Our Christmas Season (In a Nutshell)

The month of December was busy with all things Christmas. Here's what we were up to:

CHRISTMAS PROGRAMS

Lots and lots of Christmas programs! The first one was Cohen's preschool program...


Can you find Cohen? It's a little like Where Waldo. He is sitting just below and a tad to the right of his teacher (the cute woman with the dark brown hair)...

I wasn't sure if Cohen would sing any of the songs or not. He is my shy child & he doesn't like performing for a crowd. But, he did great! He sang all the songs & did all the actions...

Then, about a week later, Connor & Aiden had their Christmas Sing at the Elementary School. Can you find Aiden in the huge group of Kindergarteners? He's on the bottom row, fourth from the left. You know...the kid who's Christmas tree headband is covering half his face. That's my boy...

And here's Connor with the rest of the 3rd grade. He's on the third row from the top, basically right in the middle of the picture, wearing a Santa hat that is 3 times too big for his head...

After the Christmas sing, Connor's class did a program by themselves for the parents...

They sang songs...

And each child had a part. Connor's part was to tell some Christmas jokes with one of his friends. It was really cute! Afterwards, the room mom presented Miss Funk, Connor's teacher, with an I Spy quilt. Each of the kids had drawn on a block. Connor drew Spongebob on his block. We decided to take a picture of it because Connor had done such a great job! He is quite the little artist...

So, those were the kids Christmas Programs. Always cute & fun.

CHRISTMAS CARDS

We sent out Christmas Cards. If you didn't get a one, I apologize. Consider yourself greeted...

CHRISTMAS CLOTHES

Every year, we give our kids some Christmas church clothes. They get to open them on the Sunday before Christmas. Christmas was on a Sunday this year, so I was originally just going to have them open & wear them on Christmas Day, but they begged to open them the week before, so we let them. They weren't really that excited about the clothes. I think they just wanted to open a present. Here they all are, looking festive...

Connor's not really into the whole wear-a-cute-sweater-to-church thing anymore, so he just got a tie that had Christmas trees on it. You can't really see it in the picture, but it's pretty cute.

NEIGHBOR GIFTS

I kind of went all out for neighbor gifts this year. I didn't mean to go all out, but my idea ended up being a lot more work & money than I thought it would be. I decided to make soup mixes. But, what I didn't realize is that I was basically making dinner for all my neighbors, which isn't easy...or cheap. Oh well. We called it "Snowman Soup" to make it a little more festive and put a cute poem with it. Here's how they turned out. I ran out of the blue tulle, so I started using my red. I didn't think I would like the red as much because it didn't really match the tag, but I ended up liking it more than the blue. What do you think?

Here's what the tag looked like, since it's too little to read in the above picture..

Here's a picture of the back so you can see what the soup mix looked like...

If you're interested in doing this as a gift (because you're crazy like me), or just as dinner for your family, here's the recipe:

1 3/4 cups spiral pasta

3/4 cup dried lentils

1/3 cup dried carrots

3 1/2 tablespoons dried onions

3 1/2 tablespoons chicken bouillon

1 tablespoon plus 1 teaspoon parsley

1 3/4 teaspoon oregano

1/8 teaspoon garlic powder

Bring 10 1/2 cups water to a boil. Add soup mix & 1/2 cup Parmesan cheese. Reduce heat. Cover. Simmer for 40 minutes, stirring occasionally.

WRAPPING PRESENTS

We wrapped lots & lots of presents. It seemed like every free evening we had, Mike & I would wrap presents. I usually hate wrapping presents, but it was kind of fun this year with Mike helping me. We'd turn on Christmas music or a movie & wrap away. We finally finished 3 days before Christmas...

It was a great month, all leading up to the BIG DAY! We had a wonderful Christmas that I'll post about later. Hope you had a wonderful Christmas season! --Lindsay

Christmas Time in SLC

Every year since I was a little girl, my family has picked a night in December to head into downtown Salt Lake City. We always start at Trolley Square for some shopping & dinner. One of the kids' favorite placess to go is always Pottery Barn Kids. They love playing with all the toys that are scattered throughout the store. And, we discovered that Santa has a 10th reindeer named Vivvie...


