Mesquite for Christmas

My dad got a condo in Mesquite, being the almost mid point between us in AZ and them in UT. The kids and I always love our time with Opa and Grammy and this trip was no exception. It rained almost everyday in Mesquite, so we got to enjoy hanging out together at the condo. The kids were thrilled. They played with their new toys, Daniel played Angry Birds on Opa's newly won iTouch, and we hung out with cousins, uncles and Aunt Jen! It was a perfect week. Lynn took Rylie and I to get a pedicure and we all got Christmas sparkle toes. We also went up to St. George for lunch with Aunt Jen and cousins Jordie and Miah, followed by a day of hanging out together in Mesquite. Jen, Lynn and I went to Bingo that night and both Jen and Lynn were big winners!
My brothers Joe, Jonny, Dave and James came down the 22nd to play games and hang out. We had such a fun time!
Highlights were Jonny's enthusiasm at winning Bingo, shouting with gusto and even standing up (most people just raise their hand and shout out Bingo quietly), realizing that Jonny doesn't know how to show 2 fingers without including his thumb, playing games and laughing hysterically, winning $50 myself in Bingo, sleeping all night while Joe took Wyatt feeding duty (saving me from being exhausted for my drive home). Daniel's highlight was playing Angry Birds with his uncles. They all were taking advantage of 3 iPhones, playing any downtime they had.
Thanks Opa and Grammy for putting together such a fun trip and thanks bros for being willing to drive to Mesquite to see me:) (and have a great round of golf too).

First snow

I went to Mesquite with the kids to be with their Opa and grammy at a condo the week before Christmas. I will post more about this later. On the way home I somehow missed our turn to highway 93 and kept going on I-40 straight into Flagstaff. I realized my mistake soon after missing the exit, but I also realized that there was snow in Flagstaff and thought the kids would get a thrill playing in it. I decided to trek onward and soon enough we were surrounded by snow. For those non-Arizonans this is a thrill for us who live in the valley of the sun and NEVER experience snow. Both Daniel and Rylie were more than excited to jump out of the car and play. Daniel soon realized that snow is cold and complained that it was just ice and made his hands and feet hurt. Rylie never complained and seemed to enjoy every minute of her experience. Notice the fabulous snow worthy outfits they have on- Rylie with only red princess shoes (no socks), light jacket and socks for gloves. Daniel had on shoes with holes, socks for gloves and pajamas. Luckily we had a change of clothes to get them warm quickly.

Christmas time at the Phelps 2010

Once again, Christmas was a success here in the Phelps household. Each of the kids were thrilled with their presents. Highlights were:
Wyatt got a Dinosaur rocker that makes noises. He has to fight with Rylie to get a turn.
Rylie got a My Twinn doll that looks just like her. She loves it, almost too much. She especially loves brushing her hair and had her hair ruined within an hour of opening up the present. The brush is now confiscated, but her Twinn (Kylie) is never too far away. Thanks Oma for the fantastic gift.
Daniel got a Wii for Christmas. He loves games and has been thrilled playing this all Christmas long (it came a little early since Santa knew he had been a very good boy)
Darin and I treated each other to a 2 year membership to 24 Hour Fitness. We are both eager to finally get in shape and feeling healthier. Wish us luck!

My son the daredevil

So, it is official. Daniel is a complete rollercoaster junkie. We went to the AZ state fair and this was his favorite ride. Can you see his huge smile. He loved it so much he wanted to go again and again (unfortunately we only had a limited number of rides pass-- so two times was all he got). Ah, the fun Darin and Daniel will have at Legoland this Thanksgiving!

Costumes, costumes everywhere

When it comes to Halloween our kids have it made. Each year they get to enjoy multiple Halloween parties due to me having a preschool, them attending another preschool, dance class, church parties, etc... Daniel always takes full advantage and has a different costume for each activity. This year the list included a samarai, Buzz Lightyear, and Mr. Incredible. Rylie was so cute as a ladybug that she just was able to wear it multiple times.
The first party for Rylie was her dance class. The girls all looked so cute in their costumes. Rylie cracked me up the entire dance class since she basically stood like a deer in headlights. I guess the costumes combined with dance steps was just too much for her.
The preschool party at my preschool was fun as always. The kids made their own pretzel ghosts and pumpkin rice crispie treats, created fun crafts, and had a Halloween parade. Don't they all look so cute dressed up. Nothing makes preschoolers happier than a day in costume with lots of treats!
Rylie fell asleep at her preschool party (I guess the week was just too much fun for her). Her teacher told me she fell asleep while everyone was singing and dancing. I can just imagine her collapsing on the spot.
We also attended a street block party and our ward trunk or treat. So much fun was had by all. Halloween is such a fun holiday. We look forward to next year, especially since I pillaged Walmart's clearance rack of costumes and now have an entire trunk full of fun Halloween costume options.

Fall fun!

We had a great October celebrating fall and Halloween. It was wonderful this year to be able to have Darin around now that he is out of school. We took full advantage and tried a number of fun outings and activities to celebrate the coming of great weather and holidays. Many of our family nights consisted of making caramel apples and carving pumpkins (notice that Daniel and Rylie got impatient and ended up drawing on their pumpkins first with magic markers prior to carving). We went to the Schnepf Farms Pumpkin Patch where we enjoyed rides, go carts, corn maze, etc... Oh, it is so nice when the weather starts to cool down and we can finally enjoy being outside once again. I think fall is becoming a favorite season around our home. (Sorry photos are in random order, but you get the idea)

We are moving!

