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My baby girl turns one tomorrow. I am in complete denial. I can't believe she has gotten so big!!! And yes, I was trying to make a cool video to post with this, and no, I still can't figure out how to work idvd, and so no, there are no pictures. But tomorrow I work and we're packing for Canada, and Thursday morning we are heading out!!! YAY! So no video in the near future.

Sunday we celebrated her birthday at her Grandma Cindy's. I will post pictures of that eventually too. No, she's not walking yet, but she's been so close for so long, she is just a scaredy-pants and won't walk unless her little fingers are wrapped around something.

She loves playing in cupboards, holding her teddy bear, swimming, the stroller, and most of all TALKING. She has her own language. She jabbers for minutes on end. My dad could not believe it when he drove us up to Pineview last week. She seriously will talk for 3-5 minutes straight as if you could understand every single word she is saying. And as soon as you reply, she'll launch into a whole new conversation. It's hilarious.

Other than that, my patients at work still think I look like I'm 12 and don't believe I should be cleaning their teeth, let alone having a baby turning one. I think I agree with them. Where did the time go??? I love you Ruthie! Happy Birthday!!!

Pineview

Mom and Baby Ruth

Little Megan

Olivia and Lindsay Ann (and Natalie's foot)

Wyatt and Kam

Ruthie playing in the sand with Eli

Devaney and the face she made when I said "cheese!"

There were lots of races...and not just normal races. Not sure what this one was, but Olivia and Danica look A.W.E.S.O.M.E.

Yay for all the sand I could ever eat!

Lots of the races ended in running into Wyatt and a floaty toy.

Yes, that is my little brother. But he's pretty much all artificial. haahaa. His knees aren't his anymore, and pretty soon his wrist and hand will be all reconstructed. Haahaa.

More floaty toy races.

This was our great spot on the beach.

Tim and Harriet enjoying the waves.

Ruthie enjoying a spoonful of sand. Yum!

Wyatt and Ethan racing across the beach.

Wyatt and Ethan with their sweet paddle boats.

More races. Andrea, Myles, Garrett, Danica, Olivia.

Everyone splashing into the water at the end of the race.

Eli had that princess life jacket on the whole time. Awesome. He also was great at keeping Ruth occupied.

The boat coming in for a switch in riders.

Olivia, Danica, Myles, Garrett.

The cutest babe on the beach.

Some of the races involved obstacles, and circling them certain amounts of times. (Not positive, but I'm sure Wyatt must've been part of the creation of these races)

Another end to a running race. Kali, Brynne, Anders, Hailey, Lynnaea, Kiersten.

Tim and Harriet taking a stroll.

I LOVE this picture. Jack-Jack and this truck went everywhere together. So adorable.

More Jack and truck.

Megan, Natalie, Devaney

One of Wyatt's paddle boats drifted really far and we thought we had lost it for awhile. Mom told all the little kids to start walking down the shore and look. Emeline, Jack, Cassidy.

The best part of this day was going out on the boat. Ruth had a life jacket on with a big neck floatation on the back, so she couldn't move her head at all. I looked down one time and she was fast asleep with her head straight up because the life jacket wouldn't let her lay it down!!! It was so hilarious. Ethan was amazed that anyone could fall asleep on the noisy boat with the music blasting.  I skiied for about five minutes before I realized I am a lazy bum with no strength and gave out. At least I wasn't incredibly sore the next day like everyone else! Sterling, unfortunately, had class that morning and then had to take a test in the afternoon, but he did come join for dinner...mac 'n cheese for the kiddos and cheese, chips, salsa, hot wings, and all sorts of desserts for the adults.

Cupboard Time

Missed the smile and caught the eyes closed. Haahaa

Yes, we live in a basement apartment. And yes, the insides of our cupboards really look like that. It's the good life. Ruth discovered that this cupboard goes all the way through to the other side, so she regularly pulls everything out, and crawls through, and around, and through again, and again...and again. You get the idea. Yes...she is wearing pink. Yes, that only happens when we have no laundry. And yes, her hair isn't done. And yes, it looks like she spilled her drink all down her shirt. Like I said, we're livin' the good life. And it really is good.

Sick

Ruthie's teddy bear. She sleeps with him. She carries him around. She absolutely LOVES him. So adorable.

 Around these parts, we've been sick. I threw up seven times yesterday. Ruthie got hand, foot, and mouth disease from her little cousins on July 4th. We gave her tylenol for a couple of days, she got spots all throughout her diaper area, a little bit on her elbows, and a fair amount on her poor little feet and toes. Yesterday she was feeling a lot better, and today most of her blisters have scabbed over, and she shouldn't be contagious anymore, yay!!!
Sterling came home two days ago with flu-like symptoms. He thinks, because he has a blister on his finger, that it is also hand, foot, and mouth---but, its pretty rare for an adult to get it. Although, he's been running on about 3-4 hours of sleep for the past three weeks, so I guess I'm not that surprised. Wednesday night we all went to bed REALLY early (after having afternoon naps) and Sterling seemed to be doing a lot better the next morning.

HOPEFULLY, we are all over sicknesses here, and we can get back into the normal swing of things. I was getting very, very bored at home. Not that there isn't a million things I could be doing...but didn't want to. Just the fact that I COULDN'T go hang out with people was enough to make we want to. Haahaa.

Other than that, I got Ruth her birthday present from Ikea, and I will post pictures and video soon, she LOVES it! I made muffins today, and bread. And hopefully today I will cut Sterling's hair--it is getting scabacious-looking! Thats all thats been happening here.

July 4th: Part III

 The slip 'n slide was the highlight of July 4th at my parents house. All the big kids played on it for a good two hours while Ruth was sleeping, which was great because then most of them had left to do other things and I turned the water down and let Ruth play on it for awhile. Of course, there were SOME kids around...because, really, there were kids EVERYWHERE.

Ruth loved it. She laughed at the water, she laughed at Eli, she laughed at Myles, and she thought it was great fun.

Another highlight of the day was the new baby. There are big naming battles going on right now.

Myles and Eli kept her pretty occupied. So cute.

Mom had us all sing a patriotic song before we could get dessert. SO many kids!!!

This is my cousin Clay and his family. They lived in Logan a few years ago when I was still in high school and Devaney was definitely not a teenager yet, time flies! They just moved back and its fun to add another family to the festivities!

Chilling with dad who FINALLY emerged with physics homework complete.

There was a lot of koob-playing going on, which was lots of fun, and Ruth spent her time watching and eating everything off the sidewalk she could find.

A ride with grandpa!

And a ride with daddy.

It was a perfect 4th of July filled with TONS of partying and the most beautiful little 4th of July girl there ever was.