A few sick men

The last few days have been interesting as both Cory and Ethan have been sick. It has been kind of fun to have Cory home though, even if he is sick. He is starting to feel better and I guess this is a better time to be sick than next week during his finals.

In other news, both Cory and I finally got new phones after 3 years. Our new phones are so sweet! I can do everything I would ever want to do on a phone. Sprint was having a holiday deal and so we got them for free. They are both Palm Centros. Here are some pictures I took of Ethan when I was trying out the camera:

This is him cuddling with his chicky.

An almost-pouty face.

I also got to finally see another famous person at the store the other day. Ironically, it was someone that should have been easier to see in Utah: Bryon Russell from the Utah Jazz and a few other teams since then. Him and his wife were buying frozen vegetables. He was one of my favorite players back in the day-even though he did struggle guarding Michael Jordan, but hey, who didn't?

This is sweet (literally)

So my friend Chalyse makes gingerbread houses each year with her family. One year she made an exact replica of our apartment in college. This year she created the J. Reuben Clark Law School. There really should be some kind of prize money for this or something.

Anyway, just thought I'd share that...it's nice to have friends that do amazing stuff that you can brag about:-)

Our Thanksgiving was good this year. It was my first outside of Utah. We spent it with our friends Daniel and Hope and their family in San Bernadino. It was a great day of eating, watching Christmas Vacation, and then playing a competitive game of Taboo. Ethan had a great time playing around in an actual house instead of our little apartment. Who knew he was so good at climbing stairs? Photos to come, I promise...

A quick weekend getaway

This past weekend we flew to St. George-yeah, that's right, I bet most of you didn't even know there was an airport. Ethan loved his first plane ride even though his mom had a tough time on such a small plane. It was so great to only travel an hour and a half instead of driving for 7 hours. We got to hang out with Cory's family all together before his brother Jarrett left for his mission to Des Moines, Iowa. We watched the BYU game, played games, and had a huge dinner together. It was a nice little vacation, especially because we will be staying here this year for Thanksgiving. I feel a little weaksauce because I don't have any pictures, but I will take some soon...

Ultrasound results

My relationship with Halloween

We went to some sweet parties this year for Halloween. I was so excited because me and Halloween have had a rough time the last little while. Last year I got really sick and then in college all anyone ever wanted to do was watch horror films. It's a lot funner having crazy parties instead. Our first party was at the Baillio's. There were some awesome costumes and sweet decorations. Here are the hosts:

Here are some of the other guests: The food was great! I tried to be somewhat crafty and attempted to make cupcakes with little ghosts on top. Too bad the whipped cream melted pretty quick and made the ghosts look more like the wicked witch of the west. And here is our costume:
We like to be riddles for Halloween. This year Cory was an e "male" and I was his attachment(can you see the paper clips?) Ethan was Superman and he even had a curl in the middle of his forehead.

On Halloween night, we didn't go trick-or-treating because Ethan is not quite old enough. We went to a dinner at our friends the Gaddis' and had some meat-plosion as they call it and good caramel apples.

In other news, we will be finding out soon whether we are having a boy or a girl. I will let you all know when we know...

Full-time job

So I have had a full-time job over the past few months trying to see a doctor with our state insurance plan. If you have any questions about what government run health care would be like, I believe that I have become an expert:-)
Now the reason that I have been trying to see a doctor is because I am pregnant and due at the end of March!!! I finally saw a doctor two days ago and was able to hear the baby's heartbeat. That is one of my favorite things...We are excited to add to our family!

1 year photos

I finally got some one year pictures for Ethan at Kiddie Kandids. I must say I was skeptical about whether they could make Ethan smile on demand, but they did a good job. Ethan looks so cute in all of them. My little boy is getting so old...
The photographer wanted him on his tummy- this was as close as we got.
I love this one on the ladder.
This one was kind of awkward because Ethan couldn't figure out if we wanted him to stand or not.
I think he is starting to look more like his daddy.
And of course, here is the first of many baseball shots:-)

Amazing portraits

So my cousin Anthony was always an amazing artist. When I was growing up, we would always be telling him different things to draw and he could do literally anything. I told him that someday he would work for Disney. Well, he is definitely on that road, but he has his own business called Precious Pencil Portraits. He does drawings of anyone and his prices are excellent. He did one of my parents and it looks so amazing. Here is one that he did of my grandpa and grandma.


