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. 

Derby

We have now experienced roller derby first-hand! What a feeling. Marily's sister plays for an El Paso roller derby team--the Tex Pistols--and tonight they had a bout in Tucson. (That's right. Swimmers "meet", tennis players "match", but derby girls duke it out like boxers. Not exactly. If they hit or push an opponent with the hand or elbow they have to sit in time out).

We're pretty new to the whole derby scene, and one of the first things I noticed is that it is in fact a scene. The sights are kind of a mix between Halloween and hockey...on roller skates. I also learned that it's a lot like city softball league except instead of whacking a ball players attack the opposing player known as the Jammer, each player gets to pick a cool name for herself, and after the bruising's done the opposing teams will still like each other and may even hang out.

We had a lot of fun cheering for her sister.

Go Goldie A-Go-Go!

What's the Deal With Russell Pearce?

Well, the day is coming and the local media is more excited than a gaggle of tweens at a Justin Bieber concert. Their favorite “lightning rod of controversy” who has been “ensnared in ... controversy” because of his “controversial political stances”, yes even Russell Pearce, “one of the state's most powerful and controversial politicians” is now subject to a recall election in November. (Note to reader: all the preceding quotes came from the Arizona Republic. And no, not from a collection of articles...all from the same article)! While it’s easy fun to laugh at journalists’ overuse of meaningless adjectives, at some point we serious citizens have to take a step back and consider what to do about the whole affair.

After all, hasn’t Russell Pearce been wasting time on illegal immigration bills instead of focusing on more important issues? And what’s the thing with some Fiesta Bowl scandal we keep hearing about? And why does he always look so angry in them photographs?

Before the campaigns get into full swing now may be a good time to consider what Pearce has actually done as a legislator and what this election means in context of other considerations.

Sure, we already know that he gets high ratings from groups for being a “Hero of the Taxpayer” and having a 100% pro-life voting record, but what about dealing with the urgent fiscal issues facing Arizona?

Sometimes the Arizona legislature will have to go into special sessions in order to deal with budget issues that don’t get resolved until the last minute. Kind of like the federal government is doing right now. But under Senate President Pearce’s leadership the budget was finished within 100 days of regular session. Difficult decisions were made to come up with a budget that would put Arizona on more stable financial footing.

But what about the cuts to education and health care? Here’s where it gets interesting and makes it look like Pearce has been onto something for a long time. Education—overall enrollments are down so it’s a reasonable move (even though painful) to make during hard economic times. Health Care—AHCCCS paid for 20,000 births in 2007 but only for 7,000 in 2010. Why the sudden drop in state-funded births and students? At least part of the answer is SB 1070, the immigration bill that has made Pearce so notorious.

Pearce has helped the state reduce its costs by pushing an immigration law that prompted many illegals to voluntarily leave. What’s not to like about that?

Hot Roddin'

We finally took the boys to the Hot Wheels races tonight. These races take place every Friday night in the Ace Hardware parking lot on the southwest corner of Gilbert and Baseline.
The way it works is that they set up a really long, 2-lane track and participants race their Hot Wheels cars. The races go in heats with the winners moving onto the next race. The winner and runners-up get prizes! To participate, you pay $1 and the organizers give you a brand new, in-the-box Hot Wheels car. You must only use that car in the race, and the cars are randomly assigned to
the racers.




One of the gentlmen there kept giving out cars to the kids so although we showed up with just one car that Dallin had in his pocket we came home with about 10. Even Owen got into the act. The most difficult thing was to keep him away from the track when it wasn't his turn to race. And even though his car litterally wobbled down the track for a loss he was so excited to see the cars go.

People start showing up after 6pm, but the actual racing doesn't start until about 7:30-8:00pm.

it's an attempt to kind of catch up around here

So instead of saying too much, we'll just dump a bunch of pictures in a post.

Sound good?

We had a little party for our co-op preschool I've been doing with Adam.

Adam, Elsie, Ainsley, and Wrigley

Dallin's kindergarten celebration.  He (we) loved his teacher, Mrs. Brown.  She was very attentive to her individual students and made sure to give Dallin what he needed to grow and learn this last year.

In order to make sure we schedule in enough fun this summer, the boys and I came up with this summer checklist:

Here are the items:

Play kick the can, go to Amazing Jakes, summer reading program, swimming at a cool pool (City pool), splash pad, Dallin started writing 'go to Legoland' but I made him scratch that one out, go see a movie, go bowling, go to Bass Pro Shop (their summer kids camp activities), road trip, farmers market (at Superstition Farms), Hot Wheels races, lemonade stand, rock selling (Dallin wants to paint rocks and sell them), make popsicles, go to Golden Hills Park (brand new Mesa park with shaded playground), and play at the Salt River.

These pictures below are out of order, but it's too much work to shuffle them around.  Here are Owen and Adam at their 'toddler time' at Westwood basketball camp.  Dallin did basketball camp, but I missed getting his photo. 

Playing in the water

 Oh look, basketball again.  This is owen dreaming big:

Homemade rasberry pudding pops:

 It makes me happy--and proud--to see my little guy in a Westwood shirt.  We might have to move back to west Mesa someday. 

 These pictures were from our debt-free celebration dinner at Waldo's BBQ.  We are happy to announce we have paid off our last loan and for the first time in our marriage we have no consumer debt.  Although we didn't have a mortgage when we got married and now we do, so are we really better off than we were eight years ago?  Anyway, we've worked really hard and have also seen HUGE blessings come our way as we've committed ourselves to getting out of debt.  Yay!  Also, we left the waitress a $20 tip that night, and it felt good. 

Adam at Golden Hills Park.  (It's shaded, see?)  You CAN go to a park in the summertime around here if you go early enough.

This is Mr. T.  He stares at us from the floor in our bedroom because he knows he should be up on the wall in Mark's office.  Mark's best friend Coy gave this print to him and Mark has had it up in his office.  When he switched jobs he took it down, and just hasn't gotten the courage to hang Mr. T. back up in the new office for everyone to see.  

We went to downtown Mesa and here is proof.  Gotta love the Ghostbuster guys.

...and Queen's Pizzeria...

 ...and fresh peaches from the Backyard Farmer (he delivers to your door)...

  

 The annual Skousen trip to the cemetery for Memorial Day.  This year breakfast was at our house.  We had a good 60+ people over here that morning.  Here's Adam and Dallin by my grandpa Pete Skousen's grave:

Eating dinner at the Superstition farmers market.  The food was really good by the way.  The president of Mesa's chamber of commerce was there to do a ribbon cutting ceremony for the market.  He saw us eating and asked me if I was from I Heart Mesa.  I was flattered and pretty surprised, that he'd recognized me.  He's the only one that has as far as I know.

Dallin at the petting zoo at the farm:



Hey, it looks like I'm out of pictures.  I guess that's all for now.