Skousen Family | Nate, Allison, & Cora

Back by popular demand

2009-11-08T20:31:00.005-07:00

After much time, we have decided to get back on the blog wagon. In all fairness, we have been very busy and we simply haven't made blogging a priority. Truth be told, we read blogs on a daily/nightly basis but we fail to update our own blog. Lame - we know. We are prepared to do better. Are you ready for a brief overview since our last update? Here we go:

1. I changed jobs. I used to work for Ancestry.com (just had an IPO last week) and left in March. It is a great company and it was a great job. I worked at Ancestry.com for 6+ years. They put me through college (literally paid a lot of my tuition) and launched my career. It was hard to leave but the opportunity to work for a new company doing exciting things was too tempting. I now work for Mozy.com and am very busy as we ramp up some new products and partnerships. I'm still in the same, exciting field of Business Intelligence and we're building a pretty serious data warehouse for Mozy.

2. Cora keeps growing up. She is now 2 going on 16. She talks a lot and says some pretty funny things. Today in church she told me in Sacrament Meeting, "Dad, calm down sweetie." She is girl through and through. She loves and takes constant care of her baby doll. In addition, loves slides, parks, Kamryn's house (neighbor), church, books, running, and Mickey Mouse.

3. We celebrated our 5 year wedding anniversary in Hawaii. We bit the bullet and we went on a nice 7 day Hawaiian cruise. We loved every minute of it. Even the 12 hour flight delay which caused us to miss the boat the first night. We even loved getting sea sick on our snorkeling trip to Molokini Crater and feeding the fish, if you know what I mean. Ultimately, we had a great time and can't wait to go back. Some highlights were mountain biking the Volcano, riding scooters to magic sands beach in Kona, kayaking and hiking to a waterfall, relaxing on the beach, seeing the Napali coast, visiting the Dole plantation, etc. To view a bunch of pictures from our trip you can click here.

4. Landscaping. It took us all summer but we finally got the sprinklers, grass, trees, bushes, etc. installed. We just have a few more little projects to get done but the big stuff is done and we're glad it is.

So, thank you for being loyal readers and followers of our lame blog. Hopefully this post will keep you coming back for more. Here are a few pictures:

More House Pictures

2009-01-24T20:30:00.006-07:00

Here are some more pictures of our house. Allison says we're not done decorating yet. Slowly but surely. We don't have a picture of Cora's room yet... coming soon.

Master Bedroom

Master Bath

Master Bath

Bathrooom

Front Entry

Office

Laundry Room

Nook

Kitchen

Living Room

Living Room & Nook

Christmas Lights

The House

Long Time, No Post

2009-01-24T20:03:00.003-07:00

We realize that it has been a while since we've updated our blog. We've just been rather busy. We had Christmas in our new home and spent some time with Allison's family. It was great to see Andrew, Daniel, and Michele. We spent a lot time sledding, skiing, shopping, and playing our new Wii. Allison and I even started our own Guitar Hero Band. We are disappointed with how the Cougars ended the football season and we find the Ute's big Sugar Bowl win bitter-sweet.

Cora is growing like a weed. She loves to jump, laugh, talk on my cell phone, play with her baby dolls, sing, dance, and give us kisses. She also loves making trips to the unfinished basement and going up and down the stairs.

As for us, we're just doing the same old stuff. Work is keeping me busy and Cora is keeping Allison busy. We are just glad the holidays are over and that Cora is back to a normal bed time.

Here are some pictures...

Good Morning

Santa Came!

Annual Ferre-Skousen Ginger Bread Houses

Cora performing

MyCanvas

2008-11-19T10:18:00.002-07:00

The Generations Network (the company I work for) just launched a new product a few months ago called MyCanvas (www.mycanvas.com). It is a place where you can print photo books, posters, calendars, etc. using your own pictures. It is pretty similar to SnapFish and other services but the quality is much better. Anyways, we're in the process of adding more and more products. For a short time, you can get 20% off your entire order by using the coupon code MCHOLIDAY. Give it a try!

Also, if you're into Family History try going to http://mycanvas.ancestry.com. Here they have additional project types and templates around documenting and preserving your family history research. The same coupon code should work on this site too.

Please ignore the shameless marketing plug for the company I work for... just thought I would pass on a good deal. I really don't care if you buy anything or not.

NKOTB

2008-11-09T22:21:00.003-07:00

That's right... we're all moved in. Thanks for everyone who helped us move. We really appreciate it. Everything went so well and we're so excited and grateful to be in our new house. We love it!

We moved in just in time... It snowed 3 days later.

Halloween 2008

2008-11-09T21:57:00.003-07:00

We met up with the Ferre family for the 3rd Annual Ferre Skousen pumpkin carving night. Thanks for the fun-filled, pizza-eating, pumpkin-carving night. This year Cora was a lion. She played the part well and even threw in her own sound effects. We went to the ward's Trunk-or-Treat. Cora is a pro and knows exactly what to do. My favorite part was when she took a piece of candy from her basket and put it into another boy's basket. I guess she just wanted to share the sugar. Way to go, Cora!

Seattle Trip

2008-11-09T21:25:00.004-07:00

At the beginning of October we went to Seattle for a week. Nate got to attend a Microsoft conference for work and he took me and Cora with him. We decided to stay a few extra days to see the sites.

Seattle is beautiful and it only rained 2 times while we were there. While Nate was
at the conference, Cora and I roamed the streets of downtown Seattle. We walked through Pike's Market a couple of times, visited the local Gap, and found some good places to eat. Anyways here are a few pictures.

In front of Pike's Market... Nate had some good Clam Chowder there for lunch one day.

