A few words...

One of the most wonderful things about marrying into this family is that I had a chance to know Grandpa Gilbert. From the first time I met him, and Grandma too, they both welcomed me into their lives unconditionally. I always looked forward to our trips to Utah just to see them. There was always an overwhelming feeling of love and peace in their home. Even though I only knew him for 5 years, I feel extremely lucky for that time. I know Kennedy feels the same way. She asked if she could take a stuffed animal to give to him to remember her by. I just wish that Rowan would've gotten a chance to know him. We love you Grandpa and will miss you.

Merry Christmas & Pee Potty

We've been trying to get Rowan potty trained. We have bought 2 toddler toilets and a toilet seat for him yet he is as resistant as can be. When you ask him if he needs to potty he just screams "Rowan no like PeePotty". One day we took off his diaper and made him sit on his potty chair and then put Elmo next to him so he would see it's okay to sit. We even let him sit on it and play the V-Tech. One day he said to Lucas he needed to pee and Lucas got him on his toilet seat and he finally did! He got a treat and was so proud of himself after we kept cheering for him. Unfortunately it hasn't happened again. I still get "I no like PeePotty". We tempt him with treats and it's no use. We even bought him big boy panties for Christmas... no luck. Hopefully it will start catching on soon. We'll just have to wait and see...





Lucas had to head to Alaska on Sunday so we had a "faux" Christmas that morning with him. Kennedy tore threw her gifts but Rowan opened one and was fixated on it. He really didn't care that he had alot more to go. Here he is with his new trike... it took him a while to get on it without being scared. Now he zooms around the house on it every chance he gets.

Kennedy had a great time too. She got an iPod for Christmas and feels all grown up with it. Let's hope she can keep this one out of the washing machine.

Here are our little trees all ready for Christmas morning. That is all we got up this year because of my elbow surgery. It was fine though... kids will open presents anywhere.

Thanks to Little Grandma, Grandma Skinner and Grandma Rena for their Christmas donations. With their help and ours we were able to load up a Toys for Tots bin and donate $200 to each the Food Bank and the Womens and Childrens Center. I took Kennedy and one of her friends to help me with the donations. They were very thankful for the donations. The girls even had a chance to tour the shelter to see why it's important to give. They said that they were happy to help those in need at Christmas time. I'm thankful for those who helped us and hope we can do this every year.

Merry Christmas Everyone!

Happy Thanksgiving and what I am thankful for...

First and foremost, I am thankful for my husband, Lucas. He spends 6 months of the year apart from the family to go work in dreadful conditions where is light all day or dark all day and survive freezing conditions, just so he can provide a good life for us. Secondly, I am grateful for my kids. There's not a day that goes by that they don't make me laugh and smile. I am thankful for my mother who is dutifully serving her country in less than great conditions. From what she tells us about her life in Iraq, I know I would break down in tears everyday, but she sees the bright side of everything and that is something I am jealous of. I am also grateful for all those times I was a bad kid and my mother restrained herself from beating me to death. I am grateful for my Mom and Grandfather( who recently passed) who taught me the value of hard work and doing a job well done. That is a gift that has helped me out so much in life. I am thankful for my brother and sister. We don't always get along great, but I know that we are always there for each other. I am especially thankful for my brother who suffered for years to care for my grandparents when my father did not step up. He is now suffering from wrath of Terry (my father) and doesn't deserve it. I wish I was there to support him and help him out. I am thankful for my nice home, when I know there are people who will be sleeping on the streets tonight. I am thankful that I didn't have to cook the big thanksgiving dinner. I let Kennedy decide what she wanted and chose a Stouffers Frozen Lasagna. All I had to do was stick it in the microwave and she told me this was her best thanksgiving. Selfishly, I am grateful for my computers and the knowledge that they have given me. Who would have ever thought that a 22 year old girl who one day picked up a computer manual would end up working for Microsoft. I am really blessed. I am thankful for the gym (I know it sounds weird) for keeping me healthy both physically and mentally. I am grateful for Lucas who puts in so much work in the summer on our 1/2 acre lot. You don't really know how big it is until you try and work on it. I am grateful for the entire Skinner and Gilbert families. Since day 1 they have always welcomed me into their homes and never once judged me... just loved me and Kennedy like we were on of them. I am grateful for all the Skinner girls. It's nice to have a big family to lean on. I am grateful that I can run, jump, talk, see, breathe and all the other gifts that God gave me. I am grateful for so much more that I just can't fit in... but most of all, I am grateful for all of you who read this today. Thanks for the love and support!

For Josie

Hey Josie, here are the designs. If you guys don't like them then let me know and I'll work on some more. Thanks for asking me... I was getting bored. Just click on the picture to see them full sized.

Happy Halloween from the Pirates!

Since Lucas will be gone for Thanksgiving and Christmas, we decided to go all out for Halloween. We all dressed up as Pirates. It was really fun!

Rowan actually left his hat on all night... we think it's because he thought he would only get candy if he had it on.


Kennedy and her friend Addee. She dressed up as a pirate too.

The whole family!

Dad and Rowan. What a couple of cuties!

Don't forget Kennedy. She looked pretty adorable herself.

Kennedy turns 8!

Well, another year has come and gone and my little girl turned 8 on Halloween! How time flies... it seems like yesterday that she was just a baby. Now she's all grown up with earings and everything.

Here is a picture from her party. We made masks out of feathers and jewels. That was about as creative as I got for this party.



Kennedy blowing out her candles. Rowan got a few of them before she did so we had to re-light some for her.


As you can see... I went all out on the decorations... HaHa! It was a pirate themed party and we actually had a bunch of really cute pirate things.


Yes, this is her cake and yes, I made it all on my own. Let me tell you... fondant isn't as easy to put on as they make it look in the pictures. As I was trying to smooth it down over the sides it kept ripping so I made a thin layer to go around the sides again. That's why there is black icing around it... to cover up the seams. To top it all off, none of the girls liked the fondant and ripped it all off of their pieces. Oh well... she loved her cake anyways.

Happy Birthday my little buttercup!

More Random Times

Kennedy got her ears pierced (early) for her 8th birthday. Now all she does is beg me to let her take them out to put dangly ones in. Only 3 more weeks to go.



Yes, this is Rowan eating turkey meat off of his toolbench. He flatened it out and then tried to eat it up.


We made a fire in our fire pit on Friday night and let the kids roast marshmallows for smores. They ate the marshmallows but couldn't be bothered with the chocolate or crackers.

RoRo on his Harley again.

We caught Rowan drinking some of Dad's drink off of the desk. He's so sneaky.

This is Kennedy right before she left for the bus on school picture day. We put a whole ton of curls in her hair and pulled the bangs up and it was really cute. I thought things were going to be great until she came home and told me she took out her bangs right after she left. RETAKES!

We finally put up our fall decorations. Rowans says its "scaries".

Little Grandma came up for an overnight visit last weekend and little Rowan fell asleep right next to her. How cute!

Well, she's not blind, but she's got bifocals. Kennedy got new glasses and unfortunately Rowan broke them today. Nothing in this house lasts long when he's around.

Rowan playing with his sisters boots. He loves shoes.

We bought Rowan a new snow coat for the winter and I had him try it on and he wouldn't take it off for over an hour. He just ran around in a coat and diaper.

This is what it looks like after he feeds himself. Note to self: don't let that happen again.