Me and My Monkeys

First Fun Run

2010-09-23T16:53:00.000-07:00

Today was the first Fun Run. Here are my boys after the run:

Quotable Quotes:

Kellen after the Fun Run: "Well, it was fun, but not as fun as I thought it was going to be."

The PE teacher said hi to Kellen and he ended up dropping about 1/4 of his Otter Pop. Kellen looked down and said, "...That's ok, I still got most of it." Love that kid. He's such a sweetheart. (The PE teacher got him another one for free.)

Bridger: "I did it!" He ran the entire Fun Run. Good job Buddy!

Happy Birthday Jared!

2010-08-24T14:52:00.001-07:00

Happy Birthday to a wonderful husband and father! I asked the kids what we should get Daddy for his birthday. Here were their answers.

Bridger: An orange table - to serve us food on.
Kincade: A bus. A big (or pink) bus. [Couldn't decipher for sure if it was big or pink]
Kellen: I don't know what we should get him...After all, I'm just a KID!

Clearly they won't be any help for a few more years....
Love you babe!

McKay Family Reunion

2010-08-04T17:53:00.000-07:00

My mom and I took the boys on a road trip to Utah for the McKay Family Reunion. It was exhausting but fun! I learned some more about my ancestors (Great-Grandparents James and Bessie McKay) and the kids had a great time!

(The highway into town is named after my great-uncle. Bridger's middle name is Gunn after him, so I had to take a picture of him with this sign. I don't know why he's flashing gang signs. He refused to believe that his middle name was Gunn. He thought it was a hilarious joke.)

What a REAL New York Apartment Looks Like

2010-07-20T21:02:00.000-07:00

Has anybody else ever watched Law & Order? Or any other show set in New York? While I was in NY, I took pictures of my friend's apartment - which is probably pretty typical of normal people in NY. Nothing like the movies, that's for sure. They live on the Upper West Side of Central Park. A few blocks walk to the park.

The door on the right. Ring the bell, get buzzed in, then walk up 4 flights of stairs.

The front door is the white thing on the right side. You walk in and this is their living room/bed. And you are looking straight into their kitchen from the front door...

Miniature appliances (we also saw a mouse in there at night lol). Right next to this kitchen, to the left is the downstairs bathroom...

This is looking from their living room into an open area - you can see the baby sleeping in the bassinet/stroller. The closet on the right is the bead closet and the high door is the baby's room.

Bead closet

Up to baby's room

Baby's room

All of her headbands (she sold them here - it's on 5th Avenue, very swanky and expensive!) the bookshelf and the stairs up to the loft

Scary stairs

The loft. They keep all of their clothes in that closet, as well as just about everything they own I think.

Upstairs bathroom

The terrace (off of the loft) This is the envy of their friends. They have all of their parties here because they can all hang out in "outside space." There's also another space with a whole table in it.

And their view from the terrace

I thought it was fascinating when I saw how New Yorkers lived so I hope you enjoyed the tour. Their apartment is really cute and it's such a fun city. I don't blame them for giving up sprawling yards and square footage in the house to live in such a fun and exciting city.

Memorial Day Weekend

2010-06-03T17:44:00.001-07:00

For Memorial Day Weekend, we went to the Phelps cabin up in Alpine, AZ. It was such a great weekend with windy kayaking (fun!), s'mores, marshmallows, a shooting range (created by my very own hubby), a snowball fight?!, some Frisbee golf, a good hike and picnic, movies on the projector, reading books and magazines, playing outside in the dirt (for the boys), Scrabble Slam and Monopoly Deal, homemade ice cream, peach cobbler in the Dutch oven, a trip to the Lollipop Shop, and much more! We had such a great time, in fact, we decided to stay an extra day.

The trip up was long and painful - Kellen threw up, Bridger had to pee 4 times (on a 5 hour drive?!), and we left so late it was dark most of the way (we saw tons of elk and almost hit a couple). But once we got up to Alpine, we had a great time and it wasn't even too cold at night. We all got sunburnt the first day, so we had to ease off the sun, but other than that - a great time was had by all.

Art Class

2010-05-26T17:08:00.010-07:00

One of the benefits of having kids so close together is that they can participate in the same activities. Apache Junction Parks & Rec had an art class for 2-5 year olds (+ parent) so I signed up all three of my boys. They had a great time (I hope). It was hard to help 3 kids to 3 art projects in only 45 minutes (that's a new project every 5 minutes!) but I tried to let them be free with their art. I tried not to force them to do the projects perfectly, but them create their own art (I HOPE I did. It's awfully hard to let them do things the "wrong" way.) All of the other parents had 1 kid, and they probably thought I was absolutely crazy for attempting this with 3 boys.

I thoroughly enjoyed seeing each of my boys' personalities come out during class. Bridger was forever telling me he could do it himself when I tried to help him, which meant that his projects always were a bit "different" if you know what I mean. His animals had extra eyes, his dots weren't quite dots, his finger-painting was more extensive than either of the other two.

Kincade would easily get bored of the projects, unless glue was involved. They LOVED doing the glue. Which means there was quite a bit of extra glue used... His eagle and hippopotamus each had 4 eyes, his flamingo had extra feathers, etc.

Kellen worked very hard and seriously on all of his projects. I tried to get away with skipping a project on the last day because we had somewhere to be and didn't have time for 3 projects - he noticed and so I told him he could do it quickly while we were finishing the other ones. He always wanted to figure out exactly HOW the project was supposed to be done and WHY there were certain drawings on the flamingo or certain beads on the birdfeeder or anything else.

Their teacher was Ms. Patty. She was great with the kids and helped me out a lot. The very first day each kid got a secret piece of paper to make one big project. They each got to paint one piece. The next time they came to class, this huge flower was on the wall. I'm pretty sure Bridger's was in the lower left (with a bit of white space), Kincade's was in the upper right (one of the ones with white space), and Kellen's was the one in the top left I think.

Favorite Restaurants

2010-05-10T21:32:00.000-07:00

My friend tagged me awhile ago and I didn't realize it, but here goes:

Here is an old restaurant meme. If you want to play, here are the rules:

1. Link to name of person that tagged you.

2. Include state and country you live in.

3. List top 5 favorite local restaurants.

4. Tag 5 other people and let them know they've been tagged

I live in the East Valley area of Phoenix in Arizona.

Favorite Restaurants

1. Applebee's - They have an amazing all-you-can-eat lunch of soups/salads and they also have an amazing Happy Hour where some of their appetizers are half-off (including the Boneless Classic Wings, Spinach Dip, and Cheese Quesadillas are our faves). Their flavored lemonades are yummy and refills are free. They have several delicious desserts as well.

If you're on a diet, check out their "Under 550 calories" menu. But keep in mind that doesn't count fat. They're also kind enough to provide nutritional information for most of their menu items.

2. Boston's - Jared has struggled to find something he loves AND is reasonably priced. That must be why this restaurant also struggles to stay busy (means shorter wait for YOU). But I LOVE the Ultimate Pepperoni pizza. It has 3 types of pepperoni and the little square pepperoni makes the pizza! Also, their appetizer nachos are pretty dang tasty. Oh, it's on Gilbert and Warner if you want to check it out.

If you're on a diet, they have a few choices involving salmon or chicken with vegetables but I haven't tried them.

3. Cracker Barrel - I love breakfast, lunch and dinner, and this place has all three. It's a match made in heaven! Their chicken and dumplings are delicious. Jared loves their Eggs in a Basket. I love their carrots, hashbrown casserole, real maple syrup and pancakes, and much more.

If you're on a diet, they offer Egg Beaters, sugar-free syrup, and a low carb menu.

4. Cheesecake Factory - I don't get to eat at CF often, but I've found enough tasty items to return every chance I get. First item is the avocado egg rolls with dipping sauce. Those things are amazing! Second item I fell in love with was the Miso Salmon. It's buttery and sweet and served on a bed of rice. I couldn't finish the whole thing but I sure as heck tried! (Funny bit of trivia: We ran into the person who tagged me AT Cheesecake Factory on Valentine's Day and they invited us to sit with them and we had a lovely time.) Oh, I almost forgot the actual cheesecake. I have found the best cheesecake is actually the 30th Anniversary cheesecake (have your chocolate cake and eat it too - in the middle of cheesecake layers) and next time I'll go I'll try the Red Velvet Cheesecake since I've heard rave reviews on it.

If you're on a diet, don't go here. They have "Weight Management Salads" but they're still extremely high in fat.

5. Paradise Bakery - I am a frequent diner of this place. I love their Tomato Basil soup, their Cranberry Turkey sandwich, their Asian Chicken salad, and their Chopped BBQ Chicken salad. Their oatmeal chocolate chippers are super-addicting. For breakfast, the pumpkin or zucchini muffins are perfect for nut-lovers (like me :) and their chocolate croissant is dark and rich and delicious. They also have Caffeine-Free Diet Coke. And I won't neglect their cookies - Ginger Molasses, Coconut Chocolate Chip, Sugar cookies with sprinkles. You can't go wrong.

If you're on a diet, their Yogurt Parfait doesn't taste like a diet food but it's low in fat and has yummy homemade granola. They also have their Summer Berry Salad that has fruit and poppyseed dressing on a bed of lettuce. It's yummy and low fat. I love that they have nutritional information posted for most items.

Honorable Mention:

6. Logan's Roadhouse - They have great deals for 2 adult meals on Monday-Wednesday (cheap kids meals those days too). Their sirloin is really good. So is their Santa Fe Tilapia. Their yeast rolls are melt-in-your-mouth-good. This is a place I frequent much more than Cracker Barrel (too far) or Cheesecake Factory (too expensive), so I had to include it.

These are all chains. The only actual local restaurants that come to mind are:

Giant Hamburgers (AMAZING hamburgers, giant too, but not diet-friendly)

and

Gecko Grill (try the chicken quesadilla grande, green salsa, bean dip, BBQ beef sandwich, or green sauce enchiladas).

Anyways, I tag:

Wendy Phelps

Crissie Roberts

Matt Peterson (he writes for a living so this should be good...)

Melody Williamson

Andrea Phillips

First Swim of the Season

2010-05-05T22:45:00.000-07:00

and first swim in the new pool. It was cold, but it sure makes us look forward to those hot, hot days! Jared decided to try the pool out about 6:00 pm. It was still pretty light. By the time we were done swimming, it was dark. Kincade fell off the inflatable shark and that was the end of the swimming for him. After Bridger took one trip around the pool with Jared, he resorted to only riding the big turtle (which prevents him from getting wet at all). And, yes, they're all in life jackets! haha With 3 little ones that can't swim, it's almost impossible to have a hand on them all - so this will help a bit until they can swim on their own. We are so excited to be able to use the pool this summer!

Disneyland Trip

2010-04-22T15:17:00.000-07:00

We were able to take the kids to Disneyland the day after Tax Day (yay! I survived my first year as a tax professional.). The kids were so excited and so were we. We hadn't been there since we were Newlyweds. Grandma and Grandpa Phillips and Uncle Toby also got to come.

Saturday the 17th we went to the Discovery Science Center:

These were in the hurricane simulator - it gets up to 80 mph.

Bridger's favorite exhibit? The elevator.

The whole gang minus the photographer.

