Finding Joy in the Journey

More pictures

2012-01-30T17:06:00.001-07:00

Well, I guess it is time for another picture round up. Is anyone enjoying these? I am pretty good at saving a picture each day to the computer, but don't get it on the blog.

Tanner and I had preschool about snowmen. We made this cute little edible snowman with marshmallows, mini chocolate chips, and a popsicle stick.

Does anyone enjoy book orders more than their kids? I love books! Anyway, Vance brought home some books we'd bought through book orders this day so I made him show them off.

Stephen was making funny faces at Porter this night and I needed a picture so Porter helped me take this picture of him. I am sure he'll appreciate me sharing it with the world, but hey it was fun.

Porter loves apples. He is picky about a lot of foods sadly, but he loves anything I juice (even the yucky green stuff I don't really like) and he loves apples and a few other healthy foods aside from snack foods, which is more than I can say for Tanner...

Here are the boys ready for church. Stephen was doing something funny right behind me which is the only reason they are all smiling, but hey whatever works.

Here is a picture of Vance, busy doing his homework. He had a wellness check last Friday. He weighs 50 pounds and is 46 1/2 inches tall. That puts him in the 75% for both his height and weight.

Well, there is a glimpse into our lives the last week or so...

New TV and other photos of the day

2012-01-24T18:34:00.001-07:00

Here are my photos of the day from the past week.

Tanner and his cute face. Check out those eyelashes!

At school they have a prize drawing every Friday for the kids who didn't have discipline issues that week. Vance's name was drawn on Friday and he picked this fun coloring page with markers. It's now hanging in his room.

Porter enjoying the piano.

Porter enjoying some Sunday dessert.

We bought a new TV. It feels really big compared to the old one and really thin too. We are enjoying it. I personally, am looking forward to watching Harry Potter on blu-ray sometime soon.

I know I take a lot of pictures of Porter. I suppose it is because he is the one that changes the fastest. He is also the one exploring and learning about things the most and it is sure fun to watch. Today he grabbed my phone and lounged across the stairs while he tried to figure things out on it.

Magic Stars

2012-01-18T16:26:00.001-07:00

Stephen's folded several "Magic Stars" lately. They are pretty cool. They rotate around and look really neat and are pretty sturdy. Porter is in a stage where he loves to put things on his head. He loves these Magic Stars and puts them on his head too, but his head is really too bad for them so Stephen made him a huge one. It is a big hit and fits a little better on his head.

The one on the left is Vance's and it is the normal size so you can see how much bigger Porter's is. Fun.

Playing at the Mall

2012-01-16T17:51:00.002-07:00

Stephen didn't have the day off, but he also doesn't leave for work until the afternoon and so we met up with his parents and one of his sisters because they were fortunate enough to have it off of work. Our boys love it when we let them play in the play areas they have in malls so we did that this morning. Vance posed for a picture too.

Exciting times...but not really

2012-01-15T18:15:00.002-07:00

I spent two days this week going through the boy's bedrooms. I have been feeling like our entire place has been over taken by toys. I went through and got rid of lots of things in June before we moved, but it was time again. I don't know how we collect toys so quickly, but we don't need them all especially when toys just get scattered and never played with. Anyway, one day I took a picture of Porter's closet because that was the main interest of the day. I did sell a few toys to the Kids to Kids store near our house. I got $10 from that. Not a whole lot especially considering they took everything I brought in (5 different toys). However, it was more than I would've gotten donating them somewhere.

On Friday I took a picture of the boys hanging out on the couch. Not too exciting either, but I love them.

Porter is so cute when he plays. I took a picture of him playing with some Cars Squinkies. I don't even think those toys are supposed to be for kids under the age of 3, but he never tries to put them in his mouth and is really cute with them too. In fact, I have gotten after Vance many times for having them in his mouth, but not Porter. He is really into cars stuff still. It's cute. I should post a video of him doing his Lightening McQueen sound. Instead of ka-chow it sounds like "cow" or "chow".

We have afternoon church (again) so I took a picture of Stephen and Porter bumming around in their pjs this morning. Moving so much we always end up with lame times for church over and over.

Learning

2012-01-11T18:11:00.000-07:00

Porter doesn't like to wear just socks on his feet (me neither). It's got to be shoes and socks or bare feet. It is fun to watch him take his socks off though and that is what I took a picture of him doing yesterday. He pulls some pretty cute faces working those socks off of his feet.

I have been teaching the older boys to read with a book that I learned to read by (my siblings too). I figured if it was good enough for my parents to use then it was good enough for me to use as well. There are 100 lessons and today we hit lesson 50 so I thought I would take a picture of the boys with the book. I do their lessons separately in case you are curious.

(I have no idea what Vance is looking at, by the way... )

A New Week

2012-01-09T16:58:00.001-07:00

I didn't even bother trying to upload my picture or making a blog post yesterday with how slow my computer was acting. The last two days have been pretty typical. I didn't think to take any pictures of boys in their church clothes so I took one of Vance after dinner.

Today I took a picture of Tanner pulling one of his many faces. The kid is full of expressive faces. It's fun to just watch him pull faces sometimes.

Snowy Day

2012-01-07T16:16:00.001-07:00

One of the things I dreaded the most about moving here was the snow, but as it turns out so far this winter we haven't had a whole lot. I have been happy about that. However, we woke up to plenty of snow this morning and it snowed on and off today. The boys were anxious to play in the snow because they were afraid it would melt. Clearly, they do not remember living in Idaho.

I picked this picture of Porter as the "photo of the day". The reason for this is because today was the first time he has really gotten into playing in the snow and I thought this picture capture how fun he thought it was.

Skylanders

2012-01-06T19:06:00.003-07:00

The boys enjoying their new video game "Skylanders: Spyro's Adventure". Vance is playing while the other two watch. Vance and Tanner got this game from Santa Claus. It has been a big hit with all the boys, including Stephen. It is a pretty cute...er...fun game.

Juicer

2012-01-05T18:32:00.001-07:00

I have been thinking on and off for a couple of years about buying a juicer. Well, today I took the plunge and did it. It's a Jack LaLanne model that I found at Wal-Mart. I didn't want to spend the $300+ or even half that, but I still wanted a good juicer. I researched around and I hope this one works well for us. The main reason for my interest in a juicer was for Stephen's benefit. He doesn't like any fruits and hardly any vegetables. While I have gotten into drink green smoothies (sometimes better than others) he will taste it once in a while, but never more than that because of the texture. It's all about texture for him which is where the juicer comes in. I think it will be good for the rest of us too.

We used it three times today. The first time we tried straight orange juice. The next time we mixed cucumbers, carrots, apples, and a lemon. Tanner and Porter loved it. Stephen and I thought it was okay and Vance hated it. The last thing we did today was apples and a lemon. We all liked it, but Vance. Anyway, I am hoping having a juicer helps us all get the nutrients we need that these fruits and veggies have. There are also recipes out there that use the pulp from these fruits and veggies. Wish us luck!

P.J.

2012-01-04T18:02:00.001-07:00

Porter is only a couple of months away from turning 2. Oh my! He is obsessed with electronics still. This has been an obsession since he was a baby. He loves phones, cameras, hand held gaming systems, our Wii, the dvd player. If it is electronic, he likes it. He loves watching his dad and brothers play games on the Wii and wishes he could join in the fun. He also enjoys books, cars, trains, and pretty much any "boy" kind of toys.

Porter isn't much of a talker. He is really good about answer yes and no questions with a "yeah." or "no." Those are the words he uses the most. He will say other words, but not a ton and not often. He does enjoy making some animal noises. His favorite seems to be a "moo" for a cow, but he will do monkey, dog, cat, pig, and horse noises too. Of course, this is all when he wants to, not when I try and get him to. :) This is my photo of the day and I thought I would share it along with a few things about my little man.

Cleaning up

2012-01-03T18:47:00.000-07:00

After we sent Stephen to work I made the boys go upstairs and we worked on reclaiming their bedroom. It seems to have gotten a little out of control with additional birthday and Christmas gifts. We went in and conquered. Mostly, I conquered and tried different tactics to get the boys to help me. After we got their room clean I hung up a bunch of posters that they'd had on their walls before we moved. They were excited. Anyway, that leads me to the photo of the day. Vance with one of the posters he helped pin up.

Their posters are either Nintendo related or Cars related. What can I say? Following in their Dad's footsteps.

Photo a Day

2012-01-02T21:06:00.001-07:00

I am sure most of you have seen the idea of taking a photo a day for an entire year. I think it is a fun idea. I even started to do it a couple of years ago, but it only lasted a couple of months. It was a random time of the year. I thought I would take a second stab at it and start with the new year of doing a taking a photo a day every day in 2012. I take pictures several times a week so it shouldn't be too hard, right? I hope. I may or may not post them on my blog everyday. Haven't really decided yet, but I thought I'd share the first two days.

January 1st, 2012.

I couldn't help but take a picture of Tanner playing a new video game he and Vance got for Christmas (Skylanders). He was getting so into it and he has the cutest facial expressions. Also, he was still in his Sunday clothes and had on a CTR necklace they'd made in his class.

January 2, 2012

I already realized after dinner that I had not taken a picture yet (got to keep that in mind earlier in the day) so I thought about what I could take a picture of and since I upgraded my phone today I decided that's what the picture should be about. I would much rather have cute pictures of my children, but I suppose this was the most noteworthy thing of the day so here it is. And no, it's not a smart phone or anything fancy, but it serves it's texting, calling, picture taking purpose which is all I really need for a phone.

Year in Review

2011-12-31T06:00:00.000-07:00

Since I haven't done a Christmas newsletter or anything like that I thought I'd just do a year in review on my blog for 2011

JANUARY- We started the year off celebrating with my family. I started my first digital scrapbooking class which has been a lot of fun. Porter turned ten months old and started to seem less like a baby. We enjoyed some warm weather by playing outside. Stephen was working hard on school and with him still being unemployed we weren't sure what the year would bring.

FEBRUARY- In February I expressed my love for different people and things. We also took our boys to see Rose in Charlotte's Web that her drama class put on.

MARCH- In March Porter turned one! We had a "On the Go" birthday party for him. I made all the boys shirts and party hats. He started to walk a little bit to that month. I did have a hard time getting him to drink out of any kind of cup, thankfully with time we overcame that issue. We also had fun celebrating St. Patrick's Day.

