Which Disney Princess Are You?

Okay I had to try it... I think its pretty accurate.


You Are Aurora! (A.K.A. Sleeping Beauty.)

Thoughtful and loving. Authority figures probably have been sheltering you all of your life. Thankfully you're a very tranquil person who is content with what life has given you, but secretly you want to know how the outside world works.

Which Disney Princess Are You?

Pics of the kids

7 months old

Caleb fish

Natalie fish

Happy 4th of July

Pictures of the Yard

Its been a while

So things at our house have been really busy, so I haven't taken the time to post anything. But I'll give an update on some of the things that we've been doing.

*The 4th of July was a fun day. As I think I've mentioned we've been getting our yard ready to get sod and sprinklers. That weekend we rented a skidsteer Cat tractor thing to aid in the "flattening out the dirt" process. It was very exciting. So we got that and some guys from our ward came over and it was all but finished by afternoon. That evening we had some friends and family over for burgers. We also lit off a few fireworks. Wyoming is the place to go for fireworks because almost nothing is illegal. That is true for most of the state. But everything is illegal in Natrona County where we live. So a friend drove 30 mins outside of the county and bought a few. Now I like some fireworks, like sparklers and the little fountains, but those that shoot into the air make me a little nervous. So our friend started shooting off these fireworks. Natalie wasn't into it--they were making her nervous--so I went inside with her. But I was watching out the window. Our friend lit one up and it tipped over! Of course this wasn't one of the little fountains that would just spray my car a little.... it was one that shoots into the air. Only instead of shooting into the air it shot into our neighbors' yards. AAHH!! Fortunately nothing caught on fire. But it still scared me. So after that they stopped. About 5 minutes later a highway patrolman drove past. Few..... we'd stopped just in time. It was fun.

*We only have one parade during the summer and its the week after the 4th, along with the Central Wyoming Fair. So the morning of the parade I packed up the kids and went downtown to participate in this great American tradition. It was one of the lamest, longest parades I've ever been to. There were about 125 different entries in the parade. This being an election year, every person with their name on the ballot had to be in the parade. The kids got some candy, and I guess have fun. But I think next year we're gonna skip the parade.

*As a side note, I would just like to say that it drives me CRAZY when people smoke around my children. At parades, at sporting events, wherever, people don't stop to think about how their disgusting habit is affecting those around them... especially the children. Have some consideration people. It really bugs me.

*The kids have started playing T-ball. Caleb is getting the hang of how the game works. Natalie isn't so much. We have to help her remember to run to first base after hitting the ball. And that she has to tag home base when she has run all the way around. Caleb got hit in the face at last night's game. With the ball. He has thread marks on the side of his nose. No black eye, thankfully.

*We have our sprinkler system in. Hooray!! And we are getting sod this weekend. Double Hooray!! I've been taking pictures of the progress. So next week I'll post the before and afters.

*Claire has learned a few new tricks lately. She will drink juice from a bottle. That is so exciting for me because she hasn't taken a bottle until now, and I would love to be able to leave her at home sometimes. So now I finally can. Secondly, she can sit up by herself. She loves it. Also, when she is on her tummy she army crawls! I was not ready for this.... Now she is mobile. That means I have to keep the floors vacuumed and swept and clean. All the time. And I have to put a gate at the top of the stairs. The next 9 months are going to be busy!

*I figured out a trick to help Natalie with potty training.... She loves princesses these days. She has 7 pairs of princess panties. She can put a clean pair on each morning, but if she has an accident she can't have another pair of princess panties until the next morning. This has worked! At least most days. She got a new bike this weekend and would spend all day everyday outside on her bike. She loves riding so much. She has named her bike "Aurora."

*Caleb is so excited to start school. We bought a few school supplies and a new backpack on Saturday and he's organized and re-organized those supplies in that backpack at least once every day. And every day he asks me when school starts. I hope he isn't bored.... I had a teacher-friend test his reading level. He's at the end of second grade with his reading. He seriously reads everything in sight. Its amazing.

*Chad is busy with work and getting the yard ready. He's been getting up early and getting outside in the yard this week getting ready for the sod (did I mention I'm excited about the sod?) This weekend he got a new bike, and after the yard is in he's going to start riding to work. He's pretty excited about that.

*I'm busy. I have so many projects that I need to do, and not enough time to do them all. I went to girl's camp a couple weeks ago, just for an afternoon and evening. It was SO FUN!! I have some really great girls in my ward. I always loved going to camp as a young woman, and I really wanted to go up for the week, but I couldn't with Claire. But it was really fun just for the time I was up there.

Well, thats all for today. I'll post some pictures next week.

A Few Funny Things.

I thought I would share a few funny things the kids have said lately.

*"When I grow up I think I will be a store man and I'll have a sign that says, 'Caleb's Store'." (hands flourishing imaginatively in the air above his head with as much excitement as if he were announcing the greatest marqee event) --Caleb

*"When I grow up I'm going to be an outer-spacer!" --Natalie

*"I'm so hot I could eat a horse." (pause to think) "A cold horse." (another pause) "Thats been in the freezer for 2 days... that I cut up so I could eat it." --Caleb

*"I'm so hot I can smell the breeze off of hot chocolate." --Caleb

*"I don't like spiders... I just like Daddy Long Legs."--Caleb
"I like Mommy Long Legs."--Natalie

*We are very thirsty... thirsty as a "daisy," thirsty as a "chicken," thirsty as a "camel"

Our vacation... Sorry this is a long post.

