23 YEARS OF BEING MARRIED TO MY BEST FRIEND!!!!!!



December 30, 1987 Heber Reception





Taken a couple of years ago. Guess we need to get a new one:)





Yesterday, Dave and I celebrated out 23rd Anniversary!! It is so hard to believe that much time has gone by already! I am so blessed to have Dave in my life and have him as the father of our children:)

He took me to the Valley Sunday night to the Xona Resort in Scottsdale. It was a nice room, a little small, but cozy. We took Summer down with us so that she could catch her flight out on Monday. That was a little hard to let her go, I guess because she is pregnant and I feel my motherly instincts kick in to want to be with her during this special time. But we did let her go, then we spent the next couple of days just going to malls or seeing movies, dining out and just spending some good quality time together!! We left the other kids at home by themselves and they did great! Not one call about fighting or arguing, even though I know they did a lot of it. The house was semi-clean and still standing so I was so grateful for that:)

On the way back home, we left Wednesday at noon from Mesa, by the time we got to Payson the roads were starting to get really bad from the snowstorm that moved into AZ. We decided to go on and try to get up the rim. Dave had to be to work the next day at 6:00am., so we had to get home. Well half way up the biggest curve and bridge on the rim, my car couldn't make it any further. We slid back a little toward the guardrail and stopped! Dave tried to get going but the tires kept spinning. Finally we called my nephew, who has a 4x4 and had him start coming to help. About 10 min. of being stuck we had a Highway Patrol Officer stop and said that he would turn us back towards Payson, but wouldn't help us go the other way. Dave told him he had to be to work and we had help coming, so he left us. Dave kept trying to get us unstuck and each time there was a gap in the traffic we would slide backwards trying to get some leverage. About 20 min. later a snowplow came by and put a bunch of cinders right by our car!!!!! I was never so glad to see a snowplow!!! Dave was able to get back on the road, we called our nephew, who hadn't left yet, that we were out and ok. Up the road a ways we came on to a rollover accident, which would have stalled our nephew anyways. So all in all we had a pretty fun/scary trip.

I love you Dave and can't wait to see what the next 23 years will bring:)

CHRISTMAS WITH IPAD, CELL PHONES ETC.

North Point's iBand from North Point Web on Vimeo.

  Thought this was really neat!!

SNOW

Out my front window

I love the snow, just not the cold!!! It is so pretty right now. We left for church with clear roads and lots of wind. After church it was a blowing blizzard, I couldn't hardly see the road because of the fog. I did make it safely and now am watching it come down and blanket my yard!!! Kids are hoping for a snow day, don't think it will happen though.

MY GRANDBABY!!!!!!!



The baby is upside down. You can see the arm and hands!

 

The left side is the heart rate and the right side is the baby

  Here is the first picture of Summers baby!!  They said everything looks great and she is 11 weeks. She was able to hear the heartbeat today too!  Can't wait for the end of May or beginning of June:)

A HEART FULL OF THANKS AND BLESSINGS

Yesterday we had a special Stake Conference that was broadcast from Salt Lake. It was for the whole state of Arizona! What an amazing 2 hours!! We heard a talk on how we need to be thankful and to express our thankfulness. So I decided to put some things down that I'm grateful for and it may be long winded but I want to have it for my blog book. So if you get bored, sorry, you can scroll down to other sites or just click out :}
My first thing I'm grateful for is the knowledge I have that there is a Heavenly Father that knows ME and loves ME! It is so awesome to think that with all the people in the world, He knows each and everyone of us!! I know I  have a long ways to go to be a "perfect" person, but having the gospel in my life helps me to know that as long as I try to do those things that are right I can make it back to him someday.
 I'm very grateful for Jesus Christ and for his atonement that I can repent of my daily sins. I'm also so blessed to have the gift of the Holy Ghost in my life. I've had some pretty neat experiences by listening and some experiences I wish I would have been more in tune. I'm so grateful to be a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints!!!!!
I'm so very grateful for the Book of Mormon and the other books of scriptures. How blessed we are to have the words of prophets of long ago! I'm so grateful to have a living prophet today to lead and guide us.
I'm so thankful to a selfless, amazing, loving, kind and beautiful Birth Mom, Shawn. If it wasn't for her I wouldn't be where I am today. I know she never wanted to give me up, but by doing this she gave me to the best parents I could have ever asked for. I have been so blessed to have found Shawn and my three sisters. They are so amazing and fantastic! I can't put into words how much they mean to me. Shawn , you are an angel, you have been so great to my family and we LOVE you!!!
Mom, dad, Lance, Kristal, and Kandra, I LOVE YOU ALL!!! You have always been there to support me in whatever I am doing, even when it might have been a little on the blond side. I couldn't have asked for a better family to be adopted into. I get so much strength from all of you.
I have much to be grateful for in my children. Summer, we love you and are excited to be grandparents! We will love this precious spirit that Heavenly Father has sent to us. You will always have a home to come to . We know the future will be hard for you and Tarik, but with prayer and guidance, you can do it!!!
Autumn, you are such a sweet girl and you have such a loving heart. Whatever you decide to do in life we will help you achieve it! Always stay close to the church and you will have happiness:)
Skyler, you are such an amazing young man, we don't know what the future holds for you either, but you have been chosen to do some awesome things! You are such a great example to your brothers and your friends. Always stay close to the Lord and you can get through anything:)
Hunter, you also have a very tender heart and so sensitive to peoples needs. People love to be around your fun sense of humor. You have always known when I have been a little down and always try to cheer me up!
Clay, being the youngest you have put up a lot with your siblings. I still don't know where you came from with all your smartness, sure didn't get it from me! You keep us on our toes with all of your wit and wisdom.
Now to my eternal companion, David, I LOVE you so much!!! Ever since June 6, 1987, I have been so lucky to have you in my life. You have such a great spirit about you all the time. Thank you for choosing me as your bride and treating me as your queen.  I'm so grateful that you hold the priesthood in our home, it brings such a peace to our family.
As you can see I'm truly blessed to have the life I have. At this Thanksgiving season, I hope all of you can see the blessings in your life.