After playing in Pottery Barn Kids, we headed to Brookstone with play with the big kid toys...

Then it was time for dinner. We always go to Old Spaghetti Factory, a family favorite. Ashlee & Greg's family met us there just in time to eat. Unfortunately, I forgot to get a picture. After dinner, Ashlee & Greg's family left to get their family to bed (they weren't out for Christmas break yet) & the rest of us took the train over to Temple Square to see the lights...

When we got there, we asked a lady to take a picture of all of us in front of the reflecting pool & the temple, but apparently, she didn't think the temple was all that important...

And, yes, I promise Vivvie is in her seat. She fell asleep on the way over to Temple Square, so we just covered her up with her blankets & then threw the snowsuit she was supposed to wear on top for some added layers. Just thought I should explain that so it doesn't look like Mike is a crazy guy carrying around a car seat of blankets & an empty snowsuit. Looks kind of funny in the pictures.

I thought the lights were pretty good this year. They've cut back on the amount of lights in past years, but I thought there were more this year...

Eventually, we got a good picture of our family in front of the temple, thanks to Poppy...

Once we were frozen to the bone, we stepped into the Joseph Smith Memorial Building to warm up for a few minutes...

And then we took the train to Channel 2 for some hot chocolate from the Starbucks machine. That is seriously the best hot chocolate in the world! After that, we headed home. I always look forward to this tradition each year. I love downtown at Christmas time. Not only is Temple Square all lit up, but Gallivan Plaza is as well & all the trees on all the major streets have lights on them too. It's quite the sight! I love it! --Lindsay

I Couldn't Have Planned It Better if I Tried...

Mike & I celebrated our 11th anniversary this past weekend! I can't believe it's been 11 years already?!? In many ways, it seems like it's only been 2-3 years, but in other ways, it seems like we've been together forever. We celebrated by going to Ruth's Chris for dinner...


I had heard wonderful things about this place & those wonderful things were confirmed when their head chef came to do one of my shows. I took one bite of the steak he made for the show & called Mike immediately to tell him that we HAD to go there. It was honestly the best steak I had ever had in my life. So, we decided, since it's not the cheapest place on the planet, that we would go there for our anniversary.

It was delicious! To start out, Mike got their shrimp gumbo, and I got their beefsteak tomato & onion salad. If I had only had that salad & nothing else, I still would have left a happy camper. It was great! I love beefsteak tomatoes & it was perfectly ripe! It tasted like someone had just picked it out of a garden in the middle of August! I don't know how they got such a ripe beefsteak tomato in December, but it was divine!

Then, for our main courses, Mike got their cowboy ribeye (it was HUGE) crusted in blue cheese. I got the filet, also crusted in the blue cheese. HEAVENLY! We also got their garlic mashed potatoes & asparagus in a hollandaise sauce. That was one thing that I found interesting about Ruth's Chris. You order everything a la carte. And all your sides come in family servings, like in a Chinese restaurant. Very different than any other restaurant I've been too, but since Mike & I have similar taste it worked out just fine.

Then, to end the night, our waiter brought this out to us, compliments of the restaurant, for our anniversary...


Holy guacamole this thing was awesome! It was a caramelized banana cream pie. I thought I had died & gone to heaven! It is an absolute must if you go here!

We absolutely loved everything about the night! It was pretty pricey ($137 + tip), but I liked it way better than many of the other fancy restaurants we've been too, like La Caille & Christopher's. I would choose Ruth's Chris over either of those places in a heartbeat. It was your classic fancy restaurant, but with a more laid back feel to it. When I've been to other high-end places, I don't feel like I can make a sound with my fork without the entire restaurant turning to look at me. But, at Ruth's Chris, there were plenty of people laughing & having a great time. Much more my taste! It allowed me to relax & just enjoy the night. Overall, we loved it & decided it will be our go-to place each anniversary, if we can't think of anywhere new we want to try out.

