A week of surprises

Happy Birthday to Tim!

September 15th was Tim's 25th birthday - he likes to tease me by
saying that he's sooo old knowing full well that I am 2 years older than him...
haha...ha.
So 2 weeks before his birthday, I ordered him a weed whacker (very sentimental gift).
When it was delivered Tim was at home working. I was crossing my fingers that it would be in some generic box and it wouldn't say what it was. Right on the box, in bold letters: BRUSH CUTTER
Shoot. So I try to hide it and he faked that he didn't know exactly what it was. So I got the idea to still surprise him by putting a pair of my skis in the box instead.
Here is the result:

Joshua couldn't believe it.
I pulled out his real present, and he was relieved that I wasn't going to make him learn how to ski since he's a die hard boarder. Maybe next year darlin'.

Complete with protective goggles this man's ready to whack some weeds.

We ended the night with BJs dinner and yummy pazookie...mmmm...so good.

Tim's birthday was sandwiched by 2 other birthdays. Julia Lucille Plumb was born to Riley and Kristen and is a darling little girl though I don't have pictures yet. I'm so excited for them to be moving down here in a week so we can see them and hang out.

The day after Tim's big day was Warren Rockwood Solano's big day. Born to my sister Emily and Brock, his 3 older sisters are so happy to have a little one of their own to hold.

Joshua is looking forward to romping around with his cousin.

I told Tim earlier in the week that we were having a get together for his birthday with our families on Sunday. Then later, I told him that Kim volunteered to watch Joshua on Saturday so we could go to the temple. Little did he know, I am one sly girl and had another surprise up my sleeve.
When we got there to drop off Joshua, Tim saw his dad's car across the street. He got all excited that his dad might be close by working and that we'd get to see him before we went to the temple. I told him that he could call his dad and see where he was at when we got inside. Inside, his dad and sister and my parents were all waiting to jump out and yell surprise. He didn't suspect a thing. It was pretty awesome!

I had my own surprise when I realized that the lettuce I had so secretly chopped up for the taco salad was still in my fridge at home. I'd remembered everything - even a change of clothes for me and Tim but the key ingredient to dinner was at home. Fortunately, Kim and Spencer had some to spare.

The L isn't for Loser. It's for lettuce...that's what Spencer said anyway.

My mom made 3 different delicious cream pies.

Tim had to concentrate hard before he attempted to blow them all out. There were so many candles since he is "so old".

Spencer in Eric's death grip. He was able to escape...barely.
Melanie would smile but would stop right when I took the picture. This is the best I got.

Tim got some great presents from our nieces and nephews too.

Daniel gave Tim a cool rock to add to his rock collection. After everyone left, Daniel asked me what were "those things" on Joshua's arms. Ummm...they're called fat rolls, Daniel. Fortunately, Joshua is comfortable with who he is and wasn't bothered by such questions.

Fun on a Sunday night

Sitting up

When I let go of Joshua and he continued sitting up I couldn't believe it. So many things happen in just 6 short months. He still needs a spotter...for now.

Black Mountain

A friend from work gave us a hiking backpack and now Joshua's big enough to use it. As you can tell, he likes it...a lot. We went hiking at sunset so it wouldn't be so hot and it was just beautiful and so nice to get out in nature. We'll have to do this more often.

Joshua and daddy ready and excited for the hike.

It was a beautiful view at the top.

He loved it so much, Joshua wanted to spend the night in his back pack.
I hope babies don't get kinks in their necks.

Oh the Places You'll Goest

I was Camp Director for Girls Camp in my ward. It was pretty stressful planning it with a new baby but I had a ton of help from my amazing assistant Debbie. The girls came up with the theme, "Oh the Places You'll Goest" mixing Dr. Seuss with the Mutual Theme for this year: Joshua 1:9. The girls had a really good time and Joshua and I even made it up there for the Testimony meeting on the last night. To go along with the theme I wrote a poem with a Dr. Seuss twist to it and Debbie made a bookmark to hand out to the girls. So here's my poem:

Oh the Places You'll Goest

Oh the Places You'll Goest!
From the highest of high to the lowest of lowest.
There are so many paths with which you can take
And even more decisions that you have to make.
There is good there is bad,
There are fashions and fads.
There is happy-go-lucky
and then there is sad.

So what will you choose?
Now what will you choose?
You better be wise or else you will lose.
Will you go to the left?
Or go to the right?
Whatever you do, keep your ending in sight.

