Baby Girl Phillips

Natalie had her baby this morning and she said I can post a picture of her on my blog. I feel so honored!!! Natalie got to the hospital at 6:00 and had her at 8:26. She weighed 7 lbs and is 19 1/2 inches long. She has lots of dark hair. In certain light it has a bit of red in it. I think she looks a lot like Garrett. She pulls her bottom lip in just like Garrett did when he was a baby but not quite as bad. They haven't decided on a name for her yet. Mom and baby are doing great. What a beautiful baby she is!!!

A Great Escape

Kyle and I spent the weekend in St. George with my family and Susan and Craig. We left after work on Thursday and came home on Monday afternoon. Dad has a friend who owns a couple of apartments and he let us rent one for the weekend. On Friday we drove into Las Vegas and spent the afternoon at the outlet stores. They had great sales and it would have been easy to spend a ton of money but we practiced restraint. On the way home we drove through Mesquite and found out they had a big antique car show going on for the weekend. As soon as Dad and Kyle discovered that they knew where they were spending the next day so they disappeared on Saturday and spent the day wandering through it. While they did that the rest of us met Mary Ann, Kathy, Kim and her girls for lunch at the Pizza Factory and went to some more stores.

On Sunday Ted and MaryAnn fixed us a delicious dinner and we spent the evening visiting. Depression set in for all of us as we realized we had to go home the next day. Monday morning before hitting the road we met Roy and the Twiggs at The Cracker Barrell for breakfast. It was a warm, nice, relaxing weekend and I think we all needed the break. Natalie cooperated by not going into labor. We appreciate her accomodating us with that. We are all so excited to meet the newest member of the family, but we can wait until a little closer to her due date.

Our 1st Christmas

We started off our Christmas celebration at the Maughan/Wright party on Christmas eve at the Tabernacle in Wellsville. We had a big turnout and got to spend the evening with lots of family we don't see very often. It was a lot of fun.

Christmas morning we got up and opened our presents to each other before journeying all the way across the backyard to Mom and Dad's house. There we discovered more presents and a enjoyed a delicious breakfast prepared for us by Dad. After breakfast we headed to Salt Lake and meet up with the Willis crew at Kyle's parents where we discovered even more presents and more delicious food. Our families really spoiled us this year and we appreciate it more than words can express.

I made some discoveries on Christmas. I discovered that my brother-in-law Darren shares something in common with my Dad in they apparently both wear bizarre outfits that have no explanation. I also discovered why our house has been overrun with flashlights since Kyle moved in. He and the other boys in the Willis family get some sort of flashlight every year for Christmas. This year they received ball caps with little LED lights in the brim of them and their names embroidered on the back. They look like they could be really handy for camping.

I love the Christmas season and I'm sad to see it end. I love the lights, the decorations, the music, the snow, and especially the feeling of love for each other that is in the air. It doesn't always seem to be as noticeable at other times of the year. Thank you all for your love this past year with the wedding and everything else. It means a lot to know we have friends and family who love and support us. I hope you all had as wonderful of Christmas as we did.