It's All Downhill From Here....

I have to take as much advantage of this as I can! I'm younger you see, so even if he pulls all this out when it's my turn, he'll still be older, so it won't have as big of an impact!

Scott turned the BIG 4-0 yesterday!!!!! (That's when I start to giggle.)

It just seems so OLD. But he doesn't seem that old. The number is big, but he still seems like that cute, young guy I fell in love with. The night before his birthday, we were reminiscing about his last night in his twenties and how that differed from now. Let's see. We were living in West Jordan in a tiny, little town home. It was our first home that we owned. We only had Regan and she was only a few months past her first birthday. Scott was working at Channel 2, behind the scenes of the news and making very little money. I'm not sure how we paid the bills then. Now, we live in South Jordan, in a home three times the size of the town home. Scott changed careers and is now a Software Engineer and makes a lot more money than we did then. We've added three more kids and a dog. Wow. A lot can change in 10 years!

We went out to dinner with Scott's brother and sister and their spouses and then hit a movie after. Scott's traditional birthday dinner was at Bennihana's, but we have something similar that's closer, called Tempanyaki. I'm sure I butchered both spellings, but you get the point.


I seemed to be the one that the chef picked on that night. Rude. But still pretty funny.

Happy Birthday, old man!

Christmas

I'm such a slacker! Not only has it taken me a week to post anything about Christmas at all, but I have barely any pictures to prove we even had a Christmas. Slacker! I did manage to take this one, though.

I looks like a toy store exploded in my house. We had a lovely Christmas this year. Christmas day we spent playing with the loot and eating at Dave and Natalie's house. But mostly, it's been really low key. Scott's probably been the most busy, only because he got a gun for Christmas and has been to the shooting range twice already and is planing to go again today! Ugh. I so don't like having that thing in my house. But he locks it up, so I guess I can't complain too much.

It snowed pretty much the whole week of Christmas. I love a good snow storm, but that was a little excessive. Luckily, Scott was home for much of it, so I didn't have to clear the driveway too much. I know, whaa, whaa, I have a snow blower. It still takes effort.

The kids decided that they wanted to do an activity that represented the true meaning of Christmas. So for about three days, Regan and Hali worked on this:

It turned out pretty good, I think. There were only a couple of fights with Porter. He wanted to do more than the girls allowed him to do, which was pretty much nothing. As I was taking the picture of the little nativity scene, I noticed Hali lying on the floor next to me, so I turned the camera around and took a quick snapshot of the two of us.
It seems like I always have to take about 15 pictures of Hali, because she always BLINKS! She just can't seem to keep her eyes open with the flash going off. It like this big joke now, to see if Hali's eyes are open in any picture. So, we are laughing about her eyes again, and Regan says she has an idea on how we can keep Hali's eyes open and tells me to take another picture.
I just laughed and laughed. Get used to that look, babe, this may be how you will look in every picture from now on! By the way, the strange girl (meaning stranger not that she's strange) in the picture is our neighbor, Stephanie.

Some People Don't Know When To Shut UP!!

Today, as I was paying for some purchases, the teenage cashier complimented me on my sweater. I smiled and thanked her. Then she had to go and ruin it by adding, "My mother has one just like it!" Great.

Porter And The Ward Christmas Party

Sometimes I feel like I'm writing a children's book about a mischievous four year old and all the many scrapes he gets into. Hum. Not a bad idea. Ken, you up for some drawing?

Anyway, last night was our ward Christmas party and the primary was asked to perform two songs for the program. We've been practicing for about a month now and they were really cute. They sang "Picture A Christmas" and "Silent Night". The second song we even had chimes for. There was a huge turnout for the party. We must have had at least 200 people there.

So the kids are up on the stage and sing their little hearts out and it's so cute. The Bishop was waiting back stage for the kids, with a basket full of candy canes. It was pretty chaotic getting them off the stage, so the pianist started playing a rousing rendition of "Jingle Bells". Jingle Bells just happens to be Porter's favorite Christmas song. He sings it all the time, no matter what time of year it is. There also happened to be a microphone on stage that had been lowered to just Porter's height. And it was on.

Yes, my son serenaded two hundred people......on stage......with a pianist.

