New Years Eve

Today is MY BIRTHDAY! I'm always asked how I feel about having my birthday so close to Christmas, and especially on New Years Eve. Honestly, my parents made sure everything was kept seperate so I always had plenty to go around! ;) They would even take all the ornaments off the Christmas tree and decorate it with balloons and streamers! That's probably one of my fondest memories of growing up, actually. I knew my parents wanted to make my day special and they always did! They never went out on New Years Eve either, even though I told them it didn't matter to me, haha! My husband also makes sure I'm treated extra special on my birthday too, thanks babe! I always say that everyone celebrates my birthday too...you didn't know it, but really you are! Cause I'm a cool kid, and you're all celebrating that I'm here!So this year I decided that since its been well over 10 years that I've had a "birthday tree" I would do one for myself! ;) Here it is! This one is for you Mom and Dad! :D

Double the Trouble!!

Happy Father's Day to Jake and our Dads, and Happy Birthday to Gwynie! For the first time in 10 years, Gwynie's birthday fell on Father's Day! It was super fun celebrating the special occasion because we had so much to celebrate!

We went out to Jake's Mom and Dad's for a BBQ, and we took the cake that my friend Sharon had made for Gwynie.

Now, you all know how sarcastic I can be, yes? No?! Gee, you must not know me at all!! Well I really am, and I'm quite the smart ass. Yep, shocker I know. So here's a fun little story for ya about how I can actually be NICE sometimes! Yeah, I heard that...you just fell out of your chair. Its ok, just pick you and your jaw up off the floor now....

My Father-in-law Wayne has a certain way to put a hamburger together. Something about how the mayo goes on the top bun and the ketchup goes on the bottom bun, or...I don't know something along those lines. Everything has to be in a certain order and if its not in that order he says it doesn't taste right. He calls it the "Perfect Burger". So here was the convo as me, Jake, Dustin (Jake's older brother) and Wayne were putting our burgers together.

Wayne: (to us) You're doin it wrong! That's not the way it goes!

Dustin: Its ok Dad. At least one of your kids knows how to make a burger the right way. I know perfection when I see it.

ME: Well then I must know perfection when I see it too, because I married JAKE!!

*Kandi and Jake high five*

Score bonus points for me on Father's Day!! Wooo! :)

Alright, enough of the chitty chat for now, here are my favorite pics from the day! :) How I managed to not get any of Jake and both kids is beyond me...

Gwynie is modeling her new jewelery my Mom made for her! The necklace, bracelet and earrings are so cute!

Gwynie and her froggy cake!

Gwynie Turns 10!!

Gwynie "officially" turns 10 tomorrow, and we feel sooooo OLD!!! Today she got to have a party with her friends and celebrate the day! Unfortunately it rained, which was a total bummer because we had reserved a pavilion at the outdoor pool! Never has this ever been a problem, but of course with all the weird weather going on...

We moved the party to the indoors pool and the girls had a blast swimmin around! Brady got to bring his best friend Taylor, and our friends Sharon, Dru and their kids all come as well. It was so much fun!

Here are a few pics from the day!

This was a card her friend Autumn made for her. It says, Happy 10th Birthday, with a 10 dollar bill! What a cool idea!

Also, just something really random. We have snails in our flowers beds like crazy! Later that night this little guy showed up, and was just making his slow way across the steps back to the flower beds. Gwynie thought it was really cool!

For My Husband

Wednesday was Jake's birthday, and since today is Valentine's Day I thought I would make a "special" post for him. (Hehe, if you got the special bit...yay for you! Fun family joke!)

So, here are 10 random facts about my hubby!

For My Husband

1. Jake's Mom's due date was actually Valentine's day. His Aunt told his Mom if he was born on V-day then they should name him Valentino. Good thing he was born on the 11th!

2. Jake wrestled for 15 years! He started at 5 and ended his season at Western at the age of 20, after undergoing knee surgery. He had his knee scoped and that ended his career. While in High School Jake went to Regionals twice, once to Pennsylvania, and once to North Carolina. He's really excited for Brady to start wrestling next month!

3. Jake has no middle name. I tell him his middle name is "Mine" to which he just says, "Yes Dear."

4. Jake is a true sports man. He can recall obscure facts about any sport (well maybe not hockey...but then again who does?) and rattle them off at any given point. He can also tell you the stats of almost every player.

5. Jake is a horrible speller. I think all the sports info blocks that part of his brain. :)

6. His Mom and my Mom are the only ones who call him Jacob. I do occasionally, mostly when I'm mad at him. But then it's Jaaaccoooobbb, because I'm whining at him.

7. In my Anatomy and Physiology class in high school I named my fetal pig Jake. Coincidence?

8. Jake HATES tomatoes. It's all about the texture. He says I've poisoned the kids because they love tomatoes. He will eat things with tomatoes in them, but never a slice or a cherry tomato itself.

9. Jake is a sleepwalker. His Mom tells us about the time when he took out the garbage in his sleep. Why can't he do that now??

10. Jake is an amazing cook. If it wasn't for him we wouldn't eat...or we would eat cereal a lot!


I saw this on my cousin Melissa's blog awhile back, so here it is!

