I'll Give This Another Try

(Swim lessons in Texas...they were a hit!)

As a close friend of mine pointed out, I'm coming up on the year mark for my last post. She suggested I rededicate myself to the blog on the anniversary of my last appearance here. I've decided to do that in the form of pictures. Our year has been very eventful, including a move from Texas to California for a job completely unrelated to Jarod's previous job, and the anticipated arrival of our fourth child due to make HIS debut this July. We have been very busy and extremely blessed this year.

Carly's dance recital...we were so proud!!

Josh turned 4

Jarod and I took a day trip to Santa Cruz while we were in California settling on a place to live before our move.

We spent my birthday in California and ate BBQ at Bubba's, where I braved the mechanical bull ride.

My parents helped me drive the kids to California and get settled in our home while Jarod was in NY for job training. We spent 6 weeks without him, and he was sorely missed.

We stopped in a couple places to get desert pictures for my mom's 1st grade unit on the subject. The breaks from driving were welcomed.

We had a visit to Ventura Beach. Jack was content to stay by me in the chairs. I didn't make it into the water because I had a fever that day. It was fun to watch the kids play with Daddy in the water and sand.

The water is COLD here in California.

Carly preparing to go to her first day of school! I admit it...I got misty eyed. I'm so proud of her. She is such a good little student.

We are posed in front of General Sherman, the largest living organism.

Cute kids, huh?

The kids were expressing a little distress while we were posing for this picture. I finally realized that we had disturbed a bee hive...We were quick to get down after the camera clicked.

There was a county fair, and we enjoyed looking at all the animals. The kids can name all the products we get from cows now.

Petting the goats

Using the hand pump

Little fireman

It was getting really hot.

Carly turned six! We went to Dewar's on her birthday and opened family gifts there.

She had a birthday party in the park, and she had invited a few friends from her school class. It was a lot of fun, and they were all really cute.

We took a little trip to Tehachepi to pick apples. They lasted a long time, and they were golden DELICIOUS!!

Kerilynn and Dave came for a weekend visit and we ate breakfast at the Black Bear Diner. They have huge portions!

We also took them to see the Giant Forest. I love that place!

Jack turned 3!! We had a little party at home, and he was very excited about his How to Train your Dragon toys.

Carly had a school Halloween carnival. They were all so cute in their costumes. Grandma Tess was very sweet and made Carly's princess dress.

We love camping!! (we don't especially love smores, though....too sticky)

Tough guys

We spent Christmas with my whole family. It was the first time we'd all been together since my wedding. I was really excited about it. Since we were travelling that far, we opened gifts before we left town.

While we were there, we went to the Dinosaur museum at Thanksgiving Point.

We also went on campus to revisit our old stomping grounds. Now when we're in town, the kids are always excited to see BYU!!

At the Bean museum. Quite the taxidermy exhibit...

Carly's friend Alex had a pony at her birthday party. It even had a crown on. Carly loved it.

At the beginning of March Kerilynn had her baby, and the kids and I made the drive up to hold that sweet Chloe.

Cute, right?!

Over our spring break/Easter vacation we went to Utah to be with the whole Skinner clan again. On our way there we stopped in Las Vegas to take the kids to the Shark Reef. They had great displays.

I loved the tunnels where the sharks are swimming around and over you.

The octopus was awake and moving like crazy!

The jelly fish display was neat also. Reminded me of the displays at Monterey Bay Aqarium. We are excited to make more use out of our membership there.

Grey reef shark

We set up an Easter egg hunt for the kids. Actually, we set up two hunts for the kids, since they found the eggs so fasat the first time, and they wanted to do it again. It was so fun to watch them run around in the cold mist to find their candy.

We also dyed eggs. Didn't want to miss out on our traditions, even if we were out of town!

Jack makes the goofiest faces. We've caught him practicing a few times.

Easter morning. The Easter bunny hid the Easter baskets this year. Isn't he a stud?

So, minus quite a bit, that was our year. I'm feeling pretty good now that I'm caught up. One more thing to cross off the list.

Snow in Texas!!

In February, we had quite the snow storm; just about the time I was trying to move everything out of the house. The kids just loved it. They made two large snowmen, and there was plenty of snow to spare on the ground. It was so fun making snowmen and snow angels with them.

I'm Back!

Okay, so it's a little embarrassing that I have ignored my blog for almost 4 months. We have been busy, as always, and that's a contributing factor to my absence from the blogging world.
I've been debating whether or not I should go back and up date the last few months activities, and I've decided to give a brief summary of what we were up to.
October is always a busy month for us. Carly's birthday is at the beginning of the month. She had a great celebration that day. We all went to Gattiland for some pizza, a movie, and arcade games. She's such a big girl. She is my helper extraordinaire. She loves to help me with anything and everything, from telling the boys what to do, to cleaning the toilet. I really hope to keep her enthusiastic about household chores.

A few days after Carly's birthday, Jarod and I celebrated our seventh wedding anniversary. We went out to dinner to celebrate, and it was nice to spend the evening together "just us" and reflect on the last 8 years of courtship and marriage. Where has the time gone? I'm truly a lucky girl to be married to such a wonderful man, and my best friend.

In the middle of the month we participated in the ward Halloween Carnival. I won second place in the chili cook off with my P. Beans. Woo Hoo! Of course, the only thing I won was bragging rights. Good enough for me, though!!

Carly also had a Halloween themed birthday party with her little friends. It was a blast. The kids all had a great time, and I who knew kids loved duck, duck, goose and red light, green light so much?!

We also went to the city's free Halloween Carnival for the kids. It was great. The kids had fun with the games, and with all the candy and treats they got at each station.

