Family Fun...

We had such a great time while Jenn and

Brent were visiting!

The bros:

Lilly thought Daisy was the coolest buddy ever-

can't you just see the admiration in her eyes??

Late night fun:

What's this??? A dog that climbs ladders??

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That's right folks:

Meet Daisy, the extraordinary ladder-climbing pooch!!

Thanks for making the long trek guys- it meant

so much to us to have you here for Thanksgiving.

They left on Sunday and it was so hard to see

them go...but, my parents and brother will

be down in 10 days!! Can't wait!!

Goodmorning Snow...

I can't believe it! This is what I awoke to

this morning:

What a way to start off December! It is definately

time for the Christmas decorations!

Thanksgiving Day

We were so blessed this year to be able to spend

Thanksgiving with family and friends!! Brent

and Jenn, my brother-in-law and

sister-in-law, drove down from St. Louis to spend

the long weeknd with us, and Dave and Julia and

the kids came over to help us celebrate.

The boys fried two turkeys and rotisseried one.

Ryan and Dave developed a design at work for

the rotisserie, and another guy they work with

brought their plan to life. It is really cool!

As you might be able to tell from the picture,

the weather was perfect!!

Brent and Jenn brought a turkey fryer for us

which we have already made great use of!

Look at that blue sky!!!

At about this point there should be several pictures

of the ladies cookin away in the kitchen...oops, forgot.

Our feast included:

2 fried turkeys

1 rotisserie turkey

1 sweet potato casserole (thanks Mom)

1 green bean casserole (thanks Chris)

1 stuffing casserole? (what do you call it when it's

not inside the turkey)

1 spinach parmesan dip (thanks Kayla)

cranberry sauce (homemade is not a hit :) )

mashed potatoes

gravy

1 black bottom banana cream pie

1 raspberry topped cheesecake

1 pecan pie

1 pumpkin pie

I believe that is all of it~ delicious!

Cutting the turkey...the first time was quite

an adventure:

The weather was so beautiful we decided to eat

outside (sorry picture is so dark):

Although eating outside was different and special,

we couldn't "pass the taters" b/c they would

have gotten cold so quickly, so we had to do

buffet style. Next year, we will eat inside because

there is just something about "passing the taters"

that feels like Thanksgiving :)

And...goodnight. Time for a turkey nap: the best kind!

Lilly absolutely adores Taylor and Lindsay, so cute.

It was such a joy to have everybody over to

cook, laugh, and enjoy together! Thank you

Brent, Jenn, Dave, Julia, Taylor and Lindsay

for all of your help, we are so grateful for your

love and friendship!!

Happy Halloween!

This was our first Halloween to hand out candy
from OUR house! It was so much more fun than
I had imagined.


Our lame attempt to dress Lilly up- nothing fits
her broad chest/shoulders


Ry was sick last week, so we just decided to take
it easy, hand out candy and watch the World
Series- Go Yanks!

Hives....yikes!

Lilly got her vaccinations last week at 9 am.

By 5 pm she couldn't sit still because she was so

itchy and by 6 pm we were off to the

Animal ER! She had huge pingpong ball sized

lumps all over and on the way there her face

swelled up to the size of a bowling ball.

It was terrifying; we couldn't imagine if it was

our children!!

By the next night she was back to her old self!

This weekend at the Skinner household:

Ryan has saved like two bags of bottle

caps since college and we have finally

discovered a use for them!

We made a patio cooler chest! It has

actually been in the works for a while,

but it is now complete. Although it is

not perfect, it does hold a certain

amount of... character :)

It is very cute!

Cutie patooties...

Okay, so maybe we spoil them occasionally with

a snuggle on the couch, but we can't help it- they

are just sooo snugglable :)

Happy Fall!

Ryan and I love this time of the year!! It seemed

as though we had three months of 100 degree

weather, but it is all worth it that first morning

when you wake up and are surprised by that little

chill in the air. Ahhh...so replenishing! The animals

have been loving it as well, they are all frisky when

they come in from that first morning potty break!

Since the temperature had cooled, we decided to

watch the sunset and try out our firepit.

Notice the cooktop on the firepit. Ryan has once

again shown his innovativeness and creative

vision by developing this cool addition to our firepit.

He used a bunch of scrap parts from work and

welded the whole thing together. As you can see,

it pivots (and is removable) for convenience. I will

post some more pictures of it when it is totally

completed and perfected.

It was a really wonderful night- we are truly

blessed.

My Bday!!

Me, 26 years ago.

September 6, 1983 was the day I slowly

oozed into this world- what a glorious day!!

This year was a little different since I

wasn't able to celebrate with my family and

the usual September Birthday Bash, but my

hubby and our friend's Dave and Julia helped

make it a special day for me :) Ryan and

I went to our favorite sushi place and then

to the zoo. Fort Worth actually has a really

nice, clean zoo with fantastic habitat enclosures

for the animals. That evening Dave and Julia

came over with a delicious ice cream cake and

a bottle of Jose Tradicional and we taught them

how to play Euchre!! Luckily they were quick

learners because nobody was teaching anybody

anything by the second game, if you know what

I mean ;) Anyway, it was great day!! Sigh...if only

everyday was my birthday.

Visitors!!!

My mom and dad came to visit us this past week/

weekend and it was awesome to have them here.

My dad was able to get tickets to the very first ever

Dallas Cowboys game in the new stadium. Don't know

if you have heard much about it, but it is seriously

unbelievable! Wow! My Aunt Chris and Uncle Don

came down from Wichita Falls for the game too. We

had a really great time!! One could say that, I, perhaps

had too much of a great time :)

Mom and I finished up the extended flowerbed.

It looks just lovely now.

A little video of warm-up:

Have you ever seen a 60 yard television? It is

mind-bogglingly enormous.

Oh, happy boys...

We had amazing seats: 10th row!! It was quite

fantastic!

The crew minus one.

Silly girl...

Let the record state that the clock on this official

picture reads 1:51 AM. Not only is that in itself

impressive for these old folks, but the ladies joined

in for some couples play after this picture was taken!

On a side note, the next night Mom and Dad and

Ryan and I enjoyed the 10 pm showing

of Inglorious Bastards. Very impressive!

Lilly and Gracie (Mom and Dad's dog) had a blast.

This was the favorite toy to fight/play over.

We had so much fun and would love to have more

visitors anytime!! You all are welcome to pop in

or stay a while whenever you are able :)

The Prince and Princess for now...

Notice the water droplets all over Linus's
back- Lilly's is not exactly a dainty drinker.



They really are good buddies.