Day 2 was a Sunday and was at Disneyland. You'll notice most of the pictures from this day are waiting in line.

Autopia was the first ride on the agenda (after much walking, checking Space Mountain - closed and finally "settling" on Autopia lol)

Now that's tired! Sleeping with cotton candy in your hand.

We were starving by the time it was time to get to the electric parade. It was the last night, so we had to see it or miss it. It was a big fiasco and the kids were more interested in the fireworks across the street at Disneyland. Kellen said he wanted to see fireworks and Jared explained that this was the last night for the parade, so he agreed to see the parade tonight and the fireworks the next night. But we left early because we couldn't see it very well anyways.

It was such a long day! We were exhausted.

Day 3 was a Monday and much less busy. We hardly spent any time in lines, but we did have one accident. :( The bloody kind of accident.

So far so good, Bridger on the bus:

A beautiful picture of us in front of Mickey - notice Bridger and Kincade standing up on the ledge. After the picture, I walked forward to get the camera and Kincade must have jumped towards me and fell face first onto the concrete. Poor kid was bleeding pretty bad. The First Aid office said he might need stitches but he refused to let her see inside his mouth. It stopped bleeding so we headed back out with a couple of fast passes for our trouble.

This was awhile after the accident. I wasn't allowed to take a picture of him while he was bleeding profusely. The spot on his bottom lip is where he was cut almost all the way through from inside.

Mickey's Ferris Wheel of Death:

I think it has another name, but for the life of me I can't remember it. We're minding our own business (without seatbelts) and all of a sudden Kincade lurches forward (that's all we need is another injury). It was SO scary. I am not even kidding. The boys thought it was hilarious but I think it was because all of the adults were screaming.

Finally, a safe ride, the carousel:

Waiting for the fireworks to start:

Kellen was so funny. He went on Star Tours the first day. The second day, he said he wanted to go on it again, so we said ok. While we waited in line, he said "Last time was her first trip, I hope she's better this time." Then when the robot said it was his first time, Kellen was really confused.

Day 3 was a beautiful day. We had done almost everything so we just relaxed and caught up with some things we still wanted to do (before it started pouring, that is).

No one standing for this picture!

The kids were SO excited to see their favorite Playhouse Disney characters live on stage.

They were also SO excited to get a bubble gun. We could have just bought that for $9 and saved the money on the entrance fees for 3 days. They each got to pick a toy to take home. Kincade picked a big Buzz Lightyear, which he loves! Bridger picked a Toy Story playset with Emperor Zurg and Woody and Rex and the whole gang. Jared made the mistake of calling him "Emperor Zurg" when Bridger asked his name. He probably asked us 50 times and if we answered simply "Zurg," he would correct us to EMPEROR ZURG. Kellen picked a magic Houdini coloring book. Dada helped him with that one.

Then we ate ice cream in the rain. Yummy!

Waiting to go on Toy Story Mania (such a fun ride!)

It had been raining for awhile, so we were all quite wet. We decided to take one last ride on the Grizzly River Run since there was no wait and we were already wet.

3 rides later...

I was soaked! And Kellen and I were the ones who didn't want to go home yet, so everyone else went back to the hotel while Kellen and I went back to Disneyland for a few more rides. We rode Thunder Mountain until they closed it. Kellen rode it 7 times total the whole trip. When I told him the fireworks were starting, he said, "But I don't care about that I just want to go on Thunder Mountain again." I was freezing! But it was worth it!

The next day we drove home. And ate at Cracker Barrel. It was such a great trip! I'm so grateful to my parents for coming with us. 5 adults with 3 kids is the perfect ratio. :)

The End.

What's Not to Love?

2010-04-05T23:51:00.000-07:00

Kincade loves it when I let him sleep with his big brother. And I love it too, because I get shots like these:

This is two different nights. Same shirt, different pants. He's sound asleep in that first one. Standing on the floor and laying on the bed.

(I do move him to his crib once he's asleep, which is when I get these gems.)

Crack Me Up

2010-04-05T17:54:00.001-07:00

This afternoon, each of the boys was peeling an egg to "eat." They're almost done and Bridger says, "Kincade, do you want to hatch another egg?"
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Bridger was picking at a hangnail on his finger and said to me, "I can't get it, can you get it?" So I said, "What is it?" His response: "A fingerlash."
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We're driving directly into the sun while it was about to set this evening (but it's still high enough to be blinding). Kellen says, "What a pretty sunset." I say, "Yeah, but it's a little bright." He replies, "Yeah, it's white, but some other people might think it's pretty."

My "Quirky" Bridger

2010-03-30T13:14:00.002-07:00

I just have to dedicate another post to my quirky middle child, Bridger. He is his own person to be sure. Everyone at the Easter egg hunt was laughing about his clothes being backwards:

I had to explain that his clothes are like that every single day and his underwear is also backwards. Therefore, I have to assume it's on purpose and not just a mistake. Actually, sometimes he puts his shirt on the right way. But the underwear and shorts are ALWAYS on backwards.

I love how he yells "WAHOO" when he does something exhilarating. He never uses "wheee" and always yells "wahoo" instead. When he jumps from high places (not too high, just the bed), he yells "Advernture's Away." When you call him ANYTHING besides Bridger, he always corrects you that he's Bridger but it sounds like, "I'm Bidga." Strangers never understand him.

He thinks "3 years old" is "3 yours old" so when he says it about himself he says, "I'm 3 my old." It's so cute I hope he never outgrows it!

"marshmerlows"

Don't most 3-year olds insist on doing everything themselves? He doesn't. He knows how to buckle himself in the car, but usually just says he wants me to. Even when Jared teases him saying he doesn't think he can do it, Bridger doesn't bite. He's not easily tricked, cajoled, bribed, pushed, or teased into anything. But that's ok because 1. he's an easy going kid so we usually don't need to use those things and 2. it will serve him well later in life (I hope).

Jared found him in the bathroom the other day reading Reader's Digest. On the toilet. Funny kid.

He has quite an imagination. He can go on and on telling you a story. He plays with his Batman set for hours each day, pretending about "bad Batman" and "good Batman" and Robin and Penguin and Joker and Mr. Freeze. He knows all of these characters. In his head it must be real, because if someone else makes something up, he just can't imagine it. He always tells you the "right" way to play with his Batman stuff.

He loves to play "Spiderman XBOX" which is actually a computer game we have on our TV. Their cousin Stephen has it on XBOX, which is why they always call it "Spiderman XBOX." But I think Stephen must have corrected them last time he was here, because now Bridger calls it "Spiderman XBOX but not really XBOX." He's actually gotten pretty good at the game. He beat Stephen a few times, which surprised Stephen quite a bit, but Bridger sat, cool, calm, and collected with a smug look on his face like he never doubted himself.

Let's Go Fly A Kite...Or Maybe Not

2010-03-26T19:54:00.000-07:00

OK, this requires some backstory. Awhile back, Jared bought the boys kites and told them when it was windy enough, they could go fly them. Well, Bridger carried his around for days and ended up losing some pieces. So Jared replaced it and put it up so we could wait for a windy day. So when Bridger saw how windy it was today, he said "It's windy so I can fly my kite." So Jared took some time off work this afternoon and we took the kids down to the park with their kites.

So Jared first decides to try out the kite in front of the house. As soon as he starts flying it, Bridger freaks out. He is crying and screaming that it will blow away and to bring it down. So Jared does. Right into a tree. lol Kellen is holding his kite in the package, safe and sound. When Bridger sees how carelessly (lol) Kellen is holding it (in his hand), Bridger can't stand it, so he grabs on to Kellen's kite and holds on for dear life. When Kellen tries to convince him to let go, he is crying that it will blow away and he refuses to let go. I tried to convince him that it wouldn't blow away and it was fine, but he just could not believe it.

So we're still optimistic, so we load up in the wagon and head to the park. (We also had our nephew Tanner since his Mom and Dad were at the hospital. Luckily, everything was fine.) Jared is carrying the kite. Bridger is freaking out that it will blow away, so Jared lets him hold it so he can know it is secure. This seems to calm him down until we get there.

When we get there, Jared starts trying to fly it and Bridger tries desperately to try to convince him to take it down. Bridger is screaming and crying to take it down and put it back inside where it won't blow away. Jared even tells him that if it blows away, we'll buy him a new one. When Jared gave Kellen a turn with the string, Bridger was still freaking out. It was the funniest thing. Bridger even tried my line on me, "Let's just put it inside and bring it again next time." Hilarious.

Even Kincade took a turn flying it. And, wow, they got that kite as high as I've ever seen a kite. By this point, Bridger was too traumatized watching, so he had distracted himself by making sure the sand toys didn't blow away, or the wagon, or his shoes, or anything else. I kept trying to explain to him that those things were heavy enough and they wouldn't blow away, but he couldn't be convinced. I've never seen a kid so relieved when they had to leave the park.

Here are some pictures. I made sure to include some of Bridger sitting and standing on his kite to hold it down and also carrying it to the park. I love how happy Kincade looks to be flying the kite. A good moment.

First Easter Egg Hunt This Year

2010-03-25T09:46:00.000-07:00

We had an Easter Egg Hunt and picnic at the park with some high school friends and kids. It was a very nice day and everyone had lots of fun. Here are some pictures:

Befores and Afters

2010-03-18T10:10:00.001-07:00

I have a few things going on at my house in the upcoming month, so I thought I'd try to get some stuff put away and some painting done. I twisted my mom's arm to come help me paint and she brought along a handy guy (my dad). They helped so much. We finished the living room, dining room, and the upstairs bathroom. Seems like so little finished for 2 days worth of work, but it was worth it. I love them all! I can't wait to move on to the downstairs bathroom, and especially the stairwell and hallways, oh and the 4 bedrooms upstairs, and my bathroom, oh my. I hate seeing all of those white patches everywhere! (I just realized I forgot the before shots...added them today)

I knew I wanted to do a tropical/Hawaiian/Beach type theme in the bathroom and paint it aqua blue-ish for the ocean. So I came across these towels on clearance at Bed, Bath, and Beyond and I snatched them up, along with 2 rugs and a trash can. I matched the paint to the trash can, and voila:

Before:

After:

(You can probably almost make out the white patches in the hallway there. Ugh!)

I had the green chair for the living room and decided to kind of match it for the living room and the dining room. The paint in this house has been tricky to try to paint the repaired parts, but not paint more than we have to (not gonna paint the vaulted entry EVER). I think we found a nice solution and I do love the green.

Before/Living Room:

After/Living Room:

Before/Dining Room:

After/Dining Room:

(Should I paint the inlay ceiling too?)

Before/Stairs:

After/Stairs:

We didn't tape anything off! My mom hand-trimmed the stairs, living room, dining room, and bathroom. It was a lot of work for her! My dad and I rolled on the paint and did miscellaneous support items :) The tan in the background has to go soon! Too many white patches! Finally, I can start hanging up pictures and wall art.

I also dug deep and found my inner handyman and was actually able to re-caulk our shower. It's not perfect, but it'll do! I'm going to move on to the upstairs shower next so the boys can officially move into their bathroom.

