Domestic Times

Well, since we have so many apples that are ripe we have to start doing something with them. So I made a few bottles of applesauce. I didn't add enough lemon juice to keep the apples from changing color from the time they were cut up until when I cooked them up. It was surprising to see how many apples are needed to only make a small amount of applesauce. I think that I could have added quite a bit more water, so the applesauce will be VERY thick the way I made it (and a little chunky). So here are some pictures of Porkchop and applesauce.



I think Kathryn is planning on having a apple crisp-making-extravaganza this afternoon to use up some of the rest of the apples on the tree. Plus we do need to use some of the 25 lbs of oatmeal that we have in the pantry.
The garden is still growing pretty well even though the weather hasn't been cooperating. The Butternut squash are growing in nicely, but the watermelon I think is done. I was really hoping that it would get a bit bigger, but I don't think that it has been warm enough. They are supposed to grow up to 25 lbs. I think ours is closer to 5 lbs.


Now that I don't have to study for the LSAT (at least until I find out the results), I have more time to do other things. Like homework that has been put off. Wonderful. But, things are going pretty well. School is school and is just fine. We find out the sex of the baby in 2 more weeks so Kathryn and I are very excited.

Done with the LSAT...or am I?

FINALLY DONE! After spending from 7:30am to 2:30pm in Santa Cruz taking the LSAT I am done with it.
Maybe.
Hopefully.
Well, actually the deal is that I will find out my score in 3-4 weeks and depending on what I get I will either live with it OR retake it in December. But for now, I am done with it. The worst part of the test this time was the fact that we took it in a auditorium-type classroom. So the desk that you have to use is smaller than a typical 8.5x11" piece of paper. What a pain. But it is over and done with so I can breathe easy for a while. Well, at least I can until the exam that I haven't been preparing for happens. When is that again?...oh yeah, Monday. Great.
Kathryn is doing wonderful. She didn't become sick at all the whole 1st trimester so I think she is in the clear. We find out if it will be a boy a girl on Oct 15th so we are really excited about that. Kathryn's older sister Lindsay is having a girl. I am sure she will help balance out their family of 2 boys. So, it will be 3 vs. 2 in the boy vs. girl games. I will be happy with whatever happens, as long as it has all its fingers and toes, etc. Oh and my dashing good looks if it's a boy, Kathryn's looks if it's a girl. (I mean who can resist a cute little redheaded girl?!)

That's all for now. You may wonder where the pictures are, but they are with my studying time for school. Dead from the LSAT.

Tahoe and Kathryn's Birthday

Bringing out the cake.


Well, it has been a few weeks since our last posting, so, to catch everyone up I thought I would FINALLY write something. First off, school started again. Yipee. With budget cuts to the Cal State University system of close to $600 million, things are a bit different. Luckily I was able to get into the classes that I needed. The first weekend after school started was the Lowe family annual vacation to lake Tahoe. Unfortunately for me I was only able to stay from friday thru monday night. I had to return for my tuesday classes. However, we were able to celebrate Kathryn's birthday and even had a cake.

The last day that I was at Tahoe we went to Emerald bay and I was persuasive enough to get people to swim out to the island. If you know what a swimming "noodle" is then you will be able to picture this better, but, 2 of the girls didn't feel confident enough to swim it by themselves so they floated out on noodles. It made the swim much slower and colder. It was fun though. I wish I had some pictures of everyone after the swim was done. Can you say blue?
Things are going well and Kathryn hasn't been sick and since she is now past the first 12 weeks we hope that she DOESN'T get sick either. Oh, I forgot, since this blog is called the Skeehan Zoo, I should tell you about the latest incident with the critters. Pinkerton had to have a growth removed that developed from a necrotizing (sp?) wound. I hate vet bills. But, he is fine, he just had a bit of a tummy tuck. And last but not least here is a picture of Kathryn catching up on emails.

If you have seen this photo too bad, I didn't feel like finding another one. I hope everyone is doing well.

Newport Beach

Newport Beach was a BLAST! The only thing that drove me crazy was the horrible parking situation. During the week it was tolerable, but the weekend was absolutely horrendous. Kathryn and I were there for my brother Daniel's 30th birthday celebration. His wife Mimi, set the whole thing up so that he would be surprised by most of the family coming down to visit. We went to the beach, socialized and just had a great time.
Luckily for Kathryn and I my bro-in-law (Jeremy) loves photography and is always willing to snap a few pictures for people. So, while Kathryn may have quite a few pictures of each other we never really have many of both of us as a couple. So here are a few.


