Christmas Outfits

Every year on the Sunday before Christmas, we let our kids open one present. It's always their Christmas outfits. But, every year without fail, they forget that it is going to just be "dumb clothes" and they think it's going to be something awesome! We always hear a few groans after the paper has been ripped & then I threaten to give the clothes to children who will actually appreciate them. It's a fun family tradition, if you couldn't tell (notice the sarcasm)...

I really liked the outfits I got them this year. They were FREE, thanks to my Gymbucks that I got while school clothes shopping. SWEET! You can't beat free! I thought the boys looked pretty darn awesome...

Love my handsome little men! We're almost ready for Christmas around here! I just went over my list & I only have 12 more presents to wrap! After that, I'm done! Then I can sit back & enjoy the rest of the season...well, the last few hours of it at least! --Lindsay

Ten Years!

Ten years ago on Thursday, Mike & I got married. I seriously can't believe it's been 10 years! In someways, it only feels like three or four years. In other ways, it feels like we've always been married. It's hard to explain.

So, since we've been married for ten years, I thought I would tell you a little about our wedding day (what I remember about it at least--it's all kind of a blur).

I remember I woke up really early that morning & got ready. Then I went to the salon to have my hair done up. While I was sitting there at the salon, I started to get really nervous. I don't know what it was. I wasn't nervous about marrying Mike. I knew I wanted to marry him. I knew it was right. There was no doubt in my mind about that. I think it was just the reality of it all. I was getting married!!! That's a huge life change...to say the least. And, those of you who know me well know that I don't deal with change very well.

Once my hair was all done, my mom picked me up & we drove to the Mt. Timpanogos Temple. We were a few minutes late. We walked in, showed them our recommends, & told them that I was there to get married. The little old man that was at the front desk looked at the list of sealings for the day & said, "Ah yes, Sister Skousen. Brother Storrs will be happy to know you're finally here. I think he was starting to get worried that you weren't going to show up. He's waiting for you in the lobby." Okay, so maybe we were a little more than a few minutes late. :)

I walked back behind the front desk to the sitting area & saw Mike sitting there. He looked so great! He glanced up, saw me & he got this huge smile on his face. I will always remember the way he looked right then & there. I rushed over to him, gave him a big hug, and made some joke about how "good things come to those that wait." I was still extremely nervous. In fact, Mike noticed that my hands were shaking. I blamed it on being cold. I'm pretty sure he knew I was lying.

We went through all the paperwork stuff with the temple staff & then I was rushed off to the brides' room where my mom & a little temple worker lady proceeded to do the 2,376,289 buttons that went up the back of my dress.

Once I was ready, the temple worker took me to the Celestial Room to meet Mike. She noticed that my hands were still shaking & asked me if I felt okay. I told her I was fine...just a little nervous was all. When we got to the Celestial Room, I saw Mike & we sat down on one of the couches. The temple worker told Mike that we should sit there for a few minutes & talk. Then she added something about how I "may need a little reassurance to go through with this"...or something to that effect. Thank you lady...thank you very much.

Mike took hold of my hands, noticed they were shaking, and asked me if I was sure that I wanted to go through with this. He told me not to do it if I wasn't 100% sure it was the right thing to do. I looked in his eyes & knew 153% that it was the right thing to do. I just couldn't shake the nerves for some reason. We sat there talking for a good 30 minutes or so. I don't know if it was because our sealing room wasn't quite ready or if was because the temple workers thought I was going to bolt at any moment. :) Either way, we sat there for awhile.

Finally, the little old lady came back & asked us if we were ready. Mike looked at me & said, "I'm ready. Are you?" I was ready...nervous, but ready. We were off.

Sadly, I don't remember much about the ceremony itself. I know...that's the most important part & it's all a blur to me. I do remember that the sealer explained that after he read the vows, we were to reply with a simple "yes" or "no." Why do I remember that? Because I had my heart set on saying "I do." I was totally bummed! Anyway, so as we're kneeling at the alter (with my hands still shaking uncontrollably), the sealer says the wedding vows & turns to me. I replied with "Yes, I do." The sealer looked at me like I had just dropped the F-Bomb or something. So, I quickly replied, "Um, sorry...I mean 'yes'." Everyone laughed. Yep, I totally screwed up my own marriage ceremony! I looked at Mike mortified. He just had this huge grin on his face & tears in his eyes. At that point, all my nerves instantly left me. It was the craziest thing ever! I think it was because it really hit me right then & there how wonderful he was. I had just made a HUGE faux paux & he LOVED me for it! I was marrying the man of my dreams & all the sudden, everything was right with the world! Cheesy, I know. But, that's how I felt.