What Jared Has Been Working On

2010-02-22T12:56:00.003-07:00

It was on Channel 12 News this morning! So, yeah, apparently he has been working this last year. Go to this link and then there are a list of videos on the right. Scroll down to Head of the Class and click on it.

http://www.azcentral.com/video/#/News/Head+of+the+class/40280768001/35150280001/67855087001

link to the site: theheadoftheclass.com

Sarcasm

2010-02-20T17:27:00.000-07:00

{kellen}
Kellen was watching Jared play a video game which was on an easy part. Kellen said, "Oh this is hard." Jared said, "No, it's not." And Kellen replied, "That was SARCASM!" Oh dear. I'm in for it now. My 5-year old is using sarcasm already.

Is It Possible?

2010-02-20T17:22:00.000-07:00

What I want to know is: Is it humanly possible to be grateful for what we have RIGHT. NOW. To really appreciate it - even if it's driving you nuts?! Is it possible to appreciate a 2-year old in the midst of a temper tantrum or a 5-year old in the middle of 1000 questions or a 3-year old pushing down his brother? Is it possible to appreciate those moments? Because I know you can appreciate your baby when he naps or when he says sorry or when he smiles and gives you a big hug and kiss. I know it's possible to appreciate your 3-year old when he's lovingly playing with his little brother. But is it possible to appreciate your colicky baby when he's in the middle of screaming and all you want is sleep?! Or possible to appreciate your kids begging you for milk when all you want is to eat your breakfast before it gets mushy?!

I started thinking about this when I stumbled on this blog about Layla Grace (Warning: Very Sad Blog. Proceed with caution.) http://laylagrace.org/ It is about a 2-year old only 1 month older than my own baby. She's dying of cancer. Her mother is facing the unthinkable. She won't ever get to hear Layla Grace ask 1000 questions in a single day. She won't ever get to hear her throw a temper tantrum again (if she ever did). She'll never again get to wish that she could just get her laundry done or her grocery list written or her makeup on without being interrupted by her precious Layla. All she has left are sleeping and sleepy moments. And she regrets all of those times she wished Layla would nap or sleep or play quietly. She wishes she could have every moment like that back and redo it and really appreciate it.

I read it and it brings me to tears. I can't comprehend having to go through this as a mother. And I wonder, am I grateful for being interrupted 100 times before I can sit down to eat a meal? Am I grateful ENOUGH for my children in every single waking moment and every single sleeping moment? And then I don't think I am and I wonder if it's humanly possible to appreciate those things when you have them. And what does that truly mean? Does that mean appreciating it enough to not wish for it to be over? Does it mean not wishing that your 2-year old would get out of diapers already?! Or can you still appreciate the stage and look forward to the next?

And even though I'm not going through this as a mother (and hopefully never will), I still am in the same position as every mother on the face of the earth. My children are growing up. I will never have another today. I won't get to do it over. But unfortunately, laundry still has to be done, dishes have to be washed, house has to be cleaned, bills have to be paid. So how do you appreciate every moment? Even when you're in THOSE moments? I'd love to hear your thoughts.

Valentine's Day

2010-02-15T22:14:00.011-07:00

On Valentine's Day, we had a candlelight dinner with the most exquisite china ;) We had heart-shaped pancakes (they were semi-round, but just pretend they were heart-shaped). Then the boys each found a valentine under their plates and got to use the clues to find their valentines. They each got a toy and some candy. Then we rushed off to the Phelps' Valentines Party. No pictures of that - too crazy with 20 adults and 30 kids. Happy Valentine's Everybody and love to all!

All Valentine's weekend, Jared worked no my Valentine's Day present. He built shelves in my office closet. I was really excited to have all of that storage space. It took a bit longer than he expected (don't all DIY projects?!), but it's done now and it looks great!

I can't wait to finish filling them up, but for now I'm thrilled. We'll paint them when I decide what color to paint my office. I think he may have been a little disappointed when he saw what I did with my new shelves. "I didn't realize I was building a mini-Joanns." Yep! And I love it!

Cousins and Heart Cakes

2010-02-11T22:19:00.000-07:00

Kellen's cousin Hite gave Kellen an apron, cake mix, and frosting for his birthday. Kellen was so excited since he loves to cook. We decided to invite Hite and his sisters Elly and Rilla over to help decorate some heart cakes we made.

This is kind of funny, but the oldest girl, Elly, seemed to have an allergic reaction to the flash of the camera. Poor girl was smiling so prettily and then flash and this is how it developed:

Oh well, we love her anyways!

And here, as usual, is the aftermath:

Bridger and the Case of the Bruised Ear

2010-02-02T22:27:00.014-07:00

We had quite a drama with our poor little Bridger-boy. Saturday, he was jumping off the couch and somehow jumped into a kitchen chair with a metal back. He screamed and immediately had a line of puffy bruise across his ear. We tried to ice it, which, of course, he wanted none of. The next day Jared decides to do some research on bruised ear and finds out that having a bad bruise that has a hematoma (pool of blood) can cause you to bet Cauliflower Ear or Boxer's Ear. Apparently the pool of blood separates the skin from the cartilage, which separates it from the nutrients. So, the cartilage can die and then you have a floppy ear. Well upon hearing about this, we decide we should call the doctor to check. The doctor says he wants to see him that day (Monday). Jared takes him to the doctor, who then says, yes, we need to take him to the Ear, Nose, and Throat Specialist to possibly have a surgery to drain the hematoma to prevent the Boxer's Ear. So the next day, Jared takes him to the ENT, but I take some pictures before they leave. (Keep in mind, this is Day 3)

Bridger was a good sport and the ENT laughed at the thought of having to perform surgery, so I guess we worried over nothing. He scheduled a follow-up since his head was also bruised in a line right behind his ear bruise and he worried a bit about brain damage or brain leaking. (He asked Jared if he had had a really bad runny nose - No. (Apparently your brain fluid can leak out of your nose in a really bad head injury....ewwwwwwwww gross. And also apparently, brain fluid looks just like a runny nose. Also, Jared does a funny impression of the doctor. If you're so inclined, you'll have to ask him to do it for you.)

Anyways, luckily it healed up nicely and he's back to his good old cutey self.

Itty Bitty Olympics

2010-01-30T12:37:00.000-07:00

We took the boys over to Apache Junction's Itty Bitty Olympics. It was indeed Itty Bitty. There were only a handful of people there. The kids did each event twice and got a little prize at each station. We didn't stick around for the big awards (*ahem* I don't think any of our kids qualified.) The obstacle course was really funny. Kincade just had no clue what to do, but it was still fun! Plus a bounce house. Here are some pictures.

Another Try at the Gingerbread Man

2010-01-29T12:53:00.004-07:00

I decided after the last event with the gingerbread man, I should give my kids another chance to see a happy mom making a gingerbread man with them. Unfortunately, that is apparently impossible. This time I just bought the sugar cookie dough and didn't even frost it. I just let them put sprinkles on and then baked and ate. Bridger dumped a huge pile of black sprinkles on. The boys loved doing sprinkles, but it probably wasn't quite the same as getting to make him a little man with a face and clothes. Oh well.

Things My Kids Have Said Recently

2010-01-26T17:25:00.005-07:00

{bridger}
Singing: "Silver Bells, Silver Bells, Silver all the way..."
____________________________
"I'm going to get you for Valentine's Day A PUPPY!" (Thank you dear son, just have to convince your dad.)
_____________________________
Seeing Robin from Batman & Robin: "Oh there's Robin Hood."

{kellen}

This morning, when Bridger came up to my bed crying, complaining about not getting a yogurt, Kellen followed him up to explain:

"I can explain everything. You see, there are only two yogurts in the fridge and I thought Bridger wanted something else because sometimes it's great to be a little different."

As we laugh uproariously:

"Heh, I got that from a show. Maggie and the Ferocious Beast."

Jared: "I don't think they were talking about food."

"No, they were talking about slippers, but I thought it could be about food too."

Kellen's Sleepover Birthday Party

2010-01-24T13:00:00.001-07:00

Kellen somehow conned me into having a sleepover birthday party this year. Including my kids, we had 14 kids (and only 3 of them girls) there. Wow! Good thing Aunt Tara and Grandma Phillips joined us to help. We served spaghetti and meatballs, then watched Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs while eating popcorn in the game room. Everyone was asleep by midnight and everyone was awake by 7:45. In the morning, they got to pick cereal and watch some cartoons. Then they got to break the pinata. Then parents came and picked them up and my work was done. It was a crazy 16 hours, but the kids just loved it, which means I don't regret it!

It's 57 Degrees Out

2010-01-21T14:07:00.007-07:00

And what do we decide to do? Go play in the cold rain in the temporary lake/river behind our house.

{Getting ready to go}

{Playing in the rain (sorry, no singing)}

Poor Jared was freezing having to walk around in the water to move the kids on their toys.

Poor Kincade was shivering. Bridger was the last one remaining in the water. When he decided he was done, we packed up. I think the cutest part was when Bridger yelled "Goodbye Lake."
{The Aftermath}

Happy Birthday Kellen-Boy!

2010-01-18T22:22:00.001-07:00

Kellen is 5 years old today! Happy Birthday Big Boy! That means he'll be going to kindergarten next year! He cannot wait.

From this:

To this:

To this:

To this:

To this:

And now this:

Kellen is a sweetheart. He is eager to please and happy to help (usually!). He is a very good big brother and a good friend. He is extremely social and can't wait to get a chance to go to school and make even more friends. He has never met a non-friend.

He loves computer games and has enjoyed having a computer to use when his parents are using theirs. Some of his favorite characters are the superheroes (Spider-Man and Batman especially), Spongebob, and Scooby-Doo. He is enjoying watching his parents' favorite childhood cartoons and shows (Scooby-Doo, Inspector Gadget, and even The Neverending Story - to which he said "Heh, it does end though. That's funny."). He's even catching on to sarcasm. He asked Jared what he meant that was the opposite of "Oh great" - which he recognized as sarcasm. Pretty good for a 5-year old. I know some 15-year olds that don't understand sarcasm. He also enjoys Webkinz and loves ice cream.

To celebrate his birthday today we went and had steak and brought home ice cream and bananas for banana splits. Then Dad let Bridger and Kellen stay up as long as they wanted. At 1:30 am (!), he asked Bridger if he was ready for bed, to which Bridger responded, "Yeah.......wait, you said I could stay up ALL DAY!"

We love our Kellen-Boy!

Recent Activities

2010-01-11T14:22:00.000-07:00

Kids...

2010-01-01T13:17:00.001-07:00

All of these new toys and they're fighting over this "force field."

Happy New Year!

2010-01-01T12:37:00.013-07:00

For the second year in a row, Kincade's birthday fell on New Year's Eve so the whole world celebrated with us!

Grandma Phillips came over in the afternoon and gave him his presents (a xylophone and tool-shaped soap). Every time she leaves, the kids think they get to go with her, so she loads them into her car, drives them around the block, then drops them back off at home and they're satisfied!

Then we ran out for some crazy errands. The stores were so busy. We got cupcakes for Kincade's birthday at Sam's Club and picked up his presents there too. Then home to make spinach artichoke dip, gather pajamas, and everything else we would need. The back of our van was completely full of stuff.