Cora enjoying the view

The family at the Seattle Aquarium

Enjoying the harbor

We took a little cruise around Elliott Bay

Allison and Cora on the Harbor Cruise

BURNOUT

2008-10-12T20:48:00.004-06:00

Cora loves Hot Wheels... they are her favorite toy as of late. For our trip to Seattle we let her pick out a pack of Hot Wheels for her to play with on the plane. She has good taste. She picked the pack with a Mercedes, Porche, RangeRover, and Lexus. She especially loves seeing them crash so we decided to make a BURNOUT video (video game where you get points for causing large accidents). Check it out...

Don't forget... This blog is going private on Wednesday, 15th October. If you would like an invite, send an e-mail to skousenblog@gmail.com. Don't be shy.

Blog IPO (Initial Private Offering)

2008-09-21T22:14:00.004-06:00

We have decided to take our blog private rather than public. Please e-mail us at skousenblog@gmail.com to receive an invite. Be sure to tell us who you are too... we may not know you by your sweet16Hottie or StudMuffinCougar email address. We will be making the switch October 15th.

What Up?

2008-09-21T21:10:00.006-06:00

It has been a while since we've posted so we will give an update on the most important things (namely Cora).

Cora:

Cora is officially a walker... she has graduated from crawling and is loving her newfound freedom. Church is even more exciting as she has realized she doesn't always need to or want to sit in our laps for 3 hours. Peter & Leah's ward has many more kids than our student ward. Cora loves kids and whispers "Hi" to all the kids in the hallway. Her first love, though, is White Socks. He is the most kind, forgiving, patient cat you will ever meet. Cora wakes up every morning (still half asleep) saying "Cat Cat". Cora is happiest when White Socks is by her side. I have to remind White Socks that she's still daddy's little girl.

Here is a picture of the two love birds:

Nate & Allison:
We're doing well. Allison is enjoying her Nike+ system that hooks up to her iPod. Her favorite part is when Lance Armstrong lets her know her running stats at the end of her run. It is very motivating apparently.

I'm still working at The Generations Network working on awesome projects. I even recruited one of my mission buddies and college roommates (Brandon Camp) to come work with me. Work has been a lot of fun since he joined the team... even though he beats me in foosball tournaments occasionally.

House:
The house is coming along nicely. Here are some of the latest pictures... we don't want to bore you too much with these. These pictures may be more exciting to us than to you.

The front of the house. They just started the stucco...it will not be this color.

Living Room

Back of the house

House Progress

2008-08-22T23:31:00.004-06:00

So we broke ground on the house towards the end of July and we're amazed at how much they have completed already. We try to go by the lot once a week to see what they have done and we're usually surprised to see all the progress. We're really excited and can't wait to move in. We'll be moving this next weekend into Peter & Leah's house and staying there until the house is completed in mid November. They are so nice to let us stay in their house while they are staying in some sweet chateau in Italy for several months. Anyways, here are a few pictures...

The Duck Pond

2008-07-27T22:08:00.002-06:00

This afternoon we took a little walk to the duck pond. Cora was very excited to see all of the ducks waddling around and swimming in the pond. I gave Cora some pieces of bread to feed the ducks. Cora thought that the bread was for her and she ate every piece that I gave her. Funny. Unfortunately, I didn't get any pictures of the event. I am posting some pictures of Cora just because.

We're Building a House

2008-07-13T21:08:00.005-06:00

So we have decided to build a house. After much deliberation we finalized everything a few weeks ago and now we're waiting for the permits and we hope to break ground in the next week or two. The house should be finished towards the end of the year. We had a great time picking out all the options including carpet, tile, counter tops, cabinets, brick, stucco, roof, etc, etc, etc. We are really excited and can't wait to see them start construction.

UPDATE: It is in Lehi, near Thanksgiving Point.

This is a house that is just like ours that is finished. Our house will have red brick instead of stone (they say it lasts longer and requires less maintenance) with white trim and a dark roof.

Cora's Photo Shoot

2008-07-07T21:20:00.002-06:00

Here is Cora's latest photo shoot. We thought they turned out really well and ended up buying all the photos on CD. We had them taken at Busath/Bounce photography on 500 West 200 North in Provo, UT.

Where is Matt?

2008-06-24T17:15:00.002-06:00

I just found out about this guy... Matt. He has traveled around the world and does this dance in front of landmarks and unique places on the earth. For some reason it is really moving. I enjoyed it.

Big Events

2008-05-18T17:40:00.008-06:00

Clearly, it has been a while since we've updated and we've had a lot of requests to post the latest news. Since our last post a lot has happened. Here is a laundry list of items:

1. Nate's Birthday
2. Allison's Birthday
3. Nate's Graduation
4. 4 Year Wedding Anniversary
5. House Hunting
6. First trip to the Zoo

Overall, we're doing well and enjoy having Nate come home at 5:30 or 6:00 with no homework or tests to worry about. As some of you may know, he accepted a full time offer at The Generations Network (Ancestry.com, MyFamily.com, etc.). He really likes his job and we're getting used to the idea of staying in Utah.

Cora is growing up so fast. She can now stand up on her own with the help of the couch or any sturdy structure. She is even sleeping better... knock on wood. She always smiles and loves to see other children. She is also a wonderful eater. She loves fruits & vegetables including asparagus, broccoli, carrots, peas, lettuce, pears, apples, bananas, etc. She'll basically eat anything we give her. I wish the same were true for Nate!

We've also begun the house hunt. It is pretty stressful but we hope to be in a home this summer sometime.