After the ceremony, we of course went outside to take a million pictures. It was FREEZING cold, but I was bound and determined to take pictures in my wedding dress. I wasn't about to be one of those brides that wears a coat over her dress for pictures. Everyone kept coming up to me & offering their coats. Fashion FIRST people...fashion FIRST! I am not about to wear your ugly burgundy wool coat over my beautiful wedding dress! Okay, so I didn't say it like that, but that's pretty much what I was thinking. Haha! Actually, I wasn't all that cold...despite the frigid temperatures. I think it was all the adrenaline or something. Everyone else was shivering up a storm & I felt pretty good in my short-sleeve wedding dress.

After pictures, it was off to the wedding luncheon at Magelby's. We did the normal Skousen tradition of passing a mic around the room so everyone could give us some "marriage advice." Oh, and of course, my dad had to do his tradition of reading "phone messages" that were received during the wedding. It's basically just his way of making fun of the bride & groom by reading supposed "phone messages" from random people in their past...ex-boyfriends & girlfriends, professors, the guy at the McDonalds drive thru (those of you who remember Mike's motorcycle accident when we were engaged will get a chuckle out of that, etc.) It's actually a lot of fun & my dad does a great job with it. It was a great luncheon...or so I thought.

The reason I add that last part is because, apparently, something Mike ate didn't sit too well with him (or maybe it was that he actually realized he was stuck with ME forever--Haha). He got sick...really sick. He was throwing up the rest of the day. He would come stand in line by me for a few minutes & then run off to the bathroom to throw up. We fed each other cake & then he ran to the bathroom to throw up. We danced our first dance & then he ran to the bathroom to throw up. It was so sad! But, in true Mike-fashion, he was more concerned about ME than he was about himself. He felt like he was ruining the wedding for me & kept apologizing over & over again. So sweet!

Once the party was over, we headed out to the car that was decked out head to toe--thanks to Mike's brothers & friends. It took us a good 10 minutes to pull crap out of the car before we could even get in it. Once we were able to sit down, Mike put the top of the car down (in like 17 degree weather) and we were off. In case you were wondering, he stopped a few blocks later & put the top back up...such a showman.

I'll spare you the rest of the day so your eyeballs don't catch on fire. But, I will tell you that Mike eventually started feeling better a few hours later & well, I'm sure you can figure out the rest.

It was such a great day! I really wish I had written about it earlier when it was all fresh on my brain, but I didn't. I've obviously forgotten a lot over the past ten years, but I will never forget the feeling I had when I looked across the alter at Mike (right after I screwed EVERYTHING up) and all the nerves left me. It was the best feeling ever! It was just perfect!

A few years back, Mike & I decided that we were going to go on some exotic vacation for our ten year anniversary. Well, it didn't end up happening...having a wife that is almost 7 months pregnant & a backyard that is going to cost almost $10,000 to landscape & fence will do that to a 10-year-anniversary vacation. So, that trip has been postponed...maybe for our 15-year-anniversary? All I know is that when it does happen, I'm NOT going to have a bowling ball attached to my midsection...thank you very much!

Instead, we just went out to a nice dinner at The New Yorker in downtown SLC. Soooooo yummy! We both highly recommend it! Unfortunately, we forgot our camera so we were trying to take pictures with our blackberries. Have I mentioned that blackberries are not known for their cameras? Take a look for yourself...


I'm pretty sure that takes the cake for worst picture EVER! Plus, my hair looks HORRIBLE! I promise it looked perfect when I left the house. I have no clue what happened!

We ended up getting a four-course meal. We started with an oven baked goat cheese with tomato, caper, & black olive sauce with grilled french bread (LOVED IT), then moved on to a tomato, mozzarella, avocado & basil salad (loved it too). For our main course, we both got the filet minion with dungeness crab béarnaise sauce (I gave my crab to Mike, so you KNOW he was in seventh heaven)...


