Monday, December 31, 2007

i LOVE this time of year!

WOW!! I hope everyone had as much fun on their Christmas break as we did! I haven't had time to even look at the computer for the past week, we have been having to much FUN!! We were lucky enough to have all of my siblings here in AZ. this year to celebrate Christmas. Counting my siblings (and spouses) and their children, there is a total of 48 of us plus two that are on missions, and one on the way! Talk about a house full, lucky enough we were all spread out between 5 homes. There has been a grand activity every single day! Sometimes two in one day. Kaden had tons of FUN with all his cousins, and so did I. As it seems, I rarely saw or heard him because he was always to busy following someone else around instead of me! I especially love it when Mark gets to stay home and PLAY to! Seriously I LOVE this time of year when we get to spend time with our family and most importantly get to celebrate the birth of our Savior Jesus Christ. I love him, and it is a huge blessing to me to be able to be on the earth at this time, and in this place, with an amazing family!

From candy making, to caroling, quad riding, zip-line, bird hunting, shopping, hiking, paint ball, clay pigeon shooting, service projects, volley ball, and everything in between!! There are to many details, and I wasn't so good with picture taking (because I was busy playing), so I will just share a few pic's of some of the activities! I Love my FAMILY!! We have so much fun together. Thank you MOM and DAD for having so many kids, and then putting up with all of us!
Christmas Candy!
Christmas play



Family quad trip!

Yes, that is a sling shot.


Wow Mom, That's HOT!Kaden doing what he does best.
This was probably the highlight of the holiday for me. A home maid ZIP-LINE! Probably because this is one thing we don't do often. Mark is so stinkin creative, I love it!!








Skousen family dinner. We had to reserve the church to hold the crowd! This is not everyone, but you get the feel. We also had a few games of some serious volley ball. To bad I don't have any pic's. It was quite the sight!


Bird hunting. Great face Mark!

Wednesday, December 19, 2007

Gingerbread anyone?

On Monday, Tiffany and Jason invited us to their house for dinner. Jason made some killer lasagna, and we had all the yummy sides to go with it. Also, we finally had the opportunity to do a gingerbread house!! Because Christmas is just not the same without a half eaten gingerbread man and his house. Kaden had a great time playing with his cousins, and mostly enjoyed the fact that the table was covered with all kinds of sticky, yummy, sugary, stuff, that I could not keep his hands or mouth off of!


YUMMY
the finished product!


Thanks for the good time Tiff and Jason! We had fun!



Tuesday, December 11, 2007

Good Times!


The annual Brohem Christmas Party was held this weekend at Aaron and Michelle's house. It was really fun. Good food, good friends, games, lot's of kids, and lots of laughs. Mostly coming from the wheel chair game, (Good idea Aaron Mark really loved that game!) and the maxipad slippers for a gag gift! I wish I had a picture of that. Mark and I have been blessed with some awesome friends! Big THANK YOU to Michelle and Aaron for hosting. You guys Rock!!

Monday, December 10, 2007

New member of the family?

It's NOT what you are thinking. We are not pregnant yet! We have just decided to upgrade a member of the family. You see, when you have so much FUN with something, and memories GOOD and BAD are made with this something, you develope a relationship, and they become like part of the FAMILY. As much as we love the warrior, he had to go. We have put WAY to many hours on him, and he always needs to have his OWIES (sp?)fixed. Poor guy, we will miss him! So, we are trying something new! From 4 wheels to 2!! We still have the 450 quad so we can RIDE as a family, but Mark will be riding solo for a while (or the next few rides anyways) till he can get a hang of the NEW GUY! His name is YZ450F! Translation, dirt bike with quad engine. Mark promises he is very safe and will always wear protection. Right MARK!
By by Warrior. Kaden and I love this toy!

Hello new friend!

Wednesday, December 5, 2007

OuR TrEe!!

