Summer Girl

Sabrina is eight months old today. It is hard to believe. She is changing and growing up way to fast for me. It is funny how with your first baby you push for them to hit those mild stones, they cannot do it fast enough. With my last I feel myself holding back and letting her do things at her pace. I want her to crawl but am glad for every day that she doesn't.

She has gotten to be a very chatty girl. Sabrina is saying DADADADAD but not really to Owen just making the sounds. And by the way not a MMMMM sound to be heard. She finds all of her siblings very amusing. They all seem to be able to get her to giggle with ease.

No more leaving her unattended of the bed though. She is going from a seated position to her tummy very fast and just this week as begun to "inch worm" around. She manages to hit the corners very well.

Eating is easy now too. She has been getting what the kids call real food sometimes 2 times a day. She ALWAYS gets dinner and favors veggies over anything else. Carrots are her favorite. She is also on the bottle now so she can be let home with Daddy more often.

Sabrina is definitely my best sleeper. Though I hate to jinx it by mentioning it. I can lay her down fully awake and she just rolls over and she is out. She is even sleeping for almost 8 hours a stretch at night. She goes to bed early, usually by 7, so that means I still have to get up sometime between 3 and 4 to give her a bottle. Then she goes right back to sleep til 7am.

Flashback Friday 08.29.08

This is from Labor Day weekend 2004. The kids being goofballs with their cousins for the camera. We sure miss getting together. But we understand that families grow and people get busy and getting together gets harder and harder. The only thing we can do is treasure the memories we have, as savor the times when we are together again.

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Putting HER to WORK

Owen decided that while I was at pilates that Jillian was old enough to change and take care of her sister (while he was taking pictures, of course.) You probably noticed I didn't add captions to the pictures like I normally do. Well I couldn't decide who's point of view to take, Sabrina or Jillian. You have to watch it twice each time watching one of their faces.

Sabrina looks are like she wants to give Jillian a challenge. You can tell that she is having fun and wiggling to her heart's content. Jillian on the other hand looks determined. You can even see she sticks her tongue out, which everyone know help you to concentrate. Jillian did a good job, considering she is six, keeping Sabrina not to close to the edge. At least not till after she had changed her clothes. The last picture Bree is a little close to the edge but I think Daddy was right there, that is why Jilli got a little lax.

Which Child???

This is a test... brought to you by the 5 Phillips Kids... this only a test.

I saw a post on a other blog that talked about kids being cut from the same cloth. I always joke our kids are same model just a different year. I picked a photo that you could not tell by the color of the clothes. This is one outfit that they have ALL worn.

So who is it???
a) Jared
b) Hayden
c) Jillian
d) Gavin
e) Sabrina

CHECK BACK LATER FOR THE CORRECT ANSWER



***THE Answer is JARED***
Watch for future games of Which Child

Take Me Out...

...to the ball game.

Owen and Jared have been helping our neighbor put back together his deck which he was refinishing. As a thank you he gave them baseball game tickets for our local minor league team. The Bees are the feeder team for the LA Angels. Jillian doesn't remember ever having been and I don't think Gavin ever has. The tickets included a picnic buffet so it turned out to be a cheep night of fun. It was also Fan appreciation night so there was free give aways and fireworks. So of course they had to stay til the very end. It was a late night but oh so fun.

For those of you that are curious, the game didn't start til 7pm so Mom and Sabrina opted to stay home, have Indian for dinner and a quiet evening.

DaD'S in ChArGe pARt 2

So to continue the adventure of my family when I am not around...

After playing the morning away at Great grandpa Phillips everyone loaded up and headed further north to Idaho. First stop the Turnbow's Dairy Farm. The Thunbow's are Owen's cousins and they have a farm, cows included. The kids are able to see the babies and touch and SMELL them at will. They are able to learn about the milking process and see where Dad grew up when He was a kid. This is the farm that he lived on until he was 16. Yes, he even did milking as a daily chore.

While they were exploring the empty field by the pond they found a ton of crickets. Instead of trying to catch them our city-fied children got out golf clubs to try to smash them.

