Nanny 911...

I got a call from my sister today, who like me in high school, is nannying for the summer. I was dying because she's trying to have a conversation with me but every other word is to the kids.

"Stop throwing rocks at the house."
"Oh no! That's going to be a problem."
"Get your dirty little feet off me!"
"I donno where he is? Not here, not my problem."

My all time favorite though is from the little 6 year old girl. She comes up to Erika and out of no where asks, "Erika would you rather die by having your head cut off or the electrical chair?"

Erika just stares at her, shocked--are you kidding me kid?!? "Uhh..."

"Wrong! The correct answer is the electrical chair because the electricity could go out."



...From this picture she sent me I don't know if would trust my children with her....

Thousand Splendid Suns

I realize I've become obsessed with sharing the good books I've read with everyone, but these are incredible. He is an extremely powerful writer. Reading these tragic stories has given me a new perspective and deeper gratitude for the country we live in and the freedoms we experience. I seriously want to fly over to Afghanistan and bring all the orphaned children home with me. I know this sounds cliche but these are soul touching and heart wrenching, but amazing books.

One could not count the moons that shimmer on her roofs,
Or the thousand splendid suns that hide behind her walls.

New Roommate Party

Megan moved in with us last weekend so we have been trying really hard to make her feel at home. I'm so proud of her for how well she's handling being away from home for the first time. We have been spending lots of quality time together because not only do we now live together but we also work together! Saturday night Bry and I decided to show her how the Utah Phipps do sleep over parties.
We got TONS of treats for the night. Unfortunately our attempt to pick out movies this time was awful. We got Along Came a Spider cleanflicked which was okay, but too scary for me and Breach which wasn't good by any means. So for our second movie we ended up watching She's the Man. I, of course, had no problem with this because I love that movie. I've probably seen in 20 times and it's still funny to me.
Then the beating began...and since we have a new photographer living with us...it got documented.
This weekend Bry and I also went to Barnes and Noble because they were having a big sale. I'm so excited because I got a bunch of new books to keep me entertained at work. Plus I discovered the classics section that is only $5 per book. I'm extremely excited about adding all those to our collection. We are going to make sure my children are extremely well read! And lastly...Megan gave me a mani/pedi. Isn't she good!!

What we live for, part 2...

Lake Tahoe

The whole family went up to Tahoe and stayed at the new Cabin. That night we went to an italian dinner which was delicious. Then we went home and played hours and hours of cards, followed by some old cowboy movie. (I fell asleep--surprising).

Our activity the next day was BIKING! We rented bikes and rode around Lake Tahoe together. The weather was absolutely perfect.

Makayla ran Josh over...

We biked around the Lake and through the History Camp Richardson. They had a gorgeous gardens area and the fun little fire engine. (Bryan made sure to "make out" with me in the back seat in front of his entire family). We also made a stop at the actual beach. I did not want to leave. Lastly we hit up the ice cream parlor. Excellent. I'm pretty sure the babies like the ice cream the best.

Our last night in Tahoe we had the Cabin all to ourselves. We stayed up late watching movies and eating pizza.

What we live for...

These pictures are from what feels like a hundred years ago and our vacation to California and Lake Tahoe that I never got around to posting. But this is truly what we live for...the lazy days where we get away and just enjoy each other and our amazing family! Knowing this kind of stuff is around the corner gets me through each work day! There are about 4 million pictures--you know how I am with pictures--so brace yourselves.

We spent our first day there with Makayla playing in the pool. She and Bryan were too funny. He kept tricking her into coming up to him and then spraying her...over and over...it was great. Then she got smart and tried to turn the hose off. She's quite a genius for a 4 year old!

The next day we headed to Six Flags Discovery Kingdom. We went to the Shuka whale show, watched the dolphins, thought about peting the sting rays, rode all the rides, and got some major blisters on our feet from walking. By the end of the day I had to walk with my flip flops half off because my feet were bleeding.












I thought the shark aquarium would be neat to go through. Wow was I wrong. We walked in and I realized that the sharks were surrounding me. I started panicing and having visuals of the tank breaking open above my head and the sharks attacking me. Lets just say that part of the excursion lasted about 2 minutes. I did however brave the boomerang not once but TWICE. It was intense--one of those that goes forward and then switches backwards. Bryan's favorite "ride" was paying 25 cents to spray people in the face on the water ride.

We went and watched the flamingos, rode our favorite ride 4 times, at greasy fair food, and made sure Bry got a picture with Batman and Robin. We had a blast!