You should have seen Scott! He was closest to the stage, with Zoey on his lap. He jumps up, holding Zoey like a football and grabs the mic off the stage, as people roared with laughter!

Porter is fast becoming infamous in our ward. We have one man, who is a primary teacher, who thinks Porter is the best thing ever. He has no boys of his own. I keep telling him, I'd be happy to send him mine.

I think it would have been interesting to have left him there and seen how long it would have taken him to notice 200 people staring back at him. He seems to have no fear. Crazy kid.

Porter Meets Santa

I'm totally kicking myself that I walked out of the house without the camera AND the video camera. Especially, the video camera.

This year Porter is really getting the whole Santa thing. Every morning he wakes up and goes to look at the Christmas tree. And every morning he tells me in a really sad voice that Santa didn't leave any presents under the tree. Apparently, showing him a calendar and explaining the date today and showing him Christmas day and ALL the days in between are not making much of an impression on him.

Today, Porter had a Christmas program at his preschool. They sing songs and just look cute. So Porter did a great job and he has such an expressive face that he's pure entertainment. The program ends and they tell everyone to remain seated, because they have a surprise. They lead us all in singing Jingle Bells and as we sing Santa walks in. The preschool kids can't really see Santa, because he comes in a door that is to the side of where they are sitting. So, pretty soon the kids start noticing who is there. And then they are all seeing him, except for Porter. I keep motioning to the side and mouthing "look who's here!". But Porter is off in his own little world. I can totally see the moment that Porter finally notices Santa. He kind of jerks in his chair, gets really big eyes, and gets the Biggest grin. Then he looks at me like, Mom, Santa's here!

They brought the kids up one by one to sit on Santa's lap. Porter is one of the last ones to go and he's getting really antsy to talk to Santa. His turn finally comes and Santa asks him what he wants for Christmas. Porter looks at me with this panicked look on his face. I can totally read his face. It's an "Oh, crap. Oh, crap. I have the big man right in front of me and I can't think of a thing to say!" look. So finally, he says "Um......I want a transformer....batman." Huh? Santa says "Are my elves even making those this year?" Porter shrugs, "I don't know."

I am dying. I'm laughing so hard I have tears running down my face. My son was so in awe of Santa that he couldn't think of what he wanted to ask for Christmas. Man, that kid kills me.

Christmas Lights @ Temple Square

With some of my family in town for Hali's baptism, we thought it would be a great opportunity to go see the lights at Temple Square. Apparently, half the valley decided to do the same thing. It took us about a half hour just to find a place to park! But worth the view.

It was pretty cold, but not as cold a usual for this time of the year. Maybe that's what brought out the crowds. We did find a free space to get a picture of our little family.
The kids just had a great time being together.....
except for maybe one.
All the excitement of cousins caused us to get little sleep and certainly no naps. But so much fun! And you kids better practice your Rock Band! Maybe we'll have a battle of the bands in January! McCusker's vs Jackson's!

Hali's Baptism

Hali had a big day on Saturday. She baptized a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. We had lots of family there, which was so great.

My parents, along with several of my sister's kids drove in from California for the event.
Afterwards we had a party at our house and had lots of food. I really think it's something naturally in everyone to put olives on your fingers.
Hali was so happy and thought that getting baptized was really fun. She was ready to do it again, cause she loved it so much!

Thanksgiving in Denver

I know, I know, I'm a little slow getting this one done. It's been a really busy week!

Anyway, we had a great time at Scott's brother, Jeff's house for Thanksgiving. It's always fun when we are staying at the same house, because we stay up late, play games and talk. We took the opportunity to have family pictures taken. I've already described how much fun that was. Goose poop, cold and grumpy kids. Always fun. At least the picture turned out good.