Next stop, Rattlesnake mountain, where grandpa is working on restoring a cabin. A place the kids and Owen love to go to ride the Rhino and quads and build really BIG fires. All the kids love to go up there to hang out a rough it. Mom not so much. This a perfect thing to do when Mom is away. They cooked hot dogs over the fire and marshmallows too. And got really dirty.

When I asked Jillian later what they had for breakfast her reply was,"BURNT toast and Twinkies." Owen quickly corrected her that it was,"DRY toast and Twinkies. I forgot about breakfast. But I took them to McDonald's later for more food once we got moving." I think he did a great job with them Dry toast and all.

On the way home almost all of the kids passed out at least till the got back to Heidi's to play once more with her new puppy, Stafford. Owen got them all home early enough to get the van mostly cleaned out and get the laundry started before he had to come to the airport to get me. What a guy. He took care of 4 kids and started cleaning before getting Mom.

Thanks HONEY

Flashback Friday 8.22.08

So in case you haven't guessed I am really jonesing for fall. This is another photo from the same hike as last week. This one you get to see the boys and Owen down by the stream. From what I can remember it was quite cold and moving pretty swiftly. I know that I was shouting down Owen to keep the boys close at hand. Jared has no fear, even when he was 7, he would have been getting WAY to close to the water for Mom's comfort. I think we might have has to talk Hayden in to going down so that I could have a picture of all my boys.

I have talked to Owen and once the leaves start to change we are going hiking.

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DaD'S in CHaRgE WeEKenD pARt 1

For those of you that don't know I had to goto California with Sabrina for the weekend, leaving Owen home with the rest. That is four kids to keep from going stir crazy. The best course of action get out of Dodge and head NORTH. I will do by best to relate what they did. Or at least pass on what they told me they did.

The weekend started with Heidi picking them up after school. Friday is early out day. They packed the van and headed to Layton to hang out till Dad finished work. They took the Wii and taught Heidi and Jason how to play so Jason would have something to do while he is recovering from his surgery. ( Sorry no pictures)

Later when Dad picked them up they headed to Logan to have breakfast for dinner at Ihop with Uncle Rob, who is working there. The kids were way impressed that he was cooking food for everyone in the restaurant. Then it was off to great Grandpa Phillips to spend the night. Mind you I don't think any of the kids where in bed before 11pm.

Saturday, time to get out the motorcycle and quads. This is this best part of going to Grandpa Phillips. As you can see from the photos they all love to ride and luckily he has plenty of space to do so. Jared had to work before he got a turn. He was very excited that he is finally big enough to use the riding lawn mower by himself. Though Grandpa got on with him about half way through the job. Jared said that Grandpa was trying was trying to talk to him and tell him stories but he could understand anything he said over the noise over the mower.

The kids also like going to Grandpa because he gives them sodas and ice creams. What are Grandpas for?? John and Peter were there as well and along with Owen they were helping to build a new grape arbor for Grandpa behind his barn.

For lunch Owen took the kids to the dive... for subs. Actually he was getting take out from his favorite sandwich place in Logan, it just happens to be a bar. The place was empty since it was the middle of the day so the kids got to play pinball and pool while they were waiting. I have to say I am glad I missed this lunch. I was much happier having Persian food in the Marina with Mom and Meghan.

Stay tuned More adventures to follow...

MoNKeY ToEs

Okay it is official My daughter has monkey toes. I wasn't fast enough with the camera but Sabrina was holding her bottle with her toes. She did so that she could feel around for her buggy toy which was next to her. Typical girl trying to multi-task.

Guess who started school today???

Gavin. YEAH!!! For him, of course. (Mommy was not doing the happy dance in the car as she drove away) He is getting to go were all of the other big kids have gone to start their learning. He was so excited. He met his teacher, Miss.Jennifer. I don't think he is going to have any trouble remembering that one. He is in the cow room which is conveniently located across from the bathrooms. He played out on the rock wall and slide. He sang the "Hello song" and had pretzels for snack and got to watch the "Crab" movie while he waited for me to pick him up. All in all not a bad first day. He can hardly wait for Wednesday to get here. I know EXACTLY how he feels.