APRIL- In April Tanner gave his very first primary talk. We had fun decorating Easter Eggs and doing a hunt in our yard. We had an enjoyable Easter. We also enjoyed some wonderful Spring weather. At the end of the month the boys had fun helping me celebrate my 28th birthday.

MAY- We spent an enjoyable Mother's Day with my parents in May. We also got to see Eric and Tami and go to the annual Zillah Community Days Parade. One of the most fun things we did was seeing Rose in her last high school play where she played Cinderella. We also got to hang out with Holly and her family.

JUNE- In June I found myself at Rose's high school graduation and facing the fact that I graduated ten years ago. Yikes! We had fun playing with cousins. We also had lots of fun playing in our little swimming pool. June was full of fun. We celebrated Stephen's 30th birthday. We enjoyed a lot of outside playtime. We spent Father's Day with my own father and my wonderful husband. By the end of June we knew that it was time to make a huge change in our life...

JULY- We spent 4th of July with my family knowing that living close to them was soon coming to an end. I think all of the fun that we had the last month and a half was Heavenly Father giving me a chance at some wonderful memories before facing a very hard change for me. That change was moving to a new state. The thing I had been dreading since Stephen had decided to go into Information Technology needed to happen in order for him to get a job and that was moving to an area where he could get an entry level position in something related to his field. I knew it was and is the right decision, but sometimes those are the hardest. We packed up our belongings and moved in with my sister-in-law while we looked for employment and a place to live. Moving was tough, I won't lie, but at least we were moving near family and we moved in time to see our nephew be sealed to his parents and be blessed as well as celebrate our other nephew's birthday.

AUGUST- In August Stephen got a job and we found a place to live (although we couldn't move in until the beginning of September). I was able to attend a baby shower for Holly and her first little boy. Stephen and I celebrated our 8 year wedding anniversary. By the end of the month we were getting ready to move and Vance was gearing up to start kindergarten.

SEPTEMBER- My newest nephew was born at the beginning of the month and we watched his sisters, in the midst of moving. Porter started nursery (unfortunately it hasn't been a big hit for him). Tanner turned four and we celebrated with a Phineas and Ferb theme. Vance also lost his first tooth at school.

OCTOBER- We kicked October off with watching to General Conference, which is always a highlight. We visited a fun pumpkin patch. I felt like October was spent settling and adjusting. At the end of the month the boys had fun Trunk-Or-Treating in their costumes.

NOVEMBER- In November we met with Vance's teacher to see that he was doing well in kindergarten. We had a fun Thanksgiving with my family minus my brothers. We also witnessed my youngest nephew, Elliot's blessing. Stephen started working days (temporarily).

DECEMBER- We kept ourselves busy in December with Christmas type activities. The boys had fun doing gingerbread stuff. We saw the lights on Temple Square. Vance turned six and we had a spider themed birthday party for him. We also had a wonderful Christmas despite most of us having colds.

Now onto a new year. What will it bring?

Happy Holidays!

2011-12-27T10:14:00.001-07:00

I hope every had a wonderful Christmas. We enjoyed ours despite most of us fighting colds. This was the first year in the nine Christmas'es Stephen and I have been married that we did our own thing for Christmas Eve and Christmas morning. Although I enjoy spending time with our extended family it was really nice to do our own thing as well. We did spend Christmas Eve morning and Christmas afternoon with Stephen's family so we got a little of both worlds which was really nice.

On Christmas Eve we had a bunch of goodies. We did a flannel board story of the Nativity Story with music included. I was proud of Stephen for singing along with me so I didn't have to do a bunch of solos because the boys weren't on the bandwagon with singing. Anyway, before I told them about the birth of Christ we talked about each one of their births and how special they are. I thought it would be a good way to link their personal lives to the birth of Jesus and the true meaning of Christmas. I think they enjoyed it.

After that we put out some milk and cookies for Santa as well as some carrots for the reindeer. They left a little note for Santa on the white board. It says "Vance." "Santa." "toys." "thank you." and "Tanner" They also drew him some cookies.

It is hard work to get a good picture of the three boys together. Especially when the little one is trying to bolt and the other two won't smile, but here is my Christmas Eve attempt.

I took a picture before the gift unwrapping happened. We had some "Christmas Cereal" for breakfast and then went onto the festivities.

Porter opening a gift from Santa.

Tanner opening a gift that was in his stocking.

Vance opening a gift from his stocking.

The boys got this hexbug toy from my parents. They love it (Stephen does too).

We went to church with Stephen's parents so we could hear Grandpa give a talk. I tired to take a picture of them after church. They weren't interested.

As uninterested in a picture of the three of them, they really were not interested in a picture with their two cousins, but we tried!

We also attempted a nice family photo. At least we are all there...

Here is a video of Vance and Tanner opening their gift from my parents. I posted a different one on facebook as well as more pictures.

Vance's Birthday

2011-12-23T18:40:00.001-07:00

I think Vance had a great birthday. He wanted a spider theme which feels really weird three days before Christmas, but what can you do?

Here's my birthday boy showing of the party hat I made him. I can't believe how fast kids grow up.

I pretend like I can decorate cakes even though I really can't. Vance saw a picture of this cake on the internet a couple of months ago and told me he wanted it for his birthday so I tried. He seemed happy enough with it so that's all that matters.

Here is a birthday banner I made for him with some spiders. Thank goodness for my Cricut!

My three boys in their party hats. Porter thought they were hilarious, but by the time we got to partying he didn't want to wear it anymore.

Me and my birthday boy. He is a good kid.

Vance told me before the party he wasn't going to get embarrassed, but he did a little when we sang to him.

He was not embarrassed to blow out his candles this year though. He did a good job too.

He has been asking for this T-Rex since Tanner's birthday. This was the only present he requested specifically. All the boys at the party thought it was great, but the girls weren't so sure.

We are so glad that Vance is part of our family and it was fun to celebrate. You can see more pictures on facebook as well as a video I uploaded of him opening a gift from my parents. Thank you to everyone who wished him a happy birthday and to those who were able to come celebrate with us.

Happy Birthday Vance!

2011-12-22T06:00:00.000-07:00

Happy Birthday Vance!

I never want to have a baby so close to Christmas, but I will say that having a baby three days before Christmas does make me think of Mary and the miracle of Christ's birth all the more each since since being pregnant with Vance and reflecting on his birth each year since. Mary had to have been a very special person to have been trusted to be Jesus' mother. Vance is a wonderful boy and I feel a great deal has been entrusted in me to be his mother as well. I am not trying to compare us to Mary or Jesus, but I do feel a great responsibility as Vance's mother to raise him in a way that is pleasing to our Heavenly Father. I am so grateful for Vance and the things he has taught me the last six years. He loves birthdays so I hope he has a wonderful day. Happy Birthday Vance!

Temple Square

2011-12-10T12:23:00.001-07:00

We visited Temple Square last night to see all the lights. I was wishing my brother, Eric was around to come take pictures of my boys with the lights because he has an awesome camera and knows how to use it. I have a decent camera, but don't really know how to use it especially when it comes to being in the dark with lights... Nevertheless, we all had a wonderful time. The weather was cool, but to too cold and there was no snow or ice to worry about. I am sure the weather isn't so cooperative every year.

I wanted to get a picture of the kids bundled up and ready to go. I took Porter's pacifier out and you see the end result. (Mean Mom). You will notice, he has it in his mouth the rest of the night.

The older boys in front of the temple.

All three boys. I have no idea why Tanner looks so sad in this picture because he wasn't.

Porter was actually playing peek-a-boo with me when I snapped this. He doesn't have mittens so I put socks on his hands.

All of my men.

The temple. I didn't get a shot of it with lights except the little bit showing up right here....

The boys had fun looking at the lights on the water and this nativity scene.

The boys and I.

Tanner

2011-12-06T11:20:00.001-07:00

Tanner is at an age where he says the funniest things. I wish I could remember a fraction of what he says because it can be quite comical. I thought I would write down a few things I remember that he has said lately. (check out details about his shirt here.)

One night Tanner asked me if dragons were "instinct". Then he wanted to know what dragons ate. I told him to ask his dad.

One day he was flipping through a toy ad and saw some Transformers he said, "Mom, I want Bumblebee and Octopus Prime."

The other day he was throwing a fit so I told him to put a game away he had been playing and he turned to me and said, "Mom, my heart is mad at you!"

Last night he was looking at our Christmas decorations and I heard him saying "Baby Jesus, Baby Jesus, what do you see? I see a penguin looking at me..."

It had been a while since Stephen had shaved and Tanner looked at him and said, "Why does my dad have pinchy things on his lip and all over his face?"

Yesterday we were in the kitchen and he said, "Mom, you are a good Mom." :)

I wish I could remember everything he says, but those are a few things.

Gingerbread Activities

2011-12-05T15:56:00.001-07:00

We did our annually "Gingerbread Baby" (by Jan Brett) activities today. I thought I'd share some pictures of the boys. We actually made sugar cookies rather than gingerbread, but they are shaped like gingerbread men so it counts. The boys have all helped themselves to them. Actually Porter got two bites out of two cookies this morning while I was trying to clean up...

We also did a gingerbread house which Vance was so pumped about. I found one this year that was preassembled so I got that. We avoided the frustration of putting it together nicely and focused on the fun part- decorating!

Gratitude

2011-11-28T09:42:00.001-07:00

We did the gratitude leaves that we have been doing for the past few years and I wanted to share what the boys told me they were grateful for throughout the month of November. It seems that I had a lot of repeats this year. I am still working on trying to get them to realize how important it is to be grateful for certain things, but I am glad that they are starting to realize what it means to have gratitude.

Vance is grateful for:

Going to Grandma and Granpa's house

Playing outside

Dad and Mom

Pepperoni pizza

School

Movie Theaters

leaves

Mrs. McNeely

Mrs. Evans

Being able to play in the snow

New toys

Painting pumpkins

Family

The Bus

Mario Galaxy 2

Grandma Porter

Chase

Grass

Sid the Science Kid

Angry Bird Toys

Tanner

Tanner is grateful for:

Grandpas (we wrote this down three times)

Christmas Trees

Snacks

Video Games

Mail

Brothers

Toys

Being able to play with Mom

Books

Sunbeam Teacher

Snow

Mom and Dad

Being able to paint pumpkins

Grandmas

Going to Grandma's house

Porter

Thanksgiving

Vance

Blessing Day

2011-11-27T17:12:00.001-07:00

My littlest nephew, Elliot was blessed today. He is a sweet baby and we were glad to be there to share the day with my sister and her family.

