Thankful

What I am thankful for:

Are we ready?!

(I'm not sure if I can post pictures of them yet so this will have to do)
OMGosh that's my family

This past weekend we had all the kids with us for an overnighter. We took advantage of Emmitt's game being canceled and took the kids down to the "flats" and did a little tourist-ing. We went to the blacksmith shop, because every kid in Nauvoo has to have had at one time a prairie diamond. Then we took them on a carriage ride. They fit right in with our other kids because they thought it was pretty boring. Sorry if that offends anyone!!
As of tomorrow they will all be in our home permanently. We are all so excited. Life is about to change, ready or not here it comes!

Change is happening in the Skog family.... and it's a good thing

To all my friends from facebook visiting for the first time, welcome.

Well here goes!

For about the past 6 years we have been wanting to have more children. And for whatever reason we have not been blessed with a successful pregnancy. So we considered looking in to adoption. Jason and I could never agree at the same time that this is what we needed to do.
Without having to wast your time and my fingers telling you the whole story (call me sometime if you want to hear it) I will just say things finally clicked for both of us back in November of last year.

However we decided to become foster parents with the option to adopt.
We took a while to talk about it together just to make sure we both were still feeling this is what we wanted and should do.
After more talking, praying, and fasting we decided to find an agency to work with with us. We then talked to Emmitt and Constance and asked them how they felt about this. Emmitt was very supportive and couldn't wait for everything to get started. Constance on the other hand was a little reserved and had to take a couple of days to gather her thoughts. The day she came to me and told me she was okay with it she cried and said she felt really good about helping other children, and she was excited to get a little brother or sister.

In February we started all the paper work that needed to be done. In June we enrolled in classes. We went into the classes with the idea we did not want to become full time foster parents we only wanted kids that needed to be adopted. By our third class we had changed our mind and were 100% committed to become foster parents and help families be reunited by helping the parents over come whatever problems the were having so they could be reunited with their children.

We finished our last class on June 29th. On July 1st we got a call from our agency saying they were looking for a pre-adoptive home for a sibling group of 3. (A 9year old boy, a 5year old girl, and a 4 year old boy) My feelings were, but we are so ready to go out and save families. When Jason came home we talked all night about it. We couldn't get out of our mind that everything was working they way it needed to be. For every negative we thought of there were at least 3 positives that out weighed the negative. The next day we called back the social worker and said let's move forward slowly just to make sure this is what should happen.

So that brings us to today. As I write this I am waiting for the oldest boy to get here. And in a few weeks after some transition time the younger ones will join us.

There you have it!! We are so excited, nervous, happy, scared, grateful,, blessed...!!!

A funny thing happened

One of the highlights of our sister's getaway this year is thanks to this sweet little old man.

We were sitting on the beach our last night together enjoying the sound of the waves and the approaching sunset. When one of us notices this adorable man, cane in hand, literally hobbling down the beach towards us. He makes it thankfully with out any falls or broken hips. He finds his spot and spreads out his towel and ever so gracefully he sits down on it. Then proceeds to take off his shoes and socks, then his shirt. Then again with grace only someone in their 80's has mastered he gets back up on his feet and with his cane starts walking to the water.

The waves were fast and hard this day so we were all on the edge of our seats ready to jump in if he should go down. Kim is reviewing in her mind all she just learned in EMT classes.

He wades out a bit farther. He's now up to his chest. A wave comes and then he's gone we all have our hands on the arms of our chairs ready to jump in when we see he was just behind the wave and started swimming still holding his cane. We all laugh at ourselves and say that he probably has been doing this every day of his life and can out swim any of us.

We let the guy swim in peace with out our watchful eye stalking his every move. He enjoys a good swim then rides the waves in to the beach then again with that grace I mentioned before he gets up on his knees and then onto his feet and walks to his towel.

He has a seat on his towel, wraps the edges around him Then proceeds to shimmy out of his wet trunks. Now those stalker eyes are back not because we want to see anything but (pardon the pun) it was more like a train wreck we just couldn't help but look. So our dear Mr. then trys to wrap the towel around him the best he could and dry him self off. He reaches for his bag and pulls out a pair of whitie tighties and (again remember the grace) works them over his feet, up to his knees, stretches them to cover the front and gets back on his knees....lets just say we saw the moon before we saw the sunset, and it was a full, saggy moon friends!!! We were in complete shock I didn't even think to take a picture I was frozen!!

