A Trip to the Zoo

A few weeks ago, Mike's company rented out the entire Hogle Zoo for the evening for their employees & their families.  We hadn't been to the zoo for quite a while, so the kiddos were excited to go.  It didn't disappoint.  Here are the boys learning about falcons...
 

And seeing the elephants, up close & personal...

I think this little guy may be saying "hi" to everyone.  So cute...

Then it was on to the rhinos...

Eagles...

Seals...

And grizzly bear.  Isn't he cool?!?

The boys even got to watch the grizzly bear eat his dinner!  This picture isn't very good because of the glare on the glass, but he's digging at fish that are enclosed in a huge chunk of ice.  The kiddos loved it.  How often do you get to watch a bear eat his dinner?

And, of course, you have to climb up on the animals that aren't real too...

The event was held on a Saturday evening, so I was at work, but I was able to join up with the gang in between shows for some dinner & some more animal watching...

Vivvie loved the zoo too, especially the free cookies.  Yep, this girl is definitely my daughter...

After eating, we headed to the tigers--one of which decided to "mark his territory" right in front of us, if you get my drift.  It was quite lovely...

We also saw a cute little snow leopard cub...

Posed for more animal statue shots...

And then ended the evening in the snake & insect house.  I said, "ewwwwwwwww" multiple times in there...

After that, it was dark & getting a little chilly, so everyone jumped in the cars & headed over to Channel 2 for some delicious hot chocolate from the Starbucks machine.  Yum-E!!

It was a fun evening!  We need to go to the zoo more often!  Mike company is always so great to do one or two fun family parties throughout the year.  It's great to be able to do something fun, plus meet all Mike's co-workers.  Since most the projects his company works on are classified, only people with government security clearance are allowed past the lobby.  That tends to put a bit of a damper on visiting Mike at work, so these parties are some of the only times we have to meet his co-workers.  Always fun to finally put faces to the names I hear about so often.  --Lindsay

We're Back!

A little over three years ago, in June 2009, the weekend morning show that I was a part of was cancelled.  I was devastated when it happened.  I had been a part of that show from the very first day, and I had helped shape it into a successful show, so it had become sort of like my baby to me.  The decision was made by our parent company at the time.  None of the management at my station understood the decision.  The show had good ratings & was making money, but the higher ups decided to cancel it.

Luckily though, that company doesn't own us anymore.  Last year, my station was sold to another company.  This new company saw the value in the show & started talking about bring it back.

About a year ago, my News Director called me & asked me (hypothetically at that point) if I would be a part of the show again if it were to be put back on the air.   I was ecstatic!  I love doing the weekend morning show.  It is such a fun show and, not only do I get to do weather on it, but I get to co-host it too.  Then she added a little caveat to the situation.  She told me that she would still need me on the weekend evening shows as well.  She said that she felt like I was a big part of the evening newscasts & she couldn't afford to take me off those shows.  So, if I wanted to do the weekend morning show again, I would need to do the weekend evening shows as well.  You know what that means--split shift!  I would be required to be into work by 6:00 am & work until 8:00 am.  Then, I'd come back for my evening shift at 3:00 pm & work until 11:00 pm.  Not bad--except when you consider that, at that point, I have to go home & go straight to bed so that I can get a few hours sleep & then get up and do it all over again on Sunday--with church squeezed in the middle, mind you.

In the past when I did the weekend morning show, I often did the split shift when our weekend evening meteorologist would take the weekend off.  It was hard, but definitely do-able.  But, back then, I was just doing the split shift once or twice a month.  I was unsure if I'd be able to do it week in & week out.  My News Director just told me to think about it--remember, at this point everything was hypothetical.

The station gave me lots of time to think about it--over a year to be exact.  That's how long it took to get through the red tape in order to get final approval for the weekend morning show to start.  Throughout that year, I went back & forth on whether or not I wanted to do the show.  The thought of doing it made me super excited, but the thought of doing the split *every weekend* made me nervous.

Eventually, a few months ago, the day finally came for me to make my decision.  Everything had been approved & it was time to decide on who would do the show.  I ended up deciding to accept the position--but with an option to back out of the deal six months from now if it was too hard on me or my family.