HALLOWEEN!!!!!

Autumn and Emmi ( best friends)
Pirate and Red Riding Hood




Clay as Jason from Friday the 13th

 

Hunter -- The Gangster that got in a brawl

The kids had a really fun time Saturday. Its kind of sad that they are all growing up and going with friends instead of us driving them around. Skyler didn't dress up, he had to go with the Police Explorers to help with the community Trunk or Treat.  It was a just Clay left with us so we took him to the trunk or treat and then he came home and went to a few homes around our neighborhood.
In other news, the Primary Program was AMAZING!!!!! I don't know if there was a dry eye in the congregation. The children sang their hearts out and did their speaking parts! I had a few children that didn't show up but it still ended on time. Bishop Lindsey spoke at the end and it could not have been more perfect! He restated some of the childrens parts and reread a song that we sang.  It was such a spiritual high for me :) For doing such a fantastic job, we made rice crispy treats for them and watched a movie! Needless to say they were so excited !
I love these precious children, they have such a special spirit about them. I'm so honored to be their Primary President!!!!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY SUMMER!!!

Summer's fun picture in Tucson

I can't believe Summer is 22 today! I'm officially OLD, but at least i still think I'm young:) I wish you lived closer to us so we could celebrate, but we will get to Las Vegas as soon as we can! We love you girl:)

NEW CALLING AND GRANDPARENTS??!!!

Well I've known about my new calling for 2 weeks now but since General Conference I couldn't say anything. I have been very humbled, overwhelmed, flabbergasted, shocked, and terrified over these last 2 weeks. What? You want to know what it is?? ( Drum Roll) PRIMARY PRESIDENT!!!! What the heck were they thinking? Actually the week before GC  as I was sitting in Sacrament Meeting and they were releasing the presiding primary president to put her in as Stake YW President, the thought came to me--This is why.
I knew immediately that I was going to be the next president. I was put in as the Sunbeam teacher to get used to primary again. What a rotten trick!! Seriously though, I am very excited for this extreme challenge:) I have the most awesome councilors and secretary that I will depend on immensely, so I hope they are also up to the challenge. My first councilor is Sandi Brimhall, second is Amber Novak and my secretary is Stephanie Platt. I was truly inspired to have these amazing women. Sandi was actually the one I really tried to replace, she had just gotten released as primary president not more that a year ago!! I am so glad that she did accept the call though:)   I have never had such spiritual experiences in my life as I have had these last 2 weeks. I do love the children that will be in trusted in my care, and will miss teaching the Sunbeams, but I still get to see them every Sunday:) However, I am being put in 3 weeks before the primary program. UGH!!! At least the last president wrote and distributed all the parts to the program. All I have to do is direct it, which by the way, I have no idea how to. So we will be winging it big time!
As some of you know, our daughter Summer has been living in Las Vegas with her boyfriend now for about 20 months. Well she just informed us that we will be grandparents around the month of May! We have very mixed emotions right now, but our number one priority is the health  of the baby and Summer. We are excited to have this special miracle come into our lives, but also know that it will be a struggle for Summer and Tarik. We love our daughter and will be there to support her every step of the way:) She is feeling pretty good so far, so hopefully she got my genes for not getting sick till the last month! It is pretty weird thinking of ourselves as grandparents but what a neat new chapter we are beginning:)

FAMILY PICTURE

Well I finally got one of our pictures to fit on the blog!! 'Course now it is outdated because Lance and Shannon just had their 5 child and 2nd boy!!! They had a scare and raced Shannon to have an emergency c-section. The baby was born healthy and is 7' 9 oz. and 21" long!!! His name is Porter Dallin Greer and he sure looks like a Greer so far:) Congratulations Lance, Shannon, and family! Can't wait to see him in November!!

