happiest place on earth

December 2-5, 2010

Way back at the beginning

of the year,

we participated in

Give-a-Day, Get-a-Day

with our friends

Sean and Paige.

We made gift boxes for teachers

in exchange for a free pass to

Disneyland.

We held onto those passes

for months and months

and finally in the beginning of

December we made it to our

destination.

We went at holiday time and
of course the parks were beautiful,
but wow, were they crowded.
Luckily we are experts at fast passes
and were able to do everything we
had on our list, plus some.

Here are 5 things I learned
at Disneyland this year.

1. Only Disneyland can create a
fireworks show that is so emotional
you are almost in tears by the end.

2. Mint Julips are still the most
refreshing snack at the park,
and mine and Paige's personal favs.
If you want to get 3-4
for the price of one, order them
at a sit down restaurant
(they are not on the menus)
in New Orleans Square and
you get free refills. Plus you can request
a to-go cup. Score!

3. When it is cold outside,
nobody wants to ride splash mountain,
so you can stay on your log flume
for several rides and never have to get off.
Just be sure the person in front
is willing to get wet.
Thanks Curtis!

4. When you ride the
Ferris Wheel at
California Adventure,
you must get a swinging cart!
FYI, a free barf bag is provided
in the cart.

5. When you go hard
for two days straight at
Disneyland, be prepared to
look like death as you exit out the
gates at the end of the night.

Thank you Disneyland
for another great trip
full of fun and lasting
memories!



zoolights

Friday November 19, 2010

We went to zoolights
this year for
my company party.
I guess that is one perk
to working.

There are millions of lights,
and you can see a few of the
animals, including a
sleeping Komodo Dragon.

It was stimulation
overload for Oliver.
The Phoenix zoo does a
musical tree display,
ala the Bellagio Fountains,
it was Oliver's
favorite part.

It was a great way
to kick off the holiday season.

baby steps

November 4, 2010

This is video of Oliver's first steps.
What was the final motivation
to get him to take steps alone?
A cellphone.

the boys

November 3-5th, 2010

Brooke, Kirk, and their two oldest kids
headed off to Disneyland
and left baby Hank with us.
Oliver and Hank are almost
6 months apart in age,
and they are quickly
becoming little friends.

Oliver still has some jealous issues
he is working out.
Especially when Hank still gets to
do baby things that Oliver has outgrown,
such as being spoon-fed his meals.

I don't know
how much fun
Disneyland was,
but these two boys
sure had their share
of fun!

with a wink and a smile

Oliver attempting to wink. A talent that some adults cannot even perform.

sick boy

Tuesday November 2, 2010

I got home from work Tuesday morning
and Curtis informed me
it had been a rough night.
Oliver had been up all night
with the cold he had had since Sunday.
I checked on him as he was sleeping
and he did not look good.
His symptoms were
white as a ghost,
rapidly breathing,
nasal flaring,
chest retractions,
wheezing,
and lethargic.
To the doctor we went!

When the nurse saw how sick he was

she quickly pulled the doctor out of another room.

He was not oxygenating well

and needed a nebulizer treatment.

He got immediate relief with the

treatment but it wouldn't last long.

After 3 treatments in the office,

they sent me home with our own machine

and told me to give him a treatment

and bring him back at the end of the day.

They gave him another treatment when we

went back and he still wasn't doing as

well as the doctor would have liked.

So he had me take him to the hospital.

At the hospital he got another treatment

and they put a long suction into his nose

and down to his throat.

That was the trick!

After they got him all cleaned out

he was breathing much better.

Luckily we didn't have to stay the night.

Since this is the first occurence,

they diagnosed him with

Bronchiolitis.

But they think he probably

has asthma...

thank you Aunt Maddie.

halloween

October 31, 2010

Oliver was a little owl this year.
I made his costume starting back
in September.
That way if I ran into any problems
there would be ample time to run to the
store and buy him a costume.
The only problem I ran into was his
refusal to wear the goggles.
So I placed them on top of his cap.

That refusal ended as soon as
grandma gave him some validation.

He must care the most about what
grandma thinks because
after she ooh'd and aah'd over him,
he kept the goggles on for the rest of the night!

up, up, and away!



who dunnit?

October 22, 2010

We cruised back in time to the 1950's
to solve the murder of Tom Dooley.
The suspects included

           Chubby Cheddar,Ivan Spudnik, Johnny Angel

Bobby Sox, Tiara Diamon, and Barby Q. 