We're excited for the Everett Family Reunion this summer where many of my brothers and sisters along with their families will be visiting for week. That will be the highlight of our summer.

Graduation

Oh No!

Cora's first trip to the zoo. She loved the monkeys.

Allison's Birthday. Nate surprised me with a trip to a day spa. It was great!!

Oops...

Cora on the swings... This is almost a daily ritual.

Our latest photo shoot. We'll post more pictures of this later.

Rex Lee Run/Skousen 5K

2008-03-16T21:39:00.004-06:00

The Rex Lee Run took a different turn this year. Nate, Cora, and I had been preparing to run the 5K together. We were so excited that we even bought a jogging stroller and new running shoes for Nate. We were disappointed to find that the weather was less than desirable on Saturday morning (27 degrees and 80% chance of snow...eek). We hadn't factored weather into the equation at all. So, we came up with a Plan B/alternative Rex Lee Run that we affectionately refer to as the Skousen 5K. The Skousen 5K took place at the Smith Field House (short track!). The only participants were Nate and Cora...the winners, both by default and sheer skill. I (Allison) participated in the traditional Rex Lee Run and withstood the cold. It was sad that we weren't able to run all together but we were happy with our creative alternative.

Here are some pictures of us...minus Cora (she was napping by this point).

A post wouldn't be complete without a Cora picture. Enjoy!

Valentine's Day, Etc.

2008-02-24T20:25:00.006-07:00

So these last couple of weeks have been busy... as usual. The week of Valentine's, Nate had 2 tests and we had to leave later in the week to go to his brother's (Josh) wedding in Albuquerque. We left Friday morning and came back Monday afternoon. The next week Nate had a presentation at school and had to speak today in Stake Conference during the Priesthood Leadership session. I have been busy too running at the track, going to the library with Cora, and finalizing our ward picture directory.

Here is a picture of Cora on the plane on the way to Abq. She did a really good job and even slept for part of the trip.

Here is the happy couple. We're excited for Josh and Cathi!

Here are some other pictures that we've taken lately.

Overall, we're doing well and enjoying watching Cora grow and learn. We think she is really close to crawling and she can now roll around with purpose and get to anything she really wants. To contain her, we've set up a nice perimeter of pillows on the living room floor which prevents her from rolling too far. (See picture below). Cora has been wonderful... she smiles all the time and makes us so happy and proud.

For Valentine's day Nate brought home PF Chang's for dinner and some nice flowers. We just spent the evening with Cora and packing for our trip to New Mexico. Here are the flowers Nate gave me.

OneStopGPS.com

2008-02-22T08:50:00.002-07:00

This post has nothing to really do with our family but I thought I would share some cool information. Some of you may know that I own a website called OneStopGPS.com where I try to sell GPS equipment. I've been running the website for more than a year and every month I get more and more visitors. Anyways, over the past month I have received about 135 visitors from 19 countries. These are the countries:

United States
Indonesia
Thailand
Belarus
Australia
Russia
Canada
Iran
Germany
Latvia
United Kingdom
Lithuania
Spain
Sweden
Puerto Rico
Taiwan
Kuwait
Argentina
Maldives

Crazy uh? That is just in the last month. Over the past year I have received 3,274 visits from 73 different countries.

United States
Canada
United Kingdom
Australia
Germany
Thailand
Brazil
Japan
India
France
Netherlands
Indonesia
Russia
Mexico
Sweden
Spain
Taiwan
Argentina
New Zealand
Israel
Bulgaria
Hong Kong
Italy
Bolivia
Denmark
Senegal
Venezuela
Puerto Rico
Ukraine
Hungary
Poland
Chile
Peru
Ireland
Malaysia
Finland
Greece
Turkey
Kuwait
Singapore
Romania
China
Malta
Croatia
South Korea
Lithuania
Colombia
Belgium
United Arab Emirates
Portugal
Vietnam
Austria
Belarus
Iran
Bosnia and Herzegovina
Mozambique
Cayman Islands
Norway
Latvia
El Salvador
Barbados
U.S. Virgin Islands
Martinique
Switzerland
Slovakia
Serbia and Montenegro
Bahamas
Costa Rica
Panama
Macedonia
Maldives
South Africa

The internet truly is global!!

Cora has teeth.

2008-01-20T21:04:00.000-07:00

Happy New Year!

Cora has teeth! Isn't that amazing? If you don't believe me...please see below. Teething was/is an interesting experience. I don't think that she knew quite what was happening. I think her new teeth are cute.

Cora eats solids! Cora has started eating rice cereal. I am not sure if she enjoys biting the spoon more or actually eating the rice. Here are some pictures of her first try with solids.

We are doing well. Just trying to survive the winter. I don't really like the cold. You would think that I would be used to it after many many Ohio and Utah winters. Despite my previous experiences, the coldness always comes as an unwelcome surprise. I guess that winter makes the spring seem that much better.

Nate has started his last semester at BYU. Wow! The below picture closely resembles a much earlier picture taken of Nate at the beginning of a school year. I think that both of them capture his true excitement for his studies.

Christmas 2007

2007-12-23T14:18:00.000-07:00

Where does the time go? It was this time last year that we announced to everyone that Allison was expecting and here we are with a 5 month old. We have been very busy lately and there is probably a lot to post about. Since our last post we have enjoyed Thanksgiving, finals, and Cora's 5 month birthday. Christmas is just a few days away and we're very excited to see Daniel and Michele (Allison's brother and sister-in-law) and Andrew (Allison's other brother). We were also lucky to see my (Nate) parents this last weekend as they came up to help Josh (my brother) move back to New Mexico. It was nice to spend time with them.