Hi. So I know its been a while, but things have been crazy around here. So heres an update of whats been going on. The weekend of the 6th we went camping with some of the Young Women in our ward. I'm the 1st counselor in the presidency, and we are trying to do some pre-certification. We were supposed to leave Friday afternoon, and it was raining. I tried to convince the 2nd counselor that we really didn't want to go, since between the members of the presidency we would have 6 kids with us (our husbands were coming as priesthood chaperones) and she is pregnant. But we went anyway. It continued to rain lightly until about 2 hours after we got there. Then the sun came out. It was pretty cold the whole time we were there, but we had fun for the most part. Thank goodness we had lots of blankets and layers. But Claire decided that would be the day to cut her first tooth, and she was pretty grumpy and wanted to be held the whole time. I was very grateful I had my trusty new sling (Thanks Kimber!! I love it and so does she!!) to carry her around in. So we survived camping experience #1 for the summer.

We made it home safely--although with VERY dirty vehicles--on Saturday afternoon. We unloaded our stuff into the basement, but didn't put the gear away because the next Thursday afternoon we re-loaded everything and headed west. Our first stop was Lake Walcott in Rupert, Idaho for the Phippen Family Reunion. We camped right near the lake for 2 nights. It was so fun to just sit and relax and visit and let the kids play. My sister Cindy wrote a really fun song about what a cool family we are. We had some yummy food!! It was great. Camping trip #2 survived.

Saturday afternoon we went visit the Albion Normal School, a teachers school were my grandma (mom's mom) got her education. The school closed down during WWII, but one of the buildings is now a museum. We found my grandma's picture in the yearbook and her name in the commencement program. That was really neat. Caleb really enjoyed walking thru and reading signs and things at the museum. He reads really well and will read anything you put in front of him. I think he would have enjoyed staying there for a little longer, but we needed to move on.

Next we went to the "Mormon Cemetary" there in Albion and visited the graves of my great-grandfather (dad's grandpa) and some of the Phippen family graves. I was surprised that Caleb was reading the names and things on the headstones. And my dad was astounded.

We left the cemetary and headed to my parents' in Pocatello, where we stayed until Thursday morning. It was really great to visit them. We played Mexican Train (thats a dominoes game, for those who don't know), as we usually do when we visit them. I totally trashed everyone.... we played about 10 rounds, and I think I won 7 of them. Chad just got tired of playing because I was winning by so much. I just couldn't lose. What can I say....

While we were there we bought a new vehicle. We've been looking around for a Suburban for a decent price, and my brother-in-law's dad had one that he was looking to sell. So we traded him our while Dodge mini-van and now own a 2001 Suburban. You may be wondering why we would want to get a gas guzzler when gas is so expensive right now (yesterday it went up 14cents.... ouch). But our van, while it was running fine, just wasn't spacious enough for us. So we took the giant leap. But I love my new vehicle!

Thursday morning we went up to Karianne's. We went to a little zoo in Idaho Falls, which was fun for the kids. My favorite animal was a cotton top tamarin... its this little tiny black monkey with a white puff on its head. It was so cute. Caleb liked the penguins, and Natalie liked the birds and the monkeys. Claire was impartial. We stayed the night at Karianne's and Friday morning we drove up to Billings, Montana. Chad's sister Yana went thru the temple on Friday night and got married on Saturday morning. Chad was able to be there Friday night, which was neat for him. Then we both went to the sealing on Saturday a.m. I really wanted to go Friday night, too, but Claire won't take a bottle, so I can't leave her for more than 2 1/2 hours. The stinker. But its always neat to be in the temple with family. After that we got back in the car and went straight to the church for the reception. Also a fun time. Yana made a beautiful bride, and she and her new husband Damon are happy.

Finally at 9:00 on Saturday night we got home. And its so good to be home. We had a really great time seeing everyone and visiting. We wish we weren't so far away and could visit more often. So there you have a very long summary of our trip. I may post some pictures later.

Remember the Alamo

Chad had to go to San Antonio, Texas for a conference last week. He was gone for 8 days. I survived. So did the kids. I was kind of dreading the single-parent thing, but it wasn't as bad as I expected. About day 5 I was ready for a break, but my fabulous friend Beth took Caleb and Natalie for an afternoon while I ran some errands and went to a YW Pres. Mtg. Part of what got me thru the week was my mom. My dad was pilot in the Air Force when I was young, and he went on trips ALL the time. There was one year when he was gone on TDY more than he was home. So the whole time he was gone my mom was home with her 3 or 4 or 5 or 6 or 7 or 8 or 9 kids, sometimes for weeks at a time. So I kept telling myself if mom could do this all the time I can do it for a week once or twice a year. And I made it thru. I got 6 of the 8 things on my to-do list done, read a couple books, and watched some movies.

Chad had a pretty good time. He learned a lot, and missed us TONS. He got to visit the Alamo, which was pretty cool. I never quite understood the whole history behind it, but its really interesting. He brought Caleb home a coon-skin cap and a rubberband gun, both of which he loves, and a book about Davey Crockett. He brought Natalie a horsey costume (a headband with ears and a mane, and a tail that pins to her pants) and this cool LED light wand thing, which has been the source of several arguments. He brought me back some fun things too. We missed him lots and are glad he got home safely.