ANOTHER BELATED BIRTHDAY WISH

My red headed, athletic, funny, sexy ( his words, not mine), awesome boy turned 14 while we were in the Valley meeting Shawn and Amber. He just got his interview with Bishop Lindsey so he will be ordained aTeacher 2 weeks from yesterday. We would have done it next Sunday, but our stake is having a special Stake Conference with Elder Richard G. Scott! We aren't sure why he is coming to our area but we are so excited:) We are so proud of our boys for their advancement in the priesthood and their willingness to do what's right!

My GQ boy

PICTURES

<><>

<>

<><>

Seeing each other for the first time:)

MEETING DAY

I thought it would be nice if I told my feelings on meeting Shawn. This has been a wish of mine for many years! When I was walking down the hall I couldn't believe I would turn the corner and see Shawn and Amber. That first hug was amazing, so many emotions came out and I did cry! Shawn is so amazing, I can't believe how much we do look alike. We do have the same laugh lines, crinkle in our nose when we smile and some of our expressions are the same!
We hung out for awhile and looked at pictures, I could tell it was a little difficult for Shawn to see the baby pictures, but she said that I did look like the 3 girls as babies. My dad took us to the Cheese Cake Factory. It was yummy, and we had such a nice visit. I couldn't stop staring at Shawn and Amber. I never really looked like any of my family and so it was so neat to see who I look like:) After the dinner we went back to the hotel and talked awhile longer. It was such an emotional few hours that we all decided to call it a night.

Sunday Shawn's BFF was in town so they spent the day with her and her family. It was really okay with me, I think I needed some time to process things. Monday we went out to lunch, I didn't realize we were there for 3 hrs! I felt I took a lot of the time in talking, but they were asking questions and I tried to explain the best I could about church, my growing up, school, dating, and any other questions they could think of!  We then went back to Shawn's hotel, she gave me a Willow Tree statue of a mom and daughter hugging, a picture of herself when she was 8 months pregnant with me and a DVD of her, the girls and their families. These were all special gifts that I will treasure always!!!!! We then went to the Sugar Bowl and had ice cream. It was really good and we had a lot of laughs there. We ended the night by talking in their hotel room for about an hour. I didn't want it to end but the kids were tired and Shawn and Amber's flight was early in the morning. So we hugged and said our goodbyes until next time:) I am so blessed to have Shawn and the girls in my life, they are amazing women and I can't wait to get to know them even more!!! My kids are blessed to have another Nana, and 3 more aunts. Shawn is such a good Nana to all of her grandkids and now to have 5 more to get to love is something wonderful!
I have been trying to download some pictures that my kids and Dave took, but its not working out how I wanted it to. So I will just put the pictures in and hope it looks good.

MY NEW FAMILY!!!!

Well I was going to post everything about this past weekend, but Shawn beat me to it. I told her I was going to direct everyone to her blog, and she said that would be okay. Everything she posted about, I was going to post the same thing! So go to http://www.coloradobeckers.blogspot.com/ and you will see all the exciting adventures Shawn, Amber and my family had this past weekend. Shawn did go to her bff house on Sunday, I was so glad she was able to go to the bbq. Friendships are so important!!

FRIDAY IS HERE AT LAST!!!!!

Friday is finally here, and we are heading to the Valley to meet Shawn and Amber! I can't believe it's here. I am having butterflies, my heart is racing and beating so fast right now. I know this is going to be a forever friendship and love for my new family. I am so grateful for this chance to get to know them:) This has really been a dream come true. I don't have to look at every blond woman in the malls anymore! I will finally be face to face with my birth mom. No more wondering who I look like, I am so glad of this! I will be posting when I get back. Love you all:)

FREE GIFT!!!

http://www.canvaspeople.com/freegift   I just got this from my sister, Kristal, it is so cool. I actually got a bigger size so paid a little more, just pay S&H. Really easy to do!!!

CLAYS ARROW OF LIGHT

<>

<><>

Clay walking over the bridge from Cub Scouts to Boy Scouts

   Tonight was Clays last Cub Scout pack meeting. This is 2 fold for me, I'm glad its our last one, but I'm sad its our last one. This means that my little boy is growing up:(  His leader had me list the Scout Oath characteristics and have his family say something that he protrays in that character. They were: Trustworthy, Loyal, Helpful, Friendly, Courteous, Kind, Obedient, Thrifty, Cheerful, Brave, Clean, and Reverent. With every word he tied a ribbon to his Arrow of Light stand.  It was really nice how it turned out! He has had the best leaders through out his Cub Scout career! Thank you to everyone who has touched his life in one way or the other, we love you dearly!
    The first picture is blurry, but this is his new Boy Scout leader, Bro. Webb. The second one is Clay and his Arrow of Light stand.

THE FINAL COUNTDOWN!!