At the Phelps we ate lots of yummy food - appetizers and treats. Melody made Hooters wings, we had black-eyed pea and avocado salsa for good luck, yummy lemon cookies, breadsticks, bean dip, homemade pizza with spelt crust (good!), and Wendy made Italian sodas. I was SO stuffed! The girls hung out in the kitchen all night and the guys hung out on the couches.

Then they broke the gingerbread houses. Each house has a hammer-like item (but safer) and each kid gets a turn to break it. When all of the kids are done, they attack the candy like rabid animals and fill their bags.

Then we celebrated Kincade's birthday with presents and cupcakes.

Then we played games, cleaned the kitchen and hung out until it was time to ring in the New Year!

And Kincade gave me a birthday present back by staying a baby for one more day and falling asleep in my arms. It's been a LOOOONG time since I've had a baby do that.

Happy Birthday Kincade!

2009-12-31T13:23:00.005-07:00

Happy Birthday to my baby Kincade. He's 2 and officially a toddler, not a baby, but still my baby!

Kincade is a funny boy. He's still talking in last syllables. Bridger is "er." Kellen is "eun." Giraffe is "affe." He's known how to pose and say "cheese" for the camera for several months. He still loves his mama, but isn't quite so attached anymore. He adores his big brothers, but still gets jealous if they get too much of mama's attention. He's a good sleeper, still sleeping about 12 hours at night and taking a nap for several hours most days. He hates his carseat and only wants to sit in Bridger's carseat. Fine, unless Bridger wants to sit in his own seat. Then we have to cajole, encourage, bribe, force one of them into the other seat. He did bite Bridger so hard that Bridger had bloody toothmarks and a huge bruise for days (and it was on Bridger's butt so I guess he got some revenge on Kincade!). We're hoping that's the end of his biting phase!

Kincade is a thoughtful child. He's starting to really get along with other children his age and actually want to play with them. When he was opening his presents for Christmas and his birthday, he started making this surprised noise - like sucking in air but before he even saw what it was. So hilarious.

He loves balls, his new polar bear, copying his brothers, and getting and giving ear kisses. He isn't a very picky eater - he likes to try most things and enjoys Grandma's chili, carrots, whole apples, cottage cheese, yogurt, cheese, chips, crackers, chicken nuggets, pizza, steak, and A1 sauce. He loves to brush his teeth (especially with his new electric toothbrush).

Sometimes he tries not to smile. If someone's teasing him or tickling him or something, you can see him holding back a smile because for some reason he doesn't want to give in to it/you. One of the reasons "goof" is one of his nicknames, along with "monkey" and "love."

We love you Kincade-Boy! Looking forward to a fun and cute 2-year-old!

Gingerbread Houses

2009-12-29T19:30:00.002-07:00

The Phelps family has a long-standing tradition of decorating one gingerbread house and then breaking it on New Year's Eve. I'm not sure when or where it started, but I assume it was to look forward to something after Christmas and also to set a date when the coveted gingerbread house would get eaten. Mom has carried the tradition on with the grandkids, but now they do 2 gingerbread houses. She makes them from scratch and we all gather leftover Christmas candy and they go to town! This year, little kids had one house and big kids had the other. The big kids wanted to make theirs really nice looking! Here are some of the pictures from the day.

Christmas Wrap-Up (hardy-har-har)

2009-12-28T00:54:00.013-07:00

It's going to be hard to "wrap-up" Christmas, but here goes...

Christmas Eve dinner at the Phelps'. I was lazy and didn't take any pictures. We had ham, turkey, sour cream potatoes, mashed potatoes, gravy, corn, salad, and pie for dessert. (I bought store-bought pies after a multitude of barriers to actually making a dessert.) We handed out Sugar-N-Spice Nuts and Kellen gave out a Fruit by the Foot to each of his cousins. Then we headed home to open one present from under the tree. The kids each got a new Christmas movie and then they stayed up until about 10:30 or so watching "A Very Monkey Holiday" which was Kincade's Curious George movie.

We stayed up late while Jared replaced all of the batteries in the old toys and I had good intentions of finishing the last of the fleece blankets - Bridger's Scooby-Doo blanket wasn't done yet, but Kellen's SpiderMan and Kincade's Curious George were done. I could not find the Scooby-Doo fabric that I thought I had bought. So I just resigned myself to the fact that I'm getting spacey and I never bought it. So, Bridger didn't get his blanket (I'm hoping this doesn't send him to years of expensive therapy when he is older. Bridger, it doesn't mean we don't love you!). Jared NEVER believed that I would do something like think I had bought that fabric and then get confused and not have bought it (those verbs are hard!). Sure enough, Jared was right again. He found the Scooby-Doo fabric in his tool cabinet on Sunday. Good thing because when I went on Saturday, Joann Fabrics was out of it. So, I still have a belated Christmas present to make my poor neglected middle child. I think we ended up getting to bed about 2:00 am or so.

Christmas morning, Kincade woke up about 8, Kellen at 8:15, and we finally woke Bridger up at 8:30. Why do kids always sleep in on the mornings we actually NEED them to be awake??? Great unfairness in parenting. Anyways, the kids were excited about the basketball hoop, train table, and not as excited about the shopping cart. Can't win 'em all I guess. Kellen also got his Dragon Fortress and spy kit that he had been asking for. Kincade got a cash register and some more pretend food. Bridger got a SpiderMan punching bag (broke on Christmas day). They all got push cars and pretend guns. Kincade loved his, just like I knew he would. He kept insisting that I hold one of the other guns and we shoot each other. Boys... Jared got a table saw and 4 speakers for the family room and some books and DVDs. I got the Amazon kindle with 1 book loaded onto it and a cover. I also got a cupcake book and a popcorn popper. We all had a great Christmas!

My two favorite traditions of all of the holiday season are both on Christmas day. The first one is the Christmas Breakfast in Pajamas at the Phillips'. We all show up in our pajamas and eat breakfast and open family presents. My mom doesn't know how to do anything small, so she does it big. There was blueberry baked French toast, 3 kinds of egg stratas, sweet breads, rolled cinnamon toast, juices, bacon, sausage, hot chocolate, and we provided the smoked ham (from Jared's brother Kent). Then we moved on to opening up presents. My mom had a soft present for each of us, plus another present. She explained the soft presents as we opened them. What had started as a gift of 7 blankets (she never made baby blankets for Shannon's stepkids...), ended up totalling to 25 blankets. Like I said, she doesn't know how to do anything small! All of the couples got a family blanket, and the kids each got their own little cozy blanket. She told how she had made 2 blankets for my kids and then decided that since I call them "my monkeys," she needed to make them monkey-themed blankets, so she made 3 different monkey blankets. They're so cute! Our family quilt is so comfortable. Because of changing her mind and different events, she had about 6 extra, which she allowed the kids to trade if they wanted. I think 3 of the girls ended up trading around. Then all of us adults also got a set of toaster oven pans, which will come in handy! Shannon and Dustin also got a framed print of the San Diego temple, with the date of their sealing and their names. Then the kids and dads settled in to play Family Feud on the Wii and Jared and Shannon played Christmas music (piano and violin) until we all had to get on with Christmas Day! Why does the day fly by so fast? You prepare and prepare and then it's gone before you blink.

We ran home for a quick regroup, and then on to the other favorite tradition - Christmas Chimichangas at the Phelps'. Jared's mom is just as crazy as mine! She serves chimichangas to 50+ people for all of Christmas afternoon (Sorry, just immediate family ;). There's homemade enchilada sauce, lots of toppings, and beef and bean chimis, and of course lots of fun! Mom and Dad Phelps bought each family a "coaster car." They are these little cars that you just have to turn the steering wheel to make the car go. We had races in the driveway for what seemed like hours. Eventually everyone drifted back home, except for three families. Those of us remaining had leftover pie and made some hot cocoa. That really hit the spot! We finally headed for home long after the sun had gone down. The boys were tired, but if memory serves, they still talked Jared into reading their short Christmas books they got in their stockings.

(It's not lost on Jared that my two favorite traditions revolve around food...)

The day after Christmas was another busy day. I headed out to do some after-Christmas shopping. I bought a bunch of stuff 50% off like garland for my new stair rail and some adorable peppermint lights and plenty of wrapping paper. Jared worked most of the day on putting the table saw together and watching the kids (two tasks that go great together...).
Mom and Dad Phelps came by for their annual visit to see the kids' Christmas goodies. Unfortunately, Bridger was not in the picture because we don't love him as much...haha just kidding. He was so cranky, Jared told him he had to stay in his room until he could be happy, and lo and behold, he fell asleep. A nap that was sorely needed!

The day after Christmas was also the Annual Friends' Party. These are all of Jared's high school friends, although I was acquainted with most of them too. We've settled on the day after Christmas so we can catch those who come INTO town. Unfortunately, we miss those who go OUT of town. Darn it, we just can't win. I was lazy once again (this is turning into a theme...) and didn't take any pictures. In any event, we had soup, rolls, and dessert. My soup was a total flop, but that's ok....I guess. We held it at a church so the kids could run around and we could enjoy ourselves. The kids sure enjoyed that stage!

Sunday night we headed over to the Phillips' for a typical Sunday night dinner. Luckily my mom had leftover turkey meat (NO! not from Thanksgiving, that's disgusting! She cooked a turkey on Christmas Day "just in case") so she made "Creamed Turkey over Toast" which my brother always calls a different name which cannot be posted on a family blog. After hunting down some eggs (we finally found some at Melody's house - yay for chickens!), my mom set to making sugar cookies - mainly for me. Big surprise, my next favorite tradition is Christmas Sugar Cookies. And she doesn't do anything small, so she doubled the batch and we probably ended up with 100 or so Christmas cookies. You won't hear me complaining!

*Whew* Long post. If you're still reading...congratultions! Did I mention my kids were perfect all December-long? haha, that's because they weren't. There were plenty of melt-downs, non-sharing, fighting, saying "no" and everything else that comes with this lovely holiday season. But I choose to pretend they didn't happen at all! Hope everyone had a great season! We just need to get through New Year's and we'll be home free for 2010!

Out of the Mouths of Babes

2009-12-23T08:44:00.003-07:00

Funny things my kids have said recently:

Walking outside of Chili's - there was one of those cardboard coasters on the ground.

Kellen: What's this doing here?
Me: Someone must have brought it outside and dropped it.
Kellen: Don't they know we're supposed to keep the earth clean and healthy?
-----------------------------------------------------------
At one of the Christmas parties, sitting on the couch.

Bridger puts his arm around Kellen and says, "You're my good brother."
--------------------------------------------------------------
Me: Bridger, who loves you?
Bridger: KINCADE!
A few hours later...
Me: Hey Kincade, who do you love?
Kincade: (pointing at Bridger) ER!

-------------------------------------------------------------------------
And a "funny kid" picture:

Christmas Parties II

2009-12-20T22:36:00.004-07:00

The second Christmas Party was the Phillips party on Sunday night.

We had soup, goodies, the kids played Bingo, the adults did a "California gift exchange" (as I call it), Santa visited, my mom told the story of "The Gift of the Magi" and encouraged us to love each other, and we all chatted and the kids played like crazy.

(This is Kincade when we told him to fold his arms for the prayer. How could I resist getting a picture of this? Don't worry, I was very reverent.)

Christmas Parties

2009-12-20T22:20:00.005-07:00

We had both family Christmas parties this weekend. Saturday night was the Phelps'.

