Alphabet Tag

Here's how you play... My good friend Amy tagged me with the letter "W". So now I have to list 10 things I love that start with that letter.   So here it goes Amy......

1. Women- What would I do without all of my women friends and family.  They are the best!!!

2. White- One of my very favorite colors. So clean, and beautiful.  

3. Water- My favorite drink (well, only because I won't let myself drink Dr. Pepper). I crave water with crushed ice all of the time.  We use water for everything.  We couldn't survive without it.

4. Watermelon- One of my favorite things to eat in the Summertime.  It always reminds me of traveling to visit my grandparents.  When we went to visit them in the summer months they would always have a BBQ in their garage and have watermelon.  I always looked forward to it.

5. Woods-  I love spending time outdoors in the trees.  Camping is one of my favorite things to do.  (Rachel Woods is awesome too!!!)

6. Walmart- My husband hates that I shop there.  I really do prefer to go somewhere else, but Walmart does have everything all in one stop.  

7. Wintergreen gum- I am always chewing gum.  It's actually a bad habit, but it keeps my mouth busy.  

8. Waffles- Have you ever tried the "Kashi, Go Lean Blueberry Waffles"?  Pop two in the toaster and your good to go (plus the calories are low, and the fiber is high.)

9.  Wizard of Oz- I finally convinced my girls to watch this movie a few months back. It took years of convincing on my part, but they did love it. Mom is always right. (well not always)

10.  Water Chestnuts- Chinese food wouldn't be the same without them. They add the perfect crunch to a dish. I'm sure I am not the only one that picks them out of their food to make sure and get them all.  

Now you are tagged:

Beverly (R)

Kahlia (C)

Lindsay (H)

Julie (L)

Rachel (M)

Nikki (B)

Jenni (A)

Everyone else who would like to give it a try is stuck with (P).

Good Luck! 

This past week actually felt like Spring. I know that groundhog saw his shadow, and there will still be a few more storms and cold days but just knowing it is so close makes me sooo happy.  My girls were actually able to play outside a bit, and we took a few walks without having to bundle up too much.  The fresh air is so great!  One of our favorite things to do is visit the Farm and Dinosaur Museum at Thanksgiving Point.  We have been buying a family pass every other year so we can head over there whenever we want to.  We just renewed our pass for a year so we kicked it off with a visit to the Farm and the Dinosaur Museum in one day.  Micah was needing to get some homework done at home, so why not do both?  We left him at home and had a girls day visiting the animals.

I tried to capture Aliza's excitement whenever she would see an animal, but couldn't quite get it.  I was laughing the whole time at her little body running from place to place just so full of excitment.  Her little arm was waving to all of the animals saying "hi cow, hi horse, hi bunny, hi bird (chickens)"  and then she would put her hand over her mouth and giggle loudly.  So cute!

I think their favorite part on the farm is feeding the animals.  The goats just eat it right out of your hand.  It gets very slobbery, but they love it.

This is Aliza's first experience on a horse.  I wasn't sure if she would like it or not, but as soon as the horse started walking she yelled "weeeee" the entire 3 minute ride.  It was a very long 3 minutes for mom trying to walk next to her.  For some reason her horse wanted to walk me right through the poop every time around.  I couldn't get around it.  I came home with souvenirs on my shoes that I couldn't get off.  I don't think that pair of shoes will ever recover.

Ride Em Cowgirl!

I love that we get a yearly pass because there is so much to do and learn at the dinosaur museum that we just can't do it all in one day.  With the attention span of only a few minutes we learn a little bit here and there and just keep on moving.  Hopefully every time we go we can learn a little bit more.

Aliza was more fascinated with pushing the stroller than actually looking at any of the dinosaurs.  She just had to do it all by herself.

We had a great day, and we can't wait to do it all again real soon.  Let us know if anyone wants to join us next time.  We love to go with friends.

