Primary

Just a quick note to tell my primary kids that they are awesome! We finished the year off with our primary program and all the kids did great. Some fun moments include our 2 hour practice during church, where the little sunbeams kept asking "how much longer, 2 minutes?" I would reply "yes" and then a minute later they would say "how much longer, 2 hours?" I would reply "yes". We're all about honesty in primary:) Also during our Saturday practice I was sitting next to the podium to help the kids with their parts. Sometimes they would look at me for help. This occurred and I said "do you remember your part?" They clearly stated in the microphone "Do you remember your part?" I was careful not to say that during the real program. We have over a hundred children in our primary, not including nursery. Amazingly I know all their names, minus a random blankage here and there due to my blondeness. They are really amazing kids and I pray that they will continue doing so well.

I GAVE MYSELF A TIME OUT!

TIME OUT FOR WOMEN - SWEET ASSURANCE

This last weekend I went to St. George with my sisters in law Nichole and Trudy and my Mom.


















We left Friday morning and spent they day chatting, eating, and shopping. That night we attended the Time Out for Women Conference. It was entitled Sweet Assurance. Hillary Weeks spoke to us the first day and was amazing, beautiful, funny, and touching. Check out this song she sang - too funny!

Hillary Weeks

http://deseretbook.com/video/embed/209

There were a lot of wonderful speakers and singers.......

Kenneth Cope

http://deseretbook.com/video/embed/282

"God likes broken things and not only does he like them, but he likes to use them."

Chieko Okazaki

"We don't have to be right to do right, and we don't have to look good to be good."

Mary Ellen Edmunds

"The pessimist sees goliath and says he is too huge, I can't beat him.

The optimist sees goliath and says he is too huge, I can't miss."

She spoke about how busy we are and how we have so many different to do lists and said...

"some days, we just want to be listless."

Emily Freeman

"The children who are the hardest, are making the most of me."

We all had a great time. After the Friday night session we went back to my parents vacation house. Me and my Mom shared a room so instead of sleeping we talked until 3 AM! Yes, 3 AM! We kept saying we better go to sleep, but it was just too fun. Usually, when my Mom calls I have 4 children screaming in the background or five thousand unimportant places to run or unimportant things to do, so we don't chat for very long. It was so awesome to catch up and just be friends. My mom is amazing. She has battled breast cancer for the last 6 months and is an inspiration to all of us. No matter how bad she felt she was always one tough cookie - I love ya Mom!

SHOWING GRATITUDE THROUGH OUR TRIALS

Just a quick note about our last enrichment. I am so glad I went even if it mean't dressing up :) It was a draining and rejuvinating experience. Thankyou R.S. Leaders for all your hard work! The speakers were amazing and I hope they know how much I appreciate them being honest with their feelings and opening up. As the speakers stated, many people don't understand others trials until they have been through them. They were so willing to share. I think the thing we want the most is to be understood, listened to and accepted. Anyway, it was a wonderful night and I love all the ladies that spoke! Thank you for letting me be part of your lives.

Soccer - What Else?

Well, outdoor soccer has finished for a season. Amberly learned a ton being the youngest one on her team. She had a lot of fun. She loves playing fullback and her coaches put her as left fullback because she is a lefty like her dad.

Unfortunately, I only got to see a few of her games between coaching Skyler and Kenadee's teams and playing on my own women's league.

However......indoor soccer has started and Amberly's coaches have asked me to help coach - so fun!

I had a blast coaching Kenadee's team. The kids were SO cute. They had a blast playing "kick the coach" a game where we ran around inside a circle and they tried to get us with the ball. They were genuinely sweet kids and we had some VERY good 4 year olds - I think we slaughtered every team - I'm sure it had everything to do with the excellent coaching :) HA

It was great to spend time with Skyler too - she thinks maybe soccer is not her sport and she wants to try out gymnastics. I could see her being really good at that as she has been in dance before and is often used as the top of the pyramids etc.

For now we are enjoying down time - let me repeat that.

WE ARE ENJOYING DOWN TIME!!!!! WAHOOOO

My life has been seriously insane for the last two/three months. I know wa me - or as my family says - do we need to call the wambulance. Anyway, it has finally slowed down - I am sleeping again at night, I am eating, I am relaxing and reading to my kids, I am not a total grouch. Well, maybe that last one isn't quite true :) Either way I am just enjoying my family again instead of non stop rushing and doing. It has been much needed and enjoyed.

Halloween

The kids had plenty of opportunities to dress up and have some good old Halloween fun.

