CRAZY FUN SUMMER!

WARNING: LONGEST POST EVER!

PICTURES IN NO PARTICULAR ORDER.

KEEP LOOKING IF YOU DARE/OR HAVE THE TIME.

A few weeks ago my brother Aaron and I and the kids met up with Kevin's sister and 2 of her kids to visit the dino museum at Thanksgiving Point. The museum was cool and crowded, and this contraption was even better! What a fun way to cool off. We will definately be visiting this again next summer.

BACKYARD FUN

In August the whole fam met up the canyon for a whole day of bonding. We had great company, AMAZING food and a whole lot of fun. The boys all went up the night before for a backpacking trip. Zack loved it! I'm sad I didn't send the camera with them.

Matt and Danie Burrito

Zack and cousin Alex

The triplets

(Jon is wearing a 5 year olds hat, it's missing the little spinner on top)

Danie showing off some mad skills on the slack line.

And Matt trying to match her

Contest to see how many people we could get on it and stay on it.

Typical Luke

I think I took these near Father's Day

Zack and Bella, 12 days apart

Fun with cousins

My parents had this red car that Zack named Lightning, they sold it this summer so before Lightning went to his new home we let Zack take him for one last spin.

We rode bikes alot.

And drank alot of pool water!

A Sunday evening snack and snooze

With Bernie waiting patiently for the crust.

I have pictures of Zack in this chair as a baby. He looks huge in it now!

All the West grandkids at Grandma and Grandpa's surprise birthday party.

Kevin and Ruby at the party. I made her a mini lei.

My cute little family

Our smiley girl

Yet another Sunday night snack, you see a trend here? We don't often get naps on Sundays. He never even made it up to the counter to get his sandwich. He kept waking up because we were laughing at him but he would fall back to sleep.

He's turning into a boy...... Not sure how I like that!

Campout in the backyard

More pool water

The famous ice cream bucket hat. He has been wearing this at my grandma's since he was probably 10 months old. Surprisingly it still fits him!



We got to spend lots of time with these crazy people

4 generations of Strebel women

Ruby at her first baseball game.

We decided last year to make it a tradition to go to the Bee's game on the 4th or 24th every year. This year our buddy Carter and his parents came with us.

I painted the boys faces while we "watched" the game

FINALLY got out on the field for the main event!

Zack spent lots of time out in the sandbox

And Bernie spent lots of time babysitting him

Our neighbor has a horse and Zack was lucky enough to get to ride her.

My boy rides bare back!

Ruby started eating solids and loves everything but fresh bananas

Zack started preschool! He goes to the same preschool that I went to here in the neighborhood.

More photos from our family day in the canyon

We did a may pole, it was interresting. My mom said it was a good team building activity.

I told her it was a good activity for a team that had been working together doing other team building activities for the past 8 months.

It was very entertaining for the outsiders to watch though!

And a good time for sneaky little boys to finish off the whole pan of brownies.

Other little boys didn't know that some were eating brownies and sat bored out of his mind instead.

Years ago when we would go camping with all my moms siblings we made a huge sign for my grandpa and each of us decorated a body and then we took a picture with our faces in it. The kids and Kevin and my dad were the only ones that wanted to do it. But they sure enjoyed doing it! (kevin maybe a little too much)

Zack

Super Grandpa!

Emily and Miles

Best Buddies!

Ruby's first pony tail

A while back I decided that Zack needed some extra attention from us. We started taking him out on a date each week. We haven't been great at it lately but I noticed a huge difference in his behavoir and Kevin and I have really enjoyed spending special time with just Zack. One night he and I went to Target and to get ice cream. Kevin and Zack went to ride trax another night. And his next date he wants to go walk across the bridges that cross bangerter highway. Easy to please and I love it!

More sandbox time

There's that pretty girl again! Getting bigger and bigger!

And cuter and cuter!

And bigger and cuter........

Ruby Kay and my Grandma Kay

Little trouble makers in time out. I left them there because they were having so much fun.

Look at this little face!

This is on our way to Fairview last weekend to spend some time with my cousin and aunts family.

We had such a good time!!!

One day we drove up the canyon and stumbled upon some train tracks. We decided we needed a picture but not before Zack jumped out of the car and smacked his face. Hence the "holding his face and sad" picture. I was trying to distract him and showed him the train signals, he said he wanted change the tracks and was worried that we were standing on the tracks.

 

Before the awesome BYU vs UTAH game we went to a really fun park in Fairview 

Once again, Kevin having too much fun.

And Kenzie right along with him

Ruby loving the swings, unlike Zack, he says they make him nervous.

Digging the Digger

And that's all........ I'm sure we did alot more but I can't remember and i'm lucky enough to get this much done. Enjoy and thanks for watching!

4 months old

Our little Ruby Q is 4 months old! 

She doesn't get her fair share of blog attention so I thought I would do a post just about her. 

Ruby is over all a very good baby. She sleeps usually 10 hours a night, but sleeps terribly during the day. ( I was just looking at Zack's baby book and I had written the same thing about him at 4 months as well.)

