Sound of Music

I went and saw the Sound of Music lastnight at the Higley Art Center & it was SOOOOOO good!

If you have a night this week that you can go, I would HIGHLY recommend it!

Also...the lead, Maria, is a good friend of mine...Riki (Sloan).

She was INCREDIBLE!!!

2nd favorite...little Gretel;)

Phelps & Brinton Halloween Carnivals

It is tradition, with my mom & dad's side of the family to have a Halloween Carnival each year. It is so much fun, the kids LOVE it. They are both complete with games, a costume parade & great company!

Phelps Carnival:

My adorable boys, playing fun Carnival Games!

potluck soup & salad...I honestly look forward to this all year. Some DELICIOUS soups are made!!!

This was a 1st! A "Petting Zoo"!

My cousins brought their chickens & Parker spent most of his night, RIGHT HERE...

A cute Firefighter in front of my parent's cute playhouse...turned "Haunted House" for the night. My brother Tate served homemade rootbeer from the porch!

This boy refused to wear his Buzz Lightyear costume from lastyear OR the pumpkin costume I bought him for this year...but finally consented to wear this "Firefighter raincoat" that is way too big. He was still cute as ever!

And this boy was the cutest kid at the party. Not kidding...his little tail was swish as he walked & he was ADORABLE:)

I love this party & I think this year was the biggest it has ever been!

We had 2 families in town from Utah & 1 from Washington, which made it even more fun!

Brinton Carnival:

Buzz Lightyear & Nemo were the CUTEST kids at the party...in my opinion;)

I was impressed with everyone's creativity on their games...we had a lot of fun new ones this year!



Ready or not...

Warning: CUTE BABY BUTTOCKS ahead... 

Ryler THINKS he needs to grow up.

I remind him DAILY that he is my BABY & that he isn't allowed.

So when he began doing things like

 "going in the bathroom" when he needs to go

or

"or coming to find me & grabbing his diaper & saying BOO(poo, of course) after he goes"

or

"attempting to sit on the toilet & push & grunt(it is hilarious)"

I told him to STOP.

OK...really he is NOWHERE near ready to be potty trained, he just sees Parker go & wants to be like him & he has never ACTUALLY gone, just sat on the toilet, but STILL...those ARE SIGNS of being ready in the future & guess what?

I'm NOT ready.

So there!

Mummy & Me Lunch

A friend in my ward invited us over for a "Halloween Lunch" & it was so much fun!

I was watching Rob & Julie's kids while they were in Oregon, so Mason, Tanner & Gemma also got to come & join in on the fun! My friend was so nice to be willing to let my bring FIVE kiddos:)

I'm glad Halloween is on a Sunday this year. Just saying. Kind of nice to not have to worry about trick or treating! We have been to so many fun parties, I don't think we need another night of sugar!

My Dad's Birthday

So...we got together to celebrate the most amazing man in the world being born & that celebration involved cupcakes!

I ALWAYS take the frosting off the cupcakes for Ryler because of his Dairy Allergy, but this particular night I decided HECK WITH IT & let him GO TO TOWN!

It was worth it.
His face was PURE JOY

I need to get the pictures my brother took, because they are hilarious, but these at least show you how happy he was!

Was it worth it? It was until he woke up screaming at 3am:( Bad decision mom!

My dad blew out all of his candles...with the help of his adorable grandkids!:)

HAPPY BIRTHDAY DAD!

I love you so much!

Skateboarding

Sunday night at the Allen's...

with Cousins!

Icy Bath

I'm the nicest mom 

IN THE WORLD, 

just so you know.

When these boys tell me how mean I am when they are teenagers, I'm going to remind them that I used to let them eat Italian Ice in the bathtub.

Pickin' Pumpkins

We went around the corner to the Killian's farm, where they had just brought a shipment of PUMPKINS to choose from! All the kids had fun picking out their favorite pumpkin!

I LOVE this green one Ry picked...

The boys are happy & my front porch is happy to be displaying some festive pumpkins!

My Birthday Continues!

Last weekend my BESTIES took me out for my Birthday to Grimaldi's Pizza(I had never been and it was DELICIOUS!!!)

These 2 girls are INCREDIBLE. 

They are both such great examples to me & I'm grateful to have such wonderful lifelong friends!

Thanks for the fun Girls Night!

To New Beginnings!

Matt has worked for Mesa Bank(recently merged and is now Sunrise Bank of Arizona) for the last 3 years and has really enjoyed working there. We were SO HAPPY when he got the job, because it was a 3 mile commute from home, he came home every day for lunch & he loved that it was a small bank and looked forward to working with them for a long time, moving up within the bank. He got this job as soon as he graduated with his Bachelors & we were so grateful for the opportunity!

Over the past year, a lot of changes have been made within the bank. It merged with several other banks, becoming Sunrise Bank & Matt got a new supervisor, among other things. Matt wasn't happy with the changes and has worried about his future there. We felt that he needed to start looking around for a new job, while continuing to work at the bank. 

Last spring he decided he wanted to get his Insurance License. He signed up for the classes, studied, studied & studied some more & completed all the requirements & tests and received his Insurance License! I was so proud of him, he worked really hard! He wanted to do insurance, but didn't feel like he had the time with a full-time job. He really needed to quit and go do Insurance full-time, but we didn't feel like a commission only position would be a good financial move for us at this point in our lives.

So he kept working at the bank, while looking for something else...

A few months ago, a job opportunity came up at USAA. 

The company provides financial services/insurance for the military and their families. 

We looked into it more & were extremely impressed with the company and Matt has a couple friends that worked there, that were able to answer some of his questions.

He went through the interview process(it was VERY thorough!)

& was offered a job!