So, that's where we are right now.  The morning show started just a few weekends ago and, so far, it hasn't been too bad.  Much easier than I expected it to be, in fact.  I expected that when my alarm went off at 4:30 am, I'd be kicking myself for committing to do this show.  But, it's actually been the opposite so far.  When I wake up, I'm excited to go in & be part of the show.  It probably doesn't hurt that I get to do the show with this cute girl...

That's Amy Nay, my co-host.  She & I have just clicked from the first day we met.  So, when I go to work, it's basically going to hang out with a good friend, eat awesome food cooked for us by fabulous chefs, make cute projects with super domestic divas that are trying to teach me a thing or two, and have dance parties with bands that are giving us our own personal little concerts.  It is an awesome show!  So, if you're ever up early on a weekend in Utah, make sure you tune in.  As that creepy little girl in Poltergeist would say, "They're baaaaaack!"  --Lindsay

Sisters Are Different Flowers From the Same Garden

Oh how fitting that title is for me & my sisters (and my Mom, as well).  We are so alike in many ways...and so very different in others.  But, we love each other to pieces, and we love to hang out together as well.  It doesn't happen as often as we'd like though.  With four husbands, three jobs, seven kids, and everything else life throws at us, we just don't see each other as often as we'd like. 

That's why I love my brother-in-law, Dan.  What does Dan have to do with any of this, you ask?!?  Well, Dan just started his MBA program, which means that Kristin is now an MBA widow for the next two years.  I know about being an MBA widow all too well.  Mike was in MBA school from August 2006 through May 2008.  We saw each other about 13 minutes a day during that time, if even that.  You think I'm exaggerating--but, unfortunately, I'm being totally serious.  Mike was working full-time, plus going to school in the evenings.  I was basically a single parent.  Many weeks, Connor & Aiden would see Mike on Monday evening & then wouldn't see him again until Friday evening.  And, I was pregnant with Cohen to boot (hey, we put those 13 minutes to good use.)  It was definitely the hardest couple of years of my life, but so worth it in the end.

So, now Kristin is just starting her journey through those lovely two years, and she's looking for ways to fill her husband-less life.  Which is where us girls come into the picture.  Kristin planned a girls night for us to all get together one night a few weeks ago.  We started with dinner at Kneaders, then went back to her house to work on our domestic goddess skills (a.k.a. crafting).  We made these cute little Trick or Treat signs...

Frankly, I probably would have preferred to just drive to a store & buy one that someone else had made, but we all had a blast together while making them.  We've decided that we need to do evenings like this on a more regular basis--and do other things besides make crafts, from time-to-time (that was my suggestion.  Shocker, I know.)  We decided we're going to take turns planning out our girls nights, so that we do a variety of things.  I'm not sure how often they'll happen--maybe monthly, maybe quarterly--I don't know, but just more often than we've been doing them in the past.

So, thank you Dan for making your wife an MBA widow for the next two years.  It finally gave us a reason to all get together.  I love hanging out with these girls.  We're definitely different flowers from the same garden--and a pretty awesome garden at that, I might say.  --Lindsay

Skousen Family Photo Shoot

My entire family got together for a family photo shoot at the end of August. We haven't done that since...well, 2000...right before I got married.  True story!  We were a family of five back then.  We've obviously grown a little bit...

Since our last photo shoot, we've added 3 husbands & 7 kids, bringing our grand total to 15...

The amazingly talented Maria Wood took our family photos again this year...

She is a miracle worker.  She took 15 people (seven of which were wild & crazy kids) and somehow managed to still get us some beautiful pictures...

Here's Nana & Poppy with their seven grandkids.  Girls are obviously hard to come by in our family...

Here's the "original" Skousen family.  Boys were obviously hard to come by in this family.  Weird how that happens...

Just the gals...

My awesome parents.  I'm obviously going to be smokin' hot when I'm 60 with these two as my parents...

Here's my crazy wild animals, uh I mean family...

Conman...

The Aidenator...

Cocoa Bean...