She is very happy most of the time. I can tell she is going to be on the move soon. She doesn't like to lay down and is always lifting her head up to see what's going on. She loves her bumbo chair because she can see what's going on around her. At her Dr. appointment today she weighed in at almost 16 pounds and 25 1/2 inches long. So average in weight and 80th in height. For the record Zack was 14 1/2 pounds at this age so that concerns me as I remember what a CHUNK he was to carry around between 8-15 months.

Bring on the FOOD!

 I don't quite know what to do with her wild hair. It just sticks up and there is nothing I can do about it!

Finally a comparison picture.

 These aren't the greatest pictures to go by but I don't think they look that much alike.

She looks a lot more like I did. Comparison of Ruby and I coming later. 

She loves to suck on her hands, not any place specific, just anywhere that looks juicy. She doesn't love binkies but I keep encouraging them because they were a life saver when Zack was a chatter box in church.

Ruby has developed an opinion about life, I have several fun videos of her but for some reason they aren't uploading. Last Sunday she was competing with the teacher in church, she's a little bit of a know it all already. 

We sure love our little princess!

( I know i've used this picture before but I just love it)

It's not Cars, it's Cars 2!

A few weeks ago we went with my brothers family to see Cars 2. Zack and Miles had been waiting for this movie for months! The 2 boys were so funny to listen to as they talked about the movie and pointed out the characters. Early in the movie Miles said "Zack, it's Cars" and Zack immediately corrected him. "It's not Cars, it's Cars 2!!"

I love this picture of Zack loving on the Cars poster. 

Miles fell asleep in the movie and wasn't in the mood for pictures after.

 Zack just could not get enough of that poster! 

Zack's 3rd Birthday (2 months ago)

This is how on top of things I am.... 

Zack turned 3 more than 2 months ago.

For our train lovers 3rd birthday we rode the Front Runner from Salt Lake to Ogden and visited the Ogden train museum. He LOVED the Front Runner, it took us about and hour each way but we planned on being gone the whole day so it worked. The train museum was pretty good for a 3 year old, but I wasn't overly excited about it. 

The pictures are not in order. Blogger is a pain, his birthday was 2 months ago and it's late. 

Giving Matt a huge hug for the giant train track pack he was given. 

Picture from the train museum, they had a lot of hands on things for kids to do.

Patiently waiting to open presents.

Lucky boy got his conductor hat! He is so silly though, 

he will only wear it when he plays trains. 

Riding on the Front Runner, Handsome Devil

Outside the train museum they had an engine and a few train cars you could climb on.

He really did love it despite his enthusiasm in the picture, he hates pictures. 

Me and tiny Ruby 1 1/2 months old

The awesome Front Runner, I definitely think we will take that ride again. 

This boy wanted a RED train cake. I still can't believe I created this! The engine was strawberry cake dyed red and the coal car was yellow cake. He loved it and still asks what happened to it. The round engine part was baked in a can that had tomatoes in it. That piece of cake tasted like tomatoes, despite that fact that I washed it out 3 times with soap. Guess who got that piece?

 THE BIRTHDAY BOY! 

We had a family party at a park near our house. The day of the party a huge storm rolled in about 2 hours before the party. It was NOT looking good. But about the time we arrived at the park the clouds parted and it turned out to be really nice. 

After his birthday party showing off all his loot. Our families spoiled him big time! 

Back on the couch you can see a white Sunday shirt. I told my mom to get that for him and she was afraid he wouldn't be excited about it. Sure enough his eyes lit up when he opened it and saw that it was a new Sunday shirt. SILLY BOY! He is very particular about what he wears to church. It's taken him months to get used to wearing a polo and shorts to church for the summer. 

This was the coolest, this engine is in front of the train museum. 

They got to climb up into it and check it out. 

The boy is 3. Can you even believe it? Here are some things about Zack these days.

*In the last little while he has become quite the little cheese. 

He doesn't like his picture taken, if he lets you he will give you a funny face. 

*He always has to wear socks to bed. 

*He has certain "guys" that he has to take to bed. 

They are: Daddy Doggy, Maxi, Buster, Fish, Nemo, Baby blankie, Zhu Zhu, and baby bear. I feel like i'm forgetting someone.... 

*Zack's favorite color is red. Everything must be red.

*He loves to give the blessing on the food and has become extremely FAST at praying. 

We can't help but giggle every time he prays. LOVE IT! 

*Zack adores his sister and always tells her she is a pretty girl. 

Today he was telling her "good job Woobs" instead of Rub's. 

*This boy is very smart and very loving, using both to his advantage. Every night he has to go around to every single person & animal in our house, (there are 9 of us, including pets) and tell them goodnight. He will not go to sleep until every single person has given him a hug and a kiss and he has given them one in return. This can take up to 30 minutes sometimes. His favorite person by far though is my dad. They have a ritual where they choose what kind of hugs they are going to do. They do baby bear, papa bear, wild cat, rattle snake and much more that I can't remember. 

 It melts my heart to see him interact with my dad like that. 

*Zack loves to ride bikes and has recently learned to use his petal bikes. 

