The Skeens

Kaili Don't Cry Over Spilled Milk

2011-06-19T21:24:00.002-06:00

Here is a video that Andrew taped while I was away at my sewing class. You need to watch it to the end. Pretty classic:

Tulip Festival

2011-04-19T17:51:00.005-06:00

I went to the Tulip Festival at Thanksgiving Point for the first time. I took Kaili and went with my good friend Tasha and her boy Locke. Kaili loved all the flowers and insisted on smelling almost every one when we started on the path. She loved all the space to run and explore. For most of the trip she was sporting a shirt that said "I am a true princess" that she got for free from one of the booths. She refused to wear a jacket over it :). She climbed the many stairs up the Vista Mound Garden and when she got to the top she stood in the middle and proclaimed "I did it!". She looked up and saw the 3 large pillars and said "scary...". She is such a funny girl. The tulips were a bit late to bloom this season, but the daffodils and pansies were gorgeous! We will definitely be going again!

I was feeling crafty :).

2011-04-19T17:00:00.000-06:00

I saw a similar idea on the front page of a magazine. It looked easy, yet cute enough for me to want to give it a shot. I had fun creating this!

Kaili's baby book

2011-03-22T22:04:00.001-06:00

Click here to view this photo book larger

Washington Trip - Summer 2010

2010-10-03T10:44:00.017-06:00

We had an amazing trip to Washington this year! We extended this year's trip and stayed from August 6th-15th so that we could go to Andrew's 10-year reunion and spend more time with our new niece, new nephew, and Andrew's friend's brand new twins. It was a blast and Kaili loved playing with her cousin Madison and Joey (Andrew's family dog) especially.

Potholes is a reservoir near Moses Lake where Andrew's family has been going with the McDonalds to camp and ski since he was 9 or 10 years old. When the trip first happened with just the immediate McDonalds and immediate Skeens there would be 11 kids and 4 adults, but since then, several of them have married. So every year the pack seems to get bigger, but this year was crazy due to a surplus of children being born. If I counted correctly, there were 21 adults and 11 children under the age of 3!

What an adventure! We created two napping areas on the campsite, had tons of sunscreen and floaties that we passed around, and everyone who wasn't on the boat or cooking was likely on baby duty. It made for a very interesting and fun dynamic for all!

Coincidentally, Mitchell who is on his mission in the Spokane area was living in Othello - just 20 minutes from our campsite. After talking to the mission president, we were not permitted to see him, but decided that we could tour Othello and drop off a care package. The family that hosted the elders ended up being home when we went to drop off the package. They invited us in to take a quick tour of their apartment and leave a note on Mitchell's desk. We ate at a Mexican restaurant for dinner (one of two that were side-by-side in the town).

Our first garden

2010-08-22T21:15:00.010-06:00

Thanks to the home's previous owners, we have 5 raised garden boxes, which made it almost impossible to pass up the whole gardening adventure. In preparation last fall, I either pulled or sprayed everything that already existed to get rid of any weeds and so that we could plant what we wanted to enjoy. We planted in 4 of the boxes and at the last minute I decided to try out my version of square foot gardening in 2 of them. I strung string to form square foot boxes and tried to figure out how many seeds to put in each square. My problem however was that I never planned it out so I started to forget what I had planted where and eventually I was forgetting which squares I had already planted in. Besides the chives and rhubarb that somehow resurrected themselves this year, here's what we added:

Carrots
Lettuce (3 types)
Snow Peas
Broccoli
Green Beans
Red Peppers
Green Pepper
Jalapenos
Red Onions
Green Onions
Yellow Onions
Corn
Cucumbers
Tomatoes
Watermelon
Basil
Oregano
Cilantro
Chard
Yellow Squash
Zucchini

So far we've enjoyed the green beans, peas, lettuce, broccoli, chives, and carrots. The jalapenos, peppers, chard and tomatoes are growing very slow; the cilantro flowered very quickly and I must have planted the herbs too deep because I haven't seen them yet. No sign of the cucumbers or the melon. The onions are just starting to take off and the corn is just about ready to harvest!

The only problem is I used one whole garden box to plant 2 squash, 2 zucchini, and 2 cucumber plants. I way over did it on the squash and zucchini. I swear I am picking out 10 of each a week and there is only so much you can do with them! Well, we won't be planting those next year.

I also learned that adding compost to the soil makes a huge difference. We added it to the corn and melon box and I think our corn is the healthiest, tallest crop in the neighborhood.

I think we will be a little less ambitious next year and plan things out a little better. And it will help now we know how things grow and what we actually enjoy harvesting. It has been fun nonetheless!

Here are some pictures that we took on July 5th:

Friday Visits at Grandma's

2010-08-22T20:39:00.008-06:00

Almost every Friday this summer I've tried to take Kaili to Grandma Smith's house to enjoy some time at the pool and to visit. Andrew's mom got Kaili this "puddle jumper" to try out and after maybe 2 times, she was ready to fly solo. We've missed a few Fridays because of summer travels, but hopefully we can make it back over to Grandma's again this week. We love it!

Chillin'

A book Kaili found at Grandma's :)

Grandma showing Kaili her new piano

Gorgeous Silver Lake Hike

2010-07-04T23:34:00.012-06:00

We hiked to Silver Lake in American Fork Canyon yesterday and we had a nice time. We started the hike at 11:00 and got back at 2:45. Kaili was a rockstar! We stopped once to snack on the way up and then she just wanted to play in the water when we got to the top. We had a picnic there and on the way down she konked out on my shoulder. Such a fun hike! We'll definitely do it again!

Father's Day Surprise

2010-07-04T23:16:00.004-06:00

I was pretty sure Andrew knew what he was getting for Father's Day, so I decided to add a little twist to it. I actually had two gift ideas in mind - a softball bat or a workout set (pull-up bar, push up handles, dumbbell weights). Because he guessed I was getting him a softball bat, I purchased the rest of the gifts, wrapped them and put the workout set behind door number one and the softball bat behind door number two and made him choose. It was a fun way to add a surprise to what Andrew thought was not going to be a surprise. He had no idea what was going on when I led him downstairs. In the end, he chose door number 2 with the softball bat. After he gawked over the bat, I showed him what he could have had behind door number one and I actually gave him a chance to choose the workout set if he wanted to, but he stuck with the bat. I returned the workout set the next day and that was it -- game complete!

Demolition

2010-07-04T22:31:00.004-06:00

It was close to 11:00 pm when I had my father-in-law look at a small wall in our basement to see if it was something Andrew and I could take out so that we could fit a bed in the room without having to tear out any of the built in shelves/desk we use for work. He rushed downstairs and I swear, it took only 10 minutes from when I said yay until Andrew and Steve had that wall removed. Pretty fun having pops in town! He even went to Home Depot and put one coat of spackle on it for us.

This was my contribution:

Truck=stuck

2010-07-04T21:41:00.006-06:00

Kind of a funny story to tell if you haven't heard it. It had been a while since Andrew and I had been on a date together and we wanted to try something a little bit different so we booked a sitter and decided to take our truck up Provo Canyon on a pretty wet day (May 13th if you remember) to site-see and maybe find some mud. Well, we took the road that forks East off of Squaw Peak Road and drove about 3 miles near Rock Canyon Campground. Although we were on a dirt road most of the way up, the dirt was pretty packed and the steep incline was no trouble. However, there was one spot were they had just re-cut the trail and the fresh dirt had turned into some very sticky mud. We should have got the hint seeing a truck just like ours parked to the left of the trail because when we started going down hill we tried to turn the wheel to the right and we slid left, we tried breaking and we slid left. Everything we did made us slide closer to the edge to the left of the road, even being in 4WD. After several attempts go reverse back up the hill or go to the right, we decided to abandon the truck and start walking.

