One Sad Day... One 'Appy' Day!!!

For those of you who don't know, our family are big time Dallas Cowboys Fans!!!! We were sad to hear that they lost a divisional game to the Vikings!!!! It turned out to be a sad day for our family. Even though Sunday turned out to be sad, Monday was a much better day for the family!!!! One reason and one reason only... it was Steve's birthday so Sharifa and Ethan went crazy with the great gifts!!!! Here are some pictures of our eventful day!!!!Sharifa got Steve a cool shirt with Jason Witten on it!Sharifa also got Steve a Miles Austin Jersey!Steve wanted cheese cake for his birthday cake; this is a picture of the boys licking the bowl after Sharifa was done making the cake!Ethan got Steve the license plate for his birthday! What a great son!!!Ethan got Steve this car sticker!Sharifa saw this and thought it would good in Steve study/room!!Ethan really loves to open presents and thought that the presents were for him to open! He was such a great helper for his dad!Steve's Birthday Cake!!!

Ethan helped Steve blow out the candles. That's one things that Ethan loves to do, blowing out candles!

Lights and Camera!!!

So we know it's a little late, but one of the traditions we decided to start doing was going down to Temple Square and looking at the beautiful lights. Here are just a few pictures of us enjoying our time there with each other and some friends of ours!!! We hope you all enjoyed your holiday season and have so much more happiness in this new year!!!

Daddy and Ethan posing in front of some beautiful lights!!! Aren't they just the cutest boys ever!!!

Daddy, Ethan, Dan, and Will all having fun play fighting out in the cold!

Stopping just to take a nice picture for Sharifa!

Our family picture in front of the Salt Lake City Temple Reflection Pond!

"Appy Yay!!"

So every year, since we've been married, we have always had a little/big New Years party with all of our friends and family that live close around us and always seem to have lots of fun. This year Steve had to get up WAY too early on New Years (because he had to work) that we couldn't have a party and that made Sharifa a little bit sad. So instead of having lots of people over playing games and watching the ball drop in Time Square it ended up just being Sharifa and Ethan who stayed up 'till midnight. Surprisingly, Ethan stayed up the entire time and didn't fall asleep once. When it was midnight Sharifa told Ethan "Happy New Year!" His response was, "Appy Yay!" Which in English means... Happy Yay! or Happy Day! We can't figure out which one! It's just so much fun to hear him say new words. Here are some pictures of our fun night with just the two of us (Sharifa and Ethan)!!!!

Picture taken at the beginning of the night!Getting into later part of the night! New Years Kiss! Just before bedtime!!! It's time to go to sleep!

This video is of Ethan hiding his toys in his PJs. It's really funny that we wanted to share it with all of you! Hope you enjoy it as much as we do!

Christmas 2009

We hope that you all had a very Merry Christmas!!! We sure had a great time with our little family, but we also went to see our parents throughout the week and enjoyed spending some time with them. We really enjoyed every moment that we had together and are grateful for our friends and family that sent us really nice cards, gifts, or texts letting us know how they are enjoying their wonderful holidays! Ethan really enjoyed Christmas and when anyone would say "presents" he would drop everything and run over to open the gift!! It was really great to watch the little twinkle in his eyes! We hope that you all enjoyed the 2009 year and hope that you all have a great New Year full of excitement and adventures!!! Here are some pictures of our different family Christmases!

As a little girl, Sharifa's family always made a sugar cookie cake for Jesus' birthday and would always sing "Happy Birthday"!!! So we decided to start doing this for our little family Christmas traditions! As a little boy, Steve's family would always make sugar cookies and would use the rest of the dough and make logs for all the boys in the family. We decided to do this also as part of our own little family Christmas traditions!Ethan blowing out the candle for Jesus!! We let Ethan eat his log while reading the Christmas story from the bible.

Christmas morning, Santa came and stuffed Ethan's stocking with treats and lots of different cars!!!!

Santa didn't just give Ethan cars he also got him a way cool car track!!!!
While daddy was putting the track together mommy helped Ethan open another present from us!
He got a really cool guitar!!! He loves this present so much we have all the songs memorized!!
Now that the track is put together Ethan and daddy try it out!! Thank you Santa!!
Ethan got daddy a new calender for the new year!
Aunt Ash got Daisy new PJs! Thanks Aunt Ash!Aunt Ash made this really cool quilt for Daisy, if you look close you can see Daisy written in the blanket!! That's so cool!!! Thanks!!
Aunt Ash and Uncle Dave got Ethan this really cool book that he loves to play with!!! Thank you guys!!!Steve got this shirt from his brother Brad, he also got NFL cards too! Thanks Brad!!!
Ethan got mini Handy Manny and tools from his Phillips cousins, Uncle Brad, and Aunt Claire. Thanks guys. He loves them!! Just a little note-- Uncle Matt and Aunt Sierra gave Ethan a bigger toy of Handy Manny and his tools, Ethan loves to use the tools to fix everything!! Thanks for the cool toys guys!!!

Mommy and Daddy got Ethan his very favorite show; Phineas and Ferb!!!
Sharifa got Steve this really cool new Cowboys hat!
Steve got the new Madden football game from Sharifa!!!
Sharifa got the earrings from Ethan, the book from Steve, and the movie also is from Steve. Even though Steve got the movie for Sharifa Ethan loves to watch this movie over and over again!!!Thanks to everyone!!!!!

Christmas with Grandma and Grandpa Phillips
Grandma and Grandpa got Ethan a really cool car track to go along with the others that Santa got him!
Ethan loves to read so Grandma and Grandpa got him some Pixar books that he just really adores!!!

Ethan got some really cool new clothes too! What great Grandparents!!!
Ethan and daddy trying out the new car track that Grandma and Grandpa got him!

Ethan hanging out with Lenard while watching a basketball game! They really enjoyed each others company!!

Christmas with Grandma and Grandpa McClaskey

We went to Sharifa's parents' Christmas party and saw Santa!! Ethan thinks he's great as long as he doesn't have to sit on Santa's lap!!!

Mommy helping Ethan open a gift from his stocking that Grandma and Grandpa M stuffed for him!

Ethan playing his flute that he got from Grandma and Grandpa M in his stocking!!

Ethan calling his Uncle Matt on his new fancy new cell phone!!

Ethan opening a present from Grandma and Grandpa M!!!Ethan trying out his pad that Grandma and Grandpa gave him!!Daddy helping Ethan open a gift from grandma and grandpa!Steve showing off his new PJ pants that mom and dad got him! Sharifa got a pair too and we love them!!! Thanks mom and dad!!!Ethan trying out his new flute while enjoying a little ride in the doll stroller!!Daddy reading Ethan a Christmas story!