New Year's Hike

Mark grew up with the tradition of going for a hike on New Year's Day.  Some years that's turned into getting outside and shooting some guns, but with the little kids that we have we're sticking with the hiking.  This year, we went on Monday to South Mountain with Mark's parents, his brother Ryan, and sister Shauna.  The weather was perfect and we had a great time. 

Here is Dallin enjoying the view from the top of South Mountain:

And some more of us....

And Adam...

We hiked some trails for a while then found another bench at a lookout point where we hung out and surveyed Phoenix, watching planes land and take off at the airport.  By this time Owen had fallen asleep.

 

Everyone else was just relaxing and enjoying the views but Adam, who is quite the little mountain goat, wanted to hike some more.  Mark went with him down a little trail to the top of another hill.  Here they are on the way back, sprinting to the finish. 

Last Wednesday we were enjoying the snow, less than two hours away.  Yesterday we were outside in great weather enjoying a hike in Phoenix.  That, my friends, is why I love Arizona.

December

Looks like I didn't take a lot of photos in December.  It's a balance I struggle with, photographing life, and living life.  Sometimes I err on the side of living life and not worrying about the pictures.  I don't even have pictures of Christmas, though we do have some of that on video. 

December was kind of a crazy month for us.  It was great, just very busy.  For instance, I was in charge of Dallin's class Christmas party, Mark's sister got home from her mission to Estonia, and my sister Amanda and her daughter Iris came to visit, all in the same day. 

Here is Dallin and his class at the party.  The teacher had someone come as Santa and visit the kids.  Dallin is near Santa's, um... paunch.

Here are the boys and me when we dropped off some donations for a Christmas sponsorship we did with Save the Family, a shelter for women and children leaving abusive situations.  I was hoping to get the boys involved by purchasing gifts for some other boys, but we signed up late and got the last family left which was a mother and teenage daughter.  Still, Dallin and Adam helped us make the purchases and even got to sniff out some lotions at Bath and Body Works and pick their favorites to give.  We loved doing this and definitely want to make it a tradition to give whatever we are capable of each Christmas.  Mark worked a lot too with us in researching and gathering gifts, but was at work the day we made the delivery.  I loved dropping off the gifts and seeing all of the black bags full of wrapped presents, seeing the happy volunteers, and saying hi to the other families that were there dropping off donations. 

Christmas Eve we went to the yearly Skousen Family party (my mom's side of the family).  We have dinner, a Christmas program, talent show by the kids, a couple of games, and a visit from Santa.  My mom came home with us and stayed at our house, helping us wrap presents and watching the fun Christmas morning.  The boys had a great Christmas, in fact we all had a great day.  We went to Mark's family's house for a couple of hours, then went to church in the afternoon.  For dinner, my family came over and we ate then hung out and played some games until late that night. 

Mark took Monday through Wednesday off work that week which was great.  He has been working really long hours and we have really enjoyed all being together.  Monday we went out for a movie and lunch.  Tuesday we got some work done around the house and went to an ultrasound appointment for baby #4.  It's another boy!  We are happy and love our boy-filled house.  I am glad too that I don't have to hear people tell me they hope we are having a girl.  We will take whatever the Lord decides to bless us with. 

Wednesday we drove up north to play in the snow.  The boys all had a blast, though Owen lasted the longest in the cold. 

Dallin and Adam had fun sledding.

Mark and Owen even went once or twice.

There was a steep hill some kids were sledding down that Dallin wanted to try.  After climbing up to the top he tried to sit down on the sled but the sled went and he slid without it.   It ended up working out fine, and the other kids that were there all started sliding down without their sleds, which worked out a little better because it wasn't quite as fast that way down the steep hill.

We had a hard time keeping gloves and a hat on Owen.  After throwing a few snowballs with bare hands, he started to understand what the gloves were for and allowed us to put them back on.  From then on he was toasty warm and didn't want to leave.

Dallin, posing like a professional snowboarder.

Look!  I was there too....

When we got to the snow we handed the kids their snow clothes to put on in the car.  Adam had a pair of waterproof pants, not snow pants, to wear over his jeans.  After playing for 45 minutes or so he started getting very cold.  That's when I realized he wasn't wearing his jeans, he was only wearing the plasticky pants that kept water out, but definitely not the cold.  He was frozen and done with the snow so he went back to the van to warm up.  Shortly after that, Dallin was sledding when he and his sled turned around and went backwards.  The sled knocked into a bank that someone had built up to keep people from running into a pole.  It worked.  The sled hit the bank and Dallin flew off and fell flat on his back.  He was then done with playing in the snow and went to the van to warm up. 

Owen, however, was still playing and not ready to go home.  He wanted to make a snowman so I started rolling up some snow.  After I got one big ball made, he was content with that as our snowman and stuck the hat and carrot on that we brought from home.  I went back to the car with the other boys while Mark worked on finishing the snowman, making a snow cat, a snow Batman, and a snow Robin, all at Owen's request.  We eventually had to pull him away to leave.  While we were loading the car I turned it on to get the heater going.  Owen, who was still outside the car turned to us and said, "Bye mom!"  and left to go play some more.  He wasn't happy when we made him get into the car and out of his snow clothes.

