Emma first lost tooth and other misc O-Town fun!

 Here are the first lost teeth of 

Emma's little 6 year old life!

She had the removed at the Dentist.

She was super excited since the Tooth Fairy had given Rachel 5 golden dollar coins when she had her 2 teeth removed.  But after she came out of the dentist office with the little pink treasure chest, she didn't like it.

BUT she still wrote this sweet note to the Tooth Fairy...

(translation: Tooth Fairy  This is my first teeth that came out.  You can keep the chest.  Emma Ruff)

She LOVED the 5 golden dollars!

 Had to take a quick family picture with Elder Beddes from Highland, UT

(close to where Grandma and Grandpa live)

 A day at the splash pad turned into "a day at the beach"!!

You would have thought we were in Florida.

hahaha!

Getting more FALL-y everyday!

YEAY!

Happy Birthday Sweet Sarah!

 10 years ago our family changed forever!

Our Sarah was born into our family!

10th birthday morning.

I love the birthday shirt she picked at the store! 

It says "An awesome day with Mom".

 Darling girl!

New books and a glow-in-the-dark brush...

 Wii London Olympics game...

 Funny PB & J Shirt!

Break You Own Geodes!  AND Happy Birthday Sarah pancakes!

 Bowling Party with the girl friends!

Emily, Becca, Sarah, Lena, & Bailey

Rachel bowling, still in her boot!  AND Emma getting ready to bowl!!!

Sarah wanted a Dragon Cake.

Not a cake shaped like a dragon, a cake with a dragon on top.

I am glad she LOVED it!!!

  Digging in!

 Had to play a few games (mostly skeeball!) and get tons of tickets!

 THE DRINKING OF THE ROOTBEER!!!

 Rachel and Sarah each drank the very end of a pitcher of rootbeer.

Sarah, it's your birthday!

We love you!

A tiny miracle named Charlotte!

 One of the Tender Mercies of the Lord 

was shown to our family when Richard's sister and brother-in-law traveled to a city 2 hours away from us (which is MUCH closer than 20 hours away) to adopt their sweet daughter Charlotte.

It was wonderful to be able to visit with them and to spend time with our niece Julianne and our new niece Charlotte.

 Emma holding sweet Charlotte with Uncle Ethan and Aunt Melissa.

It was wonderful to be able to visit with them and to spend time with our niece Julianne and our new niece Charlotte.

 Beautiful family!!

 Welcome to our family Charlotte.

You are truly loved!

First day of school!

 First day of school 2012

 We love school and the girls were so excited for school to finally start again!

Because they qualified for the Talented program, they were going to ride the bus to a new school.

(again. I know. We just moved here in March and started at a new school)

 A quick snapshot at the bus on the first day of school!

Emma- 6 years old in 1st grade

Sarah- almost 10 years old in 5th grade

Rachel- 8 years old in 3rd grade

I had to take another quick picture on Day 2.

They were just so excited to go to school again!

It's the beginning of another great school year!!!

Route 66 fun!

Living along Route 66 has been a fun adventure for us.
Each time we drive to the temple, we drive the Mother Road!

We pass a really fun place called "Pops"!

We stopped to check it out one day...

Slanted glass walls full of shelves of every color of soda available.  From all over the world!

We had to check out the restaurant and store!  

So many crazy flavors of soda that we had never heard of and we got to each pick one to take home.

 YUMMY!!!

 Key Lime, Astro Pop Cherry, Pink Grapefruit from Australia, Orange Crush, Blood Orange (YUM!), and Hot Lips Blackberry Soda (with chunks)!

(Sarah and mom)

The HUGE soda bottle outside on Route 66.

It lights up at night.

What a fun roadside attraction!!!

Basketball- Season 1

We moved to the area in March, just in time to miss the soccer season.
The girls were so sad!!!
So we thought we would just have to wait until fall to get into sports.

Until we heard there was...

SUMMER BASKETBALL!!!

 Emma loved playing and learned so much her first season!

 Rachel's first season of basketball was... interesting.

After 2 practices and one game, she broke her leg and was on crutches for the summer.

 But her coach and team were wonderful and we cheered at as many games as we could!

For Sarah's first season of basketball, she was in the 9-14 age division.

And she was the only 9 year old on her team!

Her team was very tough and worked her hard!

But they also taught her how to play fair and have fun.

Sarah learned so much and their team took 2nd place in the tournament!

Thanks Coach Boschee for everything!!!

We can't wait until Winter Basketball!

Scooters, broken legs and fireworks...

...can only mean one thing...

Happy Independence Day from our family!

Our day started out like most other summer Mondays at our house:

 Scooter happiness and joy!

 Big smiles all around!  (0:

10 minutes later there was a minor crash

and...

Rachel hurt her leg.  She kept saying "Take me to the doctor!  Take me to the doctor!  Take me to the doctor!".

So I iced her leg for half an hour and let her calm down.

Then we trucked over to the ER.

Maybe I should let you know...

We live in a 2nd floor aparment.

So, I carried my 8-year-old up (iced her leg), then down the stairs,

walked past the other apartments to the parking lot,

then finally found my van.

THEN we trucked over to the ER...

 Entertaining themselves...

 So, Ms Rachel broke both her Tibia and Fibula.

(This picture makes me laugh.  Rach was pretty happy most of the time, but Richard held up the picture to her face and she scowled!)

Rachel started with a splint below her knee which worked ok for the first few minutes.

(notice the happy face)

But after an afternoon of excruciating pain, she was given a wonderful Priesthood blessing that helped her finally calm down and sleep.

(I am so grateful for the power of the Priesthood!)

Richard and I decided to take her back to the ER the next morning to get a longer splint.

They sent us over to the orthopedist who agreed that she should have been splinted higher.

MUCH, much better!!

Richard was always taught to splint the joint above and below, why these guys didn't do it at first, who knows?

On Independence Day we went to that Ward Breakfast and kids parade.

 Thanks to the Hebertsons for the wagon!

 Go Sarah Go!

 Thanks Daddy!

 Emma and Carver enjoying the morning.

 Fun to get together and celebrate!  (0:

For FIREWORKS that evening we went to Richard's office.

He works on the 31st floor of a building overlooking a river they do HUGE fireworks..

While we waited for them to start,we played Skip-Bo in the waiting room.

We were SO HAPPY to have the Tanise and Kaia Colvin come down and visit for a few days!

And they are quite the Card Sharks!!!!!!!!

But we love them anyway!  (0:

(this is a picture of Tanise laying down her winning 4)

God Bless America,

Land that I love.

Stand Beside her, and guide her

Thru the night with a light from above.

From the Mountains, to the prairies,

To the oceans, white with foam.

God bless America, My home sweet home.

 Thank you Heavenly Father, for this choice land!