The Phillips Family

World Mandate West

2012-02-08T22:30:00.000-07:00

San Diego!

We hit the road again this weekend for our World Mandate Conference.

Pit stop:

Travis here, how to walk through a parking lot with 2 kids while carrying

two huge fountain drinks.

Girls...hold on to my pockets. Don't let go.

As we drove across western Arizona we discovered there are

massive sand dunes in our state...who knew?

Beautiful!

We took 60 people from our church with us...

we were so expectant for all the God was going to do in people

at this conference and He far exceeded our expectations.

We were forever impacted by God's presence and His call on our lives.

I so love our movement and all the God is doing through it.

There is no one else I'd rather be walking through life with.

There is such authenticity and passions that flows through the leaders

and those involved. I love the humility and brokenness from which people come to meet Jesus.

It really is so powerful nad has and is producing a move of God in this nation

and the nations of the earth.

The weekend:

authentic, passionate worship

humble speakers

(who carry such authority because of the way they have fully given their lives to God)

powerful times of responding in God's presence

fellowship

lives transformed.

Coincidentally, during the same weekend, Boston was having World Mandate East.

It was at this conference last year that we said good-bye and were sent out

to come plant in Arizona.

We were able to Skype into their conference and say hi to everyone from the screen at the front...

such a sweet gift to us.

As I worshipped God and reflected on all He's done in the last year,

I was overwhelmed.

Wow.

He is so good.

Following Him is worth my life.

As painful as it was to leave, I wouldn't have missed what's going on here for the world.

Some other fun highlights...

We got to stay with our dear friends the Lairs.

They have three kids also--the oldest of which are our girls ages.

So it was full and fun around their house!

All four girls slept in the same room.

The Lair girls in their beds, SG in a packnplay, and Ellie in a sleeping bag.

Yay for slumber parties!

They actually all did amazingly well every night.

They played hard...and if you're wondering,

yes, girls do wrestle!

Thank you Jonathan and Suzanne for hosting us!

You guys were more than gracious to let us stay with you in the midst of the crazy weekend.

Thank you for putting up with us.

We love time with you guys!

We also got to have a little bit of time on the beach Sunday morning.

Me and Missy

Jade, Jordan, and Gracie

Trav and Caleb

We're big fans of San Diego and are so excited it's not a far drive from us...

I have a feeling this may be a frequent vacation spot in the years to come!

Praise God for what He's doing from coast to coast, east to west...

and how He's stirring people's hearts for the nations!

Lesson Learned. (I hope!)

2012-01-31T14:51:00.000-07:00

Don't cut your sister's hair (or your own for that matter)

I took these pictures before I knew what was going on...

thought they were being so cute brushing each other's hair.

Then I realized there was a lot of blonde hair in Kristen's round brush.

I asked Ellie if she was rolling Gracie's hair and if it was hurting her.

Ellie said, "No, have you heard Gracie crying??"

Then I connected the dots and realized that scissors were involved.

And she was sitting on them.

So Gracie's really pretty curls are now gone.

Sad.

But lesson learned.

They went with Travis once when he got his haircut and Ellie was

doing what she saw the lady do with Travis' hair.

Not one chop on one side, oh no.

A little bit from everywhere!

The Phillips girls' hair is super slow to grow as it is
and we've had a set back,

but we'll all survive!

Ellie cut her own hair too, but it was mainly in the front...

she cut several pieces right around her face.

Here's Gracie's after her "real" haircut.

She did a pretty good job of salvaging what was there.

A little stacking in the back and longer in the front.

Pretty cute.

Just no more curls.

We all learned a lot from this experience.

I had to take a moment before responding with discipline.

We had just had a conversation the day before about how she

was never to use scissors unless she asked us first.

So it was a deliberate act opposite of what she knew to be right.

I "secured" the scene and then told them to stay put for a minute.

I went to my room, tried to collect myself, called Trav, and then tried my best,

by the grace of God to respond and discipline in love.

Everyone responded well...but I had to make a conscious choice throughout the day

in my heart to move on (with the reminder and encouragement from Trav).

We teach our kids that once they receive their discipline, ask forgiveness from whoever they have

disobeyed or offended, and pray and ask forgiveness from God, they are free...it's over and done with.

But as I saw their sweet butchered hair all day long I had to choose to release them and let them know from their mommy that they were free.

Meaning...

Not retelling the story anymore in their presence.

Not lamenting over the result out loud in their presence.

Not talking about the work that it was to clean it all up!

(thanks to the Reeds Dyson I was able to get it all, but it was EVERYWHERE!)

Thankful for the lesson that we all learned.

And hoping that we really learned it and won't have to relive it!

Three of my favorite things in January

2012-01-30T09:17:00.001-07:00

1) Our family hike.

We've done lots of fun things on our family nights...they are usually Travis' great creative ideas. But this one was mine! I had been conjuring it up for a few days and was so excited about it. It started out with a hike and ended with ice cream cookie sandwiches!

"A" mountain (actually called Hayden's Butte). Named after the founder of Tempe who climbed this butte, looked out over it into the desert and said, "This is fertile ground if only man could get water to it." This is one of the main words that brought us here to this desert to believe for streams of living water to flow. We do believe it's fertile ground. We are experiencing it.

So this little butte is significant to our family and our church. Ellie has climbed it a couple of times with Travis and some teams that have come in, but the little girls never had so we've never done it as a family. It's a pretty easy hike and from the top you can see the whole valley.

And, the sun was setting. Arizona has the most beautiful big sky sunsets you have ever seen. Stunning. One day if I ever get good with my camera (help, Lisa!) I'll capture one.

Trav and I each had a backpack with a kid and Ellie walked (well, maybe Reed carried her a lot of the way up...one "please" from Ellie and Reed couldn't say no!)

Thankful Canela and Reed were with us...our kids tend to be a little crazy these days. And we were on a mountain!

These two are getting closer every day. So fun to watch. They love each other. Someone asked SG today who her best friend was and she said, Ellie. And then they asked who her second best friend was and she said, the baby. Lord, knit their hearts together for all their days.

We so want our kids to know why we do what we do. We want them to know and walk in the presence of God from an early age. We believe we are a team in this church planting journey and so they are with us in all that we can bring them into...

So they prayed together with their daddy at the top of this mountain just as we have done many times before...believing for streams of living water to flow in this desert.

After the hike we went to Fuzzy's for buy one get one free tacos and then to the yummy new Slickables for ice cream cookie sandwiches!

Fun family night if I do say so myself!

2) My half marathon.
No pictures from this but wanted to document it because it was so significant for me. It was a huge race here in Phoenix...thousands of runners. We started in Tempe and ran through Scottsdale, some of Phoenix, and back to Tempe. I ran by myself. Trav dropped me off, I ran, and they came and picked me up after. Very anticlimactic as it may appear to most. But it was so significant for me. I have run for years...since junior high cross country, but in recent years it has become a time where I connect with God, worship him, listen to sermons, hear him speak. I almost always run alone (the only exception being when Travis comes with me, which I welcome!). So now, when I start running my heart automatically begins to connect to the spirit of God. It's so sweet.

So to get 1:45 minutes with Jesus, while doing something I love to do, it was bliss. Travis and the girls would "hey tell" (an app on my phone that works like a walkie talkie) along the way to cheer me on (and pray for me...had a blister that randomly developed early on but went away after they prayed). It was such a spiritual experience for me. Felt so close to the heart of God. Felt his nearness in such a real way.

Was reminded over and over again of one of my favorite verses...Fix your eyes directly before you, don't look to the right or to the left (Prov. 4:25)...as I ran. And worshipped multiple times over to two new songs that I have recently downloaded (which I think is a huge help in running, especially in a race, get some fresh music that you're excited about). No One Else...Cory Asbury and Laura Hackett. We Are...Kari Jobe. Loved these.

Call me crazy, but I loved it...all 13.1 miles! :)

3) Two day planning retreat with Trav.
A highlight for sure. My mom came into town and we were able to get away for a little bit. It wasn't so much play...but LOTS of planning, goal setting, preparing for the year...or at least for the next quarter. We came out of it having logged lots of hours at Paradise bakery...AND with detailed goal sheets for Travis and I and one for the kids. As well as a print out of my personal schedule. Trav even surprised me and got them all laminated so we can put them up and keep them before us! Can't wait! It's crazy how a little time taken out to plan and set goals can affect how you live your life and what you choose to prioritize. Jimmy Seibert sent out a suggested "roles and goals" sheet to use as an outline in praying through the year and we loved using that. It's so powerful and encouraging to wait on God for each area of life and to then hear him speak...We're moving forward with intentionality on His words and we're excited to seek to be obedient to them. (And the girls had a great time with Grandmommie while we were away...they went to the Children's museum AND the Science museum in the time we were gone!)

Thankful for a fun, purposeful start to our year!

She's growing up...

2012-01-26T15:12:00.000-07:00

ONE:

We have entered into a new era in the Phillips household...

SPORTS.

My sense is there may be a lot of this in our future, but guess we'll have to wait and see.

For right now, every Saturday morning at 9am we are on the soccer field with Ellie,

and usually a small fan club!

She is loving it. And is so cute in her little uniform.

We missed the first practice because I maybe got her signed up the day before the first game.

(in true Phillips style!)

I wasn't thinking about getting it figured it out until after the holidays and that was almost too late!

But, we took the last spot!

This is a great shot...about where Ellie is most of the game.

Usually not any farther away from the ball than this,

great at staying right with it...

but not a big fan of closing in on it any more than this!

Blurry, but check out that kick!

There she is!

Sandra called to hear how it went...

Typical Ellie...multi-tasker!

Practice (from what I hear) is a different story. She does awesome there.

Scores goals, gets in their and gets the ball.

So, we're working on that transferring to the game!

But hey, she's 4!

