Category: Life

On Friday night we attended the “Year End Banquet” for Christopher’s work. It was here that the final official announcement was made to all of his colleagues of his transfer out of the area. Pretty soon Christopher’s mornings and late afternoons are going to be concerned more with catching buses than catching run away students. He is excited for the change and to be making more of a difference in the CES community.
I must be honest, I am going to miss the close proximity, and being able to drop by unexpectedly for lunch but I am excited for his new adventures.
Watch out Church Office Building, here he comes!

Tucker and Truman love the Disney/Pixar movie Cars. Truman especially,is often quoting random parts of the movie, and I often hear him quoting the movie while he is playing, as well as re-enacting parts of the movie with his match box cars.
Here are a few of his favorite quotes:
California here we come (Mack)
Sticking his tongue out, and opening and closing his mouth (Mack looking at the tanker truck)
Mack! Mack! Wait up! (Lightening McQueen)
I’m not a mack, I am a peterbilt for dang sakes (Peterbilt)
Serpentine, Serpentine! (Lightening McQueen)
ah, ah, ah choo! (Snot Rod)
Ca-cheek-a, Ca-cheek-a (Chick Hicks)
I made a good choice…My best friend (Mater)
He also loves to talk about who are friends, he will ask who is Lightenings Friend? (me: Who is it Truman?) Its Mater, and so on and so forth.
Amy and Cathrine have both given the boys books about Cars, and Truman loves to go through and name all of the characters.
In addition to these, he loves to sing, “Life is a Highway” singing this song is a regular part of our driving routine now, Truman loves it.
Christopher jokingly said today, “I wonder if 20 years from now, if there is going to be a huge surge in mechanics, because of Cars” Who knows? Truman might just be one of them!

Today was an incredible day, a day I hope to remember, and I want Tucker to remember too — hence the post. Today was Fast and Testimony meeting at our church, and after we had partaken of the sacrament, our bishopric member stood, and bore his testimony. As he was concluding, I leaned over to Tucker, and said, Tucker today is fast and testimony meeting, if you would like to bear your testimony, you can. Tucker immediately stood up, scooted past me, scooted past his father who was sitting with his eyes closed (while Truman was playing quietly in his lap), and with a very determined walk, headed for the pulpit. His little arms were a swinging as he walked up the stairs, and stood before the microphone. I stood there wondering if I should have walked up with him. He had made his decision, very quickly, and I was not ready for him to bolt out of our pew, and out of shock that Tuck made that decision so quickly, and mostly because I could not think that fast, I ended up staying in the audience, and applauding him in my head for his bravery, while nervously watching to see what he would do.
Tucker reached the microphone, and proudly and loudly proclaimed, “Jesus is True”. Then promptly turned around, and just as diligently as he had walked up there, he walked back to us. There was a little laugh from the audience, and I think he truly did wake up a few people, but I was grateful that my little boy had enough courage to stand and share the things that were in his heart. I do think that next time I will think twice before letting him know it was fast and testimony meeting, and I will definitely go up with him, to remind him of the proper protocol when we share our testimonies. But hey, he is only 4, and I am proud of the choice he made today to declare his testimony.

Tucker and Truman both love their Grandpa Phillips.
Case and Point—Here is a Story: Tucker has a group of friends whom he is involved in a “joy school” type class with. All of the moms take turns teaching, once a week. Each week the children bring one item for “show and tell”, that relates to the topic we are discussing. For a few consecutive classes/weeks, Tucker ended up taking things that had been given to him by his Grandpa and Grandma Phillips (for christmas, birthday,etc.) I never noticed that those were the items Tucker had chosen out. We’ll one of the boys in the group, named Alec, did notice, and began to comment to his mom that he wished he had a Grandpa Phillips. His mom said she just laughed, and explained he had other grandparents, and then she didn’t think about it to much. But then a conversation occurred later where Alec explained that his Grandpa Phillips was going to take him fishing, and then a few days later he mentioned that his Grandpa Phillips was going to buy him a candy. And it continued, and continued–Well now it has gotten to the point that Alec’s “Grandpa Phillips” has become this wonderful person who buys special things for him and takes him on outdoor adventures. His mom compared him with Santa Clause, in Alecs eyes, Grandpa Phillips is just as magical.
I am not exactly sure what Tucker told his friends at class, but I am sure that he he stated how much he enjoys being with his Grandparents. I am grateful that we do have the real live Grandpa Phillips as a part of our lives, we all need someone who loves us, and gives us a little bit of magic.
Happy Birthday Grandpa!

