Marriage Tag

I know you guys are probably so sick of me doing these, so this will be my last tag for a long time, I promise!

•What is your husband's name? Greg (or Gregory, which I call him quite frequently believe it or not!)

•How long have you been together? About 7 years (granted, there were a couple breaks in there, but you don't need to know our whole dating history!).

•How long did you date? Again, that's a whirlwind but we dated off and on for a year.

•How old is he? 30 - oldie... :)

•Who said I love you first? Greg - 3 weeks after our first date! I about had a heart attack...

•Who is taller? Greg, by about 8 inches.

•Who sings better? Well, Greg definitely sings more than me, but I'm pretty sure I can carry a tune better!

•Who is smarter? I am "book smart" and Greg is "life smart." So we both are!

•Whose temper is worse? Mine by far...

•Who does the laundry? Me (but Greg will if I need him to)

•Who sleeps on the right side of the bed? Greg

•Who pays the bills? Me - Greg makes the money and I spend it! Isn't that how it's supposed to be?! :)

•Who mows the lawn? Greg. He does everything else in the yard too and has done an awesome job with it! Our yard was practically dead when we moved in two years ago, and you would never know now after how much work he's put into it.

•Who does the dishes? Usually me, but again, Greg is always willing to if I need him to.

•Who cooks dinner? I make dinner every night, except Wednesday (when I'm at Young Women's) and Sunday (when I'm too tired to cook a decent meal). Since Greg doesn't want to starve, he cooks on those nights. :)

•Who drives when you are together? Greg

•Who is more stubborn? We are BOTH so stubborn, but I am probably worse... :)

•Who is the first to admit when they are wrong? Greg - again, my stubborness comes in here.

•Who kissed who first? Greg kissed me first - I'm sure most of you know that story by now (especially Emily, Stephanie, and Lara!). :)

•Who proposed? Ummm Greg... duh!

•Who is more sensitive? Me

•Who has more friends? Probably Greg because he gets to go to work everyday and socialize with tons of other people (not to mention the train ride there or the softball leagues he plays on!). Not that I get bitter or anything... :)

•Who wears the pants in the family? Probably me.

I tag everyone! (Except Amanda Sherwood, of course! I know how much you hate these...) :) -Ash

Introducing Cohen Richard Storrs - My Cute New Nephew!

I find it quite ironic that in my last post, I said my sister Lindsay only had a month left to go until her third little boy would be born. Little did I know she would go into labor 4 hours after I wrote that! She was originally due on August 24th, but had the baby this morning, making him just over four weeks early! We were all a bit nervous when we heard she was in labor, and so was her doctor, so the NICU team was on hand when he was born. But thankfully everything went perfectly and he is healthy as can be, even though he's absolutely tiny! Cohen (isn't that such a cute name?!) was 19 inches long and 5 pounds, 7 ounces. We headed down to see him this afternoon and I seriously have never seen such a tiny baby outside of NICU (just check out the size of my dad's thumb in that picture compared to his head). He is SO cute and such a great little guy. So congrats, Mike and Linz! We are so excited for you guys and will come hold that little guy anytime you want! Even when he's screaming... :) -Ash

Once again, you can see how teeny tiny he is! And no, this didn't make me baby hungry. It just made me want to go visit Linz more! :)

Believe it or not, my husband is such a softy for newborns. I love it!

Gavin loved his new cousin. He kept patting his head and saying how cute he was. Then he tickled him, which was a big deal because ever since the day I told him Linz was pregnant, he's been saying he wanted to tickle "Baby Cohen" when he came out! :)

Tyler, on the other hand, was a little unsure about his new cousin. Anytime he would see me or Greg holding him, he would start crying and run away. It was great birth control for me because it made me realize what a hard time he will have when he's not the youngest anymore!

The proud grandparents who now have 5 grandsons, and 0 granddaughters! Maybe next time... Haha, right...

Aiden - the proud new big brother. I don't have a picture of Connor, but he was pretty thrilled too!

Pioneer Day - A Great Excuse to BBQ and Be with Family!

Sorry I haven't posted in a while. I'm trying to re-read the Twilight series right now before the 4th book comes out, and of course, I've become totally obsessed again! Oh Edward, why aren't you my husband? (Or even real, for that matter? Ha ha!)

So for those of you who live out of state, Pioneer Day (July 24th) is a Utah holiday where we celebrate our statehood and the pioneers coming out here. Yes, that's right, we celebrate the birth of the greatest state ever! :) So to celebrate yesterday, we got together with my family, went up Emigration Canyon in Salt Lake, hiked up to the top dressed in pioneer clothes, and re-enacted the pioneers coming into Salt Lake, with my dad acting as Brigham Young to say, "This is the place." It was truly an unbelievable experience. Yes... unbelievable in the sense that it didn't happen! :) Oh, come on, just humor me and laugh a little... Seriously, could you see all the Skousen women hiking up Emigration Canyon dressed like pioneers?! I didn't think so...