Flashback Friday #9

This is from fall of 2005. Owen took the family on on a hike up one Cottonwood Canyon. That is Owen and all the boys in the distance and Jillian is unwilling to be left behind. Owen is wearing Gavin on his back. We were able to see the leaves changing, deer walking though forest and play down by the stream. The kids had blast. Sabrina will fit in the hiking backpack so I am looking forward to be able to do this as a family this year as well. Also it reminds me that cooler weather is just round the corner.

What Dad does when Mom sleeps

On Saturday night Sabrina and Gavin decided to keep me up most of the night by alternating getting up. While I was catching up Owen took ALL the kids down to the Balloon Fiesta Utah style down at our neighborhood park. Jared rode his bike so he could chase the balloons and see them landing in the streets. While Owen took the rest of the kids to see them taking off. As you can see the kids had a great time. There were carnival games with prizes, face painting and balloons to take home. And it was all FREE. As Papa knows the only draw back of ballooning is that it is EARLY in the morning. They started at 6:30AM but my kids slept in till 7 so they missed a little. But we did get that great shot off the front porch. Oh and yes they rushed out of the house so fast Hayden was in his jammies.

HapPy BiRThDaY RaCHeL

Happy Day Auntie Rachel. I know this is an older photo but it is one that I love. Also I could not seem to find any current photos of Rachel with any of my kids. Which either means I never have my camera out when Rachel is here or Rachel needs to visit more often. I vote for the second because it makes me look better. We miss Rachel and her family and wish it wasn't so expensive to travel between here and Boston. I know that it is our turn to take a trip back there but have you priced tickets lately. OMG and I need SEVEN. Well there is always next year.

We will need to take a trip when it is off season and the kids are off track. Forwarned though if we come we might be there a while since you never know when we might get back.

Sleeping Chronicles Part 2

The thing that makes this really funny is that Gavin had a total of 15 blankets on him. He took out every blanket that was in the linen closet. Now he did this very sneaky and quietly. I had put him to bed then I was in my room watching the Olympic Opening Ceremonies and didn't hear him going in and out of his room to get ALL of those blankets. That or I am now totally unaware of what is going on at any given moment in my house.

Jillian for some reason (well really the reason is she doesn't like to make her bed) decided last night to join in and sleep on the floor as well. At 5am when I went down to get Sabrina Motrin, she is teething, Jared was asleep on the couch. I have come to the realization that we have spent way to much money on beds. Everyone would rather sleep any where else.

Though I have to say I am very proud of myself for getting Sabrina into her crib without any major incidents. I am glad to be sleeping without having to curl myself into unnatural positions though I am sad that my last baby has moved on. I know it is the first of many lasts and am trying to be happy as things shift into a new phase in our family.

Flashback Friday #8

Okay do I really need to say why I love this picture??? I didn't think so. This is from 2005 when we visited Uncle Bob and Aunt Kathy.

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The Sleeping Chronicles

Every night Owen and I go into Gavin's room never knowing what we are going to find. We have photographed some of the better finds. You know it is a good night when Owen bursts out in laughter and says, "Get the camera." Thought it does make me wonder if either Gavin doesn't need a bed at all or needs to graduate a big boy bed.

Baby in a Basket

What kind of basket??? The Laundry Basket. Why, you ask??? Well, because big brother Hayden is giving me rides from room to room, of course. Don't I look like I am having fun. Actually I love that the big kids are starting to include me in their games.

Flashback Friday #7

So here on the planet Utah it has been in the HIGH 90's, the rest of the weekend it is going to be in the 100's and next week it might go to the low 90's, if we are lucky. I HATE being HOT. So I am flashing back to winter. When it is crisp and cool. The kids can play in the snow building snowmen and forts. Then coming in to get warm by the fire and have hot chocolate. So today I am dreaming of cooler days. The only thing that would be better than winter is FALL, but I will leave that for another time.

***edited: I was watching the weather it is suppose to be in the high 90's till next Friday it doesn't even cool down in the evening. The lows are high 70's low 80's. YUCKKKKK

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