Hope everyone's Christmas was Merry and Bright. Ours was fabulous! Lots of family, lots of food, lots of well chosen gifts, all embraced in thanks and joy for our blessings.


Here's our tree before the melee began. Looks pretty nice, huh? It didn't last long.

Janey got an exersaucer and spent a good deal of time laughing and talking from an upright position. I don't remember them when my kids were small, but she sure is loving it.

Kimber was one of the presents under the tree. She was very good, very patient, and very in love with presents and sweets! Tomorrow she returns to reality. Don and I will be leaving for our traditional New Years in the desert.

Joeseph, Julie, Janey, Becky and Bryce hanging out. This is Saturday evening - as wonderful as the holidays are - three days of feasting and fun and it's time for a rest.

Julie and Donnie in our family room, looking into the kitchen
.
Don, Kimber, Janey and Tami relaxing.

Sean, Lauren, Courtney and Joseph on Saturday.

A good time was had by all. More later.

With Thanks in 2008

Hope everyone had a wonderful and safe Thanksgiving. We have so much to be grateful for - family, faith, freedom, friends, and food.

We spent five beautiful days in the desert with friends, as we have for the past 8 years. We normally get away once a month, but this time it's been two and a half months, and we could really tell. It is so relaxing to just leave.

Here is some of the gang at the buffet table.


Don and Sean are in the center back in white and grayish. It rained Thurs. morning, and the DARK clouds were gathering in the afternoon. We expected rain at 3:00, our feast time, and it did rain - for about 10 minutes - then cleared up. Hurrah!! We have had to eat in the trailers a couple of years.


Here's our feast table and our "other" family. The Jorgensen group is at the top, Don with his arms outstretched. With Brad (bf), Becky, Carolyn to the his right, and Sean, Donnie, Julie, Joe and Janey to his left. We were so happy they could all make it. It's a 3+ hour drive and they came just for dinner with us. Tami and Kimber went with their friends to a different desert.

Since prices on "toys" are way down, and Becky is an excellent money manager, she was able to buy a 2006, 23' Week-end Warrior trailer/toy hauler and spend a couple of nights. The normal Thanksgiving crowd was a little light, and the dunes were great. Becky and Brad ride motorcycles, Don drives a sand buggy.

I'm back!

Sorry for the long absence. My hard drive crashed in August and when I got it back, it wouldn't recognize the USB ports - so no pictures could be downloaded. But it's fixed - so here we go.

Here's 4 month old (June 28) Janey Heathman in her workout clothes for Halloween. She's a real cutey with a dimple, and oh so strong.

And here's 3 year old (Oct 10) Kimber as the little Mermaid. Always with flowers and a smile. Must be the age. She's either got a princess dress or a very full nylon slip on most of the time.

This is our house from the top of the driveway. It's 3/4 of a mile to our mailbox, with only two houses for almost the entire way.
Don has really enjoyed creating an army of rock sentinels along our driveway. There are so many rocks here, and he has used MANY of them in the landscaping.

This is our view toward the north west. Not much out there. In the valley there are some farms and our next door neighbor has 25 acres of dragon fruit. It's a Vietnamese treat and he's the largest producer in the USA.

This is our view of Escondido to the south east. Note the strong wind blowing the flag, that also blew the big, heavy wooden swing over the bank.

Escondido is much different then living on the coast, but we are really enjoying it. Our ward is small and struggling and we're feeling needed. It finally dropped out of the 80's today - thought winter would never get here.

Have wonderful Thanksgivings where ever you may be, and travel safely wherever you go.

Molly and water

Although Molly was not bred for water, she was bred to be a companion. We usually don't take her on water trips because of the heat (usually over 100), but this time we did. She did GREAT playing in the water and riding on the Jet Ski. At first she looked at me like, "You've got to be kidding!". And tried to jump off a couple of times, but at the end of three days, she was a Pro, and even seemed to enjoy it!

She rode zipped in the back pack with her harness and leash secured to the handlebars. She even went to sleep! At the end, I could turn and go fast, though she didn't like wakes much.

She does look a little scraggly though.

Staying cool and making sure we don't leave without her.

Aaahhhh! Breathing again.

It's been a busy few weeks, but we made it. I so feel for Teresa. Hope all is well with her and her family and that they are enjoying their new life!

