Hello Again

Well I thought that I'd try to update this thing once a month... I guess that I'd better do it soon January's almost over. Here I sit trying to type with only three children that want to help! I guess that that's not too bad of odds seeing how usually they are all trying to help. I really have avoided doing this because I wanted my blog to stay in order. I really didn't want to jump around, you know, dates and events tell a story and usually stories are best told from start to finish. With that in mind I hope that you can understand why I haven't posted. The longer you go with out posting the more you have to post about and the longer it takes to catch up! Please forgive this very lame attempt to share with you the last 8 months. Can I just say that summer came and when it did I turned into a very hot, cranky, and tired pregnant lady. It took ALL of my energy to TRY to keep up with my five small children. Anyway, swimming lessons were successful and trips to the park for lunch were a blessing. In June I travelled ALONE (yeah!!) to the valley for a Sisters weekend! It was a lot of fun excepting I ended up in the hospital because I was having back labor. (Maybe we were having too much fun!) After a few shots of tributaline (sp) I was good to go. My Mom took me to the airport later that day just to learn that my flight was cancelled so we ended up driving home. Actually, it was nice to have my Mom and little Sister visit, the kids really enjoyed it. A week later we celebrated Grace's third birthday. She is as cute as can be and she knows it which can be a bad thing. She is ALL GIRL! I had my doubts seeing as she is completely surrounded by brothers... Absolutely no worries here.
In July, we headed back to the valley to do the Temple work for me brother that died a year ago. It was a really special experience. I was grateful to be able to attend, even if I was 9 month prego! We also spent several days "playing" instead of going to the cabin in Greer. We did all the things the kids love. We went to the lake, to Chuck E. Cheese, had a marshmellow gun war at the park dressed in camo, Grace, Bella, Grandma J, and I went to see Alice in Wonderland at the Dinner Theater, and the boys even got to play Rock Band at Uncle Rich's house.




On July 25th we were blessed with our sixth child, Faith Emmalee who weighed in at 7lbs 2oz and honestly I'd have to go look to see how long she was. I can say that her bright and smiley little face appeared before us at 6:44 p.m. I can remember that because it was exactly 1 hour after the doctor broke my water. The nurse you see was getting quite irritated with my constant pleas for drugs. The way she kept looking at me told me what she was thinking...."Look lady, I could hear her say to herself, I just checked you, when we broke your water 30 minutes ago you were only a 4 and just barely that... you still have along way to go just suck it up." Well I got that same look at 40 minutes, 45 minutes, at about 50minutes later I got up and went to the bathroom, came back and got in bed and 60 minutes after they broke my water I warned the nurse that something was feeling strange... she finally consented to look to see what was going on and as she did I let out a scream and out came little Miss Faith. She fell right out on the bed. Truthfully, I think that the nurse was more surprised than I was. NO Doctor, NO baby warmer, NO delivery clean up kit, NOTHING. Just me, the nurse, Scott, and little Faith. Mass pandemonium then broke out and in all my trips to the hospital I've never seen that many medical personnel in one room before. Thank heavens that a little while later everything had calmed down and Scott was able to go home to put all of the other kids to bed!
In August, Conner decided that he wanted to be home schooled so we started out on that new adventure. (We had been talking about it prior to his decision- so it wasn't completely unexpected) Tate started 1st grade at the local elementary,Jacob started kindergarten, and Grace started dance.

We blessed Faith in September. It was so wonderful, as it always is, to have family stay with us for this special event.
In October Scott & I celebrated our 10 year wedding anniversary at Disneyland with all of our kids, and my siblings, and their kids! We were there for the Johnson Family reunion. We had a spectacular time, okay, it was a really fun time but the drive was very long.

On October 25th we lost our nephew, Shane Cory Figueroa. He was killed by a drunk driver while on duty as a Phoenix Police Officer. While we know that he is in a better place, we still mourn his lost tremendously. He and Scott were very close (Shane was in our wedding line when we got married) and he as often stated that it wouldn't have been any harder for him to deal with had he lost a brother. So we both now share a common void. We were in the valley for the funeral on Halloween so the kids got to trick or treat with their cousins.




