Ladies and gentleman, we have a walker!

I can't believe my baby is walking! I love those wobbly little steps the first few weeks. Tate is also demonstrating his "cheeser" smile that he does on cue.

Ryan snapped this shot while he and his boy were watching some football together. Tate just loved it! Another proud moment for Dad.

Ruthie fell asleep while she was in time out. I think I left her a few extra minutes!

I have to share a Ruthie story that she will just love me for someday. I was at Target doing some b-day shopping for my baby. While on a toy isle, I look over at Ruthie and she is casually looking at toys while standing in a huge puddle of pee! Right then a girl from my ward walked onto the same isle! Bless her, because she stayed with Ruthie while I ran to my car to get wipes and a pair of pants I had bought at Old Navy not 30 minutes before. We made a barricade with our carts and I stripped her down and changed her right there! This was my first public accident experience and it could have been much worse. I got so lucky with the extra pants and running into Amber. Ruthie is usually very good about going on the potty. She has had only a few accidents in the past 5 or 6 months. If nothing else it is a great piece of blackmail to save for a few years!

Why I am not allowed to BBQ

A couple of nights ago I wanted to try to BBQ ribs on the grill. I even called and got my brother-in-law's special rib rub recipe. I am only ever in charge of pre-heating the grill for Ryan, but he said to turn on medium-low and put them on since it takes a long time for them to cook. He got home 30 minutes later and this is what he found.

I apparently didn't know there were nine heat settings so what I thought was medium was the 2nd hottest. The grill was up to 700 degrees! There were a few tears from me, then Ryan saved the night and just went and picked up ribs from Famous Dave's. Live and learn!

Horror at Homecoming

Dolly Dancer and Bobby Backer

Sally Spirit and Peter Pres

Gabby Backer and Larry Lineman

Cindy Sensational and Kevin Kicker

Clerical Katie and Coach Walters

Dr. Talk and Pricipal Simpson

Everyone arriving and reading their secret objectives for the evening.

Ryan and Daniel dancing??

Homecoming King and Queen! Well, at least for a minute or two.

Dancing the night away

Our cute pregnant dancer

We were dethroned by these two, whatever!


We had the best time last weekend doing a murder mystery date night with some friends in our neighborhood. The theme was Horror at Homecoming. The girls spent the morning decorating for the big dance with the classic streamers, lights, balloons and a photo backdrop from a real high school dance the weekend before. The costumes were awesome and everyone getting into their roles made for a hilariously good time! Ryan was perfectly comfortable playing the cocky quarterback, while mine was more of a stretch as I played the pom captain. I borrowed a dress from my sis-in-law and pom poms from Ruthie. We had a blast dancing and scheming the night away.

Halloween '08

The best picture of us all, a little dirty by the end of the day!

Some of the friends that stopped by.

Our super nice garage decked out!

Ry with his pride and joy(s).

The cheerleader and the football player.

Cute friends

What's in here?

We had a Happy Halloween with many of the traditional activities. The kids enjoyed a church party, a parade at our neighbors house and trick-or-treating with 50 other little kids at Ryan's office. They got grief from many Utah fans for their costumes, but we are teaching them the right team from the start! The night before Halloween I got the crazy idea to have a little party in our garage for all of the trick-or-treaters that came by. We had a neighbor that used to do it that just moved. We had fun doing it and went through 120 cups of hot chocolate and rootbeer, about 50 brownies about 50 cookies and 2/3 of my crockpot of chili cheese dip with chips! Luckily, my friend Melinda helped with the cookies and decorations. We will definately have to do it again.