Thanksgiving

2011-11-26T21:24:00.001-07:00

I am hoping everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving! We sure did. My parents and little sister have been in town.

What's Thanksgiving without a little pie?

And some napping? Tanner and Jillian were tucking the angry birds and piggies under a blanket next to Rose while she napped. She woke up into for a photo though. :) Although, I did catch Mom snoozing in the background. What is in babies that makes you need to nap when you are holding them?

This would be Tanner asking Rose why she had holes in her ears.

Little bit of Just Dace to work of all the food they ate. Tanner especially needed it with that one roll he ate (most of) and a piece of pie, talk about a big eater...

This is a fun sorting game that Stephen folded for the boys. They were enjoying it.

Chloe and Porter wanted to "Just Dance" as well.

My parents brought some books for us to borrow and Tanner has had a great time getting Grandpa to read them to him. I think he is going to be my book worm.

Vance and Origami Trees

2011-11-19T22:44:00.001-07:00

Stephen found this fun new tree design to fold and Vance wanted to help show them off. Here is proof that the kid can give a really cute smile for the camera despite what his school portraits look like...

Anyway, last Wednesday we were able to meet with Vance's teacher and see how things are going at school. Stephen decided that since he wasn't sure if he'd ever have the opportunity to go to one again he better take advantage of it now so his mom was kind enough to watch the boys while we did that. Stephen and I were both very quiet at school so I was unsure how Vance would be. I soon realized this was not the case for him and his teacher reconfirmed that last week. It sounds like he is pretty much the same kid at home as he is at school. I do feel bad for his teacher though, because Vance is very obsessed with "what's next" that he hardly pays attention to what is now. We are going to work on having him take more time to do his best work at home and at school. He is good at math (we can thank Stephen for that because I had no hand in that aside from maybe passing a gene from my dad along). He is a bright kid though and he gets along with his peers.

Vance also started riding the bus this week. He is loving that. He doesn't have a long bus ride either to or from school, not like when I was his age. Anyway, the boy is growing up. Before I know it he will be as tall as me and reading like a pro. How does this happen so quickly?

I survived Halloween

2011-11-05T20:42:00.001-06:00

I lived through Halloween! Yay. I haven't taken any pictures since. I did want to show off the boys with their trick or treat bags Grandma Jeppson made for them. They are cute bags. Sorry, the boys didn't really get it when I told them to show me the pumpkin's faces.

Holly's kids were very cute. Sean and Holly were even in costumes. The night before Halloween Tanner asked me what I was going to dress up as and I told him he wasn't. He did not think that was acceptable at all. So he started giving me suggestions, "How about a mummy?" I told him I didn't really want to be a mummy. "You could use toilet paper." he responded. Thanks, but no thanks buddy. Finally after a few more suggestions Vance interjected, "Mom doesn't have to dress up Tanner!" Apparently, that hadn't occurred to Tanner because he gave the simple response of "Oh, okay, you can just be Mom."

Now we are excited for Thanksgiving at our house. Our boys were very confused by the snow we had this morning. They associate snow with Christmas. Last year we were telling them that just because it was Christmas doesn't mean that we would have snow. This year we are telling them that just because there is snow doesn't mean that we've skipped past Thanksgiving!

Happy Halloween

2011-10-31T14:22:00.000-06:00

Happy Halloween!

Yep, I still think it is a pointless, dumb holiday and I would love to hide in my room and pretend it was just another day. However, my kids won't let me do that. Vance had a party at school on Friday, we went to a party at their cousin, Luke's house on Saturday and we are going Trunk-or-Treating with Holly's family tonight. I thought I would share some pictures from before. I will post more on facebook after tonight.

Vance is a spider!

Tanner is a ghost

Porter was a ghost too. Actually he lucked out because I made this for Tanner and he ended up not wanting "arms" so I trimmed it down to fit Porter.

This is the only picture I have of the three of them. I will try again tonight. This picture makes me laugh though. Tanner's expression, Porter's crying, and Vance in his own world...

Vance's Artwork

2011-10-23T20:16:00.000-06:00

Vance loves to draw pictures. I admit, I am pretty impressed skills considering he is only five. He definitely draws better than I do.

I think this one is my favorite. Spiderman is on the left and Perry the Platypus (Agent P) is on the right.

This is one he drew of himself. His favorite color is black.

He labeled this one himself.

Phineas is on the left and Ferb is on the right.

Check Ups

2011-10-19T20:28:00.000-06:00

Tanner and Porter were due for check ups in September with with moving and everything I didn't get them in until a yesterday. They are doing well. Recovering from immunizations, but they are growing healthy boys.

Tanner weighs 40 pounds and is 40.5 inches tall. That puts him in the 60% for his height and 75% for his weight. He turned up the charm for the nurse and doctor. I felt bad for him though when they gave him shots. I think he seriously felt betrayed.

Porter is nearly 34 inches tall weighs 28 pounds. That puts him in the 80% for his height and 75% for his weight. He wanted nothing with the nurse or doctor looking him over. Don't I feel like a mean mom.

I am glad that my boys are healthy and growing well.

Saturday at the Park

2011-10-17T21:07:00.000-06:00

Stephen was working overtime on Saturday so we went for a walk to the closest park. Unfortunately we have to cross a very busy street.

I videotaped Vance since a song they sing at school when they are getting ready to leave. He rarely will sing on demand especially when I have the camera in my hand.

Tanner was pretending to be a pirate at the park. Apparently he was Captain Hook.

Porter loves parks, especially going down the slide. He usually gets tired first and tries to climb in his stroller as a sign that he is ready to go home.

Looks like we will have plenty of time without Dad around. Stephen has to finish up his last class of his term by the middle of November and he is doing more overtime at work.

Pumpkins

2011-10-14T18:45:00.000-06:00

Vance has been asking for weeks if we could go to a pumpkin patch so we found one and went this morning. They had a free hay maze for little ones and the boys had a blast playing in that.

Here are just a few pictures. I will work on posting more on facebook since I took a ton. We also painting the pumpkins this afternoon.

Human Letters

2011-10-11T20:26:00.000-06:00

The boys wanted to make letters with their bodies today. I took pictures of their attempts. They even got Porter to help a little. Although he did run off before I took a picture of the letter "N".

Letter "V"

Letter "A"

Letter "X"

Letter "T"

Letter "P"

Letter "C"

Another one bites the dust

2011-10-09T18:18:00.000-06:00

Vance lost his second tooth yesterday. It was the bottom one right next to the one he lost already. We now need to get a piggy bank for him to put all of the quarters he has collected from the Tooth Fairy.

We got to see my brother Eric and his wife, Tami this weekend. The boys love them so much! (Stephen and I do too). It was lovely to see them. Fall has hit here, which I am totally fine with. However, it better stick to being fall and not to turn to winter too soon!

General Conference Weekend

2011-10-05T14:12:00.001-06:00

Does anyone else enjoy General Conference weekends? We don't get any television so we gathered around our computer to watch it on the internet. Thank goodness for technology. The boys were anxiously anticipating General Conference since last time I gave them lots of snacks and quiet activities for them to do. Naturally, I had to do that all again. They were pretty good through it all considering we made them sit and be quiet through four sessions. (P.S. I don't think Porter is actually left handed, but hey maybe he will turn into a lefty after all. I need at least one, don't I?)

I also wanted to say that Porter is just getting way too grown up. It is so bittersweet. He recently has fallen in love with books. I have to read his favorites a hundred times a day. He loves the one he is holding in the picture below because Vance, Tanner, and I will name the animals in the book and then make the animal noise. He has tried making a horse sound, but that's about it so far.

Something is Missing

2011-09-28T20:09:00.000-06:00

Vance came home from school today a very excited. He lost his first tooth. It is the front bottom right tooth. The one on the left is loose so I imagine it will be gone soon as well.

Vance has his tooth under his pillow and he had to ask me all sorts of questions of the Tooth Fairy that I didn't know. He asked me how she was going to get in and I said she might come through the window, but he didn't think that was a good idea at all. He thought she would use her wand somehow. Tanner didn't want to be left out and he excitedly told me that when he loses a tooth like Vance the "Tooth Perry" would come get his tooth. So how much money does the Toothfairy give your kids?

Rose visits

2011-09-26T20:21:00.000-06:00

My little sister took a break from college life to visit us this past weekend. We had a great time seeing her. The boys were not anxious for a picture...

Tanner's birthday

2011-09-20T20:05:00.000-06:00

When we were packing and trying to get ourselves moved Vance and Tanner may have watched every single episode of Phineas and Ferb available on Netflix.... Not overly proud of that, but there it is. To say that they like that show would be an understatement.

I saw these Perry the Platypus twinkie cakes and new that we had to have them for our party.

Tanner blowing out his birthday candles.

Tanner had fun opening his presents. He got this cool card from my parents.

Tanner is four

2011-09-20T00:00:00.001-06:00

I put this video together for Tanner's fourth birthday. It includes pictures of Tanner throughout the past year. The song I picked is one of Tanner's favorites. He always dances to it when he hears it. Tanner is a great kid. He pulls some of the best faces I've ever seen. He is a great cuddle buddy. Tanner is also one smart cookie, maybe too smart for his own good. He is trying to rivial his dad in being the pickiest eater I've ever met. I love Tanner so much and enjoy watching him grow and learn new things. Happy Birthday Tanner!

Nursery

2011-09-11T18:39:00.000-06:00

Porter is 18 months as of today. That is the golden age where he gets to go to nursery! It was also our first week actually going to our new ward. He went in just fine. Stephen distracted him with a fun toy. When I peeked in the window on my way to Relief Society he was in someone's arms bawling. Poor kid, but it must not have been too bad because no one brought him to me and when I picked him up he was sitting on someone's lap watching her blow bubbles for the kids. The real test will be next week when we drop him off. He is growing up so quickly. I was holding my new nephew the other day and Porter looked like a giant next to him. He isn't a baby anymore.

Changes

2011-09-06T20:27:00.000-06:00

Lots of changes going on in our neck of the woods. It is amazing how much can change in such a little time. We moved in with my sister-in-law the middle of July. Since then Stephen started a new job, we found a place to live, Vance started kindergarten, we got the bare essentials down to our new place in time for him to start school and then we were able to move the rest of our things into our house last Saturday. Amid all that, we watched my two nieces for a bit of the time while my sister was giving birth to her beautiful baby boy last Thursday.