Some of her fans...

Though some mornings are a little chilly,

we love starting out our Saturday mornings watching E play soccer!

TWO:
Dance. Ellie has just started taking ballet/tumbling at a great church
in Mesa (the town next to us).

They teach them dance while simultaneously teaching them how to use what they are learning to dance/worship before the Lord.

Ellie is loving it. Can't wait to go every time.

It's a fun balance to her little sporty self!

THREE:
Worship.
Growing in her gifting! :)
Appreciate Adam for letting her play with him for the first song every lifegroup.

Helping to lead out...taking it so seriously!

Colorado (and this is the LAST Christmas post!)

2012-01-22T20:49:00.000-07:00

(another heads up: pictures, pictures, and more pictures!)

So we drove the short 6 hrs to Travis' parents ranch right after Christmas

where we got to spend a few days with his family.

We had a great time. They have a beautiful ranch (complete with cows and horses)

so the girls had a ball...and again, lots of new experiences for them.

First off..."Christmas morning"...take 3! But we didn't mind!

Hearing the Christmas story...I think they're holding up Mary and Joseph?

Once again, a very focused Sarah Grace.

Notice the soccer ball...a very fun gift for Ellie.

The weather was unbelievable. So beautiful.

There was snow everywhere but the temps weren't super low

so we could be outside a lot and didn't have to worry about being cold.

But we did still have to bundle up!

We did a LOT of sledding. This was our first time out

and the girls were into it from the get go.

The newlyweds were able to meet us there (Bret and Abby),

so that was fun to get to be with them.

Gracie's snow angel. Pretty good, huh?

Cousin Alicia...it's been so fun getting to know her

over the last 7 or 8 years. Love any time I get with her.

I found these great snow suits on huge clearance

at the gap for the little girls and they were perfect!

(complete with hood, booties, and mittens!)

Even Emmy was able to crawl around in the snow!

And of course she loved it...felt like she was one of the big kids!

Climbing through the tunnel Trav made them...E wasn't so into it...

think she might have her momma's claustrophobia!

More sledding.

On to bigger and more challenging hills!

The girls got more brave every time, to the point that they were

flying down the hill by themselves!

With or without a sled!

SG always surprises us with her courage!

My man.

He makes life so fun.

Abby and Emily

We also played lots of games...

the kids,

and the adults.

This is Uncle Roger holding Gracie while playing 42

(MANY hands of dominoes were played!)

We were so glad Roger, Sandy, and Alicia came!

Another family pic!

So fun to have everyone together...even Gigi and GranBear!

A beautiful sunset behind the Sangre de Cristo mountain range.

We also had a little early family snowman birthday party for Emily...
Jackie is so great at throwing parties!

I think Emmy loved being the center of attention!

Such a fun cake!

Jackie let the girls help decorate it.

Then our last day there we got to ride a train through the Royal Gorge.

(thank you Uncle Roger!)

It was much fun! I don't think the kids have ever been on a train,

except for the "T" in Boston, of course.

I like being at the bottom of the gorge better than the top.

Taking a look from the open car.

Another fun time with family.
Those memories are priceless to us.

And with that...Christmas with the Phillips is finally all recorded!
We survived the month of December!

And though it's almost February I feel like I'm still catching up in more areas than just the blogging world...
but we would say that every moment, every mile traveled, every late night, early morning, long day
was worth it.

But we're ok to not get back in the car for a long drive for a good little while!

(at least not until we go to World Mandate West in San Diego in two weeks!)

Back To Texas!

2012-01-21T11:37:00.000-07:00

(a heads up: this post will be full of pics...scroll fast if you need to!)

It's a (well, should be) an 11 hr drive to Amarillo.

But, we had some car trouble.

Something about a sensor in the computer of the car that was malfunctioning.

We would hear a ding and then the car would basically start to power down

(force us to drive 20-30 mph...and we're on the highway. scary)

We would have to pull over, turn the car off for 20 sec, let it "reboot" and then

turn it on again.

This happened sporadically for most of the trip, until the last two or three hours when

it started happening every 15 minutes or so, sometimes every 5. Not super safe on the highway.

The only humor we had in it was sweet Sarah Grace saying (every time we stopped)...

We at John David's?

And sometimes,

WE AT JOHN DAVID'S!!

One time we had pulled into a gas station, she asked the question.

We got the car running again only to have it stop again before we could get out of the

parking lot.

When of course she said, "We at John David's now!"

Oh, the mind of a 2 year old. I love it. Her innocence and sweetness

melt our heart every day.

(and her independent, "I do it myself" spirit, keep us on our toes!)

But we did eventually make it to Amarillo and what followed was a few days
of bliss when it comes to family togetherness!

Yay that we finally made it.
Didn't take E long to find JD's hats and nerf gun!

We ate,

i caught her just as this was going in (thus the blurry pic)...little stinker, eating santa's cookies!

drank,
(Amarillo is home of the fountain drinks!)

played,

wii (yes, emmy is watching from the packnplay!)

don't even know what game this is but she is serious about it.

just hung out,

all with their new pillow pets from my parents

decorated cookies,

yes, there is a cookie under there!

went to the Christmas Eve service,

showing Ellie how tall the tree was they were sitting under

wanting to hold baby Jesus

sweet mama

made gingerbread houses,

this was kind of a disaster

Travis, trying to make the best of it!

opened presents,

we've always gotten to open one gift on Christmas Eve...our matching pajamas!

aprons from my mom and dad from russia

i LOVE this pic of my brother. it totally captures him. (not easy to do on camera!)


thanking uncle david for always buying them such cute clothes! (you have great taste!)

love it. classic ellie.

what i caught gracie doing in the middle of the chaos

and had a white Christmas.

Travis and I's first Christmas married we were in Amarillo.
It was his first Christmas away from Edna, and it snowed there 12in on Christmas Eve.
(Edna is in South Texas, crazy)
We haven't been back to Amarillo for Christmas since that first year,
so we thought this was a little redemptive!

so sweet. wishing she could join the fun.

And then the next morning (despite late night cookie dough making/eating with Caroline),

we headed out.

Goodbye Papa.

Goodbye Grandmommy,

Goodbye Uncle Scott,

Goodbye Nances.

Thank you for making it such a memorable Christmas for all of us.

We will be anxiously awaiting your visit to Tempe!

"Christmas Morning" in Arizona

2012-01-20T13:51:00.002-07:00

It wasn't really Christmas morning but since we were going to be traveling during Christmas we celebrated with our little family (plus Kristen, Canela, and Amy who were around) before we left!

We had homemade cinnamon rolls while we read the Christmas story

and talked about Jesus.

After breakfast we opened the presents we had gotten for each other.

New lap desks!

Ellie got Gracie a wristlet (no more losing Alyssa's in FAO Schwartz in NYC or carrying

Kiki's around and confiscating her chapstick!) Her love for wristlets

started at a very early age.

(We got Ellie got one too!)

She also got a "night-night box".

Gracie loves to take random things with her when she goes night night,

but there's some things she's not allowed to have in her bed.

So her night night box is a place to put those things!

(mainly chapstick, but also coins, or maybe a pic or dice)

It was Travis' ingenious idea.

It has saved many long conversations/drama at nap/bedtime.

Her chapstick.

One of her very favorite things.

Not so much to use, as to have and hold!

Their new microphones!

(thank you Uncle Scott)

Amy being creative with her photography...

but I really love this one.

My first present with Ellie's handwritting!

Travis opening his new watch.

I actually got to surprise him

(which I am typically terrible at!)

And last but not least, there was one more present...from Mimi and Poppy.

We told them to close their eyes first,

but they didn't realize it wouldn't fit in their little hands.

A new jeep!

When I was pregnant (8 months pregnant!) with Emily,

we went to NYC right before Christmas and we walked around Toys r Us.

Ellie saw a car there and has talked about it off and on ever since.

So she was ecstatic!

She actually is a really great driver

and does great now even if we're not out there with her.

Gracie...

is not.

She is not really allowed to drive...at all.

She forgets to look where she's going when she's driving

and gets distracted easily.

(Trav says it reminds him of someone else he knows...no comment!)

Thank you Mimi and Poppy!

And thank you Adam for helping put it together late the night before.

(you always seem to be around when it comes to building things and putting things together...

and for that we are thankful!)

Fun Phillips Christmas morning!

The Christmas Story by the Phillips Family

2012-01-20T09:25:00.000-07:00

We tried to keep Jesus the center of all that we were doing this Christmas...

I feel like specifically Ellie is really at the age where she's gleaning a lot from all that goes on at Christmas.

One thing I did was try and ask Ellie every day this question:

What is Christmas all about??

I felt like every day she was exposed to something new that could deter her or confuse her...

like Santa at the mall, or Frosty in someone's front yard, or even just the busyness of parties.

I didn't want to get to the end of the season and her think it was all about the busyness.

So we talked about baby Jesus, a lot.

In their Jesus time they watched the Christmas story in various forms a lot.

We read lots of books about Jesus.

They played with their Little People Nativity that we only get out at Christmas.

We also had a night where we acted out the Christmas story.

I wish I had it on video.

It was so cute...they were really into it.

Serious about their parts!

The players:

Mary

Joseph

The Angel

The Donkey!

Off to Bethlehem

Looking for an inn

Headed to the stable...baby Jesus is almost here.

We did finish the story (actually several times over) but I think I had to start being an angel,

a shepherd, and a wise man so I couldn't keep taking pictures.

Such a fun night.

We told the story and sang the appropriate Christmas songs along the way.

So fun to celebrate Jesus with my kids who are soaking it all in.

May they (and us) forever be impacted by Jesus' birth.

All Things Christmas.

2012-01-17T14:47:00.000-07:00

Once we were back home from our "Texas Tour" and survived the crazy day of parties
I let the kids sleep in because it was Sunday morning and our service is at 5pm right now.

