Paris Fun+Cousin Fun=Picture overload

Back in June we went to Paris for the weekend, then me and the boys stayed a few extra days. We had a great time with our cousins!!!

This was the funniest thing...obviously funny because we had 5 kids crammed in one bath, but they were each so busy playing and doing their own thing, they hardly noticed each other.

An attempt at a shot with them all looking. yeah right. why do we even try?!
We hit up Club Kerby after church Sunday night. It was qsp's first time in the pool. He was tired, so he wasn't all that excited about it. But he did show off his beach bod.

Landry was getting a kick out of herself. She would lean back and watch her toes pop up out of the water and it cracked her up every time.
q was called a girl about 10 times that week by random strangers. So I thought it appropriate to put him in this pink bib. It was mine when I was a chubby, rolly, dark headed baby.
GREAT Aunt Gwen Ann came out to play.
One night we went to Clay and Mo's for dinner. The kids loved the swing set!
Uncle Clint helpin' Quinn live tha thug life. Its kinda hard to look thuggy with a giant grin on your face!!!!

We ended the night with popsicles for everyone. I'm sad q wasn't in these pictures. He was probably inside admiring his gigantic thighs or sucking his thumb.

This was klp's first popsicle and these are a little tricky with the plastic and all. He ended up dropping it and just holding the popsicle.
I promise its a popsicle, not a cigar.

We couldn't figure out why Nolan was crying. I think he was getting brain freeze.
Seriously, where did he learn this???
These two (and Quinn) are now officially outnumbered by the girls!! YIKES!!!!!
Avery still love love LOVES "Baby Quim" He's steady gaining on her in the size category!

He cut off the circulation in her legs, so we put them beside each other on the couch!
The love is mutual here as you can see!!

Its even more fun with Landry!! (Rachel's kids take LONG NAPS so they missed all this fun!)

One night mom and dad watched my boys so me and my bros could go out to our lake. I was pregnant last summer so I didn't get to do anything. It was fun being back on the water!

Here I am ready to wake skate....
after a slight miscommunication with Clint the driver, this happened.........
Getting some last minute refresher tips from Clay
Ahhhhhh!!!! It was SO FUN to be out there!! I did tire rather quickly and seem to have lost some of my "guts" when it comes to how fancy of a rider I was gonna be. I'll get it back.
Mo came out early one morning and brought donuts. The girls asked to watch TV while they ate. This is a Gay Gay specialty. A fun treat they get to do only at her house! :)

Me and Ro were playing with my camera one afternoon making silly faces! I liked this one the best!! She's one fun gal!!

I came home in time to celebrate my 29th bday with KLP and the boys. Here we are on my bday before we left for church.

4th of July

No offense America, but Kanyon Luke Phillips trumped you when he decided to end his 100 day NICU stay and COME HOME on July 4, 2007!!!! We are always glad we live in America, but on July 4th, we're celebrating this little boy that started out like this:

(notice Kory's ring on his wrist)

and came home that rainy Independence Day looking like this:

That day is still so vivid in my memory. It was scary, exciting, sad, and overwhelming all at the same time. Coming home to friends and family that had been waiting out in the rain just to cheer us in and pray for our baby meant so much. I could go on and on and on (and on) about all the things that 100 days taught us. But I can give a quick version. We learned that GOD is faithful in keeping his promises. That doesn't mean we always get what we want or that things always go the way we want (or ask them to). It means that GOD is faithful in keeping THE promise. That he will never ever ever leave us. And that, my friends, is the ONLY way we made it to that "Phillips Phamily Independence Day" and that is STILL the thing that gets us through the realities of our life that are so hard and stretch us to the limit.

We sent out "Coming Home" announcements and we included this verse on them:

Let each generation tell its children of your mighty acts. I will meditate on your majestic, glorious splendor and your wonderful miracles. Your awe-inspiring deeds will be on every tongue; I will proclaim your greatness. Everyone will share the story of your wonderful goodness; they will sing with joy of your wonderful righteousness. Psalm 145:4-7

GOD granted us many mighty acts that lead to us getting Kanyon home. The word miracles seems like an understatement when I think of how tiny those babies were when they were born and the fact that they even stood a chance is a miracle. We will always share this story of GOD's wonderful goodness. Every time someone sees klp's million dollar grin or hears his sweet voice, they are experiencing God's wonderful goodness.

Phillips Pham pics:

2007

I've titled this one: "They had NO IDEA what they were about to start"

2008-In Montana at "Kanyon's" firework show
2009-In Montana at "Kanyon's" firework show
2010-In Longview at the Colliers (Yeah for Quinn's first celebration)
As you see, we weren't in Montana like we usually are this time of year. It felt weird not to be there, but we had a great time here with our friends. In fact, Kanyon spent this day with Blake Porter back in '07
and they were back together again this year!!
The church wide party got rained out, so we went to the Colliers and had a great time.