I so didn't take enough pictures, but I did manage to take the camera to the park (we went before it turned cold) with the kids. Zoey sure loves those slides!
I had to get this one of my nephew, Taylor. The picture so doesn't show his intensity. Taylor is a HUGE Star Wars fan. I could tell by the look on his face that his imagination was going wild and this kiddie swing was actually the cockpit of a X-wing fighter. (I totally had to ask Scott what they are called! I didn't want anyone to call me on it if I got it wrong.)
Zoey is my music kid. She sings all the time and her favorite toy is a microphone. Anytime anyone has headphones on, listening to music she begs to listen, too. So, here she grabbed Regan's headphones and was rocking out.
It was loads of fun, but the drive home sure wasn't. Go to my sis-in-law, Natalie's blog and see the pictures of how the weather was. First, the freeway in Wyoming was closed for most of the morning and we were worried that we'd be in Denver for another day. They did open the road, but the drive from Cheyenne to Laramie was slow, windy, and snowy. Pretty scary. Then, of course, there were our children. Regan was dealing with a stomach virus, so was using the bathroom or vomiting most of the way. Then little Zoey decided to have diarrhea, which caused us to have to stop often, then search for a grocery store in Rock Springs to buy diapers, cause we went through all that we had. We were so happy to pull into our garage at about 11:00 pm.

For Patti

I just joined facebook and came across a good friend of mine that I haven't talked to in a while. We would exchange Christmas cards every year, but that was pretty much it. She's had a very challenging year. I guess just before Christmas last year, she took her husband Rob to the doctor with what they thought was the flu. It turned out to be cancer. He died 11 weeks later. I had no idea any of this was happening to her until today. I can't imagine what her life must be like trying to raise five kids and dealing with the loss of her husband. I'm so sorry, Patti. I wish I had know so that I could have helped in some way.

I'm now looking at my family, especially Scott, in more loving way. I think sometimes, you take the ones you love for granted and they could be gone so fast. I love you, Scott.

Family Pic

I haven't had time to download any of the other pictures taken over the Thanksgiving weekend, but I did get this one. Only because we are sending this out with our Christmas cards this year and I needed to get them ordered. I'll do a post on our weekend later.

This is one of the family pictures that we took in Denver last weekend. Believe it or not, this is the best picture we had of Regan. It was really cold and there was goose poop EVERYWHERE and Regan was pulling some major attitude. Oh well, someday when she wonders why she looks like a dork, I'll just gently remind her of her pre-teenagehood. We have only two years until full blown teenager.

Pray for us.

Zoey's New Look

Last week I decided to cut Zoey some bangs. I love this look on her. She's just so cute and her hair was getting so long. I had no intention of cutting it for a really long time. I just wanted it to grow and grow. Well apparently Porter didn't have the same plans for Zoey that I had.

This morning Porter took a pair of scissors to Zoey's hair. Her long, beautiful, flowing hair. Three days before we are scheduled to have family pictures taken. To say I freaked out, would be an understatement.
I chopped off the bottom, but you can still see the lovely alfalfa thing she's got going on up top. I'll have to use a lot of product on it to get it to look decent for the picture. sigh. He really did a number on it.

I didn't kill him, though. I, honestly, was speechless. And I gave him a "mommy guilt trip". I cried and told him that maybe Santa wouldn't be getting him any presents this year. Usually, when I lecture him, which is often, he tries to distract me or change the subject. But today he sat silently, staring at me and then promptly burst into tears the minute I shut the door. I'd like to think it was because he felt so bad about making mommy cry, but I really think it was the Santa thing that caused the tears. Whatever works!

How sad for him that daddy hasn't had his say, yet. I almost feel bad for him. But then I look at Zoey and I get over that pretty quick!

Mountain West Conference Champs!!!!!!!

Congratulations University of Utah Football!!!

They just trounced BYU 48 to 24!!!!! And won the conference! Now we are BCS bowl game bound!

GO UTES!!!!!

Our New Find

Every year I beg/nag Scott into putting Christmas lights up on the house. You all know how I feel about Christmas lights. I LOVE lights. If you've seen my Christmas tree you'll know to the extent I will go to have lots and lots of lights. And every year the most I get on my house is a strand across the top of the garage. Pretty pathetic. Last year, I don't think I got any on my house at all. Scott hates to get on the top of the house. Not that I blame him, really, I wouldn't go up there either! sigh.

So this year I was doing my usual beg/nag routine and came really close to calling one of those lighting companies who will do it for you and spending more money than I really want too, when I happened to be looking at target.com. And on their website they had a handy little product. It's a ladder-less light hanger. It's a telescoping pole designed to hang your lights. So instead of the $260 dollars for the professionals, we spent probably $40 on the pole and the special light holders. YEAH! Course Scott told me I now owe him $100 for the labor, but that's STILL cheaper!