This is a great idea for a gift or even a fun thing to do with a wedding picture, engagement picture, baby picture, or a candid photo. Here is his website if anyone is interested:

http://preciouspencilportraits.com/

Some ideas on women

I hope you will indulge for a minute as I talk again about something that is important to me: the role of women. Being a woman myself, obviously this is a topic that interests me. In light of recent political developments, I find myself questioning a woman's role once more.

With the announcement of Sarah Palin as vice president, I was so confused for one reason: she is a strong female political candidate who is also a conservative. I didn't know they existed. I never had many political women role models to look up to or admire. I guess it has to do with how I distanced myself from modern feminist ideas. Now don't get me wrong: I believe women should be treated equally and be given the same opportunities as men. I am grateful to the feminists who got me the right to vote. I'm glad to have choices. I think this quote says it well:

"In my own opinion (key word), the foundation of feminism is this: being able to choose. The core of anti-feminism is, conversely, telling a woman she can't do something solely because she's a woman—taking any choice away from her specifically because of her gender. "You can't be an astronaut, because you're a woman. You can't be president because you're a woman. You can't run a company because you're a woman." All of those oppressive "can't"s.

One of the weird things about modern feminism is that some feminists seem to be putting their own limits on women's choices. That feels backward to me. It's as if you can't choose a family on your own terms and still be considered a strong woman. How is that empowering? Are there rules about if, when, and how we love or marry and if, when, and how we have kids? Are there jobs we can and can't have in order to be a "real" feminist? To me, those limitations seem anti-feminist in basic principle." -Stephenie Meyer

I've talked about this before- just because I chose to marry young and become a mother does not make any less of a woman. However, many modern feminists believe that it does.

So, let's just say that even though I disagree with some of Sarah Palin's policies, it is refreshing to see a women who has five kids, is pro-life, and pro-family. It sure gives me, as well as other women, something to think about.

For an interesting short debate on the topic, go here: http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/commentary/la-oew-manguward-marcotte9-2008sep09,0,7056203.story

Pitching Practice

Ethan had his year appointment the other day and these were his stats:

Weight: 15th percentile

Length: 10th percentile

Head circumference: 97th percentile

So....he has a really big head I guess. Obviously, Cory eventually wants Ethan to play baseball even though his head will not be an advantage in terms of being a large target for the ball to hit. Maybe he will end up like his dad with a screw and plate in his cheek...or maybe I should just have him play another sport...

Either way, we do want him to be able to throw the ball and not be told he looks like a girl (I don't even throw like a girl thanks to my bro Eric:-) So we have pitching practice almost every day and he seems to favor his left hand. As the Websters always say, being lefthanded is good because he will make more money in the majors:-)

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Those Loud Helicopters

Here's a good story. On Tuesday, I just had put Ethan down for a nap and I started hearing helicopters flying pretty close. Rich people like to fly their helicopters and so I figured that was what was happening. Every time the helicopters would come close, I would get annoyed because they were so stinkin loud. For all you mothers, you know what it's like when you put your kid to bed and you become the noise nazi because if they wake up, there goes the rest of the day...

Anyway, I finally looked out the window and this is what I saw:
The hill next to our apartments was on fire!!! I freaked out a little bit and called Cory who was at school. He sounded worried because he had already heard about it and decided to come back home to help get stuff ready in case we needed to evacuate. I got into emergency mode and started grabbing our important files, stuff for Ethan, and other essentials. I kept looking out the window and the fire had escalated into this:
It looked like a bomb had just gone off with the huge black mushroom cloud of smoke. Then I could see the line of flames as the smoke lifted a little:
Gratefully, there were at least 6-7 helicopters that kept coming to drop water.
They were saving my life and all I could think about was how they were going to wake up my son.

We did end up leaving for a few hours just to get away from the smoke. I am glad our place didn't burn down, but it sure makes me think even harder about having emergency stuff on hand and ready...

Ethan's Birthday

So when you picture a first birthday, the usual pictures always come to mind---the kid diving into his cake, frosting everywhere, and a huge sugar-filled smile. Well, that wasn't exactly our experience with Ethan. He turned one last Sunday and he is teething so he wasn't really that happy to begin with. I wrapped some presents and he was happy to open them--not for the present, but for the paper.