We moved July 2&3 to an almost finished house. The cabinet maker is here today installing all of the cabinets and drawers so now I can unpack and organize. Plus the electrician and media wiring guy are finishing up. I'm happily unpacking boxes and taking them outside. Yahoo!! However, I'm not sure that I need 1/2 the stuff I brought! I'll post pictures when it's unpacked.

July 3-12 we went on our first trip to Lake Powell. Even the drive through northern Arizona was beautiful!
Coincidentally, Tudi and Roger were there for a couple of the days and joined us. We sure enjoyed their company.

We are standing in front of Rainbow Bridge, considered one of the 7 new natural wonders of the world. It was 50 miles up river plus a shortish, HOT hike, but worth it.


Here we are at Sandy Beaches, where Krista spent the week. Hot and barren, but a nice cove with an incredible view.

Don is really a kid at heart. He is playing in the sand after being buried up to his chin. Everyone is amazed, and pleased, with his youthful exuberance and energy.

We were very impressed with Lake Powell. It is HUGE. You could get lost and never be found! The weather was perfect (high 90's), the water was like glass much of the time, and since we go Monday-Friday, it wasn't too crowded.

It was great to get away for a few days and come back refreshed and relaxed.

Janey Heathman and family

Newsflash: Janey Heathman has arrived home.
Loving parents, Julie and Joseph, are thrilled with her arrival,
adjusting well, and looking forward to an eternity together.

Julie and Joe are Parents!!

And here She is!

A beautiful, healthy 7 lb 1oz baby girl, Janey Heathman, was born to Julie and Joe at 9:50am on Saturday, June 28th, 10 days early. Everyone is doing well and they went home today. Julie is a trooper and according to Joe was "amazing". More to follow.

Look at that wonderful hair!!

Grandma and Janey are doing fine. Julie's a little tired.


We are finishing packing for our move tomorrow. I'm so glad she came early since we are planning on being at Lake Powell on her due date. The Lord takes care of the details if we just ask, and I didn't have the heart to ask that she come a week late.

Seems like forever since I wrote - so here's a catch up. Sorry - no pictures - for some reason my computer is not reading my memory card and I haven't had time to look for the cable.

We have been VERY busy making all the last minute decisions for the house. I think if it was just one person making the decisions it would go faster, but with two, and then we brought in a designer for some suggestions - it takes a while. We've driven all over San Diego looking at things - some decisions we are very pleased with, others we would have done differently. But it's all good.

We will move in by the end of June, ready or not (hopefully ready). Most of it should be done. The oil prices are affecting more then gas - when we got the bids for the construction loan in Sept 07, the cost of the asphalt driveway was going to be $8,000.00. This week, 8 months later, it has gone up to $20,000.00!!! for the driveway!! it has to be asphalt or concrete for fire regulations. Ugh!! There went my front loading washer and dryer, my new living room and bedroom furniture!! The prices all seem to be HIGH!

Although I try to keep a decent journal (monthly) I've started a new one just for daily miracles. If you look for them, every day several miracles occur. I found my car keys in an obvious place after searching at least three times, the upstairs, the downstairs, the car, then saying a prayer. Why didn't I just start with the prayer?

I take raw almonds to the Temple to put in a small bowl for the Sisters to snack on. But I was out and hadn’t gotten to the store to get more. I was prepared to apologize numerous times as Sisters came in for their “almond fix”. At 5:30am, as I was preparing to leave for the Temple, I looked in a cupboard that I don't usually look in until dinner, and there was a baggy of almonds that I hadn't seen before! just enough for the day!

By focusing on miracles, I recognize blessings, I see the Lord's hand in my life more, which makes me more grateful, which gives me more faith (trust) that He knows me and loves me and will provide for me. What a great feeling when the media focuses on so much negativity. It can change your life.

Good Bye to Soo Bahk Do

Well, it's done. Tonight I went to karate dressed in street clothes, gave Master Trevellyan a hug, a thank you note and said good bye. Gave several other people thank you notes too. It was sure hard. I cried as I wrote the notes.

My elbow got hurt about six weeks ago and isn't healing because I won't stop training, plus it 's too far to drive from Escondido at night, and at 56, it's time. I started in Jan 1996, trained 3 times a week consistently and made it to 3rd degree Black Belt. And LOVED 99% of it! Don't know what I'll do now, but trust that something will come up.

I did eat delicious bag of Dove dark chocolate with almonds to drown my sorrow. That should sit well now that I'm not exercising.

Two in one day - consistency is so important!

