Christmas Tradtions

Merry Christmas 2010. We had a fun time, just our little family here. We had to carry on some traditions that we have done for years. Sunday Christmas dress clothes.

Acting out the Nativity. Trey was very concerned we would not have enough people. We had to take on multiple roles. Mary and Joseph (Kindra and Trey) were lead on a reindeer? (Mitch)

Skinner Sassage Fest 2010. We have moved the cooking to outdoors as not to set off the smoke alarm. Patties, links and bacon. A Heart Attack waiting to happen.

Singing and Danicng all Christmas day! Yeah for the Wii games!

Mitch sporting his new Duke jacket and shorts. We had a BLUE (DUKE) Christmas without you! Hope you all had a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!!

snow days

Well it seems like we went from summer to winter in the blink of an eye. It has hit hard this week with blizzard conditions! No school for the kids Monday or Tuesday which makes the Thanksgiving week a nice long one! We woke up to 5 ft drifts along the side of the house and I got stuck in the driveway twice before a nice neighbor cleared it off for me. Where is Marc?....Mexico! It has been hard not having him here during all this. We can only communicate through email so that makes me miss him even more. He did send me a message saying he is sunburned....ok, that hurts. Mitch and Trey trying to clear off the patio...see the big drift behind them!

Trey is in Tavaci this year which is a preforming arts group for kids. He loves it and had his first concert last weekend. Avarie was dressed up for school b-ball and I thought it was so cute they were wearing matching colors I had to capture the moment...ok, Trey is being smooth on the cellphone here...by the way, on a side note, he took an old cellphone to school last week and was devistated when it was put in "Toy Jail" by his teacher...funny kid.

Halloween Time

For Halloween Kindra and Trey had a carnival at school and went trick-or-treating Saturday with the rest of this town...Kindra as Minnie mouse, Trey as Rocky...Mitchel had a party at a friends and was Dr. Skinner. Avarie had a big group over for a pre-dance event. Her group went as The Wizard of Oz, and Avarie was Glenda the Good Witch, her date was the Wizard. They played games and ate munchies before the dance. Then they went to a Murder Mystery Dinner where one of their characters had committed the murder! Oh my! Then they hit the dance, had pictures and were off to anothers house to watch old Twilight Zone episodes! A fun night!

You gotta love the Lion. (his mom is a preschool teacher, and was so excited to make his costume)...LOL !

I am sure you'd LOVE to see more pictures from our disney adventures! We'd LOVE to share them! The villians were out at Disneyland for Halloween time...
We found the queen of hearts!

The evil queen from snow white had quite the evil eye...even Mitch and Dad had the eyebrow action going! Kate and Aves you've got the look that look too!

The evil villians from Star Wars also showed up...Darth Vader and Darth Maul?.....Kindra and Trey got to put their Jedi skills to the test. Here Kindra fight tough, while Trey bites his nails knowing he is next!

Then we had a real treat and Grandma Lig game to join us on our vacation! It was so fun to have her and we took her all over the park! The rain decided to join us too...so we bought matching rain gear...excuse the glare... here we hit the muppet 3-D movie! Everyone looks so stylin in their matching jackets and glasses! :)

The sun finally came out and we crossed over into California Adventure and the golden gate bridge. We had a blast and were so glad grandma joined us!

When you wish upon a star...or it's spud harvest....

...head to Disneyland! The kids had the week off, and it is Avarie's Senior year...so we decided to do it! 6 days at both parks and a day at the beach! It was so fun, we didn't want to come back to the real world! In front of the castle when we first arrived!

Hunnington Beach was beautiful! Lots of surfers and sunshine!

Mickey was so kind!

Splash Mountain was a favorite ride...we decided to get matching rain jackets when the rain came...a perfect time to hit this ride.

Oh no! We are now trapped in California Adventure....so you will have to wait to see the rest of our vacation pics....sorry I know you are so anxious! :)

Homecoming Week

Here are some random pictures from Homecoming week here.... MUD VOLLEYBALL....They had mud everywhere!...and yes it made it into my house too! yuck.