Now, this is an anniversary post, so I can't end it without a little sappiness, right? Plus, I have to explain the title of this blog post, so here it goes.

I just have to say how blessed I feel to have had the chance to be married to Mike for these past 11 years. They have been the best 11 years of my life. A few months back, I had one of those moments where everything stands still for a second & you realize how awesome your life really is...to the point where you can't believe it's really YOUR LIFE! It was just a normal summer evening. We had just finished dinner & I was doing the dishes. Vivvie was sitting in her bouncy seat on the floor just smiling up at me. I looked out my kitchen window to see Mike mowing the lawn & the boys jumping on the tramp. I don't know what it was about that moment, but it just hit me like a ton of bricks how perfect my life is! The thought, "I really don't think I could have planned it better if I tried" popped into my mind. I have always been a planner. From the time I was a little girl, I have always planned out "how my life was going to go." In that moment, doing the dishes, I realized that my actual life has actually surpassed all the expectations of my "planned-out lives."

I basically have a perfect husband...well, as perfect as a husband can be. He loves me & cares about me so much. He is one of those people who sees the best in others all the time, is always empathetic to those around him & is constantly trying to become better. He is smart, driven & successful, and he works his tail off to provide a wonderful life for me & the kids. He is just all around awesome.

I have three boys that are happy, healthy, smart & (sometimes) polite & kind. I finally have my little girl that I had hoped & prayed for. She is such a good-natured, happy baby....and is super cute too.

I have my dream job! I've wanted to do weather in Salt Lake City since I was nine-years-old & every time I go to work, I am in awe that I have the opportunity to actually do my childhood dream. I'm also so grateful that my station allows me to be a stay-at-home mom to my kiddos during the week. I don't think I've ever heard of another TV station that allows someone to do what I do. I really feel that I have the best of both worlds...I get to have a career & be a stay-at-home mom at the same time!

I'm also so grateful for Mike's job. He is so good at what he does! You don't find many engineers that are as good with people & customers as Mike is, so he's a rare breed. Because of that, he was offered two promotions from two different groups in the company about a month ago! He picked the one that felt right to him & he is now a Program Manager over the company's program that has something having to do with the communication devices that are on the government drones that are flown over our enemies to gather data & intelligence. That's about all he can tell me. But, he loves it & that's all that matters in my book.

I hope this doesn't come across as bragging, because that's not how I mean it to be. It's just the thoughts & feelings I had in that moment a few months ago. This is my form of a journal and I just don't want to ever forget what I felt in that moment. I realized how much my Heavenly Father has blessed me with over the past 11 years. I don't feel worthy of any of it & wonder sometimes why Heavenly Father has blessed me with so much. My life is perfect...almost too perfect. I know that it can't always be this way. At some point, I know trials will come, as they always do. But, in that moment, life was perfect & I never want to forget that!

So, here's to the past 11 years! Happy anniversary Mike! I love you & all that you have brought to my life. Here's to the next 11 years...well, forever for that matter. XOXO! I love you! --Lindsay

Angel Tree Party

Last week, we went to the annual KUTV Angel Tree party. I've explained it before, but for those of you who missed it, the Angel Tree party is where all the Channel 2 employees 7 their families get together and go shopping for the remaining kids left on the Salvation Army Angel Tree. This year we decided to shop for two kids...a seven-year-old boy named Francesco & a four-year-old boy named Victor. The boys, as always, had a great time shopping for these kids...


Both Francesco & Victor's tags said they liked cars, so we bought a bunch of them. The boys thought it would be fun to buy Francesco a "Francesco Bernoulli" (I'm probably spelling that wrong) car from Cars 2 since they had the same name. Then we bought some Hot Wheels tracks & cars for the boys, plus some other boy toys as well. After that, we turned to clothing and bought them some shirts, pants, & coats. My boys picked everything out. I love watching them pick out toys, clothes & other things for someone other than themselves!