On the way back home we stopped for pizza in Payson.  

And got home just in time to get the kids to bed.  We had a great day.

Disneyland -- November 2011

The Saturday after Thanksgiving, we headed to California for a much-anticipated vacation to Disneyland.  I've been wanting to take the kids for a long time now.  This was our reward for paying off our debt and saving up for our emergency fund.  We've worked hard and also seen some incredible blessings as we've committed to our financial goals.  Anyway, Disneyland was one of our financial goals and we eventually made it there and had a great time!  

Lots of pictures to follow....

I was 15 weeks pregnant at the time and slightly showing, but not enough that the employees at Disneyland would really notice.  I rode most of the rides, but don't worry, I did ask my doctor before we left and he said I could.  

We were very impressed with Adam's climbing skills.  He is beginning to be quite the outdoor enthusiast.

Mark and the boys at the Redwood Creek Challenge Trail in California Adventure.  We loved this area and spent lots of time there.

On Sunday we went to the ward in Anaheim then traveled to Newport Beach to see the Temple there.  The Temple is gated and was locked up, so we didn't get too close, we just walked around and took some pictures from outside the gate.

After the Temple visit, we drove to Newport Beach.  It took us a while to find a decent spot to park where we could get out and walk down to the water.  By that time it was dark, but the kids still enjoyed getting their feet wet.  Owen played in the sand and didn't want to leave. 

After that, we went back to our hotel room for some microwave meals and some wrestling.

We spent half of Saturday at California Adventure.  Monday and Tuesday we were at Disneyland.  Then Wednesday, we went to California Adventure again until early afternoon.  Then we headed for home.

We arrived at Jedi Training 30 minutes early to sit at the front.  We ate our lunch while we waited, had the boys wear their Star Wars shirts, and prepped them about dancing around and getting someone's attention so they would get picked for Jedi Training.  It was a bit of a rigamarole, yes, but it was worth it because they got picked and it was the highlight of Disneyland for them.  

Here are some pictures of Tom Sawyer's Island: 

 

Owen spent most of his time at Tom Sawyer's Island playing in the dirt.  I was laughing because there we were, at Disneyland, and all he wanted to do was play in the dirt.  I had to remind myself to sit back and just let him do whatsoever his heart desired. 

At Toon Town, the other guys were riding a roller coaster and Owen and I managed to meet Mickey Mouse without waiting.

 Owen loved the parade!  Well, all three boys did.  Owen got some special attention from some of the characters since he was standing in the front and quite cute waving and pointing at everyone.  I think Minnie Mouse even blew him some kisses.

We had so much fun.  The best part was being able to spend 5 days together -- without all of the normal household chores, errands, or work responsibilities.  We were also quite warn out when it was all done.  Disneyland is a blast, but takes a lot of work.  Mark and I discussed our next vacation on the ride home.  Some time at the beach.  Relaxing. 

Finding Christmas

At Fiesta Mall tonight I saw something that totally surprised me. Right in the middle of the mall is a lovely nativity display. How cool is that?!! But the scene was incomplete because the little Christ child was missing. Now what do you suppose that means?