Annual Jefferson Drive Halloween Party

The kids and I had a great time at our street Halloween Party this year. Thanks Amy!!!!! We love ya! Amberly dressed up as a witch, Skyler as a go go dancer, Kenadee as a ladybug and Austin wore......... his pumpkin shirt. (He refused to put on his costume.)

We had a great lunch, cookie decorating, potato sack races, and bobbing for apples.

Cornbelly's

We went as a family to the Thanksgiving Point Cornbelly's Park. We had a great time. We were laughing so hard watching Austin manuever himself around the bouncing pads. He was having a blast!

We went on the hay ride, train ride, pedal bikes and found our way through the Larry H. Miller Corn Maze. We ALMOST made it all the way through the giant lizard this year (last year we made it about 5 seconds before we exited). This year we were almost at the end when a loud noise sounded and Austin and Kenadee freaked and thus another early exit.

Halloween Parade

Kenadee, Austin and I went and watched the Hidden Hollow Elementary Parade. Kenadee dressed up as Cinderella to watch. Amberly was a butterfly fairy, and Skyler dressed up as a rock star! Austin wore........his pumpkin shirt!

Halloween Piano Recital

Every year Amberly's piano teacher does a Halloween Piano recital. This year it was at Riverton Music up in Sandy. She played Halloween Night by W.T. Skye Garcia. She wore her butterfly fairy costume and she did WONDERFUL. She is such a great pianist and I am SO proud of her. She played on the grand piano worth $80,000! Seriously, how awesome is that. We thought about buying it, but passed - maybe next time. Anyway, she had her picture taken with Bach, uh I mean her piano teacher. Lot's of fun! Grandma and Grandpa Honeycutt, Mom and Dad, and Aunt Trudy all came and supported her.

Halloween Cookie Decorating

Trudy brought over Halloween cookies for the kids to decorate. They really had so much fun and LOVE when Trudy comes over. We had a good visit and had fun playing soccer/wrestling/rugby/keep away with the soccer ball in the living room.

Pumpkin Carving
Burke and the kids carved pumpkins again this year. Kenadee carved the cat pumpkin, Skyler carved the bat pumpkin, Austin and Amberly did the mini pumpkin face and Amberly and Dad carved the BOO at the Daddy Daughter Pumpkin Party!

Highlands 1st Ward Trunk or Treat and Chili Cook Off

Our ward has an annual Halloween Party and this year they did trunk or treating. We decoracted our trunk and actually won the contest! We won a Haunted House Decorating Kit! Lots of fun for the kids to make! Burke dressed up as Burger King, I dressed up as Wendy, Amberly was again the butterfly fairy, Skyler was the go go dancer, Kenadee was tinkerbell and Austin wore.............his pumpkin shirt. The kids had fun dancing to the Karoake Music and Austin had fun running around making Dad chase him while Mom chatted :)

Halloween Night

Wow.....who needs Halloween Night with all the fun we had before! Regardless, the kids dressed up Amberly - butterfly fairy, Skyler - witch, Kenadee - ladybug, and Austin wore.......his pumpkin shirt (stubborn kid - no idea where he gets that from?). It was a beautiful night and Dad took all the kids around the neighborhood. I stayed home and handed out candy. Austin joined me after awhile and we hung out together on the front porch and enjoyed all the ghosts and goblins. Afterwards we watched food network's haunted cake making contest - lots of fun!

ZING ZANG ZOOM

So we were giving all the kids a bath (we do that every month or so when the flies start dying in front of us). Anyway, with 5 pair of glasses on the counter we looked like an optical store. I got Austin dried off and dressed and put his glasses on which he promptly pulled off and threw on the floor. This does happen at times so I didn't think much of it. I went in and cleaned them and put them on him again. He threw them off again. "Austin, stop it" Again, I put them on him and was getting slightly grumpy thinking he was just being ornery. After what seemed like the thousandth time I gave up and let him be glasses free. The next morning, Skyler was complaining that she couldn't find her glasses. I gave her them and she said "these aren't mine!" I said, "yes they are" and she replied "no they're not." Well, then it hit me. Her glasses were in sitting on Austin's dresser. The same pair that he had refused to wear last night. Apparently he had been pulling them off because they weren't his and weren't helping him see. Such fun! You tell me, who's is who's. Lasik take me away......

THE MINIVAN, MY DREAM CAR

I recall watching an Oprah episode where a mother was telling how she cried all the way to the dealership when she went to get her new minivan. I relate because this is the car I had before.

The things we sacrifice for our kids.......