I was somewhat dressed up in red pointed flats and I couldn't even lift my leg without them getting stuck in the mud and my foot coming out. We held hands and made it up the hill and started our assent down with no real plan in mind. It was me who decided to approach a bunch of guys target shooting to let them know what had happened and to see if they caught up with us to give us a ride. As it turns out, they were about through and we hopped in the car of two total strangers and got a lift to the Riverwoods Mall where we enjoyed carmel apples from Rocky Mountain Candy Co. and chips and salsa from Bajios. Wonderful Grandma Smith picked us up and we dropped her back off to borrow her car to get back home. We drove it back to her that night.

We hoped the next day would be dry and sunny so the mud would be easier to handle, but it turned out to be even wetter and more muddy. We decided to take the trip up with our Corolla and park it just below that spot to check on Champ and to see if we could get it moved. Trying to brainstorm, I wondered if Geico could offer "roadside assistance" and tow us out for free. After talking with them for 30 mins and explaining where we were (since we were off the map), they agreed to contract with Larry's Towing and send us their "offroad rescue vehicle" to get us out free of charge. That was all wonderful since Andrew's attempt at moving it was unsuccessful, but this time we had Kaili with us and we had a 90 minute wait with pouring rain outside and too much mud to even want to step foot outside. Well, we made it through, every single minute of the wait and eventually our rescue vehicle arrived to winch us out.

Two things we learned: We love Geico and Grandma and we will try to enjoy more simple dates in the future.

Meet Champ

2010-05-08T23:37:00.006-06:00

I'm not sure what it is with us and the color champagne, but it's kinda weird.

Here's the Corolla I bought just before Andrew and I got married.

Here's the Chevy Malibu that's Andrew's had since college.

Now, meet Champ (pronounced shamp, as in champagne).

Because the Malibu is actually the Skeen family college car, we needed to give it up to his sister, a freshman at UNLV. Andrew and I both work in opposite directions so we knew we would need to get another car to replace the Malibu. We started looking at trucks halfway through our car search process. We looked at a few Tacomas and some F-150s and Andrew really wanted a CNG (natural gas) truck, but we settled on the 2004 Dodge Dakota with a V-8 engine. It was well below blue book, had a back seat, and drove nice so we went for it. It has more miles than we would have liked (112,000), but hopefully we'll be able to upgrade to Andrew's CNG F-150 in the near future :). We are excited about Champ and feel lucky to have him.

Going on 16...

2010-05-08T23:03:00.002-06:00

Sunday Bike Ride

2010-05-08T22:43:00.003-06:00

A couple of Sundays ago, we were feeling cooped up so we decided to take a bike trek. No real destination or distance in mind, but in the end we biked about 5 miles and made friends with sheep, goats, horses, turkeys, cows, and beavers! (I swear I saw one pop it's head up in the canal).

We don't have a bike trailer yet, but I LOVE watching Andrew pack Kaili on his bike rides. Often when Andrew gets home from work or while I'm making dinner he likes to take her on a ride. He started out just holding her with one arm on his lap, but for the longer trips, it works great with the baby front-pack. Check this out:

Provo 1/4 Marathon

2010-05-08T22:21:00.003-06:00

I decided to try out being a runner this year. I really don't like running all that much (probably because I could never get past the out-of-shape grind), but I wanted something to work towards. After a few weeks the runs got easier and I could add on miles. I enjoyed having a routine and being able to get away a few times a week.

My first race was on May 1st. Luckily, I have a good friend who was willing to step up to the challenge with me. We teamed up and split the 1/2 marathon and had a blast. We actually did fairly well overall. I ran a 59 minute split and she ran just over an our, putting us in 6th overall for the relay division.

The bad parts about the race:
#1. I ran into my big fear during the race- a sidepain that lasted about 2 1/2 miles. I couldn't run comfortably and I had to stop every once in a while and walk a bit to try and kick it. I pushed through and eventually it got better, but oddly the only thing that was sore after the race was my abdomen area just below my ribs.

#2. The weather was TERRIBLE. Rain, wind, and hail almost the entire way. Andrew insisted he bring the bike so that he and Kaili could chase me, but after they started Kaili was pretty frozen, so they turned around.

I actually really enjoyed it and am looking forward to August 21st when I take on a half marathon in Springville!

Easter Egg Hunt!

2010-04-11T16:57:00.006-06:00

For Easter Weekend we had the Gadd's over with their baby boy who is just one week younger than Kaili. Jamie was my mission companion and BYU roommate and we get to see each other every once in a while. We thought it would be fun to send Kaili and Kale on their first easter egg hunt together. It took them a second to figure it out, but once Kaili figured out that she didn't have to carry all the eggs in her hands and that there was candy in each of the eggs, she had a heyday. I'm pretty sure Easter baskets and plastic eggs are her new favorite toys.

Kaili and Kale hashing it out!

This is where it gets messy!

New favorite toys!

Our Little Mess Maker

2010-04-11T15:25:00.009-06:00

So I was looking through my pictures to decide where to start up again, and I compiled more than enough evidence to update you on my daughter's personality. So there are some people who are blessed to have a child that will sit on their lap for more than 5 minutes, or who will play daintily in one spot with one or two toys, but I feel lucky to have a daughter with a personality that is far from that. I like to think of her as my little Wall-E. It is not uncommon to find my mascara in the laundry room, a spatula in our bedroom, or my mail mixed in with her toys. She has to have something in both hands most of the time, and almost all the time she is on the hunt for something new and interesting -- It definitely makes church and grocery shopping very interesting, believe me. I snapped a couple of shots over the past few weeks that should give you a better idea of who our little girl is. Kaili's taught us that a computer mouse can be a phone, a guitar stand makes a great seat, and a bowl is an excellent hat. We love you Kaili!

First Time For Everything

2010-04-11T15:00:00.000-06:00

Here was Kaili's snowman this March. Needed to put it in here for documentation purposes. It was actually my very first snowman as well. Apparently this is a larger sized snowman... I had no idea.

Tribute to my two little hawaiian girls

2010-01-24T20:29:00.015-07:00

It's probably been a couple years since I made a post on the blog...But, desperate times call for desperate measures :)

Rachel and Kaili flew off to Hawaii on Thursday for a 10 day trip. We drove to the airport at 4:30 am. It was awesome. But, we can talk about that some other time. Rachel was pretty anxious about the 10 hours of flying, as our last flight from Washington consisted of Kaili wailing the entire flight until she finally fell asleep - as the pilot announced we were descending to land. Fortunately, it sounds like Rachel and Kaili's flights went pretty well.

How am I doing without my two favorite girls you ask...

Need I say more? ...actually, this picture is pretty fitting as we've gotten a ton of snow in the last few days, starting w/ the day they flew out. (so I've done a lot of shoveling)

Despite missing them so much, I have enjoyed cleaning up the house, staying REALLY late at work, and catching up on a bunch of projects around the house.

Anyway...I was super anxious to see some pictures of all the fun they've had. Rachel finally sent some pics last night, including a trip to beach, Kaili's luau, and just hanging around the house with all the fam. Here are a few of my favs.

