Idaho Weather

Rolling Fool

Tanner has been rolling all over the place for a few weeks now. Today while he was in his crib (he was suppose to be napping) he wacked his forehead on the side of it and gave himself a bruise. You can kind of see it in this picture, which was taken way after the incident as you can tell by the smile on his face. I felt real bad for him.

Playing Outside

We've had some fairly nice weather. Windy, but nice. What can you expect in Southern Idaho? Vance loves playing outside. Tanner likes to look around and he loves watching Vance. Here are some pictures I took of them today.

100 Interesting Things About Me

Okay, Holly tagged me on this one. We'll see if I can do it. I may be using her answers to help me along...

1. My maiden name is Porter
2. I lived in Burley, Idaho until I was ten and then moved to Zillah, Washington
3. I was scared to move.
4. I'm glad I moved.
5. I got married August 16, 2003
6. I was 20 years old when I got married.
7. Stephen (my husband) is 14 inches taller than me.
8. I was the one who was more forward in our relationship in the beginning.
9. I wanted to know why Stephen came to visit me every single day if he just wanted to be my friend.
10. I was Stephen's first girlfriend.
11. I didn't know what I wanted to major in when I graduated from high school because I wanted to be a stay at home mom.
12. I got an associate's degree in preschool education.
13. I love doing preschool.
14 I love being a stay at home mom even more.
15. I am the mother of two boys, Vance and Tanner
16. I think I have the best husband and most adorable children in the world.
17. I hope everone thinks that about their spouse and children.
18. I had a steady boyfriend in high school.
19. I was engaged to him for about a month just before I turned 19.
20. I rarely tell people that, yet I just posted it on this blog.
21. I'm grateful for wonderful parents and a loving Heavenly Father who showed me that he wasn't the one for me.
22. Like my sister, I have been teased about two things my entire life (things I have no control over).
23. My height (5 foot 1 inch)
24. My pale skin
25. I am the shortest member of my family.
26. I don't mind being short.
27. My ears stick out.
28. A lot of friends in high school thought I looked like an elf because I was short and my ears stuck out and were kind of pointy.
29. I did drama all four years of high school.
30. I sang at Carnegie Hall with my high school choir when I was a junior.
31. I would never want to live in New York, but I think it is fun to visit.
32. I want to be rich enough someday to help people who are struggling financially or to do other generous things with my money.
33. I don't want my children to get everything they want if we are ever rich.
34. I have been pregnant or nursing a baby for over three years minus about 2-3 weeks in between when I stopped nursing Vance and before I was pregnant with Tanner.
35. I first started having back problems when I was 14.
36. My back problems hit again when I was 18.
37. Five days before I gave birth to Vance I threw out my back and couldn't walk.
38. I slept and basically lived in a recliner during those five days because I couldn't move.
39. Stephen had to help me walk to the bathroom and sit me on the toilet and then help me get off of it when I needed to use it.
40. I love and appreciate Stephen more each day because of things like that.
41. I never want to give birth to a baby that weighs over nine pounds again.
42. I realize this is somewhat out of my control, but I will do what I can to keep it in my control.
43. I'm obsessed with taking pictures of my boys.
44. I wouldn't mind if I only have boys.
45. I wouldn't mind if the rest of my children are girls.
46. I like to sing and dance with my children.
47. I am left handed.
48. I use to have blonde hair, it has progessively gotten darker over the years.
49. I wish my hair was still blonde.
50. My fingernails are weak and break easily.
51. I like to play the piano, but I don't like having church callings that require me to play the piano.
52. I think children's smiles and laughs are the most precious thing in the world.
53. I love newborn babies because they are so fresh from heaven.
54. I can count on one hand the number of times I've seen Stephen cry.
55. I can't count on one hand the number of times I cry in a month.
56. I get headaches when I have to be social.
57. On a whole I don't like people.
58. I'm very stubborn.
59. I don't care when it comes to lots of things, but if I have an opinion on something it is very firm.
60. I really don't think that my brother-in-law is gross even though I basically told that to Holly when she started dating him.
61. I love to have things in order and organized.
62. My house is generally never in order or organized.
63. I can't remember the last time I laid down at night and slept until it was time to get up in the morning.
64. It is akward to kiss my husband if we are both standing. I have to stretch my neck back and stand as tall as I can and Stephen has to bend way down.
65. I like having a tall husband.
66. Aside from the last season I've seen ever episode of the Glimore Girls.
67. We don't have any television stations so I never watch tv.
68. I wanted to be just like my older sister when I was growing up.
69. I am a terrible test-taker.
70. I scored the lowest on my ACTs in my family (Rose hasn't taken it yet, but we all know how book smart she is). :)
80. I am the only quiet girl in my family.
81. I hate driving
82. After being married nearly five years I just got an Idaho Driver's license with my married name on it a week ago.
83. When I was about three or so I remember my dad carrying me across the street to go trick-or-treating and I cried the entire way over and back.
84. I've hated Halloween ever since.
85. I am deathly afraid of snakes.
86. I love puppies.
87. I want to have a puppy someday, but Stephen does not.
88. I love going on walks.
89. I haven't seen a movie in the theater since I was pregnant with Vance.
90. It was the fourth Harry Potter movie.
91. If we didn't have to eat to stay alive I wouldn't eat.
92. I hate to cook.
93. Before I met my husband I never knew someone who didn't like fruit.
94. I recently let my husband buy a Wii. I don't know why.
95. I have two main celebrity crushes, Nick Lachey and Michael Vartan.
96. Sometimes I tell Stephen he looks like Michael Vartan.
97. We both know he doesn't.
98. I am very unatheletic.
99. Even though I love my children, they can drive me crazy.
100. I wonder if anyone actually read this and found any of it interesting.