So we really had no where we had to be.

Ellie and Emily slept until 10 or so.
But my sweet sleeper Gracie did not rouse until 11:30!

Here was her picture that morning.
She definitely set a record.

She then went back down for a nap at 1:30 and I had to wake her at

4:00 to get ready for church! Whoa. Think we wore them out!

The two weeks that followed were so fun.
We loved being in our new city this Christmas.

There were fun new things to do...

and we didn't have to worry about it being too cold to do them!

Like Zoolights!

They open up the zoo at night here during the holidays and it's decorated everywhere

with lights, etc...complete with Christmas music and a talking giraffe!

It was a really chilly December night so that made it fun!

We also had a fun night at our dear friends the Stroupes.

They were the family that we stayed with when we first moved here

last April and they have been like family to us out here.

They had our whole team over for dinner in December.

Delicious food.

Sweet gifts.

Fun conversation.

Here are the older girls at a table all by themselves!

So grown up!

(sorry it's so dark...)

Emmy got to be passed around the whole night...

Enamored by Debbie's snow globe.

And we ended the evening with a delicious cappuccino!

Maybe the best I've ever had.

We also had our first annual Antioch Christmas Service!

And the kids had a little part...

sang a few songs and told the Christmas story.

Gracie's part:

"Glory to God in the Highest!"

She did great...was really brave and said it right into the mic!

Yes, that is my hand trying to encourage everyone to stand up.

Looks chaotic but it really was sweet!

Potluck after!

Rebekah and Ellie, Jade and Jordan

The very first of the Antioch Kids!

And of course, the team (staff) Christmas party

(plus Amy who was here and helped out with the kids!)

Everyone is holding their "hanitizers" (what the girls call hand

sanitizers) that Ellie and Gracie picked out for them.

The courageous, awesome, gifted, anointed, will do anything to serve the church,

best people in the world to work with and live life with,

Antioch Tempe Team!

We love you guys.

So fun to walk with you on this crazy adventure

of seeing a church established.

Party Party (yes, still on Christmas!)

2012-01-16T15:50:00.000-07:00

We hit the ground running when we got back in town...

because the next day we had two parties at our house!

Baby shower by day and church-wide Christmas party by night.

My first friend that I met here, Natalie, was about to have her third...

her first girl after two little boys.

So we had a little shower to celebrate and pray over her.

I loved how our church in Boston always did this for moms (new or old!)

so it's fun to start the tradition here!

When the girls left, I went to work!

Cooking!

We had heavy hors d'oeuvres.

LOTS of heavy hors d'oeuvres.

It ended up being such a fun, festive party.

Trav did what he does best,
got people together play games!

This is our friend Josue.

He has a very long beard because he's been doing a Nazarite vow since January!

(where you don't cut your hair...and I think some other stuff, too but I don't know the specifics)

So SG decided his beard was the perfect place to hang ornaments!

He was a great sport about it.

Micah decided to join in the fun!

That's all the pics from that party...I think I was too busy talking and refilling trays!

It was such a fun day of parties.

I love having people in our home...especially at Christmas time!

Trip to Texas...Part 4: Edna

2012-01-14T23:00:00.000-07:00

And last but not least...Edna.

We ended our trip by spending a few days in Travis' home town of Edna.

In light of the fact that we weren't going to be back there for Christmas we really

wanted to try and get down there to see his family...especially his grandparents

and extended family who we knew we wouldn't see again during the holidays.

We spent a lot of time at "the farm" as Travis used to call it when he was growing up.

His "MawMaw and PawPaw's" place.

(Travis' dad's parents)

Our girls LOVE being out there.

There's so much for them to do that is out of the ordinary for them (and for us!)

Some examples:

Riding on and "driving" the mule.

Yes, she does know how to start it but isn't allowed to

drive it on her own!

My country man with his girls.

Pick satsumas (they're like clementines but better)

PawPaw's literally has hundreds of them.

The girls love them...they are really easy to peel.

They will easily eat multiple satsumas in one sitting!

Playing with (crawling on!) MawMaw!

Drinking Kool-Aid and Root Beer

(which PawPaw poured into their water bottles!)

Playing 42.

This is the family game. They all love and are great at it.

I have worked really hard for 7 yrs to learn it and can finally hold my own.

I got to be PawPaw's partner (quite an honor) in this hand...if I remember correctly,

we smoked em! (Travis is disputing this...)

Getting hugs and kisses from their great-grandma...

And great-grandpa!

And giving kisses!

My favorite quote from PawPaw this trip came when I was talking to him about the hearing aids and monthly check he just received from being in the military almost 70 years ago (where he was a gunner and lost a great deal of his hearing)...

He said this,

The Lord takes care of me. See, so it can rain or not rain. This grass can grow or not grow. It makes no difference to me. God's gonna always take care of me.

And then he turned to me and said,

And it's going to be the same for you. You don't ever have to worry. He'll always take care of you.

Travis also had the opportunity to go out and "interview" him and ask him (as he videoed him) all kinds of questions. Something he's been wanting to do for a long time. It was really special.

MawMaw and PawPaw love Jesus.

And their lives, their choices...

and influence they have had on generations that have followed them have more than affirmed that.

We also got really fun time with Mimi and Poppy!

Jackie always has so many fun toys and activities for the kids.

There's never a dull moment at Mimi's!

She brings the kids into whatever is going on...with great patience I might add!

Bathing Abby...with some help from Ene!

(their other great-grandmother)

Making gingerbread men.

Look at their cute Christmas aprons!

Shopping a little with Mimi!
Her style here I think is being influenced by her cousin Caroline
and our dear friend Alyssa!

Cherry Berry...Best Yogurt on the Planet!
A highlight to say the least for my kids
when we go to Mimi and Poppy's! We couldn't get there
fast enough.

Don't be fooled...she's eating fruit, not frozen yogurt!
Gotta wait for her bday for that!

Emmy, just hanging with GranBear

(their other great grandfather)

I feel like I kids are so blessed to have such a sweet relationship with their grandparents and even great-grandparents (even living so far away).

We love getting time with them!

So nine days after we left our home, we turned around and headed back home...17 hours.

It was a long trip, start to finish...

but we wouldn't have traded it for anything!

We felt so blessed to get to see so much family in such a short time.

And the driving...to say it was easy would be a stretch, but compared to how I thought

it might go, it really was a breeze. There was so much grace for us as we traveled!

So it's taken me almost as long to blog about it as it did for us to go there and back!

Trip to Texas...Part 3: Dallas (Sunday)

2012-01-14T22:30:00.000-07:00

After sleeping in and packing up we got to spend a few hours around Dallas

with my family. It was so much fun.

It was freezing and raining that day so we spent all our time in the Galleria.

It was really fun and relaxing, especially after the busy weekend.

We didn't really do much shopping...just walked around, ate, enjoyed the time together.

My sisters kids are becoming my buddies. I love getting to hang out with them.

They are so much fun...I love who they are becoming in God.

So encouraging to see their hearts, talents, and individual passions come out.

They (and everybody else) were so helpful with the kids...

Headed out of the hotel!

My favorite nieces...and my girls.

ALL the girls.

Treating my family to lunch for all their help over the weekend...
Allison, Dad, Caroline, Scott

It wasn't a long day but we took advantage of the time we had to be together!

Trip to Texas...Part 3: Dallas (Saturday)

2012-01-14T22:24:00.000-07:00

The day of the wedding I really did a horrible job of taking pictures. Sad.

None really of the bride a groom...but I it was such a sweet ceremony.
Abby's dad performed it so it was very personal and meaningful.

And the girls did great...
I was so thankful my parents, brother, sister, and two nieces

were all there and ready to help me!

Thankfully my sister took some pics so I have hers, too.

Th sign...even though they hadn't practiced with this much...
(except for a couple of very quick run throughs around
the pictures that were going on).

Towards the end SG started walking towards Ellie and Ellie "gently"
pushed her back, but other than that they did great.

SG's stick was actually taller than she was so she had to hold it
up...but she did awesome.

I was so proud of them!

This was Travis' extended family...so many traveled to come.

Never a dull moment when you have 3 small children at a wedding.

GranBear loves the babies!

And on to the reception.

I should give a disclaimer before I post these that by the time we got to the

reception it was an hour past the time our kids normally go to bed...and when my kids get

tired, they get wired!

So after a few Chick-fil-a chicken nuggets (which was such a fun wedding

appetizer!) they were ready for the dance floor!

Starting to crash...

My sister...so fun to have her there!

I think my niece, Claire took this...love this of my Daddy.

Whoa. I think this was towards the end. Long, crazy day!

The best family pic we got.

Yes, we are sitting on the dance floor.

Such a fun, sweet wedding. We so loved being a part of it.

It was beautiful!

We love you Bret and Abby!

Goodbye 24 Brooksdale Rd

2012-01-12T23:04:00.000-07:00

Warning: This might be really boring to a lot of you...so skip it if you'd like, they'll be something less emotional tomorrow!

I realize it was almost a year ago now that we actually walked out of our house for the last time and drove out of the city we called home for almost 10 years. But tomorrow, it will be official. Much to our chagrin, we have still owned 24 Brooksdale Rd since we left. But praise the Lord, tomorrow we close on it.

From what our realtor has told us a young couple is buying it. I have never met them. It's strange to think about someone living in your house...though there's nothing in it that's "ours", still it's just strange.

I wasn't really blogging back when we moved so I haven't done much reminiscing here about our goodbyes or about our house. But I thought this was an appropriate occasion to take a walk down memory lane. I want to remember--but it's still fresh so the remembering is still bittersweet. I don't want to relive those last days, ever. But I do want to remember. Even as I think about it now, my stomach turns.

