Family Pictures 2012

 *Warning* lots of pictures to follow! I wanted to share with you some of the wonderful pictures we got when we went to do family pictures the week before I left for Girl's Camp. It was Robert's idea to try doing pictures in the potato fields when they are in bloom. If you look close, the blooms are actually a light purple. They were beautiful!! And so everyone knows, the other location was just across the dirt road and is barley, not wheat. Hope you enjoy them as much as we did! These were taken by a lady in our ward and she did a fabulous job - sooo happy!! P.S. I don't know why, but these didn't upload super well, but they were in focus and great shots!

Here's the Scoop

So, it's been a crazy two weeks. But I will do my best to review everything and if I forget something then forgive me :) So after my little sister and her family left, we just hung out waiting for the storm of people and craziness to come. We had a soccer game or two and I was getting really oriented with things in YW (stake training, presidency mtgs, and major drama keeping me out until 11pm two nights). Then Robert's sister, Lisa, and her family came for a visit. They joined us for church and for the monthly family dinner on Sunday at Robert's aunt's house in IF. Monday we just kinda hung out and chatted and I finally learned how to make ribbon roses (now I just need to go make a hundred or so in order to get it down pat). Then the craziness came. I left for Girl's Camp early Tuesday morning (Eric and Lisa were still visiting until Wednesday morning and then we had Robert's cousin and her family come Wednesday to Friday).
Unfortunately my camera decided to go nuts, so I only have a couple pictures from the first day and that is it!

 Day 1: we drove to Lava Hot Springs where we proceeded to float the "calmest and shortest" section of the river. Ended up losing several girls off the tubes and having to be rescued. There were many scrapes, bumps,  and bruises. But all in all it was a blast! Then we finished the drive to our campsite and we set up the tents and then had the 8th Ward traditional spaghetti dinner that you eat without utensils. That is what all the pictures are from. We also went on a hike after dark, which was pretty cool.

This girl's dad smashed her face into her plate and she had quite a good time playing it up!
Day 2: Everyone got to enjoy the big 5 mile hike. We drove to some ice caves and then hiked all the way back to camp. It was a beautiful day and the hike wasn't too bad. At the end, though, we were faced with the choice to go up, over, and down a big hill or continue down the road we were on, but go an extra 2 miles. Many of us chose the hill, but it was tough and left many of us sore the next day. The afternoon we spent playing games, chatting, and finally got around to doing camp certification. That night we split the girls into three groups and had them come up with skits using items they were given in a bag. It was quite funny to see what came together and us leaders did one as well reviewing some of the highlights of camp up to that point.
Day 3: the fun day! We went and did the tour at the Minetonka (?) Caves. It was quite chilly and there were lots of cool things to see. Probably the biggest cave I have ever been in. There were 444 stairs in and we walked all of those back out, too. Talk about your workout! At the end, they turned out all of the lights and had the girls (well, I guess us leaders, too) walk a little ways out holding on to the railing, comparing it to holding on to the iron rod. Very cool! Then straight from the caves, we headed over to Bear Lake for three or four hours of water fun. It was great! Some of us washed our hair (or even went as far as to shave legs) and we buried people on the beach. One leader brought a parachute to play with in the water. It was a great time had by all. Then we came back and had yummy dutch oven pizza dinner made for us by the bishopric. We enjoyed some messages from the bishopric and then after dark we had our testimony meeting.
Day 4: We packed up and went home! I was so happy to go to camp, but also VERY happy to see my kids and husband again. It was a hard thing for me to leave them. But we all survived! I now have a very large appreciation for flushing toilets and my own bed.

But coming home from camp wasn't the end of our adventure. Four hours later we were packed up and headed out for Utah. My sister was going through the temple for the first time and all of us were able to be there for her special day. It was awesome! I had never been to the Bountiful Temple and just like all temples, it was beautiful in its own way. We enjoyed time talking with my family and some bowling. We went to sacrament meeting, then packed up and headed home with two extra kids and a new vehicle. I had offered to my parents to have my two younger brothers come stay with us for a week. So this week we are enjoying extra playmates and a luxury minivan to haul four kiddos around in. I'm still fairly certain I don't want one, though! :)
So that's it! I believe we are all caught up on what's been happening around here at the Skousen home. Hope your summers are going great! Sam is almost done with soccer (and even scored a goal in his game last night!) and then we begin swimming lessons for him and for me and Amy!

