The Great Bambino

Well folks, for those of you who do not know, the mystery of the great bambino has been solved. It's a boy! Our regular ultrasound photo does not scan so clear, so I will for sure post some pictures from our targeted ultrasound, which is coming up on January 3. We can't wait to get an even more clear picture of our little guy and his facial features (even though it already looks as if he may have the Phillip's nose), and to take a look at him to make sure everything is developing correctly. So far from the ultrasounds we have learned that this kiddo has come good dance moves, and loves to stand on his head. I have to admit we are still a bit shocked and trying to wrap our minds around the idea of having a boy. At our last appointment, the Dr thought it was a girl, which is what both of us had thought all along, so now to hear that it is a boy for sure we are totally lost for names. haha. Poor little guy probably doesn't want to be named Olivia. But we'll figure it out! We already have a few ideas, and I bought a few baby name books for entertainment on our long drive this upcoming weekend.

One thing's for sure, and that is that Matt can't wait to have a little buddy around the house. In fact, here is our first purchase after our appointment: Matt picked this out at Gymboree. Isn't it adorable?? We bought it in the 3-6 mo size, and with all the plaid Matt is loving to wear these days, I just cannot wait to see my two plaid-claid boys together. Guess that's kinda corny, but still true nonetheless.

Hope all of you are doing great and enjoying the Christmas season! We sure enjoyed our surprise gift, and we can't wait to get back from our trip and start decorating/painting/going crazy in the man cave.

The Beans

And now.... the post you've all been waiting for! (Since I brought it up 2 months ago and have put it off until now)

Here is how I spilled the baby beans to my hubby:

I guess it is important to tell how I found out, since that is part of how this all happened. Well, for Labor Day weekend Matt and I had decided to go stay a night in Salt Lake. So that Friday morning I woke up after he had gone to work, and took a test. Voila! 2 lines!! We had been trying for a little while, and had seen a lot of negative tests, so I could hardly believe my eyes. (Which is why I took 2 more tests to convince myself.) Then I just got so excited, and started kicking myself for waiting until Matt was gone. I couldn't call him and tell him over the phone! And I wasn't going to see him until at least 6 that night. So, I thought of what I should do with myself for the next 2 hours before I had to go to work. What I came up with was going to the store and putting together a daddy package, and that is precisely what I did.

Then I had to figure out when I was going to share this package with Matt, since if I waited until we got to the hotel, that would have meant that I had held this news in ALL DAY plus one hour in the car alone with him. Well, he ended up making my decision for me. He had had a bad day at work that day, and was ready to do some relaxing for the weekend but was not in that relaxed/ready for a surprise state of mind quite yet, so I tried my best to be patient. We made the drive to Salt Lake, and when we got to our hotel room I told him that later I had a surprise for him. We got some yummy grub at Moochies, and all the while I’m sitting there listening to how his day was, and trying to make conversation while inside I'm about to explode. I did my best not to blurt it out or give myself away, but boy was it hard. Then we got back to our hotel room and it was getting late. We watched a movie, and I asked him if he was ready for his surprise yet. He said yes, so I snuck myself down to our car, and got my package out of the trunk.

I came back with this two foot bag with tissue paper, and then he got excited. He started taking out the contents, and the first things he came across was the card I made him with the positive test. I will never forget the look on his face when he looked up at me. He kept taking things out of the package, and all he could say was "Wow." Then finally he said "Really?" And I said "yes! Do you know how hard it was to keep it a secret all day??" So anyway... those are the beans and their spillage details. I hope it was worth the wait. haha.

Here are 2 photos of me since I have yet to post any and I am getting fatter every day. haha.

Here I am at 15 & 17 weeks in all my glory... I hope you are all doing well! And even though I have been such a lazy slacker lately, I am so excited for Christmas, and hope you all are, too!

