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!

Happy Birthday Nathan!

Happy 3rd Birthday to Nathan!

Nathan has always been an excellent model for the Baby Banana Brush.

Grandpa Tutu always has fun doing "gardening" when Nathan comes to visit. Even though this means digging up the dirt in Tutu's potted plants in the entry--Nathan just wants to help!

Grandma Tutu had lots of fun visiting Nathan and his sisters this year for Christmas. Nathan liked to wear the cool Santa hat.

"Nathan loves to run and play hide ‘n seek. One evening I was tending him, and he would speed through the house at top speed trying to catch me. I’d hide in a closet, and when he discovered my whereabouts, he’d giggle uncontrollably with delight. He’s learning his abc’s and shouts out the letters when he sees them. Nathan is smart, cute, and spunky. How lucky to have him in our family".---Grandma Tutu

Nathan is a sweet, playful, and very curious little boy. He has two older sisters--Marissa and Mallory who love him, play with him, and are always looking out for him.

Heather had the following to say about this cute little birthday boy:

In a sentence I would say Nathan keeps me on my toes. A typical day is spent going from one room to the next cleaning up the next disaster he's made. While I'm cleaning up one mess he's usually making another. I don't usually get frustrated unless I have someone coming over. I think it's funny most of the time. One of my favorite memories of him was one day I heard water swishing and I went in search of Nathan and found him butt naked trying to take a bath in the toilet. Took a picture so when Ryan came home and asked how my day was I could just show him the picture. Another thing that sticks out is Nathan has gone through a lot of medical pain and physical discomfort and through it all I've been truly amazed at how good he is. Not super fussy or angry he just kind of takes it and can still have fun everyday. A very enjoyable child!

We all love you Nathan and can't believe you're already 3 years old!! Happy Birthday!

Our Furry Family

Minnee

She has such a sweet face that its hard to discipline her. Luckily, she doesn't need to much discipline. She has a very mild demeanor and watches over all the other animals like she is the Queen of the house.

As you can see, she has grown a LOT in the past 6 months.

On days that are especially cold, the doggies have fun playing with their Papa Tutu in the snow.

Even the neighbors dog, Harley comes down to join in the fun. They chase each other around all day, playing, exploring and wrestling. Sometimes they go on hikes with Dad, and while Harley and Minnee stray from the trail, Chase and Lando follow Dad's path because the snow is too high for them elsewhere.

Even though there is lots and lots of snow, Chase and Lando don't mind a bit. They are always ready to play fetch or to help Dad do work around the house--even if its cold outside. Their new favorite activity is to follow Dad as he skates on his handmade ice skating pond!

The doggies also like to do sledding on the hill in front of our house. Dad sleds down the hill pretty fast, with the dogs racing behind him. When they get to the bottom, everybody wrestles like this...

Dad sure loves having all the doggies to keep him company up on the hill. They love having so much room to run and play.

This is how one dresses appropriately to go outside in negative temperatures.

Lando going off the beaten path. He seems happy to wiggle his way through lots of snow.

The doggies love to have their pictures taken.

Lando--loves to play and is always "underfoot". He is very obedient and has been trained well by Roo and Annie. He doesn't care too much what the other puppies are up to, especially if there's a human outside. He loves to get petted, and he patiently waits his turn. His favorite thing to do is to play fetch. He takes good care of his little brother Chase, doesn't put up with any of Harley's antics, and he deals well with Minnee and her excitement. He is like the Yoda of our little wild animal kingdom--very wise, experienced and patient.

Leia...

Leia is very vocal. She is not intimidated by the dogs, and when she feels like it she will come out and try to eat their food. Sometimes she'll find a good location up high and try to swat at her brothers Chase and Lando. We have seen her outside occasionally just exploring and taking in the views. Most of the time, she can be found cuddled up inside one of Nat's boxes of fetch taking cat naps.

Silver Fox....

Silver Fox is a beautiful all-white kitty. He is very mild-mannered and will let almost anyone hold him and cuddle him--including Lincoln last summer. Lincoln was trying hard to be careful with the cat, but he wasn't really supporting Silver Fox's bottom. Usually cats hate feeling unsupported and I was worried Silver Fox might scratch Lincoln, but he didn't. He let himself be held by his upper arms only, essentially being swung around. He just chilled. It was sweet. He stays surprisingly clean for being an outside cat.

Cougar...

Cougar is our hunter. He was the most active as a baby, and although he is small, he is definitely still on the prowl. He has caught lots of mice around the property, which Mom and Nat are very grateful for. Although he is a little bit of a hunter, he's also very sweet and will let you pick him up and cuddle him if he's in the mood.

Baxter...

Freckles & Baxter at the apartment. Freckles lives with Nat in town now.

Baxter (or Baxtie-boo-boo) was Nat's special project. We found her roaming around the house while it was still under construction. She was nothing but skin and bones, and she had paint and glue in her black fur. Nat caught her and brought her home, cleaned her up and fed her a lot. Once we moved into the new house, Baxter decided she wanted to be an outside cat, so we didn't see much of her. Nat was worried we might never see her again. Then, as suddenly as she left our house, she re-appeared in January! She's been hanging out in the shop, and keeping to herself. We are just glad that she's healthy and inside where its warm.