Craziness

Things have been a little....complicate around here.  Nothing much to complain of, seeing as we are all fine and nothing seriously is wrong.  I guess it's just that sometimes things go smoothly, and sometimes they don't.  It's been one of those not-smooth times.  I think it started last Wednesday when the guy that came to stretch our carpets (pull them tighter) and clean them didn't bring either his carpet stretcher nor his work van with the heavy duty carpet cleaner.  He thought he could get by with a portable carpet cleaner (his van was in the shop) and a little hand tool to fix our carpets.  He cleaned one room with the portable cleaner, wasn't too happy with the result (nor was I), then we decided that he might as well just stretch them.  He said they needed to be wet to stretch properly so he used his machine to wet all of our carpets down.  After a while of tugging on some carpet in one of the rooms he decided he didn't have the right tool to stretch our carpets.  So...I told him that I would talk to my husband and figure out what we wanted to do and we'd get back to him later.  That was the nice way of getting him out of my house.  At that point, ALL of our furniture and belongings were off the carpet and tucked away in the garage, out on the back porch, or in the dining room.  The carpets were all wet and we didn't know who to call to get the job done so we could get the house put back together.  We managed to find a couple of referrals, one for a carpet cleaner who thankfully could come the next afternoon, and one for a carpet repair guy who could come on Saturday morning.  So, what was suppose to be a one-day project turned into four days.  Or more, since I still have a bunch of food storage in my dining room that needs to find it's way back to it's spot.  Thursday evening was an interesting night.  The carpet cleaner (second one) was running behind and didn't get to our house until 5pm, the same time my boys' music class begins.  I let him inside, ran the kids to class, stopped at Trader Joe's for something to cook for dinner, then came home to put the groceries away.  Then it was time to pick them back up.  In the meantime, Mark got home around 6pm, the same time our home teacher came over.  We met him on the back lawn, since there was someone inside still cleaning our carpets.  That night the carpets were wet so we made do.  Mark and I threw our mattress on the dining room floor where we slept that night, Dallin and Adam slept in a tent in the backyard.  Owen was the only one who got a real bed that night.  Moving all of the furniture around made it obvious it was time to switch everyone's beds, something we've been planning to get to soon anyway.  Owen moved up from his crib and got Adam's old bed.  Dallin and Adam need a little more space in their room so we didn't set Dallin's bed back up--the plan was to get a bunk bed ASAP.  Plus, the carpet repair guy was coming Saturday so it didn't make sense to put the rest of the beds back into the rooms.  Saturday was General Conference, which was great, but between that, getting the carpets stretched in the morning, moving furniture in between sessions, and picking up a bunk bed for the boys that was listed on Craigslist, our house was definitely suffering by the end of the day.  I decided to have Dallin and Adam help me put the bunk bed together that night while Mark was gone at the Priesthood (young men and men's) session of Conference.  That was quite tricky, but we figured it out.  Actually, at one point I couldn't figure out how to bolt some pieces together.  Mark took the bed apart to bring it home and I hadn't seen how exactly it was assembled.  I thought we wouldn't be able to get the bed set up that night, but then I figured out where everything was suppose to go.  Dallin started cheering, saying "Great job, Mom!!" and the other boys joined in with some chanting, "Yay, mom!  Yay, mom!."  It was quite the moment!  Since we hadn't had a chance to buy mattresses and only had one twin size one, Dallin and Adam both shared the top bunk that night.  I did make one mistake setting the bed up that night though.  One that would be most evident the next night.  The bed has two height settings and I forgot to set it on the lower one.  Instead, the top bunk ended up much too close to the boys' ceiling fan.  Yep.  Someone got smacked in the head, pretty good too.  Sunday night I heard Dallin yelling for me to come into his room.  Mark was holding Adam's head and there was blood dripped here and there.  Adam was playing on the bunk bed and got up on his knees and got hit.  We thought he would need stitches, but after a few minutes the bleeding stopped, and since it is covered by his hair we weren't as worried about him having a scar.  We bandaged it up that night and Adam slept on the floor.  That's where he's slept since because I still haven't been able to go to the store and buy a mattress for the bottom bunk. We also lowered the bunk bed that night before Dallin went to sleep.  I am still nervous about the bunk bed, since the ceiling is low and there is still a chance the boys could stand on the bed and get hit with it.  I'm not sure what we'll do yet.  It probably shouldn't make a difference, but we just a couple of months ago bought and installed that ceiling fan, and it's a really cool one that they both really love. 

Yesterday and today I have spent lots of hours working on a fall guide for I Heart Mesa.  It's going to be pretty awesome, but I am sure glad we are finished with all of that research and writing.  I need to clean my house and get this food storage out of my dining room.

A Few Things About Owen

Owen is at such a fun age.  This is my favorite age, from about 1 1/2 til maybe around 3, when they are so incredibly fun but still very innocent.  I love hearing him talk, watching him do that awkward but heart-melting little dance he does, and well, every single stinkin' thing about this kid is just CUTE.

 

Owen loves to eat butter, mayonnaise, syrup, jam, etc., as if those things were meals in and of themselves.  Here he is caught red-handed with some ranch dip.

He is a good little helper.  He will sing the clean up song but sings it like this, "Me cup, me cup..."  He likes to help me put the laundry into the dryer.  He will look through the clothes and point at who owns the items he's putting into the dryer.  "Is Adam's!"

 

He is your typical two-year-old mischief-maker. So sometimes I just let him make the messes and I throw him a few measuring spoons and bowls to make dumping more fun.

He loves to "readabook."   I love hearing him saying that to me as he brings me a book.

He loves his brothers.  He snuck into this picture of Dallin on the first day of first grade.

Playing with Adam.  

He had the sweetest curly hair.  I just trimmed it and lots of the curl is gone now.   {Tear.}  I don't know what I was thinking.  I mean, look at this guy:

For his second birthday (back in July) we had a homemade ice cream party.  It was pretty much amazing, if I do say so myself.  I would love another excuse to do it again, anybody wanna come?  We had family over and everyone enjoyed seeing little O and eating seven flavors of ice cream and sorbet.

 

Did I tell you he turned two?

 He is obsessed with Batman, whom he calls either Bat-Bat, Superbap, or just Bat.  His favorite movie is Finding Nemo.  He'll say, "I wan watch Neno, I wan watch Neno"  most every day.  He loves watching videos of himself and he has learned to answer the question "What's your name?"  His answer sounds something like "ow-eh."  He loves playing "monkey" with his daddy, which is basically just Mark acting like a monkey and jumping and hollering then picking Owen up and throwing him on the couch.  He also likes to get in on the action when Dallin and Adam are wrestling with daddy.  Owen is fearless and is a hoot to watch.  He will make aggressive faces and jump mercilessly on Mark's face, whatever it takes.  Of course he is very loved and brings smiles to our faces every day.