And then for dessert, I got a Tahitian vanilla crème brûleé, and Mike got the black turtle sundae. They were both delicious! We were stuffed beyond stuffed! It took us over two hours to get through the four courses! We literally ate for 2 hours straight!

It was such a fun night! We had a blast just sitting there & talking about the past 10 years. We realized that we have been married for almost 1/3rd of our lives! It doesn't seem that long! They have seriously been the best 10 years of my life & I'm looking forward to what the next 10 years will bring!

I love you Mike! You are my everything! Thank you for treating me like a queen every single day. I don't know how I got lucky enough to marry you, but I'm sooooooo glad I did! I can honestly say that I've smiled & laughed everyday of the past 10 years because of you! Thank you so much for marrying me! You are the best!!! --Lindsay

Congratulations Kmart Marketing Execs

The other day at lunch, Aiden & I were doing one of our daily rituals. We always sit at the table, eat our lunch...and do addition problems just for fun. Yes, Aiden LOVES to do math problems in his head...weird, I know. But, I guess when your Dad is an Engineer & your Mom is a Meteorologist, you are bound to like math! Anyway, so I would ask him random addition problems, like this...

Me: What's 8+8?

Aiden: 16

Me: What's 6+7?

Aiden: 13

Me: What's 2+5?

Aiden: 7

I decided to give him a really hard one, I said: What's 15+12?

He thought about it for a minute & then a big smile came across his face & he shouted "27"!

I looked at him with a bit of amazement & said, "Wow Aiden! I can't believe you can do such hard math problems in your head! You are so smart!!!"

He looked back at me very seriously & said, "No Mom, I'm not just smart...I'm Kmart Smart!"

Congratulations Kmart marketing execs...you have a winning slogan on your hands! Even five-year-olds remember it! --Lindsay

The Annual Angel Tree Party

On Saturday, my station held its annual "Angel Tree Party." It's where each family picks one or two angels off of the 2 News/Salvation Army Angel Tree & then goes shopping for those kids. At about lunchtime, everyone gets back together to turn in their presents & have a big party!

This year, the party was at Jupiter Bowl in Park City. I thought it was kind of weird that they would make us drive all the way up to Park City just to go bowling, when there are PLENTY of bowling alleys in the Salt Lake Valley. But, once we got up there, we understood why.

This place was AWESOME! It was kind of like Fat Cats...but all "Park City like" (a.k.a. waaaaaaaaaaaay swanky). When you walked in, you would swear you were walking into a pricey nightclub in LA or something. It's crazy! Basically, the coolest bowling alley I have ever seen in my life! My station had rented the entire place out & we had unlimited bowling/arcade games/pizza/drinks for 4 hours! It was awesome!

We started out with some bowling...



One thing that was really cool about Jupiter Bowl was that you could set up which players needed bumpers & which ones didn't. When it was one of the kid's turns, the bumpers would come out of the gutters for their turn. Then, when it was an adults turn, they would magically disappear into the floor! Awesome!! The kids loved it. Here's Connor's awesome bowling "technique"...


Aiden was pretty bummed the whole time because REAL bowling isn't as easy as WII bowling. He didn't get any strikes the entire time we bowled, and he gets strikes almost every turn in Wii bowling. We had to explain to him that Wii bowling wasn't EXACTLY the same as real bowling...

Cohen loved bowling! He was so big about it too! He wouldn't let Mike or I help him at all! He would carry his own ball up there & then granny throw it down the lane. Sometimes, he wouldn't be happy with his throw & he would try to run down the lane to grab it & get a redo. After slipping on his butt several times, he finally learned that running after your bowling ball isn't the smartest move...

While we ate, our waitress kept bringing us unlimited pizza & drinks! Have you ever heard of a bowling alley that has waitresses? Again, this place was seriously so cool...

Once the kiddos were sick of bowling, we moved on to the arcade! My kids thought they had died & gone to heaven when they found out that they could have unlimited tokens! They played & played & played...