We Skyped my family so they could watch the celebration. We all sang happy birthday and then let Ethan have his way with his very own birthday cake.

The results were very interesting...he hates cake! I don't know how he's my son:-)

A wedding, July 4th, etc.

Here are a few pictures of what we have been up to the past little while. First, we went to the wedding of Luke and Julia Allen- friends of ours from California who actually got married in Midway. It was a beautiful setting and the bride of course looked amazing.

Our friends Mike and Melissa also came to the wedding- the only people we knew there.
White tents for dinner and people coming around with appetizer trays beforehand.

After the wedding, we had to rush to the Stadium of Fire. I had never been before and I loved the fireworks. It was also pretty funny to hear all of the girls start chanting "Mi-ley! Mi-ley!" before she came out. I personally would have liked to watch a BYU football game before the fireworks. There was also this huge dance with over 1300 girls on the field at the same time.
We had these glasses that made all of the white light break into colors.

And you might be wondering- where was Ethan during all of this? My mom watched him for us. And here he is with his 4th of July shirt- a flag made out of baseball stuff- perfect:-)

Porter Gathering

Last weekend all of my brothers and sisters were in town for a little reunion. We had so much fun swimming, playing a ping pong tournament, and hanging out in the mountains. It was great to see everyone together for a few days. We also did a tribute to Vanner, our car of 22 years that is about to die. Here are some pictures of the great time we had. Thanks family!!!

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The past month

We have been really busy here in Utah with Cory doing his internship and me substituting for a first grade teacher for the past month. I have decided that high school is definitely the correct career choice for me; not that the first graders weren't adorable and actually wanted to please me, but because of all the drama of not being able to help pass out papers or borrow a friend's crayon. I'm guess I'm just not nurturing enough to not tell them to tough it up and move on with life:-)

We do have some good news to share. Cory had a phone interview last week with one of his professors who offered him a job as a teaching assistant next year! We are pretty excited not only because it will be a great opportunity, but because we will have at least a little bit of income.

One last thing- one of my favorite things about 1st grade is that I didn't have to take away any cell phones; I think Ethan thought I missed that:-)

A video and a weird resemblance

We are now enjoying some time with my family in Utah as Cory works for a judge in Salt Lake. It's been really fun to see them every day and experience all of their randomness. Here is a video of Ethan flying with my brother Brian. Ethan grabs the phone at the end which is pretty funny.

Speaking of my brother, the other night he told us that he thought that Ethan looked like the Stay Puft marshmallow man on Ghostbusters. At first, I was like, yeah right...but this picture comparison is making me start to think otherwise:-)

Some Cory-ness

So I realized that this blog has been lacking a little Cory-ness. I write about my life and Ethan's, but there is a third and very important member of our family that rarely gets mentioned. So here's a Cory update:

Cory is in the middle of his law school finals, which is a very stressful time. Imagine this: you have to completely memorize hundreds of pages verbatim and then be able to quote them exactly while applying them to various cases. He basically has to analyze every little detail- which is hard enough when there is an hour limit on each case and it's hard to even type that fast, let alone be brilliant.

In his free time, which is very little, he likes to play with Ethan, watch the Braves on mlb.com, watch the Jazz, and prepare lessons for priesthood on Sundays.

Things he is probably looking forward to this summer:

Working for a judge in the real world of law

Playing softball with his best friends

Not having to study every waking minute of the day

Spending more time with his son (and beautiful wife)

Leslie's Baby Shower

This past Saturday my friend Lisa Howell threw a baby shower for a friend of ours who is having a little girl in May. Since she didn't live nearby, we decided to have the shower at my place. I knew it would be quite the experiment simply because she invited lots of people and my apartment is pretty small. We ended up having just enough room for 15 adults and 6 kids. Cory and I had to shove our giant Love Sac into the bedroom though and it was quite entertaining because every time you move the Sac, it just gets puffier and puffier. Here's a shot of some of the women who came:And here's Leslie opening some of her gifts:

The coolets part- Lisa made a cake out of diapers which was awesome and we used her chocolate fountain for the refreshments which was a big hit. Although it was fun, it has made me realize that I really am going to need a house at some point if I want to have big parties. My parents sure knew what they were doing when then built our house- it's perfect for parties! Someday...