The Greatest Casualty is Being Forgotten

I heard about Utah changing up the jerseys they'll be wearing this weekend against TCU for the Wounded Warrior Project and looked into it a little. (Check it out here: http://www.ksl.com/index.php?nid=635&sid=13112851) You can check out the WWP at http://www.woundedwarriorproject.org/. This is one of the coolest programs I've seen for vets, and they sell a ton of really cool things, including some jewelry on www.overstock.com. -Which I found out the hard way that if you snooze you lose because they sell out fast. Anywho, I just thought in light of Veterans' Day coming up, (and of course the USMC B-day the day before) that it would be nice to draw some attention to this cause. I love my vet and I'm so proud of him and the things he has accomplished.

PS - I'm still coming with my post about how I spilled the baby beans to the dear hubbs.

Our latest shenanagins

So it may have been a day or two since I posted last, but at least there is a purpose this time! (or at least that's what I'm going to try to convince you folks, haha) I haven't let myself post for the last 7 weeks so I wouldn't blab! But, by now, I think just about everyone who reads my ramblings knows our news. If not, let me start this post off by announcing that we're going to be parents! We are so excited, and couldn't be happier. I am due right around May 10, so it's very possible we could have a Mother's Day baby. We have a few ultrasound photos of our little jellybean, but there isn't too much to see quite yet. Once there is, we will add those to our posts. PS - does anyone want to hear how I told Matt? Or is that too personal? No one has asked me that yet, so if anyone wants to know, let me know and I'll post that.

In other news, we are just beboppin around. I have a ton of fun pics to share, but not too much news. (due largely to the fact that I’ve spent the majority of my time trying to do as little as possible when I get home from work, so as not to smell stinky smells or disrupt my sensitive stomach haha) We have been able to do some fun things though, such as:

Entertaining Miss Daisy at EZ E’s B-day Bash,

Enjoying some time camping (one of us more than the other. haha),
(this is Matt with his back to the fire, "hiding" from the smoke)

Finally buying that couch we’ve been dying for since we bought our house (this is the hubbs enjoying the lovely $3,000 massage chair while we waited in line to pay. Look at his face, he’s in heaven. Haha. Man he cracks me up.)
And celebrating Fall/Halloween by decorating our house,
making an announcement to our neighbors,
and enjoying this delicious Halloween feast.

Now that the beans are spilled and I'm slowly but surely starting to feel like good again, I will try to post more. Hope everyone is doing well!

Hooray for summer being over! .... Almost...

Okay, so it's been a while since I've blogged, I know that. I could sit here and make excuses about this, that, and the other reason as to why I haven't sat down and updated all you fine folks, but the truth is I've just been having too much fun to take a break and ramble on about it. But I thought since the fine month of August is now over, and I haven't blogged in over 6 weeks, it was about time to take a minute to let you all know we're still alive.

Things are as crazy as ever around here. Several weeks ago we were lucky enough to welcome 3 new babies into the fam. That's right, 3. And they were all born within 5 days of each other. It was a fun, crazy experience for us. Here are a few pictures of one of the new babies, Kendyl Jade, who is my cousin Jamie's new baby. She is such a doll. Congrats again to all the new mommies and daddies in our fam!

As for Matt and I, we have been up to some fun shenanagins the last few weeks, such as yard sale-ing, a Harry Potter marathon, going to the farmers market and finding the most amazing bread, completed two different leagues of Softball with their accompanying championships, and have seen some great (and not so great) movies. Matt just finished up with school for the summer, and will be starting the fall semester when the second block of classes begins (October). He has a great head start on school so far, and we are excited for him to be able to keep moving forward in school and toward his degree. Here is Matt with our new friends. Gru and da minions! I hope everyone has seen this.... We had to see it twice we loved it so much. And I cried like a girl both times! Pathetic, I know! But it was such a good one...

Here is the hubbs doing what he does best... kickin trash and taking names, and cuddling with Miss Daisy shortly thereafter. Such a stud.

Here is a picture of Matt and I at Fanfest for the Jazz last week. We're not so much fans of the Jazz... but it was still fun to get down to SLC and do something fun!