While we were in southern California for 5-6 days we stayed with Kathryn's grandparents and had a great time catching up with them along with some of Kathryn's cousins.

As you can tell from the picture, while my heart said that I should share my tasty balboa bar with my beautiful wife, my stomach was envious and was not in agreement.


This is a picture of a toy that Dave And Griselda brought back for Porkchop after we watched their boys for a few days. The toy's squeaker gave up the ghost 15 minutes after being introduced to Porkchop and ever since he has been busily destroying it and having a blast while he does it.

I suppose there are many other things that I could write, but I think that I will keep this post short, otherwise I just might blow it off and not finish it at all.

Lathan, Kaelan, and Jeydan, OH MY!

Well, while not as fearsome as lions, tigers, and bears, to someone who doesn't have children (yet) going from 0 to 3 in one weekend was intimidating. In the 4 days that Kathryn and I were looking after the boys we went to 4 different parks, one peach orchard and 1 big family (the Lowe's) dinner. The boys were great. I think the greatest difficulty we had was attempting to understand JJ's dialect of spanglish.

We had a wonderfully busy weekend of playing with the boys and trying to get things done around the house at the same time. I think there is a reason people have children typically one at a time. I feel bad for the people that have twins or triplets as their first experience, I am sure it is exhausting.
Before the boys came over I snapped this picture of Ella (the shy cat we have) trying to hide from the dog downstairs (unsuccessfully I might add).

Heather was out here for a couple of days and visited with us and Christina. We had 4 out of the 5 Skeehan Siblings together for the first time in a long while. Unfortunately no one took a picture. So Dan, don't feel left out. There is no proof it ever happened. Heather was thoroughly amused with Porkchop and now I think she understands why we talk about him so much. Anyways, since I have already included 1 picture of a pet I think that is enough for this post.

Salsa Time!

Well, we finally had a few tomatoes that could help me make some salsa. We planted our onions too close together, as you can see by the small size, but the end product is delicious! The bowl that you see on the counter will probably be gone within 1 day of Christina realizing that it is in the fridge. (I think she would probably shrivel up and die w/o some sort of chip and dip combo.)

Besides making a big bowl of salsa I finally fixed the sink that has been... well I guess the best way to describe it would be to say "wobbly." The piece that allows one to tighten up the faucet to the the sink was a wee bit rusty.

If I wasn't wearing safety glasses, I would have two eyefulls of rusty metal. So, Dad, you might want to think about replacing it when you get back. I used my ingenious skills to make it work for now though.

I took another practice LSAT last night for the course that I am taking, it didn't go as well as I hoped, but that is typical they say as people are trying to do things following Kaplan's method rather than their own. It's a good thing they have a higher score guarantee because unless things change in the next 5 weeks I might be taking advantage of that.

Everything else is going great. Kathryn is busy working and actually had a friend from the ward over while I was at class so she could watch "So you think you can Dance?" with someone who will squeal and giggle with her. (I don't squeal or giggle). Life goes on, and Porkchop wanted me to include a picture showing how difficult it is to be a dog.

I hope everyone has a wonderful weekend.

Hollister

Well, every once in a while I get the chance to go down to Hollister, CA with some other Scout enthusiasts. (That is "Scout" like my old truck, not the scouts that I am going to be in charge of). This was the 4th time that I went down there and I had a fun time camping overnight and AVOIDING the poison oak.


The LSAT course is going along just fine. There is "required" homework, which is the hw you have to complete for Kaplan to back their "better score guarantee," and the "recommended" hw, which is what I try to do as well. It took me probably 4-5 hours per session. But, I am actually enjoying the course. Every time I sit down to either the class or homework I really feel like I have to exercise my brain, unlike some of the classes I have taken where the instructor just wants you to regurgitate your class notes. Kathryn went to SF with her sister and bro-in-law and had fun walking across the golden gate bridge. Hmmmm... what else... the primary lesson we taught today was on "The Lord Blesses Missionaries." Our challenge to the kids was to write a missionary and thank them for their service. So... if you know a missionary... wink-wink... write them a letter.

Porkchop has decided that it is too hot to walk if he doesn't get his walk first thing in the morning. If you try and take him on a walk later in the day he will flop down on every bit of shade and grass and not move. However, he still likes a nap on what was previously the cats' blanket.


ps. for a size comparison, the tires on my Scout are 35 inches tall. About 3 ft.