*Zack has tons of friends, or sometimes I call them his fans. 

He likes little friends but he prefers to associate with adults. When he is around lots of kids he would sometimes rather sit and watch from a distance than play. 

*Zack tells me almost daily that he would like another baby. I keep telling him I couldn't handle another baby, he insists that HE could handle another baby.

*Zack likes to text, his favorite people to text are his uncle Jeff and Mickey Mouse. 

*The boy doesn't come out of his room in the morning. He will lay in his bed until we come get him, sometimes he will get out of bed and play. If he decides he is done he will loudly knock on the door until someone comes to get him. I don't know why he just wont come out. Not that i'm complaining! 

*His eating habits are a daily struggle, for the past week I have been very strict and not letting him eat anything other than what we are serving for dinner. He has gone to bed hungry almost every night. (I know, i'm a mean mom) Tonight however, he actually ate some melon, which is AMAZING if you know Zack. He told me he was getting bigger after he ate his melon. I guess he really does listen to us. Hopefully he will continue to try things. This child wont even try rice crispy treats..... 

LOVE this BOY! 

Do not know what we would do without his sweet little personality.

Something exciting is being made here!! (it's about time)

 I bought this fabric months and months and months ago.

 I was looking for fabric to make Ruby's crib bedding and I fell head over heels with this! 

The top 2 patterns will be the quilt that I am quilting by hand with the help of my grandma.

I wanted to machine quilt it but I just haven't made arrangements yet and I don't think I ever will. Maybe next time...

The polka dot on the far left will be the bed skirt and the other 2 are the bumper pads. 

I can't wait to show you the finished project! (And you can bet that my 

mom will be there to help me every step of the way...)

All for this pretty little girl! 

3 days, 6 kids, 1 me....

This week I got the challenge/opportunity to watch my brothers 4 children (ages 7, 6, 5 and 1)  while his wife was at girls camp. I've spent a lot of time with these kiddos and know them like the back of my hand. I knew that without careful planning I would hear a lot of "we're bored" and "there's nothing to do". So thanks to a good idea i've seen on a friends blog I created the "Bucket O' Fun". I have a bazillion formula cans that I can't bare throwing away because I want to create magical things out of them. So I just covered one of those wonderful cans with scrapbook paper and threw a ribbon around it to make it look fun. Inside the "Bucket O' Fun" I punched out paper with my fun punches and wrote things that we could do on them. Some of my ideas were simple, some took more time and preparation. 

Here are some ideas:

catch bugs

swim

play legos
make jello jigglers

read books

make noodle necklaces
play school

go for a walk

make drums (from formula cans!)

ride bikes
color
play soccer

face painting
write letters to grandma
go to library 

crazy hair
make cookies

make tents

and even.......

CHORES! 

Surprisingly they were up for the chores, probably because it wasn't their own house. I had the girls vacuum and the boys wash the front and back glass doors. My mom even got a rag out for 1 year old Luke and had him dusting. It took all of about 7 minutes, perfect for teaching them how to help out! When it was time to choose a new activity one day 6 year old Lily said she hoped it would be chores. Love that girl!

We colored noodles with food coloring and then made necklaces with them. 

They LOVED this. Bernie did too, she took several bites of their 

necklaces while they were wearing them. 

We also made one for my Grandpa who turned 87 this week. 

GO GRANDPA!

Luke has been walking for months and gets into everything so I trapped him one day

in Ruby's jumperoo. He actually stayed in there for quite a while so I was able to 

make dinner. 

Poor little Ruby spent a lot of time in her bouncer. 

Riding bikes naked. 

JUST KIDDING! 

We were waiting for more cousins to come swimming.

Lily, my biggest helper

On the last day I was trying to get some things done and let them run wild in Zack's room.
This is what happened.....

We try to play with one thing at a time, to keep from major clean up chaos. As you can see someone knocked down the pinata and I later found play dough inside, naked barbies are everywhere, legos, cars, puzzles, cards, Ruby's drawers were all open etc etc etc. 

My sister in law asked me to make the kids one that they could take home and i've been thinking of ways to perfect it. There were several times when we chose something that just wouldn't work that particular day or time so we would have to throw it back. They were good sports about it, but I have an idea to fix that. I thought maybe if I color coded "types of ideas". Such as, Things to do with mom, Things to do alone, outings, chores, etc. You could then just tell the child to pick a certain color, appropriate for the kind of activity YOU are up for that day. 

I didn't think Zack really got the concept of the bucket, but today he asked if he could choose something. This is definitely something I am going to continue doing. Since Ruby was born I have felt like our lives are simply to survive and if I do an activity with Zack it is an absolute miracle. I am desperately looking for some structure and I think this will be a good way to incorporate that along with keeping our ideas fresh, especially since we are stuck at the house all day every day. 

I have to pay tribute to my baby sister Emily for being a trooper and helping me those 3 days. 

I could not have done it without her!

Our Pretty Princess

Our pretty little Ruby was blessed almost 2 months ago. 

My mom made her dress so I had some special pictures taken of her in it. 

This is one of five.