Lucky...

Ashlee, Brayden and Sierra were visiting last May when they told us they had found a stray cat behind Big Lots in town. We couldn't believe we had yet another creature to add to our brood! Lucky was tiny when we got him. He had long tangled fur, and the other kitties weren't very nice to him. He was very skittish and would hide in any corner he could in the shop. Eventually, as we took all the other cats to get 'fixed', Lucky decided he didn't want to be fixed. Since then, he has grown...and grown...and grown! He is now the biggest cat in the shop--and he makes sure the other cats know that he's the boss. He still doesn't like to be held or cuddled, but he does like to observe everything from his post on the bookshelves in the shop. He is almost as big as Chase now!

We love our animals!

(Not pictured/discussed: Chase, Monique, Freckles)

Busy Busy Busy

I'm sure its no surprise to anyone how dang busy Mom and Dad are. Partially with working, writing, church callings and public speaking, but also with grandparenting. Coordinating schedules and travel arrangements between the 8 kids is a job in itself!

I found it hilarious when Mom sent the following "schedule" out to some kids to inform them of when we would be home and available to help out. I thought you guys would get a kick out of it too. And, as an unintended function... now there's a resource for everyone to see where in the heck Mom and Dad actually are at any given time.

March 10-11 – Sandi & Natalee dental conference in SLC for BBB

March 17-19 – Reed Las Vegas to a research conference

March 26-April 2 – Roo and family visit Idaho and Utah

April 2 (to June 18) – Reed goes to Brazil and South Africa

April 7-10 – Natalee –dental conference in San Francisco for BBB

April 13-18 – Natalee & Sandi to a special needs conference in Houston for BBB [tentative]

May 4-6 – Natalee & Sandi to a BBB celebrity event in Santa Monica (will also see Sierra’s play)

May 6-23 – Rick, Eden & kids to Idaho for 2 weeks to attend Asa’s wedding in Logan and see us

June 18 (Reed returns from South Africa)

June 19-24 – Barratt’s kids being tended in Utah and Idaho while parents on a cruise

July 3-10 – Reed & Sandi & Nat fly to North Carolina for blessing of JJ/Jen new baby

July 11-16 – Reed & Sandi fly onto Houston from NC [tentative]

Aug 20-24 – Reed & Sandi Phoenix - visit

Aug 25-28 – Reed & Sandi Los Angeles for 100^th Anniversary of the school celebration

Aug 29-31 – Reed & Sandi Phoenix - tend

Sept 1-4 – Roo & Annie Los Angeles (John Williams concert)

Sept 3-Nov 30 – Reed Africa [ tentative that I join Reed part of November]

Sept 21-28 – Natalee & Sandi to Louisville, KY, ABC Kid’s product show for BBB

Nov 17-19 – Natalee & Sandi to San Diego, ASHA pathology convention for BBB

Happy Valentines Day!

Mom, Dad and Nat often go on "date nights" together as a trio, so Valentines Day was no different. We celebrated by going out to one of Pocatello's fanciest restaurants (there are only 2 fancy restaurants in town, so it wasn't a hard choice). Mom and Nat had delicious tenderloin and Dad had spicy salmon. We all shared a piece of chocolate cake too.

It was fun to have a reason to get all dressed up in pinks, purples and reds. Nat loves her new pink coat too!

This was the temperature at Mom and Dad's house in Inkom on Valentines Day. Since then, it has warmed up in town to almost 50 degrees! Nat drove around town today with her window down, pretending it was summer.

Dad did a very good job of taking care of both of his Valentines. When Mom and Nat got to work on Thursday, there were flowers waiting for both of us. What a wonderful surprise!

Mom and Nat also had fun decorating their offices for Valentines day. Our little hallway is definitely very festive! We hope you all had a great Valentines too!

Aloha!

After suffering through several bitter winters in Idaho, we decided to reward ourselves this year by spending a week of icy January weather in sunny Kauai instead!

We had a great time, even though it rained a lot, we still enjoyed every minute of it.

Dad and Natalee spent at least an hour everyday doing this:

Dad calls this "being one with the water".

We also went to Dad's favorite restaurant to have his favorite dessert, "Hula Pie".

As you can see, one slice of Hula Pie is plenty for three people.

Nat's favorite part of the trip was going on a whale watching cruise with Dad. Although we did see some whales far in the distance, the best part was the dolphins who came right up to us, did flips and turns and rubbed their bellies on the bottom of the boat. They were so happy!

Not sure if you can read this, but we thought it was a funny sign.

Then we went to Mom's favorite restaurant to try her favorite dessert, but they had stopped making it! We were disappointed, but luckily we still had this gorgeous view to enjoy... and for much less calories.

Nat spent a lot of the trip capturing pictures like the one below, which don't have any people in them, but are still beautiful. We wish flowers like this would grow in Idaho!
The only thing that would have made the trip better would have been if our family could have joined us! What does everyone think about trying to go in 2012?