Because in the years we lived there, we poured our lives out. Our hearts out. And then we left. So part of our hearts are still there. I've learned since then that moving on to the next place God calls you to is sweet. You don't love the place and the people you left any less...your heart just expands to love something else, too. Kind of like having kids...your heart just expands to love them as another one comes.

So much of our life and ministry there flowed out of that house. People always say..."if these walls could talk"--if our walls could talk right now they'd probably be saying..."finally, some peace and quiet!" When we moved in there were four of us that lived there...Travis and I upstairs, Lacey and Canela in the basement apartment. By the time we left, there were seven. We brought three baby girls home from the hospital through the doors of that sweet house in the time that we lived there.

Gracie's first time home

It was cozy and warm. (complete with a fireplace and a garage...two things I had always half jokingly dreamed about having in Boston) It was home. For us...and for so many others who walked through our doors. It was rarely empty. There were always people coming in and out, stopping by, hanging out. I loved it. The way our house was set up, when you walked through our front doors you were basically standing in the middle of our living room. So when you walked in, you were a part of us...you were family...but this is just not how it physically felt, but we felt it in our hearts as well.

We had an open door policy. It was never locked except when we went to bed or when were weren't there. When our doorbell rang we knew it was someone that didn't know us or had never been to our house. Most people just came through the doors announcing their arrival. Ellie, from the time she was tiny, would get so excited whenever anyone would walk through our doors. When she learned to talk she would ask, who's coming over next Mommy??

Watching and waiting for our next visitor

There were literally hundreds of games played there.

Countless discipleship meetings.

Parties. All the time. Any excuse. Christmas. First fire. A blizzard. Labor Day. Memorial Day.

Birthdays (anyone's really). Graduation celebrations (again, anyone's!)
Wedding showers. Baby showers.

Tears shed. Mine and lots of others.

Laughter...

Halls (well, hall, we just had one!) walked in the middle of the night, baby in arms.

Prayer meetings. Some fiery ones. Some sweet ones.

Faithgroups.

Lots of Thanksgivings and one special Phillips family Christmas.


Chirstmas morning at 24 Brooksdale

Some of the friends that could be found in our house at any given moment!

Memories can be hard for me because I don't like change. But without them, there's a void in my heart because I can't rejoice and be thankful for them. So tonight I make myself walk the halls and rooms of our precious house again in my mind.

I can remember the last night our girls were there. It was really late already because we had just come home from our going away party. I remember Lacey fixing Ellie one last bowl of mac n cheese. Their favorite. They ate it together at least once a week.

I remember putting Gracie down in her crib in her room for the last time.

One of my hardest moments during the week we moved was loading my kids up to go to the airport with my sister, knowing that when I came back, I would begin to pack their room up...and they would never see it, play in it, sleep in it again. Their room was tiny. I felt like it was small when we just had Ellie in it, and then when Sarah Grace came along it somehow felt like it expanded. Always enough room to play. Or rock someone. Or throw a fit. Or discipline. (I don't just remember the sweet stuff!) Or dump an entire brand new box of Joe's O's all over the floor while I was meeting with someone in the other room!

Our kitchen. Hundreds of meals cooked...some days, especially the days when we ended up having a crowd for dinner, I felt like I lived in there. But I loved it. All the windows. I don't know how many heart to hearts I had over those counters...gold bling in the granite and all!

A very typical scene!

Our backyard. I could write a whole post about the memories we have from that precious plot of grass (or leaves or snow, depending on the season) in the middle of the city. It was life to our souls more than we realize I think. Ellie helping Lala plant her garden every summer--and then helped her pick and eat out of it. Hours and hours on the "big toy" we got her when SG was born. Running and jumping in the leaves. "Sliding" down the snow covered stairs. Celebrating...anything. Engagement parties, going away parties, birthday parties, faithgroup parties, graduation parties, support raising parties, let's just all get together parties. God was abundantly faithful to give us our yard. And if you stood on one little corner of our deck you could see the city...in all it's glory. The beautiful downtown skyline.

The "big toy"

I will always remember the HUGE project...that kind of became everyone's project of painting our house! Trav decided to do it himself. In other words, that we would all do it together! We had some fun days/nights of painting...

While some were painting...others were planting. I LOVED to plant flowers in my front beds every spring and fall. My sweet friend Michelle and I would go to Lowe's together every Sept/Oct (for mums) and then again in May (for petunias).

I loved our front yard in the spring. Travis re landscaped it soon after we moved into the house so we could plant flowers. And our trees would bloom for two weeks every year. They were blooming when we bought the house and moved in...

Our bathroom. Oh how that mauve became like home to us. Travis and Adam eventually redid it, but not until right before we moved.

LOTS of baths, lots of laughs

The new and improved!

Our office turned guest room when Ellie was born. Lots of people have slept in that back room. We used to call it the newlywed sweet because for some reason several couples ended up staying there right after their honeymoon (you know who you are!) for whatever reason. Or missionaries that needed a place before they headed out to the nations. Or friends that didn't want to drive home in the snow...or just wanted to stay just because. Our families coming in to see new babies. Speakers at our conferences. A friend who needed a refuge for a night. Those sheets have been washed a lot! And I loved it!

I really could go on and on...but I will begin to end with this.

I will never forget Travis and I's last walk through the house together. Empty house. Kids were gone. Stuff was gone. It was time for us to go...no need to linger. But I did, just for a moment as we opened the front door to leave, I turned around and looked back...and immediately an image flashed through my mind, a memory. It was of my two sweet girls walking down the hall together hand in hand. Sarah Grace for the first time, and Ellie for the hundredth time. They were together. Hand in hand. Ellie helping Gracie. I cry again remembering it.


Our beloved hallway...both girls learned to walk here.

It was a perfect house for us.

Even with the terrible cupboard space in the kitchen and the tiny bedrooms.

I loved that house.

I was reminiscing about it with Ellie one day after we moved out here...

and these were her words to me...

yeah Mom, but you know, it's just walls.

And with that, perspective is gained.

The memories are sweet and will not be forgotten.

But what's left, is just walls.

So tomorrow, we will sell those walls and take another step

deeper and more firmly into where we have been planted next.

Our destiny.

Tempe, Arizona.

Trip to Texas...Part 3: Dallas (Friday)

2012-01-10T22:27:00.000-07:00

I almost forgot...we did have the whole next day in Waco and we did get to see

some of our very best friends in the world. The Ogdens.

And Ellie got to play with them for a couple of hours.

Love how they love each other even though they hardly see each other.

Just had a couple of pics from my phone.

They found some of Jordan's old soccer jerseys.

So cute.

Look at that little Dunc. Such a sweety!

And of course it was fun and so life giving to my heart

to get time with Christy...as always.

I think we've been friends for close to 20 years.

Crazy!

Dallas.

A total whirlwind.

But so fun and meaningful and special.

We wanted to be a part of all we could.

Trav was the best man and so he was really wanting to be with Bret as much

as he could (especially since we live so far away and he hasn't been able

to be there for all the planning/preparation process).

Friday night was the rehearsal and rehearsal dinner.

The older girls were in the wedding along with Trav so it was quite the family affair.

They carried a burlap sign down the aisle that said
"Here Comes the Bride"
so here they are with the bride and groom
holding the "stand in" for that sign.

Oh my goodness...

Not ready for the day when these girls will have on

wedding dresses of their own...

Ellie with GranBear and Sarah Grace with Mimi

Jackie did a great job with the rehearsal dinner...it was beautiful

and Christmasy! So fun to be a part of a wedding at Christmas!

Here is Ellie with Aunt Libby.

Funny story: We were all staying in the same hotel and soon after we had

gotten there and were settling in Ellie somehow ended up on the elevator by

herself. It stopped a few times as it went down and some people got on,

and then when it opened at the bottom, Libby had just arrived and was standing there!

E went right to her. So thankful she knows Travis' extended family so well!

The rascals.
And they were rascals during this rehearsal dinner!

The other little cousin that was there, Paiton, sat so perfect and sweetly in

his chair. My girls were a little restless to say the least!

Proof. Mischief in the eyes.

Our family with the bride and groom.

We love Abby and are so thankful she and Bret have found each other.

We are excited that she's a part of the family!

Trip to Texas...Part 2: Waco

2012-01-09T16:56:00.000-07:00

We headed to Waco after just one night in Amarillo.

E did end up spending a large majority of her actual birthday in the car...

but there would be plenty of celebrating once we made it to Waco.

A party at Peter Piper Pizza had already been planned and both sets of grandparents,

one set of great-grandparents, an uncle, and one of Trav's cousins would all be there!

It was so much fun to get to celebrate all together...on her actual birthday.

Trav's parents and grandparents were on their way up to Dallas for

Bret's wedding, so they were able to stop in Waco for the party.

Ellie is a passionate little fireball (I think that's redundant...oh well.)

She likes a lot of things...

but she LOVES,

LOVES,

to play the guitar.

She got her first guitar when she was 19 months old...

When Sarah Grace was born she got a present when

she came to the hospital

"from Gracie".

It was a little guitar (actually, it was a ukelele).

This has been the best $30 toy that has ever been purchased.

Hands down the favorite toy for I guess 21/2 years! Crazy.

It has been played and played and played.

One time last fall it was lost...for two weeks!

And Travis found it under a pile of leaves in our backyard.

We thought it was a goner for sure...but it dried out and has been

loved just the same.

It's been the only guitar she has ever had. She's never even asked

for another one. In fact for this birthday she kept telling me that what she really

wanted was a strap for her guitar so she wouldn't have to hold it

while she stood up to play.

(Thank you Adam and Shelly, who got her the strap at her party!)

Travis and I searched everywhere...talked to Seth, our guitar expert,

and finally decided on one. As a parent, we could not wait

to see her open this gift.

She's been super expressive since she was a little baby,

so it makes it really fun to watch her face when something

exciting happens!