Kory got to feel like a super star on a 9ft. goal.
Kanyon found a puddle and enjoyed it for a LONG time
and we enjoyed a few sparklers! While Kanyon was holding them, he kept saying "Liiiiiiii" which is his way of saying "LIGHT!!"



No need to buy fireworks when the neighbors have some really good ones!! The kids enjoyed those and we enjoyed the price tag: $0
The next day Kory didn't have to work so we had lots of fun! We went swimming with Adam, Doodle, Caden, and Tate!
q and tate chillin' by the pool
Big buddies splashing away!!!

If any of the NICU nurses and Dr. Chris are still reading this, know that we think of you on this day too. We are STILL so very very very very grateful for your hard work for our kids. There is just no way to say thank you. But we will say it anyways, knowing its not enough. THANK YOU!

Fun Times around here

We went to eat lunch with Dad last Friday. The place was out of high chairs, so klp got to be a big boy and sit in a booster seat.

qsp with his buddy Kalon. They were born 2 weeks apart and Kalon makes q look like a total beef cake. And YES quinn's outfit is too small. I ran across a bunch of klp's old clothes that were in the wrong bin and by the time I found them, Quinn was outgrowing them. BOOOOOO!! So i forced him into this outfit just once. Quinn and his buddies meet in the nursing mothers' room during church every week.
KLP taught klp how to shoot his gun. Lots of fun (and noise).

For some reason this makes me laugh!
/div>

A couple of months ago, Me, Amy, and Mindi had a garage sale at my house. It was SOOOO fun. We were up super late on Friday night, then they spent the night (including Mindi's newborn Trent!) and we were up bright and early selling our junk...I mean treasures!

Here is Amy pricing away Friday night!

Mindi was not selling my computer, but she was very creative using boxes, etc. to stack things on to sell. She is responsible for the presentation of our items!
This was right before Kory said we were getting too delirious because we were laughing at things that probably weren't even funny. So we made him take a picture of us and then sent him away!
We were busy ALL day so it was late before I finally got a picture. WHHEEEEW we were tired! But we had so much fun and made some fun money. I kept waiting to post these pictures because I thought we'd go out to eat with our money and then I'd take a picture of that, but its never happened!

Kanyon going for the Speedo look in just the swim diaper...

If you need a good laugh, turn up your volume and take this in!!!!!

Happy Weekend!

I'm an Aunt AGAIN!!!!!

My brother Clay welcomed his THIRD daughter into the world Wednesday morning!!!!! As they have with their other 2, Clay and Mo didn't find out what they were having, so we were all laughing pretty loud Wednesday morning when we heard it was ANOTHER girl!! We are so happy and she really is so cute. Her name is Mallory Gayle Spencer and I can't stop thinking about her. I was in Paris when she was born so I got to see her and hold her, but I'm back now and I already miss her!! We are so thankful for her and love her SOOOOO much. Clay's pink world just got even more pink!! :)

I have many many many blogs in the works, so prepare for a Phillips Phamily overload. But I HAD to show off little Mallory before I went any further with blogs!

Horse and Rider

Back in March or April ( I can't even remember) Kanyon's Hippotherapy place had their annual fundraiser they call Horse and Rider. It was our first one to experience and participate in. It was so much fun and we had lots of great "fans" to share it with. It was an all day thing and they had tons of the kids riding in the arena almost all day. There was an announcer and they talked about each kid and their horse while they rode. It was fun to see the other kids and SO fun for our friends and family to get to see Kanyon ride. This was Kory's first time to see him ride!!!

Clay and Mo's crew came a little early, so we got to play some before the big show!

Avery and KLP having a little story time
As usual, Avery was dying to hold "baby Quim" as she calls him. Notice Landry and her thumb....notice Quinn watching her.....hmmmmm maybe she taught him!!!
q couldn't figure out how to stick out his tongue. He doesn't even know he has a tongue.
Big girl Landry got her chance to hold qsp. Pretty sure they're almost the same size. Quinn actually looks a lot like Landry when she was a baby.
Ok here we are at the "show"! His PT Celia is the lady walking on his left side. He rides his faithful steed Candy.
Riding on all 4's. Really good for him in lots of ways!!
When he's riding sideways, she's able to work his left side pretty good to strengthen and improve his balance. klp looks bored. He's just chillin'
Pushed all the way up on all 4's
ANNNNNND backwards! More pressure and weight going on that left arm. We joke that he's gonna think that its normal to ride horses facing all different directions. When we ride outside of therapy, he'll probably wonder why he has to sit forward the whole time. Or maybe this is just setting a great foundation to make him a trick rider!
After his ride, the group riding all went to the center of the arena and got their ribbons. Dad gave him his! Another little boy that was riding got his and got off his horse and yelled, "I WON!!!" haha!
I was on video duty. And baby carrying duty.
Phillips Pham with our rider! He's done so well and we are so very very very thankful for a place like Windridge.