Phelps Party: Pizza, Talent Program, Santa, opening family gifts to each other, giving Jared's parents their gift from all of us. Their gift was a journal book. We all keep an online journal and then print it out in book form to give to them to enjoy all year long. :) Each of the families has another family (it just rotates down the line - so in 9 years we will have each of the 9 other families once). All of the gifts this year were so thoughtful and nice.
It's fun to be together and see the talents and just be together in the spirit of Christmas. I was truly amazed by the talents this year. OH! I almost forgot. The most long-standing tradition of all. Singing Christmas carols around the piano while Jared's dad plays. I think he knows every single Christmas song by heart. I'm not exaggerating either. You can just say any Christmas song you want and he just starts playing it. It's so fun!
My kids were so good with Santa. Kincade wasn't scared at all. Bridger and Kellen both spoke up and told him exactly what they wanted. Most of the other mothers were horrified when their kids asked Santa for things that had never been mentioned before...kind of late for Santa to start making stuff within a week of Christmas.

Bridger: A football (first I've heard of it)
Santa: Anything else?
Bridger: A mom (uhm....wha...ok...apparently this kid is looking for a mom...anyone interested?)

Kellen: I want a spy kit and a spy watch and a dragon castle (good boy - doesn't deviate from his original list)
Santa: Anything else?
Kellen: A spy set and spy watch and the spy kit has a ....... and.... and....something. (he explained the whole thing to Santa)
Here are some pictures:

My Son, The Inventor

2009-12-17T12:50:00.005-07:00

This is a conversation with Bridger:

Bridger: Where are we going?
Me: Home and then to Grammy and Papa's to see Gene and Braden and Riley and Mara will be there (cousins)
Bridger: And Parker will be there
Me: No, Parker will be at school.
...me not listening...
Bridger: Is that a great idea?
Me: ...uhm...what was the great idea?
Bridger: The great idea was Parker will be at school AND at Grammy and Papa's. Is that a great idea?
Me: That IS a great idea.
Bridger: *nods, satisfied*

I didn't bother to mention that it is a great idea, but not exactly possible with current technology. Maybe some day he'll invent the "Be-In-Two-Places-At-Once Machine." I can see it now...

Gingerbread Man

2009-12-14T21:27:00.004-07:00

I have wanted to buy the jumbo gingerbread man-pan for a while. I finally broke down and bought it, intending it for a gift...but I guess I loved it too much and I ended up unwrapping it to make a gingerbread man for my kids. They were so excited by the prospect, so I'm glad I did! The kids anxiously awaited the big man to be done and then excitedly decorated it before bedtime.
{My post could end here...and in the final telling of my life, it will. For those interested in the nitty gritty details, read on...)

I wish I could say that it was all smiles and a lovely perfect family moment. Unfortunately, I was cranky with their "helping" and ready to be done with it by the time I put it in the oven. Then I left it in too long (new oven - hard to gauge) and then realized I was supposed to soften butter for the icing. ARGGGH My kids were so anxious, I thought they would burst while the butter softened. It was bedtime by the time they actually got to decorate it, so I played Mrs. Grinch and didn't even get out all of the candy or decorations I had planned. I let them have a few gumdrops, hurried them to finish it so they could have their piece and go to bed. The thing was so hard, I don't even know how they ate any of it. I wish I could also say this was the exception, not the rule. (The burnt food and the cranky mother. Unfortunately, they both happen more often than I'd like to admit.) If only it was just like in the movies...

Fun-Filled Saturday

2009-12-13T08:29:00.001-07:00

We had a busy Saturday this weekend. We had our niece Elly's baptism in the morning.

Then we had the Ferrin Christmas Party (Jared's Mom's family). This has been a tradition for decades. Of course, as the group has grown to hundreds of people, the traditions have slightly changed. We no longer fit in the basement and it's too crazy to try to do a gift exchange. This year, we had desserts and hot chocolate, cotton candy, balloon animals, bounce house, Christmas train, zip line, talent show, chatting and playing. I think this was the best one yet! Of course, I wasn't around for the original ones, so I can't compare those ones.

I had to wake Kincade up for the party, which resulted in these photos (you know I can't resist a sleeping child):

After the party, we headed to Jared's Uncle Russell's to paint the Christmas ceramics. He actually molds the ceramics for us and we scraped them last week. Then he fired them and we came back this week to paint them and spray them and take them home. He made dinner for all of us (crazy guy) and homemade ice cream and we all had a great time. Unfortunately, I was so busy painting my Santa and stuffing my face that I only took a few pictures, and they were all of Kincade holding his 3 suckers. I don't even want to think about how many more he had. Oh well, here are some pictures of our ceramics after they dried and we took them home. My Santa, Jared's Nativity, Kincade's tree, Bridger's Santa, and Kellen's snowman.

We have lots more holiday activities in the next 2 weeks. I can't wait!

Our Toy Room

2009-12-12T11:51:00.004-07:00

Our new house has wonderful giant game room. We are using it for the toys, kids computer, and kids TV. Just last night, we were finally able to semi-organize it. The boys helped me all afternoon. It's not permanent organization, but it's nice to have all of the open space and for the boys to be able to see all of their toys. They're going to have so much fun in there!

The yellow color is the "after" color. The brown/white section will be magnetic/chalkboard if I can swing it. It's not done by any means, but it's getting there! Story of my life these days! We're not ready for Christmas...but we're getting there. We're not all unpacked...but we're getting there. The painting isn't done...but it's SLOWLY getting there. The wiring and networking and TVs aren't done...but they're getting there.

This is the junk pile that's left: I should just throw it all away, but I don't. I'm worried that all of those unrecognized pieces will be missed when we figure out what they're for.

After we were done cleaning the game room, I thought we deserved a nice treat, so we all went out to Village Inn for dinner and pie. Bridger picked chocolate, Kellen picked Christmas pie (chocolate mint), and I chose banana cream. Kincade and Jared shared ours. If anyone's wondering, the Christmas pie was the best, and not just because of red and green mints on top! It was really tasty! Then we went to Wal-Mart to browse the toy section to try to get an idea what the kids are most interested in. And a Christmas Miracle happened - we walked out of Wal-Mart without buying ANYTHING.

Christmas 'jamas

2009-12-07T19:26:00.003-07:00

We have always carried on the Phillips tradition of opening one gift on Christmas Eve (always pajamas). But this year, I decided that I wanted my kids to be able to wear seasonal pajamas all month long. So we updated the tradition to open one present the night we set up our Christmas tree. We set up our tree yesterday and we all got new 'jamas and here are all the boys sporting theirs!

Kellen's turn trying to put the angel atop the tree.

Bridger's turn trying to put the angel atop the tree.

Jared fluffing said angel.

Jared's turn trying to put the angel atop the tree.

Success at last:

This was actually our first year being able to use our 8-year old angel because our old house had 8-foot ceilings and our new house has 9-foot ceilings. Too bad it's so difficult to get her to stay up there... (Excuse the half-painted living room. I figured we better just get the tree up, or Christmas will be past if we wait for the paint to be done!)

This is Bridger's section of ornaments. Every single ornament I handed him went right here.

Translating for Kincade

2009-12-01T19:45:00.011-07:00

ush = toothbrush
ite = light, bite, right
er = shower, diaper
Mama = mama :)
ar = car
off = off
out = out
ea = eat
eal = oatmeal
no = no
ursh = purse
are = more, ear
ee = silky
i = hi, bye
wlo = hello (you'd have to hear it to understand that spelling)
oshe = nose
awje = garage
ush = push
ow = ow
bownk = bonk
sss = dressed
wha = what

The trick is to listen to what he says and then look around for something with that sound as the last syllable. That's the only way to figure out why he's saying "errrr" as he tries to rip his clothes off (because he wants to get in the shower, duh!).

Bridger's Birthday

2009-11-30T21:33:00.007-07:00

Today was Bridger's 3rd birthday. Jared is currently giving Kellen and Bridger a "special birthday pass" on a reasonable bedtime. They're watching a movie of some sort.

So today we treated Bridger to oatmeal (one of his favorite foods) with dinosaur and orange sprinkles (his favorite color).

Then we headed to Sam's Club to pick out cupcakes for his party. Out of birthday theme, Elmo, basketball, or Spider-Man, there wasn't even a moment's hesitation. The Spider-Man cupcakes had it. Then we got some individual milk boxes and waters and some Sonic ice and headed home to get ready for the party.

At 1:00, we met some cousins, aunts, Grammy, Grandma, and Grandpa at the park to play, open presents, and eat cupcakes. It was pretty windy, but I think the kids all had fun. When Bridger asked who would be at his party and I started listing some cousins, I said Rilla, and his face lit up: "Oh RILLA, that's my friend." Such cute cousins.

He opened up his presents. He got a basketball, Batman cave/house, and a flashlight/headlight set from Mom, Dad, and brothers. Grammy got him a Batman shooter Batwing to go with his Batcave. Grandma and Grandpa got him a remote control truck. The remote control is just a wheel so it's easy to control. Rilla gave him some candy and a card she had drawn. She even wrote her name, it was so cute! Ben and Abby gave him "Tale of Despereaux," which is a really cute movie. When we got back to the house, the boys played with the new toys for a really long time. When I first asked Bridger what his favorite gift was he said, "Rilla." I didn't know she was a gift.

(This is what happens when a man wraps the presents and/or you've just moved and can't locate regular-old Scotch tape.)

Thanks to everybody that made such a great birthday for him. He loved all of the attention most of all!

For dinner we took them to "a surprise special birthday fun place" which was Peter Piper Pizza. The boys had fun playing and Bridger got most of the attention with Mom and Dad both helping him out with whichever games he wanted to play.

(This wins the Guinness World Record for SLOWEST and SMALLEST Merry-Go-Round on earth. 2 tokens and even Kincade looked bored.)

And Jared threatened that if I didn't post this picture, he would:

Why did I EVER volunteer to play that stupid shooter game with him?

Thirty Things to be Thankful For #30

2009-11-30T21:26:00.000-07:00

I'm thankful for my birthday boy, Bridger Gunn. He turned 3 today. Happy Birthday Sweet Boy!

Some funny things he says/has said:

"My underwear is all fudgy!" (uh...I don't even WANT to know what that means)
"Kincade's hair is all angle-y." (where did he even find a word like that?)
"Kincade's going to have that flashlight FOREVER." (everything is forever)
"in the whole wide world" or "whole entire city" (if it's not forever, it's in the whole wide world or entire city - trust me, it sounds funny coming from a 2 year old)
When asked if he wanted a baby sister: "How about.......no." (He uses 'how about' to answer just about any question.)

He's notorious for his "thoughtful" expression (somewhere between a scowl and a questioning face). People say he usually has it on because he's always assessing the situation, the people, the discussions. He's always thinking. People have been saying he has a serious face since he was a baby (poor kid will be like his mom with the serious face).

He always claims he's not tired. You can see how "not tired" he was:

If you know him at all, you know that he has been potty trained for several months and he takes off everything from waist down to go. Then he runs around half-naked as long as he can get away with it (which is usually most of the day). I don't think he cares whether he's dressed or not, it's just easier not to get dressed again, so he doesn't. I don't complain since he takes care of the actual potty issues all by himself.