Overall we're doing great. I finished my finals this last week after 2 weeks of working on many group projects and a couple of days of food poisoning (Thanks Cafe Rio!). Only one more semester left! Cora is growing so much. She can now roll from her stomach to her back... although we have actually never seen her do it. She will be on her stomach one second and then are her back the next and we are amazed. Weird. Also, we think she is teething. Normally, she is a very happy baby and has really liked to whole sleeping thing but in the past few days she is more upset and wakes up more often. She is also drooling and bitting things all the time. We'll see if she gets two front teeth for Christmas. We have posted some pictures we thought you would enjoy. We hope you have wonderful Christmas and a Happy New Year!

Nate, Allison, & Cora

Amazon MP3

2007-11-16T14:15:00.000-07:00

Have you guys heard of Amazon MP3? It's Amazon.com's MP3 download service. It is actually pretty cool and much better than iTunes. Here is what Amazon has to say about it...

AmazonMP3offers Earth's biggest selection of a la carte, DRM-free MP3 music downloads. With over 2 million songs from more than 180,000 artists represented by over 20,000 major and independent labels, Amazon MP3 complements Amazon.com's existing selection of over 1 million CDs to offer customers more selection of physical and digital music than any other retailer.

Every song and album on Amazon MP3 is available exclusively in the MP3 format without digital rights management (DRM) software. This means that Amazon MP3 customers are free to enjoy their music downloads using any hardware device, organize their music using any music management application, and burn songs to CDs.

Most songs are priced from 89 cents to 99 cents, with more than 1 million of the 2 million songs priced at 89 cents. The top 100 best-selling songs are 89 cents, unless marked otherwise. Most albums are priced from $5.99 to $9.99. The top 100 best-selling albums are $8.99 or less, unless marked otherwise.

Every song on Amazon MP3 is encoded at 256 kilobits per second, which gives customers high audio quality at a manageable file size.

Anyways, check out AmazonMP3... you can get there by clicking on this image...

Happy Halloween! Go fish!

2007-11-08T20:56:00.001-07:00

Cora experienced her first Halloween. She was a goldfish. Nate and I were fishermen. Nate added a little touch of "scary/???" to the costume as always. His standard misc. black wig and a good amount of my eyeliner made the costume complete. We went to our ward Halloween party and to Nate's work for trick or treating. Enjoy!

Cora LOVED chewing on the bottom of the fish mouth!

We carved pumpkins with the Ferre family. Fun!

The finished pumpkins.

Another cute one of Cora. Poor girl gets bombarded by the camera every day.

More Cora

2007-10-14T21:14:00.001-06:00

Here are some more pictures of Cora! We have been doing well. Cora is growing everyday. She has started to do some rolling and continues to smile and laugh from time to time. I (Allison) have been trying to put her in her Bumbo more to help her practice sitting up. She always has a very proud look on her face when she holds her head and shoulders up. Enjoy!

Latest News

2007-09-16T18:53:00.001-06:00

Before we update everyone about what is going on in our lives we thought we would share a few of our favorite pictures as of late.

We're happy to say that Cora is doing well. She is sleeping better, eating a lot, and finding good use for all the diapers we have bought. We're amazed at how much she has grown and changed over the past 10 weeks. She's even starting to smile as you saw in the pictures above. She is great.

After much deliberation, prayer, and thought Allison and I have decided to accept a full-time offer with The Generations Network (TGN)... where I currently work. I received an offer from Ernst & Young after my internship and TGN counter offered and we decided to stay. There were many good things about both opportunities. We weighed the pro's and con's of each. Ultimately, it was a difficult decision but we feel like we made the right choice. So, until graduation we will be saving money and begin looking for a house.

Anyways, everything else is going well. We're getting adjusted to having a third member of our family and we're enjoying life.

Cora's Music Video Debut

2007-09-16T18:43:00.000-06:00

Here is Cora showing off her dancing skills. There are some days where she'll get going and she can't stop.

And yes... that is Nate beat-boxin' in the background.

A few more pictures

2007-08-25T21:45:00.000-06:00

Here are a few of the latests pictures. Now that we're back in Utah we're loving the nice weather and not missing the 100+ degree weather in Phoenix. We can actually go outside and walk. It is great.

Allison and Cora near Bridal Veil Falls

Nate & Cora by the Provo river

Cora dressed up for Church

Enjoying life

Sleeping during our picnic at the park

Allison and Cora enjoying our picnic in the park

We're Home

2007-08-21T22:03:00.000-06:00

We are now home after being in Phoenix for the past several weeks. The internship went well and we're glad to be home. We really enjoyed staying with Jessica & Danilo (Allison's sister & brother-in-law) and playing with Hannah and Olivia. We're so grateful for them and for allowing us to stay with them. It was very nice. We also enjoyed visiting Rachel & Dave and seeing their new house. Sage and Alex have sure grown up!

Jessica holding Cora

Danilo holding Cora

Rachel holding Cora

On our way home we stopped in St. George and spent the night and drove the rest of the way home. We had a good trip... Cora did a great job and slept most of the way. Since then, she has been sleeping much better at night. The last several nights have been pretty good. We're amazed at how much she has grown in the last 6 weeks. Here are few of the latest pictures.

Cora hanging out in the hotel

Overall we're happy to be home and looking forward to Nate's last 2 semesters of graduate school. Allison is really excited for the BYU graduate dinner where we can win a semester's worth of graduate tuition... we've never won anything so cross your fingers.

Hiccups

2007-08-10T12:13:00.000-06:00

So Cora really likes having hiccups. She'll stop crying when she starts to have hiccups and she'll just look around and calm down. It is great.

