Busy Evan

Evan finished his second session of soccer with his friends Michael and Dalen with Coach Amy.

All the kids had fun during soccer playing with friends.

Evan loved his trophy and Coach Amy gave him the Best Hustler Award.

For Mother's Day I was invited to Evan's classroom for a Mother's Day Tea. He had told me that they were practicing "You are my Sunshine" to sing to all the mothers. That morning he insisted on wearing his Sunday clothes. I gave him the option of just wearing a nicer shirt and pants and he insisted that he had to wear a tie. I got to his classroom and he was the only boy in a shirt and tie. He looked so handsome! Mrs. Humes told me that one day they were practicing the song and Evan started crying. He couldn't even sing, and he told them that he loved his mom so much. Then that made his friend Arella start crying, then Mrs. Humes and Ms. Arsola, the aide, were crying too. What a sweetie! He made me feel so special at the Mother's Day Tea!

Evan has a girlfriend- he has never told me, but this is what I see everyday when I drop the carpool at school.

The Madison carpool, Early Learners- Olivia, Drew, Arella and Evan.

Graduating from Early Learners with his incredible teacher! His class sang Baby Beluga with the cutest actions for us.


Thomas did a great job sitting still and watching during the program!

just being Thomas

I guess Thomas thought the best way to smash his playdough was with his feet.

"Ring, Ring..... Hello, Daddy"

My favorite quirky things Thomas does right now:

He calls me "mom-mee-moe" when he is looking for me.

He unloads the silverware for Evan, and when he tries to match the silverware in the drawer, he'll say no outloud to each utencil until he finds the matching one and says, yes.

When he talks on the telephone to someone he does really well, but when he says bye, he takes the phone off his ear and yells "bye" into the mouth piece.

Jarom's Birthday!

I am stunned that my oldest has grown another year older!

When Jarom was born I was at the end of teaching first grade. He wasn't due until the last day of school, but surprised us two weeks early weighing 7lb 15oz. It was so fun to be new parents. All of a sudden everything evolved around this new little person. I remember in church Ben and I would actually fight over who got to hold Jarom!




Jarom decided from the first bite of baby food that he would be a picky eater. I got so frustrated trying to get that kid to eat! There was a point that we were seriously worried that he wasn't gaining weight, but looking back it probably wasn't that big of a deal. At one, he loved the Carnation chocolate instant breakfast drink and ever since, chocolate milk is still a daily food for him. Now he eats lots of food, including asparagus, but not mixed together. We seldom have any casseroles for that reason- and his dad is in a constant fight to get him to enjoy our favorite homemade macaroni and cheese, but by now he probably just refuses to get a rise out of Ben.
One of Jarom's favorite past times is reading. When he was in first grade we were worried about his progress in reading. From October to January he was in the pull out class to get more help in reading. He really started "getting it" after that and by the end of the summer he had read the first two Harry Potter books. Now we can't get him to stop reading! There is a big joke in his class this year that everyone has to hide Jarom's book during class parties or he will sit and read.

Jarom has loved being in cub scouts and is looking forward to 11yr old scouting. He has a great sense of humor and keeps us laughing. He also loves to swim, go bowling, eat steak, help plan and cook meals, help teach Thomas to do new things and sleep in. We love you Jarom, Happy Birthday!!!!

Just hanging around...

In Las Vegas we bought a huge hammock that our whole family could relax in. We had it outside between two trees, and it entertained us all. Sunday afternoons Ben and the kids would nap outside in it. I remember sneaking outside during naptimes to read.

When Evan was born he loved being swung in it.

In Las Vegas 2003/2004

Jarom and Camille with cousins- Maryn, Maddie and Wyatt
When we came back to Mesa and bought our home, I realized when we were unpacking and pulled out the pink Pull-Up box with our hammock in it, that there were no big trees to hang our hammock on. We kept it packed in the garage, for the past 5 years. Lately, Ben has been working hard on redoing our backyard. We now have a covered back porch which we can hang our hammock from! In fact, his is the first back porch we have had since we have been married. We love it!

We had the hammock out for about a week and a half before the summer heat hit. We look forward to using it more in the fall.

All our friends love to swing too!

Pat's Run 2009

Several months ago Jennifer and Mom and Dad Skinner were talking about getting together to do the Pat Tillman Run. I was committed as long as my "run" was really a "walk"! Dad gets out to run several times a week and was prepared to run this race. I could tell Jennifer wanted to run but I was glad she decided to walk with Mom and I. We woke up early and drove to Skinner's then on to catch the light rail into Tempe.