As of this writing, there is 6 days and 15 hours left till I meet Shawn and Amber!! I can't tell you how slow this week has gone by. Now just one more week to go, I sure hope it goes by faster. I do have things that will keep me busy, 2  game  nights to do tickets for and Clay gets his Arrow of Light at Pack Meeting on Tuesday. Hunter has a home football game on Thursday and we meet Kandra that night to pick Summer up too. I do think this week is going to fly by now that I've mentioned everything I have to do.
I'm so proud of myself, I actually scrap booked my wedding pictures! I had them in a really nice album but after 22+ years, it fell apart. So I called my awesome, talented, amazing, always there for me, crafty friend, Sandi to help me out. It literally took all day yesterday to complete it, but it looks great! Hugo thanks to you, Sandi :) It will be so neat to show the book to Shawn and Amber.
I'm still having a hard time thinking of something really special to give them, but I know just seeing them and actually touching them, will be a huge gift to both of us:)
In other news, Skyler is finally free of the intense pain he has been suffering with since May 19!!! His eye is not quite so red, he still wears his sunglasses, but we will do that over heavy drugs any day!!  
Until next time bloggers........

MY BOY IS A PRIEST/13 MORE DAYS!!!!!!!!

Skyler--his GQ pose/ Spencer Boerup Photography

I can't believe I forgot to post Skylers happy birthday post!! UGH -- Well he turned 16 on August 18. Its so weird to have a 16 yr old boy now. Even though he is 6'8" he is still my little boy, course he towers over me and loves to show that by putting his arm around me so that I have to look UP to him! He was ordained a priest today by his dad. I was able to slip out of Sunbeams to witness this exciting event! Bishop Lindsey had him come up to the podium to be sustained by the ward. Skyler is so much taller than him and so Bishop commented on that and then there was a friend of Hunters that just turned 14 who is 4'8'  who also went up to the podium.So it went from one extreme to the other, it was quite funny:)  Sky is such an inspiration to me, he has never questioned why he has had to go through this huge trial. He does complain about the pain, which is very severe at times.  Love you big guy!!!!!!

Great-grandma Eve, Shawn's mom,Mardele(They both have passed away) Kevin (Shawns brother), Debbie (Kevins wife)

I only have 13 more days till I meet Shawn and Amber!! I'm so excited, I don't really know why I'm not nervous, but probably because I have waited for this day to come for so long. Shawn started a blog after reading mine. She has shared her experiences from the time she found out she was pregnant with me until she gave birth to me! This has been such an eye opening experience. I have so much love and admiration for all that she went through. I can't put into words how grateful I am to her. I was just able to post pictures of my grandmother and great-grandmother, who Shawn stayed with while she was pregnant with me. I love seeing my relatives, it will be full circle for all of us! I truly believe that angels and our Heavenly Father have been apart of this reunion. I'm so blessed to have found her and my sisters!!
I am bummed that Uncle Kevin and Aunt Debbie won't be able to meet this time. Their daughter Autumn, who lives in Phoenix, will be able to be there though! They will be in Phoenix during the Holidays so we will meet then:)

The photographer told him to do something silly- that's what we got!

PS>>
I also forgot to mention Clays birthday on August 5. He turned 11 and is so excited to be 12 next year!! He is loving his 5th grade teacher! I feel bad because I was at Girl's Camp and Skyler had his surgery the day before so he kind of got left out a little bit. He did go out with his dad for the day and picked out a few gifts. He is growing up and keeps us on our toes! He will be testing for Horizons again this year, he can't wait!  We love you Clay Bubbles!!!

SUNBEAMS:)

Okay everyone, I am loving the Sunbeam class! They are so dang cute and innocent!!!!!!!!! I still am having a hard time being in sharing time/ singing time. There are so many unruly kids in there, I want to pop some of them. I don't mind you, but it is an act of great self-control not to. Autumn and I make a great team, and I even got one of the little girls to smile at me during class:)  I think that the Lord needs me to learn patience and this is the best way to get it!!!! So I am hear to admit that I have been to several AA meetings (Attitude Adjustment) and it is helping a lot!! Thanks for all of the encouraging words, you're the best:)

Emotional Week

Sky had his latest surgery last Wednesday. Didn't go as well as we had hoped for. They went in and removed both bubbles and the buckle around his eye. Then worked around the retina, but there is so much scar tissue around it that Dr. Sipperley said that there was no hope of Sky seeing out of it again. I wasn't able to be there because I was at Stake Young Women's camp. Dave said the Dr. came in told him he wouldn't be able to help him and pretty much left the room. I am so ticked, this is a 15 year old boy your telling he won't see out of his eye again and you walk out of the room? What kind of dr. are you? I don't care if your nation renowned. You take the time to have compassion and help Sky out with this devastating news. Barnet/ Delany will get an earful from me on Thursday!!!! He is handling it really well though. We are sending his file to St. George and seeing if there is anything the Dr's. can do up there. Lance knows some of the Opthamologists there. I'll keep you posted on this.
I was able to go to girl's camp this year, it was the most awesome experience I've had in a long time!! Before I left, my bishop called me into his office and told me I was being released from the YW. I was so upset, I love my Beehives. They are so amazing and great girls. I cried, threw tantrums,  and screamed but to no avail. The Lord needs me to be a Sunbeam teacher! I'm still not sure this is where I truly am needed but I'm not going to argue with Him:) I will miss my girls soooooooo much, they have taught me so much these last 2 1/2 years. Change is something that is really hard for me, especially since I'm a nervous wreck when I even walk by the Primary room!!! I may never know the reason why this is happening right now, but I just have to trust in the Lord.
Bishop gave me 3 weeks to mourn this change, so I actually have 2 weeks left. This will be a great challenge but I will learn to love those special 3/4 year olds.  Plus I will be in the class with Autumn!!!
Well until next time-----