This one is my favorite. Sheer joy.

There she is!

Then came the cake.

She told Mimi she just wanted a big 4 on it.

And there you have it...

(Gracie's always there to help!)

Emmy and Poppy enjoying the fun!

After a few...or maybe a lot of games at Peter Piper

(Ellie loves games...and let's be honest, so does her Daddy

so he helped her use her tokens!)...

we went to to the Baylor girls game with my parents and Scott.

Papa and SG

Uncle Scotter and the birthday girl!

Look at those Baylor Bears...

That Good Ole Baylor Line.

Ellie is quite the sports fan and is becoming quite the

Baylor Bears (and Brittany Griner!) fan so this was a fun

way to end her 4th bithday!

Whew!

Lots of celebrating.

Now...on to the wedding festivities.

Trip to Texas...Part 1: Amarillo.

2012-01-08T15:03:00.002-07:00

The week after Thanksgiving we left for Texas for Travis' brother, Bret's, wedding.

We were in 4 Texas cities in just over a week.

And we drove. To all of them.

First stop. Amarillo!!

We were met with big hugs,

the sounds and smells of Christmas,

(my sister does an awesome job of decorating for Christmas)

a warm fire,

and Ruby's!

(our favorite Mexican there)

The kids ran around and played.
E found JD's stash of hats!
And SG stumbled across Allison's peppermint candy display.

Oh so delicious.

And then, since Ellie's birthday was officially the next day,
my sister had gotten her some YUMMY cupcakes to celebrate.

All the cousins.
Living so far away it was so fun for her to get to
celebrate with them.

Caroline in the background..."and many more??"

Ok...Gracie's face!! Priceless.
(guess the "wide eyed wonder" applies to birthdays, not just Christmas!)

And of course. We are at Aunt Allie's, so there were PRESENTS.
For both.
Check out those boots. So cute.

Bedtime stories read by John David.
We are SO proud of you!

And this: E's last pic as a 3 year old.

(not that I'm sentimental or anything!)

And that, was Amarillo. Just one night.
But we packed it in.
And knew we'd see them soon when we came back for Christmas.

Goodbye Thanksgiving (but we're still thankful). Hello Christmas!

2012-01-07T13:36:00.000-07:00

That's what Travis told the kids as we took down the pumpkins and started

getting ready for Christmas...

Ellie's party was over around 1:30 on the Saturday after Thanksgiving

and we knew this was our chance to get Christmas up before we left for Texas.

We had gotten tree the night before and just left it in the garage.

A beauty. Our best one ever.
Or so we thought. More on that later...

So SG is way into smells...she can catch a whif of anything before
anyone else does, sometimes even her momma which is saying A LOT.

Maybe she just has heightened senses in general...(they were using
a chainsaw to trim down our tree when I took this pic. Guess it was too
loud for her.

So after E's party we got the tree out of the garage and
started the Goodbye Thanksgiving Welcome Christmas party!

It actually ended up being a lot of fun.

It was kind of a let's do a couple of fall activities we never got to do

while Trav got the tree put up and lights on it!

We decorated pumpkins...
sad faces because the pumpkins were sad to go.

Happy faces because they are excited that we get to celebrate Christmas!
(you don't need a lot of logic with a barely 4 year old and 2 year old!)

And fall sugar cookies that were forgotten in the fridge
in the midst of the Thanksgiving week. We said Goodbye to
Thanksgiving by eating the Thanksgiving cookies...

And on to Christmas!
Helping hang the first ornaments...

Is this what they call "wide eyed wonder"

They were pretty into this...such a sweet memory.

We also got out their Christmas books and the Little People Nativity set Mimi gave them

that's always a favorite. They play with it multiple times a day during the Christmas season.

One afternoon during December I walked into the living room and found this.

Something had been added to my nativity.

For some reason I loved this. It brought me to tears when I saw it.

Ellie had done it.

It was as if she knew that her toy, her angel needed to be worshipping Baby Jesus too.

Oh that they got the message this Christmas.

Of Jesus.

Not of presents and parties and decorations.

But of Jesus.

I have sweet memories of decorating our house as a little girl growing up, then decorating our first house together as a married couple...and now it's so fun to share it our kids!

Ellie's Birthday Party

2012-01-06T14:53:00.000-07:00

So after the craziness of Thanksgiving we started getting ready for E's birthday party.

We would be in Texas for her actual birthday so we had a little party before we left.
She was SO excited about it.
It was super easy, low key, kid-friendly.

And there were KIDS at her birthday party.
Her parties were always very full, but never really full of kids!
Since Ellie was born she has never lacked for people to love on her or celebrate her.
But since we were college pastors of a young church and most of our friends didn't
have kids yet, the average age at her parties was probably 25!

So this party was very different than any she'd had before.
Trav pulled out all his best games...of course.
We played a 4 year old version of corn hole.
"Volleyball"
Limbo.

Love this 2 year old. Such a fun age. Who ever said 2's were
terrible? I think they are terrific!

Clockwise...Gracie, Hannah, Jack, Garrett (not in his seat, not pictured),

Birthday Girl, Ellie Grace, Wade, McKenna

Hot dogs for the kids, chili for the adults.

It was another perfect, beautiful Arizona day. Cool but far from cold.
The kids played outside the whole time.

Ellie Grace and Rebekah

Wade

Garrett

And of course, Emily made another fabulous cake!

So fun! Rainbow...at Ellie's request.

And then before we opened presents, Travis talked about Ellie.

I had heard a sermon from Jimmy Seibert that talked about this...

he said at each of his kids birthdays they always told the story of when that child was born

and promises they felt like God spoke over their life before they were even born.

I loved this idea, so we decided to make it a tradition.

I'm sure it may embarrass her when she's older,

but I want her to know that we rejoice in her life and are excited about who God has made her.

Even though she got a little shy, I could tell in her eyes she was beaming

as her daddy spoke so highly of her.

I so love the heart of a Daddy for his girl.

I know it is shaping who she is becoming.

And a few presents...

(love little Gracie's face, excited for her sister)

Another awesome, personalized birthday card by John.

(this is Ellie in her favorite outfit, by the way...her soccer uniform)

And the beloved BIKE from Grandmommie and Papa!

After the party she and Trav went on a bike ride together. A first of many.

He kept saying he couldn't believe he was going on bike rides

with his little girl!

She looks like such a big girl riding it!

We love you, Ellie!

You are our little light!

Catching up...Take 2. Thanksgiving

2012-01-05T01:21:00.000-07:00

Right after our weekend in Sedona we came back to a crazy Thanksgiving week.

By weeks end we would have almost 100 people come through our house for one event or another.

Lifegroup Thanksgiving party on Tuesday night which ended up being way bigger than expected...so much fun. And just like that, the holidays kicked off for us--and things never really slowed down from there. Until now...maybe!

After the party came Thanksgiving where we had 20 people come and hang out and eat with us.

I knew this season would be especially crazy for us but we really wanted to be intentional with the kids during the holidays...so we tried to make the most of our "free time".

Thanksgiving morning, once the turkey was in the oven and the table was set, we got the kids up and ran our second annual Phillips Family Turkey Trot...all the way to Bosa donuts!

As we ran we took turn saying what we were thankful for from the year...something I want us to eventually take time individually and write down, but until they can write, we'll be thankful on our Turkey Trot!

I was so impressed and encouraged by some of the things they remembered and said.
Of course they were thankful for Mommy and Daddy...and their sisters and cousins and grandparents.

They were thankful for their new friends here in Arizona.
Thankful for lots of friends in Boston.

This was one of my favorites...it came from Ellie.
She said, "I'm thankful that when we were about to leave
Boston, Mommy let me go play at Annie Kate's house
for a long time."

Trav and I looked at each other and I choked back my tears.
I never know what she'll remember about our years in Boston,
but that was a sweet reminder that she'll remember more than I think.

May she and Annie Kate be friends for years to come.

With all the cooking craziness I have very few pics.

The Thanksgiving spread...
Thanks to my sweet friend Natalie we had PW's delicious homemade rolls,
sweet potatoes (the good kind that's like a dessert), and great pecan pie!

Thanksgiving night play.
They crack us up all the time (when we're not trying to
keep them from hurting each other!).

Another fun Thanksgiving with friends.
We feel like we have so much to be thankful for this year.

Reflection on Emily's life...and mine.

2012-01-03T23:29:00.004-07:00

A year ago right now I was pacing the halls and walking the stairs of our little house on Brooksdale. Trav was getting some sleep and I was about to wake him as the contractions were getting stronger and I knew we'd need to go to the hospital soon.

My due date was the next day...and she would come right on time.

Born at 8:53am

January 4th.

(Not to recount the whole story here...but I got an epidural which didn't take at 8:15,

was at a 7 at 8:30, and with the help of too much pitocin delivered at 8:53...on the second push. Yikes.)

It's so hard for me to believe that a year has passed. I don't know that I can even comprehend much less recount all that has happened in the life of our little family since January 4th of last year.

For me, her birth marked the beginning of a crazy year. Since just 5 weeks later we would pack up and move our lives to Tempe. Via Texas and a 6 week fundraising trip.

I have felt like with each of our kids the Lord has given me a word describing what they would usher into my life personally as I loved, cared for, nurtured them. For her, the word was strength.

As I look back over this year, it is with tears that I can say that yes, she has ushered in strength.

She made a way for God to pour strength into my life like I've never experienced before.

I would not have made it through this last year without it.

He has been my rock.

He has been my strong foundation.

He has been my strength.

Everything around us started to change just after she was born.

I remember sitting on my couch nursing her and looking around my house and thinking, I don't know if I can do this. Leave everything. Go somewhere where I don't know anyone. Start completely over. Build a church.

I called a friend and shared my thoughts.

And what she said has been written on my heart ever since...

