Welcome!

I love reading blogs - and have always wanted to start one of my own... but never really had the motivation.  Then it dawned on me one day - I needed to be taking notes on my family's life and this would be a great way to do it. So... here it is - the story of the Skinner family.

I grew up Kelsey Walsh, born and raised in Clackamas, Oregon.  In 1999, I moved to Covallis, Oregon to start attending Oregon State University.  It is said that college will change a person's life and that was my hope going into it.  Little did I know how much it would change my life.  In September 2000, I met my neighbor Andrew Skinner.  We did a lot with our neighbors, so Andy and I got to spend a lot of time together.  We started "officially" dating February 21st, 2001. After graduating in 2003, Andy found a job that moved him to Santa Clarita, California.  We knew that the long distance was going to be our biggest test yet, and if we could make it through that, we could make it through anything.  After graduating in 2004, I moved to Santa Clarita to join Andy.  We had made it through out hardest year yet... and were looking forward to figuring out our next step.

In 2005, Andy applied for and got a job at his dream company - Warn Industries.  What did this mean for us?  It meant that we were packing up and moving.  What else did it mean?  It meant that we were moving back to Clackamas!!!  We were excited... not only was he getting his dream job, but I was getting to move home. 

In February 2006, Andy decided we needed to go snowshoeing.  Normally, I wouldn't have fought him on the idea, but considering there was a winter storm warning going on... I tried to talk him out of it.  Even my mom was extremely concerned.  Still, we went.  We were determined to hike a trail that went by a waterfall, but we couldn't find the entrance.  We stopped by a ranger station and they strongly recommended that we not snowshoe that day - that it was too stormy and they were predicting too much snow.  You would think this would have been a great place to stop, but no... Andy drove over to Trillium Lake and said that was the place.  We started hiking in - knowing it was only about a mile and a half in to the lake.  What we didn't anticipate was the winds and extremely heavy snowfall! We made it about a mile before we had to stop.  Laying in the snow, trying to catch our breathes... When Andy rolled over and proposed.  It was an amazing moment... one I will never forget.  We were married in front of 260 - 270 of our family and friends in July - it was a perfect day!

One thing that Andy and I both knew we wanted was children... but decided that we would start with a puppy. We went to the Humane Society and found Tyson - and fell in love immediately.  He is a boxer-rottweiler mix and came to us at 17lbs.  He has been the best puppy a family could have as he is loving and protective and gentle (even at his current weight of 105lbs). 

While we waited a couple years to start a family... we were ecstatic when it finally happened.  On March 10, 2009 - our son Jarrett Andrew was born at 4:21am.

It was the happiest moment in our lives when he joined us.  He was such a good baby and really, the inspiration for this blog.  He has grown up so fast and I feel like we don't have time to write down all the wonderful things he does.  He is currently 34 months old and amazes us daily.  I can not wait to share all the wonderful stories and crazy, wacky things he does... if anything, so I don't forget. 

With that all being said - welcome and thank you for reading this blog... We look forward to sharing family stories and pictures with you all!