After everyone was done shopping, we met up with everyone for pizza...

It's always so fun to see all my co-workers families. One of my producers has kids about Connor & Aiden's ages, so we hung out with them, and our kids had a blast together. It was so much fun! The kiddos look forward to this day every year. It has definitely become one of our favorite Christmas traditions! --Lindsay

Another Wrestling Tournament...Another Double Win

And now, for your viewing pleasure, I think it's time I post some totally awkward wrestling photos...

I paid $10 each for those things? Remind me never to do that again! They are the most awkward looking pictures I've ever seen in my life. Especially Connor's with his knobby knees. Sorry when you read this someday Connor, but you have to admit it's true! Haha! Despite looking awkward for pictures, these two are awesome wrestlers! You can't dispute these brackets, baby...

We had our final tournament of the season a few weeks ago & both Connor and Aiden won in their weight divisions...AGAIN! In fact, neither of them lost a single match this tournament! That means that Connor went undefeated the entire season & Aiden only lost one match the entire season! Way to go boys!!!

Connor's coach recommended that we start him with one of the more advanced local leagues or with a private coach at some point because he is doing so well. Connor says he wants to do one more year of city league and then move on to another league or coach. It's so awesome to see how much he loves wrestling! It just clicks with him. He obviously gets this from Mike's side of the family. Mike wrestled in high school, and both his uncle and cousin were state champion wrestlers. It's funny how things like that run in families. I don't know or care if Connor ends up being a state champion or not. I'm just glad that he's found something he loves & is really good at! I hope he keeps it up...anything to keep him out of trouble as a teenager, right? --Lindsay

Dear Vivvie #9

Dear Vivvie,

You are now 9-months-old. Okay, you're 9 1/2-months-old, but who's counting. I think you get cuter by the day...


We went to the doctor for your nine-month checkup a few weeks back. Here are your stats:

Length: 16.6 inches (19th percentile)

Weight: 15 lbs. 14 oz. (6th percentile)

Head Circumference: 42.8 cm (20th percentile)

You are growing good, except you're apparently still a very skinny baby. This is funny to me because you are my first baby to have some rolls on you, so I was thinking you were a chunky baby. But, I guess compared to other kiddos, you are still a skinny minny...

Your getting faster at crawling everyday. You still prefer to scoot on your belly, but you will crawl on your hands & knees from time to time too. And, from the looks of this next picture, I won't have to worry about your self esteem. You seem to love yourself plenty...

I think it's also obvious from the pictures that you have started to pull up on things. You just haven't figured out that once you do pull up, you can walk. You pull yourself up on something & then just stand there. If there is a toy 2 feet away from you that you want, you won't even attempt to walk to it. You'll just hoot & holler until someone gets it for you. Silly girl...

I've been surprised how good you've been about not bothering the Christmas tree or presents. I really thought we may need to leave the bottom couple of feet undecorated, but you have left everything alone for the most part. Every once in awhile, you'll go over to the tree & lightly bat at an ornament of two, but that's it. Hope it stays that way...

You're getting good at feeding yourself little snacks. This has made dinnertime much more enjoyable. We just put you in your highchair with a few Gerber snacks & then the rest of us can eat in peace. I think you like it because it makes you feel like you're just as big as the rest of us...

I think it's pretty obvious from the pictures that you love to look in the mirror! We have a mirror sitting on the ground in our office, just waiting to be put on the wall over a beautiful dining room buffet table someday in the future. It is one of your favorite places to wonder off to. If I ever can't find you, I check the office first. Most the time I will find you there playing with your "friend in the mirror..."

You are also a great shopping buddy. You can now sit up all by yourself in the shopping cart & you just love to look at everything around you. The only bad part about taking you is that it takes quite a bit longer to get through a shopping trip when you're with me because so many people want to stop & look at you. I constantly hear, "What a cute baby!" and "I can't believe how happy & smiley she is!" and "That is the most beautiful baby I've ever seen!" Everyone wants to talk & look at you for a minute. Not that I can blame them. You ARE pretty darn cute...