He has really enjoyed working at the bank over the years, but we are extremely grateful for this opportunity and think it will provide more chances for growth through the years. 

It is going to be a HUGE change!

He is going from a 5 minute commute to an hour commute!

He will be working 4, 10 hour days, including Saturdays, so he will be home 2 days during the week & not on Saturdays.

He will no longer be able to come home for lunch every day, which I am going to miss so much & which saved a ton of money.

But the benefits definitely outweigh everything else & we are really excited!

Today is his FIRST DAY

& I just want to say how grateful I am for this New Beginning & tell my husband thank you for working so hard for our family!

Ry & Park

Just wanted to journal about a few things that my boys are LOVING lately!

Ryler LOVES Shrek Baby!

My mom gave Ryler this Shrek Baby for Christmas last year.

Well, it has this scary-ish laugh when you push the belly & being barely a year old last Christmas, Ryler cried when he heard it and would NOT go near this baby!

So...when we had some friends over & a cute little girl didn't want to leave without this Shrek Baby, I said, "She can take it home to play!"

Fast forward to last week, this sweet little girl is now in my preschool & she brought Shrek Baby back to Ryler. I forgot she even had it!

Ryler and this baby are now inseparable. He still doesn't like the laugh, but that can be turned to OFF & he carries this baby around everywhere, feeds him crackers, gives him drinks, hugs, kisses & LOVES to wrap him in a blanket.  He's even gone to both grandparent's houses. It is so sweet. He even started TALKING this past week & will say a few words. He will point to his eyes & say "Eye" & Mouth & say "Mow" & nose & say "nose", which is HUGE considering the only thing that typically comes out of his mouth is "uh"

Ryler is never around babies, so this is quite the improvement from several months ago when he STEPPED ON my visiting teacher's REAL baby when they came over!

I know he will be a great big brother one day.

 My mom bought it because she thought it looked like Ryler.
What do you think? 

They do have the same big brown eyes!

Parker LOVES to play MEMORY. 

When I say LOVE, I mean he could play it all day long...seriously!

I love to play with him, 

but there is a catch...

you have to play by 

HIS RULES:)

Some of which include:
You do not take turns, he decides whose turn it is & sometimes that might mean he goes 5 times in a row, while you watch:)

If he happens to let you take a turn & you get a MATCH...

chances are, he will decide "That is actually my match mommy" & add it to his pile:)

If your pile of matches starts to look bigger than his, he will probably ask for some of your matches:)

I LOVE playing with him, he is so CUTE to watch & he gets so excited when he gets a match!

My very favorite part is when he turns over a "Squirrel" & says "It's a Skirl" His mouth tries so hard to say it right, but that qu doesnt quite come out sounding like a "w".  

It makes me smile.

every. 

single.

time.

I love my boys so much and I am so grateful I am able to stay home with them all day and for the opportunity I have to be their MOM!

Worry & Joy

I ran across this quote today & really needed to hear it...

"Worry doesn't prevent what happens tomorrow,

it doesn't change what happened yesterday,

it only takes the JOY out of what happens today!"

Minute To Win It!

We played
"Minute to Win It" on Monday night for Family Home Evening 

& it was SO MUCH FUN!

If you have never seen the  game show, there are a bunch of silly games/tasks that you have to complete within 1 minute. My cousin recorded the actual show to introduce each game & we all put our names in bowls, by age group & were split into 2 teams & competed against each other. This would be such a fun ward party or date night!

My Aunt Shenla and Aunt Susan competing against each other...they had to bounce a ping pong ball on the ground and then into a cup their partner was holding...7 times.

My cute husband...had to keep 3 balloons in the air for 1 minute...

Pulling kleenex out of the box one at a time, in under a minute...

The adults had to slide the oreo from their forehead, into their mouth and eat it, using NO HANDS. 

The kids just had to slide it from their forehead down to their cheek. 

My niece Hallie did GREAT with the help of her daddy...

My brother Rob blowing bubbles...then he had to keep blowing one bubble across the cultural hall & through a hula hoop without it popping!

My brother Matt...throwing playing cards at a Watermelon. One of them had to STICK into the Watermelon to win...this was HARD!

I love our family & love that we continue to get together once a month for FHE, even as the family grows bigger and bigger!

Happy Birthday to Me

I love October 1st for a couple reasons, 1st it is my birthday

& 2nd...I get to decorate for Halloween!

There is usually a 3rd reason that would be "it means it is finally cooling off", but not so much this year.

My birthday was GREAT! My good friend, Debbie, planned a FUN lunch on Thursday with friends in my ward & we went to Nando's...delicious Mexican food. It was so fun to go out & visit! THANK YOU Debbie & everyone who came!

Then on Friday...my BIRTHDAY, the 1st real treat was that it happen to fall on a Friday, which was fun...because I didn't have preschool and Matt told me he was taking me on a date that night:)

In the morning, my mom and I  (and the boys...which was pretty crazy, but oh well) went shopping! We found some cute things & then we met up with my family at Aloha Kitchen for lunch.
If you have never been there, you really need to try it. It is comparable to Moki's, except BETTER & cheaper!

The rest of the afternoon, we just relaxed & then Matt's mom came over that night to watch the boys, while we went out. THANK YOU SO MUCH!!!

We went to Firehouse Subs. We had never been there, but heard you get a free sub on your birthday, so we tried it out & I loved it! Then we just walked around Dana Park & shopped a bit, before heading home! My cousin, Holly, dropped by with cookies right before bed, ending my great day with a delicious treat & talk of wedding plans(I'm so happy for her)!!

Last year on my birthday we were painting our house all night, getting ready to move in and my dad was in the hospital with blood clots, so THIS YEAR...was a MUCH better birthday!:)

Thank you so much everyone, for making my birthday special!