Kimber is helping Julie with the dishes on Mother's Day. Kimber loves to do dishes, bath Molly, tighten screws, anything that is helping the many adults in her life. Jacob's Mom commented that when she goes to school and realizes that other kids only have one or two parents, she'll be shocked. Tami is a great mom, but she has 10 other people to love and care for her.

I love when Laura puts in what her kids say, sooooo :
Kimber was leaving with Tami and Jacob so Don said "See ya later, alligator."
She turned around and in a firm voice said "I"m KIMBER."
It's always good to know who you are in life.

Notice Julie's rounded tummy. Their little girl is due July 8th. Julie looks and feels great - except on the 90+ degree days. Luckily, she works in an air conditioned office.


Sandi and Molly sampling Donnie's chicken fajita. No wonder the dogs stay in the kitchen when anyone is cooking.


This is the master bath shower. I LOVE it! The rest of the house is kind of rustic. Tumbled stone, quartzite, travertine. Don was looking at tumbled stone for in here, but when I saw this slab of marble, I fell in love. And he lovingly agreed. It's going in here and the laundry room. Kind of like our cars. Everyone drives 4 wheel drive trucks or jeeps, but I love my little BMW. This will be my touch of class.


This is the kids bath/shower. 6" tumbled stone. It looks really good. There is a decorative band about half way up the window, but the camera had trouble with the light from the sun streaming in and still being able to see the tile.

Here's the roof, about 1/2 way done.

The roof, tile in the bathrooms and the paint in the entire house will be finished this week. They start laying the floor tile Monday. The cabinets and countertops go in after that. We're almost there!! I hope to start moving the middle of June and be living there by June 22 or so. That gives us time to clean this house, get organized and be ready to go to Lake Powell July 6th. So much to do, so little time.

Catching up

Wow. Almost a month - life can get busy, and ours was, is and will be until we move.

We've been choosing the granite, tile, floors and paint. What a lot of decisions! Absolutely, incredibly beautiful slabs of onyx and marble. Makes me wish I was a geologist so that I would know how God created them. If you ever have the chance, just walk through a large slab yard. It's an artistic treat.

I gave my 30 notice at karate after 13 years. When we move we'll be 40 minutes from the do jang. I'm hoping to find another exercise that I'm as passionate about. Any ideas? Jacob's mom teaches Ashtanga yoga or I might get a personal trainer for a couple of sessions and see what they say. I haven't been to a gym for so many years.

Catching up: My Mother's Day was one of the best ever. The Saturday before, Julie and I went to Time Out for Women (a church women's conference). Spending time with Julie, the speakers and the music, and just taking a break were all wonderful.
For Mother's Day, the kids took care of everything! Sean and Donnie are both great cooks and did the meat. The girls brought everything else. And best of all, all the girls cleaned up (we're still working on the boys)! Every last crumb, dish and chair. What a blessing! And, Tami's boyfriend's (Jacob) mother and her boyfriend came. So it was a full room and a lot of fun.


Here are the gorgeous flowers I got. Plus an Ipod - at my request. I love it. I get so tired of listening to the radio and my car only holds a few CD's in it's deck. The quilt in the background is one Julie made me a couple of years ago to match my dining room.

We went for our first river trip last week-end. It was 112 degrees in Yuma. We had sold my 11 year old 2-seater that I love. It was a two-stroke that takes more gas, has a much shorter driving range and is more for rivers then lakes, where the swells can get HUGE. We got a great deal on this used one. It's got more horse power and a bigger gas tank than my car! Took it out once and we're selling it. Don and Todd both said it's too powerful! It was fun to drive (I keep the speeds down) but sounded like a train because of the super charge. We'll get a smaller, friendlier three seater for our trip to Lake Powell.
This is what I found in the kitchen when I came downstairs this morning. A 5 inch centipede. Ugh!! Luckily, Sean found it last night and it was safely contained, to be released by Don across and down the street. He said their sting is less then a bee. Some consolation.

Happy Birthday

What an incredible birthday! Thursday Don suggested that just the two of us go away for the weekend. The last time we were really alone for a trip was 2002 when we went to Hawaii for Julie's graduation. It was fabulous! We went to Warner Springs, where we used to take the kids. Great food, great room, great weather and wonderful company (Don).

Here is Don lounging by the pools. The hot one was a soothing 104 degrees, the cool one, which we did not go in, was 79. It was perfect weather (low 70's) until we got ready to leave, then the clouds started moving in.

