I asked for it!!

All my kids have been sick the past few days. Creighton stayed home from school today, and Bennett and Morgan have had pretty nasty coughs. Tonight Bennett went to bed while Creighton, Morgan and I were watching a little bit of American Idol. He was coughing pretty bad so he got up and asked if he could have "some really good medicine..not just a cough drop" so I found some cough suppressant in the cupboard and gave him the syringe. He asked, "does it taste bad?" And I replied, "yeah, I'm sure it does." He took maybe 1 ml of it and announced that he felt better already and he didn't need to take the rest. I told him that he wasn't going to be able to sleep if he didn't take all of it so I pretty much made him take the rest. I took the syringe and he reluctantly let me squirt it into his mouth. As soon as he swallowed he started gagging....and up came dinner.

Yup...I asked for it. Sorry buddy.

Lay off me...I'm STARVING!!!

I do not like hamsters. Ever since my little sister's hamster ATE...yes ATE the other hampster, I have been grossed out by them. Creighton decided he wanted to buy a hamster with his own money. I was totally against it, and vowed that if he got one, I would not be responsible for it. I would not feed/water it, clean out its cage, and I would not look for it when it went missing (which by the way has happened twice now.)

Well, if you have ever had one, you know that it doesn't take very long before they stink up your house. Creighton was having a hard time remembering to clean out its cage. Being the stubborn mule that I am...I would not clean out the cage. I would also notice that it would go weeks without food or water...but I made a promise, and I wasn't going to break it. The first few months we had the hamster, as soon as it started to stink, I would put the cage out in the garage. Well that got even worse, because...out of sight, out of mind. By this time it was getting pretty cold outside, so the garage was pretty cold too. Every couple of weeks, Creighton would ask his Dad to help him clean out the cage. Then the cage would come inside for about a week until I couldn't stand the stench anymore...then out to the garage again. But...I was not breaking down...besides its only a rodent (or something)

Anyway...about a month ago, I started to feel bad for the little rodent and I said "Enough is enough" and I told Creighton that if he could not take responsibility for his pet, then I'm sure there was another boy who would love to have a hamster that would take care of it. I showed him how to clean out the cage without making a mess, got him some rubber gloves and such and we set aside Tuesday as the day the cage would get cleaned. He has done pretty good, with a few reminders here and there. However he does still forget to feed and water it. Today I helped him clean out the cage, and I don't think the dang thing had gotten food since last week, so of course we refilled his food bowl. About 5 minutes later this is what his cheeks looked like. The poor thing probably is thinking he better save up in case he doesn't see food for another week. If only it knew the strech marks it will have after...LOL.

My Beauty

Morgan is eight years old!!! She is getting baptized next week, and this is one of the many photos we had taken for her baptism. These are some of my favorites.

"Its a balmy 7 degress out there."

We went to Idaho to see Adam's parents the weekend after Xmas. It was soooo cold there, and of course it seemed even colder to us because we have been used to St. George. But to Adam's Dad, Dennis, 7 degrees is "warm". Yes thats right warm. They are used to 10-20 degrees below zero. But yeah-there we were, out sledding in the "balmy 7 degrees" as Dennis says. No kidding though, it was a lot of fun. We just bundled up and once you hike up the hill, go down, hike back up, and again and again, you are sweating. The kids were having so much fun, they didn't want to stop to warm up. By the time we got back to the truck Morgan's hands and feet were pre-frostbite. She was crying because they hurt so bad.

We were trying to get a pic of all the guys. Adam was being silly and doing a Zoolander pose. So funny.
All the Phillps Grandkids.

Happy New Year!!!

New Years Eve 2008, we went to St. George's "First Night". I took the kids 2 years ago, but Adam couldn't come because he had just had back surgery. This year we all had so much fun. Our favorite was the magician. He did the same show as 2 years ago, but who can remember 2 years ago??? Probably not the kids, so it was all good.

There was a display of Kokopelli's that were painted differently so the kids picked out their fave and posed in front of them. Cool!!!

Notice the bare tootsies on Morgan. She wore her ballet shoes without socks, which was fine until she took them off to go on the bouncy slide. They got frozen, and she spent the rest of the time on Adam's shoulders with her feet in his coat pockets trying to warm them up.

It was perfect because they had fireworks at 10:00 pm and 12:00 so families with kids could still see the display even though they had to leave early to go to bed. Our kids probably could have stayed up, but it was freakin cold so we left after the 10:00 show.

There were clowns making balloons for free...of course "tips are appreciated."

"The Day My Mom Saved My Life" by Morgan Barker

All the kids entered Reflections this year. The theme was Wow!!! Creighton and Bennett did Visual Arts and Morgan did Literature. Morgan ended up being a finalist in her school in the Literature category. Tonight we had an award ceremony where all the finalists were honored. Morgan wrote a story, and it is handwritten and all in her own spelling and grammar. Here is the story, just like she wrote it:

The Day My Mom Saved My Life by Morgan Barker

Based on a true story

I was jumming on the trampoleen with my brother then he went inside. A few minets later I fell in between two springs and hit my head on the wall and got stuck. I was haning upside down with my head barly touching the ground. I was crying and crying for help. then a thout entered my head saying say a praery. So I did. It was three days befor my step dads birthday. My mom was tring to hid a present because it was almost my step dads birthday She thout ubout hiding it in the garauge but somthing told her to put it outside. She followed the coice inside her head to put the present outside. She did. Wile she was doing that, she heard crying and she found me hanging there. She took me inside. Allthough I was outside hanging for thirty minets. My feet were tingling like crazy cause my legs were bent. After she took me inside she rubbed my legs, and feet. After a wile I felt better. then my head started to hert. She rubbed my head and I felt better for the rest of the day WOW! I am glad my mom saved my life!!!

We are so proud of her.

Here Mousy Mousy.

I discovered last night that we have an unwanted guest in our kitchen. Under my sink I found little mouse poops, uggghhh. I'm sure the little mouse has been having a blast rummaging through our garbage. After I cleaned everything up, I went to the store and got old school mouse traps. I was thinking, there is no way a mouse is going to be this stupid. Haven't mice evolved by now to know not to go there? But sure enough, in the morning, we had to have a little mouse funeral (not really, I just threw him in the garbage can.) SUCKA!!!! I was going to take a picture of the dead mouse, but I thought I might get hate mail from animal activists. If there are mouse lovers out there I'm truly sorry...lol.