First lil' Pony Tail

Ruthie has two more teeth (one on top and one on bottom) on the left side of her mouth than on her right. It makes her smile especially crooked and absolutely adorable. Love her!
 

We still can't agree on her eye color. I think they are like mine-a greenish/brown. But people still say blue sometimes. Mostly, they just look like this photo---dark. She is so incredibly sweet! Yesterday we played on my sister's driveway and she attempted to eat: a rock, some bark, and a worm. If Thunder came too close, she got a little nervous, but if he stayed a few feet away she would happily coo and look in his direction every now and again. Kinda like she is with the vacuum. She's also on a not-eating-real-food spree. Any ideas? I'm not that worried, all she really needs is milk...she'll grow out of it, right? Oh, and I took these pics on a new setting on my camera. I'm trying to get better acquainted with it so that I don't get so frustrated. It's slow going since every time I find something I like, I just leave it on that setting for a few weeks until I get frustrated again. I thought this setting was fabulous---I didn't even edit them at all. 

First Hike with the Baby

Sterling and I were squinting in the sun...hence, not the greatest pictures, but look at our AWESOME baby carrier!!!!! I needed to adjust it a little bit, thats my excuse for being tired in two minutes. But Sterling said it fit great and worked fabulous!  

Baby girl was LOVING it and enjoyed being bounced along.

We gave her the camera case (around Sterling's neck to protect against being dropped) but eventually it was all a little much for her and she conked out.

Cutest conked out baby with a squished cheek EVER!

PS random story: We got assigned new home teachers and yesterday, when he called to see when he could come visit he asked, "Aren't you the couple with the red-headed baby?" Why yes, yes we are. And no, never in my life did I think I'd be described in that fashion. I like it. ( he also said she was darling. we are so glad he is our new home teacher HAHAA)

Recently around here... (or around my sister's)

The Zoo

This is her hat I got for summer...so that her ears are fully covered from the sun. So sweet.

No worries, lets just stick you RIGHT IN with that turkey!

That little girl has stolen that daddy's heart. Completely.

I took this picture because of the hair resemblance. That monkey and my baby have got some STYLE!

This picture needed a post of it's own. I am in love.

We did bring a stroller, and she did sit in it for a lot of the time, we just kept pulling her out so she could see all the animals better and over top the fences and such.

I thought this little pose was so cute!

Aleesha was kind enough to take a family photo. The rest of the time you can definitely see who had the camera! 

I did make Sterling take one photo of me, to prove I was there. He got a little annoyed when I made him retake it twice. Luckily, the third times a charm! (I wanted to make sure I didn't look like a 12-yr-old with a baby, ok?)

This is a sloth. Can I have his job?

I always thought giraffes were really cool. We went inside this building and watched them get fed, and that was pretty fun.

I stole this photo from Aleesha's camera. It reassures me that my hair cut doesn't make my hair LOOK incredibly thin, just feels that way.

This photo also deserves a post of its own. It is beautiful in black and white, but I am so in love with her stripey tights that I couldn't bring myself to do it.

And that is the end of our day at the zoo. We had a fabulous time, the weather was INCREDIBLE, and Ruth thoroughly enjoyed spending time outside. I also remembered sunblock---see, I can  be a mother of a redhead!

My Dress

My mom kept my old dresses. They are my absolute FAVORITE to put on Ruthie for church on Sunday. It just looks like a baby and beautiful and so pure and sweet. This blue one just got pulled out of the closet and it is so gorgeous with her hair! 

Love-Hate Relationship

On Saturday I got my hair cut. For the first time in many, many months. She gave me more layers than I usually have...mostly because my baby sometimes eats my hair, and so its pretty nasty. She also thinned my hair, because it was hitting that out-of-control stage where I had so much hair it looked like a nest on top of my head. It takes half the time to blow-dry now. It dries on its own much faster too...it was almost completely dry in two hours the other morning, I used to sleep on it all night and wake up to it still damp. It is ten times easier to straighten...I only have to do it in about three layers now instead of five. The HATE part of all of this is when I pull it up. On Friday I could pull my hair up in a bun and it was huge and pretty and nice all on its own. Now its this spindly little pony tail that looks pathetic and won't do anything. Sigh. Why does it have to be one or the other????

Some photos

Kelty

This is a kelty baby backpack. I REALLY wanted one. I watched ksl faithfully for a year. You know they never sell cheaper than a whoppin' 75 bucks on ksl??? Until one lucky day, I was looking and dreaming about it on REI's page. And suddenly it linked me to this store that was having a close-out sale on a 2010 model. Which was pretty much the EXACT same as the 2012 model. Identical, actually. I called Sterling. He told me it was ok. I called my best friend. We bought the same one. I wanted it in green, but ya know, sometimes when things are on a close-out sale, they only have one color left. So I got the blue. Sigh. Now I am just ITCHING for enough good weather in a row to get rid of the mud on the trails and I can bundle little Ruthie up and go HIKING!!! This model even has an adjustable back length, so it can be ultra-LONG for Sterling, and basically kid-size for myself. You have NO IDEA how excited I am about this purchase. So excited that it has taken me over two months to post this. Haahaa. I really am INCREDIBLY excited though. The fun part will be posting the pictures when we are on a MOUNTAINSIDE! Oh, and word to the wise. If you have a baby like little Ruthie (ya know, the kind that reaches up and plays with their mom's hair constantly while nursing, or pulls on your hair, or wraps her fingers in your hair while she's being held just to know that you are not going anywhere) I advise putting the hair UP. Its not so pleasant otherwise.

Oh and PS we got the sunshade. Our baby is a redhead.

Cutie Pie

 I just spent forever trying to upload a video of Eli making her laugh last night, and its not working. We'll get it up sometime...but for now, aren't these the cutest pictures EVER??? Oh I just LOVE HER!

New Viewpoint

"Whose are these?" My niece, in the back seat of my car, looking at a tool set.

"Uncle Sterling's."

"He uses tools??? That is SO weird!"

"Why is that weird?"

"He's kinda a city guy."

"A city guy??? Why do you think that?"

"I dunno, he just kinda is a city guy. He just looks like a city guy."

"Ok, well what is your dad then? He dresses nice, like a city guy."

"No, he's just a fan-guy, he wears a lot of Jazz shirts, he's a big fan-guy."

"What would you say Uncle Tim is like?"

"Uh........"

"What would you say Uncle Wyatt is like?"

"Crazy. He's always doing crazy things."

"What would you say Uncle Derek is like?"

"He is silly. He's just silly."

"What would you say Grandpa is like?"

"He eats me. He is crazy, like that other one. Like Uncle Wyatt. He's always trying to eat me."

"What would you say Uncle Brett is like?"

"Uh....like Uncle Tim."

"What would you say Uncle Ethan is like?"

"He is strong....he lets me hold him, errrr....he lets me sit....he holds me sometimes."


Hm...nice to get a view of the male figures in our family from a seven year old. Very interesting. I forgot some of her comments, but I thought it was so funny!