Welcome Austin!

We have a new family member! Heather gave birth to Austin ? Phillips on Tuesday, September 6. He was 19 inches long and 8 pounds 12 ounces. He had a little breathing trouble and low blood sugar, so they took him into NICU. He has been getting stronger each day though. Ryan and Heather are hoping to have him at home by Saturday. Enjoy the pictures!!

We love him already!

Heather looks amazing!!

Biking

Nathan is very athletic, here he is demonstrating his bike riding abilities.

Also, he is going to be a big brother today!! Congrats Ryan & Heather!

Memorial Day

Mom and I took the day off work and drove down to Salt Lake for Memorial Day. We met up with Heather's family for their annual picnic where we ate good food and played with the kids. Then we went to Nana & Papa's gravesite, which was already covered with flowers when we got there. We put little American flag windmills that Nathan had fun with. It was a nice thing to do on Memorial Day, and we have decided to make it our new family tradition.

#18

Congratulations to Ryan & Heather! Looks like we will be adding another boy to our family--#18. Its interesting how the balance between boys and girls always ends up "even steven". (Seinfeld reference is for Ryan)

JJ & Jen are within a month of their due date too! Any guesses on when she will have the baby?

Due date: May 11

(but from what we hear, things are progressing well...maybe too well.)

Nat guessed May 5

Mom guessed May 1st

Here's to baby blue, blocks, trucks, dinosaurs, airplanes, animals, dirt and mud, scrapes and bruises, legos, sports, and of course, Star Wars!

Ryan & Heather & Family Visit Idaho!

We had another fun family visit last weekend Ryan, Heather, Marissa, Mallory and Nathan! They drove up from Salt Lake to spend the weekend with Dad before he left for South Africa.

The kids had fun at "Outer Limits" (our local arcade/kids gymnasium), the mall, and the museum. Marissa is really into birds (especially owls), so she thought the displays at the Idaho State Museum of Natural History were really cool. She even told Aunt Natalee that "this was the best museum I've ever been in". Hahaha. I think we'll have to take her to some better museums asap.

Grandma Tutu, Aunt Natalee, Ryan and Marissa spent Saturday morning doing a 3K charity run/walk at ISU. The race was to benefit Autism Research, and we all got t-shirts and water bottles. It was the first time any of us had done something like this. Ryan actually ran the whole thing and finished dang fast. Grandma Tutu and Marissa stayed together for most of the race doing a mix of walking and jogging. Marissa did way more than a 3K, because she would run ahead of Grandma about 100 yards and then run back to check on her over and over. Then, just to slow herself down, Marissa would do kartwheels and backhandsprings as they went along the race.

It was fun and we were proud of ourselves when it was finally over!

We also took the kids to a local science fair at the mall, where the Idaho State physics department was doing all kinds of fun demonstrations to get kids interested in science. Marissa was very interested and she knew a lot of stuff about science.

Meanwhile, I just could not get enough of Pocatello's "finest".

Mallory is very social and made friends with everybody at the play place. At one point she came up to us and told us about a boy she had been playing with, saying, "that boy gave me a hug. I think he's in love with me". Hahaha. She was very nonchalant about it, and then she went right back to playing. It was cute.

Nathan did lots of jumping and climbing and he especially liked to play on the trucks. I was impressed by how well he did with his letters and his numbers. And of course, my favorite is when he gives me lots of high fives!

Thanks for visiting guys! We loved having you!

Happy Birthday Heather and Mary!

March 15th is a special day in the Phillips Family because not one but TWO Phillips women share this birthday! Happy birthday to Mary and Heather! We love you both. There must be something about March birthdays, because both Mary and Heather are very strong, brave, assertive, confident, talented and of course beautiful! See the following photos for proof of that last statement.

Mary...

...is a "ham". She likes to be the center of attention and performing.

...She also loves to play outside, even if it means being cold or getting dirty.

Mary loves to read books, even if she's heard the story lots of times before. If thats the case, she'll help you flip past the boring parts and get to the good stuff.

...loves her brothers. Even since she was small she has always been a great little sister!

...and a GREAT big sister! Baby Lea loves to play with Mary.

Mary is also a great helper for Mommy with cooking, washing dishes and projects.

You'd think with all these people to love that Mary might run out... but she still has enough left over for Daddy too!

Heather...

Since she joined our family over 10 years ago, I have had the opportunity to really get to know Heather by living with her. Some of my favorite things about Heather are...

that she is so easy to talk to. No matter what craziness she is dealing with from school, work or the kids, she always makes time to talk. She likes to talk about light stuff like celebrities or intense stuff like conspiracy theories and politics. No matter what you're in the mood for, Heather is ready! Not only is she a great talker, but she's a great listener too. I always look forward to my talks with her for this reason. She makes it easy to talk!

I also like that Heather "keeps it real". She has a good sense of humor and doesn't seem to take things too seriously. She is very down-to-earth and that makes her fun to be around too.

Heather is a dang hard worker. I've only recently learned that not only does she do a ton of things like FDA registrations, testing, and being the dental authority during our grueling trade shows for Baby Banana Brush (the flexible silicone toothbrush that she invented), but she also works for her Dad's company, does real-estate, and has ambitions to start her very own company too! I'm impressed by how much she has already accomplished, and I'm excited to see where she goes from here.

Heather has a beautiful voice, and she has always been skilled at playing the piano. She has recently been taking guitar lessons from Ryan, and they performed this duet for us at Christmastime.

And, last but not least, Heather is an excellent Mom. She is extremely patient with her kids, and she handles everything that the kids need like a pro. She makes even the most difficult situations seem easy, and I'm impressed with how she is able to do it all. We know that #4 will be a lucky baby to be joining this family.

We love both of you! Happy birthday Mary and happy birthday Heather!