In November we finished up the soccer season
and had a very nice Thanksgiving Dinner with Scott's family. It was sure nice to have Mom and Dad Skousen home off their mission. We also did some Black Friday sale shopping and went Christmas Tree Hunting.

Of course December was filled with birthday's and holiday festivities. Tate turned 7 on the 14th, Ethan turned 2 on the 17th, and Scott turned thirty something on the 20th.

We even squeezed in music performances at school and Conner's piano recital.
We had a Christmas Eve party at our place, a family party at my Mom & Dad's on the 26th and celebrated Scott's parents 50th wedding anniversary on the 27th. We toasted to the New Year at Curt & Jeannine's (Scott's brother & wife) and finally arrived home on the 4th. All in all we had a great time celebrating although honestly, it was exhausting. So how's that for in a "nutshell!" I am grateful for a new year and a fresh start...now only if the baby would take a bottle and sleep through the night!!!!
(all of our Christmas pictures are stuck on my camera! Hopefully I'll be able to get them off soon!)

Happy New Year!

My niece's updated my blog! I'm glad someone has time to do something with it!!

Whoa! Long Read!!!

I thought that I would do another catch up post.... Sheeze, were does time go! I have had a really hard time keeping up with Blogging. Seriously, every time I sit down my kids ATTACK me. One on one knee the other on the other knee, can't hardly move...and certainly can't type! Unfortunately, I've still been too tired to stay up very late thus, daytime computer use or no computer use! Sooooo, here are a couple of things that we have done lately..............

Rich & Shari came to visit

Tate

Grace & Bella

Conner

Shari & Rich

Rich and His Family came to see us in early March. We had an enjoyable time and even convinced them to stay another day! Scott & Rich worked on the phone system while Shari & I went to the Cannery. We all meet back up and ate Ribs for lunch! Soooo good! Scott is fabulous on the grill! Bella & Grace were a force to be reckoned with. They loved being together. I love when my family comes to visit. It's such a treat!

Conner Received his Bobcat

Conner earned his bobcat award in Cub Scouts! He was very excited and did a great job. Keep up the hard work, Buddy!!

Swimming

Well this is the next best thing if you ask the kids. They have been begging me to let them "swim" in the whirlpool ever since we moved in. I finally gave in! And yes they were wearing Swimming Suits!

Spring Break & Easter

We spent the week in the valley at Grandma & Grandpa Johnson's. We arrived on my birthday, you know the big one, the one that I have been anticipating for awhile now. That's right, I'm THIRTY! Whew, it's quite the load off to actually admit it. I'm not sure why thirty was so hard for me to swallow. All that I can figure is that I had set a lot of goals for myself when I was younger that should be accomplished by the time I reached the ripe old age of thirty. As the time approached, I found myself contemplating life...what had been accomplished... what had not. I guess that because multiple goals are still left undone, I was hesitant to admit my age. You know, everyone should always accomplish everything that they set forth to do!!! (wink) I will say that when your twenty, not married, have no kids, and very little responsibility, it's easy to project what you think that your life should be like in ten years!!!:) Until you have actually experienced being a wife and mother it's very hard to understand the daily trials that are faced, they are just way to different from the one that you deal with prior to marriage. Well enough of that, I'm thirty and I'm proud of it. I hope that the next ten years will be as wonderful as the last. I just will try to not have any preconceived notions of what raising teenagers will be like!!:)

After arriving, I dropped my kids off at my Mom's (she had hired a babysitter) and my whole family went to dinner. Serrano's was the place of choice because my Mom & Sisters were preforming in the Easter Pageant and they had very little time to eat before they had to be there. Plus I really like the chips, bean dip, and the Pollo Serrano. I actually got to sit and enjoy dinner without helping anyone or trying to keep anyone quiet. My mom did spill her water on me though just so I wouldn't get to used to going out alone:) Afterwards, I hung out with Rich & Shari....we went to Mesa Frozen Yogurt (a family favorite), Deseret Book, and the movies. All in all a very enjoyable evening.