We waited till Sunday to decorate our tree, we had a good time! We did it while Kaden was sleeping so he wouldn't think he could touch anything, that's why he is not in any of the pics. One of the reasons I love Mark is because he is so handy, and creative, and he makes everything fun. That's why he prefers "stilts" to help decorate the tree!! For some reason I can't turn these pic's. So turn your head!
Here is the finished project. I waited till now so I could post the tree skirt that my awesome Mom and my awesome Cousin and friend Leila and I made. I wont go into details, but for some reason, probably because I am NOT an avid sewer, and because I have no confidence when it comes to sewing, and we did not have a pattern, this was really hard. Big THX for all the help!! And we moved the tree into the other room, after it was decorated. That was awesome!

Tuesday, December 4, 2007

HAPPY B-DAY !!

I am REALLY bad at remembering dates. Today though is a special day for 2 special people who mean so much to me.
FIRST: Happy Birthday to my DAD!! I love you so much! Thank you for all you have done for me. You are such a good example and mentor to me. There are so many things I admire about you and hope to be able to emulate, that the list could go on forever. ONE of the things that I admire is how incredible you can make other people feel. You always know how to make other people feel welcome and very comfortable, and you accept people for who they are. Thank you for that. I LOVE YOU!! This picture is from when we were camping for our fam. reunion a couple yrs ago.
SECOND: MARANDA!! My bestest friend. I luv U girl. When I think of all the memories we have together, I could laugh forever. I traveled so much with you guys. We spent a lot of time together. So, I just want to tell you thank you for being the best friend every one wishes they had, and I still do. I could go on forever about you to, but Kaden is waking up. You were everything in a friend that I needed, and that is a lot. Thank you for always being there. I Love You!!

Sunday, December 2, 2007

Rain + Dirt field = Mud + Quads = FUN!!

While Mark was working Saturday, and the weather was amazing, I needed something to do. (I love rain) Kaden and I were just dying to get out and enjoy the rain, and it's hard for me to pass up begin outside when the weather is so nice and cool. I just don't like to do things alone. So, just as Matt and Candee and I and our children are getting ready to go "chase the rain", and take the dogs for a run, my mom and dad show up. OH yeah!! DAD + RAIN + MUD + QUAD =FUN!! Here are the pics, it was a good time!

Friday, November 30, 2007

WET YOUR SELF FUNNY!!!

Oh my goodness, I seriously almost wet myself when I saw my friend's elfamorfasis. Ok, so if its not that funny to you, I must be in a really silly mood. THX KETA!!! Click on the link below and get ready to laugh! Watch out, Mark can really move!!! You should have your speakers on its part of the experience!
http://www.elfyourself.com/?id=1122793795

Tuesday, November 27, 2007

Most wonderful time!


The TRADITION is still going!! Every year growing up we would go up North to cut our Christmas tree (except a couple random years). I am happy to say that that tradition is still going strong. Luckily Mark has agreed and put up with the traveling, so we have adopted this fun activity into our family. My fam. still goes, so it's a big caravan to Young where we cut our tree's, then build a fire, lunch, then it's off for the hunt!!


Mark building the fire for hot chocolate.
The kids admiring his work,they did collect the wood after all.How many monkey's in that tree?

Mark cutting down my parents tree. They found a great tree!The boy's The girls
My stick bug friend that found me!
So I didn't get a pic. of eveybodys tree's but, there was a total of 5 trees we cut down. They were all awesome , It was a good time.

Monday, November 26, 2007

Thanksgiving!!

We had the opportunity to celebrate Thanksgiving with both of our family's this year. We started off with my family "the Skousen's" with an early feast at 12:00 at my sisters house. We had a lot of fun, lot's of food, and a lot of company. It actually wasn't nearly as big as our usual Skousen Thanksgiving which is normally 60-80 people, but we deemed this year to be the in-law's year. Anyways, it was just my parents, siblings and nephews and nieces that live here in AZ. this year. We had so much fun, BIG THANKS to my sis. Sandy for hosting the fun! By the way, among other things, I did make my first batch of candied yams, and coconut and banana cream pie. I wish I got a pic. but I didn't want the liability in case they turned out disgusting. After I found out they were delish. they got snatched up before I could get to my camera!