Instead, we all met up at our house and spent the day here, just hanging out and letting the kids swim. They ended up swimming for 3 hours - I couldn't believe it! So it was very relaxing for us adults. Well, until Ty started drowning in the little pool - that was a little scary! That night, Kristin and Dan were able to make it down for a barbecue and once again, we had a great time. The kids hardly even fought! It was probably the most peaceful family get-together we've had in a long time. :) Later that night, we decided it was pretty lame that we didn't have fireworks, so my dad went and bought some and Dan put on a fabulous fireworks show for us! (Well, as fabulous as you can get with legal fireworks from the grocery store!) So thanks, Dan. It was quite dan-tastic! :) Except that they terrified both of my kids... Anyway, I posted a bunch of pics below from the day. We seriously had a great time, but next year I really want to try the whole pioneer reenactment. What do you think, fam? You in? :) -Ash

The Super Sensational Swenson Swim Center... :) Hey, it was free!

Both Ty and Gavin loved the slip 'n slide. Greg would throw them down it, and they thought it was the greatest thing ever.

Even the guys decided to try out the pool after a while! It was so scorching hot, I don't blame them...

Kristin posing for the camera - as usual. She is obsessed with the camera!

Further proof of Kristin' obsession with the camera - she took this herself if you didn't notice!

All the Skousen girls (oh, and Cohen in Linz's stomach! Can't forget about him - only one month to go!).

Poppy and Ty. Too cute!

Eating Linz's fabulous dessert outside. We didn't eat dinner outside because it was WAY too hot, so I insisted on going out later, and of course, the temperature was finally perfect!

Gavin and Nana - don't ask me where his shirt is!

Our fireworks finale. Now how impressive is that?! :)

Success!

I can now officially mark another scary "first" off of my parenthood list - taking Gavin to the dentist! I know all the "experts" have been saying lately that you should really get your child in to the dentist once they turn 1, but who are they kidding?! Isn't that just a disaster waiting to happen? So I, being an extremely cautious (and reasonable) person, decided to wait until Gavin was 3 to take him. Hey, I was 3 when I went for the first time, so I figured it wasn't the end of the world. And honestly, I'm so glad I did because he did so well! He thought the chair was awesome, and kept his mouth open the whole time. In fact, the dentist said he has "awesome" teeth and no cavities! Yay! (I have to admit, that diagnosis is always scary for a mom who is completely responsible for her child's teeth getting brushed and him taking his fluoride - which I'm not perfect at, I admit...) So I am thrilled, and just hope we can keep it up. He doesn't need to inherit Greg's or my teeth problems! -Ash

Summer Nights!

Summer nights are my favorite! I LOVE them! I don't know what's been different about this summer (because we haven't always done this), but practically every night for the past month, we have taken the kids outside and just spent the night in the yard. Usually, Greg and I work in the yard or visit with neighbors, and the kids just play. It has just been a lot of fun. So here are a bunch of random pics from one of "those su-uh-mer nights!" (Remember that song from Grease? Ha ha! Yes, I know I'm a bit weird...) And in case you are wondering, the kids are in their swimsuits because they were running through the sprinklers earlier - yet another very common ritual at night!

Ty "washing his hands" in the water spraying out of our hose.

Gavin on his bike. He has become quite the little pro on it since we started going outside so much.

Mmmm... Yummy secondary water!

The best place to eat fudgesicles - outside and near a hose!

Greg's attempt to combine "quality family time" with dreaded homework. Only 5 months left!

The only downer - a nasty black widow that came scrambling out of its "home" when Greg was spraying ants. It took close to a minute of spraying it for it to actually die! Ew... and it was so big too!

Just For Fun

My friend Rachel had this on her blog, and I thought it looked fun. So here's what you do...

1. As a comment on my blog, leave one memory that you and I had together. It doesn't matter if you knew me a little or a lot, anything you remember!

2. Next, re-post these instructions on your blog and see how many people leave a memory about you. It's actually pretty funny to see the responses.

I would love to hear what you guys remember about me! But just be gentle with your memories, especially with anything that happened during my ugly, socially awkward junior high years! :) -Ash

This Just In...

DeAnna is STUPID!

And that's all I have to say about that. :) -Ash

A Fabulous, Fun-Filled Fourth!

We spent the 4th of July up in Rupert/Burley, Idaho this year with Greg's family and had a great time! Here are some highlights of what we did:

Highlight #1 - The Weather

This really was the main highlight for me, believe it or not! The cold front (if you can even call it that - maybe it should be called a "little less hot, but still pretty hot front") hit Idaho Friday so we spent the majority of the day in the 80's, instead of the 100's! It was heavenly.

Highlight #2 - The Water

Greg's sister Jenny and her family live on the Snake River, so every 4th, we spend the majority of the day having a big party at their house doing a lot of boating, jet-skiing, or swimming (however, I am not a big fan of the swimming since you never know what's in river water!). They also set up a little blow-up waterpark for the kids which they went CRAZY in. Gavin was pretty intense with the waterguns, as you can see!