More Pictures - And Nate came home?

2007-07-16T22:55:00.000-06:00

Here are some more pictures that we thought you would enjoy. We had a nice surprise this weekend. A partner that I work with came up to me on Friday afternoon and said something to the effect of "you should be home with your family this weekend" and handed me a plane ticket leaving that evening at 6:30pm and returning Tuesday morning. Needless to say, it was very kind of him and we really enjoyed the weekend together. Cora seems to be growing up fast. I was gone for 3 days and she seemed to have changed a little bit. We're enjoying this stage but we can't wait until she can sleep through the night!

Also, after our 2 week appointment on Friday, Allison will be coming out to Arizona on Saturday and will be staying with me at Jessica & Danilo's home. We're so grateful for them in letting us stay there. We're also thankful for all those that have helped... especially my Mom who has been helping Allison while I'm away and for my brother, Josh, who has become my official airport taxi driver. Anyways, we are blessed to have so many wonderful people in our lives.

Enjoy the pictures!

Slideshow

2007-07-08T20:38:00.000-06:00

Here is a slide show of some pictures we have taken. We'll add new ones as they come so keep watching!

We're Home!

2007-07-08T19:57:00.000-06:00

So we made it home ok. We drove through BYU campus on our way home and gave her a good tour. Last night was our first night home with her and we didn't sleep as much as we would have liked. But we are older and wiser now, so we'll see how tonight goes. Anyways, here are few more pictures of her at home. Enjoy.

Cora Ann Skousen

2007-07-06T14:32:00.000-06:00

Cora Ann Skousen was born yesterday, July 5th 2007, at 1:24pm. She weighed 8lbs 6oz and measured 20 inches long. Allison and Cora are both doing great. Cora has passed all her tests and she's very good at opening her eyes and looking around. She has a nice head of hair and long fingernails. We're still trying to figure out who she looks the most like. We can't really tell yet. We are very grateful that there were no complications, that she has 10 fingers and toes, and that I was able to make it in time.

Labor went relatively well. Allison started have contractions on July 4th that were about 20-30 minutes apart. By the evening they were becoming more frequent so I bought a plane ticket and packed my bag. I arrived home at about 10:30pm and we were in the hospital by 1:30am with contractions about 5 minutes apart. After being checked in the hospital, labor stayed about the same with no major progress. Our doctor came in a 7:00am and broke her water and then labor stopped. Needless to say, after some putosin (spelling?) things picked up again and Cora was born at 1:24pm.

We're having fun changing diapers, holding her, watching her open her eyes, and having friends and family come by to see us. Allison is doing great... even with a 12 hour labor. She is up and walking around today and we're both just amazed at how everything went. It feels surreal and wonderful. We're excited and nervous but can't wait to get to know her.

Here are few pictures of her...

T Minus 2 weeks

2007-06-30T10:43:00.000-06:00

We are now about 2 weeks away from the due date (July 11th). Allison went to the doctor on Friday and things are looking good. It seems like she might be right on track for July 11th. But who really knows? It can happen anytime... and I'm ready to pack up and go if I need to.

I just got back from 2 weeks of intern training in Los Angeles. It went very well and I met some really nice people. I had a great time eating good food and learning about auditing. They even gave me a laptop and a corporate charge card. Not bad. One night they took us to the Santa Monica Pier. You can see a picture of me below. I wish Allison could have been there. It's kind of boring being a tourist with out your significant other.

Anyways, we're getting excited for the baby to come. We have plenty of clothes, diapers, and blankets. We've gotten a crib, stroller, car seat, and a whole new maternity wardrobe for Allison... what else do you need? As soon as the baby is born we'll let everyone know and post some pictures. We hope you're all doing well!

Latest Update

2007-05-06T21:10:00.000-06:00

We're sorry we haven't updated more frequently. Things have been pretty busy. But school is finally over for the semester and we're looking forward to a great summer. We still have a lot to prepare for and at times it feels overwhelming. We did find a good deal this last week though. Allison found a jogging stroller for $3 at a garage sale. It was kind of dirty and had a flat tire but we cleaned it up and patched the tire and now she's ready to go. There are a few pictures below. You'll also notice that we have finally posted a picture of Allison. We took this picture just a few moments ago, so it is the most up-to-date view. She is about 7 months along...crazy. Time seems to fly by.

We're still trying to figure out the logistics with me being in Phoenix for the internship and Allison staying in Utah. We just hope the baby decides to come 3-4 weeks early. That would solve everything. If that doesn't happen, then I will be on call and catching the earliest flight out of Phoenix.

We hope everything is well with all of you!

Nate & Allison

The Running Stroller

Another View - it is still a little wet after washing it...

March Madness

2007-03-12T09:34:00.000-06:00

It's March and that means I'll be a year older and the NCAA Men's Basketball Tournament begins. What a great month! If you're interested in filling out a bracket and joining our group go here: http://skousen.mayhem.sportsline.com/e. You will need a password to join which I can supply if you email me . It is free to join and there should be a lot of people in the group so it should be a lot of fun. If you have never filled out a bracket, you're missing out. Why not try it this year? Who knows, you just might win!

Note: You need to sign up by March 15th.

Walk-In Closets

2007-03-03T19:50:00.000-07:00

So at the end of January, our apartment manager notified us that construction workers would be coming in 2 weeks to rip out our old closets to install new walk-in closets. We had mixed feelings about this project... but to make a long story short, the construction workers came and a 2 week project turned into a 3 1/2 week ordeal. Needless to say, the project is over and we just spent the entire day reorganizing our lives. We'll let the pictures tell the story...