When we reached ASU and were walking to the stadium it brought back many memories of all the time I spent on that campus for school. Especially parking at lot 59 and walking to the Education Bldg. Such a long time ago!

Dad left us to start up with the runners, the race started at 7am, but we didn't get walking until 7:40- there were so many people! I loved walking and talking with Jen and Mom. The course was 4.2 miles that ended on the 42 yard line in the stadium. We walked west on Rio Salado onto Mill, east on Curry to Scottsdale Rd, then from 6th to the stadium. As we were finishing, the ASU football players were lined up cheering us on and giving high fives as we were about to cross the finish line.

I have to mention that my sister in law Jennifer is a huge ASU football fan- when we came close to the players she was soooo excited. We even went behind the fenced off area so she could get pictures with the players.

Sparky!!!

We also checked out the Tillman Tunnel where the football players run out onto the field. Pretty cool. As we were leaving the field, everyone was cheering on an older man that could barely walk, but was just about to finish the race. Walking this was easy for me, but for him it was a huge accomplishment! It made me appreciate my blessings! I might curse my body pretty regularly but what a blessing it is to be healthy and active. I would love to do it again next year! Thanks Mom, Dad and Jennifer for the great time and memories!

Easter Weekend

We started out our weekend with a Easter Egg Hunt at Grandma Taylors. The kids had a great time finding the hidden eggs, then we colored real eggs inside.

Jarom and Evan stayed for a little while then Ben came to get them to start their Skinner Boys Camp Out. They stayed at the Tenney Ranch in Heber. They fished, shot guns, and had a great time. They woke up to snow on Saturday, and stopped to play in it on the way home.

Thomas stayed home with Camille and I- he mostly hung out with babysitters. Next year he will be old enough not to get into too much trouble with all the boys.

After the Easter Egg Hunt Camille and I went shopping, got pedicures, then met up with Grandma Skinner, Grandma Osborn, my sister in laws and their girls and ate at Organ Stop Pizza and went bowling. On Saturday Camile and I saw Hannah Montana and did some more shopping. I loved hanging out with Camille- she is so sweet and makes me laugh!

On Sunday after church we were going to color more eggs, but the kids were even happier eating the hard boiled eggs. We didn't even get to coloring them before we had most of them eaten. Eggs and Easter candy........great combination.

That evening we spent time with all the Skinners. Shelley and Kelly were here and we all celebrated Jordan's 16th birthday. Kim organized and took a family picture then we ate a delicious Easter dinner.

We all brought eggs to hide for the kids. Grandma and Grandpa's money eggs were the most exciting though. Evan was so excited to find the grand prize- $10!

Pinewood Derby -by Jarom

On saturday was the Pine Wood Derby. My dad had already cut the shapes for mine, Camille's and Evan's car while I was at the Grand Canyon (to bad he was such a big klutz that he lost it at first). I decided that mine would look best with a white stripe surrounded by blue while my brother and sister's cars were getting a second coat.(Ignore the trophy in my hands until later.)

Yep, thats my car. It looks cool doesn't it? My dad and me worked on it for a long time until it looked like this. It weighs exactly 5.0 ounces and it's built for speed.

My dad stayed up for a long time on the friday night before the Derby to check everyones cars. He made sure none of them weighed more than 5.0 ounces and gave them numbers while mom interviewed the racers.

This is Evan and Mikey with their twin cars. I think they told each other what there cars were going to look like and copied each other.


That's my dad being the MC during the race and Brother Eastmond setting up the cars for a race. The track that we were using responded to a certain question which is "Is the track ready" and the track response is either "Ready" or "One moment please". At the end of the track there is the finish line and a button that starts the cars.

That's Grandpa Skinner, me, mom and Thomas, and Grandma Taylor. We were watching other racers race before my turn and were enjoying seeing the kinds of cars people had come up with.

There is Evan and Mikey about to push that button I told you about that starts the race.

That's me getting a speeding ticket from Officer Vogeler........ he is a real police officer! Though the speeding ticket isn't real.

Remember that trophy from the first picture? Well, that's my first place trophy for WINNING THE PINE WOOD DERBY!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Yep, I won. That trophy is really a spray painted hotwheels car with other stuff but it was really cool that I won.