When the interrogation got too intense,
we took a break for a limbo contest.

And even with an evening gown on,
no one had limbo skills like Paige.
She was crowned the winner.

There were lots of twists and turns.

Hearts were broken and true identities revealed.

Could the murderer have been one of us?

crash

*I have received permission from my sister to do this post.

As I was heading out the door for work,
on a Wednesday night in the middle of September,
I got a call from my mom.
My sister had been hit by a car

and was being life-flighted to the hospital.

Brooke had just started an evening jog
and was crossing an intersection near her home.
The car didn't see her, didn't brake,
and hit her going 30mph.
She rolled up on the car
and broke the windshield.

At the scene, amazingly,
she was able to recall her phone number.
Her husband got the call from cops,
dropped their 3 kids off at a neighbor's,
and rushed to the scene.

When she first arrived at the hospital,
they were not allowing any family, even her husband,
to be with her or even check on her.
However, I work at the hospital she was flown too,
and I made my way back to her.

When I first saw her,
she was a bloody mess with missing and broken teeth.
She thought no one knew where she was
and was worried she was all alone.
She didn't know if she was driving a car,
if her kids had been involved in the accident,
she forgot her husband had been at the scene,
and she thought she was dying.
Being true to herself though, as I was leaving, she said,
"Tell everyone I am fine."

Through the miracle of modern technology,
hundreds of people across the country
were praying for Brooke within hours of the accident.
She received her own miracle when after a
CT scan, they were able to let her know she had
no internal bleeding (the biggest worry).

She had plenty of road rash,
a nice gash on her forehead,
and a smile that made you cringe.

But if you see her now,
you wouldn't even know
she had been in such a
traumatic accident.
She does have a lifetime
of oral surgeries to look forward to,
and is loving being back in braces.

We are all so grateful that Brooke was
blessed that night and for the many
miracles we were able to witness first hand.
We don't know what we would do without
our little Brookie.

girls night out

Ashley called me up with free tickets
to the Zac Brown concert.
You know them,
they won the grammy this year for
Best New Artist.

They are super talented.
I know this
because they sound as good live as they
do on the radio.

However,
I don't know if they provided
more entertainment then all the
drunks around us.

If everyone at the concert was
white trash,
does that make me
white trash?

Either way,
it was fun night
and a nice break from
being a mommy.

check up

Oliver had his one year
doctor visit.
The doctor said,
"he is a healthy, happy boy".

He weighs 22 pounds 11.5 ounces (50%)
He is 30 inches tall (50%)
and his head is 18.25 inches (50%)

His favorite part of the doctor visit
is getting a fruit flavored tongue depressor.
Yummy!

At 12 months, Oliver,

can stand without holding onto anything

cruises around furniture

eats everything mom and dad eats

and continues to rock and bang his head.

family pictures

I was so excited to have

our friend Courtney take some family

pictures of us while we were camping.

We have not had any family picture taken

since Oliver was born.

She did an awesome job and they

came out beautiful.

Oliver was not cooperating that day

and she still managed to catch the

one or two times he smiled.

Of course my favorite picture

is not posted. 

It will be going out with 

Christmas cards this year. 

She did such a fabulous job I might

just take her on every family vacation with us.

Unfortunately she lives out of state so

it isn't that easy.

To see more of her work go to

http://courtneyskinnerphotography.blogspot.com/

mount graham

Seth and Courtney are a couple we met when we were going to school at U of A.
We were both recently married, childless,
and having the times of our lives.
Look at us now!

We were so excited when they invited us
up to their cabin over the weekend.
It had been 3 years since we had seen them,
and things picked up right where they left off.

We took a "little" hike up
to a watch tower.
Either I am really out of shape,
or the altitude had a greater affect
then I was expecting.

We made it though,
without leaving any children behind.

At the top, there were tons
of ladybugs.
Hours later I would find
ladybugs crawling on Oliver.
He liked plucking them up,
and attempting to eat them
along with any other twigs or dirt
he could manage to get near his mouth.

One of my favorite activites
was picking wild raspberries.

Though, I was
really worried about stumbling
upon a bear.
Has anyone read Blueberries for Sal?

Oliver enjoyed snacking
on the raspberries.
Whatever didn't make
it into his mouth,
Jess would help clean up.

Oliver loved the dog.

Thank you Skinners for a
fantastic weekend!