It was such a fun day! I always look forward to the Angel Tree Party every year! My kids love picking a boy or two off the angel tree that are interested in the same things they are (Star Wars, Transformers, etc) & then going shopping for the things that they want & need. It's nice to see them actually caring about & helping someone other than themselves. And then to be treated to a fun afternoon like we had was just icing on the cake! It was a great day! A huge thank you to my station for always doing this great family party every year! We love it! --Lindsay

Our Neighbor, Co-Worker, Teacher, Etc. Gifts 2010

This year's neighbor, co-worker, teacher, other random people gift idea comes courtesy of my friend, Rachel. She did this idea last year & shared it on her blog. It's a can of "homemade" carmel apple dip & a couple of apples...


I thought it was such a cute idea that I asked Rachel if she would mind if I copied it from her. She was nice enough to not only let me copy it, but to give me her copy of the can label too, so that I didn't have to design my own!

So, how do you make "homemade" carmel apple dip that is canned? Well, it's so easy! Just take a can of sweetened condensed milk, remove the label, submerge it completely in water, turn up the heat & boil that sucker for 3 hours! As the sweetened condensed milk boils, it carmelizes and turns into the yummiest carmel dip EV-AH! I was seriously eating it by the spoonful...because I had to make sure it was edible before I gave it out to everyone (naturally). Once the carmel is done, you take the cans out of the water, let them cool & then attach the new label. Voila! It looks like you made homemade carmel apple dip & had it canned!

If you are interested in doing this gift idea, here are a few tips from Rachel (along with a few from me) that will help you in the process...

Make sure the cans stay completely submerged the entire time. If they are not completely submerged, they may explode. This requires a little bit of babysitting since you will evaporate about 4-6 cups per hour. Make sure you plan out a whole day to do the boiling if you are planning to do a lot of them. Also, turn the cans every once in awhile so that they all get equal boiling treatment on all sides. By the time you are done with all the boiling, you will be sick of seeing sweetened condensed milk cans...it's a long process! I told Mike that if I never see another can of sweetened condensed milk, it will be too soon!

If you have a really tall pot & you want to stack cans, make sure they are staggered. You can not set one can directly on top of the other because all sides of all cans need to be in direct contact with the water at all times, but they can be staggered. I found it was just easier to do one layer in a pot at a time.

Do not use a non-stick pan to do your boiling. When you pull the original labels off the cans, the glue will remain. When you boil the cans, the glue comes off & puts a lovely sticky residue on the side of the pan. It comes off with an SOS pad & a little bit of elbow grease (or your husband's elbow grease...hehe). But, if you use a non-stick pan, you can't use the SOS pad on it & you will be scrubbing for hours.

Also in reference to the glue residue, your cans will be covered in it when they come out of the water...making them look dull & dirty. You can scrub at them with a damp cloth & get most of the gunk off...but to make the cans shine & look like new, just rub a little bit of olive oil on them. My awesome hubs figured this one out for me.

The 3 hour requirement is actually flexible. You can do it for as little as 2 hours & get a really light, runny carmel. Or, you can do it for 4 hours to get a dark, thick carmel. Rachel recommended 3 hours, so that's what I did & it was perfect!

Buy your sweetened condensed milk when it is on sale. It's not the cheapest stuff on the planet (usually about $2 a can), but if you find a good sale, you can cut that price down to about $1 a can. That really helps...especially when you are making 50 of them like we did. Also, try to buy your apples on sale too. Apples stay good for awhile, so you can buy them several weeks in advance and, as long as you store them in a cool, dry place, they will still be good when it's time to give them out.

Okay, so there you go! One of the cutest Christmas neighbor gifts ever! A huge "thank you" to Rachel for sharing the idea & all her tips on how to do it (and also for giving me her labels too). They turned out really cute & we've had a GREAT response from everyone we gave them too. Merry Christmas! --Lindsay

Wrestle Mania

Connor just finished his first season of Wrestling. Mike wrestled in high school & always really enjoyed it, so we wanted to see if any of his "skills" had been passed on to Connor. We've seen some pretty "awesome moves" in the home-grown wrestling matches between our three boys, so we asked him if he would be interested in signing up & he said yes. Here's his official picture for the season. He looks so skinny...which he is...but he looks REALLY skinny in this unitard thing they make them wear...

