Karli's Room

We still haven't hung much in the kids' bedrooms as you can see.

One Room At A Time

We have been in New Mexico for 6 months now and I still haven't posted pictures of the inside of our house. So I decided to post a picture of one room at time. Today is Madison's room.

We aren't quite finished decorating the house but if I don't post pictures now I never will. And really, are our houses ever really "finished". There is always something to do to the house.

My Sister monogrammed Madison's pillows for us. I think they turned out so cute.

Today....

I am missing my Dad!!!

They Came, They Saw Nothing, They Went

So my mom, my sister Hollie, and her 2 little ones visited us this past week with the intention of going to the Hot Air Balloon Festival. They arrived on Friday, October 10 around 4pm and we had plans to go to the Glowdeo. The Glowdeo is when the pilots of the Balloons fire them up at night to illuminate on the ground. I imagine it looks something like this:

But we wouldn't know because the darn thing got cancelled. It was to windy. Safety first. I guess they didn't want another incident like this:

The wind led this balloon right into some power lines. You can read a little about it here.

"Oh well the Glowdeo got cancelled" we thought, "there is always Mass Ascension tomorrow morning".

We woke up At 5:20am to get to the balloon park early for Mass Ascension. We paid our $10 to park and our $6 per person to get into the park and we waited. And we waited. Nothing. No lift off. Not even one balloon. It was too windy. So my mom and sister saw nothing. It was quite the disappointment. And wouldn't you know it, the whole time my mom and sister were here I didn't take a single picture. How bad is that. I guess that gives them a good excuse to come back next year.

So much to see....

This week has been the annual Albuquerque International Balloon Fiesta . It seems that every morning we wake up to this:

The sky littered with hundreds of hot air balloons. It is an amazing site.

This morning one landed right on our street. Here is the proof:

And then one landed right behind our house. My little balloon chasing children road there bikes over to get a closer look. I, on the other hand, snapped shots of it from my bedroom window in my pajamas.

You wouldn't believe the different shapes of hot air balloons. Here is a list of a few we have seen: Darth Vader, Ladybug, Energizer Bunny, Panda bear, Scarecrow, Bees, Wells Fargo Stage Coach, Chaquita Banana Lady, Humpty Dumpty, Strawberry, Pig, and a Chick-fil-A Cow. These are just a few of the many out there.

My mom and sister are coming out tomorrow and we are planning on going to the actual festivities so hopefully I will get some better pictures of some of the balloons.

Twins

Karli and my friend Ashley showed up to church wearing the exact same thing, even down to the shoes. Totally not planned. How funny is that? Lucky for us Ashley had her camera with her.

Ladies Night

A few weeks ago I got invited to a ladies night with a few of my friends from the our ward. We went to Olive Garden and then to Cold Stone Creamery for dessert. It was a lot of fun, but then again it's always fun when there are no kids, Right?

Ashley Allred, Me, Beth Butler & Becky Wilson

Snack Time

Karli and Madison love being in the kitchen cooking and baking. The other day Karli created a new snack for our family to enjoy. Little S'mores!

They use Golden Grahams, chocolate chips and mini marshmallows. You sandwich that together, plop it on a plate, put it in the microwave for a few seconds and you have yourself a tasty treat. I don't know where they got the idea from but they were sure cute doing it.

BLUE!!!

One of our favorite places to go to when we visit Arizona is Bahama Bucks. I couln't resist posting these pictures of my brother, John. He loves getting the blue-raspberry flavor, only because it does this to his mouth:

A face only his wife could love. As my sister Hollie said,"He gives new meaning to "blue tooth."

We love John and his goofiness.

Another Trip to Arizona

A couple weeks ago we took another quick trip to Arizona (and by quick, I mean we arrived there Friday night and left Sunday morning). The purpose of this trip was so that Landon and Tommy could go to the ASU vs Georgia football game.




As most of you know Landon graduated from ASU and is therefore an ASU fan. Well to Landon's chagrin Tommy is a Georgia fan. How does a father go so wayward as to raise his son a Georgia fan? The story goes something like this:

Our family was having dinner at a pizza joint in California called Round Table Pizza. Landon gave each of our kids a fist full of quarters to spend as they wish. Not 2 minutes later did Tommy come running over with this in hand:

This is one of many photos of this ball taken by Tommy

Tommy had won this precious little football from the claw machine that you guide around and hit the button when your ready for it to clamp down on an unsuspecting toy (See Toy Story). In Tommy's First attempt at the cheap but luring toys below he retrieved this football. To our dismay he has been a Georgia fan ever since.




When Landon and Tommy arrived at the game Tommy informed Landon that he would not be cheering for ASU even though Tommy was decked out in ASU gear (proper fatherly brainwashing). Tommy insisted that he leave his gold devils hat in the car and opted to wear his t-shirt inside out. Tommy was sure that he could not be seen wearing ASU and cheering for Georgia. Little did Landon know that their seats were smack dab in the middle of a myriad of Georgia fans. Lets just say Tommy made lots of new friends and got a little cocky in the process.


Landon placed a friendly wager with Dan Gelderman at work over the outcome of the game. In essence if Georgia wins Landon had to drive around for a week with Georgia decals on his car. If ASU wins then Dan would have to wear Landon's "good luck" ASU hat around the office for a week. Here are the pictures of who won:


Tommy loved it. Luckily for the guy at work, he didn't have to wear this:





Be ever so grateful that you can't smell through the computer. I beg Landon to let me buy him a new hat.

Wondering where we've been?

It's not that there isn't anything going on at the Skinner house. It's just that I started school. I have been up to my eyeballs in homework. That's where we've been.

New posts are comming soon. I promise.