Happy 3rd Birthday Skyler!!!

We're celebrating by going to lunch at McDonald's with mommy!  Skyler also gets a couple more presents today.  One of which will be a lot of fun for Mommy & Daddy to try and keep up with him on. :)

I was doing some yard work in the back yesterday and he came up to tell me that his tiny excavator "was so warm in the shed! Like this!"

Pretending to give the tiny excavator a big hug to keep him warm. :)  Happy Birthday little guy!  He tells me at least once a day "you're my best friend!"  I couldn't agree more!

Big Boy is coming home!

Yesterday, the Union Pacific steam crew started moving the 4014 Big Boy back to Cheyenne.  Skyler and I watched it off and on streaming it live at Trains.com.  The consist will be arriving here in Salt Lake City Friday evening and be on display all day Saturday.  Skyler, Grandpa, and I will be out watching 4014 arrive Friday and meeting up with some friends to see it Saturday.  I will share all of the pictures here sometime in the next week.  In the meantime, here's one picture lifted from Facebook of the train headed up Cajon pass yesterday.

Look how big the steam locomotive is next to two large diesel EMD SD70m's!!

Chasing the monster tractor!

Quite possibly the best way to wear him out!

Post 3rd birthday party.

The party was a huge success!  People were here for 4 hours and everyone had a great time! The magic iPhone's of both Altair and mine, were unable to catch most of the flurry of opening presents.  I think it's time to look into a real camera for days like yesterday.  Here's a few of my favorites that turned out OK.

Can you believe that my Mom and Dad made this cake!?  My Mom baked it and my Dad built and decorated it.  Amazing!

Opening presents...

Singing the Happy Birthday song, he was SO excited to blow out the candles!

Digging right in to the cake!

He said "Look Daddy, I have a mustache!"  Happy 3rd birthday Skyler!

Ludwig von Niner.

Today we're having a Birthday Party for Skyler's 3rd birthday!  It's hard to believe that he's going to be 3 already.  The party is train themed and Altair has been working on items for it for at least 3 months!  Originally it was going to be outside, but the rain today has forced us inside.  I'm off to go clean the house some more!  Pics of the celebration tomorrow.

"Leanin' on the old top rail."

Again, we walked down to see the new development yesterday.  Skyler is getting pretty good at sitting on the gate or "leanin' on the old top rail!"

They added a new Cat backhoe to their inability to lay pipe in a timely manner yesterday.

We can usually sit and watch for an hour or so.

Irrigating already.

We have potatoes planted in the garden already.  That means it's time to water them along with the rest of the place.  Skyler was "helping" by watching the water go down the rows.

The temptation to play in the water is almost overwhelming for him!

Note that his hand is s l o w l y reaching for the water. :)

"I don't like red tractors, only green ones!"

That is what Skyler yelled yesterday while we were trying to watch the big scraper tractor leveling ground near Ken's farm.  He's definitely my kid!

He's leveling the fill from a reverse osmosis plant so the field can be farmed.  Note the laser receivers on each scraper.  There's a base station setup in the center of the field telling the operator how much material to remove or fill.

The tractor is a CaseIH STX 375 meaning 375 horsepower.  It was using all 375 ponies to cut the soil. 

Sadly, Skyler was more excited to play with a toy bulldozer than watching the scraper.  I wanted to watch the scraper instead of Skyler. :(

The bulldozer led to the sand pile where there were more classic Tonka toys. 

Hunting for eggs.

Skyler got a new wagon from Grandma & Grandpa for Easter.  Why not use the new wagon to gather all the candy filled eggs?!

A great weekend!

Food, family, toys, and candy!

Happy Easter!

Skyler has already devoured most of his Easter treats this morning.  Completely unrelated, here he is on our walk pulling his wagon.

He's off!

Starting to go faster...

He was really starting to move now!

This was why, Barney Backhoe was working in the cemetery.

"May I get closer Daddy?"

I didn't let him get any closer but he did get higher!  He's standing on a rock here.