So anyway, the point to my rambling is that the other day I spent a whole afternoon cleaning out my Bugatti Veyron.....uh I mean my minivan. Amberly, who is my very tidy freak child, had resorted to stepping from the outside onto the armrest and then hurling herself back to her seat so that her feet in no way would touch the floor of the Bugatti Veyron...uh I mean the minivan. She really doesn't understand the concept of food storage, because literally I probably had at least two full boxes of McDonalds french fries on hand (or foot) for emergencies. Okay, this is totally nasty NASTY NASTY! This is not a picture of my car, but it could be mistaken for it.

I really am not a messy person, but with four children, my car seems to become a disaster zone in no time and THEY don't understand how this happens!!!!!!!!! Somehow Mom just doesn't clean it enough. Anybody want a ride?

INTRODUCING THE GREATEST SHOW ON EARTH...............

Well, we went to the Circus last night with Mehmut Okur. We thought we would hang out. Okay, okay, so actually we just walked across the crosswalk at the same time as him, but I think we made a connection and we'll be BFF's. Go JAZZ!

Amberly, Skyler and Kenadee loved the circus. They thought it was awesome or as the boy in front of us with the ginormous circus hat said "That was fantastic!" Austin enjoyed saying "Bye Bye" in other words "get me the fetch outta here." He only fell down the stairs once which added to the excitement for the crowd. Happily, Kenadee's lost flip flop reappeared at intermission when the people in front of us handed it back. Also, I must say that I have never heard such a heckling ridiculous laugh before in my life as came from the little boy behind us - he was having an absolute ball, but his laugh was absolutely something out of a cartoon. I have had fun imitating him since. He was so excited that he couldn't keep his feet still. He kicked the back of my chair no less than a thousand times and when I attempted to put my hand behind my chair he kicked that too! Ouch! Other than that it was well worth hanging out with Mehmet too see the fun!

It really was cool. The girls were awed and kept saying "how did they do that?" as the ringmaster reminded us musically "do not try this at home." I was singing that all morning and having quite a ball annoying Burke :). The Tigers were awesome, the elephants were awesome, the magic was awesome. It was a really an awesome night! Happy Circus Birthday Austin and Kenadee!

WHAT ELSE

Burke has been working his butt off as usual. The other day he went to work at 3:30 AM and came home at 10:30 PM. He said he loved his job so much he can't believe he gets paid for it! It's too bad the company he works for makes such cool products. He really has a lot of pride for his company. If only they made something lame like......pooper scoopers or fly swatters. This is some of what they make. These are real men toys - none of those tonka trucks.

Soccer, soccer, and more soccer. Amberly is getting better and better, Skyler is so excited when she kicks the ball and Kenadee loves the half time and after game treat! I even got to play in two of my own games in the women's league before the referees kicked me out for the season. Just jokin'. Actually, I found out the referee is Brenda Craven's son and Mick Craven started refereeing with him, so I have an IN! (they live in the neighborhood). They did fold the league for a season though, because too many women were busy canning peaches and doing other June Cleaver stuff that they didn't show up to play. So sad because I LOVE PLAYIN'. Although, I went to all the soccer games, I did get over 100 jars of peaches canned. I even showed Amberly's piano teacher how to can and as she stated she has turned into a canning monster and is canning everything in sight! Speaking of piano, Amberly is becoming a GREAT pianist and I am so glad I am a mean mom and haven't allowed her to quit! Skyler got her rabbit - he's a little netherland dwarf that she named dark chocolate. We put him in the garage, just like our kids :).

Austin has gotten really good at saying BYE (as previously mentioned in the circus paragraph). He says BYE YA, BYE YA. He's really cute. At night or naptime I lay him down and he waves and says BYE YA! Also, I finally had his hair cut. All those adorable curls gone. He no longer seems to be my little baby, but instead looks like a big boy - sniff, sniff. Kenadee oh kenadee we hope that the magic will begin at age 4. My laundry pile needs to decrease. On a good note, she is learning to read like her sisters - she sounds out really well - D D D CAR or P P P Mom or S S S Potty. All is well at the Phillips Home LOL

Insanity decreased

Life has been so much more manageable with two children in school.

Amberly is in fourth grade and has Miss Hamblin.

(Amberly's 1st day of school)

Skyler is in first grade and has Miss Coombs.

(Skyler's first day of school)

Both have really enjoyed it - Yeah!!!!!!! Last year Skyler came home from the first day of Kindergarten and said "Now that I know what school is like, it's actually pretty boring!"

So....I am thrilled that she says school is awesome this year. Through good behavior, the class earned a pet rabbit. That has made her so excited. She came home everyday either sad or happy that they had lost a point or gained a point. THANK GOODNESS they earned all their points and earned the class rabbit.