TAG- Okay, well, I guess I'll tag some people that I haven't seen update their blogs in awhile. Dad, Erin, and Mandy. Good luck. You may need to do it in segments...

Birthday

Yep, it's my 25th birthday. I thought I'd share some pictures from past birthdays and let people enjoy the chubby times, the akward times, the too blonde of hair times...

My first birthday. If anyone has ever wonder ed how my boys ended up with chubby cheeks, wonder no longer...you probably didn't anyway, since I still have those cheeks.

My 3rd birthday. Hard to believe that Vance's next birthday he'll turn 3.

My 8th birthday. I had a party! Eric is the boy in front and Holly is in the back, for those who might care. I still keep in contact with three of those girls. :)

My 12th birthday. I had a sleep over. Proof that I had my ears pierced once upon a time.

My 14th birthday. I had to scan the entire scrapbook page of some of these pictures so that is why it looks funky.

Sweet 16. I liked to have pies a lot of times for my birthday instead of cake.

My 18th birthday. Not that you can see it, but I still wear the skirt I have on that I got for this birthday! My 21st birthday. I think this is the last time I've had my picture taken on my birthday.

Cars and Cribs

***If you scroll down some to the post titled "Talking" you can see a video I was trying to get posted the other day, but it wasn't working for me, but it is now so take a look.***
I put both boys in Cars clothing today so I wanted to show off how cute they look. Tanner's onesie is way too big I stuffed most of it in his pants so it wouldn't look as big as it does. Then Vance wanted to get in Tanner's crib. Nothing out of the ordinary, sometimes I let him and sometimes I don't. It is always short-lived though because he starts jumping in it or messing with things he isn't suppose to, but he must enjoy it while it lasts because he always wants to get back in it. I took the opportunity to take their picture while they were trapped in the crib. Vance is blocking his shirt in both pictures, but you get the idea. Tanner was actually tired and ready for a nap at this point. I'm not sure if he was really okay with sharing his crib by the second picture, but as we know, he tolerates a lot.

Sleeping on the floor

Stephen usually puts Vance down for his nap

when he is home on his lunch break. He called today however to let me know he'd have to take a late lunch. I tried and tried to get Vance to nap and he wouldn't. He finally fell asleep on the floor a few minutes before Stephen came home for lunch.

Food Thoughts

I may be jumping the gun about this one, but I wonder if Vance is at the start of a food jag. (That's what we called them in our Nutrition for Young Children class). What is the food he just can't get enough of? Peanut butter and jelly sandwiches. He has them for lunch aboutt 80% of the time, but tonight he insisted on having one for dinner too. He wouldn't eat anything else. If you look close enough you can see the remnants of it on his face. Vance has always been an eager eater but the last couple of months he has gotten pickier and now we are getting into only wanted a few things to eat. I know this is typical toddler behavior, but I can't help but keep Stephen in the back of my mind when it comes to food. For anyone who may not know, I am married to the pickiest eater in the world! Okay, maybe not, but he's the pickiest eater I've ever met and I know of plenty of people who would agree with me (his mother, bless her). I hope that my children do not follow suit because I don't know how on earth we'd survive with a household of picky eaters! For now, I will just pass Vance's behavior of as typical for his age because I know it is. He better grow out of it though or else!

