It's About Time!!!

So sorry to my faithful--it's been awhile! I'm happy to report that our Internet is connected (YAY!) and I am rejoining the blogging world. (Although our computer has a few strugs at the moment, so who knows how long it will last.)

Here's a catch-up of the past month or so of life with the Greg Phillips family.

WARNING: Mega-long post with about a billion pics. You may want to pop some popcorn and get yourself a soda (preferrably a caffeinated one) before you begin reading.

We started April off with a bang by visiting Chuck-E-Cheese for my baby brother's birthday. (Don't worry-he was only turning 26.) For the past several years, Brett has always said he wants to go to Chuck-E-Cheese for his birthday and that's all he wants and wants to do. This year we decided to make his dreams come true, so his wife planned a surprise party for him. What made it even better was that the Sunday before the party (which had been planned for weeks at this point), Brett cut some Chuck-E-Cheese coupons out of the newspaper and put them on the fridge at my folks' house with a note that said, "Happy B-day Brett." He even disguised his handwriting and claimed to know nothing about it. We all got a good laugh behind his back just knowing what was coming for him! The party was a blast and we had the pleasure of visiting our favorite Party Mouse a few weeks later for Brooklyn's 6th birthday. (Imagine being 6 years old and going to Chuck-E-Cheese a few weeks before your birthday. Nothing else--with the exception of Disneyland--could compete, so we went again!)

Garrett had a blast and LOVED the Chuck-E-Cheese character, but he refused to take a nap that day and was so tired. He was having fun and didn't want to leave, but it was serious business for him and smiles were hard to come by.

Having Miss Abby in our family has been such a joy. Here she is catching a few ZZZ's with Grandpa Willy.

Well crap--Easter came...and went...and in the craziness of moving and everything, the Easter Bunny kind of forgot to tell Garrett's mom and dad he needed to make a stop at our house. OOPS!!! Thank heavens Garrett is only 2 and didn't seem to mind, but I still felt bad about it. Grandma and Pops redeemed us by having the grandkids over for an Easter egg hunt a few days later. At this point, Gracie and Brooklyn had been to about 15 Easter egg hunts and were approaching the "professional" status of egg hunters. Garrett--the novice--wanted absolutely nothing to do with it and threw a huge fit when I put one of his eggs in his borrowed Easter basket (since I also forgot to buy him one). He did finally warm up to it a little bit when he realized there was candy in the eggs.

Gracie-the queen of Egg hunts! We had to hide the eggs over again about 5 times for her. She just couldn't get enough.

Brooklyn was so sweet to share her Easter basket with Garrett and use her old one.

Abby hung out with Pops while I tried unsuccessfully to get Garrett to pick up his eggs.

Garrett did end up with a good loot--notice the blue mouth from the ring pop.

Our buddies, Kaleb and Jenna, came to visit and enjoyed a nice wagon ride.

This is Garrett's new favorite activity--standing on the deck and watching the tractors work their magic.

Cousin Guimo came to visit and the kids enjoyed a lovely tea party.

Garrett is finding all sorts of new places to play .

He wants to be outside exploring 24/7.

We celebrated Sparky's big day. Brian found him this golf club cart and it was a big hit--especially with the kids.

Abby zonked out with cousin Kyle.

Some of our favorite buddies from our Provo days, Lea and Lisa, came for a visit. We had such a fun day--complete with the best banana cream pie I have ever tasted. I'm not kidding--it was amazing! Thank you, Maddox!

Garrett had a rough couple days of an upset stomach and a nasty diaper rash. He pretty much lived in the tub until he got better.

Garrett loves to climb in the soaker tub in our master bathroom and send his toys down the "slide" (aka--the armrests). He came up with that one all on his own. Funny kid!

He also discovered Abby's tub and thinks it makes a great recliner.

Garrett says, "Go see daddy," all day, every day and can't wait for him to get home so they can play/work. I try, but I'm just not nearly as much fun as daddy.

Garrett loves to "help Mama" and measures everything in the house about 50 times daily.

We made the trek to Provo for Mal Pal's graduation. She got a Bachelor's Degree in Chemical Engineering from BYU and graduated with the last name of Phillips. I've never been prouder!

Miss Annabelle looked so beautiful in her fancy dress and loved playing with Abby-cakes.

Our sweet little punkin!

Greg really enjoyed the ceremony.

To say I looked like crap this day would be a major understatement. I finally went to bed at about 2 AM the night before, woke up at 6, drove to Provo while Greg and the kids slept, walked through the pouring rain while carrying a sleepy kid, and didn't even have a brush and elastic to pull my hair back. Like the country song says," Every dog has his day, dog, and today, dog, just ain't yours."

Good thing it was Mal's day, though. She was absolutely stunning and by far the coolest graduate in the whole nerdy college of engineers. (Just kidding about the nerdy engineers, Brian.)

Garrett loves to do "rock-a-bye" with Grandma and is sometimes even lucky enough to catch a swig of her DC. This particular day he was even tired enough he fell asleep on her lap. He's such a sweet boy.Abby Baby checking out Aunt Paula.

Garrett helped Kyle blow out his candles.

The windstorm of the century hit one night and blew the sprinkler pipe from all the surrounding fields into our/our neightbors' yards. It was INSANE. The lane in and out of our house was completely blocked by pipe and we couldn't even get out of our driveway. I was supposed to substitute teach that day and had to call and tell them I couldn't come. The wind/pipe combination wrecked total havoc on our neighborhood and stuff was everywhere. The poor farmers spent the next several days trying to get their pipe moved, fixed, and put back together.
My sweet mom came and arranged all of the china in the cabinet. I had no idea where to even start and was totally overwhelmed by doing it, so I was so thankful when she showed up one afternoon and told me she was there to arrange the china cabinet. She did a great job and it's so pretty! Of course, I made her pose for a picture.

Speaking of stunning pictures of me...WOW! We've been sick this past week and sleep has been hard to come by. I think this picture just about adequately captures the level of my exhaustion.

Check out Garrett's new shoes.Abby discovered that her zipper makes a great pacifier. What a smart girl!
Speaking of pacifiers...
Abby enjoyed spending Mother's Day with Grandma Jan.
Meanwhile, Greg and Garrett got a good wrestling match in.
"Mommy's Lil Angel." That's my girl!

We surprised my mom by getting her grandmother's wedding ring fixed up for Mother's Day. It is really old and needed some major repairs. She was thrilled and didn't have a clue it was coming, so it was really fun. Too bad I didn't get a picture of her face, but the ring is gorgeous!

Next up: two major events worthy of their own posts.

1. Abby's Blessing (Complete with the requested/much anticipated recipe collection!)

2. Garrett and Airplane's Horse Show Debut (Quite possibly the proudest moment of my life as a mom.)