"Yes you can. Because you're about to walk into your destiny

and you don't want to miss it."

From then on, there was a conviction and resolve in my spirit that no matter how hard it got in the weeks or months to come...I was all in.

I knew my destiny in God was worth giving up everything for.

So little Emily will never know the crazy year that was her first.

But we will tell her stories of how the Lord used her to bring strength to her Momma, joy to her sisters, and even more love to her daddy.

Our lives have been turned upside down this year and she has hung on all the way through it.

She is a joy and a delight.

She is our little "rivaler" and our gift from God.

We love you, sweet Emmy.

Catching up...Team Retreat to Sedona!

2012-01-02T21:00:00.000-07:00

So I'm a month and a half behind. We'll see how I go catching up.
Bummer...I was doing so good.
Life is always busy around here, but these holidays, we were unlike any I remember
when it comes to being super busy.

BUT NOW WE ARE HOME!!
Done with traveling and Christmas parties.

Home sweet home.

I love family. I love travelling. I love the holidays.
And I LOVE coming home.
Not to the laundry and the unpacking but to life as we know it.
Our normal (we're still trying to find our normal is, but all the same...)

Here we go...back to November.

Our Team Retreat in Sedona.

When everything started rolling a few months ago we decided that three months in we would take a team retreat...to rejoice, reflect, and recoop! So in mid-November we went as a team to Sedona (about two hours north of us)...life has been full and fun in these first three months of planting the church but we were all in need of a little break.

To worship, rejoice, give thanks for all that God's done.

To enjoy the beautiful red mountains of Sedona.

To just be together as a team...

We love who God has called us to walk with. They are some of our dearest friends in the world and we love living life with them. They have become like family to us here in Arizona.

Such a beautiful view! We are loving the beauty of our state!

A hike...thanks, Adam for helping us carry the kids!

All the girls

I forgot to bring anything for Emmy to sit and eat in so we made a
"high chair" using Adam's belt! She didn't seem to mind.

Walking around the town...

Emily and Emily

Great food. Great connecting with each other. Fun games.
More memories.
We love our team!

My Emily...10 months

2011-11-16T16:00:00.000-07:00

10 months.

I can't believe how fast the months fly by.

She's still waving. All the time. To everyone.

She's still full of life.

She's still as feisty as ever.
She's tough. Not much phases her...an accidental kick, bump, etc.
She takes it all in stride.
She gets louder as her sisters get louder to make sure her voice/requests/demands are heard.
Her little blue eyes seem to get bluer
(more inquisitive, more aware) all the time.
She still doesn't sit much...on the go all the time.

She's still our littlest bundle of joy.

She's learned to worship this month.

Clapping, lifting her hands, smiling, laughing.

She and Ellie are becoming sweet buddies.
They will play on the floor together and Emily will just laugh hysterically at her.
She and Gracie are buds too, but Gracie is still learning her boundaries with her.
I'm really not able to leave them alone in the room together, ever.

There are so many bittersweet moments as a mom...you love when they grow into the next stage, but you mourn the loss of the one before (well, that doesn't apply to everything--like sleepless nights!).

I have said it before, but the middle of the night moments are more sweet than rough.
She's such a snuggler so she will just nestle in and let me hold her.
I won't have these days forever so I try and treasure them.

I love you, Emily! Happy 10 months!

Who's Who??

2011-11-14T16:26:00.001-07:00

So all my kids have worn this outfit in the fall.

Ellie and Emmy were about the same age when they wore it, SG was older

(maybe 15 months instead of 10 months)...

So see what you think...

I'll number them and then put the answers at the bottom if you want to see how you do!

1)

6) 7)

10)

11)

See how you did!!

1) Emily

2) Ellie

3) Ellie

4) Sarah Grace

5) Emily

6) Emily

7) Emily

8) Ellie

9) Emily

10) Emily

11) Ellie

(That last one was a trick one since she's doing "the raz" like SG always used to do!)

Only one Gracie...sadly that's the only pic we have of her in the pumpkin outfit!

The day we were at the pumpkin patch it was POURING down rain so we were lucky to get this one underneath a covering.

If you're a detail person this may have been super easy because we were not in the same spot with every kid. However...you see the family resemblance. Let's be honest, you see TRAVIS! :)

I'm so interested to see if they look this much alike as they get older.

(when we are out people are asking more and more if E and SG are twins!)

Happy week before Thanksgiving!!

Arizona Fall

2011-11-09T22:58:00.000-07:00

After having lived 10 years in New England and experiencing quintessential fall, Travis and I have come to love all things fall. Pumpkins, crisp, cool weather, apple picking, cider, mums, beautiful leaves and on and on.

So experiencing our first fall here in Arizona we've had a little twinge of homesickness. Not because we don't love it here...not because what we are experiencing is that different than what we grew up with in Texas in the fall, but because we got really used to the picture perfect fall in Boston.

I've been wanting to take the kids to a pumpkin patch to get some pictures for a while now and life has been so busy that we just haven't been able to do it until last Saturday.

We woke up to a cold day (cold meaning, in the 50's) and it took us forever to get out the door because I had to dig out the fall tubs of clothes for all three girls! Trav found a little place that was still open and we eventually got out the door.

It was perfect! There were no beautiful fall leaves, no apples to pick, and there were actually only four pumpkins left at the farm :( but it was everything we were wanting and the kids LOVED it. I was COLD standing out there! Fall has definitely come to AZ!

E helping move the pumpkins to one spot for a pic!

The best one we got...

There were TONS of things for the kids to do...perfect for their ages.

"train ride"

wagon ride...how we got around the farm

Bouncy House

Gracie wanted Ellie to go down with her for about the first 5 times

and then she was ok to do it by herself. I love their sweet friendship

that's forming more and more every day.

Capturing an "Ellie face" , coming off the bumpy slide

Her middle name continues to mark her life.

Brave Sarah Gracie

She won't pet a dog but she'll pet a goat??

Corn sandbox!

Pumping water...this was really fun...they loved it.

(behind is the pumpkin patch...empty of pumpkins.)

I think her duck maybe just made it to the other end!

Even something for Emmy!

Tractor ride...powered by Daddy

A fun fall day!
We experienced God's sweet blessing on our family this fall day in the desert.

More pics to come of Emmy...with the four pumpkins that were left! :)

Happy Birthday, Lauren!

2011-11-08T14:51:00.000-07:00

The day of our first service as Antioch Community Church (August 7th), Travis was at Starbucks studying and met a girl who he invited to church. She came and has since become a sweet friend to our whole family.

Ellie asks many days...is Lauren coming over today?? They love her. She and I have been able to spend a good amount of time together...she boldly loves and proclaims Jesus and is such an encouragement to me as she hungers for more of God.

I'm so thankful for those divine encounters...I have often wondered, what if Trav hadn't said hi that day at Starbucks. Thankful for the way He orchestrates our lives and thankful for Travis' obedience!!

Lauren is in grad school at ASU and while she's there she's an assistant cross country coach. Several girls on her team, as a result, come to our church. Her birthday was this week so we got to celebrate her!

Our fall patio table!

The menu: potato leek soup (the Little's recipe...one of my new favs to make)

honey chicken salad

a green salad (gorgonzola, craisins, nuts, etc)

fresh bread

YUMMY!

Texas Sheet cake

(that I actually burned...not in the oven, but on the stovetop where it was

sitting on top of a burner that was left on. ummm, still trying to get

used to an electric range. not my favorite.)

My sweet sports girl...always ready for a game.

Always ready for whatever Ellie is ready for! :)

Shaina, Lauren, Payton, Taylor, Macy

w/ SG and E

Me and Lauren

and Emmy ready for bed!

(still nursing her but she gets an extra bottle

at the end of the night.)

We love you, Lauren and are so thankful you have jumped in and loved our family.

You are a blessing to us!
Happy Birthday!

ASU Homecoming

2011-11-06T22:19:00.000-07:00

Last Saturday was a big day for us!

We love living in a college town and love getting to know so many ASU students.

Several girls from the cross country team go to our church and they had their conference meet last weekend and it was just about 45 min away so we went to cheer them on.

The girls loved watching and cheering for girls they knew! I, however, got so nervous as soon as I got out of the car...brought back memories of my own high school cross country days!

It's a 6k race but they ran lots of loops around a golf course so we were able to see them and cheer them on several times which was really fun.

Here's Macy (in the maroon and gold)

Payton

The girls with Kiki (and their little race snack!)

We have become an ASU family.

Though sometimes the girls will get confused and say...Sic 'em Bears!

(we will always be Baylor Bears in our heart)

Love the scenery behind us...the palm trees and the mountains!

After the race, we headed back to campus for the homecoming parade

and our tailgate before the game.

This was no Baylor Homecoming parade (no candy??)

but it was still really fun for the kids to wave to everyone on all the floats.

I learned real fast that Baylor's definition of a "float" is very different than ASU's.

Here the girls are waving at everyone that passed by.

Too bad Emmy was asleep in the ergo...she would have worn herself out

since she still waves at everyone and everything that moves all the time!

Back over at the tailgate.

Do you see SG??

For literally an hour she held her hands on her head

and was saying things like

"I want my bed. I want to go night night. It's too loud!"

But before you think I'm a terrible parent...it wasn't loud, at all.

There was music playing across the street at another tailgate but it wasn't loud.

Here's proof that it wasn't actually all that bad!

Some of the girls at the tailgate...the guys were into cornhole

at the time I think!

Emmy LOVED the tailgate!!

The two that didn't think it was "too loud" hanging out!

What a day!

Go ASU! :)

The World Series

2011-11-05T15:22:00.000-07:00

I'm delayed in posting this partially because life's been too crazy but partially because my heart's had to heal a little bit after the Rangers devastating World Series loss. I still don't really want to think about it...but it was a memory all the same. The rest of my family (my sister and her family, my brother, and my parents) were there but we did all we could to cheer them on from our living room.