Something else that happened in the past few weeks, was we celebrated my birthday. I am now officially the big 2-2. Thanks to everyone for all your well wishes, calls, cards, texts, and sweet gifts. I am so spoiled to have such great friends and fam. As for Matt and I, we had a big weekend planned, and then ultimately decided we'd prefer a quiet weekend at home instead, since this last month has been so chaotic. Matt surprised me with a Wii, and I am so excited about that. We have literally spent hours so far battling it out as Mario and Luigi, and we've had some pretty good baseball tournaments as well. I am looking forward to many more tournaments in the future. Thanks again, hubbs! I love it, and you sure surprised me this year!!

We hope you are all doing great, and that you've enjoyed your summer as much as we have!

Upgrades

Well, it was a long productive couple of weeks at the Phillips household. Here is a little peak at what we've been up to...

Before:

After:
With a little elbow grease and some paint, I am in love with our new porch. The door needed to be repainted so desperately, and I am so happy with how it turned out. I wish we were allowed to paint our door, but I'll survive. I think It finally looks like friendly people live here! And since we are in the middle of all of our super friendly neighbors who hang out on their porches at night, I have a feeling we'll be putting this recently-purplized bench to good use.

Before:

After:

Taduh! I have been driving my old beater since high school, and I am so excited about this upgrade ...and Matt is just glad he doesn't have to worry about me when I'm out in my car anymore!

Now that it is already the weekend again, (where did this week go?) we're going back to the to do list.... wish us luck!

To Infinity... and Beyond!

Well, it finally happened. I took my first plane trip!! It was just a little trip, and Matt made fun of me during all of my freaking out... but I really don't think he understood that flying was seriously one of my biggest fears. And I did it! It is still definitely NOT my favorite mode of transportation, but I survived, and as you can see, my freaking out over a little plane ride was well worth it... Because!... We got to see Brad, Claire, and the kiddos! We had the best weekend ever in sunny AZ.
On our way to the pool....

The gorgeous Miss Brinlee. Seriously... can you stand it? I cannot. She is too cute.
Sadie and I went to the mall with Matt and Brad the last day, and we split up to do some shoppin while the boys went to the sports stores, this is Miss Diva herself with my sunglasses and purse in one of the stores. (I had to lighten it up a bit because she walked around like this through the whole mall.) She is such a crack up, and quite a bargain hunter, too! I am wearing the shirt she picked out for me (which is pink, of course!) Thanks again for letting me follow you around the mall, Said!This is Sadie trying on my reading glasses. She took them right off because she said she looked like a dork when I showed her this picture. Haha, thanks Sadie! On our way to the airport... Just about to board the plane... see the nervous look on my face??
They even thought to make a birthday cake for Matt since we flew out on his birthday and didn't get to celebrate, here. Seriously Claire, you get like 10 million brownie points here. (and the cake was delish!) You guys spoiled us to death. Thank you for making us feel so welcome. Wish we were closer to you all so we could do this more often!! We miss you guys already, and we can't wait to see you again soon!

Water fun with the kids

....Oh and Ethan. haha. Here are some fun pics of a BBQ we had a few weeks ago where Matt and Steve broke out a super fun slip and slide and Ethan watched them play on it for him. hahaha. Always good times.

When we first turned on the hose so it would spray out the slip and slide, Ethan pulled down his goggles and looked at it like "What the crap?" It was priceless.

Here's a pic of all the boys after Matt and Steve were bruised enough they decided to quit the slip and slide for the day. haha. I love seeing my hubbs be such a big kid. He LOVES kids, and that is one of the biggest things I love about him. He never hesitates to get down and play with the kiddos and doesn't stop until he has to. And it's not that he says "Okay, I'll play" he looks forward to it. He loves it. and he doesn't want to quit. Babe, even though sometimes I give you crap, I LOVE that you are so fun and playful and such a kid at heart. Never change. You will be such a great dad one day. Love you!