Highlight #3 - Seeing Greg Water Ski

Since the first day I met Greg, I have heard him talk a lot about water skiing and how much he loves it, yet funny enough, I've never actually seen him do it! Well yesterday, he decided that after a 6 year hiatus, he was ready to get back on the slalom ski and see if he could even still do it. And seriously, I was AMAZED. My husband is AWESOME! :) (Even though, according to him, this isn't the best picture because he "did a lot better the second time" when I wasn't there to shoot pictures, of course! But I still found this quite impressive.) When he was done, I asked him why he didn't show that to me on the first trip to his parents', because he probably could have proposed that night and I would have instantly said yes. :) Unfortunately, all that showing off paid its price because he is now sore from his neck down to his calves!

Highlight #4 - Gavin's First Fishing Trip

Greg's dad has a good friend who lives a couple hours away and has a private pond that he stocks with tons of fish each year. So needless to say, the boys in Greg's family LOVE to go out there whenever they can, and come back with a few coolers full of fish. Well they decided to go on Saturday, and Greg and Gavin were pretty dang excited about it since it was Gavin's first time. And from what I hear, they both had such a blast! Gavin loved every second of it... well, except when he went to weigh his biggest fish and it started flailing around, sending him running into the weeds terrified. In the end, he caught four fish, the biggest one weighing 6 pounds (see picture above)! He even got the true outdoors experience when he got to pee in the weeds. :) He thought that was pretty darn cool.

Highlight #5: The Lodging

Greg's parents' house was pretty full because Greg's brother Mike and his family were in town from Washington, as well as his sister from Grace, Idaho and her kids. So we decided that instead of waking everybody up with Tyler's crying during the night as well as making our nieces and nephews sleep on the floor or couch, we would just rough it. That's right, we slept in a camping trailer just outside his parents' house! And yes, I call that "roughin' it." :) It was actually a pretty nice trailer with a bathroom and kitchen, and of course the boys were in heaven, so it wasn't too bad in the end. But I did tell Greg both nights that he needed to enjoy this while he could, because it was the closest he would ever get me to camping. :)

Overall, we had a great holiday. We all came home completely and utterly exhausted, but it was worth every second! -Ash (I posted a bunch more pictures below, so check them out too.)

Tyler on the car-ride up. I have no idea why movies will not entertain this kid for a 2-hour drive, but they just won't. So instead, he played with my sunglasses!

Gavin being patriotic at the Rupert parade.

Tyler's "parade face."

I am not kidding, this is the look he had on his face the whole time!

Gavin and Ty playing on the beach. They were so enthralled with digging in the sand that they didn't even think about venturing into the water, thank heavens!

Greg and his brother Jeff pushing Colton around in a toy box in the river. Funny story short - they were all having a water fight and Colton thought that paddling away in the toy box would be a good idea. Too bad Uncle Greg and Uncle Jeff caught up to him and drown him out!

The annual fathers vs. sons baseball game. This is our nephew Marc pitching to Greg.

A view of their house from the river. Not a bad setup, huh?

Gavin getting ready to fish!

Cute daddy-son picture.

Gavin weighing the out of control 6-pound fish! :) Poor kid... it scared the living daylights out of him!

My Current Obsession

I was just reading my friend Megan's blog, and she was writing about how she is currently obsessed with The Bachelorette and what she thought about last night's episode. I went to leave a comment on her blog saying what I thought about it (since I'm obsessed too), and by the time I got to three paragraphs long, I figured I might as well write my own blog on what I thought! :) So here's my shpeel on why I should be DeAnna's personal relationship counselor, because I'm pretty sure she needs one after last night's episode!


So first, while I think DeAnna needs some serious help with decision-making, she at least made one good choice last night with keeping Jason. He is a seriously sweet guy and really seems genuinely interested in her. Plus, he has the cutest little boy named Ty (shortened from Tyler just like ours!), and who wouldn't want to have a step-son with that awesome of a name?! :) I actually think he looks a lot like a younger version of Jerry Seinfeld, just with his eyes a little closer together. And he lives in Seattle, which is an awesome place as long as you can stay away from those crazy lefties! :)



Now, on to the absolutely STUPID decisions that DeAnna made last night. First, she kept this professional snowboarder named Jesse who I swear has not washed or cut his hair in months (see the pic for proof). He acts like a complete goofball and is really awkward with DeAnna - it's almost excruciating to watch them together. But yet, for some reason beyond me, she is totally fascinated with him. Maybe it's because he's a total daredevil and will do just about anything, but one broken back, honey, and that will all be gone! So stop looking for a little play-date friend and get serious! (I'm not bitter or anything...)



As for the MOST stupid decision she made last night, she let Jeremy (my favorite) go home! The entire season, I have been so sure she was going to pick him because he was just perfect (but according to DeAnna, he was "too perfect") and really sweet around her. Plus, she seemed to really like him too, but maybe that was just some great editing to lead viewers on, who knows?! So I was probably more devastated than Jeremy himself when she let him go home last night. :( He seemed really in love with her, and she was pretty brutal with him.


Anyway, I guess we'll see how things play out next week in the finale, but I swear, if she picks Jesse I will be screaming at the TV... really. -Ash