JUST SOME FRIENDLY ADVISE

When your in church bearing your testimony, NEVER say that you are glad you have friends who will go with you to get a coke when you need to talk! Especially when the 2nd councilor in the Stake Presidency is visiting your ward!! Totally blonde! Just a little FYI for you all :)

RANDOMS

Just a couple of things going on here at the Skousen household! We went down to the Valley this past Tuesday for Skylers surgery to remove the bubbles. The surgery was actually Thursday but I wanted to go down and have a little fun with the kids before the surgery. We went to the mall, drove around a lot, went to David's cousins house for dinner. It was so fun to be with Brian, Gina and the kids. We had a wonderful dinner with an awesome dessert:) Hunter and Clay went swimming, and we watched Avatar. It was such a nice relaxing evening. Thanks Gina--- LOVE you!
Thursday we went in at 7:30 am, got Sky checked in and they took him into the surgery room. I waited while Dave took the kids to breakfast. While I was waiting Dr. Sipperley came out and told me that he couldn't do the surgery because they couldn't get Sky sedated enough. He had given him 3 huge doses of Morphine and he wouldn't go under. He thinks that since Sky has been taking so many Rx drugs since May 19 that he has become immune to anything. He was afraid that if he put any more drugs in he could stop breathing. So we decided that we will do the surgery next Wednesday here at the  Show Low hospital so that they can put him completely out!!! I will be at girl's camp starting Tuesday, good thing there is phone service. I know Dave can handle everything, but Sky is still my little boy:)
Dave got our hotel rooms for Labor Day!! WOOHOO!!!! I can't wait to meet Shawn and Bill. It will be so awesome to finally meet my birth mom and give her a hug! To finally be able to thank her in person for giving me life and a wonderful family that raised me has been such a dream of mine. Pictures and posts next month on this:)
The Summer has been fun and as usual not long enough for the kids. Hope yours has been fun and has drawn your families closer together.

Family Update

A little update on my new family.  Shawn and I have been talking on the phone quite a bit lately! She is such a loving person and is so funny! We have had some really good conversations! I haven't been able to talk personally with the girls but we get on Face Book a lot!!!! We are still planning to meet on Labor Day. Not sure who will get to come this time, Shawn for sure, though:)

My mom found this picture of Amber when she was about 3 yrs old. I think I look just like her!! I wish I had the picture of me when I was that age but I can't scan yet so that you could see a side by side. Maybe my mom can help me do that sometime. Those of you who knew me, might see some resemblance.
Things are so awesome right now!

HAPPY FATHERS DAY

I want to wish my awesome, amazing, spiritual, generous, caring, gorgeous husband, Dave, a happy Fathers day! I don't know how you have put up with me for 22.6 years of marriage!

I am glad that the Lord gave you a lot of patience to handle me and the kids! You are such a great example to us! Thank you for being on this new journey with me and for being a huge support. You are my rock and foundation!! I love you more each day and am thankful that I have you for eternity:)

I know this isn't a picture of me and my dad, but I love this one with Kandra! I just want everyone to know how much I love this strong, determined, hard working, spiritual,  and honest man. He has taken this horrible cancer and is fighting with all he has. He knows the Lord is in charge, but has kept an amazing attitude about it. I talked to his bishop one day, and he said he goes over to see my dad so that he can be uplifted! That says a lot about my dad. This Fathers day has been a little more meaningful to me. I guess I'm just reflecting how wonderful it is to be his daughter!  l love you dad, you're the greatest!
Also a special shout out to my father-in-law, Eldon. Thank you for being such an example to Dave. He is what he is today because of you! We love you and are grateful you are in our lives.

My New Found Family :)

This is a picture of my birth mom Shawn, and my half-sisters. Their names are Erin, Tiffany and Amber. I am so excited to show this to all of my blog friends and family. They are amazing women and even tho I barely know them, I already have such a love for them, its really hard to explain it unless your living it like I am right now. We will hopefully get to meet on Labor Day, that will be quite the birthday present to me!
Just wanted to thank everyone for all of your support through this. Mom and dad you have been amazing and I love you all the more for it! Thanks for embracing this with me. I love you both!!!!!!!! Also thanks to my sister's Kristal , Kandra and my brother Lance for being excited for me. Love you lots too!
My mom found a picture on Ambers facebook that looks like me when I was about 4 years old. Its so fun to see some resemblances in them.
More updates as they come in:)

New Adventures!!!