Boxes are everywhere and we are trying to get into a new routine and get settled in, but we are happy to be in our new place. We are grateful to everyone who has helped us. Thank you!

First Day of School

2011-09-06T20:20:00.000-06:00

Vance started kindergarten last Monday. He was so excited to go. I am happy to say that I dropped him off and went on my way without either of us shedding any tears. He has been enjoying school. Sometimes I can't believe that he is already old enough to be in school. He did ask me why he had to go to school lots of days now. If only he knew how true that actually was. Tanner was feeling a little left out until I reminded him that we can do preschool once we get settled into our new place.

The Park

2011-08-19T16:27:00.000-06:00

When Stephen started his new job I decided to take the boys for a walk each morning. They are early risers and have an obnxious amount of energy first thing in the morning. Well, Mandy's neighborhood has some fun parks that are just too fun to walk by and not play out so we take a daily walk to the park. It has been a lot of fun for the boys. Even with my back bothering me I've managed to get them to the park to play.

"Look, Mom a dinosaur!"

Porter loves swinging. He could spend the whole time at the park in the swing.

Vance is finally starting to like the swing after nearly five years of trying to get him to like it.

Tanner enjoying the swing too.

This particular park has a couple of baseball fields and some bleachers. The boys wanted to go check those out one day.

I guess Porter played too hard or didn't get enough sleep last night because this morning he actually fell asleep in the swing!

Eight Years

2011-08-16T20:24:00.000-06:00

I have been married to this wonderful man for eight years. I feel so blessed to be able to share some of my most cherished memories with him. He is my best friend. I look forward to the many years ahead.

Holly's Baby Shower

2011-08-13T20:56:00.000-06:00

One of the big benefits to moving to where we are is that I am going to be minutes away from my older sister, Holly. I haven't lived near her in the 8 years that I have been married. She is at the end of her pregnancy with her 3rd child and her very first boy! Some of her friends threw her a baby shower and I was able to go to it today. She got some very cute things. We are looking forward to the arrival of a new nephew in a few weeks. Hoping all goes well for her and that we will be moved into our new place in time to help watch her girls. Congratulations Holly!

Anticipating the next chapter...

2011-08-08T20:49:00.001-06:00

Last week Stephen was offered a job at a technical support call center. We think it will help him gain some experience in the IT field and are hoping that he enjoys it. We are very grateful that it didn't take him too long to get a job. We didn't think it would, which is partly why we took the leap of faith to move down here.

We also found a place to live. I was really disappointed in my rental hunting at the quality of rentals and the prices they were. We just kept driving by dumps that were way more than what we were renting before. The place we found isn't exactly where we were hoping to locate, but we both liked it and felt good about making that our home. We will be really close to my older sister, which will be fun. The downside to our new place is that we can't move in until September 1st.

Last weekend my in-laws and one of my sister-in-laws watched the boys for Stephen and I so we could get away for our anniversary. It isn't until the 16th, but we thought it'd be best to take the opporunity now. We had a wonderful, quiet time to ourselves. Thank you Mabel, Lawrence, and Kimberly for taking care of our boys. We have been lucky to live near my parents for two and a half years and now we are lucky to live next to Stephen's family.

Vance will be starting kindergarten soon as well so as you can see we have lots of changes going on around our neck of the woods. As Elder Joseph B. Wirthlin said in a talk once, "Come what may and love it." Oh I will try. :)

Fun and busy weekend

2011-07-26T13:58:00.000-06:00

We had a busy, but good weekend. On Friday night, my sister-in-law and her husband were sealed to their baby boy whom they adopted six months ago. They were sealed in the Salt Lake City temple and we were able to attend that. Stephen's sister, Erin watched our three boys while we were in the temple. Erin had our camera so I didn't get any pictures of Mandy, Jake and their two boys, but Erin took some cute pictures of our boys and took a picture of our family outside of the temple.

Erin said that the boys insisted that they have their picture taken with Jesus. I guess that's what you do there, right?

The boys were so not into this picture...

Friday was also Mandy's oldest sons birthday and he had a birthday party on Saturday. The boys were pumped to attend that. They had a lot of fun.

Stephen sister, Kimberly painted these, aren't they awesome?!

Sunday we were able to go to the baby blessing for Mandy and Jake's little guy. He is a sweetie. It was nice to be able to attend that as well. He has really pretty blue eyes. I am happy that we were finally able to meet him. And now we get to see him everyday because we are living in his basement, We love their little family and are very happy for them. :)

Moved

2011-07-20T21:18:00.001-06:00

Well, we got ourselves moved. We picked up the moving truck last Friday, got everything packed up and cleaned on Saturday and headed part way to our destination. We were able to visit my brother Eric and his wife, Tami in their new apartment. It was great to see them. Then we continued on our way on Sunday. Stephen's sister, Mandy, her husband, and her two boys are letting us stay at their place until we get a job and a place to live. We are so grateful for their willingness to share their home. We are also grateful they have room for us. We were able to get our stuff into their garage and basement. We had some guys from our ward come help us load the truck on Saturday which was a huge help. Stephen's parents came up to help us out. His dad drove the moving truck and his mom drove her van full of our stuff. It was a huge help! My parents came and helped us clean and watch the boys while we packed up and that was a huge help! I am always so amazed at people's willingness to help and for people's kindess. How do you repay people who do huge things for you, like let you live in their house? I don't know, but I am so grateful to everyone who has helped us with this move even if your helping has been to pray for us. THANK YOU! The boys were very excited about our moving truck. I am so glad they can find adventure in moving.

Porter starting feeling feverish and sick on Thursday night and today was the first day he started to seem back to normal. Poor kid. I've really felt bad for the little guy. He has been a trooper though.

Vance was eager to help load the truck and do anything he was able to.

We were able to go to the court hearing for Mandy and Jake's adoption of their son, Jonah on Monday. That was fun. We are looking forward to seeing him sealed to them and going to his blessing as well. I am grateful to be able to participate in some of these big family events.

I must say, though I was and am very sad to move. I loved the area we lived in and I loved living close to my parents. It is going to take some adjusting, but I have faith that we have made the right decision even though it was a hard one to make. Life is interesting, isn't it?

Pool Fun

2011-07-09T21:16:00.000-06:00

We pulled out the swimming pools one more time so the boys could have a few more chances of getting wet before the move. Porter was even brave enough to get wet this time.

Mostly we are busy packing and getting ready to move. An applicant was approved to rent here so we are off the hook with our contract. I am very grateful that this worked out quickly. The boys are getting excited to move. They are still young enough not to really understand what exactly it is. It's just a new adventure for them. I am glad they are not upset about it. That will make it a little easier for me not worrying about them so much.

Fourth of July Festivities

2011-07-05T15:04:00.000-06:00

We spent our 4th of July at my parents. That was our last trip up there before we move (sniff, sniff...) We always have a good time doing the small town festivities.

First we went to a parade in a neighboring town.

We enjoyed some s'mores by roasting marshmallows over the bbq grill. Tanner had the hardest time eating his since he was so sticky and the kid hates to be sticky.

The kids also enjoyed some popsicles during the day. Porter loves being a big boy too.

Stephen and I took Vance and Tanner to see the firework show this year. It was the first time we've taken them. My parents stayed home while Porter slept. It turns out we could have gone in my parents front yard or their backyard and watched all the fireworks we wanted to see, but who knew? The fireworks the city put on were small, but fun and it took us about 3 minutes to drive home. Can't complain about that.

Moving

2011-06-26T12:16:00.000-06:00

I haven't taken very many pictures this week. On Tuesday Stephen had to take a test so the rest of us tag along for the drive and then played at a mall in the city he took his test in. I let the boys play in a little playland the entire time. They were in heaven! Stephen did take them into a reptile pet store before he left to take his test. I refused to go in. I HATE snakes. They make my skin crawl. Anyway, I guess the boys loved that store too. Vance was afraid of some spiders they had, but not of the snakes, lizards, or other weird things there.

We made a big decision this week. I say that, but really it's been a long time coming. We just made a definite plan as to when and how. We are moving to a new state. When Stephen decided to go into the IT field last year we both new that the chance of moving was likely. There really aren't any entry level IT jobs around where we live. As time has passed that realization has become more apparent. Stephen could get a job anywhere doing anything and we could continue to live here, but he really would like to gain some experience in his field so that when he graduates he has that experience and also contacts to take with him as he takes on his career.One reason we decided we should move now is to try and avoid moving Vance in the middle of the school year.

I am really sad to move away from where we live now. I love the size of city we live in. It is big enough that we have everything we need right here, but small enough that I feel comfortable driving around and I feel safe. I love the mild winters we have here. I love living an hour away from my parents. In fact, that will be the saddest thing for me as we move. I have enjoyed being able to see them on a regular basis. I love being in an area where there are lots of members of the church, but not everyone is a member. We live near a temple and an LDS bookstore. We live in a great ward. We have enjoyed our duplex (for the most part).

On the plus side, although we are moving away from my parents we are going to be moving closer to Stephen's parents, two of his sisters, and my older sister. When my youngest brother gets off his mission he will return to school and we will be closer to him too. In fact, we will be closer to where my little sister goes to college. So that is all good news.

We are going to have to sell our contract with our duplex and try and find somewhere to live and Stephen a job all while he continues to go to school so it's going to be a busy month for us. We feel this is the best decision for our family even though it seems the hardest (that's the way it is, isn't it?).

Well, let the packing begin...

Summer Fun

2011-06-20T16:54:00.000-06:00

We are trying to have a fun summer. The boys would live outside if I let them. Personally, I would rather stay inside when it is hot, but it's not really an option with my kiddos. Thankfully, it hasn't been too hot yet. Although, I believe that is soon to change...

The boys all showing off their Cars shirts. I made Vance and Tanner hold Porter's hand so he wouldn't run away before I snapped the picture.

My sweet baby is no longer a baby anymore.

We had a water balloon fight this afternoon. Porter laughed and laughed watching the big boys, but he still wants nothing to do with getting wet. The older boys had fun tossing the water balloons at each other though.

Father's Day

2011-06-19T22:16:00.000-06:00

Happy Father's Day! I've been so blessed with many wonderful father figures in my life. Of course, my own dad whom I love dearly. He is also a wonderful grandpa. We spent the day with him and my mother and sister. It was a lovely day.

My dad told Tanner the story of the Gingerbread Man. Tanner did not like the ending...