Barney Backhoe was even the right brand! Deere power!

On top of the world!

Continuing the new development theme...

We had to walk down there 3 times yesterday so Skyler could see the excavator!

He wanted to see the "tiny" excavator.

I tried to get a good pic of the layout.  Pretty dumb that they put it behind the fence!

Sure wish I had lot #2!  Looks like a great backyard! Note that the park access is now next to the canal to the East.

"Take my picture!"

A day spent with machinery.

We took a trip to the local farm supply yesterday to purchase some fertilizer for the garden.  That's where Skyler found a toy tractor and planter.  Then, we got home and I hitched up the disk to incorporate said fertilizer.  Skyler thought the disk was pretty cool.  He would walk behind me as I drove watching the blades incorporate and mix the soil.  As if that wasn't enough, we walked down the street in the afternoon to check on the progress (or lack of) on the new development.  Skyler insisted that he take his new toys along on the walk.  I think he was more interested in farming the dirt than watching the excavator dig. :)

Squealing with delight!

This was the first pass.  Note that the disk needed to be tilted forward a bit to level it.

Second pass and the disk is now level.

Niner is behind the tractor playing in the fresh soil.

Skyler identified the white skid steer as a Bobcat.  Such a smarty!  Not all skid steers are "Bobcats!"

"Big, huge, excavator!!" That is what Skyler just said as I type this.

It looks like "a one legged cat trying to bury turds on a frozen pond" their progress is so slow!

This is what happened while we were watching the excavator.  I got to see it work! :)

The happy wanderer!

Somewhere Skyler saw someone walking with a walking stick.  He was emulating that in the backyard the other day.

"I wave my hand to all I meet and they wave back to me."

"Val-de ri-val-de rah!"

In case anyone was wondering what song I was referring too..

Happy Birthday to my Mom!!

And to Grandma!  Skyler asks every day if he can go see Grandma.  I don't blame him, I'm rather fond of her too. :)  Happy Birthday Mom!

This is one of the many reasons Skyler adores Grandma!  She took him to the family farm last fall!  Cows!

This is all.

Clever!

Mmm, Sunday coffee.

Skyler had to have some "coffee" like Mom & Dad.  It's really chocolate milk but oh SO adorable!

Possibly the best project ever to happen at our house!

I mentioned a few times this week about building a trellace/privacy screen on the East side of our property.  Well, it's done!  My Dad and I worked on it around 4 hours yesterday and the results are spectacular!  No more looking at the redneck trucks next door! The added benefit is the hops have something to climb on too! :)  A special thanks to my Dad for engineering and building the panels.

Before...

After!  No more ugly loser trucks to look at! Woo Hoo!!!

Meanwhile, in other news.

I saw this earlier this week.  It shows what it would be like if we treated cars like bikes.  Funny but serious.  Read the reader's comments below the article to see how narrow minded Utahn's are about bikes.  Sad...

Today is the day my Father and I start on the new trellace/privacy screen.  Pictures tomorrow.

" I'm helping Daddy!"

That's what Skyler said to the neighbor kid on Tuesday.

Water break boss?

Skyler taking a water break yesterday after helping me dig 5 three foot deep post holes.  Stay tuned for finished pics hopefully this weekend.

The magical fertilizer spreader.

We spent most of the day outside yesterday since the weather was so nice.  (It's supposed to only get better every day this week.)  While wandering around the yard Skyler found the hand held fertilizer spreader.  He bent down, and asked "what's this?"  Soon followed with "How does it work?"  He then carefully turned the crank, and pulled the trigger that starts fertilizer flowing onto the impeller.  After a few minutes of examination, he was "fertilizing" everything in sight.  I'm fairly certain he's never seen me use the hand held spreader, only the walk behind version.  I was stunned how he figured it all out on his own.  Scary smart!

Starting the examination process...

Figured it out, note the way his hand is properly supporting the spreader.

Cranking away pretending to fertilize. :)