As some of you know, I have been searching for my birth family for quite along time. I have put so many hours on the computer and even enlisted my best friend Sandi. Actually she has been the one to push me!!!
In the past year I have had people come up to me and ask if I was related to the Davis'. (I have always known my birth mothers name, she is a Davis). I think this was my wake up call to really start looking. Sandi has been there to make calls for me (I'm a chicken) and pushes me to get out of my comfort zone!!! After months of brick walls, Sandi found a site called Search Angels. I actually went on there a couple of years ago, but didn't think they could help me. I went on last Tuesday and put my information in thinking that this would be just another road block, and that I wouldn't hear from them.
My family had planned a reunion in Oro Valley a few months ago. So we went there on Thursday. What an amazing time we had! My dad looked so good and we were able to get professional pictures done. On Saturday we were on our way to Kartchner Caverns, I got a call from Sharon, my search angel. She found my birth mother!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Sharon had to e-mail her and confirm everything. On Monday my family was at the studio picking out our pictures, Sharon called and said that she had just spoken to my birth mother! I can't tell you how excited I was. She said that my birthmom was so surprised that I was looking for her! My mom started crying and gave me a huge hug! She has been so supportive in me finding my birth family. I LOVE YOU MOM:)
When I got home on Tuesday, I started talking to her on face book. I have 3 half sister's and 5 nieces and nephews! They have really accepted me. My birth mother told me that she never wanted to give me up, but she was so young and had no family support. She is finally at peace and feels that a heavy burden has been lifted!
I haven't told her I was going to blog this, so I don't want to use her or my sister's names until she is ok with it. I am so blessed, I have been putting her name in the temple prayer rolls. I have two wonderful families now!
The kicker to all of this is that she and my sisters are only 5'2! I have no idea where the height comes in. I can see some resemblances every time I look at their pictures. I'm not sure when we will get to meet in person, I hope soon:)
This probably sounds all jumbled but it has truly been a whirlwind for all of us. A special thanks goes out to Sandi for always being there for me and making me do things I didn't want to do! Love you girl:)
On another note-- Skyler is doing a little better, still has eye pain, but as always he's a real trooper.

Skyler

Well , I have been putting this off for too long! I guess I was wishing it was going to be a different outcome! We saw Dr. Graff last Wednesday and he agrees with Dr. Sepperly (sp?). I told him of my frustrations with Dr. S and he listened to what I said and then agreed that yes, Dr. S  doesn't have the best bedside manner, but is extremely knowledgeable in this field. Dr. S is the only Dr. that can do this type of  procedure on Skyler. So we will go in Wednesday to Summit Hospital in Show Low at 12:00 pm. Sky is not happy at all, but knows that Dr. Graff wouldn't do anything that would harm him. We trust his judgement (He prays before every surgery), so we feel its the best thing to save Sky's eye sight. This is the 3rd reattachment, so it should be the lucky one:) They will be scraping out the scar tissue and putting in two different oil bubbles. One will be on the lower part of the eye, which will be heavier to keep the retina from detaching and the other one will be on top of that. I don't understand all of it, but Dr. Graff assured me we are in great hands.
 On a brighter note, I failed to blog about my mom on Mother's Day. I just want her to know how much I admire her and love her endlessly!! She has been a great support in trying to find my birth mother. I am so touched by the way she is caring for my dad while he is facing his cancer head on! She has been such a strength to him. She is the best mom in my book!!! Love you always mom:)
Also I couldn't miss writing about my mom-in-law, Marlene! Even tho she doesn't read my blogs, I want her to know how much I love her!! If it wasn't for her, I wouldn't have my best friend, David. She cares and loves her children endlessly!  She gives strength and courage to her family and accepts them no matter what.
She has always made me feel apart of this family from the very beginning, even tho she thought I was mad all the time! (Guess I should smile more often)!  Love you tons, Nan:)
Hope all you beautiful women had a great Mother's Day!

WAY BEHIND!!!!

First off I wanted to wish my "Season Daughter," Autumn a very happy belated 19th birthday!!! Her birthday was May 2, I can't believe its been 19 years ago that I gave birth to a 9lb baby girl. She was so cute (and still is)!!
Not much going on in the Skousen household, baseball season started!?!? Clay is in his last year of Minors and Hunter is in his first year of Juniors. They are both doing really well. Clay hit the ball clear to the fence last night! Hunter's team has lost both games, but they are really trying to work as a team, which I think is more important anyways.  He is also umpiring between games.
Skyler was going to go out for the Seniors league, but his retina is detaching for the third time, UGH!!!!
Dr. Graff suggested we see another doctor at Barnett/ Delany. He is nationally recognized. So we did and I was not impressed at all! He told us that we could take out the bubble and leave it alone ( he can't see without it in), or have another surgery and use 2 different bubbles. I asked what he would do and couldn't get an answer. His assistant came in and started talking about another case! I was not happy with him, I was so confused on what to do. So I decided that we will go see Dr. Graff  on May 12 and see what he says. I went ahead and scheduled surgery for May 19. I only want whats best for Sky, and I feel we have to do everything humanly possible to save his sight. He is so not looking forward to another surgery, I can't blame him! I feel so bad for him, I don't know if another surgery will help, but I told Sky that we would do what Dr. Graff suggests when we see him on the 12th. If Dr. Graff doesn't think surgery will help, I'll cancel the surgery. Just hope I'm being a good mom on this!!!?!?
Summer is doing well in Vegas , and Dave is still the greatest husband ever!!!!
I finally got internet so I will hopefully update more often.

