Memorial Weekend

We had a pretty good Memorial Weekend. It started off Friday afternoon going to the park with our friends the Price's. This is Elizabeth and Hannah. They were the best of friends while we were in Lehi. They are always so excited to see eachother. It was fun to be outside in the sunshine and visiting with Tami. She's such a positive person all the time. Too much effort for me. :)



After the park, we ran home and packed up our tent and sleeping bags and such and headed over to my parents for a BBQ. Nonnie was leaving the next morning and so they had a birthday party for all her great-grankids and she gave them cards and gifts. They loved it of course. Each kid got a balloon and their own cookie with a candle on it. It was cute. The food was great. Dad was in charge of grilling the steaks. He was totally freaking out because he didn't want to burn them and wasn't exactly sure how to do them to everyone's liking. Turned out great for me!





After things calmed down and it had gotten dark, we had the Porter's version of a drive in movie. I don't know when it started, I want to say some time in HS, but it might have been after that. My Dad sets up the TV right outside the french doors in the back of the house and we set up blankets and watch it in the back yard. So we did that. We watched Hairspray. It was fun.

Before the movie was over, we headed into the tent for some good old backyard camping. My kind of camping! Well, not really. I do love being in the mountains, but it's a lot easier doing it this way. Isa slept in the house in her bed and that made it easier. The kids all had a turn waking up, but overall, not a bad night. It's always fun to sleep in a tent.


The next morning we woke up and headed to the pool. We haven't been swimming in a long long time. It was fun though. They had a slide inside so we did that a few times. Aunt Caroline came too and watched the kiddos while Brian and I went down a few times. Fun times.






The actual Memorial Day was lame. We've we decided where we're going, but for security purposes, if you want to know, email us. I'm a little freaked out about disclosing too much info. Anyway, we were looking for housing and it was a pain. Since they changed the rules on mortgages, we can't get one for another 6 months, so we're renting. Well between the local newspaper and the sites on the internet, there were about 12 homes listed and only about 5 with enough bedrooms for our family. So I thought maybe if we drove around the neighborhoods that there might be some signs up. Nope. Not one, well actually, one. So after 6 hours of driving around we gave up and went home. I thought this was so cute of Isa. She was so good in the car. She had like a 30 min nap and barely fussed at all the whole time. We ended the night at McDonald's. YUCK!!! I don't plan on eating there again if I can avoid it at all. I don't mind eating a bite of the kiddos cheese burgers, but other than that I just feel nasty when I'm done eating.
Brian has Tuesday's off, so we made another attempt and found a place to live in for the next year. 5 bedrooms, a huge room over the garage, fenced in yard (yay!), playhouse in the back. Should be good. The only thing I'm worried about is that it's an older area. Not very many kids. I'm sad about that, but it should be good for building family relationships I guess. Overall, a pretty good Memorial Day weekend.

The Weekend

This past weekend was so fun. Friday, Brian took Cooper on their first Father/Son camp out. I was a little nervous about Cooper being well supervised. Not that Bri isn't a good Dad, I just know how he can get distracted. But he came home alive, so all was well. I asked Bri if he wanted to take the camera, totally hoping he would not only take it, but take a few pics. He surprised me and did. Can't believe I have a boy for one, and 2, that he's old enough to go on a camp out. Fun!






Well since the boys went out, we girls had to have our fun too. Brian called and said he saw an event going on at Elizabeth's school, so I put the girls in the stroller thingy and pulled them on Bri's bike over there. They had a 5k run earlier, but we made it in time for the party. The girls got to go on the bouncy slides and bouncy house, and then they wanted to go on the train. So while they were off going down the slides and such, I stood in line with Isa until it was their turn. After the train, they wanted to get their faces painted and some cotton candy. So while they stood in the cotton candy line, I stood in the face painting line. No exaggerating. Face painting line= 45 min. Cotton candy line = 1 1/2 hours. The funny thing was that I was thinking I could have just painted their faces at home, unless they got something really advanced. Well, they didn't. Elizabeth got a ying-yang for heaven sakes. I could have done that in like 2 min. Oh well. As for the cotton candy.... I don't know which is more ridiculous. The line taking 90 min., or me actually standing in it! The funny thing was that once I took a bite, it was worth it. Duh! Oh well.
I rode them home and during the ride, Isa got her first taste of cotton candy. She loved it of course. Then I put her to bed and Liz, Caroline and I watched our movie- Princess Diaries. I told them they could sleep in their tent in the living room, but I couldn't find it anywhere, so I tried to make a fort. Didn't work out so well with the tv, so I put up a beach umbrella for them to sleep under. Of course by sleep under I mean for about 1 hour until they end up in my bed. Caroline was out in like 15 min. Elizabeth lasted until 11:00 and finished the movie. I was so tired.



Brian and Cooper got home from the campout by 8:00 AM. I guess they were up early and Cooper kept saying he wanted to go home. We did some yard work, and by that I mean mowing the lawn for- no lie- 5 hours because we bagged it and had major dandelion infestation that we had to take care of, and weeding. Isabelle wouldn't stay in her stroller, so we put her on a blanket because she hates the feel of grass. Afterwards, Brian said he wanted to take the kids to go bowling. Was a little touch and go here and there, but overall we had fun. Brian and I tied with 115 and Caroline was right behind us. We obviously don't bowl much. The kids had a blast though.