I've also been blessed to be married to a wonderful husband and father. Thank you Stephen for all that you do! My children love their dad and I admit, I am quite fond of him myself. :)

I also have a wonderful father-in-law, two wonderful grandfathers, and most especially a loving Heavenly Father. I feel truly blessed in my life.

We had a lovely weekend. I got to see some old friends and spend time with my parents, little sister, husband, and children. Life is sweet. Even with a little sunburn on my face...

Dancing in the Car

2011-06-16T17:47:00.000-06:00

I pulled out my camera to videotape Tanner and Porter dancing in the car yesterday. Porter doesn't do much dancing in the video (isn't that how it goes), but Tanner's facial expressions make it worth watching just the same. Porter was so tired. You can tell he is a zombie baby...

Vance is so far in the back it's hard to see if he is ever dancing or not, but generally he doesn't. Sometimes we can hear him singing along to music when he doesn't think we are listening.

Stephen's Birthday

2011-06-15T21:34:00.000-06:00

Today Stephen turned 30. We never really do much for Stephen and I's birthday, but since it was a big one I thought we should make a big deal out of it.

Stephen and the older boys went and got donuts for breakfast. Porter and I opted to stay home and have our green smoothies. Then we went miniature golfing. It was a lot of fun. We went soon after it had opened so we were alone the entire time, but when we were getting ready to leave there were about half a dozen groups of people starting so I'm really glad we went when we did.

Every time it was Tanner's turn we would try to show him how to hold the club, but he went right back to this position each time. For those thinking of trying it, it's not a very effective method.

Vance taking a turn.

Tanner and Vance loved holding the flags at each whole.

I had to get a picture of the Birthday boy taking a turn too.

I made Stephen this Oreo Cake. It was fun, easy, and just up his alley.

Stephen was hamming up open a little gift from the boys (a Wii game).

My men! Aren't I a lucky girl?

Stephen is a wonderful person I am so grateful for him. I am so glad we were able to spend his birthday together as a family. Most birthdays he is working away. I always love having family quality time together.

Life is good

2011-06-13T17:20:00.000-06:00

We brought this tent into the house to let the boys play with. You can see why we had it set up in the first play by going here. Porter grabbed his bowl full of his snack, Stephen's gatorade, and plopped himself into the tent to watch a movie. Simple pleasures. He is so funny.

Precious Boy

2011-06-11T21:05:00.000-06:00

Porter is 15 months old. Every night before I lay him in his crib I sing a couple of songs to him as we sit in the rocking chair. It is nice to be able to have that quiet one on one time together. Tonight he was singing along with me, "Aaaaahhh." He was hugging me and patting my back. Moments like that make me want to bottle them up and keep them forever like that. Every stage of growing up has it's own fun and unique things about it. I wish I could remember all of the precious moments I have with each of my children forever.

Let the swimming adventures begin

2011-06-10T15:34:00.000-06:00

We got the little pools out for the boys to play in yesterday. I bought a baby one for Porter because I didn't think he would like all the splashing about the older boys did.

The older boys jumped right into their pool and played until I made them get out. They played hard.

As it turned out Porter didn't want to get in the baby pool either. I filled it with warm water from our bathtub and put my suit on and got in to entice him. Maybe next time...

He did love running around in his swimsuit and watching the boys play.

Since I was in my suit Vance and Tanner begged me to get into the bigger pool with them so I did. Their water was much colder than Porter's. Brrr... They didn't seem to mind.

After the boys got bored with me they convinced their dad to get into the pool as well. Here is the proof.

Did I blind everyone with our pasty white bodies? The entire day today Vance has been begging to get back in the pool so you can guess what we will be doing later...

Gross

2011-06-09T23:27:00.000-06:00

One of Porter's favorite things to do lately is dig through one of the drawers in the kitchen and then put what he finds in Tanner's potty. Sometimes I go in the bathroom to this sight.

EW! Good thing he leaves them there instead of putting them back in the drawer so I know just which ones need to be washed. Mostly, I just try to keep the bathroom door closed.

Quote of the Day

2011-06-08T17:54:00.000-06:00

I have been playing aroud a little bit, putting quotes on some of the pictures I have. It's fun. Here is one for today. I love this picture of Tanner when he was just a week old.

Hanging out with the cousins

2011-06-07T20:58:00.001-06:00

We hung out with Holly and her daughters today. They will be at my parent's place for a couple of more days, but this was the last day we will see them while they are up here. I wanted to let them swim, but the wind was just too much today.

The three oldest thought that this would be a great napping arrangement. Somehow I just couldn't see it.

Stephen entertained the kids for a moment with mentos, cola, and a rocket. It last about 30 seconds, but it was a fun 30 seconds.

The little kiddos! They are sure hard to get a picture of together. Gosh, I still can't believe that Chloe is 3 months older than Porter. She is such a petite thing compared to him.

Porter has fallen in love with our slide. He also has overcome his fear of walking in the grass.

Tanner and Jillian hugging and saying their good byes. It has been fun to see Holly and her family the past few weeks!

Rose's Graduation

2011-06-04T16:49:00.000-06:00

I thought I'd share a few pictures from Rose's graduation. Holly and I made her a "BYU-Idaho Freshman Survival Kit" for her graduation gift. I had a lot of fun putting it together. It had a lot of different things in it. I made tags for everything. Hopefully, she'll find some of it useful. :)

She did it! Now with any luck I can get away with not attending another high school graduation until Vance graduates. (very scary thought...)

Rainy Day

2011-06-02T20:03:00.000-06:00

What do you do on a rainy day when half of your family has a cold?

Lay on the floor with a pillow and blanket and watch a good movie, of course.

Porter was also packing himself up to make sure we don't leave him behind when we take another mini trip to Grandma's for Rose's graduation.

A mushy letter to my baby sister

2011-06-01T19:57:00.003-06:00

To My Little Sister,

I know you probably get tired of hearing this, but I can't believe that you are graduating from high school already! Time goes by so quickly. You have grown into a beautiful young woman whom I am glad to know.

When Mom was pregnant with you, I hoped and prayed that she would have a girl. I had an older sister who I loved and two fun younger brothers, but I didn't have a younger sister and I wanted one so much. Heavenly Father sent you to our home. I was so excited. I remember helping Mom pick out clothes for you to wear and changing your diapers. I was nine when you were born so I also helped babysit often throughout the time you were little until I left for college myself. Holly and I would always joke that Glen was her baby and you were mine because she always watched Glen and I always watched after you. Rosemary, you were a beautiful baby and a cute little girl. I remember during my teenage years getting so irritated with you because you always wanted to hang out with me when I had my friends over. You have grown up so much since then. I remember when I would go through tough times even if you didn't understand the situation you always made me try and feel better. I remember when we shared a room together for a couple of months when I was engaged.

Our personalities are different in a lot of ways yet we get along well. You have many traits that I admire. You are friendly and outgoing, something that I have difficutly with. I have seen and heard about you making friends wherever you go. You are so talented in many areas, theater, music, academics, and more. I hope you know that as an older sister any amount of lecturing I have given you over one thing or another is because I love you and I want you to be happy.

I am so grateful that we have lived closer to you the past couple of years so that I could get to know you as a teenager and watch you grown into the pleasant woman you are. My boys adore you. I am sad to see you move away from us and go to college, but I know that you will learn and grow in so many ways there that it'll be exciting to see what you accomplish.

I love you so much! Congratulations on your high school graduation. Good luck at school!

Love,

Heather

I know we have pictures of Rose and I when she was a baby, but this is the older picture of us I could find in my possession.

Sisters. Summer of 2006

Vance, Rose and I. Christmas 2008

Rose and I in the Winter of 2009

Rose and I after the Spring Play in 2009

Rose and I after the Fall play in 2010.

Rose with Vance and Tanner after a play for her drama class in 2011.

Sisters. After the Spring play in 2011.

Tanner vs. the headboard

2011-05-31T19:05:00.000-06:00

Friday night after we put the boys to bed we could hear Tanner crying. Stephen checked on him and left, but he continued to cry so Stephen took a flashlight this time for further investigation only to find Tanner with a huge black eye. He likes to flop down onto his pillow and we think he meant to do that and hit the headboad instead. Sad times! The next morning it was quite swollen and purple. I took this picture of him yesterday. He is starting to heal. Today it is a lovely yellow and greenish color. I think the headboard won this round.

Recital

2011-05-29T19:18:00.001-06:00

We can't stay away from my parent's house this month. I am glad we live close enough to see them often. Rose is a senior so even though we don't live with her our life is becoming wrapped up with hers. :) Yesterday was her senior recital and so we went up to see it. She played the bassoon and the piano. It was enjoyable. I didn't take a picture of her because I had a kid in my arms the whole time, but I did take a picture of Jillian, Vance, and Tanner enjoying their refreshments after the recital was over. Fruit with yummy dip, cakeballs, and this popcorn (I don't know the name) that is really yummy.

The boys really want a copy of "Rose's Cinderella" Grandpa Porter, can you help us out with that? They are really cute about it.
More Rose to come later in the week because she graduates on Friday! :)

Ten Years

2011-05-26T23:11:00.000-06:00

I know it is hard to believe, but I graduated from high school 10 years ago. Gasp! I know, I am so young, right? There must be a mistake. Alas, it is true. I am writing this post mainly so I can vent a little frustration and move on. Feel free to skip it if you so desire.

I will be honest, I have been pretty on the fence about attending my high school reunion. Should I go? Should I not? Will it be worth it? Will Stephen and I be looking at each other the whole time having a silent conversation on how quickly we can escape? I graduated with a whopping 70 some other kids. I went to a small high school where you know everyone, even if you don't talk to everyone you know who they are. I think I could flip through my year book and at least tell you what types of activities everyone did or who they hung out with even if I never spoke to them. I graduated with some wonderful people who I care about. Truth be told though, I am not close to a lot of my classmates. Between being quiet and spending the majority of my high school career dating the same person (who I don't care to ever see or talk to again) I didn't hang out with a lot of people. Alas, there are some people who I haven't seen since graduation that I would like to see again. I also have good friends I have seen since then, but don't get a chance to chat with very often so I finally decided I would just go. Besides, if nothing else it'd give Stephen and I an excuse to go out without our children.