Here's a close up of Scott in action. It was really easy to use and he didn't even have to climb up on the very top of the house, which is the part he loathes and refused to do.
So, now I have lights on my house. Of course, they don't even come close to rivaling the lights on my tree, but at least they are up there. Maybe next year, I can get Scott to do something a little more elaborate. Baby steps........

An Interview With The Bishop

Sunday afternoon, Hali had her baptism interview with the Bishop. The whole walk over to the church Hali was a chattering magpie. The minute the door shut behind us in the Bishop's office, she went mute. The Bishop would ask her a question, that we knew she knew the answer to, and she would just sit there and stare at him. If she did answer a question, it was one word and spoken really softly. Scott and I kept giving her hints and nudging her with our elbows, but she just sat there. The Bishop kept cracking jokes to loosen her up, but she just stared at him, like this was the most painful thing she had ever done. Scott and I were sure the Bishop thought that we hadn't taught her anything. The second we stepped out of the church, I just looked at her and said, "Hali, what was that?" She just looked at me with these big eyes and said, "What?". My kids become suddenly shy at the best times. Jeez.

Fabulous Mantle!

So I was blog surfing this morning and found a link to this woman who made a step by step instruction guide on how to make the most fabulous mantle greenery! I think I just may have to attempt this. You can find it here.

Vinyl Crazy

I've been going a little vinyl crazy lately. I refused for a long time to put them on actual walls, because I just thought I'd repaint too much to keep them up. Reality has set in and I really don't think repainting will be a problem. So I've given into my inner decorator and have been ordering vinyl lettering like crazy! I'm sure that Scott will be staging an intervention soon.

Here is one I just put in Porter's room. LOVE IT!

I had this one custom made. I've wanted to do a "Prophet Wall" for a long time, but never got around to buying the pictures. A couple of months ago we were at the distribution center and I grabbed them while I was there. I finally got around to buying the frames and then got the idea for the wall.

I have a couple more that I don't have pictures of. One is about family and I still have to hang up all the pictures that go around it. The other is for my front door, but I want to paint my front door a different color before I put the vinyl on. I'm also thinking of ordering another for the girls room. What did I tell you: CRAZY!

I Should Have Knocked On Wood.

I ran into a friend of mine the other day that I hadn't seen for a while and got to talking about how busy life is. She mentioned something about me not getting any sleep, because of young kids. I smugly said "Oh, I don't have to get up with kids anymore." I know.

Let the games begin!

Two nights ago, Zoey decided to take her "sniffles" and turn them into the flu. We were up all night with her puking all over the place. And she's still young enough, that she can't really tell us when she's going to throw up. So, yeah, that was fun.

Last night, we went to bed, thinking we were going to get a great night's sleep. Not so much. Regan had an ortho appointment, yesterday. She had one last molar to lose and it was very loose, so the dentist popped it out of her mouth. She kept complaining all evening that it wouldn't stop bleeding. We didn't pay much attention, because it really wasn't bleeding all that bad. At about 2:48 am (yes, I looked) Regan came rushing into our bedroom yelling about how something was wrong. We turned on the light to find the most gigantic blood clot in her mouth! It had to be the size of a nickel. It took us an hour to wash her off and get the bleeding to stop. She had just gotten a rubber band on her braces and it was hooked to the tooth right in front of the one pulled and I think the pressure of the band pulling the tooth away from the empty place just really made it hard for the area to heal.

It occurred to me as Scott and I were trying to get back to sleep, what I had said days earlier. I confessed my sin to Scott, who groaned and muttered, "Thanks a lot."

I really wish I had knocked on wood. I'm not all that superstitious, but I would have liked a little extra ammo against Murphy and his stupid Law's.

It's Great To Be Eight!

Hali is finally EIGHT!! In the Mormon church, eight is a really big age. Eight is when you get baptized into the church. Hali's baptism won't be until December, though, because they only do baptisms at the beginning of every month.

Sunday, Hali's actual birthday, we had family over for dinner and then cake.