LOVE YOU GUYS!!! Wish I were there with you.

She's almost 1!

2010-01-10T20:42:00.003-07:00

It's hard to believe, but our little Kai Kai is growing up! She'll be 1 on the 20th and she's already acting like she's 14 :). Here's a clip of her getting her "walk" on. Also note: she has hair since the last time you saw her. It actually works into a ponytail!

Kaili and I are on our way to Kona on the 21st to celebrate, and to get some Kaili-grandma/grandpa time in. We are lucky to be able to skype and talk with Mom and Dad almost everyday, but it will be so nice to actually be together. Plus, Susan and Clayton and Grandma Smith will be there too! We can't wait!

Here are some more pics of our big girl for you to enjoy!

An Awesome Christmas in Bellevue

2010-01-03T22:58:00.008-07:00

For Christmas this year we left our home in Utah to visit the Skeens in Andrew's hometown, Bellevue, Washington. We had a great time.

On the way over, we almost missed our flight:
It was a direct, but we got there at 5:20 and the plane was scheduled to leave at 5:55. We had luggage to check and a car to park. Andrew left me in the "Sky Cap" line outside and he took Kaili with him to park the car and take the shuttle back. Unfortunately, the line was rediculous, and not to mention, I had lots of luggage to move for the three of us. When I made it to the front of the line to check us in it was 5:45 and realized they required ID for us. Luckily I had packed our passports (don't ask why). As I started running inside, Andrew got off a shuttle. Our gate was at the very end of the terminal so we were sure we'd miss it, but we thought we'd give it a shot, so we started running. We didn't even bother to put our belts or jackets back on. Luckily, a man in a car stopped us and asked where we were going and if we needed a lift! We hopped on his buggy and made it to our gate at 5:56... Everyone was aboard and ready to go, but luckily no takeoff yet. phew!

Christmas Eve we did some final shopping for eachother, played some guitar hero, wrapped presents, and bathed the girls. Madison is 8 months older than Kaili. It ws so fun to see them play together.

Christmas morning we had "fluffy bacon and eggs" a traditional Skeen breakfast on Christmas morning and then made our way to the gifts. Kaili and Joey (the skeen's dog) worked together on opening a few of them.

On Christmas Day the boys played Wii Resort - a new game Kevin got for Christmas.

For dinner on Christmas we had an awesome meal with Dungenous Crab, potatoes, shrimp, and garlic green beans. They put brown paper on the table and just spread it all out. The crab was amazing (as always) and it was so fun just to literally "dig in."

On Saturday, Andrew and I went and got massages at the YMCA (thanks to Mom and Dad Skeen). Then we all made lunches and took them to a Bellevue park and distributed them among the homeless. After that, we went to JC Pennys and used my photo studio membership to get Skeen family photos. It was fun to coordinate everyone and to try to get Madison and Kaili to look at the camera at the same time.

That night, we went to Andrew's favorite local mexican restaurant Terreros, but it relocated and was now named "Ricardo's."

When we got home we watched Julie & Julia and 4 of us got hammered with what we thought was food poisoning. I was throwing up until 4:30 in the morning.

The next day Andrew and most of his family went to church while some of us stayed home to recover. That night we met up with some of Andrew's friends for pie and chit-chat. It was fun to see everyone and to get to know them better.

On Monday, there was more Wii and playing at home until we made it over to the church gym to play Dodgeball with some friends. I was not very versed in the art of dodgeball, so needless to say, I got worked, but it was fun.

We flew back on Monday night and have enjoyed the rest of the week here at home. Thanks to Steve and Teri for spoiling us and letting us invade your home!

Wii are nerds

2010-01-03T22:10:00.007-07:00

So, if you recall this image from our blog post two years ago when Andrew and I jokingly declared ourselves "gamers":

Well, thanks to Andrew's work party last month and winning our current Wii system in their annual raffle, we have the opportunity to redeem ourselves as "gamers." (The funny part is, one week after we won it I had a birthday and Andrew decided that it would be a great gift to stock up on Wii games and extra remotes, so now we are all "geared" up with Wii Sports, Wii Play, and Mario Kart.) Woo hoo! Come on over and play :)!

Some 2009 Fav's

2010-01-03T21:32:00.003-07:00

In an effort to catch you all up on our 2009 year (at least the last 6 months of it), I have created an album of my 64 favorite pictures from the year. I hope you enjoy them!

We are alive, in case you were wondering...

2010-01-02T23:16:00.004-07:00

Hi all,

I'm not sure if you remember us, since we have pretty much been MIA since June when "The Lindon Pool" was all the rage, but after watching Julie & Julia and since we are beginning a new decade ahead of us, I thought it might be an appropriate time to recommit to my blog... I mean our blog :). The one stipulation however is that Andrew gets to watch Kaili for 20 minutes each Sunday so I can enjoy it and not see it as a pressure. So - new year, new blog (at least a new look) and weekly updates! Sound good?

Well for those of you who are reading this... first of all, I am impressed. I know my mom for a while there was checking my blog daily for any updates, but now she just calls :). You had every reason to give up on us.

Secondly, there have been quite a few newsworthy events that have occurred since I last posted which are worth mentioning. Here's the list (in no particular order, just a brain dump):

1. We bought a house in Pleasant Grove, UT and moved in mid-August
2. Kaili is now walking as of last week
3. We went to Washington for Christmas and had an amazing time with the Skeens
4. Kaili dressed up as a flower for Halloween and we had bazillions of trick-o-treaters
5. We met up with the Gleeds for Thanksgiving in New York for 10 days and Kaili met Ryan, Becky, and their two dogs for the first time
6. I ran a 5k in August - my first since I was 8 years old or something
7. Andrew and I both have church callings dealing with kids - Me: Cub Scout Wolf Den Leader, Andrew: Primary Teacher
8. We went to a Skeen family reunion in Eden, UT for a weekend in July
9. We went on a fishing trip to Fish Lake with some old neighbors over Labor Day weekend
10. I went to Los Lobos, Bonnie Rait, Diana Krall, and The Wallflowers concerts this summer at The University of Utah.

Phew, now I feel all good and caught up. I'll give you a real blog post tomorrow, k?

Brand New Lindon Pool

2009-06-14T19:03:00.015-06:00

Last weekend we drove the 2 miles down the hill and arrived at the new Lindon city pool that opened on Memorial Day. We were pretty impressed with how nice it turned out. There was a baby pool that had a shore and a couple of fountains, a lazy river that circled around, a slide or two, a lap pool, a snack bar, and the Flow Rider - an infinite wave deck. The flow rider was the first thing Andrew noticed and needless to say, it was the only thing he talked about the entire time we were at the pool. I knew we weren't leaving until he tried it, so I got the most out of it and he agreed to make himself lunch for the entire week instead of eating out...

Here are a few pics of our time at the pool:

And now for the videos... For your viewing (AND BLACKMAIL) pleasure:

Here are the good ones :)

These were the kids that were laughing at him. So funny!

I tried it a few times and I'll admit... It's harder than it looks.