And yes, now we are thinking of getting a rabbit and yes, I am slowly losing my mind. First a hamster, now a rabbit.....so not me. Somehow Skyler has this animal gene in her. Every other word is "can we get a rabbit....can we get a rabbit.....can we get a rabbit." Before it was can we get a cat....can we get a cat.....can we get a cat." To put it nicely, I do not like cats and the cat who keeps pooping in my backyard is not helping matters.

*

Side Note: I am psychic (not psycho - although that's probably true too)

We had a little hamster, Wendy. One night I went to bed and dreamt that Wendy died. I woke up in the middle of the night and said "Burke, I think Wendy is dead." He mumbled something and ignored me. The next morning, Wendy had died, poor thing. Burke gave her a proper burial and not too long after he and the kids went out and bought Stripes the hamster aka Wendy Junior.

*

Today was crazy hair day at school. Lots of fun!

Skyler is the flower pot and Amberly is the rainbow.

Yes, we like to give our hair themes

OTHER EVENTS THAT YOU REALLY WANT TO HEAR ABOUT:

* Coaching soccer has been a blast!

* Primary Barbecue was great. We had about 80 people over to our house - thanks everyone!

* I am so proud of Amberly. She is an awesome fullback - so fun to watch her play and so tempting to dress up like a 9 year old and jump on the field.

* So not liking 2 year old neighbors coming over to my house uninvited and using marker all over my walls. Who just lets their two year old roam - seriously people!

* Glad that bow hunting season is over for Burke and sad that he didn't get anything. He still had fun though - saw a skunk, a moose, an elk and apparently slept through a raccoon raiding their campsite.

* Celebrated our 13th wedding anniversary on August 31st. I truly am blessed. Love ya hon! (not that he ever reads this.)

No time to say hello, goodbye, I'm late, I'm late, I'm late

Sometimes I feel like that little rabbit in Alice in Wonderland.

This weeks been really good. Burke was gone bow hunting for four days. He didn't get anything except hypothermia. He and my brother in law (Burke's best friend - ya he owes us for setting him up with my sister - or maybe we owe him - just kiddin sis:)) both got caught in a rain/snow storm. They made it back to the truck where they warmed up and then went back to the tent climbed in their sleeping bags and took a four hour nap. Such a tough life! :) He says it was fun for him and I'm glad. He really looks forward to it and totally deserves a break.

Well, on Saturday we (me and the four kids) went shopping at University mall. I went to get my ring that was supposed to be done, but it wasn't. They had cut it off me a week previously because I couldn't get it off my finger. Anyway, a diamond had fallen out and they were supposed to fix it. Here's hoping for next week. We did some school clothes shopping and had a nice time. Afterwards we came home and went swimming in the pool for about 3 hours. The weather was a little cooler so it was just us and another family. It was really nice. I just hung out in the hot tub and soaked. Loving the pool this year! My kids are finally at ages that it is doable.

On Monday, the kids had about every neighbor on the planet over and they actually played really well YIPPEE. It was really nice. My visiting teachers came too and we had a fabulous visit. I love those ladies - thanks for being so awesome.

Tuesday is our soccer day. I'm coaching a 4 year old team and a 6 year old team. What the heck was I thinking? I probably wasn't - I am blonde:). Anyway, Amberly has practice at 4:30, Skyler at 5:00 and Kenadee at 6:00. So I'm holding Austin the entire practice because he has a molar coming in and is the biggest grump. He won't let me put him down for a second. It's driving me nutty. Meanwhile I'm trying to corral 6 and 4 year olds. Some are tired, some want to sit, some don't want to play, some want to chase butterfly's - you get the idea. Such fun! Thankfully Burke came and took Austin for the last practice and we really did have a lot of fun. Of course I had to let the girls use the pink ball, the boys use the black ball, allow them to do cartwheels. and we had a drink break every 5 minutes. They are seriously so cute and it really is a lot of fun. Oh, and did I mention Kenadee my 4 year old, is sitting on the sideline coloring in a neighbors coloring book because she's bored and doesn't want to practice. Good thing I love soccer! I said it doesn't bother me if the kids do it or not, but Burke said that was unacceptable - they have to like soccer :).

