Ridin' the Vacuum

Who knew that "riding" the vacuum could be so much fun?

His First Taste of Snow

We had a winter storm hit this week. I went through the tub of hand-me-downs and pulled out a pair of little boy's boots (only 1 size too big, not bad). Logan was very excited to wear them. He went to take his first step and instead had a nice fall. It didn't take him too long, though. After a minute or so, he was wearing those boots proudly! I grabbed Logan's coat and hat, and he was ready to check out the snow.







He walked right into the snow and faceplanted! He didn't cry, though (not yet anyway). He was still checking it out.



We stayed outside for just a minute or two and then came inside to warm up. Logan decided to see how the snow tasted, and I think he liked it!

Not Just Your Ordinary Storm

It was the first night we spent at my parent's house, the Saturday before Thanksgiving. A storm passed through. It was a typical Oregon storm (rain, rain, and more rain), that is, until we heard a loud thud above us and awoke to find this:


A major branch of one of the 2 trees in the front yard broke and fell onto and through the roof. Luckily the "through" part happened in the covered porch area, and we were able to stay dry inside the house. Whew! That was scary!

What Would You Do?

A little over a year ago we bought new kitchen appliances as part of our kitchen remodel. The only appliance that didn't necessarily need to be replaced was the refrigerator. But, we couldn't have unmatching appliances. So, we took the old refrigerator and put it in the garage. I've loved having the extra freezer space, and the extra fridge space has come in handy a time or two as
well.

Well, I recently noticed that the freezer part of this extra fridge isn't working. I'm not really sure if the fridge part is working. It's so cold in the garage that the refrigerated items would stay cold even if the fridge wasn't working. But, the frozen items were definitely thawing. So, I threw a few things out and crammed everything else into the freezer in the house. This wouldn't be too bad if I didn't have at least one bag of every kind of Oregon berry (thank you, mom - and I'm not saying that sarcastically), multiple bags of chicken, hamburger, a few cartons of ice cream, etc.

Anyway, my question is.....now what?

We figure we have a few options...

1) Have a repair man come out and check out the fridge and go from there.
2) Ditch the fridge and buy a new one.
3) Ditch the fridge and buy an extra freezer (no fridge).
4) Wait for a while hoping that the fridge will fix itself.

What would you do?

Lost Keys...Must Be Logan's Fault

Garrick lost his keys right before Thanksgiving break. I don't know that we even realized that they were missing until we returned from Oregon.

On the day that we left for Oregon, we drove up to SLC and helped Garrick's sister, Jackie, move into her new townhome. So, there was lots of running around and several vehicles involved. Garrick was pretty sure that he left his keys at home in Orem, but...they were nowhere to be found in the house. He looked through all of his pants pockets, through every coat, in every couch, etc. So, he started doubting his memory, and extended the search. He looked through the school, called the restaurant where we'd eaten, checked with the U-Haul company, and had his parents look in their truck...nothing. We gave up, considered the keys "lost," and decided to move on (get new keys made). Unfortunately, it's rather expensive to make extra keys for the CRV, so we thought we'd hold off for a while on that one, just in case the keys turned up.

Just the other day Logan and I did some shopping. As we came back inside the house, he grabbed my keys and started playing with them. They kept him busy while I put away groceries. I didn't think anything else about them until that evening when it was time to leave. Garrick was taking the CRV and needed my keys. I remembered that Logan had them last, and I was pretty sure that he was on the main level of the house the whole time he had them, but I looked around and couldn't see them. We didn't look for more than a couple of minutes when Garrick decided to check out the kitchen garbage can. He opened it up and sure enough, there they were right on the bottom. Gross! We were so happy that we found them, and Garrick was convinced that he knew what had happened to his keys. They must've been "thrown away" by the little guy.

I am happy to announce that Garrick was wrong. He called this afternoon to tell me that he found his keys. They were under Logan's extra car seat that is in the back seat of Garrick's car. Hoooooorrrraaaaaaayyyy!!! Maybe we can't use Logan as an excuse for all of our lost items after all.

So You Think You Can Dance

Ok, Kate, I think Logan's ready for a little dance-off at Thanksgiving time. Start practicing those dance moves!

Walking - a work in progress

This is a video of Logan walking. Also, not too exciting, but requested by family members. I filmed him today, Nov 8. Logan took his first steps on Oct 15 but didn't really start walking regularly (by that I mean walking more than crawling) until Oct 25. So, he's got 2 weeks under his belt.

Birthday Cake

This is a bit lengthy, but some of you have requested videos, so here we go...

This is Logan enjoying his 1yr birthday cake.