We soon will have a new address. If you would like to update your address book, let us know and we will send it your way. We just got word this past week from our new landlord that he accepted our application over a number of others, including someone who offered to pay a year in advance. We feel so blessed and excited. The best part is he said he would give us the keys by this weekend, but won't start charging us rent until Dec. 1st. That means we can take our time to move since I will continue teaching preschool here in Maricopa until Dec. 17th. We will probably make the main move Thanksgiving weekend so we can be all set up for Christmas for the kids. The new place is just under 2000 sq. feet with 4 bedrooms, 2 baths and an awesome backyard. I am so excited that Daniel will go to a great school and we are only about 5 minutes from Darin's work. We are also in the middle of everything so no more driving 20 minutes just to get to town for any shopping beyond groceries. Here are some pictures:

Rylie's dance class

Now that Rylie is 2, she is old enough to go to dance. She absolutely loves it. She has her own little bag that holds her tap shoes and ballet shoes and she carries it proudly around. There is nothing more adorable than seeing a little girl dance. Her teacher is great and does the cutest things with them. Here are a few videos I took of her on her first day in class:


At first Rylie had no idea what to do. (aren't the other girls in the class absolutely adorable too?)


She slowly started getting the hang of things. And now she just loves it!

Winner of the cupcake wars

I'm proud to announce that I was part of the team that won in our ward cupcake wars. We actually were trying for a green monster, but it turned into the Green M & M lady. We got the matching aprons as our prize. Ah, the joy of winning! (I actually voted for #5, I thought the Sesame Street creatures were very well done).

The hard part of traveling with kids

By the end of the week of fun activities in Palm Springs, the kids were exhausted. On Sat. before heading home we decided to try out the local swap meet. Although it was fun to see all the neat booths- the kids really couldn't get the idea of hands off. They quickly got tired to walking around and all ended up melting down at once.
They did enjoy trying on a few hats first, but when Rylie tried to run away from taking a picture and ended up running into a shelf, that was the end for her.
I finally had to have Wyatt in the Baby Bjorn, Rylie on my shoulders and Daniel begging her help at my feet. A true human totem pole. Ah the joy of being a mom at that moment.

I usually don't mind driving with the kids. There are some moments of crying, but overall the kids do well. This trip on the other hand was awful. Daniel has had a bad habit of undoing his seat belt while we are driving, so after finding him wandering around the back of our car I switched his seat back to a toddler seat. This then set him off into 2 hours of screaming. He wouldn't stop. I finally had to get it on video because it became funny. This clip is the best because Rylie is next to him making fun of him crying and Wyatt decided to join in. In that 2 hours, much of it all 3 were crying hysterically. Ah, the fun.

By the time I got home, I was so ready for another break. Darin was great and took over. It sure has been nice this week to have fall break where I could recuperate from my last day in Palm Springs.

Palm Springs

The first week in October Daniel, Rylie, Wyatt and me headed to Palm Springs for a week with Opa and Grammy. We had such a fantastic time of playing, swimming, shopping, and enjoying each others company. My kids love Opa and Grammy and were in heaven spending time with them.
Here are some highlights of the trip:
Shopping at the outlet malls! I got a new purse and the kids got new warmer outfits. It was surprisingly cold there (especially coming from 100's in Phoenix) so we decided to get the kids some warmer clothes. Rylie went with us and was hilarious. She loves her I LOVE DADDY shirt. She begs to wear it everyday. When I put on her new long sleeved shirt she threw a major fit and only was consoled when I put her I LOVE DADDY shirt on top of it. Do you see her beaming smile in this picture? She was thrilled!



We also went to the zoo. The neatest part of the zoo was their huge train track. It had all the major landmarks of AZ including the grand canyon, small towns, etc...









Rylie didn't want to wear her headband so Wyatt became my new headband holder. He didn't mind much, although he did get a ton of comments of what a cute kid he is.









The highlight of our trip was going to Legoland. Daniel was beyond excited to go since one of his favorite activities is building with Legos.
Daniel was able to battle Darth Vader!
They posed with a pumpkin!






Rode on a safari past African animals!


Attacked alligators and frogs!

rode fancy cars!















They were the best firefighters ever with Opa and mom powering their truck, Daniel having perfect aim at the roaring fire and Rylie being a great co-captain just in case of emergency.
We watched a show all about fire safety!
Flew planes!
But the true highlight was the splash pad. It was absolutely huge with tons of fun waterfalls, buckets, etc... Daniel and Rylie were thrilled with this place and got drenched. Luckily there was a swimsuit stand nearby where we could buy them something dry to wear since it was pretty chilly outside (high 60s).
Daniel got all close and personal to this absolute stranger. He loved spraying the oncoming boats and just laughed and laughed. This lady was so cute with him.
After spraying all the boats, he was set on being a target. In support of him I went with him, but declared the entire ride that this just proves how much I love him (did I mention it was chilly outside). Luckily we didn't get too drenched so it ended up being fun.
The highlight of the trip for Opa was these deep fried apple fries with cream sauce. They actually were pretty tasty and we all enjoyed a treat.
Of course Wyatt and Rylie were exhausted by around 3. Luckily the baby bjorn still can support Rylie's 26 pounds- so she went into the baby bjorn while Wyatt got the stroller.
At the end we visited the different Lego cities. They were amazing. Daniel was very disappointed that we decided to visit these instead of go on rides.

We are planning on heading back to Legoland for Thanksgiving so Darin can experience the fun of seeing Daniel's delight while at Legoland. It really is the perfect place for a creative 4 year old. Thanks Opa for taking us!