I Love Fall.

Caden Overload.

Like I mentioned earlier I'm taking a photography class from my talented friend, Miss Colvin. Previously I've been more of the auto shooter and then adjust with photoshop, but I decided it was time to put in the effort and learn how to shoot in manual. This morning I made my first valiant effort and here are the results: 90 million pictures of none other than my baby boy. This is a typical view for me: Caden peering over my belly, begging to be picked up.
These next few are at our complex's park. Megan graciously helped hold Caden's attention while I desperately tried to get the settings right. I am amazed at the difference manual mode makes. But also amazed at how HARD it is to chase after a one year old in manual! Slowly, it's all starting to make sense. {Don't judge me too harshly.}
Yes, this is blurry but I loved his little pose.

Such a Caden look.
We ended the morning with puddle splashing.

We are making progress...

Doctor is probably not in his future though.

"Push the Button"

How could you ever be mad at this mischievous face?!?

Caden & I took a trip to the grocery store with Megan. Turned out to be more excitement than I signed up for. As we are loading the car with groceries Megan put Caden in his car seat, and gave him the keys to hold since they are currently his favorite item. Unfortunately, once his door shut he decided it would be fun to push the button and lock all the doors, leaving Megan and I starring in on him in 94 degree heat. Megan looks up at me, "Uh, we have a problem." I immediately go into panic mode. I can't think straight when I get like this. I don't know who to call! I just want my kid out of this car...now! I run around to his side of the car and start tapping on the window.

"Push the button buddy."

Lock.

"No, push the other button. You can do it."

Lock.

"Push the blue button Caden."

Alarm.

"Okay, turn that off buddy."

Turns it off.

"Push the other button."

Lock.

You get the idea. And the whole time he's giving me this smile like, I'm doing exactly what you are asking me to mommy. Meanwhile, Megan is calling her insurance for a tow company, then the police (yeah...should have been my first thought, but like I said, I was panicking.) And after Caden had set off the alarm 4 times we'd gathered quite the crowd. One man was nice enough to inform me that he'd stick around with his bat since last summer 4 kids died after being in the car for 15 minutes.

I wasn't really worried until I see his cheeks turning bright red, and he starts saying HOT, over and over.

Well, eventually the cop drives into the parking lot. And yes, I'm waving my hands like the crazy mother I am to get his attention. I felt like an idiot, but within minutes my baby was safe again in the air conditioned car sipping on High C from McDonald's.

Of course, Mr. Independent has to hold the cup by himself. He dumps it down his shirt and goes from saying HOT to Coooooowd {cold}.

Besides pushing buttons we have also been to Swiss Days in Midway, UT. We figured we need to go to as many Utah things as we can since this will be our last year here. Caden and I have had lots of quality nights together since the 3rd year of law school has proven to be busy, very busy. I took a few pictures of us just hanging out in our PJs.

In other news, we had another ultrasound. Baby is still a BOY! He's healthy and that's our greatest blessing this week.

Dedicated to Paul; I hope this stops the obscene texts for a few days. :)

Shimmy, Shake.

What can I say...the little man loves to dance. He does it all day long. And I love that Lesley was able to catch that moment for me. When we all got back at the end of summer we met up with the Colvin's in SLC to play some lawn darts and visit the wonderful Hallmark family. Caden and Ella were thrilled to see eachother. This little boy just keeps me going all day long. I'm amazed at everything he is able to get into during the day: every pot and pan is on the floor, my bronzer is on his fingers, his stuffed animals are in Bryan's backpack, my jewlery is in my sock drawer, his snack trap is behind the chair, my keys are hidden is his toy bin....and on and on. I NEVER leave this boy in a room alone and still he manages to accomplish this while I unload the dishwasher, or finally get around to doing my make-up at 2 p.m. And now he's started talking non-stop. And he wants each word acknowledged. I have no idea where baby #2 is going to fit into my day, but I'm excited to see. In the mean time we'll just keep shimmy shaking through our days.

Ever had these nights?

Yesterday a water main broke in our complex, thus no cooking.

Me: What do you want for dinner?
B: McDonald's? Taco Bell?
Me: Yuck.
B: Happy Sumo?
Me: Get real.
B: Shoots? I'd even settle for Tucanos.

15 minutes later

B: So Taco Bell?
Me: Never.
B: I could bust out the food storage water and make pasta.
Me: Doesn't sound good anymore.

15 minutes later and nearly emaciated.

B: Let's just drink a gallon of bleach and call it a night.
Me: Do we have that much bleach on hand? I don't want to have to go out.

Ready for this?!?

Okay so we've all noticed I haven't really been on the blogging train this summer. Weird for me, I know. Right now I'm sitting here overwhelmed with random thoughts. So here we go:

*My new favorite color is pea green. Bryan says it's green pea. Whatev. Harry Potter left me wanting more.

*Baby Addilyn is actually ANOTHER BOY. Shock. Made the tech check again. She didn't lie. Had to make some returns. Okay, a lot of returns. No pink or bows this time around, but we are thrilled for Caden to have a best buddy. This little man is definitely supposed to be part of the Phipps clan...

*Nightmare of the summer: We went to the ER...long story short...6 hours later...the doctor told us I was leaking amniotic fluid and there was a high chance I would lose the baby if this continued. It was one of the worst moments of my life sitting in the office, bawling my eyes out thinking that this baby-- my baby-- that I had already felt kick, that I had such big plans for may not be part of our family in this life. I am grateful for miracles. I'm grateful for faith in a Heavenly Father that's hand is so clearly in our lives. I'm grateful for blessings from a worthy husband that calm me more than anything else in this world. A week later we went to my OB and the leak was gone--my own miracle.

*My favorite purchase...probably ever...Shark Vacuum. A-MAZ-ING.

*My Kid: Within 10 minutes of our first morning home he had covered his hair in yogurt while I finished making his toast, dumped his milk on the floor, and managed to climb back into his highchair while I was cleaning up the mess. Then he smirks at me.

*Jon and Kate Plus Eight's divorce=devastation.

*Phipps' got a trubo twist waterslide. Awesomeness. Caden cried EvErYtImE Bryan "risked his life" to go down the slide. My mother in law screamed like a little girl eVeRyTiMe she went down.

*Decided to do a little gambling on our way through Nevada: We drove the Contour. 10 to 1 odds we wouldn't make it home. Our very special car officially has no working windows, 1 working speaker, broken e-brake, and 2 broken bushings--something to do with suspension and tires.

*This is what happens when daddy gets him ready in the morning...

And I'm out...