You have acquired many nicknames in your 9 (whoops, 9 1/2) months. Here are a few that I can think of off the the top of my head: Viv, Vivvie, V, Bubby, Bubbs, Bubba (sorry, I know that's a boy name), Girlie Girl, Girlie, Ga Ga Girlie or Ga Ga's (both ones Aiden came up with & calls you all the time...much to Connor's dismay who hates both names), Bibienne or Baby Bib (Cohen's names for you since he can't say his V's yet), and Muffkey (that one is your dad's nickname. Yes, it is weird.)

You are still such a good-natured baby! You are always smiling. You sleep well. You eat well. You play well. You put up with your brothers well. You are just "practically perfect in every way" as Mary Poppins would say...

We love you more & more each day! Thanks for being our little caboose & for putting up with this crazy family you were born into. We love, love, LOVE you! --Mom

A Great Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving was so awesome this year! First of all, it was this girl's 1st Thanksgiving...


Now, granted, she really couldn't eat any of the food. But she did have some sweet potato baby food for dinner & then some apple & cherry baby food for dessert, so she had her own little Thanksgiving feast. I think she enjoyed it!

Second of all, it was the first time my entire family has been together for Thanksgiving since 2004!!! Ashlee & I will usually go to our family one year, and then to our spouses' families the following year. The problem was that we were opposite of each other. They would go to Greg's family's house on the years that we would come to my parents' house, and vice versa. Well, my in laws ended up going down to Nashville this year to spend the holiday with Mike's siblings that live down there, so we went to my parents' house instead. It was fun to finally spend a Thanksgiving with these guys...

By the way, see the bag of marshmallows in Greg's hand? Every single one of the marshmallows ended up on top of the sweet potatoes. Yep, every last one of them. After baking, marshmallows were flowing over the sides.

These two were there as well...

And, we were there too (obviously)...

Plus, Nana & Poppy (who didn't get a cute couples picture taken, I guess) and all the grandkids! But that wasn't all, Dan's sister is going to UVU & Dan's dad came out to spend the holiday too, so they both came along as well...

There were 17 of us total, and it was so much fun! When we first got there, the kids & dads went outside to throw the football around. When they went outside, they saw a dog sitting in the corner of my parents' yard. It looked sick. It didn't move an inch, even when the guys walked right up to it. We decided to call animal control, but they were closed for the day, so we called the police instead. An officer came & put a leash around the dog and took him away in his car...

The dog seemed fine once the officer put the leash on him & started leading him out. He even jumped into the back of the police car. So, we decided that maybe he was just really cold & was happy to have a warm place to go.

We had to laugh at the fact that it was Thanksgiving & we had a police car parked out front of my parents' house. We could almost hear the neighbors down the street wondering if there was some sort of holiday domestic dispute going on at the Skousen household! Haha!

After the police officer left, the kids just played for awhile while the rest of the food was being prepared. Here's Cohen playing with his "best friend" Poppy. Yep, that's right. He told me the other day that Poppy is his best friend. Forget about the woman who feeds him, clothes him, plays with him, kisses his ouchies better, etc. Poppy is his best friend...

Then it was time for dinner. Here's the kids' table (plus Ashlee, Greg, Nana & Poppy)...

And here's the adult table. Although, I'm pretty sure the conversation at the adult table was more juvenile than the conversation at the kids' table. Think porn star names. Haha...

After we had all stuffed ourselves silly, we headed to the movies to see "Puss In Boots." I thought it was okay. Maybe I went in with my expectations set too high. I had heard good reviews on it & I thought it might be almost as good as "Shrek." But, it was just...okay.

Despite that, it was such a great Thanksgiving! I love my family so much & it was so fun for all of us to be together this year! Hope everyone had a great turkey day! --Lindsay