1. What is his name? Jacob "Mine" Phillips
2. Who eats more? He does
3. Who said "I love you" first? Totally Him
4. Who is taller? About even, but him by an inch
5. Who is smarter? Of course me... duh
6. Who is more sensitive? Me for sure but he is a caring guy
7. Who does the laundry? Me - he ruins clothes so I won't let him, that or he's a sneaky bastard and knows how to get out of it
8. Who sleeps on the right side of the bed? That would be me
9. Who pays the bills? Hmm... he does all the bill paying online, but I'm the one to remind him that they're due
10. Who cooks more?Actually, Definitely, HIM!
11. What meals do you cook together? None? I'll help every now and then if he's lucky
12. Who is more stubborn? That would be neck in neck if it were a race
13. Who is the first to admit they're wrong? I'm never wrong so this question doesn't pertain to me! :) So I'd say him...but we both hate to admit it.
14. Who has more siblings? Me
15. Who wears the pants in the relationship? He wears them, I just pick out which ones he wears, oh and I control the zipper
16. What do you like to do together? Just about anything
17. Who eats more sweets? Sixes, we both like sweets and are addicted to Twizzlers
18. His guilty pleasures? Guns, Poker, Rum and Coke...He's a modern day Captn Jack ;)
19. How did you meet? Lol, his roomate in college who was my boyfriend at the time...long, long story...
20. Who asked who out first? He did, but we were friends first and shopped a lot together
21. Who proposed? Him of course
22. Who kissed who first? It was def. him
23. His best features? His eyes and his smile
24. His greatest quality? He loves me and the kids so much. He would do anything for us, so I would say it's his caring heart, oh and his ability to put up with me.
25. Tag: Anyone with hubbies or significant others that wants to!

I LOVE YOU JAKE!!!

Jake, Nick and George...good friends and good times!

My sweet, cute hubby!

Sea World

I can't believe it's already been almost 2 weeks! I am so sad our vacation is ending. We have loved spending time with my family and being able to go to Disney World and Sea World. Although I am looking forward to my bed and seeing our pets again, it will be really hard saying good bye tomorrow.

I thought I would get a bit more of our vacation days on here before work and everything starts again! Wednesday the 21st was Brady's 6th birthday, and the main thing he has been wanting to do for ages was go to Sea World. We did that on his birthday (I'll post those pics and Disney later) and had a blast. It was very cold, but we had a fantastic time and saw some amazing shows!

We went to the Dolphin Nursery first thing that morning. Dolphins are my favorite animal, and I'm pretty sure they knew it! They were so playful and kept posing for me! :) This guy here has a leaf that he kept flipping up and catching!

The kids loved the Shamu show, and the Dolphin show had such amazing stunts. The kids loved posing on these little whales!

And so Shae and I decided that we needed to play on them, too! We were going for a whole "riding" them with our hands in the air.

And then of course I had to show my clumsy side....I don't know how I did this, but of course, here is my falling off the whale! I just laughed so hard and the whole family was dying laughing too because they all know me and how clumsy I can be. You would never know I did drill team in high school and college! :P

Brady and the Sea World car

Well, I guess that is all I have for now! I'll leave you with a slide show of several Sea World pics. I have no clue how many we have actually taken this trip...I'm guessing about 300+. I'll let you know the final tally!

Family Fun

First, I have to share this joint effort picture the kids did. Brady colored the car (of course it's blue) and Gwynie added the raccoons being run over. Jake HATES raccoons so the kids tease him about it all time and whenever they get a chance to.


Gwynie wrote "Smush Racoon" and Brady even added blood on the tires...

Then on Saturday we had a family birthday party for Jake's Grandpa Fackrell (his Mom's Dad). It's hard to believe he is 86! He still takes care of his horses each day and yodels for all the little grandkids.

Grandpa Fackrell and the kids

Cutest kids at the party!The kids and my neices (L-R: Abby, Bailey and Hannah)

Gwynie, Bailey and Hannah - This swing actually broke because all the kids (about 8-12) of them were on it! I totally missed out taking pics of it...oh well!

My youngest neice Abby is just a ham and grabbed Jake and made him play catch with her. I got a few funny shots of her, she was just camera happy. She is so unlike her sisters, she's bossy, spunky and demanding...reminds me of myself as a kid (ok and now too!). That must be why I love her so much, lol!

Making Jake play catch, she really had to twist his arm ;)

She was taking this plastic golf club apart and this was her Ta-da! face

Her and Brady almost brawled over the blue piece of cake but luckily split it.

Today, we went to the Animal Planet Expo! We had a blast but it was really hot! They had these screens that would super impose you into a set, so we got some pics of us with animals and some guys on Animal Planet. Those become available to download tomorrow so I will post those along with the rest of the pics we took tomorrow night. But, here's a peek....

Yes....Jake and I had lots fun!

Gwynie's Birthday

Gwynie turned 9 on Saturday! We can't believe she is getting so old because it makes us feel really old! She got into a little bit of trouble a month ago so had a smaller party this year. She had about 4 of her girl friends over for a pool party and then a couple of our friends and their kids. We set up a small pool and a slip n slide, and they had tons of fun!

Gwynie enjoying the sun!

Pink water balloons mean business!

She had to pretend to blow out her candle because it was a little windy!

Brady is such a water kid! He would live in the pool if we let him!

Gwynie and her friends