Then it was Jack's turn. He turned 2 before Halloween, and he loved his dinosaur toys. He's quite the dinosaur lover. (I don't have any decent pictures...sorry!)

By the time trick-or-treating came on Halloween night, I was a little burnt out on Halloween. I think it's kind of a bizarre holiday already. Isn't it a little weird to dress up and go begging for candy from strangers?! Haven't we always been taught not to take candy from strangers? It was fun to watch the kids collecting candy from our neighbors. They had such a great time, and got such a haul, that we've still got bags of Halloween candy in our pantry. Maybe it just shows how good I am at not letting my kids become candy junkies. ;)

Josh was especially funny this year. He kept asking for more than was given to him, or telling the givers exactly what candy he wanted out of their bowls, no matter what prompting and reminders he was given. It was actually pretty hilarious. The holidays are progressively more fun as the kids get older. I get a real kick out of them. It's great to watch them enjoy holidays and traditions.

November was fun for us also. Josh had a root canal in November, and we're going to have a follow up appointment to make sure it took care of the problem. The main highlight of the month was Thanksgiving, of course. This year we hosted Thanksgiving Dinner at our house. While we missed out on the fancy china and crystal we're used to at my parents' house, they were good enough to bring their nice silver. I was in charge of the pies, turkey, and green beans. We were blessed to have my parents and Jarod's cousin Brittney and her family with us for the day. It was a fun celebration. After dinner I got hyped up for Black Friday shopping from looking at the ads. I convinced my mom go out in the morning with me. We discovered though, that if you're going to go out on Black Friday, you have to be serious about shopping. We didn't get out until 9:30, and by the time we got to the stores, pretty much all the door busters were gone. People are crazy. I'm not sure yet if I'm gonna be down right serious about shopping next year, or not. I also discovered cyber Monday. How is it that I'm just participating in that for the first time this last Thanksgiving? It is great!!

December was fabulous as well. Jarod's cousin Don and his wife Mieka and their son Tony moved to Round Rock, and it's been a blast. It's been great to have a built in friend with Mieka. We were happy to go to the city's free Christmas celebration with them. It was fun to see the kids decorate gingerbread men, and enjoy the other activities that were provided. We love living in Round Rock. It has been such a fun experience for us.

I love the Christmas season. I love the focus it gives me. I love the Christmas carols that remind us of the Savor's birth. I had several occasions in the car with the kids when I turned off the music to talk about the meaning of the songs, and was touched by my children's understanding of the meaning and purpose of Christmas. I couldn't ask for sweeter kids. The ward had a great Christmas party, and as always, the Santa was great. He's actually the Santa they used when I was a kid. They've gotten a lot of use out of that Santa outfit. His wife was touched when she saw me this year. They were in my parents' ward years and years ago. Carly was very serious about making sure she knew what to ask Santa for. She kept saying she wanted the Second Pocahontas movie. I don't know about the rest of you, but the first isn't my favorite movie, so the thought of having the sequel made me twinge a little bit. I suggested after we had already visited Santa, that perhaps she should chose a movie that she didn't already own. Since I had already bought the Snow White movie, I planted that seed, and she was excited about it. Of course, when she realized that she already told Santa she wanted a different movie, she was a little distraught. I suggested she write a letter to Santa, and for days she was reminding me, and checking to make sure I'd sent her letter to Santa so he'd get it in time. Kerilynn and Dave came for a few days and we really enjoyed sharing Christmas with them. We did Christmas Eve with everyone at our house, including the newest Round Rock Valdiviesos. We baked goodies and went caroling to our neighbors, and had dinner and a Christmas program put on by Jarod. I was touched by his efforts to share the Christmas message presented to us in the Bible, Book of Mormon, and by modern Prophets. It was a wonderful way to focus on the Savor's birth and life.

Christmas morning was so great. We were awake anticipating the kids' reactions to their stockings and their gifts. I'd woken up early to put the breakfast casserole and cinnamon rolls in the oven, and was all too ready for the kids to wake up and discover their goodies. Carly was the first to emerge and she was exclaiming "Santa came" over and over. The night before she left out cookies and milk in the cute Santa dishes Kerilynn gave them, and she was thrilled that Santa had eaten her cookies and milk. When my folks and Kerilynn and Dave got over we started the day. It was so perfect. Everyone got what they wanted. Jarod was surprised by the ipod and stereo he received (who said I can't keep a secret?) and the kids all got the things they'd wished for.

Sunday afternoon Jarod's family including his mom and dad, sister Elle, Aunt Jan, and Aunt Lydia arrived. We had a great week with them. Jarod's mom gifted her kids' journals, photo albums, and family movies. It was touching to hear Jarod read the journal his mom has kept for him for almost 30 years. It's such an inspiration to continue writing in my kids' journals. He was so moved by it, and truthfully, I was also. I felt more connected to him, and I was reminded of the importance of journal writing.

We had a great time with Jarod's family, eating great food, playing games, flying planes in the park, reading journal entries, and watching movies, walking around the San Antonio Temple, and the Alamo, and visiting a couple of Austin's sites.

This Christmas season I was reminded of how blessed we are to have the families we do. It is wonderful to watch my children develop relationships with their grandparents and Aunts and Uncles. We have been blessed with the most supportive parents, that are willing to do anything to help us achieve our goals. Our lives are richly blessed in so many ways.

As the new year has started, I've enjoyed taking stock of my life, and my goals. While I never feel like I am very good at keeping "New Year's Resolutions" I am striving to make and reach certain goals this year. Hopefully I can rededicate myself to the blog, so that our extended family and out of town friends can be kept up to speed with our family adventures.

HAHAHA!!! I wrote this back in January! So much for rededicating myself to the blog! Oh well. It's May now, and we've been up to some fun things since January, also. I think I'll save that for the next post, though!