The start of another school year

Happy on the first day of 5th grade

go Alex - big 2nd grader!

Ben started 5th grade and Alex started 2nd!  They are growing up so fast - - and now Alex is in a typical 2nd grade class.  Ben has his first male teacher and he is really enjoying 5th grade - although I can do without the hours of homework each night!  Here are pics from their first day.....excited to see what the year will bring!

Bella turns 5

Nana and Bella

Markie eating his slice

Bella and Alex

Lots of tickets!

Aunt Kim and Lizzy

Bella turned 5 in August.  Bella got two birthday celebrations - one was at Chucky Cheese on her actual birthday. The other was a couple weeks later at Build a Bear. Nana came up to celebrate and it was a lot of fun.  Bella was excited to get her own DS!  Bella is #3 for the Phipps - I was there right after she was born.  Bella is a very pretty and outgoing little girl.  She can have quite the attitude, but can also be very loving and sweet.  When Bella gets extra cranky, it's usually because she hasn't eaten!  She loves her "chocolate"..milk, that is.  Alex considers Bella his best friend and they are very cute together.  Happy Birthday Bella!

Alex the swimmer

Alex has been taking swim lessons for over a year at Swim Kids.  He had a private lesson for a long time, but recently Aubrey joined the class.  Alex loves his instructor Sammi and he has learned to enjoy the water and learning to swim.  I'm proud of his progress - it's slow, but steady!

Brit's Pub

so much fun!!

Marie, Elaine and I at Brit's Pub

the menu

Brit's Pub is a well known British Pub in downtown Minneapolis.  We get some time off from conference to see the sights and have some fun.  I liked this place because Bill loves shephard's pie.....so I ordered it to make him jealous.  I should have taken a photo of it - it was huge and was so good!

Candle Conference!

on the shuttle going to leader session

conference theme of 2011

walking to regular session opening night!

me and Kath

scene from opening session

me and elaine - my glasses lit up and flashed!

hanging out looking over the new catalog with glasses of wine

elaine and kathy

our annual conference photo!

Conference was excellent this year.  The usual fun and laughter occurred with friends after the sessions and especially back on the 8th floor of the Hilton where we took over 4 rooms!  Learned a lot, laughed a lot - your typical conference!

Minneapolis, Minnesota

Elaine and her niece Nicole

Dinner at a downtown BBQ place that has been there since the 40's!

Cool fountain sculpture in the middle of downtown

For PartyLite National Conference, 2011, we went to Minneapolis.  It was my first time there and I thought it was a beautiful place!  We were right downtown, which was very clean and friendly.  The weather was awesome - they were having a heat wave when we arrived, but compared to Phoenix, it was pleasant!  Elaine's niece Nicole picked us up from the airport and the next day met us for dinner.  I would definitely go back to Minneapolis if I had the chance!

Swim Lessons

Ben & Mark ready to tear it up

Go Liz!

Ben's back stroke

Liz, Bell, Ben and Mark

For two weeks in July, we took the 4 kids to Rhodes Jr. High for swim lessons.  It was a great refresher for all of them and although it was hot for us, they enjoyed it!