School Pictures

We decided not to buy the kids' traditional school pictures this year. They are overpriced and I am usually not very happy with the quality. Most of the time the kids look like they just got done with P.E. or recess when their pictures were taken.

Instead, my friend Liz was nice enough to take a few pictures of the kids in her studio. I love, love, love how they turned out.

Here are a few for your enjoyment.

Isn't She CUTE?

Five Little Pumpkins

Since first sight of our little pumpkins, Tommy has been asking to pick them.

Every day I would get, "Mom can we pick the pumpkins now?"

Today I finally gave him the okay.

He picked the only five that were ready.

It made me think of a poem that Logan had to memorize in preschool.

Five little pumpkins sitting on the gate.

The first one said, “Oh, my it’s getting late.”

The second one said, “There are witches in the air.”

The third one said, “But we don’t care.”

The fourth one said, “Let’s run and run and run.”

The fifth one said, “I’m ready for some fun.”

Ooooo! Went the wind, and out went the light.

And the five little pumpkins rolled out of sight!

CNA

I had to take a Nursing Assistant/Home Health Attendant class this summer. Which when finished with the course I became a CNA. The class is required for all students wanting to get into the Nursing program that do not have previous experience in the medical field.

The theory and lab portion of the class was approximately 5 weeks, then we had to do 3 weeks of clinicals at a rest home. Oh the stories I could tell of the things I saw, heard and smelled. I will spare you all the details. Your Welcome.

While it was the worst experience of my life, it was also the best. I got to help some amazing people there. Some of these people really touched my heart in ways I can't explain. After every shift I would get in my cry and want to cry for them. There was a 99 year old lady that I really took a liking to. She made me smile every day and although she had dementia she said some super funny things. She would hold my hand and tell me how much she loved me.

The picture below is of the group of us that went to clinicals together.

Toni, Me, Monique, Micha (our instructor), Robin, Dina, Nell

Every one of these girls is amazing to me. They were all so willing to jump in and help one another in the crappiest situations, literally.

Dina and I were partners in lab a lot, we made sure of it. We became good friends and not a day went by that we didn't laugh our butts off about something. I am gonna miss our half hour lunch runs together.

Nell was the first person I met in class and wouldn't you know, her husband was Logan's teacher last year and Karli's teacher this year. What a small world. Nell is 2 semesters ahead of me in the nursing program. She has given me plenty of tips about the program. I think Nell gave more showers than anyone else. She just seemed to be in the wrong place at the wrong time when Micah was looking for people to do shower duty.

I still feel bad about sticking Robin with a HUGE poopie clean up job. I didn't do it on purpose. Monique and I walked into a man's room and he was a MESS!!! We went out to get supplies to clean him up and Robin nicely offered to help. We had to use a lift to get him out of bed and when the CNA came in she told us there were to many people in the room. Robin was on the opposite side of the bed and Monique and I were closest to the door and we bailed, leaving Robin to clean the rest.

Toni had worked in a rest home before so she knew what she was doing. I always wanted to do vitals with her because she could do a persons blood pressure in 5 seconds. It would take me a little (maybe a lot) longer and the elderly do not have patience when the life is being squeezed out of their arm. As I was taking the vitals of one elderly lady she bald up her fist to take a swing at me. Luckily, Toni was there to stop her.

Our instructor, Micah, was amazing. She really wanted us to know learn and never let us off easy. I have a feeling I will run into her again when I start the actual Nursing program in May 2011.

I am gonna miss these girls.

The Fruits of our Labor....

Back in March when our friends, Mike and Renae, were visiting, Renae "helped" (she did most of the hard work) Karli and I plant a garden. This is the first time in my married life that I have attempted a garden. Growing up, my dad always had a garden and us kids were always roped into helping him plant, weed, and harvest. At the time I hated it. Now, I wish I had payed more attention to what my Dad was trying to teach us. I do not have a green thumb. Luckily, Renae does.

We even managed to turn our gardening into one of Karli's Young Women's value projects.

I thought I would do a little post to show Renae what has become of our little garden.

Some squash:

I don't remember planting pumpkins but for some reason we have a very large vine of mini pumpkins growing. Weird. I know.


We planted green beans and spinach but none of them survived. After talking to other people in the area, I was told green beans and spinach are hard to grow here. Oh well.

What got us most excited were the carrots.


They made for a yummy Sunday dinner with our pot roast and potato's. The kids were so excited to eat something that we grew ourselves. I have to admit, so was I.

Thanks Renae!!!

Hangman

Saturday was the all day Stake Activity Day. So, being the Activity Day leader I got to spend all day with 90 girls from the ages of 8-11. Yay me!

For one of the activities the girls got to play hangman using words from the Articles of Faith. Our primary president, Sandy Vasquez, would ask the girls what to do you want to hang? The girls would reply with an elephant, a dog, a giraffee and so on. Well, one of the girls yelled out, "Lets hang Sister Skinner."

Luckily, I didn't get hung. But here is the finished picture:

The resemblences is striking, No?


The picture looks more like Darla if you ask me.

Sandy kept saying, "Why are you sleeping?"

She Must Have Been Really Tired.

I went into Madison's room the other night to make sure she was getting ready for bed and this is what I found:She fell asleep in her chair. I ran to grab my camera, came back and snapped and picture and the flash woke her up.

School

Logan and Karli started school on August 12.

It is Logan's first year at Rio Rancho High School. It is also his first year of early morning seminary. He has been such a trooper getting up at 5am to go to seminary.