Bridger always has been and remains such a fun kids to have around. He's constantly cracking us up and then surprising us with his sweetness (I'm not sure why it continues to surprise us...). He is sometimes slow to warm up to people and situations, but once he does, he has the most infectious, bright, intriguing smile.

I've always said that pictures cannot do Bridger justice. His cuteness is really created by his fun personality. I want to remember this stage forever! Pretty soon all I'll have will be pictures of his third year of life and a lot of the day-to-day memories will have faded. It makes it a bit sad for me that he's now 3.

Bridger, you make each and every day brighter because you're in it! Your facial expressions, the words and phrases you say, the things you do, and the way you do them bring us so much joy. We're glad you're part of our family! Happy Birthday Crazy Silly Boy!

(C'mon admit it, how cute can one kid get????)

Thirty Things to be Thankful For #29

2009-11-29T22:24:00.006-07:00

I'm thankful for a purse-toting, big-stick-carrying, brother-idolizing Mama's Boy 1-year old. He does anything and everything his big brothers do. He carries a purse like Mama (he even says purse). And he manages to locate each and every stick-like device throughout the entire house. But, oh my goodness, is he a fun kid to have around. He's also a very thoughtful kid (not in the kind sense, in the other way). If you tell him to do something, he'll resist at first and then after considering it for a few seconds, complies happily and willingly. He's not the kind of kid to do impulsive things (unless following a certain impulsive brother).

His current purse (better than the original sequined Wonder Woman purse he had picked up):

One of his big sticks along with his mischievous face because he was trying to sneak it inside (they're now confined to the garage or backyard):

My frequent view of him begging to be picked up:

Big brother Bridger is his hero:

I'm so glad we have this boy in our family. Life would just be boring without him. ;)

Thirty Things to be Thankful For #28

2009-11-28T22:24:00.001-07:00

I am thankful for Kellen. He's been with us less than 5 years, but it's hard to remember life before him. He's such a sweet kid and brother. He tries so hard to do what's right and make people happy. He is one of the friendliest kids I've ever known. The other day he says to Jared in Lowe's: "I'm going to say 'hi' to everyone I see. Well at least he people who work here." (He can't tell the customers from the employees, so that meant every single person.) The other day he said hi to some random person we were walking by. People are always somewhat startled by this and it often makes me giggle. But this time he noticed and asked me why I was laughing. I said that sometimes people don't always expect you to say hi and they're surprised and I think it's kind of funny. He asked if I was laughing at him, and I said no, not at you. Then he was satisfied and went on his friendly old way.
He loves to have parties, look at recipes, and plan things (Mama's boy). He also loves to learn, read, and play. He's so much like his Dad in so many ways. We're so thankful to have him as a son. I'm thankful for each day I have with him.

Thirty Things to be Thankful For #27

2009-11-27T22:24:00.003-07:00

I'm thankful for pictures. It's hard to imagine that a short many years ago, pictures were extremely uncommon and very expensive, I'm sure. It's so amazing that I can now take hundreds of pictures each year. Even when I was a kid, I remember cameras and camcorders being such a big deal. And then to get the pictures printed was also expensive. Now there's so much competition for picture-printing (you can even do it right from your own home!). But now I don't have to worry if the picture I took was really worth printing, because I can keep all of my pictures on my computer to use and print anytime I like. Here are some of my favorite pictures (I have too many favorites to show them all):

Bridger - Thanksgiving '07

Cousins at New Year's Eve - Bridger, Rilla, Riley

Bridger's newborn photo shoot - Courtesy of Still Life Photos and good friend Matt Wheeler (http://stilllifephotos.com/index1.html) This photo shoot is where the "crying pictures" came from that I have up in my house.

Kellen in New York '06

holding Kincade

These pictures really are worth a thousand words. They were all taken the same day. And you can see what Jared was doing in the last picture.

(By the way, I'm sure this was actually my fault. And it was worth the grief of cleaning it up because I LOVE these pictures. They make me smile every single time I look at them.)

Thirty Things to be Thankful For #26

2009-11-26T22:23:00.004-07:00

I am thankful for Thanksgiving. It's my favorite holiday. I get to eat dinner at two places, with turkey, stuffing, gravy, mashed potatoes, my Mom's yams, fruit salad, bean salad, rolls, corn, green bean casserole, and pie. What more could anyone want from a holiday? Oh yeah, I get to be with family. That's a perfect holiday if you ask me.

Kellen has been looking forward to Thanksgiving for weeks. He kept asking about eating turkey and finding the wishbone. I finally asked him where he learned about that and he said from reading a book at Grammy's. Unfortunately, no one saved the wish bone and he was quite sad. But I promised him that when I cook our $4 turkey, I would save the wishbone for him. He actually did eat the turkey and fixins. Good boy.

This is the place setting at my parents' house. My mom always goes above and beyond when she hosts. You can see the pumpkin rolls that she picked up at a bakery (but the place settings are still paper and we still get our food buffet style!)

My mother-in-law, Carolei. She hosts for 50-100 people at her house every year. Good thing there's a big backyard! And we live in Arizona. It was actually quite warm and sunny this year.

Part of the spread at the Phelps'. It's so much food! For both dinners, I ended up making 3 no-bake pies, bean salad, fruit salad, and corn (my best dish according to Jared ;).

It was a great day. Can't wait for next year!

Thirty Things to be Thankful For #25

2009-11-25T22:22:00.001-07:00

I'm thankful for the water on the earth. Maybe that's a weird thing to be thankful for. But I love natural landscapes with water. Be it a waterfall, lake, river, creek, dam, ocean, or puddle, I love the water. I think it adds such beauty to the earth. Not to mention the nourishment it provides our bodies.

Thirty Things to be Thankful For #24

2009-11-24T22:22:00.001-07:00

I'm very thankful for Jared's job. Not only does it put a roof over our heads, food on our table, cars in our garage, and more, but it allows him to work from home while doing all of those things. Some days it's a curse, but most days it's a blessing!

Thirty Things to be Thankful For #23

2009-11-23T22:22:00.001-07:00

Is it bad if I can't think of anything I'm thankful for because I'm sooooooooooo tired? I can't think of anything but sleep. So there it is. I'm thankful for sleep!

Thirty Things to be Thankful For #22

2009-11-22T22:22:00.001-07:00

Why does it always have to be someone else's poor health to remind me to be thankful for my own good health? Bad practice on my part I suppose. But I am thankful for my good health!

Thirty Things to be Thankful For #21

2009-11-21T22:21:00.004-07:00

I'm thankful for my new house. We finally got everything moved in. Life has been crazy crazy which is why my "thankful things" are late. Sorry to all of my faithful blog followers. hah

There's still painting to do and boxes to unpack, but we're officially here! Here's what it looks like right now:

Unfortunately, once we were set to move in and I started "touching up" the paint where there were drywall repairs, none of the colors really matched. So, I basically have to redo all of the paint throughout the house, which has its pros and cons. I'm really enjoying it even though it's in shambles! I'm loving my second pantry (my bro-in-law calls it my "appliance garage"), the 3rd car garage and cabinets, and the game room. My kids are loving dumping out all of the toys onto the floor. Can't wait until we can get everything in, but it already feels like home!

Thirty Things to be Thankful For #20

2009-11-20T22:21:00.001-07:00

I'm thankful for traditions. I realize now that I'm older and have a family of my own, how hard it can be to maintain family traditions. As a parent, I really want to have so many fun traditions, but so many have gotten lost in translation - or disorganization or something. I'm grateful that my parents and my in-laws have both maintained so many fun traditions for our families. If you ever wondered whether or not it was worth it, I'm here to say it was. My kids are still young so I guess there's still time for me to get better so they have good memories of family traditions too!

Thirty Things to be Thankful For #19

2009-11-19T22:21:00.002-07:00

I'm thankful for the ability to cook. I love experimenting with new recipes. I love sharing my creations. Cooking is my downtime, my creative time, my fun time. There is a lot that I want to learn in the cooking arena, which must be why I enjoy TV Food Network so much! I also love browsing cookbooks. Cooking is one of those things that makes life more enjoyable for me, so I'm grateful that I can! And, yes, I even take pictures. (I'm a dork, I know!)

And because I'm always looking for an excuse to share my favorite recipes, here are some from the pictures - Dutch Baby is the baked pancake with blueberries and the Hawaiian Banana Bread was to die for (makings of a dessert, but don't worry, I still ate it for breakfast!). They are both extremely easy and so good. Plan on making these soon!

HAWAIIAN BANANA BREAD (from this cutest blog http://laraellingson.blogspot.com/)
ingredients:
*3 ripe bananas, smashed
*1/3 C melted butter
*2-3 Tbs milk
*1 C sugar
*1 egg, beaten
*1 tsp vanilla
*1 tsp baking soda
*pinch of salt
*1 & 1/2 C flour
*2 handfuls coconut flakes
*2 handfuls of macadamia nuts
*2 handfuls milk chocolate chips

instructions:
*no need for a mixer for this recipe
*preheat oven to 350 degrees
*mix butter into the mashed bananas in large mixing bowl
*mix in milk
*mix in sugar, egg, and vanilla
*sprinkle the baking soda and salt over the mixture and mix in. add the flour last, mix.
*pour mixture into 1 buttered 4/8 loaf pan or 4 mini loaf pans.
*add the coconut, macadamia nuts, & chocolate chips to the top and "fork-whirl" it around
*for large loaf, bake 1 hour & 15 min - 1 hour & 30 min
*for mini loafs, bake 30 min -50 min
*the bread should slightly crack at the top, and coconut will be dark brown...make sure you can stick a toothpick in and pull it out with nothing on it.
*cool for 15-20 min
*remove from pan and drizzle icing on top

icing:
*1/2 C - 3/4 C powdered sugar
*3-4 cap fulls of milk
*mix two together until the consistency is bright white and runs slowly off the spoon. add more powdered sugar or milk to reach desired consistency. Make sure it's not too runny b/c it won't stick to the bread.

BERRY GOOD DUTCH BABY
3 eggs
1/2 teaspoon finely grated lemon zest (I omitted)
1/3 cups sugar
pinch of salt
2/3 cup flour
2/3 cup milk (I used non-fat)
2 cups blueberries (or any berries you see fit + extra if you want)
4 tablespoons butter (I thought this was more than necessary, could get away with half that)
powdered sugar for topping

Preheat the oven to 425 and heat a 10 inch cast-iron skillet in the oven (I used a dutch oven pan). In a medium bowl, whisk the eggs with lemon zest, sugar, and salt until combined. Add the flour and milk and whisk until smooth (about 1 minute). Add 2 cups of berries.

Remove skillet from oven and put butter in it to melt. Add the batter spreading fruit evenly. Bake in the center of oven for about 22 minutes, until the edges are browned and puffed and the center is slightly browned in spots. Tranfer the skillet to a trivet and dust with powdered sugar. Cut into wedges and serve with additional berries if you wish.