With spring comes lush, green landscape. This is on our walk around the golf course. That's Don in the middle to show how big the trees are.

This is where the water actually comes out of the ground at 140 degrees. Looks nice, but I didn't see anything living in it.

When we got home at 5:00, Julie had prepared a delicious dinner of Chicken Tortilla soup, my favorite. It was SOOOOO good. Sorry about the boys picture, guess they were hungry.

For desert, Julie made the perfect fruit Trifle, with fresh strawberries, pineapple, bananas, kiwi, angel food cake and a yummy pudding stuff. So good. Thank you Julie.

Don also got me a good quality Web Cam so we can see Jeni's family. Can't wait to try it out.
I got myself a Garmin Nuvi (thanks for the suggestion Roger). I'm tired of getting lost in unfamiliar areas, and the lady is soooo nice. She just says, "recalculating" if I don't do what she wants. All in all, it was one of the best birthdays.

This and That

I know the Skinner family is thrilled tax season is over, but so am I! Seems like I stress until April 15 every year, probably a long held habit from when I did do taxes. We always extend anyway, but I do have to have an idea of what to file. My goal is to get them done in February like the kids. Some day.

Here's Tami and Kimber working together in my office. I had an old laptop (1999) that we loaded XP onto, bought a great "Toddler Adventure Workshop" 5 CD interactive learning set at Costco for under $20.00 and Kimber has her own computer with awesome learning tools. She's somewhat impatient with the finger pad, but is learning to "wait for it" to turn on, upload software, etc. If she moves too fast the cursor can't keep up, so she has to be "gentle". She can stay on it, with different games and supervision, for quite a while and feels like such a big girl. She can take it in any room and doesn't have to touch any one else's computer.

Donnie just got the sweetest dog. She is from Craig's list via the pound, is a couple of years old and so well trained!! Even Molly, who is a huge wuss when it comes to other dogs, isn't afraid of her. Her previous owners were training her for agility trials when a divorce happened and the four kids lost their pet. Their loss was Donnie's gain and she is so good for him. They both lucked out. She goes to the beach, on walks, to work with him, gets treats and love.

This house is a family affair. Please notice who is on the ladder working and who's not. I'm sure Donnie and Sean were doing something equally important.

Front door and office window hole (the window was made wrong). They are now done with wrapping for stucco, insulation and drywall. We are choosing granite, tile, paint, cabinets ..... Aagh! Some of you are great at that and love it. For me it's stressful and I don't just "see" it. I do know what I don't like, but have a hard time envisioning what I want.


Family room looking from the kitchen. Can't wait to see how it looks finished.

Trying again

Well, since I couldn't figure out how to delete a blog (not a comment, the whole thing) so that I could reuse the name, I'm going with a new name. Just trying to see if you can keep up.

This is Don's brother Chris, his wife Kim, their son Harley and daughter Hillary. We don't see them very often, but now that we'll live just up the hill, I'm sure that will change. Please notice Kimber's pink goggles. She was happy ;-), so we're all happy.

This is Donnie and his fishing boat. He's had it for about a year, but I thought it was a little boat. When I saw it this afternoon, WOW! He's going to take it to Catalina. It's ocean worthy, has a galley, bathroom and two sleeping areas.

This is me with the beautiful flowers that cover all of the banks at our new house. The poppies were hydro-seeded, but everything else is natural. Can't wait to move in and enjoy them everyday. Hopefully the heat won't have taken it's toll.

We were at the house today and I was so thrilled with the flowers that I didn't take any pictures of it. Now that the subs are working on it, and don't have much else to do, it's progressing quickly. All of the wiring is in, the windows are in, the tile roof is going on and the patios are poured. Here's a picture from last week, but it changes quickly now.


Donnie has been living in the RV at the house for the past three weeks, since the copper pipes went in. We've had a couple of problems, so want to be safe, and he wanted to save on rent and be a hermit for a while. He said the RV is almost too big for just one person and is nice to live in. It only gets hard when Don and I want to go somewhere and take his home. Over Easter we went to the desert and he slept in a tent in the house. He said there was a huge mountain lion prowling around so he ended up sleeping in his truck. The property backs on 3000 acres of open space and a 600 acre monastery - so it's possible.

I just think of Molly, our Shih Tzu, and I out walking and her being bait, and I'm at the end of the line. I'm working on how to avoid being some animals breakfast.