This is what our closets used to look like. Both rooms in our 2 bedroom apartment are identical. This is a picture of our 2nd room.

Here is a picture of all our stuff piled in the room because we had to remove everything from the closets.

They made good progress the first day... too bad they didn't keep pace. There were several days (5 days) where they didn't do anything!

Here's the junk behind our building.

Finally they did the framing.

And the dry wall. It seemed like they would never finish!

3 1/2 weeks and a full Saturday of cleaning later... we're done living out of boxes.

Ultimately, we're grateful for the experience. We sent about 5 bags of stuff to DI and reorganized everything. We feel like we live in a new apartment and the closets turned out better than we had anticipated.

It's A Girl!

2007-02-21T19:38:00.000-07:00

We had our first ultrasound yesterday and saw our baby for the first time! It was pretty cool. The nurse doing the ultrasound said that she is 98% sure that it is a girl. We will take her word for it and plan accordingly. We have some pretty good pictures from the ultrasound that we might post a little later. We got a good picture of her hands and you can count all 5 fingers. Everything is going well and developing properly, which we are very grateful for. Allison has been doing well, other than a few weeks of nausea. Overall, it hasn't been that bad. She is mainly just tired and can sleep forever. However, she has been doing some running and water aerobics which have helped.

The due date is set for July 11th, which is right in the middle of my (Nate's) internship in Phoenix. I have already talked to Ernst & Young about the situation and they have been really nice about it. I will be able to take a week or two off so I can be with Allison and the baby. The only trick will be getting from Phoenix to Provo in time. We're not sure yet how that is going to work, but we're sure it will.

Anyways, things are going well and we are very excited!

Our Most Recent Update

2007-02-04T20:16:00.000-07:00

So it has been a few weeks since we have posted the 2006 in Review video and we figured that since we are already in February that we had better give an update for 2007. In fact, nothing much has changed... I (Nate) am still in school and Allison is still working. Both of which we're grateful for. However, we are both very busy with school, work, and church responsibilities. Overall though, life is going well. We had a very enjoyable evening last night. We got tickets to see BYU's production of Oklahoma! and we really enjoyed it. It was pretty long but very entertaining. So far we have really enjoyed the various plays and musicals that BYU does. They do a great job.

The weather in Utah this winter has been extremely cold and snowy. We have attached some pictures of one storm we had. We wanted to go snowshoeing or cross-country skiing this year but we haven't had much time. Hopefully we'll get out and do something before Allison becomes too uncomfortable. Anyways we hope you're all doing well. Please leave some comments, call us, or send us an e-mail. We'd love to hear from you.

Nate & Allison

2006 in Review

2007-01-15T21:07:00.000-07:00

So here is our 2006 in Review video. It is just a recap of all of our adventures in 2006. We hope everyone had a great year. We're looking forward to an eventful 2007. Enjoy!

BYU 33 UTAH 31

2006-11-27T14:27:00.000-07:00

So college football is great and BYU is even better. BYU is currently ranked 21 on the BCS standings and just keeps on winning! Go Cougars!!! Even better, BYU beat the University of Utah on Saturday in probably the most heroic fashion ever. Imagine 3 seconds left, you need a touchdown to win, last play of the game, last play of the season, and you're on the 15 yard line. What do you do? See what BYU's QB (John Beck) did... Amazing! This is by far the best college football game I have ever seen! Here is a video recap BYU VIDEO

It has been a while...

2006-10-03T07:41:00.000-06:00

Everyone,

We are sorry it has taken so long to write an update. We have been very busy over the past few months. We'll write an update for each of us so you know what's been going on.

Nate
School has started and so has the recruiting season. Just about every night for the past 3 weeks I have been going to reruiting events, information sessions, or interviews. It is nice knowing that there are jobs out in the world but it has been very busy. I have officially started the Masters program this semester and there has been a lot of reading and group work. It has been busy but fun so far.

Work has been going well, I have stayed part-time with MyFamily.com in the corporate office in the Business Intelligence Team. I was also just hired as a TA for Isys 580 where I'll be listed as a co-instructor. It's a class that teaches business grad students (MBA, MISM, MACC, & MPA) advanced knowledge in web development, MS Excel, M S Access, Powerpoint, Accounting Software, etc. It's a self-taught class so I don't know how much "instructing" I'll really be doing but I will have some lab hours where students can come in and get help. Mostly I'll be doing grading.

Allison
Allison has been very busy with church, classes, and work. She has just started a book binding class which is very interesting. She just finished binding her first book this weekend and it looks great. She has also been diligently going to her Aerobic classes which she loves. We figure Aerobics is her new hobby. Work has been hectic with school starting up again but she has successfully mastered ever aspect of her job. She is very good at what she does. She especially enjoys the monthly "Fun Walks" that BYU sponsors during her lunch hour. All the faculty and staff are invited to participate where they walk for several miles and win prizes and get "non-fat" cookies to eat. This last month Allison won a stadium chair! Hopefully we'll put that to good use.

Anyways, we hope everyone is doing well and don't forget to leave some comments!

Nate & Allison

Memorial Weekend

2006-06-04T17:37:00.000-06:00

We had a great Memorial Day weekend last weekend. Nate's sister Caitlin came up on Friday and spent the weekend with us before going to EFY on Monday. On Saturday Caitlin and Michele joined us on a hike to Stewart Falls, which is great hike. The water was freezing but we had a lot of fun. Below are some pictures of our journey. Later that day we finally broke down and bought a couch. The time was well overdue and we caught a really good sale so we decided to do it. It is a microfiber couch and it is really comfortable...we are very excited.