Vivvie Cakes...

Ashlee's family...

Gavin...

Ty...

Ella...

Kristin & Dan...

We love how they turned out!  Maria did a great job.  Now comes the hard part...and that's where I need your help.  Scroll back up to the pictures of my little family & tell me which one you think I should enlarge for our huge 40x30 frame in our entryway.  I've done candid pictures for it the past couple years & I always get people complimenting me on how cool it is to have a candid picture, but I'm also open to doing one of the traditional pictures as well.  Just tell me which one you think would look best when you first walk in my front door.  Thanks again to Maria for doing a fabulous job!  --Lindsay

Aiden Turns Seven!

The Aidenator is now seven-years-old! I honestly don't know how that is even possible. He should be turning 5 this year, shouldn't he? At least that's how it seems to me. But, despite my begging & pleading, he continues to grow & get older.   As I mentioned in my last post, Aiden's birthday fell on the day we left for LOTOJA.  Because of this, we let him open his presents first thing in the morning when he woke up.  He came downstairs for breakfast & found these things waiting for him...

His favorite present was his razor scooter.  He either lost his original one, or it was stolen.  We're not sure.  But, he's gone several months without one & was pretty happy to finally get another--especially a red one!  There aren't many colored razors out there, which means it's less likely that someone will mistakenly take his.  Plus, his name is plastered all over this one...

He got lots of other stuff he's been wanting too.  Like this stuff he needs to play the Angry Pigs app--like Angry Birds, but reversed...

And, of course, Legos.  It wouldn't be a birthday in the Storrs' house without Legos...

And tons of stuffed animals.  This kid is really into stuffed animals lately...

Then he headed off to school.  I was able to go into his classroom for his birthday celebration.  After it was over, I checked both Aiden & Connor out of school & we jumped in the car to head for Logan.  Once we got up there, Nana & Poppy greeted him with even more presents.  The stuffed animal theme continues...

And more Legos, of course...

He spent the rest of his birthday swimming, playing & eating at Texas Roadhouse (which I mentioned in my LOTOJA post).  It was a good time & he had a great day!

Since we were out of town for his birthday, we held his birthday party with his friends when we got back.  Aiden really wanted to go to Chuck-E-Cheese for his party this year.  You don't have to twist my arm to do that!  As much as I dislike Chuck-E-Cheese, I love going there for birthday parties--no party games to plan, no food to make, no mess to clean up.  Win, win, win!

The kids started out by playing games with their tokens while we waited for our pizza to be cooked...

Even Vivvie got in on the game-playing fun...

Once our pizza was ready, we headed back to our table to eat.  It was decorated really cute...

And had this darling balloon attached to it so it was easy for the kids to find the table...

After pizza, it was time for Aiden to be a star!  Chuck-E brought out his cake (that's another nice thing about having a party here--no cake to make)...

Then they brought him up to the front with Chuck-E...

Gave him his birthday crown...

And made a huge deal about him.  Then it was time to sing "Happy Birthday"...

And blow out the candles...

Plus get his "birthday medallion"...

And dance with Chuck-E.  Chuck-E had some good moves...Aiden, not so much.  That boy is about as white as they come in the dancing department...

Aiden loved every second of his birthday celebration...

Viv enjoyed the cake.  This girl inherited her mama's sweet tooth...

Next, we opened presents...

Then, last but not least, Aiden got to do what he'd been wanting to do more than anything else.  Go inside the Ticket Blaster to catch as many tickets as he could in 30 seconds...

He did pretty good.  He ended up getting about 40 tickets.  He said his secret was shoving them down his shirt...

When he was done, the employee gave him 400 additional tickets.  I guess they guarantee you'll get that many or something.  Aiden was pumped!

After that, all the kids turned in their tickets...

And then picked out their trash treasures from the prize counter.

That was it!  Easy, breezy, lemon squeezy!  Aiden had a great time & so did all his friends (plus a few siblings as well).  Happy 7th birthday Aiden!  Are you SURE you're not just turning 5-yearsold?!?  You're really seven?  Oh how the years fly by!  --Mom