Special Visitors

My grandpa Wendell with his 35th Great-Grandchild, Austin!

My grandma Vera just turned 80 in February! She looks fabulous! And, my boys love her!

We got the pleasure of having my grandparents drop by for a visit. They stayed the night and left this morning for home. They are anxious to get home, since they have been in Georgia for the past 5 1/2 months. I have missed them so much and as always I love when they visit!!!

Brotherly Love

So, tonight, Collin took his spiderman bean bag chair out, got a blanket and cuddled up in the chair. Austin, got off my lap, went down to his brother and started having a conversation with him that only he could understand. It was so precious. Then, he laid on Collin and didn't get up. Again...precious. So, me being me, went and got the camera to capture the rare moment where these two brothers are in one place and calm! Look at my lil' Darin on the left and my lil' Laurie on the right :)

Austin is 18 months old!

Here are some pictures of our littlest guy. He just had a bath and was all clean, plus I spiked his hair all cute with lotion, so I had to take some pictures! He turned 18 months old on the 7th of July! He's a walking fool! He doesn't look back! I think he forgot that he used to crawl :)

Phillips/Blum Family Reunion July 2008

Well, this year was our family reunion. I look forward to the reunions, as it is a chance to see all my relatives far and near. When we all get together, it is like the years never passed by. It is truly awesome how we all remember each other, and amazing at how many babies had been born since the last reunion. I believe we introduced 5 new babies to the family this year. But, there were a few more that were not able to make it.

This is me up front with Austin introducing him to the family for the first time. He stole the stage! :)

This is my mom's brother John and his wife Chris with my super hot cousin Jonetta! yes she's single, but not looking :)

I am seated at the table with my dad (holding my niece Anni), brother Ryan and his wife Morgan, cousin Dustin, my brother Jason and his wife Krista (8 months prego with my niece).

My brother Michael was able to make it and he brought two of his three kids: Grace (age 4) and Reece (age 5). Aren't they cute?

We had a bbq on Friday night and Aunt Diana came. I was so glad to see her, even though I know it is so hard for her to be around when it is a "family" reunion. She comes when she feels up to it and I am glad she did this time around!!! Plus, Austin just loves her too...

This is my mom with two of her three sisters, Susan and Barbara.

My cousins Andrew and Dustin and my brother Ryan singing an FFH song "Like You", I can't remember the exact title, but it's something to that effect :) They do superb every time they sing! We all look forward to this trio every reunion!

Collin and Austin with cousin Logan and grandpa Mike. They all wanted to play the piano. It was pretty cute!

The reunion was bitter sweet this year, as my uncle Larry passed away on the last day of our reunion. I told my mom that at least family was all together when we heard the news. It has been a long week since he passed away. He has had the official "church" service held by the Chaplains on Saturday. Now, in October he gets laid to rest in the Arlington National Cemetery. What an honor that will be...and as of now, all of my mom's siblings, parents and her are all going to that service. It should be a "wow" experience, as far as funerals go. I hope that this will be a positive experience in their grieving process.

Even though it was a hard reunion this year, we did have some good times, and I hope the pictures show that. May God bless you all! Keep loved one close and tell them you love them all the time! You never know if it will be your last visit with them.

In Loving Memory...

US Army Chaplain Larry Blum

June 9, 1951-July 13, 2008

It is with great sadness that I report that my uncle Larry has passed away this morning, but it is with great joy that he has gone home to be with Jesus! Praise God he is not in pain anymore and that we/I can rejoice in knowing that I will get to see him again someday.

I love you Uncle Larry and miss you already!

Fourth of July Festivities 2008

We had a bbq at my brother Michael's house. it was so fun! We had a great time. The weather was nice, so the kids got to play outside! We finished the day with my brother Jason and Collin giving us a fireworks show! Fun was had by all. (of course, I had my camera out-hehe)

Austin playing on the kiddy slide. He never wanted to slide down, cause I think it's too scary for him, but he loved playing on it!

Here are the three oldest cousins - Collin with Madison and Reece...eating the great grub Michael made for us!

Well, once again...we got an updated cousins picture today, since Annika joined the group 5 weeks ago! What fun...and all the kids for the most part cooperated! Whew!

Madison is such a little mommy...she loves her cousins, and she loves holding babies!

Me and my boys.

My new niece Annika "Born in the USA"...too cute!

This is a picture of the fireworks we saw sitting on mom and dad's back deck, which was probably about a mile away from us. We had quite the show this year, it was awesome!

Collin got to do sparklers this year with cousin Logan. They both had so much fun doing those sparklers...

This is a picture I took of Austin. He stood there and put his face through the deck railing to watch the fireworks. It was so cute...he was doing so good with them all...we kept hearing him say "Woah..."...it was too cute!