He then reaches behind and pulls up the back of the under clothing. That is when my senses returned and I snapped a picture.And that's when we "spot" that the whitie tighties are not so white or tight. Oh sweet little darling old Mr. How we love you and the show you put on for us that night.

Who would a thought....

... paradise could be found in Michigan? I really didn't want to write about my amazing two weeks, because when you do it is the end. Like the final report. So I put it off as long as possible. Yes the time has come to end the summer. The kids head back to school in 5 days (noooooo) I hate school starting just as much or maybe even more than my kids do. So maybe this is a good time to write about our vacation, this way I get to relive it just a little longer. So here goes

The first week was our annual sisters get away to the cottage named Haliakala (Don't ask, I don't know! it's Hawaiian or Samoan or something like that, and it's probably not even spelled right. I don't want to find the phone to call my mom and ask)

This year we were down in numbers. We had Mom, Ann, Kim, Me, and Sarah, and guess what we didn't ever get a picture of all of us but I did think to take a picture of this...

What?!?! did you think we would all use the same scrubbie? That's gross!!

We all had a great time just sittin on the beach talking and catching up on each other and our lives. No one would allow a camera during this time so sorry no pictures of that!!

And mom's favorite thing to do every day... watch the sun go down. It is so beautiful and when you see the sun sink into the water we would applaud the day.

At nights when we were in the cottage Mom would teach, all who wanted to learn, how to knit a dish cloth!!

Ann was so proud of herself!! Through out the week she would remind all of us that she was "pretty much a knitter" now. We were all impressed (Sorry Ann for such a horrible picture, but you never read this anyway so won't even know I posted it. That's what you get for not reading my blog) Mom feeling like she was home!!!

Then the day came when some had pack up the beach chairs and load up the cars and head home.

But for others of us (Ann and I) looked forward to our families joining us for another fun week.

Stay tuned I will post more of that week later.

Where's Waldo... I mean Laura

See that Picture up there? No not in this post, all the way up there at the top. That's where I'm going for two whole weeks.
See ya when I get back!

I could have danced all night

(constance and kaylee on the way to the recital)

Constance had her dance recital in early June. Wow that girls loves to dance. This year was a little hard on her because the class she was in for the past couple of years was a small class with her and a couple of older girls. Well this year the older girls didn't go out for dance so it left Constance alone so they decided to have her join the class just below her in age so she was a 10 year old dancing with 7-8 year old's. They are all pretty good dancers it's just it was hard on her ego to be "demoted" I think. Also the difference in maturity was hard on here. Where in the past she was the little girl looking up to the "cool" older girls, and now she is the older girl lost in a bunch of little kids. I think it was really good for her however because the teacher had her help teach the younger girls, or to work with them when they were struggling.

I tried to load a video of her dance but after 4 hours it still wasn't loaded, and now I can't seem to get the box off the screen so if it shows up sorry there really is no video.

Here are a few pictures.

(Constance after the dance)

Take me out to the ball game

Our summer started swinging with the baseball bats. Jason coaches Emmitt's baseball team. And wow what a season it was!! The team did an amazing job this year. They ended the season with an 11-3 record, and in 1st place in the leauge!!! Enjoy a few more photos of my boys.

Have you ever seen a cuter catcher?

And here is Coach Jason with his boys

I am so glad this season is done we finished with just a little drama from other coaches and their ego's. So now fall ball starts for the school team in August. Ahhh baseball!!!

Do you remember me????

I know it's been way to long!!! Enough already get off my back I'm here now.
I saw a friend the other day at an event in our town (you know who you are) and she told me she had a message for me from her family ( if you know this family you would be so excited to get said message because they are so awesome and to know that anyone of them would want to give me message just about did me in. I was chomping at the bit to get this message) So I smiled huge and said, "really what is it they want to tell me" And then she tells me that they say "to update your blog"
So here's to you my dear friends and all others who have missed me. I will be posting things that we have been up to this summer and what has kept me from posting. In no particular order!!