Talking

Vance has been saying his name for about a week now. It actually sounds more like dance to me. He will also count to three if I help him start off with one. Sometimes I can get him to say Tanner's name as well, although that is not on the video. Hopefully you can hear and understand him okay.

Seven Months Old

Tanner is seven months old today! I think I say this every month, but it is hard to believe that he is that old already! Here's a picture of him after eating some rice cereal this morning. He loves to try and feed himself and if I give him the bowl he likes to try and eat that as well!

Spring

It felt like Spring today! We took advantage of the nice weather and went for a walk and played at the Iona Park. We went down there so we could see Aunt Mandy at the library where she works (it is right next to the park) and to enjoy a less crowded park. We started off by taking a walk which put Tanner right to sleep since he was really tired and he slept the entire time while we walked around, let Vance play on the toys, and went to the library. Vance had a great time going down the slide. He cried when we made him leave. He gets around just fine on his own this year.

The second picture is one of the boys playing in their diapers before bed tonight. Stephen and I were discussing how Vance looks like a giant next to Tanner when they are both standing up. They both love to hang out in their diapers, but the only time I let them is right before they get ready for bed. Vance thinks Tanner is pretty funny without clothes on and Tanner always thinks that Vance is funny. Silly boys.

Enchanted

I've been trying to get a good video of this for awhile. Vance enjoys the Disney movie Enchanted. He especially enjoys the song tha Giselle sings to Robert in Central Park. (I imagine the title is something like, "How Do I Know") Vance likes to sing a long, dance, laugh when the prince gets knocked over, and clap at the end. Here's a little clip of the end of the song. Of course, Vance isn't wearing pants. Sorry about that also sorry for the bumpy taping, Tanner kept bumping me. It much more fun to watch him in real life, but I hope you enjoy the video.

Wii

I finally let Stephen buy a Wii. He ordered it online and it came yesterday. Vance kept going over to it and saying, "Please." but I wasn't about to try and set it up without Stephen since it is his baby. When Stephen did get home and finally was able to start getting it out of the box Vance kept saying, "Wow." However, it was bedtime for the boys before Stephen set it up so this morning Vance had his first go at the Wii. He thought it was great. Of course, I was really the one actually doing everything but he had a great time. Stephen and I played a little last night as well. It is fun and can give your arm a bit of a work out depending on how into it you get.

First Tooth

Well, after debating with myself and trying and trying to get a good look inside of Tanner's mouth I finally decided that he has his first tooth! Checking that out really isn't a one person job. It has broken through the surface though. It is his bottom right tooth in the front. One down... The other bottom one is looking close too. Teething is hard business.

Happy Birthday Dad!

Happy Birthday to my dad! This was the most recent picture I could find of my dad. He is with Tanner the day Jillian was blessed in February. Since blogging I've had two brothers birthdays and I mentioned when they were born or babies. Obviously I can't do that with my own dad. I remember when I was little I thought my dad knew EVERYTHING. Now that I'm older I know that is not true, but he sure knows a heck of a lot. My dad use to read to my sister and I when we were little and I loved it. I think that is one reason why I enjoy reading and reading to my children so much. I have a wonderful Dad and I want to wish him a very happy birthday!

Portraits

If you couldn't tell from previous posts I have been wanted to get good pictures of the boys to make 8x10s of and frame since the ones I have now are quite out of date. The other day I was outside and I decided to snap some shots of Vance. I was just messing around and what do you know I got this picture. I was happy. Yeah, a good picture of him that I can put in a frame.

Of course then I decided I needed a good one of Tanner. When you I actually try to do this however it never turns out as well. Go figure. This one is probably my favorite. So what is everyone's opinion? Is it cute enough or should I keep trying? I mean, I know he is a cute subject so don't get too distracted by that... I wish he were looking more towards the camera, but it is a cute smile.