Here he is, our big 9th grader:

He looks so grown up to me. He's a man now. I wanna cry.

Karli started 8th grade.

Her hair has gotten so long and she is becoming such a beautiful young woman.

Madison and Tommy started school on August 17th. I don't know why the school district starts the schools on different days, but they do.

Madison started 4th grade and her teacher is Mr. Jones. This is our first experience having a male teacher in elementary school. I think we're gonna be very happy though.

Our big 4th grader:

She gave me a perfect pose for this picture. Look at her shiny grin. Madison is so excited to get her braces off in October. Just in time for all the sticky Halloween candy.

Tommy started 2nd grade with Mrs. Alvarado. We've heard she's a little strict, but maybe that's what our class clown needs.

Tommy on his first day of 2nd grade:

He got a Steelers backpack this year. When we went to meet his teacher she made it very clear that she is a Giants fan. I think there might be some trash talking when football season starts.

A Little Trick

My sister, Kendra, taught me how to back date my posts so I can procrastinate more on my blogging and still post my important information on the day they happened. So....You may want to look back a few months and see what we've been doing.

SUPER BOWL XLIV

There's a family in our ward who moved to New Mexico from New Orleans. Landon decided that since the Saints were going to the Super Bowl we should have a Super Bowl party. We invited the Myers over and Landon made an amazing spread of New Orleans style food. He even made some tasty benyas. He was a little nervous about cooking for this family who has had the real thing, but they all swore it was just as good.



All the boys: Trent, Kyle, Kevin, Tommy, Dewey and Landon.

The boys were on pins and needles the whole game.

Rumor has it Dewey doesn't care for animals and Lulu took a liking to him. She wanted to be on his lap and licking him. His face was priceless. The family kept telling Dewey to put his face by Lulu to get a kiss. Oddly enough he obliged, but for some reason Lulu then wanted nothing to do with him once he showed he was okay with it.

Madison thought it would be funny to put Lulu's sun dress on her. Oh how she hates having clothes on.

The happy couple (Peggy and Dewey) sporting their Saints attire:

Madison also talked Dewey and Kevin into riding her Skitter Car. There is something about grown men on a Skitter Car that makes me laugh.

Landon's sister, Colleen and nephew, Joey came from Arizona for a visit and sadly I didn't take one single picture of them. Colleen helped Landon a lot in the kitchen.

Luckily the Saints won and no one was disappointed in our house.

Adopting!

I have been meaning to post this for a while and since I am doing all my blogging catch up I thought now would be a good time. You may have noticed that I added a new link to my side bar (compliments of Hollie).

My brother and his wife are trying to adopt. I can't think of two better people more suitable to be parents. They treat their dog better then I treat my children (and that is saying something). My sister Hollie said it best here.

So, what I am trying to get at is, if you know of anyone looking for a loving home to place their baby in please keep them in mind.

Cute Madison

Several weeks ago Madison had a nagging cough. I had decided it was allergies and started giving her some allergy medicine everyday. After several days of taking the medicine and she still had the cough she said, "Mom this medicine is like prayers, they take forever to work."

Guess Who Turns 38 Today?

Landon does. His only request was that his cake be a german chocolate cake.

Trip To Truckee

Our family took advantage of Southwests cheap flights and took a trip to Truckee, California to visit Uncle Mike and Aunt Renae. There is always a lot of fun, laughter and eating when we're with Mike and Renae. We got to eat at our favorite Italian place in Truckee, Village Pizzeria. Their chicken parmigiana is to die for. If you are ever in Truckee, you MUST eat there.


Landon and Mike took the kids skiing while Renae and I went to lunch and did some shopping. This was the first time skiing for all of our kids. They all picked up on it really quickly and looked like pros. The kids are already talking about when their next ski trip will be. They loved it.

We got to hot tub in the snow. Figuring we were going to a snowy place, nobody in our family packed swimsuits. Luckily, Mike and Renae had extra swimsuits for Landon and I. As for the kids.....they got to use their underwear. They didn't seem to mind either. Next time we will take Mikes advise, "Always pack a swimsuit cause you never know."

We ate dinner at Mikuni's. We learned a few things while eating dinner there. 1.) Mikuni's kids meals are way over priced and 2.) that our kids either really love sushi or our kids were really hungry. After dinner Mike and Renae took us to an outdoor skating rink. Again, the kids did great for their first time. So much fun.

Tommy getting a ride on Mike's ATV while Mike plows the driveway.

Karli getting a pep talk from Renae.

A Teacher

Logan was ordained a Teacher today. We are so proud of Logan and the righteous decisions he makes in his life.

Grandma and Grandpa Skinner made a quick trip to New Mexico for Logan's special day. They even surprised Logan by bringing his cousin Joshua with them. Logan and Josh are only 11 days apart in age. We had so much fun having Josh here.


The Family: Grandma Biggs made a special trip to be apart of the ordination too. It is very hard for me when these milestones occur with my children because my Dad is not here to be apart in them. I know that he was there in spirit though.
Grandpa and Grandma Skinner:
I know that Logan (as well as Landon and I) appreciates the sacrifices that family makes to come to all of our special occasions. It means so much to all of us.

Tommy wants to know....

Do these pajamas make his butt look big?

The story: Every morning (well the ones when school is involved) we have a hard time getting Tommy to wake up, so we have resorted to comedy in the morning. We will either make his stuffed animals or silky's talk to him or tickle him. On the morning that these pictures were taken I shoved all his blankets down his pants and up his shirt. He loved it and he got up to show the other kids his girth.