10 reason's why Memphis is great

2009-06-04T23:31:00.004-06:00

This is Memphis,
1. Where you can't find Trezevant St. because it has two names Trezevant and North Parkway and depending on which way you are driving you got one or the other.
2. Where you discover a new genre of rap called GHETTO Rap.
3. Where the sign as you drive in says, "Welcome to Memphis. The VOLUNTEER state." I just found out why, I guess that's not funny.
4. Where a man on the street pulls you aside to draw a frightening picture of your daughter and asks for $5.
5. Where somehow it is a big city, yet so small at the same time when you are looking for somewhere to eat.
6. Where there the Auto Shop parking lot is packed full of cars at 1 a.m. pimping each other's ride.
7. Where you witness a car skid into a nearby parking lot, throw a guy out of the car and start wrestling him, and you pray that in the #1 most dangerous city in the U.S. he doesn't have a gun.
8. Where there are 3 security guards at every Wallgreens at midnight.
9. Where a woman tells you how she lost a tooth taking the tag off of a rose bush that she was trying to hide from her husband because it cost $50.
10. Where you can find a pitcher of sweet tea anywhere you go.

Our first real trip - Part 1

2009-06-04T22:27:00.006-06:00

Salt Lake City, UT -> St. Louis, Ohio

I knew I needed to be at this wedding in Memphis for one of my Davidson friends for quite some time. Originally, it was just going to be me and Kaili, but I started to think that I should probably try and talk Andrew into coming with me. It just so happened that we had Southwest vouchers from a canceled flight and that we needed to use them by July. It also just so happened that Southwest doesn't fly into Memphis, so it would be either Nashville or St. Louis. Then it clicked - Andrew has been wanting to visit his uncle Scott for quite some time and he lives in St. Louis!

Long story short, we were flying into St. Louis on the 27th, staying there two nights, driving 4 hours to Memphis on Friday, staying there two nights and then driving back up to St. Louis and flying out on Sunday the 31st.

I have been excited and nervous for this trip for a while mainly because I wasn't sure how Kaili would handle it all (I bet those of you with 5 kids are laughing right now). Luckily she was an angel ALL WEEKEND LONG, and we had plenty of fun to go around. Here are some pictures of her on her first flight and a few with Scott & Stephanie and their two kids Saida and Harmon.

1st hour of flight - asleep

Middle of flight - baby einstein on dvd

Bush's Farm, St. Louis

Kaili with Saida

Bandana Barbeque

The boys (Andrew and Uncle Scott)

Ted Drewes Frozen Custard

The Skeen clan

The Famous St. Louis Arch

Touching the Mississippi

Our first real trip - Part 2

2009-06-04T22:20:00.005-06:00

St. Louis, Ohio -> Memphis, TN

Part 2 of our "First Real Trip" was also very fun. We left St. Louis at 5 am to make the 4.5 hr. trip to Memphis in time for me to get picked up for a "bridesmaid's luncheon." We switched off driving and we arrived into Emily's neighborhood at exactly 10:00.

Here is my group of close Davidson girlfriends reunited at the luncheon

The most generous, warm family welcomed us into their guest house where we stayed the next few days. They had 2 boys (ages 4 and 6) that ADORED Kaili. While I was at the luncheon I called Andrew to see how he was doing and he told me that he was on the computer in the main house where he met the family and Kaili was in the other room with the boys and the mom had just made him a couple of hot dogs :). Gotta love it. By the end of the trip, the boys were asking their mom if they could have a baby sister for Christmas... oops.

There was a what was supposed to be a drop-in between events, but ended up being a "Garden Party" thanks to generous neighbors. Kaili got some good face time there with the guests. I went to sit with her on the tree swing and within 1 minute there was someone sitting on each side of me introducing them self.

We had dinner in the city at the only place we could find before my feet fell off. A Chinese restaurant where the waitresses soon became Kaili's (and our) best friend.

Then off to the lingerie shower for me. Andrew has Kaili for the night!

The next day was pool time for anyone who wanted to meet up. Unfortunately the water was too cold so I couldn't get Kaili much more than ankle deep. She was sure cute though.

Next up: Emily Rodda & Zack Zweber Wedding. To be continued....

The wedding we were all waiting for...

2009-06-04T22:19:00.008-06:00

It's 5:00 and Andrew, Kaili and I are waking up from naps. The wedding starts at 6:30, so we start to get ready. Andrew and Kaili shower and I do my make-up/hair thing. Andrew was in a nice collared shirt and slacks, I was wearing the brand new dress I finally found in my size on Overstock.com that arrived 30 minutes before we left for the airport in Salt Lake, and Kaili was in a cute tank dress I found on the sale rack at Macy's. We leave the house at 6:10 and it take 10 minutes to get there.

From the get-go, we know we just were not supposed to be at the wedding. Here's how it went:
5:30pm: Andrew realizes he forgot his brown shoes, so he can't wear the nicer of the 3 shirts he brought.
6:20pm: We arrive at the church and everyone is dressed in suits and ties. Andrew neither has a suit nor a tie. We drive back to the house to grab his tie.
6:35pm: On the car ride back to the church, I look to my right and notice that my dress ripped open down the right side. I almost cry.
6:40pm: Deciding what to do, we end up in the women's bathroom at Walgreen's - the three of us in the handicap stall together (Kaili in her carrier). Using the sewing kit we just bought we frantically try to sew up my dress - safety pins wouldn't do. Just as Andrew helps zips my dress, a lady walks in and he sneaks out.
7:05pm: We pull up to the church again and see people getting in their cars and realize we missed the whole ceremony :(.

Here I was worried about Kaili and how she'd be during the wedding, but in reality she was the only thing we could count on for the night!

We were sad that we missed the one event we flew out there to see, but we really had a nice time at the reception that followed.

I need a blog-manager, any volunteers?

2009-06-04T22:19:00.003-06:00

So at work right now I am researching a lot about social media (Twitter, Blogs, Facebook, and LinkedIn) and one of the main points I am discovering is that taking a step into the social media department isn't as free as people might think. It actually requires continual maintenance and upkeep if you want it to be productive. In fact, failure to "keep up" can be detrimental to some brands. So what do we learn from this lesson? Nothing, except that either I need a life manager or a blog manager, or else my reputation as an organized, on-top-of-it-all mother/wife/daughter is down the drain :). I hope you all still love me regardless of my lack of commitment to the blogging sphere.

Collage

2009-04-21T18:29:00.001-06:00

My dad made this for Mitchell so he can get a glimpse of Kaili while he is on his mission. I think it's fun.

Talking Away

2009-04-08T23:12:00.006-06:00

We are having so much fun with Kaili lately. She is becoming so responsive and smiley all of a sudden. The camera really doesn't do it justice, but this gives you a hint. Just know that Kaili is quite the talker and that we have quite the conversations together.

Our Water Baby

2009-04-08T20:16:00.004-06:00

We just wanted to share how proud we are of our little water baby:

The Latest

2009-04-02T09:00:00.004-06:00

First of all, Kaili is taking a binky and a bottle! It's not every time, and sometimes she doesn't drink her whole bottle, but we consider it amazing improvement. We are using the Nuk binkies and the Nuk slanted nipple bottles for all of you who are curious. It just took some extra determination and PATIENCE. After blogging about this the first time, Kaili--with some convincing--took the binky and actually fell asleep with it in her mouth! Then later that night and the next morning she up'n drank a 3 oz. on the bottle without even making a peep! It hasn't been a breeze since then, but I have left her for work 4x and she has done fine! Thanks for all of the encouragement!