Twitterpated

I need some help here. I need everyone to leave comments on this post.
Will you PLEASE tell me what all the hype is about Twitter? I have had several friends ask me if I tweet. I do have a Facebook account and seem to enjoy it. I have this blog and seem to enjoy it. Do I really need another thing to keep up to date with my friends? And if I do why is Twitter any better than Facebook or a blog?

This one's for you Katy

My friend Katy posted on her blog that her bike was stolen. I thought of you Katy when I saw this.

Face lift

So I thought maybe the reason I haven't been posting lately is because I hated going on to my blog because of the pictures of the cold winter. So now that the weather is more beautiful now days I thought it was time for a face lift. So what do ya think? I am still looking for a background to use, so for now it will have to be pool water, but who doesn't like clean clear beautiful pool water anyway so maybe I'll just leave it. Only about 2 weeks till school is out and the kids will be home and we will be having some fun.
Baseball already started so stay tuned for pictures.
Till then.

Taylor Swift Concert!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!(sorry I got a little carried away)

The concert was Saturday and I am only getting around to posting this because I have been struggling with how to post this to give it the justice it deserves. You see the concert was Aaaamaaazing(amazing), and I don't even like concerts. I feel I don't have the ability to express my feelings in words to help you understand how wonderful it really was.

So I decided I won't even try to be witty I'll just show pictures and explain what was going on in the picture.

Here is a picture of Constance in the hotel room, she asked me to do her hair like Taylor's, all curls.

This is a picture of the both of us in our seats. And NO that is not a double chin on me it's just a really strange shadow!!! What?! would I lie to you?

Kelly Pickler opened. She is such a cute girl. And she had some pretty awesome shoes, sorry I didn't get a good picture of them.

This is Constance wishing Taylor would come on stage!!!

This is how she made her grand entrance. (brave, brave girl) the song was "you belong with me"

Showing off her vocal cords.

This is her "Love story" dress until.......

She gets to part in the song where it says, "I talked to your Dad go pick out a white dress" then all of a sudden she's in this dress. Amazing!!!

This is during the song "Tell Me Why"

"Picture to burn".

It really was a great concert, but I have to admit that the best part was watching Constance sing her heart out along with every song and having the time of her life.

I love you Constance, thanks for a great night and even better memories!!

I got my prize

Jamie gave me some pretty awsome ear rings she made all by herself. Just for commenting on her blog. I have such great friends.
I guess I need to be a good friend now and make the gifts for those who wanted a gift from me. I have an idea I am sure they will love. I just need to take the time to get them done so watch the mail friends it will be coming soon!!
Thanks again Jamie I really do love them.

Temples

I love being a Mormon and love the temple I thought you might find this informative. Especially now that it seems we are under a microscope. Click here

Meet me in St. Louie

Warning, Warning... Lots of pictures!!!

Last weekend we took a much needed family get away. We loaded up the kids Friday night and were off. The kids were upset with us that we didn't get to a hotel earlier so that they could swim. They got over it the next morning when we took them here. (Click here to learn more about this place.)

All I could say while we were there was wow!!! The kids kept saying, "Thank you guys so much this is awesome!!!" Then they would say, "I would even pay $200 to come here again". So let me bore you with some pictures of our amazing day.

Here are Emmitt and Constance ready to start the day.

This is an airplane that is about seven stories in the air that the kids can climb up to. I will show better pictures later.

The first thing we did when we got in was go to the aquarium. It was great, there were many tanks that you could put your hands in and touch the fish. This picture is of Emmitt being attacked by the "Dr. Fish". When you put your hand in they attack it and eat all the dead skin. It feels like little suction cups all over your hands.

Next on the agenda was a zip down the 7 story slide. The only problem was walking up to the top of the seven story slide. But what a ride it was.

After our stomachs got back to normal after that slide we went outside to enjoy the beautiful 75 degrees. This is a picture of some of the crazy jungle gym stuff.

This shows kids climbing from the Air plane to another part of the the jungle gym.

Here are Emmitt Constance and Jason climbing in the "tube" from the plane. NO I didn't get up there!!!!!!

Another picture from a different angle.

What I liked most about the museum is all the random pieces of architecture.

Ahh what a great day!!!