We left there to head to the Johnson's feast at 3:30 and tried to stuff our selves more by 4:00. I left my camera at my sister's house and I did not get any pictures of the Johnson's, but It was just as delicious, and we had great company! We also got to take the kids to the park by Mark's parents house.We attempted to fly electric airplanes, but it was to windy. The kids had a great time riding there little tricycles, swinging, and playing on the toys.

Thursday, November 15, 2007

I am THANKFUL for...

FrIEnDs: Where would I be with out good friends and influences in my life? I would rather not think about it. I have been so blessed to have good people surround me, helping me make good choices. Especially in my younger years when I wasn't so head strong about choosing the right. Good friends are so important to me. I can only hope and pray that my children have as good of friends as I do, to help strengthen them, and help them stay on the straight and narrow in these last day's!
gOoD FooD: I grew up with amazing cook's in our house. So I really appreciate delicious food. I'm not a very picky, but when I enjoy something you'll usually know.
BeiNG a MoThEr:It is a pleasure and an amazing opportunity to be a stay at home Mom!! I get to spend all day with a wonderful child who not to long ago was with our Heavenly Father. Even though it's been over a year I still feel that special spirit that so frequently comforts our little ones. Besides that, if I can do as half of a good job that the "Mothers" in my life have done, and I get the same title of Mom that they have, that makes me feel special!
MARK: Thank goodness for a husband who makes being a stay at home Mom possible. I LOVE Mark and am so thankful for all he does for our family. As the main provider and protector of our family, he does an amazing job!! I could go on forever about this MAN that I love, but I dont want to make you to blush with the details!! HAHAHA
ThE ChURcH: WOW, I am so grateful for my knowledge of the gospel and to be a member of our church. I could go forever with a list of things that fall under this category. ie: the priesthood, Temple Ordinance's, covenants, promises, eternal family's, all the help that we have access to, the blessing of the Holy Ghost. I could continue to go on, but you all know! And if you don't, ask me!
BeInG tHe niNtH CHiLd: I am so grateful for my older siblings! You see, I get the opportunity to learn from their mistakes and their accomplishments! I learned not by my own trials, but those older then me. I watched listened and learned very quickly what buttons I could and could not push! It has been so fun for me to be the the baby girl of the family. I have learned so much and continue to do so from my brothers and sisters. So watch out you guys I'm always taking note!!
CoOl wEAthEr:I am thankful it's finally cooling down! I love to be outside and that is hard when it's so stinkin hot out side.

So there you have it. In a very random order some of the things I am thankful for. I could go on forever because we as a family are truly blessed. I hope every one has a fantastic Thanksgiving,and lots of delicious food!!

Wednesday, November 14, 2007

Tagged - 6 Random Things!

1. I have issues with letting anyone besides family babysit Kaden. I really got to get over that because there are some really great girls in my ward that ask to do it all the time. The weird thing is, it's not because I don't trust them, it's because I think they will be board at my house. Then if I have two girls come so they wont be board, they will ignore Kaden. It's probably not true, but that is what my mind thinks.
2. I love vegetables! Sauteed, roasted, steamed, fresh, I don't care, I just love them.
3. I love the smell of fresh cut grass! Weird, I know. I think it's because the smell takes me back to my childhood, before I had to start mowing for a chore. You know the good ol days of playing tag, running and sliding and turning your feet and knees green because it's still juicy from the cut:) That's why I do the mowing, and Mark does the trimming.
4. I love my church calling. (Activity Days for the 9-10yr. old girls)You can't beat a calling that you only have to do every 2 weeks, and the girls don't care what the activity is, they make their own fun!
5.My fav. season is fall. To bad we don't really get a beautiful fall here in the valley. I had to go to UT. so I could get a bunch of leaves turning color, I put them in a vase, just so I could have the feel and color of fall in our home.
6. My favorite activity to do (besides spend time with my hubby)is ride quads. I like the adrenaline rush I sometimes get when things get crazy!