Our Week

Garrett visited the doctor on Monday for his 6 month check-up. He weighed in at 19.81 pounds (85th percentile) and is 28.5 inches long (95th percentile). As always, the shots are "NOT SENSATIONAL" but he actually did pretty well with them and recovered quickly. Garrett does have two things he likes about getting shots:

1. The Tylenol. He LOVES that stuff!
2. The Band-Aids. Apparently they make for some pretty good eating. I've yet to try eating a band-aid myself, but Garrett is quite a fan of them.




WARNING---Do not read this next part if you are a PETA member!

Greg's little bro Eric spent the last half of the week with us while him and Greg participated in some hunting and gathering exercises. As you can see by the lovely pictures below, the hunt was a success! It's always such a thrill to have another dead animal hanging in the yard and more bloody camo clothes to wash. (Despite my sarcasm--This was Eric's first major kill and he was absolutely elated, which did make it fun to watch. Greg was so proud of him and I think he was more excited about it than Eric--if that's possible.)












I left Garrett with Greg on Saturday and headed to SLC for the Relief Society broadcast. My mom, sister Emily, sisters-in-law Sher and Chelsea, and cousins Kami and Jan all went and we had a fabulous day! We spent the day shopping at the Gateway and had a "Rack Attack" (as Sher would say) at the Nordstrom Rack. We ate at one my favorite places--Paradise Bakery. The name says it all!!! (I would highly recommend the tomato soup and the cream cheese brownie, just in case you're wondering. It's really good to dip the brownie in the soup. Of course I'm kidding on that one...)

Sadly, we had to cut our shopping short to head for the Conference Center and attend the meeting. It was absolutely wonderful and after a short power nap in the beginning, I loved the meeting and really did soak in every word. I was delighted to hear President Uchtdorf (one of my personal faves) was speaking, and he did not disappoint! He gave a wonderful talk--I was so inspired to be a better person and felt so proud to be a woman and a member of the Relief Society. He spoke about our divine heritage and how each woman has within her the power to create something beautiful. He said our Heavenly Father found great joy in organizing unorganized matter, and we should all feel inspired to do the same with our lives--to take something ordinary and create something beautiful out of it. As silly as it may sound, it totally reminded me of the book I just made for Greg's birthday. I took unorganized pictures and thoughts and assembled them together into a finished product. I really did find great joy in organizing that book, and I realized that President Uchtdorf was speaking of a very real principle that I had never considered before. There really is great joy to be found in CREATING! He encouraged us to start small and see how many smiles we can create or just to take a spot in our homes or yards and beautify them. He reminded us that, "Those who bring sunshine into the lives of others cannot keep it from themselves." It was wonderful!

Interesting side note--President Monson caused a stir by wearing a light grey suit. Not what you usually see, but very nice!



And when I walked in the door, Garrett was up like this and tried to scoot himself towards me. Apparently Greg had been giving him crawling lessons or something while I had been gone. I quickly rolled him onto his back and told him I just wasn't quite ready for him to be crawling yet--he still needs to be my little guy! Greg and Garrett had a great day together and Greg informed me that Garrett didn't even cry once. WOW! What a daddy's boy!

Greg's Birthday Book

It has taken me awhile to get this posted, but I wanted to share what I gave Greg for his birthday. I wanted to get him something memorable...but his birthday list consisted of a new horse trailer, a new saddle, a new gun, some nice tools, etc. Finally I asked him if there was anything at all he wanted under $1000 because everything was just slightly out of my price range. :) In a stroke of pure genius, I came up with the idea to make him a memory book. I had many our friends and family write their favorite memories of Greg and then I compiled it all into a book. It was a MUCH bigger job than I had anticipated, but with MUCHO HELP, I was able to pull it off. (I even had to miss a day of school without Greg knowing so I could finish getting it all put together. I'm not even sure I've told him that yet...) I think Greg was starting to get worried about me and thinking I had some sort of computer addiction, because he came out several nights at about 3 AM to find me secretly working on the computer. Not only that, but I was hauling my laptop with me EVERYWHERE. I finally finished after a few sleepless nights and some computer trauma (my external hard drive crashed). Greg was thrilled with the book and we've loved reading it over and over again. THANKS SO MUCH TO EVERYONE WHO HELPED AND CONTRIBUTED!

The Big 3-0!