Which brings up a burning question of mine...Why would any guy WILLINGLY dress in one of those things & then stick his head in another guy's armpit?!? But whatever...

Connor struggled a little at first which did not make the perfectionist in him very happy. Generally, if Connor can't do something PERFECTLY the first time he tries it, he doesn't want to give it another chance. Wrestling was different though. He didn't give up! He wanted to get better & he was willing to practice to get there! He & Mike spent many nights moving furniture out of the way so Mike could teach him a new move or so they could go over what the coach had taught them in practice. Connor didn't even complain when the coach would make them do about 100 push-ups every practice. Seriously...he made them do HUNDREDS of push-ups every practice to help get them stronger...and Connor didn't whine once! That was a miracle!

Anyway, about a week ago, Connor had his final wrestling tournament. He did so great! He won several of his matches & had a good attitude on the couple he lost too. He wrestled a kid who was REALLY good. He's been wrestling for about 5 years & his dad is a wrestling coach at one of the local high schools. This kid was pinning his opponents within 30 seconds of the match beginning. But, Connor ended up lasting probably 1 1/2 to 2 minutes before he was pinned! The other kid's dad (the high school wrestling coach) even came up to Connor afterwards to congratulate him on lasting so long & told him he was going to be a really good wrestler someday.

Here's a few pictures I attempted to take of one of Connor's matches. He ended up winning this match. He didn't pin the kid, but he ended up getting more points than the other boy, so he won. As you can see, I'm not a very good picture taker when it comes to sporing events. I tend to be more focused on the match rather than on whether or not my subjects are centered in the picture...

After that, my camera battery died & I didn't have the other one with me...so that's all I've got. Oh well! Anyway, I'm very proud of Connor & his good attitude that he had throughout the season. I think wrestling now ranks up there by baseball in his eyes now!

We have the rest of the month of December off & then we start up Junior Jazz Basketball in January! Should be fun! --Lindsay

It's Still NOT a Boy!!!

I had another ultrasound on Friday. I was scared to death that I was going to go in there & they were going to tell me that this baby wasn't a girl after all. I could just hear the ultrasound tech saying, "What? They told you this was a girl? Well, they obviously messed up because this baby CLEARLY has an extra appendage between it's legs."

I was relieved when I saw that Robyn would be doing my ultrasound. Robyn is a friend of my moms. Well, actually, she's the little sister of my mom's childhood best friend. Robyn did my ultrasounds with both Aiden & Cohen. You can tell she really knows what she's doing. When she told me that both Aiden & Cohen were boys, I had no doubt in my mind that she was correct because she's been doing it for so long & she ALWAYS gets it right.

The gal who did my last ultrasound was fairly young. I had no idea how many ultrasounds she had done during her short career or what her track record was thus far. I think because of this, I was a tad hesitant to really let myself believe that this baby was a girl. I DID start buying things for her & for her nursery, but I was always sure to ask what the return policy was "just in case."

Anyway, so when we first went into the room, Robyn (who knows that we have 3 boys) asked what we were having. I told her that we were having a girl, or so we had been told. I asked her if she would mind looking one more time for me, just to give me a second opinion. She said, "Hop up on my table and we'll look there first!"

She gooped me up & then started looking around. She got "down there" and said in a sad tone, "Oh Lindsay..." My heart sank! Oh my gosh! It really WAS a boy! I looked at her & said, "What? Just tell me."

Then she smiled & said, "It's DEFINITELY a girl! I just wanted to play with you a little bit...sorry."


Part of me wanted to hug her and another part of me wanted to punch her in the arm really, REALLY hard.

After that, we took a look at the rest of Baby Girl. Here's a cute picture, although it's not as cute scanned as it is in real life. This is Baby Girl's profile, with her hand up by her forehead & a foot curled up by her hand...

Here's her face...

Her arm & hand...

And a cute little foot picture...

She looks healthy & happy! We were able to see a lot of her organs & Robyn said she looks perfect in every way! Nothing makes a mama happier than to hear those words!