Powderpuff Football! Seniors won!

We have spirit yes we do we have spirit how about YOU? Madison had a parade downtown before the game and Kate was on the LOUD spirit bus and Avarie on another float. They threw out candy too...it was quite a production!

Smoke Jumpers

Last week I was able to go with Kindra's class to West Yellowstone where they learned about Smoke Jumpers! They parchuette into wildfires to contain and control themHere she is with a Smoke Jumper!

This is some of her classmates by the plane that the smoke jumpers fly in when they go for jumps.

It was a nice day, so we were able to see 8 jumps. It was really incredible that they were able to land right where their mark was.

The jumpers landed so close to us. We ate lunch with them and went to a program where the kids learned about wildfires and then they were made offical "junior smoke jumpers". It was a fun day.

First Day of School and Birthday Girl

Summer came and went and now School has started..here are some pics from the first day! Trey is in FIRST grade and loving it! He told us it was A LOT longer than kindergarten and it takes FOREVER to get to lunch. He is so excited to go each day even though his bus comes at 7:30am~! Kindra is in FOURTH grade and has the same teacher she had last year and LOVES her! It will be an awesome year.

Mitch is in 8th grade. He has a locker by all his basketball buddies and tells me his favorite thing about school is LUNCH! This kid keeps growing!!! He is now almost 5'11" and wears a bigger shoe size than his dad! SIZE 13! Good thing basketball is his sport?

The high schoolers are excited because they are in a BRAND NEW HIGH SCHOOL this year and it is HUGE and has a sweet gym! Kate loves being in classes with Juniors and Seniors and is the social butterfly of the the Sophomore class. I cannot believe Avarie is a SENIOR!! She had to wear this "uniform" to school the first day because she is in student council and that is what they do here. They also plan all the assemblies and she is busy with many homecoming festivities. Plus, she also had a birthday!!

Are you kidding me!? I have an 18 year old! NO WAY! We had a fun celebration at Olive Garden and made her favorite cheesecake to celebrate! Happy Birthday Aves. WE LOVE YOU!

we are just plain crazy!!

It is true! When it comes to crazy things....we just jump right in!! It did take Trey a while to jump in with the rest of us...but after gathering bets....he made 7 bucks and did it! Way to go Trey!

Marc loves the more leizure tube ride....

...while Kate and Mitch go for the wild one...Savannah just got pushed in by Derek!...crazy!?

Can't you see it our our faces...the crazy, lazy, days of summer....We had a blast!

BUT, sorry to report, this is the END of summer and all that crazy fun! Maybe next year we will dig to the BOTTOM of our bag of crazy stunts and have more fun to post!

family...

The best part about our trip was seeing family! Marc's parents and brother and sister

My brothers with Marc, Mitch and Jake

Hannah and Kindra

Me, my mom, my sister and my brother! It was so great to see everyone!

Thanks grandpa skinner, we love you!!

friends...

We love seeing our friends when we go up to Moscow and visit! Mitch and Jake!

Ellie and Kindra!

Kindra and Grace!

Savannah and Kate!

More summer fun!

Here are more pictures from our trip up North.... Mitch learned to wakeboard, ski and surf! It all came so nature to him!

Dad tried to wakeboard....not so easy. He did ski though :) see picture below.

Avarie learned to ski and wakeboard

Katelyn played it safe and did kneeboarding.

It was great fun and so beautiful! (marc skiiing)

50th Anniversary (Summer Vacation part 2)

The second part of our trip included a special treat! Lynn and Elvon celebrated their 50th Wedding Anniversary! We gathered in Spokane and had a party!! Our first stop was Shakeys Pizza. It has been a Skinner Tradition. Where it all started perhaps? So, we went to pig out on all you can eat pizza!!

Only the strong survived the buffet line!....and then what's better after a big meal ...than a swim in the pool!! :)

Hey, I thought this swim was for the little kids? I guess we are all young at heart here!

What is the result of 50 years? Lots of crazy grandkids!! We love you Lynn and Elvon and loved celebrating with you.