Happy Birthday Gregory W! Greg is 30 today and is pretty much an old man. I wanted to do something really special and fun for Greg's 30th birthday. Greg is such a humble person and HATES being the center of attention and has been telling me for the past several months that his idea of a great birthday is just being home with Garrett and I. BORING! (Well not really, but he's turning 30--come on!) So of course, I did what any great wiff would do...plan a surprise party!!! Everything was going great until everybody and their dog started saying things to Greg like, "So your birthday is coming up, huh?" or "You're turning 30 this year" or "Wow, you're getting old." Greg came home several times after hearing one of these comments and would say something to the effect of, "You better not be planning a surprise party or something like that for me, because you know I would hate it." I would just smile my sweet little smile and reassure him that I never would do such a thing to him. Well, after about the 50th person made a birthday comment to him, he came home, looked on the computer, and discovered the Evite I had sent out for the party. At first I was a bit disappointed, but it actually worked out great because I was actually able to get him there on time and didn't have to pull off the element of surprise. The real surprise was on everybody else who came thinking it was a surprise party. :) We met at Maddox (one of our favorite restaurants) and had an amazing turnout--60 people! We had friends and family come from Spanish Fork, Provo, Salt Lake, and Cache Valley. Greg's cutest cousin, Meg, was turning 14 that day, so we had double birthday cakes. Thanks for sharing your day with us, Meg!

It was awesome and Greg was even such a great sport about the whole thing and actually enjoyed it. I think he was surprised to see that many people come for him, but I wasn't. Greg is such a great person and so many people love him for the good person he is. Here are a few pics from the evening. I tried to get pictures of everyone, but I know I missed some people. Sorry!

Of course, the star of the show wasn't exactly Greg, but Mini Me. Garrett was such a good boy through the whole thing and had a blast. I don't even want to know all of the food that I'm sure was slipped to him throughout evening, but he sure did have a big smile on his face! Greg's cousin Haylie (who looks just like Jennifer Garner by the way) was holding Garrett and he managed to dig into her cake and get a few bites before she noticed. I think he had eaten about half of a piece of cake before I clued into what was going on, so I did what any good mother would do--get out the camera!

Oh but the good news is that it was CARROT cake, so it was actually good for him, right?

Thanks so much to everyone who participated and helped me pull it off! Greg said he felt like a million bucks at the end of the night, so I guess it was a sweet success!

Rise and Shout -- G's First Football Game

It has been a crazy week and I am slow at posting this, but we attended the BYU vs. UCLA game last Saturday. We went with some of Greg's siblings and had a blast! It was really HOT and LOUD and I think Garrett was a bit overwhelmed at first, but he adjusted quickly and did great. The sun was so bright and I was worried about Garrett getting sunburned, so I had no choice but to buy him a little hat to protect his sensitive little head. While I was buying the hat, they happend to have some cute little pants and a shirt on clearance, so I also had to buy them. It was funny because everyone around us (even the college guys) kept commenting on how cute Garrett was. He loves his little hat and enjoys having something new to eat! We spent the weekend with Greg's family and had a great time. Garrett always loves being the center of attention and affection at the Phillips casa.

Greg sent a picture of Garrett in his BYU attire to my family and it was not well received by the Aggies in the family. Pops (my dad) had this waiting for us when we got home. (At least we know Utah State has one fan left!)

Six Months Today

Our sweet little boy is 6 months old today! Here's what we love about our little guy:

G is for Greg Jr. Garrett is a mini-me version of his daddy! My two boys crack me up.

A is for ADORABLE. Garrett has the silliest personality and loves to play and have fun. He is a friendly little guy and will let just about anybody hold him. His laugh melts our hearts and brings so much joy into our home.

R is for RED hair. I've had several people tell me that only 1 in 200 babies is born with red hair. People are always stopping me and commenting on how much they love his red hair. It is starting to grow in now and it is just so cute.

R is for REST. Garrett is such a great sleeper. We have been so blessed! He started sleeping through the night at about 6 weeks and used to sleep from about 11 PM to 11 AM. He's started waking up at 7 AM the past few weeks but falls back asleep and will sleep until about 9 or 10. I can't complain.

E is for EATER! Garrett loves "big people food" and has thus far managed to get his pushover daddy to feed him a Twix bar, a Twinkie, an Oreo cookie, and vanilla pudding. (That's just the stuff I know of--I'm sure there's more.) Last night Garrett refused to eat his rice cereal. I can't say that I blame him. Who would want that stuff once you've eaten a Twinkie?

T is for TEETH! Garrett has already cut his first tooth and I think the second one is going to cut through anytime. His perfect little smile is about to get two times cuter!

T is for TEMPER. It comes with the hair color, so we won't hold it against him. He's a sweet little guy, but he knows what he wants and he wants it now! His temper especially manifests itself when I won't let him eat my cell phone. Watch out!