Easter



The rest of the week was spent swimming, shopping, and enjoying being together as a family. We had a cook out for Easter, a money filled egg hunt for the olders in the family (a fun family tradition), a traditional candy filled egg hunt for the kids, we went to the Easter Pageant, visited my brother's grave, played Rock Band..or at least tried to, watched movies, picked oranges, and stayed up late and got up early!

I enjoyed being "home" for awhile but was also ready to come "home" when the week was over. Thanks Mom & Dad for putting up with us:) (Pictures are in no particular order)

Ethan Before


Ethan with a wig on courtesy of Conner & Haylee

Conner & Grace dancing the night away with Haylee

Me & my crew at the Easter Pageant (Ethan stayed with a sitter:)

On your mark get set GO!

The Boys

Grace: "Look at me Mom, I can swim!" (Or at least put my face in)

Sisters

This photo was taken sometime around Thanksgiving/Christmas. While I was visiting my parents I realized how important my sisters are to me. I loved watching them interact and interacting with them. We even got in trouble one night for being too noisy and waking my Mom up. Sorry Mom but it was too funny. It was a real dose of youthful medicine! Nothing in the world replaces SISTERS. Even though mine are quite a bit younger than me I wouldn't trade them for anything. Plus, they'll get old like me someday!!! HEE HEE! As I reflected on my relationship with each of them I started to feel sorry for my poor little princess who lives all alone in a world brothers. If I could give her a gift it would be a SISTER! Someone to share her darkest moments with, someone to be there for her greatest delights. There is just something special about a sister. So for you my angel....a sister!

Scott & I found out that we are expecting a GIRL! Honestly, this came as quite the surprise. I have always felt like I had to have another boy...that someone was missing...so we just kinda assumed that this baby would be him. You know six kids by thirty (one of those preset standards for myself that I spoke of earlier), and we'd be done. Sometimes, I think that the Lord laughs at our plans. I said that I'd never be raising babies and teenagers together. My advice to all of you, NEVER SAY NEVER!!! Anyway, we are very excited to be able to give Grace a sister. We pray that they will always be close. Now for a name....got any ideas?

**PICTURES ARE MISSING!! I WILL TRY TO DOWNLOAD MORE LATER!!**

Little Gymnasts

Grace, Jake, Tate, Conner

?, Tate, Chase (friend), Conner

Grace: "I'm Pretty"

Skousen Kids

After 9 months of gymnastic practices, we were ready for the big show. Here are some photos. The kids all did a great job and really had a good time. Gracie absolutely loved performing and actually didn't do anything crazy. You just never know what a 2 year old will do!!

Can You "BEE"lieve It?!!!

Today is Jacob's 5th Birthday! And yes, that is a homemade Beehive Birthday cake just for him. I don't usually make fancy cakes...they are way to much effort...and with all my kids trying to help....insanity, really!! This year though I thought that after the older boys went to school and after we put Ethan down for a nap, maybe, just maybe Jacob, Grace, and I could try to pull off a "cool cake like the other kids Mom's make." Now, why Jacob chose a beehive cake, we might never know, but he LOVES it. He is already asking if we can make this cake again next year. I'm glad that he is happy and that the mess is all cleaned up. Happy Birthday, Big Guy! It's hard to believe that your already five.

Jacob's list of things to do while he is 5:

1. Go to Grandma's

2. Go to the Park

3. Go to a friend's house

4. Learn to swim

5. Go to Kindergarten

I think that he just might be able to accomplish all of his goals!! I wonder what his list will look like when he is 15!!!!

Miss Independent

This is little Miss Grace. Her most favorite thing to do is get dressed and then change...then change again, and again... you get the point. She wants absolutely no help, not even suggestions. On this particular day (February 19th) it was freezing outside. Of course that made no difference in Grace's clothing selection. I couldn't pass up the photo op. You can't beat playing outside in your panties with snow boots and gloves on!! Too cute!

Sneak Peak

Here's a sneak peak at the Kitchen! More to come later.... hopefully..... someday!!!