Today, I spent about 5 hours at the school between box top stuff and back to school night. I'm the Box Top coordinator and so wanted to get all that stuff out to the teachers and ready before back to school night tonight. Oh the joy of back to school night. So Burke doesn't get home until 6 and it's his birthday so I took all the gang to the school to meet the teachers. I think Austin cried the entire time. Besides chasing him around the room, him trying to climb on all the desks and chairs, him trying to pull the cord out of the lunchroom ladies computer (she said it had battery backup - thank you), stealing the other students candy bars off their welcome papers, and ripping about 5 letters off the teachers bulletin board - we had a great time - sigh :( Oh and did I mention we ran to the orthodontist, grocery store and copy store. During this time my children fought with each other and one proceeded to throw a shoe at me while I was driving down the road. I won't mention her name, but it rhymes with Bamberly. I pulled over to the side and told her to get out and walk because that was unacceptable (ya think?). She begged me no and we finally drove away, but it actually worked (for five seconds) - wow - I may have to use that again. I'm not sure what I would have done if she actually would have gotten out. Walking home from Target in A.F. probably wouldn't be feasible for a 9 year old. Anyway, after we left early from Back to School Night I came home and did the dishes and Burke cooked himself a birthday dinner, while I stuck candles in the store bought birthday cake! Ya, I'm a great wife ya'll. Happy Birthday Hon - I love ya.

Another day another dollar

Another day, another dollar. Oh wait, I don't get paid for my job, so I guess it's just another day.

Did you ever dream about what you were going to be when you grew up or what your life would be like. I didn't ever think I would be a stay at home mom. I was always the feminist that told the guy "why doesn't the man stay home and the women work, it's not fair!" It's funny how things change. Actually, I remember telling that to one date and he says "Ya! I would love that" - boy was that a turn off - that really made me evaluate myself.

I really don't think I'd change my life at all, but man somedays I don't feel cut out for this whole motherhood thing. Why didn't anyone REALLY tell me how hard it could be. I'm sure if they did I wouldn't have listened anyway.

I'm Tired...

*I'm tired of trying to get Austin to eat - I give him something and BAM! it becomes a speeding bullet off his tray onto the floor, the wall, or me.

*I'm tired of stepping on food every second in my kitchen because the process of fork to mouth is a missing gene in my family.

*I'm tired of my kids always wanting to play with friends and then me getting to spend the whole day breaking up fights between them, cleaning up after them, feeding them and babysitting them.

*I'm tired of kids saying "I don't want to play with you, and making my kids cry."

*I'm tired of being the disciplinarian.

*I'm tired of being told not to take it personal after I'm told I'm hated because they can't have an ice cream cone from the lovely ice cream truck or whatever other crazy reason.

*I'm tired of being wonder woman and failing.

and for the grand finale....

I'm tired of seeing these gross things in my yard - Yuck!

I Love......

*I love my husband for having a great attitude about working 12 hour days not because he loves to be away from us but because he loves us so much he does what he has to!
*I love tucking my kids in at night, saying prayers with them, rocking them, reading them books, hugging them.
*I love that I have a beautiful home to live in.
*I love that I have wonderful friends who don't give up on me even though I ignore their phone calls because I have kids screaming all around me and it's impossible to talk.
*I love Primary, even though I think about it WAY too much.
*I love sleeping - sadly it is one of my favorite things.
*I love my family because we are all sarcastic brats that think we are funny and we get each other. I love them even if we do keep a safe distance so as not too annoy each other too much.
*I love that I have great inlaws.
*I love working in my flower gardens even if they do look like I just threw a bunch of seeds down and they randomly grew. I love mowing the lawn.
*I love that the other day my Dad helped me build a deck while my husband cooked dinner for our family and a neighbor that just had a baby - Let me think......building something fun or cooking dinner for the thousandth time - which sounds more inviting? I'll give you a hint - it does not involve cooking! Side Note: the neighbor wrote the thankyou card to only me - because I am the woman and thus this is my job right? WRONG - I have an awesome husband!!!!!!!!
*I LOVE MY LIFE

Home Again, Home Again, Jiggety Jig

Driving makes me tired - that darn drive from here to Wendover makes me sleepy every time.

Thank goodnesss for the huge million dollar statue to break up the view of the amazing salt flats. Next time I have an extra mil lying around - this is what I'm gonna do with it!

Kenadee and Austin at the Salt Flats

The drive out to Steptoe Ranch is the greenest I've ever seen it. The red's, browns, and yellow wildflowers were beautiful! The kids loved the 12 miles of dirt road rollercoaster and ahhhhed the whole time making their voices vibrate - lots of fun. Thanks G&G P and the Moore's for playing with Amberly for a week. She let her inner cowgirl out and especially loved the 2 days of horse shows and making a hut/sleeping quarters for the cats out in the backyard. Truely the ranch is a kids playground.

Random:

*Burke when asked how his job was going by my sister: "livin' the dream."

*Love Austin putting his arms around my neck and snuggling

*Austin's favorite things include ripping open feminine hygiene products and pulling off and playing with the knobs on the bottom of the toilet - yes were saving for therapy.