Yesterday we had the opportunity to take our family to the Draper Temple open house.  When Abbie was really little we would always drive by the Jordan River Temple on our way home from family parties. Unfortunately we don't do it as often as we used to, but we just drive by and talk about the temple on our way home.  One night when I asked her if she wanted to see the temple she of course agreed, and then as we were driving away burst into tears because she thought I meant we could actually go to the temple and go inside.  It was a long drive home that night trying to explain why we just couldn't go inside. Ever since that day years ago we have been looking forward to a time where we could all go inside the temple.  After many years of waiting we were able to go and had such a great time.  I'm always so amazed at the organization and the amount of volunteers it takes to run an open house.  It was of course beautiful and a wonderful experience for our family.  If your thinking about going and live in the area you need to go.  It's worth it!

She finally lost a tooth!

Abbie finally lost her front tooth yesterday at school.  She has been waiting sooo long to lose a tooth.  Her four front teeth on the bottom were pulled out by her dentist, so this is officially the first tooth she has lost on her own.  Being in 2nd grade she has watched all of her friends lose their teeth for years.  It was finally her turn to put her name on the chart at school, and get another visit from the tooth fairy.  I've never seen her so excited to get to sleep like she was last night.  When I came into her room to tuck her in she had her special tooth fairy pillow case on her bed (to make sure the tooth fairy knows there is a tooth under her pillow) and her tooth carefully placed in her tooth treasure box.  As you can see from the picture she was ecstatic.  

Abbie's 8th Birthday!

It was a party weekend at the Phillips household.  It started with a friend party on Saturday with 17 of Abbie's favorite friends and cousins. She really wanted to party in her PJ's this year so her friends came over for a PJ party.  We made pillowcases with their names on them, played lots of  pillow games and of course decorated and ate lots of cupcakes. The next day we had the Phillips side of the family over for another fun PJ party.  We all ate breakfast for dinner and just loved spending time together with our family.  I never pass up an opportunity to wear my comfy PJ's.

This is Abbie with her cousin Zoee on the left and sister Avery on the right.  I didn't notice until now, but I think they were getting into the makeup also.

Blowing out the 8 birthday candles.

On Abbie's actual birthday (Monday) her dad stayed home from work so he could eat lunch with her at school.  She had a great day at school and then we were able to meet up with my side of the family to take her to her favorite Chinese restaurant.  This is a picture of her favorite birthday present from Grandma and Grandpa Chidester.  Matching PJ's for her and her American Girl Doll.  I can't keep them washed fast enough because she wants to wear them every night.  She had a great Birthday, and I still can't believe she is 8 years old.  We are so blessed to have Abbie in our lives.  I wish she would stop growing up so fast.  She is really excited to attend her first Activity Days activity today after school.  CRAZY!

Abbie's Surprise!

Abbie has been asking for her own room for years.  A few years ago I told her that maybe when she turns eight years old she could have her own room.  Back then her turning eight seemed really far away.  Well the years flew by and here we are with an eight year old (well officially next monday).  While she was at Disneyland last week we transformed her room into her very own.  We took down the bunk beds, and moved Avery and Aliza in together.  I'm still not quite sure how that is going to work out, but we will give it a try for a few weeks.  When she got home last night this is what she came home to. 

We tried to listen to  her ideas over the past weeks and this is what we came up with.  We just kept our fingers crossed that she would love it.

Abbie loves art, and loves hanging her artwork EVERYWHERE.  So I decided that she needed a HUGE magnet board so she would have somewhere to put her masterpieces.   My dad ended up making this one for her and he did a great job.  Avery and I spent a day painting it, and adding all the details.  She wanted everything green since that is her favorite color.  We decided instead of paining to go with a green bed spread and green lamps.  Painting will have to come at a later date (It really does need it).  We looked everywhere for green curtains, but they were nowhere to be found.  If I only knew how to sew.

Another request was her very own desk.  Again we couldn't find a green chair, but pink is one of her favorites too.  She was thrilled and we were relieved that it passed the test.  I keep finding her just sitting in her room with the door closed.  It really was time for her to have her own space.  We need to find a home with another bedroom upstairs to let everyone have their own room.  I suggested moving one or two of them to the basement, but that idea was shot down quickly. Maybe in a few years that won't seem so scary.  Happy Early Birthday Abbie!!!