I knew early on that the plan was to have our reunion at a winery in town. Not where I would choose to have it, but I figured there was a good chance of that happening. There are lots of wineries in town and more than one kid I graduated with have parents who own wineries. Not excited about the location, but wineries are very nice. Last weekend I found out that it was going to cost $40 a person to go. I knew we were going to have to pay something, but my naive little brain was thinking more like $40 for both of us not a piece. I wondered what exactly was covered in the $40 so I risked looking like a cheapskate and asked. This price includes the winery, food, and drinks (which I think we can all agree is wine, right?). Maybe I really am just that cheap, but I don't want to spend that much money to go hang out with a handful of people I care about. I don't know what they are serving, but with as picky an eater that Stephen is it is very doubtful that he would eat anything. Obviously neither of us will be drinking any wine and do I really want to pay for other people to drink alcohol? No. Do I really want any of my money to go to a winery anyway? No. I feel like I am the only one from my class who actually thinks this is a lot of money to spend on a reunion. I guess, that is what frustrates me. I know a couple of people have three kids like I do, but most have less. I don't know if anyone else is a student or married to a student, but I am. Am I the only one watching every penny? Quite frankly, Stephen and I never pay that much to go out. That could buy me four boxes of diapers!

My classmates can go and have a great time at the reunion. I am sure it will be lovely for those who go, but I personally am going to spend my $80 on something much more useful. Hopefully, I can see those handful of people I care to see some other time.

But really I would like someone to validate my feelings. Any takers?

Princes and a Princess

2011-05-23T19:31:00.000-06:00

Jillian, Vance, and Tanner were pretending to be a princess and princes yesterday before church. I am glad my boys get a long with there cousins.

Bragging about Rosemary

2011-05-22T22:50:00.000-06:00

With my baby sister, Rosemary about to graduate we are keeping ourselves busy with the big events that have been happening in her life lately. This past weekend we went over to my parents for the high school play she was in. They did Rodgers and Hammerstein's Cinderella. (I have ALWAYS loved this version). Rosemary was Cinderella. She did a Fabulous job!

Not a great picture, but here we all our with the Prince and the director, Mrs. Brant. Stephen and Sean's shirts said, "Cinderella's Bodyguards" Holly and I were "The REAL sisters", my mom was the "Fairygod mother" and my dad was "The Clock that struck midnight".

Here are the five grandkids in their t-shirts. All the shirts said "Team Cinderella" on the back. The boys shirts said "Prince in Training" and the girls said, "Princess in Training"

On Saturday they had a matinee performance that we took our kids too. My older sister, Holly and her family was there too. My mom made us shirts that were fun. The kids really enjoyed it. Afterwards they we were invited to have ice cream and meet the cast. My boys had no interest in meeting the cast. Tanner was very tired and emotional and I didn't even get a picture of him and Rose like I wanted. Oh well. He did LOVE the play. In the evening Holly and I went back with my parents and left our hubby's to tend to the children. We needed to see it without kids crawling all over our laps.

I was feeling sentimental since it was Rosemary's last play and she is the last in my family of the five kids to do theater in high school. I have posted about that more here and here.

The sisters. Eric came last week and saw the play and Glen is on his mission so this is as close as we got to being all together.

I also have to brag about my mom too because she sewed several costumes for Rose. She and Rose worked really hard on getting the transformation from her scrubs to her ball gown and it was awesome so I am showing a little clip of it here.

The Stepmother ripping her first ball gown.

Just after the transformation.

They had three stepsisters. I will quote Tanner afterr they finished their main song, "Those three girls are awesome!"

Have to get a picture with the prince in there too. Rose used my mom's real veil from when she got married.

Rosemary, Vance, and the Prince.

Rose, Porter, and the Prince

AWESOME JOB ROSEMARY!

More Scrapbook Pages

2011-05-19T16:01:00.000-06:00

Here are some more scrapbook pages I have done recently. The last one is a two-pager.

Community Days

2011-05-15T19:36:00.000-06:00

We made a day trip over to my parents yesterday. The main reason was because my brother, Eric and his wife Tami were in town. It was also community days in our small town so we were able to go to the parade as well. Some of the pictures I am posting are ones that Eric took. His camera rocks and he is a better photographer than the point and shooter photographer I am.

Eric and Tami. They make a cute pair. (Told you he has a cool camera) My boys LOVE Eric and Tami. They were so excited to hang out with them. Vance insisted on sitting by Eric the entire day. He tried to be Eric's shadow. :)

Grandma and Grandpa were entertaining the boys before the parade got started.

Porter was having fun playing Pat-A-Cake with Grandma.

See the cute girl leading the band? Yep, that's my little sister. She did a great job too. They had 5th grade-through high school band kids playing.

A close up of Rose. Doesn't she look all professional with her gloves and the whistle in her mouth? :)

Vance was pumped for the parade. He was counting down the days until we went.

Tanner looking awfully cute in the camp chair.

Porter did great! He enjoyed the parade and danced as the bands went passed.

Here is proof that I was there too. I do have a lovely sunburn to prove it as well.

Vance was excited to collect candy!

Tanner has a tongue fetish.

I like this picture of Vance.

Stephen was holding our camera and a clown came by, took the camera, and the snapped this picture of him. It made me laugh. Stephen told me to erase it, but I posted it here instead. :)

Waving at the people going by.

Porter was so tired. In fact, he fell asleep in the stroller as we walked home. He was a good sport though.

We had a great time. I will probably post more pictures on facebook. Next weekend we will be back up to my parents. Rose's play opened this passed weekend and we are going to see it next weekend. Holly and her family will be up next weeked too. Fun, Fun, Fun!

Loving the Beautiful Weather

2011-05-13T16:06:00.000-06:00

WARNING: This post contains lots of pictures of cute little boys!

I have to take a picture of the three of them smiling whenever I get a chance.

Scooters and of course, Porter had to join in the fun with his lion.

Sidewalk Chalk!

Porter was helping with the rake.

Checking out a bug.

Bubbles!

Vance and Tanner went into the house first yesterday evening from playing outside and the first sight I saw was this...

Followed by this...

They told me that they were mad at each other and were not talking to each other. I don't know what brought this on. I tried to get some kind of explaination out of them and couldn't. I actually think they were pretending to be mad at each other because neither one truly seemed put out, despite the look Tanner has on his face. I think Vance was hiding his face so I couldn't see him smiling. Silly kids.

It's an airplane

2011-05-11T21:24:00.000-06:00

While playing outside Tanner says to me "Mom, I think I hear something."

"It's an airplane!"

Mother's Day

2011-05-09T17:06:00.000-06:00

I had a wonderful Mother's Day. I hope all of you wonderful mothers did as well. I have been blessed with a great Mother. I have also been blessed by other great mothers in my life (mother-in-law, grandmothers, sister, sister-in-law, and many more). I just realized that I spent Mother's Day with my mom, but I didn't take a picture with her. That is criminal isn't it? I did however get a picture with my boys before we sent off to my parents ward yesterday morning.

Highlights from my Mother's Day 2011:

1. Spending it with my mom

2. Talking to my brother, Glen who is on a mission

3. Spending the day with my children and husband

4. Seeing my long-time friend, Angela. She has three little girls the same ages as my boys (and she is as beautiful as ever, I might add)

4. My Dad made steaks for dinner.

5. Getting a pedicure from my younger sister.

Aside from going to my parents for Mother's Day and getting the chance to talk to my brother on the phone Stephen had a test to take. For whatever reason his IT tests he has to taken at a tech school an 1 1/2 away from us, but it's only 1/2 hour a way from my parents so he did that this morning. Now he is Security+ Certified. Way to go Stephen!

While Stephen was taking his test, my parents were at work, and Rose was at school so the boys and I went and played outside. It is a beautiful spring day! I am loving it.

Porter admiring some of Grandma's flowers.

Tanner testing out Grandpa's step project out back.

Vance had fun jumping off this "wall".

I am very excited for what is coming in the next few weeks. My brother Eric and his wife Tami will be up here next weekend. The weekend after that my sister Holly and her family will be up here. Everyone is coming up to see my baby sister, Rose in her high school play. They are doing Cinderella and Rose is Cinderella so we will be going to that one weekend as well. Woo-hoo! Rose is also graduating soon so we will be going to that! Fun times to come.

Vance

2011-05-07T22:04:00.000-06:00

There's no doubt about it, kids grow and change. Sometimes it hits me at different times harder than others. Sometimes it just hits me with one kid at a time. This week it has been Vance. Mainly because we got him registered for kindergarten this week. Oh, school. Of course, there are great pros and cons to sending my oldest child of to school so naturally I have mixed feelings about the whole thing. I really have tried not to sort out those feelings. School is a part of life. Homeschooling is great for some people, but I think my children will benefit greater by going to public school. (Unless we move some place where the schools are garbage). One huge reason is the social aspect that comes with school. Homeschooled kids can still get social interaction, I'm not saying they don't. However, being an unsocial person myself, I know I wouldn't give my children the opportunities they need to be social if they were homeschooled. I also think Vance will benefit greatly from having a teacher that is not Mom. I have no doubt that Vance will grow to love school.

Vance playing Mario Galaxy. All I can say is that he is his father's son.

All that being said, I am a bit nervous to send my child off into the scary world. Who will look out for him when I am not around? I think it takes a lot of faith to know that Heavenly Father is looking out for him and that is a comfort to me. I just hope that Vance pays attention and doesn't forget to get of the bus when he is suppose or forget to go inside from the playground when school starts or something like that. I hope that my fears are normal and that other moms feel these things too. Thankfully, I have an entire summer to enjoy having Vance home all day before school begins. I will try to remember this when he is driving me nuts with the endless questions of "What are we going to do next Mom?" "And then what?"

Porter's Obsession

2011-05-06T22:41:00.000-06:00

Porter is obsessed with anything electronic. I am not just talking about a general fondness here. If he sees a laptop, cell phone, camera, video game controllers, any little expensive gadget with buttons he head straight for it. If you don't hand it over he is not happy. Worse, is if you put it away, instant tears followed by throwing his head to the floor in despair (which always looks painful).

So, imagine this very cute kid playing with a toy and I think "I should take a picture of him." I pull out the camera and pray I can get one shot in before he realizes what I have. Once he realizes the camera is in my hand play time is over and it's "Give me the camera before someone gets hurt." This shot was taken only a moment before getting attacked by him.

I don't know how long this obsession will continue, but he has had it for a while now. I hope it is soon because I really get tired of fighting over the camera with him. We took batteries out of one of our Wii Controller so he could just play with it whenever he feels the need. If you get a random phone call from me with no one there or a blank text you can be sure it is Porter!