Still Alive - Barely

Sorry to not post for so long! Things have been crazy with family visiting, Girl's Camp, and a trip down to Utah right after. We are home now for at least a week, so hopefully I will find the time to blog all about our adventures soon. Just know that family visits were wonderful and Girl's Camp was so much fun, even if we did almost die a few times :) Happy Sunday, everyone!

Celebrating the Fourth - Skousen Style

 So we begin with a dessert and end with a dessert because that's just how we roll around here. On Tuesday, I had Sam help me make these patriotic treats in prep for the holiday. He had a ton of fun helping me. I love finding an excuse to go a little above and beyond the normal to try something fun like this.

 Then Tuesday night I went to YW where we did patriotic pedicures. Fun, huh? Yeah, well, one thing I am quickly finding being a leader is that it is not always quite as fun for the leaders as it is for the girls. I spend an hour and a half painting red, white, blue, stripes, stars, etc. And ended up without anything on my nails. Robert went to stake out our spot for the IF fireworks and my sister and her family were on their way to our house, so I started to paint my own nails and ended up spending way too much time on them. But it was kind of fun to do something unique, too. I have to admit I still want to try glitter nails, but maybe soon.

 Here is the bow-to-stern picture requested after posting about our first fishing adventure on our $150 fishing boat. Now we have new stories to add! Thanks to a wonderful family friend who was willing to leave her family for the morning/afternoon and come watch the babies (Amy and Thomas) so that we could take this baby out to float the North Fork of the Snake River! It was awesome, let me tell you!!

 We started our trip off with losing half of one of the minnow traps (of course half of the new one, not from the crappy one we've "found"). Then we set off. The fishing was AMAZING!! Everyone had at least one catch for the day, my little sister April catching the monster brown trout (which she is pointing out for you in the above photo). The river was a little sketchy in places, but that is where a flat-bottomed boat really comes in handy :) After making it over the sketchy parts with Robert trying to take John's head off once and breaking the top off my fishing pole and losing another, we hit a spot where we just weren't moving. Crap. So we spent the last two hours of the trip trading off rowing and all getting roasted (me especially). We finally made it to the car at the end of the run and headed home to clean the fish and start prepping for the rest of the night's activities. (Side note: we have decided that we don't want to float the river again until we have a motor on the boat for that end part)

 We had an all-out cook out for dinner with my sister's family and some family friends. It was great food and great company! I decided to make this patriotic flag cake again in honor of the holiday (I had made it when we were at another sister's house two years ago for a family reunion)

 Pictures of the cut into the cake. Super fun and fabulously delicious, especially with homemade ice cream to go along with it!

After dinner and dessert we headed to our staked out spot in Idaho Falls for the famous fireworks show. Our family friends are from Arizona and have never seen these fireworks, so we were excited to see if they would be impressed or not. Robert told me they were quite amazed. I, unfortunately, was unable to stick around and see their reaction because Amy (who was so overly tired from having only one very short nap all day) was extremely scared by the fireworks and wouldn't calm down until I took her back to the car and buckled her in her carseat with me singing to her to muffle the sounds of the fireworks. She was intrigued by the colors, but I think the noise was too much for her. I was able to watch out the back window of the car, though. The Idaho Falls fireworks are simply amazing. If you ever get a chance to come see them, they are worth it, truly! Even if it does take an hour to get out, it is worth it for the 30 minutes of continuous, huge, amazing, beautiful fireworks! Hope your fourth was enjoyable and now I am going to go finish enjoying my sister and her family while they are still here!

Finally Walking!!

I cannot believe it, but we have finally reached the walking stage with Amy (and in case you are wondering, we are one week away from 14 months)!! Oh happy day!! And sad day, too, as I am sure I will find out soon enough. But right now we are enjoying it. It just makes my day to watch this little girl toddle around, stepping hard on the first foot and then the second following quickly after. She still loves to crawl, but with some encouragement, she will stand up and walk around (as you will see me doing in the video with the sippy cup) Enjoy!