Binky Help

2009-03-09T23:12:00.004-06:00

So Kaili was an avid binky sucker day 1 and 2 of her hospital stay, but since then we have had issues. We blamed it on the cold/stuffy nose she has had since week 2, but things are starting to clear up in that area and we can't figure out why she can't figure it out. We have made several binky purchases and have little success. Here's a typical attempt:

1. I find opportune time to insert binky.
2. I insert binky slowly
3. She starts pushing it out with her tongue
4. I keep inserting binky and try to touch the roof of her mouth with it
5. She continues to push it out with her tongue
6. She chokes or gags
7. It initiates a mini-tantrum or elevates it.

Here is a video of one of these attempts. She was in a pretty good mood for this one, and never gagged... Granted she has the hiccups and it is probably not the best time for this, but you get the idea.

If you have any advice on what we can do, please let me know. So far she is not taking a bottle either...

A bit of her personality

2009-02-21T22:41:00.008-07:00

Chillin
She loves to be on her back and will squirm around for a while when she is not sleeping.

Hiccups
She gets these a lot and they are usually accompanied by a sad whimper like "Not again..."

Sleeping
This is what makes it okay to wake up 3 times in the night because she falls asleep smiling almost every time.

Watching TV
She is a little Andrew already... she's got her eyes pegged!

Kaili had a photoshoot

2009-02-13T15:54:00.005-07:00

On Tuesday morning I had a friend of ours who is a photographer come over and take some pictures of Kaili. The plan was that I would bathe her knowing that she would be most awake just after and that if I fed her she would sleep for a long time so we could take the majority of them with her asleep.

I think they turned out awesome, but there is a funny story behind it all...

Well, she peed in the bath water, then again on my leg just after her bath and then again when I went to put a diaper on her on the changing table. We put her in her first pose and we found a smudge of poo on the scarf, then we put her on the next set and we found another smudge, then on a blanket, then there were two other little episodes, and then she finally let loose on my arm and peed on our bed for the grand finale. I ended up doing 2 loads of laundry for the 3 hours she had her diaper off.

I am glad she is so healthy. Here are my favorites from the pics she took. The photographer's name is Brooke Snow if any of you want to look her up. She gave us a REALLY good deal since she had never taken newborn shots before.

Baby Shower Quilt

2009-02-06T12:23:00.003-07:00

We did it! While my mom was here we were able to finish the quilt we started at my baby shower back in December. I think it turned out great! I love that Kaili will be able to know that all of her "aunties" had a part in stitching on those cute shapes! Thanks for your help! And thanks Susan for helping me with my vision :).

Long fingers, long toes and long tongue!

2009-02-01T13:45:00.002-07:00

Kaili not only has long fingers and toes (thanks to me), but she loves her tongue! Every waking (and sleeping) moment she just plays with it. Sticking it out and sweeping it across her lips. In fact, that was the first thing the nurses said when she was delivered "Look at that tongue!" She came out sticking it in and out. We are hopeful that her fingers and toes will bring her athletic success, but we aren't quite sure what to think of her long tongue!

Eventful Day

2009-01-25T22:57:00.010-07:00

Today we had quite the day with little Kaili. She loves to sleep, but also loves other things, like peeing on daddy, and being swaddled, bath time, playing with her grandma, Auntie Suzie and Uncle Claytie.

On my way to take a nap Andrew asked me if I wanted to be swaddled. I thought that would be nice.

During bath time, Andrew was holding Kaili over the sink and felt a little tinkle... a tinkle that lasted for a whole 30 seconds. He just kept saying "Good baby, good baby!"

Here is a picture of Susan holding Kaili. While she was here, we went to the changing table in the nursery to change Kaili's diaper. Next thing I know I hear a putter and squirt, Susan screams and I see poo shooting onto the wall! We got a good laugh out of her for that one, but hopefully that won't become a habit.

She spent a lot of time today just being her sweet self too.

Kaili Michelle Skeen

2009-01-24T19:53:00.005-07:00

Since I last posted we named our baby and brought her home. Her name is Kaili (pronounced Ky-lee) Michelle and she was born at 10:26 AM on 1/20, weighing 7 lbs. 5 oz. and measuring 19 inches. She has since lost some weight and is feeling pretty tiny, but we are getting used to and loving taking care of our new baby girl. My mom is here helping out which has been really nice. She will be here until the 30th.

Here are just a few more pics of our baby from the last few days. She is changing already and we are trying to figure out whose eyes, nose, mouth, and toes she has. We think she is precious and are trying to understand why she turned out so cute.

Baby's Here!

2009-01-20T22:40:00.004-07:00

We had a pretty crazy day! It started at 3:30 AM with a pretty good contraction that woke me up and they just kept coming! We headed to the hospital at 6:45 and I was progressing very well over the next two hours thanks to some pretty painful contractions. I finally got my epidural when I was dilated to a 6 or 6.5 and besides the fact that they missed the first time and that it wore off by the end, it worked miracles. I honestly don't know how people do it without one. I started feeling the contractions again by the time I was "complete" and Dr. Holmes showed up just in time! There was no real "rest and descend" for me! Baby wanted out! He walked in and I pushed with that first contraction. It took a few rounds and baby was out in no time, but face up!. It was probably a blessing that she came early and that my epidural wore off because supposedly it can be pretty hard for first-time moms to push them out if they have an epidural.

We love our new baby girl! She is so chill! She came into the world screaming, but has shown her true colors since then! We are so excited to be parents and might I add that Andrew has already had a good diaper change! He is awesome and was so helpful for me through the whole thing. It was also amazing that Mitchell could be here for the big event since he will be entering into the Missionary Training Center tomorrow! Visitors for the day were Grandma, Mom (Michelle), Susan, Clayton, Mitchell, Jamie (mission comp and roomie) and her husband Kolby.

I know everyone is anxious to know her name, but until tomorrow, everyone will just have to wait!!! Here are some pics from today:

2 Weeks Away

2009-01-13T00:59:00.000-07:00

So… hard to believe, but our life with just the two of us is soon to be over. I am due on Jan. 26th and that is now only 2 weeks away. Here's the catch: My mom flies in on the 16th with Mitchell because he reports to the missionary training center and she will be here until the 30th, so the pressure is on for us to have this baby early. We'll see what we can do, but for now we are just keeping busy and trying to stay organized and ready for when our little baby girl decides to make her grand entrance. We are definitely excited! Thanks for all the gifts and well-wishes!

Momma Hair

2009-01-13T00:55:00.002-07:00

I put these pics on my Facebook account too, but just for the record I decided to chop my hair off on a whim. Nothing sounded nicer with a baby on the way than having less hair to have to worry about. It was a very welcome change and I even added a little bit of red for kicks. We'll see how it goes!

Hawaii Christmas

2009-01-13T00:47:00.003-07:00

I have had plenty of requests to update with pics from our trip to Hawaii, so here you go. Kayaking, paddleboarding, snorkeling, good eating... we definitely had a good time and it was hard for us to come back to the snowy weather here in Utah. We did get a good fix of beach and sunshine to tide us over for a little while at least!

Thanksgiving

2009-01-13T00:26:00.002-07:00

Hi all,

Sorry it has taken so long for me to update. I have been wanting to put a post up about Thanksgiving with some pics, but never got the pics from Andrew's phone...

