"Look what I can do!"

Figuring out how to turn on the light in his room when the fan is already on!

"Tee hee!" (Ignore the catastrophe that is his room, he had to empty the bin full of toys to place on the bed in order to stand on it to reach the pull chain.)

"Ready?"

Pulling so carefully.

"Ta Da!"

Shellin' some Pinto beans.

Skyler helped Mommy shell some of our home grown Pinto beans last night.  He was having a pretty good time and doing quite well too.

Look at the concentration!

Finished product.  These were just store bought pinto beans that I threw in the planter and grew.  I'm not sure we ended up with anymore than we started with though.  Sigh...

Who was that masked man?

Skyler colored his own mask Sunday night.  Someone is getting excited for Halloween.

Oktoberfe$$t.

We met up with some friends up at Snowbird yesterday.  Snowbird is having their annual Oktoberfest and it was us and 10,000 other people that had the same idea.  Skyler got to play with Weston who is a couple months younger but he's equally as sassy and as full of energy.  After spending nearly $100 for a couple of beers and a few bratwurst, we were done for the day.  It was nice to see Lindsey & Jesse, it had only been 2+ years since we last saw them!  Sigh...

Prost!  This was the Black Bier Oktoberfest beer.  I think it was only like $25.00!

Skyler in front of the Mercedez Unimog beer truck.

Complete with kegs!

Skyler showing Weston the mechanical room.

Lunch!

You're looking at $21.00 worth of brats.  Yep, $10.50 per brat!  Outrageous and highway robbery if you ask me!

"C'mon Weston!"  They were doing a bit better holding hands without pulling earlier.

"There's a pond up here, hurry!"

Someone got a little to ambitious with the pond.

Back to the path please.

Watching his step.

"Are there any fish?"

Yes! Lots of fish this time.

Random yard happenings.

Since we dodged an early frost (Friday morning it was 40 degrees here with light frost on the lawn) we're still harvesting produce from the garden.  Yesterday was no exception, I think Mommy spent half the day out there picking.  Skyler of course loves to do anything that involves outside so he was happy to john us.

Skyler shows us the pancake he's eating in front of the giant pumpkin that's taking over the seviceberry bush.

Snake!  He disappeared into the retaining wall after I took his picture.  Ugh!

"I'm a monkey!"

The hound playing with her squeaky ball.

Auntie Karen stopped by and Skyler wanted to eat a grilled cheese with her.

A trip to the Utah State Fair.

Or A.K.A., the public meltdown trip!  We rode the train up to the fair park yesterday.  The train ride up there was OK, it was after a potty break when we got to the fair that everything turned to shit.  Skyler decided that he "doesn't like Daddy" and started throwing a fit.  After what seemed like hours instead of minutes, he got calmed down and we had a lunch courtesy of the Utah Cattlemen's Association.  Lunch was the highlight of the trip for me, beef tenderloin sandwiches with chips for only $6!  Even Mommy enjoyed her sandwich.  I ordered one for Skyler and he only had a few bites so that meant more for me!  After lunch, we walked around and had some more public fits.  Skyler got to walk through the "kids on the farm" exhibit and did pretty good.  Everything faded quickly after that though, and it was time to leave.  The train ride back home went well, no public fits, just lots of "toot, tooting" by Skyler.  :)

Ridin' the rails!

He was SO happy!

The cattle barns got new roofs and a steel substructure (basically a building inside the building) to meet current seismic requirements. 

Cows!

Yes, this was as delicious as it looked!  Put it this way, a corn dog was $10!  $6 for a fresh grilled tenderloin sandwich was the deal of the day!

"Wave to Daddy!"

"Planting" seeds in the pretend garden.  This kid is pretty lucky, he has a real garden back at home.

Riding the (wrong brand) pedal tractor.

Piggy!!

"Goodbye pigs!"

Playing with the "Monster Tractor!"

As mentioned in yesterday's post, Skyler was perfectly behaved at the dentist.  One of the reasons was if he behaved, he got to play with my radio controlled JD Monster tractor.  That's exactly what happened and here's the results.

Mommy took him out to play while I was fixing dinner.

Getting the controls figured out.

Stuck!

Fixed!

Go!

Nothing like chasing the vehicle you are driving! :)

A (successful) trip to the dentist.

After two failed attempts at two different pediatric dentists, Skyler finally had a successful time at the new dentist yesterday.  Not one scream.  Not one fit.  No one tried to pry his mouth open or make him do anything he didn't want to do.  A huge thanks to Willi, Skyler's awesome hygienist!

Practicing how he was going to open his mouth for the hygienist in the waiting room.

In the chair, watching and listening to cartoons on Cartoon Network.  I can't be thankful enough for this positive experience.  I dreaded the thought of him having a phobia of the dentist after the last two visits.

Mmm, ice cream!

A walk to the backhoe.

Skyler wanted to walk down and see the backhoe that has been parked on the street for nearly 2 weeks now.  We found that it was a rental unit and that it had keys!!  What happened next may or may not involved an impromptu backhoe ride and drive.  :)

Someone soys the backhoe!

Pointing at the gas marking flag. 

"Take my picture Dad!"

"Ready?"

"Driving, driving, driving!"

Move over, it's time to take it for a spin! (I cannot confirm or deny the backhoe was driven.)

All done!  Just in time too, note the city truck that pulled up right as we were done.  This backhoe had only .10 hours on it.  It still had that "new backhoe" smell in the cab. :)