Birthday Bash

We celebrated Logan's birthday a few days early, and we were happy to have my cousin, Sarah, her daughters Kallee and Kenzie, and Garrick's sister, Jackie join us. (Wow, that sentence had too many commas, and I'm sure I didn't get them in the right spots.) We had dinner, opened presents, played, and ate cake. I'll try to get some videos posted later, but for now, here are a few pictures.


Kallee pushed Logan back and forth across the room on his little airplane, and he loved it!

Present time...


The cake...

We had a big decision to make-what kind of cake would represent Logan this year? We thought of his bat or balls, but then ruled them out figuring that we'll have plenty more chances to make a ball or bat cake. We wanted something unique and yet easy to make. Logan loves playing with our domino set. He loves to carry them around, and he especially enjoys knocking them over after Garrick or I have stacked them up. They have kept him entertained during entire BYU football games. So, domino cakes it was. A lucky double one for a great first year!

Sarah holding Logan.

After sticking his finger in the frosting and throwing the frosting off, Logan wasn't sure how to tackle the cake. I guess he decided that rather than taking little bites of cake, he would just pick the whole thing up and go for it.

Garrick decided that Logan's cake wouldn't be complete with out a little whipped cream.

A Tribute to Logan - on his 1st birthday

Just wanted to share how thankful we are for our wonderful little boy. He has brought so many smiles and laughs and so much joy to our lives this past year. Oh how we love him!!!

Logan is growing and changing like crazy. He took his first few steps not long ago, and has progressed so quickly. It seemed like we went to bed on Saturday, and when we woke up on Sunday, suddenly Logan had decided to walk everywhere. He's getting so much better at it, too.

He loves to carry his little baseball bat around (thank you, Jake), and he swings it like he's an all-star. (Just one more way that he's just like his dad.)


Logan LOVES rocks. If he had his way, he'd probably always have a mouth full. He loves to play outside and no matter where we are, he seems to be able to find his way to a pile of rocks.


Logan still loves to play with the broom, the vacuum, the rake, etc. He loves to drag them around, and he'll even pretend that he's sweeping things. How sad that once he understands that he's cleaning, he probably won't enjoy it anymore. :)

Couldn't Put It Down

I just wanted to take a minute to recommend a book that I recently finished reading. It's called "Left to Tell" - Discovering God Amidst the Rwandan Holocaust and was written by Immaculee Ilibagiza. It was a very eye-opening book about an amazing woman and her faith in God during a horrific time period in Rwanda.

It's an easy read from page 1, and I really did have a hard time putting it down. In fact, I finished it in the wee hours of the morning after waking up to a crying baby. Check it out at your local library.

And the winner is...

Yes, it's official. Logan took his first few steps yesterday, Oct 15. He is definitely not "walking" on a regular basis, but he took 2 steps a couple of different times. He's much more interested in walking than he used to be. He will now walk with us holding his hands, and he loves to walk and push things (chairs, stools, toys). Give him a couple more weeks, and he'll be a pro. I'm sure it's more like...give him a few weeks and he will think he's a pro, but will be falling down and crashing into things all over the place. Fun times await!

Oh, the winner of our little guessing game is Emily D. Are you a friend of Jeanette's? It looks like you commented under her comment. We'll send a little prize your way.

All Kinds of New Tricks

Logan is really learning and growing. Garrick and I have both commented on all of the things that he's started doing - just in the last week or two. Here are some of Logan's newest "tricks" (as Stephen calls them)... giving "five", clapping, giving kisses, waving goodbye, doing some of the motions to "eensy weensy spider," and standing on his own. He is still not walking, and honestly, I think it'll be a while. He just doesn't seem very interested in it. He gets around really fast with his crawl, and I think he might get around even faster when he bear crawls. He LOVES to be outside and seems to find all kinds of things to put in his mouth when he is outside. :(


Logan's latest favorite toys, once again, really aren't toys at all. We have a garbage can that automatically opens when you put your hand near the top. Logan can get it to open, and he loves to put things in it. I think it's like a game of basketball to him. We have had to fish all kinds of things out of the garbage can - balls, stuffed animals, dominoes, blocks, etc. We are looking for a solution to this problem and have come up with a few ideas, but we're just not quite sure what we'll do.

Logan's other new favorite toy is the printer/copier. The paper tray folds up and down, and Logan loves to move it. He also loves to lift the lid and put things under it, as if he is making copies. It's pretty funny. I tried to take a picture of Logan "copying" his fleece hat this morning, but my camera's batteries were low. I'll have to try again later.

Make Your Guess...

If you've been around the Robbins family much, you'll know that we love guessing games. I knew I was marrying the right person when I discovered that Garrick loves them just as much. So, here we are posing the question (and there just might be a prize for the winner), "When will Logan take his first steps?" (Day and month are appropriate. We can forego the time of day.)