Travis has always been a die hard Astros fan but since marrying into a Rangers family, he has loved them like his own as well! :)

I have followed them since I was really little. I have so many memories of watching games with my dad while he taught me the game of baseball, not to mention the pitching rotation, the batting order...there was a time in elementary school that I had it all memorized. It's a sweet memory with my daddy.

So in the midst of our crazy lives, we tried to take time out to watch our Rangers!

Homemade pizza and a picnic in the living room.

Then there was Game 6.

Trav is the kind of sports fan that likes to see every pitch, hear every comment, etc.

So I knew the kids and I we needed a project. Thankfully we had one...it lightened the mood (a little!) around

here in the midst of the devastating game!

Ellie helped me cut sugar cookies.

This is an amazing cut-out cookie recipe by the way...you don't even have to chill the dough.

It's the Sudan's recipe--I'll go ahead and post it here since the holidays are just around the corner!

Sugar Cookies

1 cup butter

1 cup sugar

1 egg

2 T whipping cream

2 T vanilla

1 teas almond extract

3 cups flour

1 1/2 teas baking powder

Preheat oven to 325. Cream butter and sugar. Add egg, whipping cream, vanilla, and almond all at once. (Mixture will probably curdle) Add dry ingredients. Roll out and cut out cookie dough. Bake for 8-15 min depending of thickness of the cookie. (Dough can be frozen)

Then we made baseball cookies!

Baseball with pillows for bats (during one of the earlier games when things

were a little less intense around here!)

Sadly...despite the rally caps. We coudn't pull the through for a victory.

But we're all getting over it...and we still love you Rangers!!

Birthdays Birthdays and more Birthdays!

2011-11-01T23:09:00.000-07:00

So we love to celebrate birthdays around here...and in the last month 5 of the 9

of us on our team have had birthdays. Not to mention another girl in our church that we through a party for! Emily has made lots of cakes, we have written lots of cards, we've sung Happy Birthday over and over again. It's been a fun time to let people know how much we love and value them in our lives.

After mine was Emily's.
We had yummy brownie sundaes in parfait glasses for her b'day!

Here we were celebrating John and Adam.
(whose b'days are one day apart)

Emily is definitely our resident cake maker. She's the best
at it and they are always decorated perfectly.
So, you might guess that I actually made those two
boring looking cakes below! (though they tasted delicious)
John requested a chocolate cake w/ peanut butter frosting
Adam, a reeses peanut butter cup ice cream cake.
Both of them--

After the guys was Rebekah's b'day party at our house...

carrot cake with cream cheese icing! (another yummy one, Emily!)

Rebekah, Canela, Ellie Grace, and Ellie Joy

Then the most recent one was Andy's. Look at this sign John

made for him. Do you see the "happy birthday"??

The "glowing" couple! :)

(and for the cake...chocolate with raspberry filling and ganache)

Happy birthday, friends! We love celebrating you!

And while it's been just over a week since Andy's b'day extravaganza, we have another birthday party here tomorrow night for my friend, Lauren! Always a party at the Phillips house!

Lots more from our time with the Littles

2011-10-27T14:09:00.000-07:00

The rest of our time with the Littles was so fun.

They are actually really close to everyone on our team so that was fun for everyone.

The guys have been especially close over the years. One night after Lifegroup they had a "guys" night on the back porch.

I may not post pictures of it here...but I'll say it involved Settlers, lizards (in a cup going into someone's mouth!), a another certain someone being thrown into the pool (but not with out at 30 min fight).

Emily and the kids and I were all in bed through most of it, but we did hear the hysterical laughter.

Here are some highlights from the rest of the trip:

One morning after the guys took the kids on a "run" to get donuts!

I can't remember now how many times Seth had In-and-Out when he was here...

maybe once every single day?

One morning we got to go and swim at the Stroupe's heated pool.

It was so fun and relaxing.

Emmy is in the float and Kristen is holding Lydia.

Look at that face!! Such a beautiful baby.

Emily and Gracie

Emily and Lydia

Because Seth is the worship leader at CFCF in Boston, and because he's an excellent guitarist, he and Ellie always hit it off (because she LOVES to play the guitar).
A couple of things they have in comon:
They will both just pick up a guitar and start playing any time of the day!
They both have a pick in their pocket at all times!

Love Ellie's face here.

We did a lot of hanging out around the house...so there was a lot of time to

just "play" with baby Lydia.

Is that not the sweetest face on Lydia?

Yes, I think Sarah Grace is giving Lydia a sherbert!

Gracie LOVES baby "Ydia"...she always wanted to be close to her and

when she couldn't find her she would walk around the house saying,

"Baby Ydia?"

Having Jesus time/Playing with Baby Lydia

(notice how Ellie is trying to protect her by holding Emily back!)

Literally the center of attention.

(not sure where SG's clothes are?)

Baby Emily is called "Baby" a lot around our house.

But while Lydia was here she got a new nickname...

"Big Baby"

My girls still call her that some even after Lydia has left...

The last day they were here we all loaded up and took them on a tour of campus.

Emily wanted a pic by a cactus. Sometimes I still think it's

crazy that we live in the desert. Cactus are just normal

for my kids now. Strange. But I love it!

This is a good example of how we normally all get around (especially if it's

just me and the girls.) This is how we went around campus. E is a good

sport about having the seat that's not quite as comfortable!

After a campus tour and lunch at Fuzzy's we headed over to the courtyard of a hotel
on Mill to get some pics.

All things considered, the kids ALL did great and we got some great pics.
My sister had gotten my girls these matching dresses and coincidentally Emily had gotten
the same dress for Lydia...so it was fun to get matching pics.

The best ones...
(Emily really doesn't ever want to just "sit"
so to get her to stay put was a challenge!)

And the bloopers...

Can you tell Lydia's mommy is a layed back mommy??

Her 8 week old in the hands of a 3 year old

(but a 3 year old who has had a LOT of practice)

Sorry, Lydia!

All the girls!!

Amazing...everyone is looking and we didn't have any help!

Way to go kids! :)

I think this one is so sweet of E and Lydia.

One more pic before they loaded up to leave.

Daddys with their baby girls.

They had a red eye out so we were able to leave my girls with their favorite babysitters

(Nana and Kiki) and go out to dinner before they had to leave.

Such a fun evening. We had dinner and walked around downtown Scottsdale...

My sweet friend.

So fun to get time with her and watch her with Lydia.

She's an amazing mommy.

A little far away...the guy taking it wasn't fully understanding

that he could get closer!

He just couldn't resist one more In-and-Out on the way to the airport.

Thank you, Littles for coming and seeing our life here.
Thank you for letting us meet Lydia and spend the week with her.

Thank you for being so interested in our city and in what God is doing here.

Thank you for liking it here--even with the heat!

We can't wait for your next visit!!
We love you!

When friends come to town...

2011-10-24T11:00:00.000-07:00

I have SO many pictures, not to mention thoughts and stories to share from last week...don't know if I"ll ever get it all down but I'll see how it goes.

Our close friends the Littles came to visit and again, to be with people that you've known for so long and walked through lots of life with is priceless. The Littles started becoming our good friends I think over 5 years ago. They were around before we even moved into our house on Brooksdale (actually, I think the first time we all hung out was when they showed up to help us move out of our house on Hunnewell...they always have been of the serving kind!!).

What was special about this trip was that it wasn't just our friends Seth and Emily visiting...but their family has expanded. This was our first time to see/meet/hold their sweet baby girl, Lydia Hope. She is already 8 weeks old and this was my first time to see her...I had been counting down the days! The Littles have held everyone of my babies with in a day or two of them being born...so it was about time for her to meet her Aunt Joy and Uncle Travis.

Ok...I have to get on with pics from the week or I'll never get through this!

Picking them up at the airport. My first look at Lydia!
(unfortunately this is the only pic I have with her...sad!)

The girls meeting baby Lydia for the first time.

Some People from church told us about this fun hike North of the Phoenix area and

so we decided to go try it out. So after a laid back morning catching up we headed out.

Our car was packed out with 4 car seats, 4 girls 3 and under and 4 adults!

A pit stop to Sonic on the way...

Seth and E.

SG getting a bite of ice cream from Em.

And on to Tonto Natural Bridge.

This ended up being such a fun place to hike!

Loaded up and ready to go.

This is taken from the top...I'm impressed that we made it all the way down there!

The babies getting their naps during the hike.

Once we got to the bottom we went up under the "natural bridge"

so we were underneath this waterfall. The kids loved getting out
of the backpacks and exploring on their own.

Ok, hilarious. Daddy hiked and the girls just held on.

They of course loved it, though. Anything with their daddy.

If you look close you can see them.

I have no idea how he got them way over there.

Emmy and I hanging at the bottom.

Emily and Lydia.

My girls love the Littles.

They have been such a big part of their lives since they were born.

Cool shot, Seth.

The Little Family

That was day one with the Littles!

Emily--9 months...and other thoughts

2011-10-21T11:31:00.001-07:00

These days fly by. And I want to cherish what's before me.

Like how tonight Gracie is sleeping with a puzzle piece.
(last night it was a book, sometimes it's a horse...)

And today Ellie brought me a one of my shoes that had broken and was sitting in the hallway.
She said, "Mom, look what I didn't do!"

Or how last night at Lifegroup I observed this: SG was playing with a purse and one of the
kids told her, "No, that's Ellie's purse"
and Ellie answered back for her saying, "No, it's her's too. If I have something, it's Gracie's
too. If she has something, it's mine too. We share all this."