In the Pict: Tuck, Owen, Nora, Mikey, Tru, Soph
Pic taken Fall of 2006

I am proud to announce that Friday, My Big Brother Ryan (with the love and support of his wife and kids) is Graduating with his family. We won’t be there to Yell and Scream when your name is called, so I thought I found a little video for you. I looked all over youtube to find something funny. I don’t know if it is just late, but this one made me smile! Hopefully your ceremony is easier to watch and listen to than this!

Husbands and Fathers are an important part of a family unit.
Hence this post, Toph is in New Mexico for a business trip, and our family is no where close to being complete or whole without him. We miss him terribly, and we are anxious for him to come home.

We miss you, Tucker asked if he could fly to New Mexico to be with Dad, I don’t blame him. I want to be there too.
See you Soon Dad, We love you!

It is warming up, what wonderful weather! Christopher is getting the “outdoor bug”, and this week when his church calling was canceled, he decided it would be a great opportunity for a hike, but when we didn’t have enough time for that, we decided to go and find a couple of Geo Caches. For those of you unfamiliar with Geo Caching, It is just basically bunches of Treasure Hunts, and Tuck and Tru love them. Here are a few pics from our latest cache…

Tucker Carrying the GPS Unit to look for the Cache

Tucker and Truman Entering the Bush Hut, where they spy a treasure

Bringing out The Treasure Box-Cache

Opening up the box with Toph

So, our good friends let us tag along with them as they went to take family pictures. The gardens were beautiful, but as usual, Tucker and Truman did not want to have anything to do with having their pictures taken. Our friend was going to be taking the pictures, and I was really optimistic before we left, Tucker is now 4 Years old and has done well in our candid type photo shoots, but anyone who has been around us has seen that somehow my children have been conditioned into hating having their pictures taken. In addition, they are true boys, who would rather be running through the grass rather than than sitting still. So after dreaming of the perfect family picture, and with the culmination of all of these things, I would like to introduce our family photo….

After thinking last night, I began to realize this is how our family is, so even though it may not be perfect to others, silly faces, cheeser and all, it does capture our family, and so it is just that.
Perfect.

This is the time of year for birthday wishes. Today is my mothers birthday. There is nothing like a mother. They teach you so many things, and the older you get, the more you learn to appreciate them. I am grateful for my mom, she has taught me many things.
-compassion, kindness and love
-that I really don’t want white wall in my whole house 🙂
-there is an art in living, and living well
-you make your own choices in life, and happiness comes from the inside
-to make a mean potato, ham and cheese casserole
Mothers are the best, this list could go on and on. I am glad she is my momma, happy birthday mom!

For Belle’s Birthday, she had a Star Wars Themed Birthday Party. Tucker and Truman were so excited for such a long time, ever since we got the invite last week. On Saturday Morning, we got their costumes ready. Tucker wanted to be Luke the Jedi, and Truman wanted to be Yorda (Yoda). I whipped up some costumes, and Tuck painted one of his swords to look like a lightsaver, (He painted it pink and black-his favorite colors) and we were off to the Party.
The kids had a great time, and we enjoyed watching all of the little kids come in their outfits.
Since the party, Tucker has been trying to get ready to be a Jedi. Again, the great thing about being 4 is you really can dream of being a Jedi.

Here is a pic of Luke, Yorda and Princess Leah.

Happy Birthday Belle!