She also said that Baby Girl is actually kind of chubby! This also made me really happy because I've always wanted to have a chubby baby! My boys were all so tiny (ranging from 5 1/2 lbs. to 6 1/2 lbs) so a chubby baby with fat rolls sounds good to me.

Robyn then went on to say that she could see HAIR on top of the baby's head! She said that if a baby has hair at 28 weeks, they are usually born with a full head of hair! This made me laugh because my boys were all born with just an itty-bitty bit of hair. It was jet black & all fell out within the first week...rendering them bald until they were at least 6 months old! I was the same way as a baby. My mom would stick bows on my head with that baby jelly stuff they had in the 70s, so that people wouldn't think I was a boy. Mike, on the other hand, has always been blessed with a, shall we say, "plethora" of hair. It has been our long running joke that, since our boys look so much like me (with the blond hair and pale skin), that any girl of ours would come out looking just like Mike...dark & hairy! Haha! So, I guess we'll see when she gets here in about 12 weeks.

Also, the whole reason for having this ultrasound was to determine if I had Placenta Previa or not. We got great news in that department. The placenta is no longer covering my cervix & a normal delivery should be possible! YAY! That made me a happy girl!

Okay, many of you have been asking what we are going to name her. Well, we've finally come up with a name that we are 99% sure we will be using. So, without further delay, here it is...

I knew that I wanted to use Anne as a middle name. It's my middle name & it's my mom's middle name too. The first name was pretty hard to come up with. You'd think that after having so many boys, I'd have a girl name saved for this very occasion. Well, I did. But, it didn't seem right. My girl name has always been Skylar Anne. But, when it came right down to it, I couldn't bring myself to name my ONLY GIRL a boy name. It had to be something very feminine...and I was really leaning toward something vintage.

We played around with names like Olivia, Ava, Isabella, etc. but none of them seemed quite right. One night, we were in the car. Mike asked me what some of the character's names were from "Gone with the Wind" (my ultimate favorite movie of ALL time...3 hours and 51 minutes of pure bliss!) So, I started naming off some of the characters names. I said, "Well, there's Scarlett." Mike quickly responded with, "We are NOT naming our daughter Scarlett!" But then he asked, "What was the actress's name that played Scarlett?" I told him it was Vivien Leigh. He stopped for a second & said, "Hum...I kind of like that name...Vivien." I thought about it for a second & said, "Yeah, I really like it too! But, I like it spelled the French way...V-I-V-I-E-N-N-E. It makes it so cute & feminine."

I wrote it out for him & he liked it too. From that point on, it just kind of stuck. We've been calling her Vivienne, Vivvy, Viv, & just V from that day forward. Yes, I realize it is a 3 syllable first name & that her full name will be a 4 syllable name (Vivienne Storrs)...heaven forbid. But, it just seems so right that I didn't care anymore! Connor & Aiden have been calling her Vivvy & Cohen calls her "Baby Bibby" since he can't say his V's very good yet. It's super cute!

Now we just need to finish her room & I need to figure out how I'm going to make it through the last 12 weeks! This pregnancy has been so hard on my poor body! I now KNOW why God only gave me one girl. He knew I wasn't strong enough to do a girl pregnancy more than once, so he only gave me one & saved her until the very end! If this had been my first pregnancy, I would have only had ONE child...truly. So, I guess Father really DOES know best! I am still sick from time to time...and I now have some lovely varicose veins up and down both my legs! They look disgusting & are so painful! I can not describe to you how much pain I am in on a daily basis! There is so much pressure in my legs that they feel like they are going to explode! My doctor gave me a prescription for those AWESOME special panty hose that are supposed to help with the pain. But, they are mega expensive & I've found that a regular pair of tights works just as well, so that's what I've been doing. Thank goodness it is winter & not the middle of summer! I already have plans to go to Intermountain Vein Center as soon as she is born & get them all taken care of! Yay! I can't wait!

Well, there you go! Overall, good news all around! My baby is STILL not a boy. She appears to be healthy. She's chubby & will supposedly have a full head of hair in a few months. I don't have Placenta Previa. And, she has officially been named! I feel very blessed! Okay Miss Vivvy, keep cooking away & doing your thing! We're all excited to meet you come the end of February! --Mama (a.k.a. the woman you kick in the ribs ALL THE TIME)