On a side note we are starting to get better! Woo-hoo!

Some Scrapbook Pages

2011-05-03T17:33:00.000-06:00

As I mentioned in my last post, I am taking a digital scrapbooking class online. It's self-paced which is really nice. Anyway, part of your assignment with each lesson is sharing what you've made so I am sharing the three pages I have done so far.

Porter and I have bad colds right now. Tanner is still coughing, but getting better so things have been low-key as of late. By the way, is there anything sadder than a sick baby?

This and That

2011-05-01T21:07:00.000-06:00

Tanner and I are little sickies. The two of us (along with Porter) decided it'd be best to stay home today. We have colds. Tanner has been coughing for a few days now. Never fun. I don't like skipping out on church, but sometimes that is just what needs to happen.

I am trying to get back into the habit of blogging more often (if you hadn't noticed). I like looking back at my earlier blogging days when I blogged often because I wrote about the little day to day stuff that I have since forgotten about.

I am taking another digital scrapbooking class (a wonderful birthday gift from my parents). Luckily for me I get to learn a few general photoshopping tricks with the class. I did a whole scrapbook page, but I wanted to practice this little trick of taking out all of the color in a picture on everything, but one thing. This is a picture of a flower at that my mom had in her house in a pot for a while. The original picture is fun too since there is a lot of green leaves. For you photoshop know-it-alls don't look too closely! :) Although, look close enough to see the spider hanging out.

Anyway, this post is a little bit of this and that and not much else. Isn't that what you get from me when I post often?

Birthday Bash

2011-04-28T14:10:00.001-06:00

I was awakened at 6:30 yesterday morning to two little boys standing next to my bed as excited as could be to point out that I am a year older. "Mom, it's your birthday!" They were so excited. I must be getting old because I really wouldn't have cared if nothing special happened on my birthday, but for the boy's sake I tried to make it fun. We went down to a park by the river and let the boys play.

Then we went down and threw rocks in the river. Stephen is pretty good at skipping rocks.

Porter is determined to do what his older brothers do. This is a video of him "throwing rocks in the river".

Porter swept the kitchen for me.

I made the boys get their picture taken with me.

I also made them eat girly looking cupcakes. I didn't have one myself (trying to eat healthy and cupcakes just don't do it for me). They sure seemed to enjoy them regardless of the fact that they were purple.

I was trying to play up being surprised with what they gift I unopened for them so here I am being a nut. Truth be told though, I was the one that picked it out.

I videotaped Vance and Tanner singing to me because it is sweet. I am glad they were so excited for my birthday. It made it more fun for me.

Birthday

2011-04-27T11:18:00.000-06:00

Well, it's that time of year again when I add another candle to my birthday cake. 28 years old! Not sure how that happened since I feel like I should still be in my early 20's. Here were are though. I thought I would take a look back at the last ten birthdays just for a little fun.

18th birthday I was about ready to graduate from high school. Woot-Woot. I thought I was so smart.

19th birthday. I had just gone through a bad break up and was wrapping up my first year of college. I wasn't nearly so smart as I had thought a year earlier.

20th birthday. I was about to be engaged to my wonderful husband. Sounds a little fickle when I narrow it down that way. All I can say is that I know marrying Stephen was the right decision and I am even more sure of that now nearly 8 years later.

21st birthday. I was finishing up my college education with an Associate's Degree in Preschool Education and we were getting ready to make our first apartment move.

22nd birthday. I took a pregnancy test and found out I was pregnant with Vance. Very sweet birthday gift.

23rd birthday. Still adjusting to being a mother and getting ready for another move.

24th birthday. Pregnant with Tanner and chasing Vance around.

25th birthday. Enjoying being a mother of two cute, but michevious little boys.

26th birthday. The first birthday I got to spend with my parents, brothers, and one of my sisters since I got married. Very fun.

27th birthday. Adjusting to having three kids and recovering from the shock of Stephen losing his job and deciding to go back to school.

And now we've reached my 28th birthday. Hope it is a good one. Thank you to everyone who has already wished me a happy birthday. I only have a couple of years left in my 20's so I better enjoy them while they last!

Yard Work

2011-04-26T19:29:00.000-06:00

We got our garden planted today! Hooray. This is our third year (thanks to my mom for the box!) Last year was kind of a dud year as far as the garden and yard work in general went to be honest. I blame it on having a newborn. I have high hopes for a great garden this year though!

Vance was my gardening helper. Tanner could really have cared less about the garden.

Porter stole my shovel when I was trying to weed. He also tried to eat the older boys sidewalk chalk. He's just trying to find his place in this world.

The favorite outside activity has to be playing with bubbles!

The good news is that both Vance and Tanner know how to blow bubbles themselves so I don't have to do it for them. Yay! We did pull out the bubble machine, but it scared Porter.

Porter did enjoy watching the other boys blow bubbles though.

Porter tried blowing bubbles on his own too, but it just wasn't working. I'll probably post the video of his attempt on facebook. (It seems to load faster there).

Hopefully all our work outside will make our yard a little nicer looking than it has been. It is interesting being a renter because we know we will not stay at this place for a long period of time, yet you still want to be able to enjoy a nice yard while you are living there.

P.S. Thanks Grandma and Grandpa Jeppson, and Kimberly for the Easter package. The boys were excited to get it! They love getting packages in the mail.

Happy Easter!

2011-04-24T18:57:00.000-06:00

I don't want to brag or anything, but I've got some pretty darn cute little boys. However, today they were just not feeling photogenic or something....

Instead of Easter baskets I gave each boy a book and a stuffed animal. Plus the oldest two got peeps. Stephen thinks Porter was thinking, "Hey, where are my peeps?" when I shot this picture.

I took the boys outside to get some pictures before church. No one got anything new for Easter, but I like taking their pictures on each holiday. Things did not go very well.

Vance would not quit pulling this face. I don't know why. He has gotten really good at smiling for the camera, but he just was not feeling it today. After church I asked him about it and he said it was too windy. It was barely even breezy...

This picture of Tanner isn't awful, but it's not great either. Titlting the head, and pained smile.

Tired Porter is ready to take a bite out of something.

And now time to try and get all three looking pleasant and in my direction. It wasn't happening today.

I think Tanner was imitating Porter.

Is it too much to have a cute picture taken with my boys? Apparently. This was the best one out of THREE! Not to mention I look like a chubby cow...

We are so done!

I just look at these pictures and laugh. Oh well. We can look back on this Easter and remember how the photo op did just not go according to my plans.

Spring

2011-04-22T19:29:00.000-06:00

Enjoying warmer weather!

Easter Time!

2011-04-21T13:04:00.000-06:00

This week we are having fun getting ready for Easter. Today was all about eggs. Here are Vance and Tanner dying their eggs.

Ta-da!

Then I hide the plastic eggs around our yard and the boys went out and found those. We did it three times.

Porter is not so sure about walking in the grass yet, but he still wanted to see what the boys were doing.

Vance and Tanner are very excited about Easter. We have to talk about how many days we have left until Easter each day.

Tanner's first talk and some musings

2011-04-17T19:07:00.000-06:00

Tanner gave his first primary talk today. He did a great job. He talked about the Savior. I believe he enjoyed being up in front of people. He insisted on sitting on chair in front of everyone through the remainder of sharing/singing time despite my attempts to get him to go sit with the class.

Last week I was reading L. Tom Perry's conference talk. (Thank goodness we can go back and read or listen to them since it's hard to get all you can from conference with little children) Elder Perry talked about the Sabbath Day and the Sacrament and I was thinking about how we spend the Sabbath. We don't go to the store or work or anything like that. However, I was thinking that we could do a lot better at keeping the Sabbath day holy. So starting today my boys were only allowed to watch Veggie Tale (or other religious movies) and no video games. I put together some gospel related activities to do this morning as well. We pinned the fin on Jonah's well, did a missionary lacing card, played a matching game of a scene of a family going to church, and played a game trying to get to Jesus by making good choices. It was fun and I think it helped us be more prepared for church. Reading this talk made me think about how just because we aren't doing something wrong doesn't mean we are doing something good either. Or maybe we are doing good, but we could be doing great. Also, I think that the more faithful we are at striving to do what is right the more that Heavenly Father will pour out his blessings upon us. Hopefully, we will do better at keeping the Sabbath Day holy and in return be more mindful of Christ and receive more blessings.

I feel this great responsibility as a mother to teach my children and help them to grow into fine adults that will be strong in the gospel as well as productive citizens to society. Today I read Quentin L. Cook's conference talk concerning women of the church. I truly feel that my purpose on this earth is to be a wife and mother and I don't want to fail. I am so imperfect! I hope and pray that I can improve daily. Anyway, there are some things that are on my mind lately.

I will leave you with pictures of cute kids playing outside last night. Yay for Spring!

More pictures

2011-04-12T18:21:00.000-06:00

I haven't really written much on my blog lately. Just posted cute pictures of boys. I have plenty of those to share! I do love my sons. They are teaching me a lot. Hopefully I am teaching them something as well.

Sweet smile from my Vance!

Tanner was making this face because he didn't want his picture taken.

There is his sweet smile!

Porter is growing up so fast! He loves to play and thinks he is a big boy.

The Boys

2011-04-08T16:37:00.000-06:00

I gave Porter his first haircut last night. It was starting to get into his eyes so it was time. He looks so much older now especially when I watch him walk around!

Here is Vance playing in Grandma Porter's sandbox in between sessions of Conference.

Tanner also enjoyed playing in the sandbox. I put Porter in the sandbox in his barefeet and tramautized him. He cried and it took a while to get him to calm down. We'll leave the sandbox to the older boys for a little bit longer.

Reading Time

2011-03-30T10:24:00.002-06:00

Drinking problems...

2011-03-24T17:43:00.001-06:00

I have no idea why, but I have not been able to get Porter to drink out of a cup very well. I've offered him a variety of drinks (different watered down juices, milk, water). As well as a variety of different cups. He has tried several different sippy cups, some regular plastic cups, water bottles, this cup picture above which is a Doidy Cup. I've tried getting him to drink out of a straw. He liked the Doidy cup most of the first day. I don't know if this picture does justice to what it looks like. After that, he hasn't really wanted anything to do with it. He has never really had a bottle and I'm pretty much ready to be done nursing so I've got to get this kid drinking somehow! My other boys took right to drinking out of sippy cups way younger than Porter is now so I'm not really sure what I'm going to do except keep on trying.