HERE WE GO AGAIN:(

We went to Dr. Blair's office on Monday, he was so excited about how well Skylers eye was looking! He said that things were right on track, and that he should heal up quickly. So last night about 10:00 pm Skyler came to me and said he couldn't see anything but darkness. I raised my fingers to see if he could see any of them, but all he could see was a slit of light. He told me that since he got home from school at 3:30 his eye was starting to darken, by 6:00 it was totally dark. I knew we had a very early appointment to see Dr. Graff today in Show Low so I didn't call the office last night. We went in and sure enough the retina detached AGAIN! We are going to Mesa, AGAIN, tomorrow and having surgery. He will have another oil bubble put in and it will probably stay in for at least 4 months.
Sky is disappointed, but is happy to miss more school. He is still a trooper about things and just goes with the flow. Not sure how this will effect next years basketball season. Only time will tell.

SURGERY

We took Sky down to Mesa yesterday and they were able to remove the oil bubble!!!! He is in pain, but is handling it pretty well. At one point the dr. came out and told me that he thought he would have to remove Sky's lens. I was freakin out to say the least, but once in there the lens was okay and they were able to leave it alone!!! Dr. Graff told us that we are doing something right, because he should have taken it out. Dr. Graff is AWESOME!! He is LDS and really likes Skyler, so we are getting the best care for him!!!!!!
On another note, my dad is fighting cancer right now and it has gotten worse. My sister Kandra wrote about the cancer and treatments they are going to do on him on her blog--- http://www.kandjowens.blogspot.com/  She really did a good job explaining it. Please keep him in your prayers.

UPDATE ON SKYLER

I don't think Skyler thinks that this eye problem will ever end:(  He has been such a trooper tho. Last Friday night he came in to our room with his hand over his eye and in so much pain. I text his doctor in Snowflake, but he didn't answer, so I called the Phoenix office trying to get his surgeon. He wasn't on call so they told me that they couldn't do anything anyways because they were in Phoenix. So they told me that they would try to get a hold of the doctor on call in Show Low. Dr. Stewart calls me and tells me that he is in Phoenix, but that he would get a hold of his son, who is also a dr. He calls and wants to see Skyler right away! SO we go to Snowflake at 10:30 at night. Get to the dr's. office and looks at Sky. His eye is pretty irratated and suggests we use more drops and to call him the next day. By the next day, Sky is feeling much better finally!
His dr. in Phoenix called us personally Saturday night and wants him to get the oil bubble out right away. We are going to Mesa on Wednesday to get it out! WOOOOHOOOO- Sky is so excited. Hopefully, he will recover fast from that. He may need contacts in the near future, but thats better than no sight at all!!!
Skyler has had the best doctors, I know he has been watched over through this whole ordeal. We have been so blessed!
I have been going over to my awesome friend, Sandi's house to make homemade wheat bread!! She has a Kitchen Aide mixer, which mixes it so much better than doing it by hand. I love making bread! It makes me feel somewhat like Molly Mormon:) My kids really like it too, so that is great because they may have to eat wheat a lot more! Thank you Sandi for putting up with me all the time, your the BEST!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Hunter finished his basketball season, they ended up even on wins and losses. He really improved through the season, which is great and hopefully he will get to play next season! He is such an athelete, and we are very proud of him!

THIS IS FOR YOU SUMMER!!!!

Well I got an e-mail yesterday from Summer, telling my blog hasn't been updated in awhile. So here I am with really nothing new. I'll try to think of some happenings. I am doing a few games still, I forgot about playoffs! I really like doing these because I get double pay:)
Autumn is one weekend away from completing her 3 weekend child development class. She has enjoyed it and will be getting cpr and first aid certified. So hopefully that will enable her to get a daycare job easier!!!
Sky's eye is doing really well, the doctors are very happy with how he is healing. He will be able to get the oil bubble out in March. We can't wait, he will be able to see alittle better without it in. He might have to get contacts, but he can live with that.
Hunter is on the 7th grade basketball team, and is loving it! The team is doing pretty good and he is playing quite a lot!   He is such an athelete, besides being a ladies man! He is so funny, he likes to show off his "guns"! He is such a good kid and always keeps us on our toes.
Clay was accepted into Horizon's, which is an advanced class for 4th grade. He is really being challenged in it, his regular work isn't so challenging so this is really good for him. He is enjoying school and can't wait to be in 5th grade to play basketball.
Dave is now on the 7/7 shifts. He is really enjoying it, he has more time now to spend with us!!! Also he can focus more on his bishopric stuff :)
We are still trying to shovel all the snow off the driveway, more snow to come I hear:(  We will see Lance, Shannon and the kids this weekend. Should be lots of fun!!!!!!
Hope all my blogging friends are doing well :) See ya in the next blog.