Saturday, Hali got to have a friend party. She decided that even though we had already seen the movie, that she wanted to go see High School Musical 3. So she got to invite some friends and the movie place had the audience sing Happy Birthday to her before the movie started.
Scott and I got a kick out of watching these girls sing all the songs and hide their eyes when Troy and Gabriella kiss. We didn't have cake at the party, because the movie is 2 hours long, so we just had Hali open her presents.
After the party I took Hali shopping with her birthday money from Grandma and Grandpa Law. She had so much fun picking out really girly things. She's my shopping diva!

Porter PMS.......Again

I have spent my morning screaming at Porter. He really has been getting better, but I guess he's still got a little left in him. In an earlier post, I described how boys have PMS, too, but instead of getting all emotional, they get destructive.

This morning, Porter pulled Hali's left over birthday cake out of the fridge while I was in the shower. I came downstairs to find cake smeared all over the floor and in my new carpet! And lying next to the cake container was a really large knife that we had used to cut the cake the previous evening. Lovely. I yelled and sent him to his room.

Oh, but that's not all!

After a while I let him out and then got on my computer to make out my grocery list. Again, I came down stairs to find that Porter had decided to make himself and Zoey some peanut butter and HONEY sandwiches. I had crumbled bread, smeared peanut butter and a large deposit (not anywhere near the sandwiches) of honey dumped on my table. I screamed some more, but realized that I was making no impression on him at all. I thought about banning him from the TV, taking away his toys and even spanking him, but really, that wouldn't faze him.
So, I did the worst thing I could possible think of to punish Porter and have him realize that I meant it.

I went to McDonald's and bought myself lunch and bought him NOTHING.

I know, I know. Many of you are calling social services right now, but I was desperate! He cried the whole way home. I think he thought that I was bluffing and I'd actually buy him a Happy Meal when I got there. And truthfully, I almost caved. But then he got this little smile when we drove up to the drive thru and my heart just hardened. So, now I have a really upset child and I couldn't really care less. Little stink.

Happy Halloween!

Halloween seemed to sneak up on me this year. Usually, I'm planning costumes in August. I think that this year has gone really fast and I'm just not keeping up! I just need it to slow down a little bit. Anyway, last year all the activities seemed to be spread out over a couple of days, but this year it all happened in one day. 9 am we had Regan and Hali's Halloween parade at school. Then I dropped Porter off at preschool, had to turn around and pick up the girls at school and drive back to Porter's preschool for his Halloween party! Then, of course, there's trick-or-treating and then off to Dave and Natalie's house for a Halloween party. Whew! It was a long day.

Here are the kids posing out in the front. That white thing in the upper left corner of the picture is a ghost. It's attached to a string and is motion sensered. It moans, laughs evilly, and moves across the string. It was by far the hit of the night. We had little kids scared and parents asking how it worked. We loved it!

Regan was a devil this year.
Hali a mermaid.
Porter was Buzz Lightyear. The first time he saw himself in a mirror, he let out a huge WHOA!
Zoey went trick or treating as Minnie Mouse.
You'll notice in this picture that Zoey is dressed as a ladybug. She wore that costume all day and by 4pm was filthy! Luckily, we had the Minnie mouse dress-up.
The slide was at Porter's preschool. Zoey loved this slide. We had a hard time getting her off.

Here are the kids just goofing off.
We had a great Halloween. The kids have lots of candy and the weather was so warm! On the news, they said that the last time we have had a Halloween so warm was in 1986. I loved it, because I hate to have the kids wear coats over their costumes and it's just not fun going door to door in the snow.

A Room with a View Continued....

Scott reminded me a couple of weeks ago that I needed to update the pictures of the Oquirrh Mountain temple progress. It's been a while. I think that there are only about 6 months left to go. It's looking pretty close on the outside.

It was supposed to be done this month, but took a little longer, which I'm glad it did. Hali will be 8 in a couple of weeks and I really wanted her to be old enough to attend the dedication. I think that it will be exciting for Regan and Hali to attend, especially since this is the view from their room!

For Those Of You Curious.....

I was cleaning the pictures off of my camera this morning and noticed that I had inadvertently gotten a picture of Porter's girlfriend, Natalie (yes, he finally found out her name), at his Western Days party at school.


She's the little brunette with the braids and pink cowboy boots. I have to say he's got good taste, I think she's adorable!

Oh, by the way, he informs me every day after school that he hasn't kissed her yet. That's good to know, buddy.