Too bad he's so darn cute, isn't it?

Porter is growing up

2011-03-18T17:42:00.000-06:00

Porter is growing up. He turned one last week. He had a doctor's appointment on Wednesday. He weights 26 pounds 15 ounces, which is actually a pound less than what he weighed at his last check up but when you are off the charts in the first place it's not too big of a concernt to lose a pound. He is also 30 1/2 inches long. Porter has been getting better and better at standing on his own. On Sunday he took his first step forward a couple of times. Since then he has continued to get braver. Here is a video of him taking a few steps yesterday. Today he has taken even more at a time. It's so fun to watch him grow. Vance thinks it is hilarious to watch him walk.

The other video just makes me laugh. Porter loves to squat down and hang out like that and I caught it on video and thought I'd share it.

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

2011-03-17T12:51:00.000-06:00

HAPPY ST. PATRICK'S DAY

from a few silly shamrocks

One Year Old Boys

2011-03-15T17:35:00.000-06:00

Having Porter turn a year old has made me reflect on when the other boys celebrated their first birthday. Here is a little look down memory lane.

Here is Vance on his first birthday in 2006.

Here is Tanner on his first birthday in 2008.

And of course, here is Porter on his birthday this year.

They are each a blessing to me. I love them so much!

Birthday Boy

2011-03-12T21:33:00.000-07:00

We celebrated Porter's first birthday today with a little party that included both sets of grandparents. Lucky Boy! We had a little "On the Go" Party theme with airplanes, trains, trucks, and boats. Porter enjoyed the cupcakes I made and had fun with his new toys!

Happy Birthday Porter!

2011-03-11T19:19:00.000-07:00

Porter is one! Time goes by so quickly. Babies grow so much their first year. Porter has been a joyful addition to our family. I am grateful that he is my son. It has been fun to watch him grow and hit different milestones in this past year. He is always jabbering, growling, or making other cute noises. He is a sweet guy. Since he was the third boy, I guess he decided he needed to be my biggest baby! I love him so much and feel so blessed to be his mother. Here is the video I put together of photos from his first year of life.

Charlotte's Web

2011-02-17T16:39:00.000-07:00

We took a quick trip up to my parents yesterday. My sister Rose is in the advanced drama class at the high school and they put on a production of "Charlotte's Web". They did a good job. Rosemary played a cat that helped narrate the story.

Doesn't she make a cute cat? We took the entire family and we able to watch it with my parents. It was a lot of fun. I wasn't sure how Porter was going to do because he was super TIRED, but he did really well. I really only had to give him extra attention about the last 15 minutes of it. Vance and Porter loved it! Tanner laughed (loudly) throughout the entire thing. Before we left I was explaining to the boys some proper ettiquette when attending a play. I told them they could laugh at something they found funny and clap when others were clapping, but otherwise they needed to be quiet. At one point Vance leaned over to me and said, "Mom, I don't want to laugh. I just want to clap." He enjoyed it, but he was all business last night.

A perk to being a nephew to someone in the play is that you get to explore the set a little bit. I think that Rose had a good time showing the boys around the set.

This morning they were asking when they could go see Rose dressed up in a costume again. I told them they'll have to wait a couple of months. Z Center Stage Theater Company is doing a production of Cinderella in the Spring. I am looking forward to seeing it!

14 Days of Love: Day 14

2011-02-14T17:10:00.000-07:00

Happy Valentine's Day! It seemed appropriate to save Stephen for this day on my 14 Days of Love posts.

I LOVE STEPHEN!

I've known Stephen for eight years. We've been married for seven and a half of those years. When we first met I was not searching for someone to marry. I was pretty content with the way I thought my life was going. However, very early on after meeting Stephen I knew I could fall in love and marry him.

I imagine that if you are reading this that it is obvious already that I love my husband. He is a great person. He is not perfect, but I think he is a perfect match for me.

Stephen does a lot for me. In fact, I don't remember the last time I filled the car up with gas because he always does it for me. He also always takes out the trash and mows the lawn without complaining. He is willing to help change diapers, do laundry, or whatever else I ask him to do. (which includes lots of handing things to me that are out of my reach)

Stephen is very talented in many things. He is especially awesome at doing origami. He is detail oriented and works hard. He is great at math and is mechanically minded. This comes in handy because I am not good at math and am not mechanically minded at all! He is also able to fix things around the house.

Stephen is a wonderful father. He didn't have any experience with young children before we had kids. He plays with our boys and does a lot for them. It is fun to see him take on this role. Our boys just love their dad!

I love Stephen's sense of humor. He is so fun to be around. We get a long so well and I love that. We probably seem like a very boring couple to people, but that doesn't matter to us because we have a good time in each others company.

Stephen has a strong testimony of the gospel of Jesus Christ. He fulfills his callings. I appreciate the example he is to me and to my children. Stephen is AWESOME! I LOVE HIM SO MUCH!!!!

14 Days of Love: Day 13

2011-02-13T21:28:00.001-07:00

I love watching good movies! That is a really broad statement, but it's true. I love all kinds of different movies. The best part of watching movies, is who I am watching them with. I love to watch movies with my hubby. We usually enjoy at least one evening during our weekend after the kids are in bed watching a movie. I love it!

14 Days of Love: Day 12

2011-02-12T11:54:00.000-07:00

I love music! I love to listen to music. I love to sing a long to the radio, or burst out in random song all on my own. I love to sing with my boys too! I also love to play the piano. It has always been a good stress reliever for me. I love feeling the spirit through music. I love having a piano to play and enjoy at home. My boys love to put on music and dance around and it is fun to join in with them. Music is a big part of my life and I love it!

14 Days of Love: Day 11

2011-02-11T17:25:00.000-07:00

I LOVE PORTER!

Porter was born 11 months ago today! I love him so much. He came two weeks before his original due date via c-section. I knew I had another huge baby and I tried hard to convince my doctor to induce me sooner. As it turned out Porter did not want to be induced. After two days of trying, nothing was happening however Porter's heartbeat was not doing good things so the doctor decided doing a c-section was the best decision at that point. I just wanted Porter to be here and didn't care how it happened! I instantly fell in love with this guy. And I was right, he was a BIG boy. They gave us two different "official" weights for him, but we go by the one that was written down 9 lbs 9 oz. (opposed to 9 lbs. 11 oz) What's two ounces when it is over 9 pounds anyway?

Porter is a sweet boy. I love how each baby comes with their very own personality. I have enjoyed watching Porter as he has grown and learned to do things the past 11 months. When people asks who he looks like, I say Porter. He looks like he belongs in our family, but definitely has his own cute little look.

I love Porter's smile and his laugh. He is always eager to play and enjoys discovering new things. I love how fascinated he becomes over simple things. I love to kiss and snuggle with him. There's plenty of him to enjoy!

Lately, Porter has been standing on his own more. He loves to play with everyone especially his older brothers. I love playing games with him. He loves to get into cupboards and drawers and play with bowls or spatulas. He waves all the time especially if you tell him hello or good bye. He also will give you five if you hold out your hand. I love Porter so much and I look forward to watching him continue to grow and learn new things! He is a sweetheart.

14 Days of Love: Day 10

2011-02-10T16:53:00.031-07:00

I LOVE TANNER!

There were two things that I worried about a lot when I was pregnant with Tanner that ended up not being issues at all. The first was being afraid that I wouldn't love my second child as much as I loved my first. I suppose until you have another child you don't realize that your love isn't shared or split in two. Something I've heard before is that you don't have to share your pie because you get a whole new pie to enjoy.

The second thing I worried about was having another big baby. Vance was a hard baby to deliver. Tanner, however was 7 pounds 11 ounces and compared to Vance much easier to give birth too. He is my little runt and I love him for it.

Tanner has always had big beautiful blue eyes and when he was a baby he always had them wide open. I loved that so much! Tanner also has some of the best facial expressions in the world. He is always pulling faces that make me smile or even laugh.

I love snuggling with Tanner. He will hug and kiss me and snuggle with me pretty much whenever I want. I love that! Tanner is very articulate and has been for a long time. He can express himself well. He is also a real ham when he wants to be. He can make people laugh. He is a smart kid too. He knows the letters in the alphabet and the sounds they make. We enjoy reading books together. I also love that he enjoys singing songs with me.

Tanner is always really good when he has check ups. Doctors and nurses have commented on how good he is on more than one occasion. It makes for more pleasant experiences for everyone. I love having Tanner in our family. He is a delight. He always tells me he loves and you know what, I love him!

14 Days of Love: Day 9

2011-02-09T16:10:00.000-07:00

I LOVE VANCE!

Vance is my firstborn child. I became a mother when I gave birth to him. 10 before his due date, after 3 hours of pushing I had my 9 pound 4 ounce angel in my arms. I couldn't believe how big he was. I also couldn't believe how beautiful he was. I felt so humbled to be Vance's mother and so blessed!

Vance has taught me so much about being a mother and about myself. I love him for that! He helped me learn what it is like to love a child so unconditionally. He has helped me learn to appreciate my own parents more and to gain a better understanding of what our Heavenly Father's love for us must be like.

I love Vance for helping me see life through a child's eyes once again. He was a curious 2 year old and he always kept me on my toes. I love Vance for loving me even though I am not perfect and for forgiving me when I've made poor parenting decisions. He is eager to love and quick to forgive.

Vance is full of energy and helps me have a good time and stop to enjoy little things like dancing to music or laughing out loud at something funny. His laugh can always cheer me up. I love his compassion. I love that he will sit next to me and play with my hair. I love the games he comes up with to play. I love how helpful he is to me especially with Porter. He is always willing to get me a diaper or do other little tasks around the house when I need an extra hand. He is a great big brother.

Vance is my planner. From wanting to know what we are having for dinner each day, to what we will be doing preschool about to when we are going to see the grandparents again. He likes to plan. I love the things he comes up with.

Yesterday Vance wanted to watch "A Bug's Life" and Tanner didn't. Tanner thought that the bird in that movie was scary. Vance came up with an idea and shared it with Tanner, "I have an idea Tanner! How about when the bird part comes you hide." Tanner didn't really care for that idea, but Vance always is coming up with ideas and plans. It makes me smile to see his wheels turning.

Bottom line is, Vance is a wonderful boy and I LOVE him with all of my heart! I am so blessed to be his mother!

14 Days of Love: Day 8

2011-02-08T15:57:00.000-07:00

I love waterfalls. They are beautiful! I love listening to the water flow.