy who balanced atop a big stack of chairs and another guy who ran along a giant pendulum thingy. These last two really had the older girls on the edge of their seats and hiding their eyes. At the intermission, Megan asked, "What if he fell and died?" I said, "That's what makes it so exciting is that it is so dangerous!" and Megan said, "Exactly! And if he did die then we would all feel terrible because we're the ones who paid to watch him do it!" This made me laugh. She's right! What were we doing at the circus anyway??

In the end, it was a great memory-building experience. Unfortunately, we did all get very tired and the twins started whining to go home. Here is a picture at intermission. Notice the expressions on the faces of the twins:

We went on a Monday. On Wednesday, we were driving in the car and Cheyenne said, "Remember when we went to the circus? Let's do that again sometime." To which Calianne responded, "BUT NOT ME!!! I DON'T WANT TO GO TO THE CIRCUS!!" It took me awhile to calm her down. A little post-traumatic stress going on, you think? And then on Friday, Calianne said to me, "Remember when we went to that circus that had only one trapeeze and they didn't throw candy at us?" When I assured her that I did, she said, "Let's not go there again." So much for treating your kids to all the traditional joys of childhood! I am having a great time laughing over it, though, so there you go.



We had preschool at our house this week and the letter was "L." So, on Tuesday we learned about the Liahona (sometimes living in Utah is so cool) and we dressed up like Lehi and the Liahona told us where to go. Of course, sometimes we did things wrong and the Liahona stopped working. Then we had to repent before we could continue! We also made our own Liahonas out of clay. That was a hit! On Thursday, we did lollipops. I told the kids the story of the lollipop tree and sang the songs. That will forever be one of my favorite preschool memories, all those little faces staring at me, completely enchanted by the thought of the lollipop tree and listening to the story in the song I was singing! Then we made real lollipops. To wrap it all up, we colored lollipops and ice cream cones, cut them out and pasted them on our tree pictures. It was great fun. Oh, and we played Looby Loo, of course. :)

Week of Jan.26 - Feb 1

This week Savannah got to skip school and go to work with Dad for a full day. What fun! Kevin didn't schedule any clients for the day, because that would be awkward and unethical to boot. Instead, Savannah got to attend his meeting with his interns, meet everyone in the office (as did his new intern), and (most fun of all) got to be with him while he recorded for the radio. She reported that she was too scared to say anything beyond, "Hi," but that she considered singing. What a girl! Too scared to talk, but maybe not afraid to sing! She also got to do some unchaperoned exploring of the office building as well as some running down the halls in the as of yet unoccupied half of the building. She seemed to have a great day and her Dad had a great day sharing it with her.

Bethany turned 7 months old this week. Why did she have to do that? She has started to give hugs. This is great when you can get her up on your shoulder and get her arms around your neck. If you don't, then she hugs your face enthusiastically and that can be quite painful! She is so cuddly and loveable, though, so I never stop her. She often goes from a seated position down to her belly, but she is not crawling yet. I am thinking, that is probably a good thing!

We had basketball games and pictures this week and they were great fun. We also had bookclub here at our house. I got to play basketball this week over at the church and Kevin and I went to the gym a couple of times. The girls and I are still wringing the time out of each day to do some sewing. Overall, we are all doing well. Hopefully, you are well, too!

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.