BIG 4

This weekend my little niece had her 4th birthday party. We had the party at a park in my sister's neighborhood. Marissa wanted to have a butterfly party, so my talented sister Melanie made all the decorations and the cake look like butterflies. Everything was super cute!  Marissa is such a special little girl. She brings such joy to my life and all those who are blessed to know her. 

Owen and I are getting to be good buddies - he has such a cute little personality and I just can't help but kiss those little cheeks every chance I get!

Going down the slide by himself - Owen is getting so big and not to mention-fearless.

I can be a princess too. Marissa was nice enough to share her crown with me for a minute.

Gregg and I bought Marissa a new Barbie movie "Mermadia". She loves her Barbie movies. 

Pretty Peacock Princess

Gregg's Adventures

Gregg has been a busy guy lately. He's been getting to know the outdoors every chance he can get. Two weekends ago he went snow camping with his buddy Jeff and his scout troop. This was the first snow camping trip he actually did on purpose. If you remember our backpacking trip last year-the snow was a surprise(at least it was to me). He had a blast and was so proud that all his gear worked like it was suppose to. This last weekend Gregg went hiking at Fish Creek with my dad and his scouts. They went on a day hike down the creek, climbing over boulders and playing splash wars with the boys. Gregg loves any chance he gets to use all the sweet gear he's picked up over the last 2 years we've been married. He's totally geeked out on REI, but that's just another reason I love him so much :) 

FISH CREEK

SNOW CAMPING

4 Month Post

OK so we've obviously gone a very long time without updates so here is a massive post of the last 4 months to catch y'all up on what's been going on with the Rupps. 

NOVEMBER

We spent Thanksgiving in Arizona with my family

Gregg & My dad went Fishing

Gregg celebrated his  32nd Birthday in AZ. I bought him a print of his favorite painting from one of our local galleries. 

We got a flat tire on our way back to CA - so much fun :) We were in the middle of nowhere and had to get a used tire from the local tire repair shop - Billy Joe's tire repair - it was quite the adventure!

DECEMBER

I spent 2 solid days baking cookies for our friends & neighbors

I ran out of room to put them when they were done so I had to use our bedroom floor

We spent the first 1/2 of X-mas week in AZ

Mustache Bash 2008

Disneyland @ Christmas - my favorite!

Petty Family annual "Christmas Eats & Games"

Every year my family gets together and we have "eats" - tons of yummy food and then "games". We play two games every year. My favorite is the wrapping game - my mom wraps a gift card a million times and then we roll a pair of dice, whoever gets doubles gets to put on the gloves and start unwrapping until the next person rolls doubles - it goes until the gift card is unwrapped - my mom won this year much to Monica's dismay.

We spent the second 1/2 half of  Christmas week in Utah with Gregg's mom and all his siblings and their families. We had so much fun playing in the snow and being together. It was my first white Christmas - it was magical. 

We went Sledding

On Christmas Eve night it snowed over 2 feet

Christmas morning Nerf fight tradition

Gregg's new beanie

On Christmas day Gregg went skiing with his brother Chris

I stayed at the house and ate snow while the kids played outside

We made snow angles and played together

Monett & JoAnn started this crazy puzzle and worked on it for days - they were never able to finish because they bought it at a thrift store and it was missing a few pieces. So they burned it.

Coke & Mentos - very cool!

Christmas dinner

My favorite gift from Gregg was the cookbook he made me out of all my hundreds of loose recipes I had shoved in a binder - he organized them and taped them into a really cute book. He's so thoughtful, one of the many reasons I love him so much!

The elk across the street one morning

We went skiing at Sundance - Gregg taught me and his neice & nephew.

JANUARY 2009

We spent the day at Disneyland.

Gregg got a new sleeping bag - this makes number 4 (I think this has become a little more than a hobby - obsession I think describes it better)

We went to the US vs Sweden soccer game with some friends

FEBRUARY

Today we spent a lazy Sunday at the beach. The tide was extremely low today so we walked out on the rocks and found some cool creatures. Then we enjoyed the beautiful sunset.