Thirty Things to be Thankful For #18

2009-11-18T10:21:00.000-07:00

I love parties. I don't think I've always been this way. But as an adult (and especially a stay-at-home mom), I look forward to big family parties. I love planning them (just ask Jared!). I love picking a food item to share with everybody. I think about what I can cook for a long time. I surf recipe websites. And then I love to taste all of the new recipes everybody else makes. I like hanging out and catching up with everybody. We have already begun the season of parties. Here's a non-comprehensive list:

-Phillips Halloween Party

-Phelps Halloween Party

-Phelps Thanksgiving

-Phillips Thanksgiving

-Phelps Caroling Party

-Phillips Christmas Party

-Ferrin Christmas Party

-Phillips Christmas Breakfast

-Phelps Christmas Chimichangas

-Phelps New Year's Party

-3 kids birthdays (November, December, January)

I'm thankful for everybody who puts the effort into making these parties happen. Thank you!

Thirty Things to be Thankful For #17

2009-11-17T22:20:00.003-07:00

I'm the kind of person who tears up at the start of the national anthem.
I'm the kind of person who gets goosebumps during fireworks set to the sounds of "America, the Beautiful."
I'm the kind of person who believes that this country was started with good principles by righteous men.
I'm the kind of person who still believes that people want the best for our country.
I'm the kind of person who tries to become educated on the issues and vote accordingly.
I'm the kind of person who appreciates the freedoms and offerings available.
I'm the kind of person who stands in awe of the beauty and majesty of our landscape.
I'm the kind of person who recognizes the blessings of living in a country where other people want to live.
I'm the kind of person who has faith that this country will stand as a place of freedom, abundance, understanding, diversity, peace, and love as long as those of us in it practice those principles.
I'm the kind of person who is thankful for the great blessing of being born a citizen of the United States of America.

Thirty Things to be Thankful For #16

2009-11-16T22:20:00.001-07:00

I'm thankful for the opportunity I have to learn. I'm so grateful I was able to go to school, go to college, and now learn anything I desire! I can take any class I want. I'm currently taking a tax class - I should be doing homework now! I would love to take classes for photography, Photoshop Elements, cake decorating, quilting, and many other things I haven't even thought of yet! Luckily, if I decide to, I can probably achieve all of those things and more. I'm grateful for those opportunities and for my brain's capacity to learn.

Thirty Things to be Thankful For #15

2009-11-15T22:20:00.001-07:00

I'm thankful for the stars in the sky. The distant twinkling always invites wishing and dreaming and imagining. I love to recite the poem to my kids:

Star light,
Star bright,
First star I see tonight.
I wish I may
I wish I might
Have the wish
I wish tonight.

Thirty Things to be Thankful For #14

2009-11-14T22:19:00.001-07:00

I'm thankful for days like today! Not 10-hour moving days...but cloudy, overcast, rainy, cool days! It makes the 10 hours of moving not seem so bad. I love when the weather cools down and we get rain! I guess I can be thankful for the blistering hot days - because they make me appreciate this nice weather all the more. It looks like we can look forward to more days like this one! Yay!

Thirty Things to be Thankful For #13

2009-11-13T22:19:00.002-07:00

I'm thankful for my family. I can always count on my mom to run errands with me, give me opinions on decorating (or anything!), help me with the kids, lend me something I need, do my hair, or just help me with anything I need. My dad is the handy kind of person you want to have around. He's done all sorts of things around our new house, like installing new locks, installing some tile, and now helping us move.

My brother, Toby, fixed the dry-wall throughout our new house. It was lots of work, which he did after his regular dry-wall work. He's also really fun to be around and always has something interesting to note.

(In this picture he's telling about this box of Cardinal's cereal. He wanted to wake up early on Thanksgiving to get this special edition box on KTAR.com. He woke up and kept trying to get it, but they were all out. Apparently, my dad had also woken up early, and DID get a box and gave it to him for Christmas! And he REALLY wanted that cereal!)

My sisters, Shannon and Melody, are tons of fun and are always willing to go shopping or do craft days or whatever we feel like!

We really all love being together and it's so nice to have such a fun family!

Thirty Things to be Thankful For #12

2009-11-12T22:19:00.003-07:00

OK, this isn't sarcastic: I'm thankful for my {in-laws}! I love my {in-laws}. Jared's parents are fantastic {in-laws}! They are everything I hoped for when I joined the family (and more ;)) Even with 10 kids, 10 kids in-law, and 34 grandchildren, they make us all feel special! They always have time to help with anything we need, give lots of support and guidance when needed, and love us no matter what. I've remarked many times how amazing Carolei is. Stephen loves babies and spoils the kids with his Swedish Fish! They host tons of parties for 50+ people. That's so much work, but they do it for all of us.

(It actually feels weird calling them Stephen and Carolei because all of us call them Mom and Dad.)

Jared's siblings and all of the spouses are all great too! They're willing to lend a hand with moving ;) or babysitting or whatever we need. They're tons of fun to hang out with, too! We love to talk on Sunday nights or anytime we get together. It's always difficult to schedule time with so many people, but it's always worth it! The boys love all of their cousins, too. I sometimes wonder...if there aren't any bad apples, does that mean I'm the bad apple? I hope not.

When I hear jokes about {in-laws} or hear friends talk about their {in-laws}, I always think somehow I lucked out. But it wasn't all luck. That was an important piece I was looking for in a husband. A family I wanted to join. And Jared had that. And luckily I fell in love with him. :)

I also think about what makes my {in-laws} so great, and I think that, above-all, Jared's parents make it clear that loving each other and caring about each other comes above everything else. It doesn't mean we don't have conflicts. But we all know that we're a family, no matter what, and that comes first! I love them all 300+++!

Thirty Things to be Thankful For #11

2009-11-11T22:19:00.001-07:00

I'm thankful for {computers}. (Maybe a little too much...) I can't imagine living in a time where {computers} weren't mainstream (a mere 20 years ago or so). I remember getting our first {computer} as a kid. 20 years later, here I am living with 6 {computers} in my house. It's kind of crazy! But it allows us to keep in contact with long- and short-distance friends, family members, and acquaintances, allows us to send up to date information to dozens of people at a time, allows us to save pictures and memories, research businesses, get directions, check balances, and so much more!

I'm extremely thankful for all that {computers} allow me to do (blog, anyone?)!

Thirty Things to be Thankful For #10

2009-11-10T22:18:00.003-07:00

I'm thankful for this blessing.

Thirty Things to be Thankful For #9

2009-11-09T22:18:00.001-07:00

I'm thankful that I'm alive and well.

Thirty Things to be Thankful For #8

2009-11-08T22:18:00.004-07:00

I'm very thankful for books. I have loved reading since I have been able to read. My parents would have to threaten punishment to get me to turn off my booklight and sleep.

One time I was on my way to my friend's house across the street but I didn't want to stop reading my Babysitter's Club book, so I read it as I walked. I glanced up at the street and saw a police officer driving towards me. I continued reading and stepped out into the street to cross it, knowing he would stop for me. He rolled down his window and told me I needed to stop reading to cross the street because that was dangerous. I guess he had a point.

I've never lost my love of reading, especially right before bedtime.

I added a widget with some of my favorite books over the years, so if you have any ideas of books I should read, leave me a comment and let me know!

(Don't mind the haggard-looking mom. Just pretend she has a fresh face - no makeup needed, has perfectly-coifed hair, and a pearly-white smile. :)

Thirty Things to be Thankful For #7

2009-11-07T22:17:00.001-07:00

I'm thankful for modern conveniences. You name it, I'm thankful for it.

-running water and modern plumbing

-electricity

-batteries

-microwaves

-refrigerators

-dishwashers

-sprinkler timers

-TVs

-air conditioning and heating

-cars

-airplanes

-medical equipment and anesthesia

-fast food, restaurants, baking mixes, pre-made food

-ballpoint pens and mechanical pencils

-post-its

-staplers

-sewing machines

-etc etc.

I don't think I would have made a good pioneer. :(

Thirty Things to be Thankful For #6

2009-11-06T20:54:00.001-07:00

I'm thankful for sleeping children. Can you tell?

Thirty Things to be Thankful For #5

2009-11-05T10:16:00.002-07:00

I'm thankful for this:

Nope - not the boy that DID that and makes me giggle every day! (He comes later.) Yes,{sprinkles}! I love {sprinkles}. I see holiday {sprinkles} at the store and I can't resist them! And this is why:

{My mom's sugar cookies - required for EVERY holiday and a few times in between. Jared makes fun of me because I'll take a bag full of them and eat them all within 2 days}

One time, Jared and I went shopping before one of my birthdays. He wanted gift ideas so we went to Sur La Table (kitchen store). Kellen found a bottle of dinosaur/fish, etc {sprinkles}. Jared told him, "No, mama doesn't want {sprinkles} for her birthday." I was like..."yes I do! You let him give me {sprinkles} and I will be so excited!" So Jared let him buy the {sprinkles} to give to me for my birthday. I still have them and I still love them.

Now if only I could learn to make sugar cookies, I could actually use up all these {sprinkles}!

(the ones Kellen gave me as a present are towards the right side....I just realized I have ZERO Christmas {sprinkles}. I'll definitely be picking some up. :)

Thirty Things to be Thankful For #4

2009-11-04T22:16:00.004-07:00

I'm thankful for the fair. I remember, as a kid, my parents taking us out of school for a day to go to the fair. I have very fond memories of those days and was determined to continue the tradition in my family. When I told Jared how much I loved the fair, he was happy to start the tradition. So, we first went to the fair 8 years ago, and we've been every single year since. We look forward to "Fair Day" every year. It's one of the only true "traditions" we've maintained.

We try to find the cheapest days to get in (today was free with donation of toiletry) and $1 rides and games. Then we load up on Indian Fry Bread, cotton candy, fudge, or whatever we feel like. They have a really cute play area for the kids with sand boxes and crafts, etc. I'm not sure who loves it more, me or the kids!

Thirty Things to be Thankful For #3

2009-11-03T18:26:00.005-07:00

I'm thankful for every time I've said "It coulda been worse."

For example:
1. A few years ago I found a lump in my throat. They had to remove the entire right side of my thyroid to get it out. I was told I could have permanent voice damage and insufficient thyroid. It was biopsied and determined to be benign. My voice was fine and when they checked my thyroid levels, they determined my left thyroid picked up the slack. It coulda been worse.
2. The time we were hit by a drunk driver and went through a power pole. We had just bought a brand new van and had one baby in the car. But none of us were injured any more than bumps and bruises. Yes, our van was totaled, but it coulda been MUCH worse.

3. The kids got a hold of a knife today and cut through one of the couch pillows, a wipes container, and then somehow cut Bridger's forehead open. There was quite a bit of blood (Jared took care of that - see #1). But a bandage took care of it. It coulda been worse.
4. All of my labors and deliveries of my children. They were intense, but they weren't long. The progressed (more or less) exactly as I planned, aside from being 2 days over due (#2), having one Christmas Eve and 13 months apart! (#3), needing some stitches (#2 and #3), needing antibiotics (#2), having high blood pressure (#1), etc etc. But really, those things are minor compared to what could have happened. I heard about one woman who had twins - one vaginally and one C-section - so really, it coulda been worse!
5. Kincade got into some prenatal vitamins (with iron) awhile ago. I called poison control and had to count the number of pills. Luckily he hadn't eaten enough to be concerned. I had to wake him up a few times just to make sure he was responding ok, but it coulda been worse!
6. For every sickness, tantrum, late night, early morning, busy day, difficulty, trial, and everything else...yep...it coulda been worse.