P.S. Hope you're happy now, BOO BOO!!!!

UGHHHHHHHH NO SCHOOL TILL WEDNESDAY/ THURSDAY

Well we have recieved so much snow that the new Jr.High and Mid School flooded, the parking lot at the High School has so much snow that they can't get it all cleared. So that means the kids can't return to school till Wednesday and that's only 9-12 grades. They are hoping the new school will be open by Thursday, but the K-4 will be out for the week. I have enjoyed spending time with the kids, but I think we are ready to go back to normal life!!!!!!! The games sceduled for this week are still on, don't understand that? Can't complain, tho, its my last week of ticket taking until September.
Dave will work 6 of his 7 days off , good money, so can't complain on being so blessed with overtime!!!They are working round the clock with all of the crews they have. Pinetop got 6 ft of snow so they are having a lot of power trouble. We hear there is more snow on Wednesday and Thursday.
Everyone be safe out there and stay SANE!!!!

SNOW,SNOW AND MORE SNOW!!!

 

It has been snowing for days!!! School was out Monday for Civil Rights Day and has been out ever since!! As one of my friends said, "This is why I don't homeschool"!!!!!! Dave has been working a lot of overtime so that will be good money for us:) Poor Hunter has been shoveling and has quit until it stops snowing. Can't blame the poor kid. We've been playing dominoes, apples to apples and baking. Hopefully they will have school Monday. The kids are ready too! Hope you all are staying dry and warm:)
The first picture is of my little HHR, doesn't it  look so cold????  I've threatened the kids not to play in the front yard, I love my yard  when there's no footprints in it. The second picture is of my neighboors fence, its about 6 1/2 feet high.

Haiti Relief Effort

Hi everyone!
My sister Kristal is putting together hygiene kits and blankets for the Haitian relief efforts. She is asking for donations or money to make 20 blankets and 200 hygiene kits. She wants to deliver them to the LDS Humanitarian Service Center by March 13. You can go to her site--- http://www.joyclan.blogspot.com/
She has information on how to make the kits and the blankets. This is a great way for all of us to come together and help in a great way!
Thanks,
Wendy

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO MY AMAZING HUBBY!!!!!

Happy birthday Dave!! Just think 2 more years and your an AARP member!!!! I love you tons, your my bestest friend and so much more!!!!!!!!!! Hope your day was great. Thank you for being such an amazing husband, dad, son, brother, uncle, and friend. YOU ARE THE BEST!

Sky's surgery

What a day we had yesterday! Sky had to go down fasting which didn't make him happy at all!! We arrived at the clinic at 11:00 am and waited and waited and WAITED! He finally went in to be prepped at 1:30 and went in for surgery at 2:30. Then Dave and I waited and waited and WAITED till 5:00. Finally, Dr. Graff came out and told us that the initial hit to the eye actually did more damage than they first thought. Skyler now has an oil bubble, buckle, and fixed tears in his eye. The oil bubble will be in for 6-8 weeks. The dr. also said that the blow to his eye caused his lens to shift. So that will probably cause a cataract. When we finally got out of the clinic, we went to get something to eat and then went to Walgreens to get his prescriptions. By that time it was 8:00 pm, he had also developed a migraine besides having his eye hurting. So we decided to stay the night, and thought that would be better for Sky to not have to be cramped up in the little car. He didn't sleep well, but coming home he slept more.
Sky had a checkup with Dr. Blair in Show Low today, he had taken a Vicadine without eating, the nurse put a drop in his eye to check his eye pressure. Since he hadn't eaten he got really dizzy, he freaked out the nurse to say the least! They gave him some juice and granola bar. He was fine and Dr. Blair says everything looks great. He is optimistic that Skyler will be able to play next year with protective eyewear, of course.
He will be out of school till at least Tuesday or Wednesday, which really worries Sky because of missed assignments from his classes. I'm sure his teachers will understand.
Thanks to all for the thoughts and prayers, they were felt!!

BUMMER NEWS FOR SKYLER

We just came back from Sky's eye appointment and found out his retina is detaching again and he has more tears in it. We have to go to Mesa tomorrow for emergency eye surgery. He can't finish the basketball season, which is such a bummer because he was going to play more:(
He is not very happy now, but to be apart of the team he is going to be their manager and hopefully will be able to at least workout in practice with them. It will only be low impact practicing but to be with the team is really important to him. He is such a trooper, we love him so much. Hopefully this little bump in the road will be a blessing in disguise! Don't know whats ahead for Sky, but he is taking it all in stride.