This Is What Happens....

..........when you let your four year old dress himself. HEHE!

Merry Christmas And Happy Birthday!

So everyone knows that I LOVE to sew. I've been doing it since I was 12 and really think it's my passion. I have two sewing machines and would have three if I had an extra 3 to 4 thousand to buy me an embroidery machine. Oh, yeah. I want me one of those. Anyway, one of the kids was fooling around by the sewing machines a couple of months ago and accidentally knocked my serger off the table. It got pretty dinged up and bent, but was still in working order. But then the blade that cuts the fabric became dull. I looked EVERYWHERE for a replacement. I drove around the Salt Lake Valley and looked online. My machine was just too old. I think its like ten years old and I bought it on sale and it's some brand that they don't even make anymore. So basically, my machine was pretty useless.

Today I couldn't stand it anymore and took my Christmas money (hey, I'm in charge of doling it out, I can do whatever I want with it!) and went shopping. Unfortunately, prices seem to have gone up. So, I just HAD to go over my budget. I just figure my Birthday is only a couple of months after Christmas, this will count for my birthday, too.

And it sure is a beaut! It's so much quieter than my old one. Not to mention it's not bent. Nor is it missing pieces. Now I just have to threaten the kids with their lives and it will stay in this shiny, new state.

Man, Scott sure is getting off easy this year.

My Brilliant Hubby!

So you all know that a couple of days ago I was devastated by the loss of the diamond in my wedding ring. It was awful. Regan told me how uncomfortable it was for her to see me cry! I guess I don't do it often. Anyway, my honey, in a stroke of genius made a suggestion to me as I sobbed on his shoulder.

See, maybe three years ago, my wonderful dad upgraded my mom's diamond earrings. Meaning, he bought her some ginormous (I know I misspelled that one and pretty badly, too, because spell check has NO suggestions!) ones to replace the respectable sized ones she already had. I just happened to be visiting on this momentous occasion and kindly offered to take the old pair off her hands. She graciously agreed.

Fast forward to Tuesday night and my husband makes the suggestion (as I'm wailing over the fact that we don't have an extra 2 grand lying around to replace what I lost) that I use one of the earrings my mom gave me. They just happened to be the same size (roughly) of the diamond now swimming on the bottom of a pool. BRILLIANT!!!

I rushed over to the jewelers on Wednesday and picked up the finished product today!

My ring looks brand spankin' new! They re-brushed and polished the ring and it looks like the day we bought it. And all for the lovely price of 53 dollars!!!! Thanks Mom and Dad! Those earrings turned out to be lifesavers! Now my hand doesn't feel naked!

So Funny!

Yes, I have too much time on my hands! I thought the political one was funny, but Porter as Troy Bolton is CLASSIC!

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Jib Jab

I found this on my friend, Christi's blog and it made me laugh! So I thought I would make my own! I hope this makes you laugh, too.

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I'm Devastated.

After my water aerobics class tonight, I was getting changed in the locker room and discovered something. This:

That would be my wedding ring, missing one vital piece. Somehow during my class the diamond on my ring fell off into the pool. The chances of recovering it are pretty small.

I'm really quite surprise by how upset I am over the loss. I feel like I've lost an appendage or something. This ring has been on my finger for more than 13 years at this point and has worn a groove onto my finger. I know that we can replace it, although, it's not happening any time soon, but there is so much sentimental value attached to this ring that I'm just devastated. I know, it's just a stupid ring, but I'm really just sad. I'm sure I'll get over it, but again, I'm just sad.

Pumpkin Night

We finally got around to getting and decorating pumpkins!! We are usually earlier than this because Halloween just happens to be my favorite holiday, but this year just seems to be really busy! We've been so busy that I only made ONE costume this year and bought the other three!

GASP!

So tonight for family night we let the kids decorate their pumpkins. I found these really cute plastic stick-in things at Target and loved them for their non-mess. No digging out slimy seeds for this woman.

Regan got Dracula:

Hali got a princess: (surprise, surprise)
Porter got a pirate: (repeat the surprise)
And Zoey got Frankenstein: (who looks cleaner than her)
The kids loved the easy decorations (they don't like the slimy seeds, either) and Zoey got really attached to hers. She cried and cried when we put them outside on the porch. I guess we'll be making daily trips out the front door to visit.