Belated Easter wishes

We had a really good Easter last week and I have finally decided to put some pictures up. Originally, we weren't going to do much, but I really love Easter not only for the chance that it gives me to reflect on the resurrection, but also because I love Easter candy! So Saturday night I decided that I was going to put together some Easter baskets. I didn't really want to buy baskets so I just used some actual baskets that we had lying around the house.I got Ethan a little blue lamb to enjoy because that's all that he can eat at this point.
Here's Cory with his Spring Break beard- it has so much red in it that Ethan's hair becomes less of a mystery.
Here's Ethan trying to eat the peanut M&Ms bag- the closest he'll get to chocolate for a while. He literally was attacking the bag for quite some time- he reminds me of his dad in so many ways:-)

The choice

So I watched the movie Mona Lisa Smile this past week and something about it really hit a chord with me. The movie began as a pretty predictable flick about women in the fifties breaking the "chains" of tradition i.e. marriage, family, etc. I thought to myself, "Oh great, another movie about how being a wife and mother isn't as respectable as having a career.

Then one character surprised me- Joan. She was the smartest girl in the class and her teacher encouraged her to apply to Yale Law School. She gets accepted and then decides to get married and start a family instead. Her teacher expresses her disappointment and Joan answers by saying this:

"I know exactly what I'm doing and it doesn't make me any less smart. You stand in class and tell us to look beyond the image, but you don't. To you a housewife is someone who sold her soul for a center hall colonial.(?) She has no depth, no intellect, no interests. You're the one who said I could do anything I wanted. This is what I want."

I just love how she acknowledges the fact that she is glad that she now has choices, but that she has chosen to become a wife and mother. Every woman has the choice to make between life goals and she can decide whatever she thinks is best for her. I just get tired of people who say that becoming a homemaker is the least deisrable of goals. Why isn't it as respected as any other profession? I have seen the good that my mother did in raising six children who are out making a difference in the world. I didn't become a homemaker as a backup because I couldn't do anything else. I could do whatever I wanted to do- it's the fact the I CHOSE to be a wife and mother that makes it so meaningful to me.

Anyway, that was longer than expected. Thanks for indulging me:-)

March Madness

No, I'm not just referring to the massive amount of college basketball going on. This month has been crazy! I had a great birthday and even got to spend some girl time hanging out with Cory's mom Lorrie, Kailee and Angela who came to visit from St. George. We got to go to the American Girl store and it was nice to be reminded of my own doll, Kirsten. I kind of regret going through that phase quickly and moving on to sports...well, not too much (without my football knowledge, who knows if I would have convinced Cory to marry me:-)
As for my son, he has had quite the month as well. We are now starting solids, he can roll over all he wants, and he even sits up on his own. So that's it for my post...until I think of something else interesting to say.

Dodgeball Tourney

Okay. So I hope I can explain this properly because it was one of the funniest things I have ever seen future lawyers do. A few weeks ago, the law school at Pepperdine had their annual dodgeball tournament. They put up tarps and netting in the atrium of the law school. They had over 36 teams sign up, including a team of professors, with really original names- here are the huge brackets that were on the wall:
Some of the teams went all out with the costumes- for example, there were the Cereal Killers who were all dressed up like cereal mascots, Malibu's Most Wanted who were celebrities who had been arrested, and my favorite, the Law Books (obviously not the best choice for winning, but very creative).

Cory got asked to be on a team called the Argyles who just wore argyle socks as their costume (low maintenance but they did win a game).

Anyway, I have come to the conclusion that this was so entertaining because law students don't seem to have enough outlets for their creativity and so go all out for something like this. If you plan on visiting Cali next year in February, this should definitely be on your must-see list:-)

A new toy

They really know what they are doing at Fisher-Price. Ethan got this singing and music toy for Christmas (thanks grandma Lorrie!) and I haven't had him use it much because he can't really sit up by himself quite yet. Today I put him in front of it and let him go for a little while. To my surprise, the toy is at a perfect height and angle for him to sit up and lean against. He loved it and sat up by himself for almost 5 minutes! And I was reminded of how quickly he is growing up... He looks just like his mom in this picture- we both stick out our tongues when we are concentrating:-)