Remember who you are and that you're never alone,
For you are loved by One Who sits on a throne.
His is the Way from Him do not stray
Follow His lead from here to Bombay.
Through the Spirit, He'll comfort, He'll lead you, and guide.
Through prayer and His Word, you'll stay by His side.
Be faithful, be sure, and never forget,
Your prayers will be answered One-hundred and seven percent.

And then, Oh to the temple you'll go!
The House of God, a House of Prayer,
It's such a place that you won't find just anywhere.
There are things to learn and covenants to keep,
As you strive to be a light as one of Christ's sheep.
So be strong and courageous, be valiant and true.
No one, no no-one, can do it like you!

Family in Town

I'm so glad that my brother Will and his family moved from Buffalo, NY to St. George, UT. Now we see them much more often and I get such great pictures...like this:

Will and Eli - What studs

and this:
What cute little nieces I have, no?

and this:Is Eric bowing to the camera Samurai style?

and finally this:

My favorite part of this picture is Spencer.
It's so fun when we all get together.

Some fun pictures of Joshua

I finally printed out some pictures of Joshua and put them in an album. I thought that one album would be good for his entire year. Yeah...this album is almost full and he's not even 6 months yet. hmmm....I guess we'll have more than one baby book for this little guy...

Momma loves Joshua kisses - oh so slobbery.

We went on a train ride tour in Julian. Joshua loved it.

The kids got to ride a horse around in a circle.
Joshua wasn't a fan.

Kim came down with Tim's mom and siblings for a fun visit. Kim brought her two little boys. Her baby Carson was born just 2 months after Joshua - it's great having cousins the same age.

Visiting the Smith's ranch in Julian. It is so beautiful up there. We even got to see some deer.

We all went to the beach and you'd think that in August it would be warm and beautiful. Unfortunately, it was cloudy and the water was a freezing 62 degrees and so all thoughts of swimming with Joshua were abandoned.
He liked putting his feet in the sand though.

Pictures with cousins - Riley and Carson:

Joshua was very fascinated with this new baby in the house.

Peachy Keen...

Our peaches are ripe and oh so delicious. So I made a pie some jam and a few cobblers that were also oh so delicious! I want to give credit to my friend Diana who, when I mentioned that I was in the mood to make pie a while back, she said that she would teach me the art of peach pie baking when our peaches were ripe. Man does she have skill!
If you look closely you can see a smiley face...that was my contribution :)

Joshua fell asleep in his car seat like that. When I first saw him I thought, "Oh, poor baby" but then I tried to put his head back and he wouldn't go back. Apparently this is comfortable. Hopefully babies don't get kinks in their necks.

Joshua has discovered his feet.

I was in the kitchen thinking that they were outside because it was so quiet...

He is getting so big!

My little frog prince

Joshua is getting a lot more active. We have to buckle him into his seats now because he's starting to sit up and scoot and twist. Once he starts going I just know he will be hard to catch.

I love when he bends his legs like this - Like a little frog :)

Happy boy!

To me he looks a lot like his Uncle Jesse's baby pictures in this picture

It's getting so hot here so he's been sportin' only onesies.
It's so fun to see his chunky legs and little feet.

Beware of Spiders

It is common knowledge that when a certain movie called, "Arachnaphobia", is watched that the fear of spiders is certain to follow. This fear is not understood by my normally-understanding husband who makes light of it and even threatens to bring spiders that he captures near me.

Obviously he has never seen "Arachnaphobia".

This is a relevant fact, because while I was gathering my things together to go to work, I happened to glance down and see a humongous animal-like spider sitting casually in a gift bag that I sometimes use to carry Joshua's toys. For a split second I thought that it couldn’t be real and Tim must be playing a cruel joke on me. Oh no...it was real. The pictures don’t do it justice because his legs were all scrunched up and I wasn't going to get any closer – with legs extended he was probably the size of my palm.

I calmly held the bag at arms length and carried the creature outside where I was going to take another picture. However, due to the loud rustling inside the bag I thought it best not to sport with it and threw the bag near some bushes and proceeded to do the heeby jeeby dance as soon as I was safely back inside (To Joshua's great amuzement...or confusion - I'm not quite sure which). I told Tim that he will be spraying and he was surprised of how big the spider actually was - which gives me a small satisfaction that I, Rebecca Skaggs, got rid of it.

Here is the culprit:

Why didn't I kill it?

- I thought about it but then I imagined the crunch and cringed.

Why didn't I vacuum it up?

- Only my friend, Marilyn, could be so level-headed in such a moment.

Why didn't I capture it?

- Are you insane?