Now help me out...What do you love best about Garrett?

HMMMM.....

So I got home from Jackson this evening and tried to log into my blog, only to discover my old password wouldn't let me in. I couldn't figure out quite what was going on so I just typed in the URL and was quite "staprised" (Brooklyn talk) to see "MY" new post about my wonderful coyote shooting husband. HMMMM....

Oh and by the way, he wouldn't tell me what he changed the password to and made me turn my head while he logged in for me. Nice... I'm sure you can imagine how impressed I was. :) Anyways, back to reading about my superhero husband and the many sacrifices he makes to keep Garrett and I safe.

I know how Columbus must have felt part II

I am so proud of my sweetheart Greg! He constantly strives to make my life better and be a source of happiness to me and our family. One way he does that is by shooting coyotes when he sees them. This coyote was one that recently got in the way of one of his bulletts. He was on the way to work the other day and this coyote happened to be out in some grain stubble. I can only imagine how he felt as he looked through the windshield and over the hood of his truck and saw this one standing out there mousing...probably just like Columbus. Anyhow, he didn't waste one second and got right to the next step and that was to get the truck stopped, his gun out and a bullett headed in the direction of the coyote. On this coyote he didn't waste but one bullett. I am so proud he is my husband. He would kill the last coyote on the earth if it would make me and Garrett happier! Well this picture goes to show the lengths he would go to to make the world a better place free of these pesky things.

LOTOJA

We spent the weekend in Jackson watching my brother Brian compete in the LOTOJA. It is a bike rice from Logan to Jackson and it is crazy! This is Brian's fifth year participating in the race and I am proud to say I am the only one of his siblings who has been there for all 5 races. I'm pretty sure he should give me some type of award or something. We had a great time and especially enjoyed getting caught in the middle of the cattle drive. Gotta love WYOMING! Garrett got indoctrinated with some serious Aggies propaganda along the way, so the Phillips family has their BYU work cut out for them!

Little side note--in my post from Thursday there is a picture of Garrett sitting bareback on a horse named Millie and I talk about what a good horse she is and how much we totally trust her, etc. Well, guess what I did Friday night? Took my sister-in-law (who is an AMAZING horse rider) to the ER for a ct scan after the gentle giant Millie threw her off and kicked her in the head. YIKES! Luckily she is okay, but it was pretty scary for a bit there. One funny moment from the evening...I had gotten her a bag of ice to put on her head while we drove to the hospital. She had set it on her lap for a minute and it leaked all over, making it look like she had wet her pants. When the doctor came in to examine her, he kept looking down at her lap with a really concerned look on his face. Finally I figured out what he was thinking and explained to him that it was just leaking ice and not something worse. It did give us a good laugh!

Another First For Baby G!

This has been a big week for Garrett. First Twix, first tooth, first bareback horse ride!

You are probably wondering what kind of crazy mother would let her baby sit alone a horse. Don't worry...Millie is a really good horse and we totally trust her.

(Not to mention that Aunt Chelsea was standing on the other side and had a death grip on Garrett's overalls!)

Garrett loved petting the horse and kept sticking his fingers up her nose. It was gross...but really funny!

We are so glad Brett and Chelsea are home.

This Is How Columbus Must Have Felt...

Talk about blindsided! Garrett has been his usual little sweetheart self...no fevers, no waking up in the night, no extreme fussiness or screaming his head off...so I was shocked when we discovered tonight that Garrett has a TOOTH! He has had a runny nose, been eating everything he sees, and been drooling, so I guess I should have seen it coming, but my sister's baby has been doing the same things for months now and she is older than Garrett and hasn't broken a tooth yet, so I hadn't even considered looking for one. I'm thinking that maybe the Twix bar (see previous post) had something to do with the tooth's magic arrival. There might just be something with chocolate and teeth...

Speaking of the Twix incident--Garrett now has a thing for big boy food and thinks he needs to eat everything we do. He does the funniest little yell and gets so mad when we are eating and he can't have any. He does great with the rice cereal, but I think he's realizing there's a whole lot more to the culinary world than rice flakes mixed with water. I did give him some squash tonight (fresh from the garden) and he loved it! He would get it in his mouth and then start grunting and yelling until I gave him more. What a little oinker!

I tried to get a picture of the tooth, but Garrett wasn't cooperating, so I will post some pictures of him having a bath instead. (What good is a post without pictures?)







You can see by this video that Garrett is definitely chomping down hard on the washcloth. I guess a more seasoned mother would have known a tooth was coming, but not this rookie!