Rubykins turns one

Our little angel turned one on Friday. We can't believe it has been a whole year since she entered this world at the same time we can't imagine life without her. She is just such a precious little ball of energy and she keeps us all smiling all the time. At one she is not quite walking yet, just a few steps here and there. She doesn't say any words, but she has no trouble making her wishes/demands known. She has recently started to pick up on a few signs, she would probably know more if I could remember them to teach to her. Her favorite things in the world are playing with her brother, wearing things around her neck (necklaces, vacumn cords - she is not picky), being held upside down, and eating chicken nuggets. Happy Birthday Ruby June, we sure do love you!

Labor Day Weekend

We spent our Labor Day weekend camping with some friends outside of Tapioca (aka Tabiona). We had a great time which included lots of relaxing, throwing rocks into the river, some off roading and hiking, exploring the culinary offerings of Duchesne (yuck!), chasing little girls out of the dirt and toddlers away from the fire, and just hanging out. It was great!

Father and Son

Sam and Ollie were not able to make it to the Father and Son's campout this year so they opted for the next best thing. They spent the evening up Little Cottonwood canyon roasting hot dogs and marshmellows and then camped out together on the living room floor. Oliver was thrilled, especially since he got to use a flashlight and sleep in his sleeping bag, life pretty much doesn't get any better than that.

Happy Birthday Oliver

I can't believe we have a three-year-old, but it is true. Ollie wanted a barbeque for his birthday so we had the grandparents over for hamburgers and cake. Since Oliver is currently obsessed with tractors - he can name every kind of tractor, what their parts are and what they do - we had a tractor themed party.



He helped make the cake and all he can talk about now is turning four so he can have another birthday. It could be a long year...

The Backyard Makeover

In a brief moment of insanity we decided to put sod in our backyard/patio area. I took the initiative the next day of ripping out all of the plants and raking off all of the wood chips. Then we sat and stared at the mess for a couple of weeks wondering if we really wanted to do it. In the end we hauled out two trailers-full of gravel, brought it two more trailers-full of fill dirt, moved an entire retaining wall, built a new set of stairs, and finally laid sod. We are so happy with the results and I am kicking myself for not having taken a "before picture". We love to play on our little patch of grass and it makes me happy to look out the window and see green

Here is our work crew, we definitely would never have gotten all those boulders moved without the help of our awesome neighbors.

Who's the man! We have a rule at our house, I can tell Sam what I want done, or how to do it, but I cannot tell him both. In this case I said I wanted sod, he took care of all the rest and he did a beautiful job (much better than if he had listened to all of my suggestions, which obviously he didn't because I wasn't supposed to be making any;)
The front retaining wall in this picture used to be placed about three feet further back, we moved it to get the biggest patch of grass possible.
Of course, daddy had lots of helpers. I am surprised that he got anything done with Oliver's tractors always being in the way.

Ruby June didn't miss out on any of the fun either.

Our very loved librarian

My sister made a whirlwind visit to Utah this summer (she lives in Little Rock Arkansas) and as part of the celebration all of the girls - and Ollie - hiked up to a waterfall in Alpine that you can slide down. It was lots of fun, and pretty refreshing!

My Little Helpers

I was teaching my neighbor how to make homemade bread (yes Megan, I remembered the salt this time!) and our boys decided that they needed to make some too. They were so serious about their playdough bread, rolling it and shaping it just right.

Best seat in the house

Ruby's favorite perch.

Priceless

Cost of the car: $3.00 at a garage sale

Cost of the one hour "drive" around the block in which we stopped to pick up every rock and carefully examine all the storm drains: Both priceless and torturous (it is impossible to walk that slow)

The real deal

The little pigtail really does exist!