So here's the deal, we went to Boise, ID for Thanksgiving and we had dinner across the Oregon border in a small farm town called Nyssa with some of Andrew's family. We ate lots of food, watched movies, did some black Friday shopping, and spent plenty of time with our adorable 6-month-old niece Madison (see earlier post for newborn pics). Here are some pics of our cute niece from last month:

10th Row Jazz Tickets

2008-11-24T22:33:00.003-07:00

Last Monday I was literally handed 10th row tickets to the Jazz vs. Suns game. My boss was on a call with a friend of the company and asks "Does anyone want tickets to watch the Jazz game tonight?" I immediately raised my hand and she told the person on the phone that I was a taker. Within minutes the tickets were e-mailed to me and next thing I know Andrew and I are sitting 10 rows up from the court banging the blow up noise noodles and watching Shaq post-up on Millsap. It was incredible and Baby Skeen had a blast too. She was kicking out and stretching out with every outburst. Kirilenko had a great game and the team played an awesome 4th quarter. They ended up winning 109-97. We miss Daron Williams, but we think CJ Miles is doing a great job too.

What to do with your pumpkins

2008-11-09T16:51:00.004-07:00

For those of you who still have your pumpkins sitting on your porch and are trying to figure out what to do with them, instead of chucking them in the dumpster (boring...), we recommend taking them out back and shooting them! Andrew's idea was to use a sharpie and draw fat rabbits and turkeys. We unloaded quite a few rounds on them with his 22 rifle. I usually don't join Andrew for target shooting, but this sounded awesome and it was.

Halloween Hangout

2008-11-03T22:19:00.014-07:00

This Halloween Andrew and I went to the first annual cousin's party on Thursday and on Friday we threw our own party. We made caramel apples (topped with chocolate, nuts and butterfinger bits), carved killer pumpkins, drank wassail, and had I Am Legend playing in the background. We consumed way too much sugar, but certainly had a lot of fun. Not to mention the costumes were amazing. Check us out!

Park City Weekend

2008-11-02T22:44:00.004-07:00

Last weekend Andrew and I decided to get out of our average Provo/Orem weekends to spend some time up in Park City to see the leaves, shop around, and tour the town. We ended up having a really nice time.

The original plan was to spend the night on Friday and have the whole day on Saturday to do whatever, but it was so expensive and we didn't get home from work until very late on Friday so we decided to scrap it and make the trip in the morning.

The leaves had already turned brown, but it was still a beautiful day. We spent the morning at the outlet mall, took a break for lunch at Loco Lizard, made a spontaneous stop at the Olympic Park (a first for both of us), and circled back to the outlets for some final purchases. I have discovered a new love for Park City, besides just the good shopping. It is definitely a nice drive and a nice place to escape to. I am sure if I was in a more active state we could find some awesome biking/hiking trails as well.

Here are some pics from outside at the Utah Olympic Park. The museum inside was really fun too, but we didn't take any pics.

What's been missing this summer...

2008-10-05T20:35:00.005-06:00

Last weekend, out of the blue, Andrew's longtime friend Jeff called to invite him to take a run on his boat. We were really excited because several of you may know that we canceled two Washington wakeboard trips this summer because we have been so busy. We went to Utah lake and Andrew got his first, and probably last :(, wakeboard fix of the summer. I hung out on the boat with Jeff's date and her sister-in-law (also pregnant) while the boys tore it up (Andrew really impressed them all with his "skills"). Wish we had more of a summer to play!

20 Weeks

2008-09-16T21:44:00.005-06:00

Labor Day Weekend - Zion National Park

2008-09-09T22:13:00.006-06:00

We have been wanting to go camping all summer and since we couldn't make it out to Potholes, WA for the family camp out we really felt the need to camp on Labor Day weekend. The criteria for me was that it couldn't be more than a 4-hour drive and it had to be somewhere where I could put on a bathing suit. Andrew decided on Zion's and made reservations in the park for Saturday and Sunday night thinking that it would for sure be busy with the holiday.

As the weekend approached we heard news of a flash flood warning. I thought rain would be fun, but then I realized that Andrew's 2-person lie-down tent would make for a long weekend if we were stuck in the rain. He went out and found us a larger tent the night before and it turned out great.

Overall we had a great weekend. Saturday we set up our tent and hiked to The Upper and Lower Pools. On Sunday we found a church building and hiked part of The Narrows and on Monday we hiked to Weeping Rock and then hiked 5 hours back in The Narrows. The water was pretty dirty from all the rain on Sunday night and we had a hard time seeing where we were stepping, but it made it more of an adventure. We also hiked up through the forbidden Orderville Canyon until we made it to a waterfall. The walls in the Narrows were hundreds of feet tall and it was such an amazing experience to be hiking down between them.

Thanks Andrew for a fun weekend!

Who's idea was this?

2008-09-04T22:30:00.005-06:00

So somehow Andrew and I ended up with a box containing the top of our wedding cake after our reception (I don't even remember when my mom gave it to me). According to tradition you are supposed to keep a part of your cake in your freezer until your 1 year anniversary when you get to "enjoy" it together. We listened to tradition and kept that box stuffed in our freezer for a whole year. Needless to say, we were very curious to see how the thing faired after a year. I think the pictures tell the whole experience, but what I want to know is who's cake actually tasted good after a year of freezer-burn?

Anniversary Weekend

2008-08-25T21:30:00.006-06:00

We had our 1 year anniversary on August 18th and celebrated all weekend. On Friday Andrew had made reservations for us to eat at Cuchina Toscana, a fancy Italian restaurant in Salt Lake and then to stay at Hotel Monaco that night. For dinner, I had the pesto gnocchi with shrimp and Andrew had the mushroom stuffed steak with Caesar salad. It was all marvelous.

The next day Andrew and I rode our bikes around the city in search of breakfast. We didn't have any plans set for the day or evening, so Andrew and I decided to try out Logan, UT to see what it had to offer. It made for a sort of weird adventure.

We made reservations to stay at the Sherwood Hills Resort on our drive out there. When we got there we immediately asked if there were trails for biking/hiking. They said yes and handed us a very simple-looking map with a few lines drawn on it. We picked the .5 mile route to "the lookout" and started up it with our bikes. Pretty soon it got to steep so we ditched our bikes and began to hike. About an hour later, we began to wonder where this lookout was. The map had become useless. We were about to head back when we saw our first sign of human life, a painted rock with the word "Stop." The trail appeared to end as well. We were so confused and couldn't believe how anti-climactic it was. We decided to ditch the trail, ignore the sign and just hike straight up the cliff to find our own lookout. That we did.

We weren't very impressed with the hotel after all, and decided that we would enjoy it just as much to go back to our nice, clean apartment in Lindon. We ate dinner at Chili's and cut our adventure short.

The one thing we were really excited for was the Jack Johnson Concert we had tickets for on our actual anniversary night. I left work early and Andrew and I met up for our date. It ended up being so much fun. I didn't know this, but we ended up with "pit" tickets so it was quite the surprise to get there and be practically on the stage with them. Jack was great and Andrew and I just enjoyed the evening talking, laughing, and dancing. Not a bad 1-year I'd say.

HE DID IT!

2008-08-17T17:22:00.003-06:00

These pictures are actually from last August when Andrew walked with one independent study class to take. One year and 2 extensions later Andrew finishes!!! Talk about last minute. I honestly wasn't sure he was going to do it. But, I have to say we are pretty relieved and I guess we can celebrate now ;). Congrats Andrew!

This is the sample diploma Andrew got... still waiting on the real one.He graduated with Ryan and Becky too!Proud family.