Have You Ever Had One Of Those Mornings....

where you finish getting yourself ready, the kids are all in their swimming suits for swim lessons and you saunter down the stairs thinking, "Wow. We are actually going to be on time today! Maybe even early!" And you turn the corner to find the youngest child is still in her pajamas, saggy diaper and hair sticking out all over the place. Then you think, "Crap. We're going to be late, again." Ever have one of those? Yeah, me neither.

The Ladies Man

On Monday afternoon, I picked Porter up from school and he announced to me that he had a girlfriend. The conversation went something like this:

Porter: "Mom, that girl with her hair down, hers my girlfriend."

Mom: "Really. What's your girlfriend's name?"

Porter: "Um....I don't know."

Mom. "Oh. Does she know she's your girlfriend?"

Porter: "Yeah, hers knows I'm her boyfriend. I waved at her and she waved back."

(Trying desperately not to laugh) Mom: "So, because she waved back that makes her your girlfriend?"

Porter: "Yeah. And when I kiss her....."

Mom bursts into laughter and interrupts that thought.

Porter: "MOM! What are you laughing at? I'm not a baby anymore. Sheesh."

Mom: "Have you kissed her, yet?"

Porter: "No. I will kiss her at a wedding."

Yes! The brainwashing is working! No dating until 21, no kissing until the wedding!

I had to remind Porter today that he needs to find out his girlfriend's name. That's usually a smart move. I also found out today, that Porter apparently bit her (and got into trouble at school for it) so that she would be his friend. Wow, buddy. Way to go! He's real smooth, that one.

A Little Pick-Me-Up

I've been really following the Presidential race this year, as I'm sure everyone out there is. And with the media the way it is (totally biased!) and with the economy going down the toilette, frankly, I've been getting a little irritated and kind of freaked out.

So, I was really looking forward to General Conference this last weekend. General Conference, for all you non-Mormons, happens every six months. We have a weekend where we hear messages from our church leaders. Things that are uplifting and give us guidance on how we should live our lives.

I so needed to hear these wonderful messages this weekend. I always feel so much better and calm when I hear our Prophet's words of wisdom. I'm looking forward to the conference edition of the Ensign (a magazine) so that I can really go over what was said. I really needed this little pick-me-up!

I Just Can't Keep It A Secret Any Longer...

No, I'm not pregnant. That's not ever happening again.

I'm just about done with Hali's baptism dress! I wasn't going to show it off until the big event in December, but I just can't keep it to myself.

I followed a pattern from a magazine I get. But I did a little tweaking. See, I was almost done with all the embroidery and Hali decided that she wanted a dress just like a girl at church. Excuse me?! You change your mind after I've done all this work?! So we compromised and changed the sleeves.

Here is the Dress in the magazine.

And this is the final product.


(If you click on the picture, you can see it more in detail.)
The only thing I need to do are the buttons in the back, but it's basically done! Naturally, Hali will have her hair brushed and cute for the baptism.

Olden Days Porter and the clan

This is what Porter may have looked like in the late 1800's attending school.

Western Days

I love Porter's preschool. He's actually the third of our kids to attend this school. When Regan was ready to start preschool, she was already really smart. I wanted to find a place that was more than a glorified play group and found Challenger. It's really academic, but is so much fun, too. About once a month they have some kind of party day. September is Western Days. The kids get to dress up as cowboys and play games and sing songs about the Old West. Parents are invited that day to join the festivities.

There is something about this picture that makes me think of my dad.
First of all, my dad is a farm boy. He loves the old westerns. And I have in my memory somewhere a picture of my dad leaning up against a wall with a bunch of his friends. It's an old black and white and he's squinting into the sun, just like Porter. The whole posture thing, just makes me think of my dad as a kid. Mom, you'll have to let me know if you have something like this.

They had a little program, where each class room got to sing a song. Porter's class sang "Home On The Range". It was so cute. Then they got to play the Hokey Pokey. Porter was just a little bit slower than everyone else.
It was really nice to spend some time with just Porter and me. It's always interesting to see how your children act in a school setting. Porter was actually pretty good. But he is a talker. He so didn't get that from me!