Dinner Time

This is what happens when you let Ruby feed herself:

And this is what happens when you let Kyle clean her up:

Oh, those guys.

Ruby's Birthday

Ruby's first birthday was awesome! Barbara and I took her to get her 1 year pictures taken at Kiddie Kandids in the Provo Mall.  The photographer was awesome and couldn't believe how great Ruby was.  She was smiling and laughing the whole time--which is incredible, because I was stressed out that she would be awful.  She never ceases to amaze!

Ruby's birthday party was super fun.  We had a Ruby Red theme (of course) and Ruby's best friends came over.  She wasn't all that excited about opening presents, but she loved playing with them once they opened.  We ate cake and sang, and I felt like a Real Parent!

We're so glad that Kyle's mom came for the day.  Ruby so loves her Grandma!

A FREE cake from Macey's.  They wrote her name on it and everything!

This is the first picture of her as an official 1 year old, taken the next morning:

She's so big! I can't believe it.

1 Year

My baby girl is 1 today!  I'm trying to only be happy and excited, and not at all sad that she is growing up so fast.

She weighs a little over 18 and a half pounds, which is the 13th percentile.  This is a dramatic improvement from last month--we took her in when she was sick, and she was in the 1st percentile!

Normal head size--in the 47th percentile.

Length--29 inches, in the 47th percentile.


Some cute things that Ruby does:

• Points the remote control at the tv and expects something to happen
• Tickles our toes...all the time
• Brings me Bunny to kiss, and then takes him back and gives him a hug
• Jumps in her crib and laughs wildly when she should be sleeping
• Makes friends with other little kids
• Immediately picks up Tigger and shows him to me when I get her up from her crib.
• Says "hi" and waves
• Takes one step and falls down
• Gets on all fours and looks at us upside down between her legs

She also will repeat any little action that makes us laugh.  The other day at Taco Bell, she was doing a weird playing-the-violin-with-her-head-cocked thing, and Emily thought it was funny. Ruby spent the next ten minutes looking at Emily and doing it over and over again.

Our first family picture:

Our latest family picture:

This has been a wonderful year.  She is the sweetest little thing and she's really taught us a lot about joy and love and responsibility.  We love her more anything.

Cake Smash

IT'S RUBY'S FIRST BIRTHDAY WEEK!!!!

 Ruby is turning 1 on Wednesday! This is wild. To celebrate we had a fun cake smash in our living room.

( I made the cake extra ugly because it was going to be smashed.  Ok, really the cake just completely fell apart when I took it out of the pan. I was SO MAD.  Then, I didn't make the frosting stiff enough AND didn't let the cake cool enough before I frosted it so it melted everywhere.  Massively amateur mistakes! I swear I can make a pretty cake.  I just had to have this disclaimer before I put up pictures because it's quite embarrassing how ugly it is.  I laughed my head off.)

She was pretty timid in the beginning.  She didn't like her fingers getting messy.

But eventually she got into it.

And discovered how tasty cake is! I love her stuffing her face :)

We have a LOT more pictures. It was so fun.  I got the idea from Nikki Stewart, and highly recommend it to everyone :)  Ruby had a blast, and so did we!

Bathroom quotes

When I was a little kid, the mirror in the kid bathroom had a ton of good quotes on it, from apostles and the Prophet.  We read them when we brushed our teeth, went to the bathroom, took a bath, and eventually we had them all memorized!  I really liked that Mom did that. Soooo I've started putting some up around our bathroom.

They're pretty fun to make, so I can see myself covering our bathroom eventually!

My own little tutorial

I wrote a tutorial for the first time ever!  It's over at Kyle's life coaching blog.  He's NEVER let me guest post (although I've offered a couple times because I am quite benevolent in my wisdom) so this is quite exciting :)

Here's the link:

http://blog.vaughnlifecoaching.com/2011/09/diy-magnetic-spice-rack.html

And while you're there, enter his giveaway for $50 for dinner and a movie.  I can't win (laaaame) so I want someone I like to win! It could be you!

Jumpin' Jacks & Making Friends

We had a really fun weekend!

On Saturday, we invited some of our friends to go to Jumpin' Jacks with us.  It is a place with bouncy house toys to play on, it is way cheaper than Kangaroo Zoo, and it is right here in Springville!  I recommend it.  Ruby LOVES being bounced so we had a blast.  My favorite was going down the giant slide--without Ruby.

Then we went to dinner with the Broadbents and watched the second half of the BYU game.  BIG MISTAKE.  (Watching the game, not going to dinner. Dinner was delicious.) It seems like every time we actually watch a BYU game, we lose.  Things go a lot better for them when Kyle and I are oblivious.

Sunday was awesome!  Ruby was really good all the way through stake conference (I thought it would be horrible with her).  She totally crashed and burned at the very, very end.  Here she is looking grumpy on our way out.

And....we made friends in our ward!  Guys, this is a big deal.  Kyle and I cling to our old friends--we pretty much don't know how to make new ones!  We still don't know ANYONE in our ward--until yesterday.  We went to dinner at our upstairs neighbors' home, and had an awesome time.  Then we went to the ward walk-around--an activitiy designed to force people to get to know each other--and talked for a while with our downstairs neighbors.  And THEN our upstairs neighbors came over to play games.  (If you know Kyle, this is pretty funny.)  They introduced us to a couple fun games and we had a great time.  I went to bed so happy that we were being social in the ward and were making friends with the people in our complex.  It is going to make me enjoy living in Springville so much more!

Cute phone pic of Ruby in the bath:

kitchen organization, i am doing it!

It is rare, but sometimes Kyle and I get in a crazy organizing mood AT THE SAME TIME.  In such times, we can move mountains.  Or at least crazy organize our fridge!  This is what we did over the weekend.  We had the time of our lives.

I wish I had a before picture. It was bad.  Those large empty sections are there because we need to go grocery shopping. The cheese section next to the eggs section is BARREN.


And the freezer.

Good thing I bought that label maker with a gift certificate last year. And Kyle said I'd never use it, psh.

We've also made some exciting food storage changes!  But Kyle claimed first blogging rights.  Again, I say PSH.

Real exciting, huh?

Aaaaand here's a picture of Nieman about to stomp on Kyle's face.

Done and done.

11 Months

11 months! Oh my gosh!

Reading has replaced eating as Ruby's favorite thing.  She has tons of books from her kindergarten teacher grandma, and she could sit and read them all day.  Over and over.  Unfortunately, I have to be there to read them to her. Over and over.  I don't really mind though!  I just sit down on the ground and she brings me books to read.

Reading after bath time.

She's getting more and more teeth all of the sudden.  She is handling teething really well and we don't even notice a difference in her behavior. Sweet girl.  Having more teeth completely changes her look. Her two front teeth have a little gap (just like me) and I love it.

Those teeth!

Oh, her eyes.

She can now clap!  It is adorable and she is SO proud of herself. You can tell by her smug little grin.

FINALLY I got a picture of her Funny Face.  I looooove it.  She knows I do--so she does it to me all the time to make me laugh.

It kills me.

Little shot of our matchy Toms.

Thank you Aunt Diana!

She loves her toys.  She hugs and kisses them frequently.  Mostly Bunny, who is unfortunately not pictured.

Life with Ruby is wonderful.