Sunday Exploration

2008-08-10T23:12:00.005-06:00

Since we know very little about Lindon and our neighborhood, we thought it would be fun to go for a little drive after church to check out the area. We kinda got the feeling that we were in a pretty ritzy area and after seeing some of the houses, we were definitely right. We drove up near the base of the canyon and saw some amazing houses. We even pulled into the driveway of a house that is up for sale to check out the view. When we were driving up and through one of the neighborhoods we found the entrance of Dry Canyon. Andrew was curious so we got out of the car and hiked part-way up the trail so that we could see around a large rocky ledge. Here are a few pics we took along the way:

This is the front of a "house." We should have taken way more of the houses we saw, but this was definitely the biggest--it wouldn't even fit in the camera.

the back of the house.This is up Dry Canyon. We hiked between those rocks.

Ummm... girl?

2008-08-10T23:02:00.003-06:00

So on Friday night I stopped at a boutique where I found out a month ago at the register that I had some credit a jacket I returned over a year ago. Susan told me that they have a really cute baby section so I thought I would try my luck at maternity-length shirts and then take a peek at the baby stuff. I was on the phone with my mom when I spotted this dress and although I don't know whether I am having a boy or a girl yet, I could not help but pick this up. I do have a little inkling that it could be a girl, but that's no doctor's opinion. Haha... if it's a boy I will just return it and still have the credit I started with. Anyway, I thought this was adorable.

Davidson Girlfriend Reunion

2008-08-03T20:10:00.009-06:00

Last year it was Jackson Hole, WY and this year it was Greenville, SC. Every year at least 7 of my girlfriends from my first 2 years at Davidson College and I try to get together for some sort of informal reunion. Erin from the group's dad had a house up in Jackson Hole so we went there last year and this year Emily had us head over to her parents' new lake house. We stayed there from Wednesday until Saturday of last weekend. We had a lot of fun catching up and seeing what everyone was up to. We watched movies, ate "southern" and kayaked on the lake. Love those girls.

Freshman Roommate
Sophomore Roommate

We're Moving

2008-07-29T21:24:00.006-06:00

It has been a year since Andrew and I moved in together and although we have really like where we are living, it has been a long drive for me to get to work in Salt Lake from Provo. We originally tried to find something in Lehi, but nothing worked out. The compromise? We found a 2-bedroom basement apartment we liked in Lindon. It is a beautiful home and the family upstairs seems really nice, but most importantly, it has a dishwasher :). Andrew is excited that they have a basketball court and a trampoline just outside our door. I am excited that there is a walk-in closet and 2 sinks in the bathroom.

We think we might be pregnant.

2008-07-20T22:43:00.007-06:00

Ok, so the word is out... if all goes well, Andrew and I should have a new member of our family by the end of January. We are very excited to try the parenting thing and feel so lucky to have such great family around to help! Andrew thinks we should name it Jet-Skeen (pronounced jet-skiing). I told him I'll have to think about that one.

Goin' to Carolina...

2008-07-20T22:28:00.010-06:00

Last month Andrew and I took a trip out to North Carolina for his friend/old roommate's wedding. I decided it would be fun while we were there to take Andrew to see Davidson, where I went for my first 2 years of college. We spent some time in Raleigh for the wedding and drove down to Davidson and stayed with the awesome LDS family I met while I was at school. They have since built a lake house and it was nice to be able to enjoy a few days with them there.

Manly Milestone

2008-07-18T22:08:00.008-06:00

(Andrew, as a boy)

About 2 months ago Andrew started talking about guns and buying a gun for himself. I am not exactly sure what spurred it... but in order to convince me WE needed one, he talked about food storage, self-defense, blah...blah...blah... My dad had guns in his closet and owned one at the age of 12, however, I for some reason wasn't too exited about having one in our house. But, since he persisted in researching online, and talking talking... I realized that it wasn't just a faze. By the time Father's Day weekend rolled around I knew Andrew was going to want to take me to see the gun he found at Sportsman's Warehouse.......So that I wouldn't have to endure another conversation of him trying to convince me about why he should get one, I decided to surprise him by getting him a large gift card. I had guessed it--the first thing he wanted to do was drive Sportsman's Warehouse. He found one he liked and the funny thing is that in the end I had to be the one buying the gun, using the giftcard I bought him because Andrew was going to be late for his softball game. How ironic :). Anyway, needless to say he is pretty excited!

Here is a picture of the gun Andrew bought:

Madison Naomi (Skeen) Miller

2008-06-08T22:41:00.004-06:00

Here's our first niece! Kristen and Kevin had their first (of many to come :) on May 22. When this picture was taken, she didn't have a name yet. She's dang cute though, and keeps getting cuter. Rachel and I go and visit as often as we think Kristen and Kevin will allow without getting tired of us. We'll have more pictures to come of Madison and her favorite person (uncle andrew).

Timpanogos Cave

2008-05-10T20:11:00.007-06:00

Today Andrew had the great idea of going on a hike up to the Timpanogos Cave. It was about a 1.5 mile hike to the cave entrance and the actual cave tour lasted about 45 minutes. It was a beautiful day and when we got there we found out that today was the opening day of the season! We learned all about calcite, helictites, stalactites and stalagmites (I admit that I had to look the terms up).

Inside the cave

Squeezing through narrow walls

The Heart of Mt. Timpanogos

Inside one of the chambers

Awesome view outside

It's Official!

2008-04-27T22:59:00.002-06:00

This past Friday, I was handed a diploma and awarded a Bachelor of Arts in Advertising and Marketing Communications. Jenni, Kristen and Kevin graduated too! So, Wednesday night both Andrew's parents and mine flew in to spend the weekend celebrating. We flip-flopped between families and got a lot of free meals out of the whole thing :). It was just nice to see our family again and to feel their support and to laugh with them. Andrew is in the process of finishing the one online class he has had since he walked last August so in a couple of months we will get to say that we are both BYU grads!

Tax Return

2008-04-27T22:34:00.003-06:00

On Thursday, the day after my mom got into Utah, she called and asked if I wanted to go to lunch with her, Grandma, Aunt Julie, and Mitchell at Jason's Deli. Since Andrew had the car, Julie came to pick me up. I stopped by my mailbox on the way to the car and was excited to find our $227 tax return from the State of Utah. I took it with me into the car and decided that I would leave it inside when we got to Jason's Deli. After lunch when Julie dropped me back off at my house I didn't see the envelope anywhere in the car. Julie told me that when she dropped us off at the entrance before she went to park she saw a piece of paper float in front of the windshield and didn't think about it. We rushed back to the parking lot and Mitchell and I laid down on the asphalt to look and asked the 3 stores there if an envelope had been found outside. Unfortunately, it was a VERY windy day and Julie seemed to think that if it had caught wind it would have flown over the highway to the fence line on the other side. So here I was, 1 hour before Convocation for graduation, hair curled and all, traffic piled along the highway, as I ran back and forth along University Parkway in search of my tax return. Right when I was going to give up, I found the envelope to the tax return there at the end of the ditch. I was stunned, but the only thing is there was no check inside. It looked like the envelope had been run over several times as there were tire marks on both sides and we wondered if somehow the check had been separated. We drove around to the park on the other side of the fence to see if it was on the field. But, right as we drove up a huge recycle truck had just picked up a bin and the wind had blown out most of the papers from the bin so they were soaring in a tornado toward the park field. We were so discouraged. By the end, we had found the envelope, but no check. I went back the next day to briefly look again, but still couldn't find it. Andrew and I faxed in a form to cancel the check and hopefully get a new one sent if someone has not somehow cashed it. We are keeping the envelope for memory's sake, but it was overall a very odd experience.