Some people may think that's sad that she doesn't have stuff that's just hers.
But I love it.
May she always live like this.
(ps...this has been MONTHS in process. and we just might be finally starting to get there)

Or how Ellie came in to me during her "rest time" (the time of the day when her sisters
are sleeping and she's supposed to be reading books, coloring, working puzzles...
but Trav and I have decided that she must be extroverted seeing as how
she comes out every 10 min...we're working on it!).
But she came in and said,
"At Bible Study we sang that song you used to sing to me when I was little."
And she proceeded to sing all of "Tis So Sweet".

On to little Emily,
I really like to write a little bit about her each month and I'm behind
(no surprise) on this one since she's now 9 1/2 months. Oh well.

She gets more and more fun every day. I LOVE this stage.
She's so interactive and the most smiley little thing.

Definitely a little go get 'er!
You set her on the ground and she doesn't "sit", she goes,
immediately.
She's not so much the type to "sit and play with toys"...
oh no, she'd rather go scavenge around the kitchen floor to find stuff to put in her mouth,
or go try and jump in with her sisters while they wrestle
(yes, they do wrestle, it's hilarious, I have to get it on video),
or go find something interesting to do
(like climb up onto the bouncy seat where baby Lydia Little sits...more on her later)

As one can imagine, bath time
She crawls all over the place (IN the bath tub!), splashes every one and every thing.
She is making herself known!
And she's about to give her sisters a run for their money I think!!

To say she is active would be an understatement!
Spunky would maybe be a more accurate word.

In terms of developmental milestones:

at 8 months she had 2 teeth

at 9 months, she has 6!

Yes, there were a couple of sleepless nights in there.

One in particular.

She went to bed with 2 teeth and woke up with 4. Literally.

(and she/we, were awake most of the night to welcome them in!)

She is standing up a lot, not by herself but holding on with one hand...

and usually waving with the other.

Her other favorite past time:

Waving.

And I have to say, it's the cutest wave I've ever seen!

She can hear Travis say, "ok, where's my backpack." And she'll start waving!

Or when I put her down for a nap sometimes, towards the end of Jesus Love Me...

she starts waving to me!

She is finally sitting in the high chair, graduated from the Bumbo.
She loves being in it and is a great eater.

We love you Emmy! Happy 9 (and a half) months!
You add so much life to our family!!

Antioch Tempe is on the Move!

2011-10-17T08:30:00.000-07:00

So we just finished our second service in our new space. We were meeting in our home for the first 9 weeks but we had more than outgrown the house. We desperately needed a new place and God opened the doors for us to meet right across the street from campus on Mill Avenue in the Tempe Woman's Club building. It's perfect for what we need right now and it's been so fun to be in a place where we have more room!

One fun testimony from the move was this...in the house, we were so packed in that there was never any room for anyone to respond (go to the front for prayer, get on their knees, etc). So we really felt like we needed to move even if just to give space for that (though we also were starting to need more room for people to sit as well). Anyway--during our first service in the new place after Trav preached he explained the response time...and the front was flooded with people who wanted prayer or just wanted to respond to God in a more personal, demonstrative way. We were so encouraged!!

A couple of people asked me if it was bittersweet to be ending the first "season" of our church by moving out of our house...and as much as I loved opening our home and meeting here, there was no "bitter" in the move! It was all sweet! I will always love and cherish those early days...but I don't know that I'll forget how crazy those Sundays were trying to get everything ready to roll for church. (especially since we did dinner here for everyone every week...it was crazy.)

I tried to document our last service with pictures but didn't do a great job...mainly because the oven caught on fire at the end of the service with dinner in it! (it was ok...we used my neighbors oven and everyone got to eat. yikes!)

prayer before the service

getting the food ready

worship practice

sending reminder texts about church tonight

the first antioch kids "room"

our friendly greeters! (canela,,,and emily at the door)


this pic was actually taken at our first service in the house... this shows this front half of the room

what's left of the food!

my girls have really loved having church at their house,

but they were excited for the change too.
tonight we pulled up for church at the new building and
Gracie said, "my church!"

sarah grace, ellie, and their friend ellie grace

And here are pics of the new place! We're believing it to be a place where we see God meet us and radically change us. A place where students can easily find us. A place where community is established and lifelong friends are made. Lord do it in our midst! We can't wait to see it unfold!

ellie and shelly greeting

So here we go! From Riviera Dr to Mill Ave...and from here who knows? But we LOVE this next location God has called us too. And are expectant to see what he does here!

Team Phillips...at it again! (and Oktoberfest)

2011-10-14T15:22:00.003-07:00

Another Phillips family 5k!

This is our second race to do as a family and I still say it's one of my favorite family events while our kids are these little ages. I never would have thought that would be true...3 kids 3 and under in a race? But they LOVE it and so do we!

Trav told them about it the day before (because he found out about it and signed up for it the day before...true Phillips style!). Travis told them we'd get up early in the morning and go. Ellie immediately said, "Ok, let's go to bed!" First of all the words, "Let's go to bed" have never ever come out of Ellie Phillips' mouth...but the fact that it was 5pm made it even more hilarious.

They were really pumped about it because they were going to get their own bib numbers and chips for their shoe...and their own shirts. They absolutely loved it.

Pre-race stretches

Assuming their positions for the start...

We made it! We got the big girls out of the strollers for the last 25 yds or so and let them run across the finish line themselves. We all held hands and did it together...wish I had a pic of that!

They did a great job of cheering on "Team Phillips" along the way!

Getting some water after a good race!
(this is Gracie's first time sporting the piggies...so cute!)

They each got their very own medals!

This was Emily's second race as well and she did great!

The race was a the kick off for Oktoberfest in Tempe so we stuck around for the rest of the morning for some of the events and activities.

Such a fun family Saturday morning especially in the midst of the busyness of our lives right now. I love doing things that teach the kids that our family is a team...we are all in it together. We really value this idea. Always for each other, helping each other, working together, supporting each other...etc. What better way to build this in than a family race!

Happy Fall

2011-10-13T14:06:00.001-07:00

The weather is changing around here!

We have loved the summer--even with all it's heat...

but the brisk mornings and cool evenings are a welcomed break.

Travis was at it again with his creative ideas (thank you, Jackie for instilling/modeling this for him growing up...it's shaping our family fun times!)

He took the girls on a quick little morning run to get donuts at this yummy place close by.
They had their slippers, hoodies, blankets...made me a little nostalgic for our Boston days.

Then we all ate breakfast on the back porch and enjoyed the cool weather!

Hello Arizona fall! We love you!

My Mom's Visit

2011-10-12T20:31:00.001-07:00

I am sad that I have so few pics form when my mom was here, but that's probably because we were moving full steam ahead with life here and she was just coming behind us and cooking, cleaning, going to the grocery store, doing dishes, playing with the kids, allowing me to go to campus and meet with girls. She even slept on the trundle bed in the girls' room and never complained about it!

I was a huge help for me...but we didn't do a lot of "fun" stuff (though she would tell you "fun" for her was cooking for us, going to the grocery store and finding good deals--then going back again, sitting a reading a new story to the girls, etc). But we did take one day and packed in a ton of stuff that we all loved.

We started at the Children's Museum in the morning, ate lunch there, then drove over to meet the team at our the new building where we're starting to have church. Then that evening we went to a fun train park in Scottsdale...and THEN we went to Yogurtland! Wow. We packed it in.

Children's Museum.

We have a great one here. The kids love it.

E looks so old to me here!

At the Scottsdale train park.

I don't even have any pics of her with Emily, but they were for sure buddies.
My girls love their Grandmommie (or Mimommie as Gracie still calls her).

She really does serve us tirelessly from the time she walks in our front door.
Thank you, Mom!!

North Carolina Weekend

2011-10-09T22:02:00.001-07:00

A recap of our quick little trip to North Carolina.

Trav's cousin, Adam was getting married.
We just took Emily.
It was so sweet to get time with just us and her.
We loved it! (and so did she I think)

We got to spend time with Jackie and Randy
and Bret and his fiance, Abby.

I actually didn't get near as many pictures as I wanted
because my camera battery died soon after we got there
and we had to go find a place to buy a charger
(since I forgot mine).

Emmy being entertained by her Poppy

I love this little face!! She's looking at her Daddy.

The wedding was in Wilmington which is right on the coast
so yes, that's the ocean behind us! A special treat!

A VERY common sight during the weekend. Me holding Emily.
She was really wanting Mama the whole time...a new little phase for her.
Here's she's sound asleep at the reception.

Travis' aunt Patsy dancing with the groom (her son) and looking at her
husband as he comes to cut in and take her from his son.
Trav captured her sweet face!

Patsy giving a great exhortation to the newlyweds.

Gran! (or GranBear as Ellie named him)
We also got to spend time with one set of Travis' grandparents.
Such a sweet thing that I inherited when I married Travis.
I adore all four of his grandparents. Mine have all
passed away, so I love getting time with them.
They are so very dear to us.

The growing Phillips family. Jackie, you are not outnumbered any more!

Bret and Abby.
So fun to get more time with them. Wish they lived closer.
Abby and I got a little time to connect here and there...I'm really
excited she'll be a part of the family.

The "kids" with Ene and Gran.

It's crazy how calm things are when you just have one little one
around. It really was a refreshing time for us.
A bike ride to the beach (umm, I think you actually CAN forget how
to ride a bike...I was struggling! Sad!
But pretty funny, honestly),
a walk on the beach, just being with him. It was a great weekend.

For Caroline...

2011-10-06T17:08:00.000-07:00

We went to this concert a couple of weeks ago. Travis' really good friend from seminary, Joe Piver was in town. He's an agent for Casting Crowns, Sanctus Real, and the Afters all of who were playing in Phoenix. He got us tickets and backstage passes.

Trav and Joe

I didn't know the Afters were going to be there until right before I was about to shake their hands. My niece, Caroline LOVES the Afters. So we took this pic for her.

Here they are...Light, Light, Light Up the Sky.

It was a fun night...but wish Caroline could have been there with us!