On Monday we went up to Park City to celebrate our anniversary. We celebrated it late because finals fell on our actual anniversary this year. On Monday we rode the alpine slide at the Park City Mountain Resort and then did some shopping at that outlet malls. We then stayed the night at the Stein Erickson Lodge there in Park City, which was really nice! We also went to dinner at a great Thai restuarant... we highly recommend it. It is called Bangkok Thai on Main... stop in when you get chance! Then, on Tuesday we drove to Midway, UT (between Park City and Provo) where we drove around and saw some really nice houses and went horseback riding. Overall we had a great weekend and it was tough to come back to work and responsibility but it was sure nice to get away. This will probably be our most exciting weekend we'll have this summer, other than the upcoming Everett Family Reunion, as the rest of the summer we'll be working and saving money. Anyways, we hope all is well with everyone!

Nate & Allison

On our way to Stewart Falls!

Almost there...

We finally made it!

Allison on our King Size bed at Stein Erickson Lodge

On our trusty steeds!

The view from our room balcony

The top of the mountain... our horses did all the work :)

Here is our new couch:

May Update

2006-05-24T21:20:00.000-06:00

After much demand we have decided to post an update. School is out (at least for the summer) and it is great! We found out recently that I (Nate) have been accepted to the Masters of Information Systems Management program (MISM), which is great news. I will begin this fall semester and I will be graduating April 2008. I know that seems like a long ways away but it's not bad considering I'll have a masters degree. Allison and I feel very blessed and thankful that I was accepted.

Now that school is out I'm working full-time doing an "internship" with MyFamily.com in the corporate office. For the past 3 years I have been in the MyFamily.com call center where I have been a sales agent, supervisor, and systems analyst. I am now at the corporate office working with the Business Intelligence Team where I'll be working with the company's data warehouse and stuff. I'm very excited and it is a great opportunity.

Allison is doing great. She has been taking some aerobic classes (aka "kick boxing") and she signed us up for Y-Be-Fit. Y-Be-Fit is a fitness program offered to students and staff of BYU. We have to religiously record our food consumption and work on an exercise program. We had our 2nd appointment today where we did various physical tests such as strength, flexibility, % body fat, heart rate, etc... and next week we'll get a 55 page book about how to improve and set some goals. After a few months we'll go back and see if we have improved. Needless to say I have a lot of work cut out for me but it should be fun.

Allison is also enjoying her new calling as the Relief Society Secretary in our ward. She has been very busy and diligent setting up visits, and keeping organized. She is doing a great job!

We're looking forward to rest of the summer and spending some time will family and friends. We're planning on going up to Park City for Memorial Day where we'll go mountain biking and horseback riding and stay there Monday night. It will be our main vacation for the summer and it will be our 2nd year anniversary party since our actual anniversary fell on the week of finals.

We hope you all are doing well and make sure to keep in touch!!!

Nate & Allison

Press Release - AITP Competition

2006-04-19T10:23:00.000-06:00

To see the press report posted by BYU about our competition winnings go here: News Report

I'm also quoted in the report but I don't think I said exactly what they quoted me saying.

Flash Movie is Finished

2006-04-17T20:31:00.000-06:00

My flash project is finished... if you want to see the final product go here: Ever-Climate System

March Madness

2006-04-09T19:32:00.000-06:00

As the title alludes, March was indeed madness. Not only was the NCAA basketball tournament absolute madness, but so also was our month of activities. Where do we begin? The most exciting thing that happened was my trip to Dallas on the 30th. Five other undergraduate students, two graduate students, and I were chosen to represent BYU in a National Collegiate Isys Competition. Every year the Association of Information Technology Professionals host the competition. The conference/competition lasts 3 days and we had a lot of fun. The pictures below should tell the story. The view from our 36th floor hotel room was all right! Overall BYU did very well this year. We competed in Systems Analysis & Design, Database Design, Java Programming, Web Design, and a Graduate Project Competition.

Matt and I took 1st place in the Systems Analysis & Design competition and another BYU team took 3rd in the same competition. Matt and I also did the Database Design competition but didn't do so well because we didn't know enough SQL stuff, plus they messed up on communicating the requirements. Next year we'll do better though, now that we know what to expect. Those were the only two competitions we did. The other BYU teams took 1st in Java, 3rd in Java, 1st in the Graduate competition, and Honorable Mention in the Web Design.

Ultimately, this shows how great our program is here at BYU. Our professors really do prepare us well and I hope to go again next year! Below are a few pictures of our trophies.

As far as other things go, I have been interviewing with some of the big 4 accounting firms. This summer I will be doing a summer leadership program with a few of the firms. In June and July I will be flying out for a few days to attend the programs and I'll be able to visit the offices in Phoenix. Hopefully, this will help me get an internship next summer and maybe a full-time job.

Allison has been busy doing all kinds of things as well. She is currently taking Aerobics, Water Aerobics, Stress Management, and Children's Writting classes. Plus, she was recently called as the Relief Society Secretary in our ward. Needless to say, she is very busy.

Anyways, we hope things are going well for all of you and we can't wait for this semester to be over!

Nate & Allison

Our view from the 36th floor of our 5 Star Hotel

The Winners!

The Winners again!

Flash

2006-04-06T17:35:00.000-06:00

Right now I'm taking "History of Creativity" to fulfill my last general education requirement. The class has been really interesting because we judge historical events and people based on their creativity. We have seen how people have shaped the world by using their creativity. It's basically a history class but with a creative twist. I have really enjoyed the class aside for the tests and quizes. But the point of this entry is about Flash. For this class I have to do a "creative project" which we turn in the last day of class. We were given the liberty to do whatever we wanted. Sometimes that is good and somtimes that is bad. It can be difficult dreaming up a creative project. I decided I would create a flash movie to present my proposed invention that will change the world... well, not quite. To see the movie click on the link at the bottom of this blog entry. The movie is not finished yet but will be, hopefully, by April 18th, when it is due.