Shreadin'

2008-04-20T23:37:00.005-06:00

I went snowboarding for the first time with Andrew and Clayton in March. We went to Brighton at night. I started out on the bunny hill and went down the big slope at the end. In the first clip notice Andrew warning me to watch my front edge just before I bite it.

Didn't quite get the "carving" down, but I had a lot of fun. Next time we'll get more clips of Andrew--an avid snowboard instructor in his day.

McCall in February

2008-04-06T22:41:00.008-06:00

We headed up to McCall, ID Valentine's Day weekend to spend some time with family and check out Uncle Paul's cabin after the crazy winter. There was 6 feet of snow at his place. We snowmobiled on a frozen over lake and found a river that was sort of like a half-pipe. Check this out.

Snowboard

2008-03-03T21:02:00.004-07:00

Andrew has been wanting to take me snowboarding for a really long time so we finally picked a day to go. We went to Out N' Back (an outdoor retail store) to get me set up with a rental and had everything ready to go, but Andrew was using the in-store computer to compare prices for lift tickets so that if we wanted to buy tickets there we could. When I heard how much it was going to cost for everything, I told Andrew, "Can't we buy a used snowboard for that much? Why don't we just skip tomorrow and buy a snowboard for next time?" Even though it was kind of a joke, Andrew thought it was a great idea and that is what we did! That night we got on KSL.com and found a guy who was selling a really good board for pretty cheap. We went to his place to check it out and took it home that night. And, we finally got our chance to try it out this past weekend!

Andrew's Idea of an outfit!

2008-02-06T21:50:00.000-07:00

It was Saturday and I was feeling pretty lazy. I told Andrew to pick me out something to wear. He grabbed his favorite jeans on me, my flowery zip up and then a bright pink t-shirt to go under it. I put it on just for a laugh.

Internship

2008-02-06T21:41:00.000-07:00

Just an update. In order to graduate in April I needed to complete an advertising internship with an agency or company. I have been on the search since last semester, but nothing seemed to fit. Once classes started I spoke with one of my professors and he got me an interview with a company called Redirect Relationship Marketing, an agency out in Salt Lake. I started work 2 weeks ago and work 2 days a week for now. It seems like a good fit, it pays well (enough to make the commute worth it), and they are looking to hire! Just thought I would let you know! I get to graduate after all!

Jazz Tradition

2008-02-06T21:24:00.000-07:00

Starting 2 years ago, my grandpa and I have been going to Jazz basketball games together. I was given 2 free tickets in a marketing class and I knew that he would appreciate going more than anyone. He made the trip from Idaho and I made the trip from Provo. Last year we went on Valentine's Day. This year he generously treated Andrew and I to the San Antonio game. He wouldn't let us pay for anything, not even a drink. We had such a nice time and pretty good seats too! Thanks Grandpa!

Hawaii's only kinda fun without my honey...

2008-01-03T10:50:00.000-07:00

So Christmas in the Gleed house was pretty empty... just Mitch, Mom, and Dad, but by Sunday there were two more. Susan and I decided to leave our husbands and come home for a quick family/sunshine fix around New Years. Although it was a hard 9 days without Andrew, I enjoyed just the chill feeling of the islands and the year-round sunny weather. Here are some pics of us kayaking, paddle-boarding, snorkeling, and jet-skiing!

Washington Winter Wonderland

2007-12-23T23:49:00.000-07:00

On Thursday the 20th we flew into Seattle to spend Christmas with the Skeens. We packed up that night and left on Friday to stay the weekend at a cabin in the mountains of beautiful Mazama, WA (close to Winthrop). There was about 3 feet of snow when we got there and it snowed about 8 inches each day. We had fun snowshoeing, watching movies, and even cross-country skiing. So pretty!

24... whew!

2007-12-23T23:45:00.000-07:00

So... Rachie's 24. We spent the weekend eating cake, you know how that goes. On Friday Andrew and I went to Salt Lake to check out the new Cheesecake Factory and to go see the Christmas lights at Temple Square. On Saturday we spent some time with Grandpa with some family and then on Sunday we had a birthday dinner with Kristen, Kevin, Jenni and Mitchell. Feeling old, but nice to feel the love in Provo. (Check out those candles!)

Our Christmas Tree

2007-12-23T23:32:00.000-07:00

So in my family it has either been a bushy fir tree or a fake one with lots of branches. In Andrew's family, they preferred the look of the noble fir. We decided that it only be appropriate for our first Christmas to buy the Charlie Brown tree and to decorate it with popcorn and cranberries. We think it's pretty dang cute. What do you think?

Season's Adventures

2007-12-23T22:58:00.000-07:00

The first few weeks of December in Utah provided ample snow. I had my first snow shoveling experience!

Gamers?

2007-12-01T21:01:00.000-07:00

Since Mitchell came to Utah he has created a new influence in Andrew and my life. It is called X-Box. Since Mitch doesn't have a TV in his dorm room, he has chosen us to babysit his toy. I was a little concerned at first when I came home one day and Andrew had the door locked and he was sitting in front of the TV, kneeling with the controller in his hands, barely looking up at me, but after beating Halo with Mitchell he has settled down. Every once in a while he gets me to play Madden football with him. Here's a funny pic from this morning.

December 1st = First Snow

2007-12-01T20:36:00.000-07:00

We knew it would be snowing soon, but only time would say when. This morning I snuck out of bed and peeked outside through the blinds and the only color I could see was white. I called Andrew out and he said... "Go play Rachie!" I said ok and I just jumped around for a little bit. As much as I hate the cold, I have to say I have always been excited when it first snows.

Frosted Grass, Sleeping Bags and Meteor Showers

2007-11-25T23:36:00.001-07:00

For my astronomy class that I am taking this semester I am required to do several observing projects which I have to do on my own time. Last weekend I found out that there was going to be a meteor shower and decided that that would be easy and fun thing to do with Andrew. We slept from 1-2:30 a.m. on Sunday morning and got bundled up with sweaters, thick socks, jackets, beanies, whatever it would take, and luckily Andrew thought to bring our sleeping bags. We filled the car up with gas and drove up Provo Canyon to find a dark spot to watch. It was 3:30 when we got to Vivian Park. The grass was frozen and it was very cold. We laid out two blankets and then got in our sleeping bags and zipped them up around our heads and looked skyward. The assignment said that we needed to observe for two hours. Within the first 5 minutes Andrew and I saw the first meteor and we saw about 11 each within the first hour. We got through at about 5:30 in the morning and I was needless to say, very frozen, but it made for a fun, adventure. We have done our best to reenact the situation in this picture.

First Camping Trip

2007-11-25T23:23:00.000-07:00

This was a spontaneous camping trip we had at the end of the summer. We left like at 9:00 at night and really didn't know exactly where we were until the morning. These are some pics of what we saw in the morning. We had hotdogs and s'mores for dinner, and toasted english muffins and oranges for breakfast. Andrew was very prepared and he even brought his water tablets, just in case.

Food Fight

2007-11-25T23:14:00.000-07:00

I have always wanted to be in a food fight... you know the amazing food fight on the Peter Pan movie "Hook" with Rufio and the gang, but I surely wasn't expecting the banana cream pie I made to be plastered all over my face. Andrew started it, but I am pretty sure I won. What do you think?

Wedding Day

2007-10-17T22:11:00.000-06:00

We done and got married! August 18, 2007 at 1pm in the Mt. Timpanogos Temple, American Fork, UT.