Update

Well, there's not too much new for us lately, just working and continuing with school, so here are a few pics of what we've been up to.

A couple weeks ago, we were seriously in need of a break. We booked a hotel in SLC for the night, and it was a blast! We stayed up all night, ate some yummy room service, chilled in a sweet hot tub, and then spent all day saturday out on the town. We went to the zoo and of course, we had to hit the gateway. -No trip to SLC is complete without it! Especially because it reminds us of our favorite mall in San Diego. It was such a nice mini-vacay, and I'm so glad we did it.

The day we were at Hogle Zoo, they were displaying a Batmobile concept car, that is completely "green". Needless to say, we stayed there for a good 20 minutes... haha.

Over Memorial Day, Matt suggested we go to Bear Lake for the day, for a fun drive and some yummy lunch and fun. I tried to tell him it would be cold still, and it was! But the view was awesome, and lunch was delish as always. It was a great day trip.

Here are a few pics from Miss Daisy's blessing day, since no post would be complete without photos of some of our cute nieces and nephews

Isn't he such a cute Uncle? Love you babe!

The 411...

Well... due to the comments I got back, I guess people are still reading this blog! I didn't think anyone would even check this yesterday or this morning before I had a chance to post an update today. I was wrong! haha. So here is the news....

Matt is working. YAY!!! It has been a long 4 1/2 months, let me tell you. But it was definitely worth the wait for his job. He starts probably this coming Monday -as soon as he gets his license- at a pest control company here in Ogden. He loves the people he is going to work with, and is excited to be out working again. They will work around his school schedule, and he thinks the work will be fun. Things could not have worked out better for us there. I am so excited for him that he will be working somewhere that will work with our crazy schedule, and that he will be working with some great people. Plus another perk is that this isn't the kind of thing where he'll be stressed out when he gets home. He can go to work, do his thing, and not bring it home with him. That will be nice, since he's going to try and crank out all of his school as fast as he can. Congrats babe! Now if only I could get back into the habit of doing the dishes and laundry you've been taking care of for me lately, we'd be in business. haha. I have been spoiled.

Matt finishes up his classes this week. So far, it looks like they're all A's. (Sorry, just had to brag him up for a minute.) But what a great way to start off your school, huh? One semester down, only about 7 more to go! haha. Matt has decided to go to school all year round so he can get in 3 semesters a year instead of 2, and I think it is a great idea. We will do this for as long as he can without getting burnt out, but if he does he'll be ahead anyway, so taking a semester off or going easy one semester won't hurt him and he won't be dragging school out forever. And I think we both like the way that sounds.

I think most everyone knows this already, but we sold Matt's truck about 3 weeks back. Matt has been mourning the loss, but I definitely have not. I loved the truck, but not the gas mileage. He decided to trade the truck (yeah, I know no one believes that, but it's true) for a speedy little Altima with better mpg. Hooray for no more car payments! We are excited for a change of pace. Plus a back seat will be nice, so Matt can fit more than just one passenger now. We are excited. Now if we could just talk ourselves into replacing my hunk of junk.... but it's just too hard to convince ourselves to replace it since it just won't die already. 374,000 miles and no end in sight. Just die already car! Matt's shiny car has made me envious!

Moving on... here are some fun pics of what we've been up to lately... Not a whole lot really, just hanging out with some friends and fam and wishing spring would linger a little longer. (Or I am anyway. Matt, not so much.) Today is was 80 and I thought I was going to die! Not prepared for heat yet... Anywho, I hope you all are doing well. We just keep falling off the face of the Earth then coming back just long enough to catch up with everyone, then poof! We vanish again. So hopefully we can get on the ball. We thrive on nagging, people! Keep us on our toes! haha. (Don't you love how I just blame all of you? love you all!!) And thanks for reading!

What are they looking at you ask? the baseball game.

And of course, a picture of cute little Daisy. So presh!