Facelift

I thought it'd be fun to change my template everyone once in awhile. So here is my latest one. I was actually proud of myself for figuring it out. Of course, I got some directions from another site, but I was able to decipher all the directions and do it all on my own! My last template was from another site where a lady does them for fun and lets people use them. So what do you think of my new one?

My Misters

Does anyone else remember the Mr. and Miss books? We had some growing up and Vance has some too. The Jeppson's got my boys t-shirts with the appropriate characters on them. I don't think you can read them so I'll tell you that Vance has a Mr. Mischief shirt and Tanner has a Mr. Happy shirt.

Pictures

I enjoy taking pictures of my boys. However, I keep telling myself that someday we will start to put a little money aside to get nice professional individual pictures of them and our family. Vance is coming up on being 2 1/2 years old and he's never had a professional picture taken of him. Pretty pathetic. Until then we will just work with my very amateur pictures of them that include piles of clean clothes and toys behind them. I should really invest in photoshop or something. One more thing to save money for I suppose. I took these pictures of the boys yesterday.

Two Boys and their Bears

My mom made Vance a cute bear when he was born and I noticed that she had made one for my niece as well so I asked her to make Tanner one as well. I didn't know at the time that she had sworn not to make anymore. She was kind enough to make one of Tanner anyway. How could she say no to her grandchild? Anyway, here are the boys with the bears that Grandma Porter made for them. Thanks Grandma! They love their bears.

Family Picture Attempts

*I put up several posts today so be sure to scroll down to get all of the new ones. :)

Well, we tried to get a nice family picture of the four of us, but for one reason or another (or several reasons more like it) none of them look all that great. How do professional photographers do it? I see lots of nice family pictures with children my kids ages so what is their trick? I really would like to know. Vance tries to take off whenever we try and get a picture of him with anyone and Tanner is never looking in the right direction...

Tanner cuteness

This post is just so I can put some pictures of Tanner on that we took over the weekend. Why? Just because I think he is cute.

The outdoor man

Vance loves to be outside and the weather in Nevada was nicer than it has been here so he took full advantage of that. Stephen's cousin Jennifer has a very well-behaved dog named Jax that Vance absolutely adored! He had so much fun playing with that dog. Before the graveside service when we pulled up to Bob's house (where Jax was) Vance started saying, "Dog." Over and over. He even learned the word Jax. No one start with the "we need a dog" comments!

Uncle Bob

Stephen's Uncle Bob past away last weekend so we went down to Sparks, NV for the services this past weekend. I have a TON of pictures from this weekend so I will probably do several different posts to get them all up. I only met Bob once, but I am so glad that I was able to meet him at least once before he past away. I know his family loved and will miss him dearly. Here is a picture of the floral arrangement the nieces and nephews got and also a picture of Stephen's family minus Mandy's husband, Jake, who unfortunately wasn't able to make it.

Facial Hair

Stephen took advantage of being out of school and grew some facial hair. After three months though I think we were both getting tired of it so he shaved just before we left for Nevada. I think I prefer him clean shaven, but who really likes to kiss a hairy face? Here are the before and after pictures. What do you think?

Holding Tanner

Sometimes Vance will randomly want to hold Tanner. It hasn't happened for a long time and I don't think Tanner was terribly excited about it, but here are the pictures I snapped. Too bad you can't read Vance's shirt in the picture. It says, "I'm the big brother" Vance can't really hold Tanner because he is just too big for that now, but nonetheless this was his attempt. I have a pair of silly boys.

Outside

We have a squirrel that lives somewhere near our backyard and it is constantly coming over and hanging out. Today was the first day Vance really noticed it though. He had a great time watching it out the window. We also went outside and played for awhile today and the weather was fairly nice. Cool, but not freezing and the sun was out. Woo-hoo! Vance was telling me that his slide was stuck so we had to get it unstuck to play on it that is why he looks like he is in pain.

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Pool

My parents and younger brother and sister came to visit for a couple of days while on their spring break! We had a good time with them although it was too short of a visit. Last night we bought Eric a b-day cake and celebrated his birthday with him in his apartment's lounge. They had a pool table down there and so Eric, Glen, and Rose tried their hand at pool. Vance thought it was the funniest thing in the world! He watched intently and everytime one of them hit the ball he busted a gut laughing about it. What a silly kid. He also had fun watching Eric and Glen wrestle around (brothers...). He wants to be like his uncles I think. We took a bunch of pictures of him enjoying himself.