Anyways, I'm grateful for being able to say "it coulda been worse!"

Thirty Things to be Thankful For #2

2009-11-02T18:37:00.003-07:00

I love colors. Whenever anyone asks me for my favorite color, I can never answer. Here's how my monologue in my head goes:

I love yellow, my room is yellow, and my quilt is yellow and purple...oooh I do love purple, I love any shade of purple...red goes so well with purple. I love them together. Red is so vibrant and I just love red....Ooooh I do love orange though. Orange is the most underrated color, in my opinion. Not many people love orange but I do!...Green and blue have never been my favorite, but they've grown on me. I don't enjoy all shades of green or blue, but there are some modern shades that I absolutely love...oh and what about pink. The new pink and brown combination is so cute...oh brown, I love brown clothes and some browns look so rich on the walls...but black is classic for accents and trims..........................

Was that too long to read? In summary, I love every color. I love colorful paint jobs (tasteful, of course), I love colorful clothing (with great neutral accents like browns, blacks, and grays), I love colors. Maybe that's why I love sharpies so much. I have every color under the sun. I also love a fresh box of Crayola with ALL of the colors. Regular markers don't do it for me though. So, yes, I'm thankful for colors.

Thirty Things to be Thankful For #1

2009-11-01T07:57:00.000-07:00

I saw on a friend's blog that she was listing 1 thing that she is thankful for each day in November, so I thought I'd steal her idea. So here is the first one...

My husband. Jared is an amazing husband and father. He puts the kids to bed every night, goes out of his way to shower me with gifts for every important occasion, has changed more diapers than I have (I think - we don't have an exact count), lets me sleep in late and take naps (I can hear him telling the kids not to wake me up), cleaned up after me when I was sick as a dog, gets the kids meals, takes the kids fun places, provides for our family, plunges the toilet, cleans out the garage, mows the lawn, cleans out yucky kids' swimming pools, puts together toys/desks/anything, changes the light bulb in the porch light (ewww!), takes care of bloody owies and vomiting sick kids because he knows I'm squeamish, wrestles with the boys, takes care of the kids anytime I need to run some errands or go to class or do homework or go to bunco or...you get the idea.

On top of all of that, I'm pretty sure he knows me better than I know myself (that can be BAD!), shows me love in MY love language even though it's not HIS love language, puts up with my hording and grumpiness, shows me how to be happier and kinder, and lots more! Often, if I don't take his advice, I live to regret it. And not because he makes me regret it. But because I realize that he had the right idea to begin with (I hope he's not reading this...)

I guess I should stop gushing before you all get too jealous! Needless to say, I love him and am extremely grateful for him every day!

"Halloween Season '09"

2009-11-01T00:30:00.000-07:00

It seems like Halloween is just as busy as the Christmas season. Getting costumes ready, Phelps Party, Phillips Party, Preschool Party, Halloween night, plus miscellaneous activities make October an extremely busy month. My kids love every second of it though! Here are some pictures from the "Halloween Season."

Phelps Halloween Party: Booths and games, Halloweeners (hot dogs), witches' brew (homemade root beer), "trick or treating" to the doors in the house, spook alley

(My niece Mara)

Phillips Halloween Party: spook alley, chili, decorating pumpkins, sugar cookies (my favorite part), "trick or treating" to the doors in the house

Halloween Night:

The Aftermath:

Run, Kellen, Run!

2009-10-24T00:14:00.001-07:00

For as long as I can remember, Kellen has walked on his toes. Actually, I never really noticed it. But other people pointed it out regularly. At 3 years old, the doctor said not to worry about it. At 4 1/2, the doctor said I should take him to see the orthopedic specialist to determine if there was a cause and how to correct it. This was back in June.

So, I took him to see Dr. Carlen. Dr. Carlen stretched his feet and watched him walk and said that he needed about 10-15 degrees more movement in his calf and ankle muscles. The doctor explained that they can't usually determine which came first (the chicken or the egg)...did he start walking on his toes because his muscles weren't long enough, or did his muscles not stretch because he walked on his toes? I think the toe-walking came first and with his growth spurts (the bone grows first), the muscles never had to stretch. So he prescribed physical therapy 2-3 times per week, as well as some leg braces to force Kellen to push his heels down.

He started physical therapy shortly after. His therapist is really nice and sweet and she showed me how to stretch him each day to increase the movement. He sees her a couple of times a week and she does exercises with him to increase his muscle. They do really fun stuff inside and outside. They have a Nemo room, Mickey room, play kitchen, cars, even real horses that Kellen got to feed his first time.

He was finally able to get his leg braces today. It took a while to get an appointment, then I thought they were making the braces, and it turned out they were trying to get a hold of me to approve the balance not covered by insurance. Once I approved that, they had to make them, and we barely picked them up today. The office was really nice and waived my co-pay though. That saved me over $200. So they fit his braces on him and some special shoes that go over them. He has to wear them a couple of hours a day and increase in time until he can wear them all day. But he can take them off if we go somewhere.

His first time walking in his new braces:

So now we continue physical therapy and stretching several times a day and remembering to put the braces on every day to try to get this issue corrected. He's aware that we're trying to correct it and I try to remind him to "walk on his feet" but his habit is deeply ingrained, so it will take some effort. With some time, walking with his braces won't be such a chore.

And these pictures I took to show typical Kellen:
Here he is asking what the fake foot is and what it is for:

And here he is asking what the ruler/knobs are and what they are for:

He asked about 300 other questions and made almost as many comments. When Derek handed Bridger and Kellen each 1 sticker, Kellen asked, "Why did we get one sticker?" He's such a sweet and friendly boy. Some people are taken aback by how friendly he is. But most of them time, people are friendly back and think he's adorable. I think he's pretty darn adorable too!

He's Definitely Almost Two

2009-10-18T23:03:00.007-07:00

Our little "baby" of the family is almost 2. And he's trying to prove it. He loves to throw tantrums these days. Here's a picture of him from a few weeks ago. He's in his swim shirt and I don't even remember what the fit was about. But he always takes his hands and covers his eyes and refuses to be calmed down until he's ready. He often throws himself on the floor as well.

This is one from the zoo. The other two boys were eating pudding. He wanted some. You can see here he has the spoon in his hand:

but he has to share and he's dripping it so I took it away. I offered to spoon some into his mouth, but he threw a fit because he wanted to do it himself. If he couldn't do it himself, he didn't want any!

And when I try to get the tantrum on video (so when he's older and he asks what he was like as a child I can pull out this video to show him :), here's what happens:

Within a few minutes, he went from content, to distraught, to distractedly happy. I guess I should count my blessings...

Here are some things he's prone to throwing a fit about (Hello, Improper Grammar):
-Getting dressed
-Getting undressed
-Taking his diaper off
-Putting his diaper on
-Refusing to let him wear underwear without a diaper
-Taking his shoes off
-Putting his shoes on wrong (or the wrong shoes on)
-Buckling him in his car seat
-Not letting him do something himself
-Sharing something (Yes...he will voluntarily share it and then throw a fit that the other person has it)
-Having something taken away (sharp knife, anyone?)
-Sitting/Laying/Reclining while holding him

And here are some things that distract him or resolve the fit:
-Where's your nose? Where are your fingers? etc.
-Letting him do something (like buckling himself or feeding himself)
-Where are your nipples? (He lifts his shirt up and we tickle him - haha)
-Giving him the sharp knife back (just kidding...maybe)
-Silky
-Putting underwear on over his diaper (once you force the diaper on of course)
-Promising shoes
-Candy or soda, of course
-Give me your silky game (pretending to take it away while repeating "give me your silky")

Our Zoo Trip

2009-10-18T22:46:00.005-07:00

We were able to meet up with some friends and go to the zoo on Wednesday. The best part? Our friend Rachel had some free passes and so we all got in free (for those of us who didn't have memberships)! Thanks Rachel!

The monkeys were swinging really close to us in Monkey Village, but only one boy would stand still long enough to pose for a picture.

I stupidly expected nice cool temperatures in October and it didn't even cross my mind to put swimwear on the boys. It was very warm, so I let them play in the water in just their shorts.

And the boys in some of their more photogenic moments (in my unbiased opinion):

(Rachel was also kind enough to share her chocolate pudding with my boys. Thanks again Rachel!)

Girl and Little Boys' Night In

2009-10-03T20:38:00.007-07:00

While Jared was gone tonight, the boys and I had a slumber party. We ordered pizza, made caramel corn, and laid on the floor in our sleeping bags and watched Monsters vs. Aliens. It was a lot of fun.

A Fun Day

2009-09-23T21:41:00.004-07:00

My sister-in-law Wendy invited everyone over to her house for a playdate today, but I was the only one who could make it. So, we went over to my new house to see it and do some measuring. Alicia and Tanner met us there to see it as well. Then, we headed over to Alicia's new house to see it. Then, Wendy and I and the kids headed back to Wendy's to hang out and let the kids play. The kids ended up in the irrigation:

(Bridger put on swim shorts but didn't get wet or dirty at all. Funny kid.) The weather was gorgeous. It felt so good (in the shade with a breeze, but still). It reminded me of Utah summers with the kids playing in the grass and water and the air feeling nice.
They had a ton of fun and Wendy and I had a ton of fun chatting and cooking. We made taco soup for dinner and she made homemade pumpkin pie for me to take home. Was such a fall meal. I mentioned my mom's Meal-in-a-Pumpkin so Wendy asked for the recipe. In honor of the first day of fall (yesterday...) here are two nice fall recipes. Both easy, delicious comfort food.

Taco Soup (this is actually thick for a soup - we served it on top of chips, with sour cream and cheese)
1 lb ground beef (we used ground turkey)
1 large onion, chopped
1 (1 1/4 ounce) package taco seasoning mix
1 (1 ounce) package hidden valley ranch dressing mix
1 (16 ounce) can pinto beans
1 (16 ounce) can chili beans
1 (16 ounce) can refried beans
1 (16 ounce) can whole kernel corn
1 (16 ounce) can stewed tomatoes
1 (16 ounce) can tomato sauce
1 (4 ounce) can green chilies, chopped

Directions
1 Brown the beef and the onion together.
2 Drain the grease, if necessary.
3 Stir everything together in a large pot and heat through.

Meal-in-a-Pumpkin
1 pound ground beef
1 onion, diced
1 can sliced mushrooms
1 can cream of chicken soup
2 tablespoons soy sauce
2 tablespoons brown sugar
1/2 cup (or more) cooked rice
2 tablespoons vegetable oil
1 large pumpkin, cut a lid on top and clean out the seeds and strings

Brown hamburger and onion. Add soy sauce, brown sugar, mushrooms, and soup. Simmer 10 minutes. Add cooked rice. Spoon the beef mixture into the pumpkin. Place pumpkin on cookie sheet. Bake 1 hour or more at 350. The pumpkin should easily pierce with a fork or toothpick from the outside of it. We serve it in the pumpkin and people scoop out the beef mixture and then slice off some of the pumpkin to eat (we serve butter and brown sugar on the table to eat on the pumpkin, or you can just eat it with butter, salt and pepper, or just with the beef mixture or however you like :)