Some of you haven't seen him in a while, so I'll update you on his current skills - just so you can make a more educated guess. :)

Logan began with an army crawl several months ago. He upgraded to a regular crawl at least a month ago. He doesn't like the grass much, so he'll even pull out a bear crawl when he's outside. (What skills!)

He regularly pulls himself up and walks along the couch, coffee table, etc, but has not shown much desire to walk. In fact, when you try and hold his arms or hands and walk with him, he just goes flimsy on you. But, just in the last few days, we have noticed him occasionally letting go of things and standing on his own. It usually only lasts a couple of seconds (probably until he notices that he's not holding on to anything), but tonight we were able to snap a few photos.


So, there you have it. If you are interested in participating in a little guessing game, publish a comment with the day and month that you think Logan will take his first steps.

Our Own Little Wicket

Growing up, Garrick had a cute dog that they named Wicket. He was pleasantly surprised the other day when Kaysha send Logan an Ewok Halloween costume. Garrick once again had a cute little Wicket. Thank you, Kaysha!

Unfortunately, the costume ended up being a little too small, so we had to take it back. But, not before we took a few pictures of the guy.

Mrs. Harry Potter

I was playing with Logan the other day when he scratched me across the forehead. I was surprised how much it was still stinging, well after it happened. When I finally got to a mirror, I was not very enthused to see that Logan gave me a nice Harry Potter lightening bolt. A day or two after this unfortunate event, I awoke to a very bloody lightening bolt. Apparently I must have scratched it open in my sleep. Lovely. I made Garrick take a picture - just for the record.

Whipped Cream, Anyone?

You might think twice before you eat whipped cream at our house. By the way, my husband is a whipped cream-aholic. Notice the nice pile on his strawberry pie. That was just for the first few bites. Then it gets re-applied. Looks like this is going to be another case of like father- like son.

Toy of the Day

Have you ever noticed that kids go through toys almost as fast as they go through diapers? Seriously. Logan will be stuck on a toy one afternoon, and by the time the next day rolls around, he won't want much to do with it. The other day I was commenting on how much he's enjoyed a particular toy that I picked up at a yard sale. Now he hardly plays with it. It could get expensive trying to keep up with a child's toy wants. But, fortunately, we have one of those kids (like most kids I imagine) who actually prefers household objects to toys - tupperware, boxes, dominoes, a Mentos gum container, flip flops, and the latest...THE BROOM! You got it - we let our son play with a broom. Please don't turn us in to DCFS. Originally the idea of Logan playing with the broom really turned me off, but he was having so much fun, and for the most part, he kept it out of his mouth. So, I gave in. Here's some of the footage...

(As I was playing this back, I noticed that at one point, Logan looks like he's trying to ride his broom. Maybe I ought to take back his leopard Halloween costume and Logan can be a witch or maybe even Harry Potter.)

What Color Does He Bleed?...

...Cougar Blue?

or Beaver Orange?

Utah State Fair 2009

Garrick, Logan and I recently made our first trip to the Utah State Fair. (I have a feeling that with Logan around we'll be doing a lot more "firsts.") We had a great time. We walked around, saw a bear show, visited all types of farm animals, rode the carousel, saw some prize-winning exhibits, and (of course) ate a funnel cake.

Logan loved the animals, especially the pigs. He felt right at home snorting alongside them. :)


Deyce loved the food exhibits and was scheming with Garrick as to what she could enter next year to earn herself a blue ribbon.

Garrick loved riding the carousel, as he feels it is the beginning step in getting Logan to enjoy carnival/amusement park rides with him.

We all LOVED the funnel cake (topped with bavarian cream and strawberries). I would post a picture, but we were so busy eating it that we forgot to take one!

Project 1/3 Completed

I bought material to make us all Christmas stockings last fall. I thought I'd have all this extra time since I wasn't working and had a newborn. (Newborns sleep a lot, right?) I may have had some free time, but I didn't get a thing done on the stockings. Wait, I take that back. I did get Logan's name cross-stitched, but that's it.

Well, I revisited the stocking project this last week, and what do ya know, I got one done. (The most important one, too.)
Now the question is, will it take me 2 more years to get mine and Garrick's made?

A Stair Master

I'm not sure when it happened, but Logan has become a stair master. He's been going up the stairs for quite some time now, but has never really shown much interest in going down the stairs. Nevertheless, in an effort to teach him how to go down the stairs safely, from time to time we have tried turning him around backward and leading him down the stairs, one leg at a time.

A couple of weeks ago I was SHOCKED when I saw Logan approach the stairs and (completely on his own) turn himself around backward before starting down. I think this was one of the first times that we've seen him learn something that we taught him. What joy!

I mentioned this to my mom, and she requested a video of this great skill. So, I grabbed the camera, and this was the result. Be careful that you don't get too distracted by Logan's sound effects. : )