Flash is pretty cool and I have taught myself the basics. I found some really good tutorials online that include written and video demostrations. If you want to learn more check out this website: Flash Tutorials

Anyways things are going well but very busy. We'll put up another blog entry later detailing all of the events that have transpired over the past month. Trust me, we have a laundry list of things. Take Care!

Movie link:Nate's Project

P.S. Make sure you have sound and that your speakers are turned up... it's kind of boring without sound!

Valentines Day

2006-02-19T19:19:00.000-07:00

So I found this sweet Valentines card for Allison... It's pretty funny, or so I thought. This is what it said on the front...

"I got this valentine under duress. As you know, for better or worse, I am not the sort to go for conventional, perfunctory romantic gestures. Not to mention that I instinctively bristle against conformity, gratuitous etiquette, and profit for the card and gift industry. Such gestures are important to you, however, so I do my best to play the appropriate part. Given my personal inclination to ignore St. Valentine, this card therefore represents a far greater testament to my love for you than its price tag or any perceived lack of forethought might erroneously suggest."

You may have to read it a few times but it turns out Allison thought it was funny too. Anyways, we had a good valentines day. I surprised her with a decorated living room and a candle light PF Changs dinner at home. Below are a few pictures.

Life for us right now is extremely busy. School has kept me with very little free time and Allison has been busy going to Aerobics and taking her Children's Writting class. We have enjoyed the latest 8" of snow we have gotten in the past 3 days. It has been snowing off and on all weekend. It's great! We may go sledding tomorrow since we have school and work off (President's Day Weekend).

Anyways please feel free to drop us a line and let us know how things are going!

Nate & Allison

INTEX

2006-01-26T19:16:00.000-07:00

If you ask any BYU student or alumnus whose major is or was Information Systems Management about INTEX you would probably get a response like, "Oh yes, INTEX, I'm glad that’s over."

Well, that is probably how I would react too but besides being glad it's over, I'm glad I did it. In fact, this semester we have INTEX 2. That's right, another INTEX, but this time... it's all semester long baby!

You're probably wondering, "What on earth is INTEX?" In the Information Systems program in the Marriott School of Business at BYU we have an integrated core of classes our junior year, or what is called the Junior Core. That means we have 3 classes that teach us different things but whose curriculum is integrated with the other classes so that what we are learning in one class applies to another class.

So, last semester, my first semester in the Junior Core, I took Java Programming, Systems Analysis & Design, and Database Management. On the Monday after Thanksgiving break we were given a business case detailing an airline company named "Rocky Mountain Airlines." This company was in a process of tremendous growth and needed a new computer system to track their inventory and their maintenance activities. We were given one week to apply all that we had learned thus far in the semester and present a sales proposal on Saturday in front of representatives from PriceWaterhouseCoopers who were the judges.

In the proposal we had to design the system, create mock reports and GUI's, explain the business benefits, and so on. Our report ended up being 77 pages long. On Saturday morning we had to present to the judges and faculty and our group did a great job. After everyone presented we had an award ceremony and our group took 1st place. Out of 20+ groups in the program, our group won. I couldn't believe but we worked hard and needless to say, that week was very difficult (I think I saw Allison for a total of 4 hours that week). But, like I said I'm really glad I did it and it was one of the best educational experiences I've ever had.

Here are some pictures of our group and some logos I made for our project. The orange "Blockwood Video" logo is for INTEX2 where we are actually creating a software package that will handle the business operations of a video rental system. Cool uh! I'm afraid this major is turning me into a nerd!

Nate Skousen, Famous?

2006-01-26T19:04:00.000-07:00

Go to Google and search 'Nate Skousen'. The first two links go to an article my Grandpa published about my great-grandfather building Route 66. Oddly enough I show up #3 on the list, and my Grandpa shows up again on #4. Here my Grandpa (Nate Skousen Jr.) is quoted in the Albuquerque Journal talking about Route 66. Not bad, but I'm not sure how many people are "Googling" Nate Skousen, so I'm sure us Nate Skousens are really not that famous. Oh well!

Download Center

2006-01-23T21:31:00.000-07:00

We have added a new link in the "Links" section titled "Skousen Download Center." We plan on uploading some files that you can download. Stuff you can download include funny videos, programs that Nate has made in his classes, and Skousen home vidoes. Be sure to head on over there and check it out! More stuff will be added periodically.

Cross-Country Skiing

2006-01-22T20:23:00.000-07:00

Last Monday (01/16/06) we enjoyed a nice holiday break from school and work and decided to go cross-country skiing at Aspen Grove, which is just above Sundance Ski Resort in Provo. We had a lot of fun & even found some decent hills to climb up & ski down. Allison did a great job, even though I threw a snowball at her on the way down (by the way... she crashed and burned). The snow was great, but now it's back to school and work!

Welcome to the Skousen Blog

2006-01-11T21:42:00.000-07:00

Welcome to our blog. We hope you come often and see what we're up to. We think having a blog is easier to manage than our old web site that we haven't touched in months. The old site is still up if you want to see other pictures and stuff, but someday we hope to merge all of this "online stuff."

The old site is located here: http://webpub.byu.net/nskousen/

Please feel free to leave some comments on this BLOG and be sure to keep in touch!

Nate & Allison

2006-01-11T21:31:00.000-07:00