I loved the girls night. I plan to have many more of those. Not that I don't love Cooper. We'll have our dates too! That was fun. I love my kiddos!:)

A few more

Well I have looked almost everywhere and can't find the pics from the Muir Woods. The cool tall redwood trees ya know? I don't know if I deleted them accidentally or what, so none of those pics for now I guess.
Anyway, so to lay out the whole trip, we got to Oakland, CA at 10:00 on Thursday, got our car and headed to Fisherman's Warf where we had lunch. It was delicious! I got an awesome hamburger on what else? Yup, a sourdough bun. It was so good. The of course we had to stop and see the sea lions barking at each other.
After our little stroll down the Piers, we headed out to the redwood forest. We had a good hike through there which was nice. Quiet and surprisingly easier than I am used to. I guess all my hours at the gym have paid off in at least that way. I didn't get winded going up the stair like I used to on a hike. It was quite amazing how tall those trees were. The forest was a little different than I had pictured in my head, but still cool. After the forest, we took a drive to the beach... the long way around. I could spend all day on the beach. I told Brian, if I didn't have to worry about kids, I could lay at the beach all day. He, of course, thought that sounded way too boring.
We were heading out around traffic time, so we decided to stop by the Japanese Tea Garden's. That's where all the pics are from. It was beautiful. We got there just before they closed and they said we had an hour. We really had to figure out ways to stretch the time out. You can walk around it in like 5 minutes. So.... we set up the timer and took pics of ourselves. Then we got kicked out by a security guard. Living on the wild side!
After our adventures in the city, we headed to our hotel and checked in. We got dinner at a restaurant (which I've already forgotten the name of) recommended by the concierge. It was pretty good. I wanted Mexican food really bad, and that's what it was. Mine was too spicy, so Brian traded with me. How sweet.
After dinner, we ran into the store to grab tooth paste (they took it away at the airport), sunscreen and some ice cream. Yum! And then we crashed in a matter of a few minutes.
The next day, Friday, we had a scheduled trip out to Alcatraz. It was so cool. Way awesome audio tour. I had no idea all the things that island was. It wasn't just a prison. Who knew? Then we headed to China Town and unless we missed the "cool" part, what a waste of time! It was like a Tijuana for the Chinese. Tons of open markets all with the same stuff, smelly fish and a lot of short people. :) Brian said, "hey, at least we can see over everyone". We were going to get lunch there, but it all sounded so... unappetizing, so we ate at a fabulous little Italian place. Glad we did that. After that, we headed back to our hotel, took a dip in the hot tub and relaxed watching some tv. I was so in the mood for Sweet Cream with Raspberries from Cold Stone, so we headed over there for a late night treat. So yummy.
Saturday was all wedding day. From 8:00 AM to 7:00 PM. It was so fun to be a part of. I had the best and hottest assistant! Brian did so good helping me out. There were some shots I couldn't have gotten without him. He did a lot of this:





After the wedding festivities, we headed out on a date. We went and saw 17 Again. It was cute. I had to throw a few cat calls out for what's his name.... oh man, what's his name? Well, you know who I mean. Brian was embarrassed and kept telling me to be quiet. It was funny. Then we grabbed some more Mexican and headed back and crashed. We got up the next morning, watched a little TV and headed back to the airport. It was such a great trip. It was so fun to be just me and the hubby. I love that man! We had a good time together and I think sometimes it's hard to remember what it was like before kids. Don't get me wrong, I love my kids, but there's something special when it's just the 2 of you and I loved having that with Brian!

Catch up time...

Brian and I just got back from a fabulous trip to Oakland/San Fransisco. My friend Tami got married and flew us out there to photograph the wedding. Huge shout out thanks to Jill and Caroline, who with out them, this trip would not have been possible. They were master babysitters for us so we could go. The first nigh we got there we headed into the city down to the Fisherman's Warf. We got lunch there and then walked around for a bit. Well, this whole trip will be a little out of order, but one of the things we did was go out to Alcatrez. It was so interesting and they had a really great audio tour there. Pretty cool. The boat ride over was absolutely freezing!!! It took me like 3 hours to thaw. But most of the pics are from the boat ride over and around Alcatrez. More to come on that later.









I just thought this was such a cute picture of the two. Love Izzy's hair!


And cute again....



I feel like a bad Mom 'cause I haven't even talked at all about Caroline's Bday. She turned 4 and was so excited. We kept hearing about how her bday was next for about 2 months. She's so sweet. Love this girl. Her bday pics were funny 'cause she showed no emotion on any of them. Jill really reacted when Caroline opened her camera that she's been wanting forever and that's how we got the smile. I asked her what she wanted for her bday cake and she said Snow White. I think I need to stop asking. I had no idea how I was going to do that, but then an apple popped in my head and I asked Caroline if that was okay. She said, "that'd be a great idea". And so the apple it was. I had to stick Snow White ontop though to get the whole request in there. We had all my family up and it was a good time. Pizza was nasty, but oh well. Company was good!







I have more to post, but I've been at the computer editing wedding pics for a few hours and am ready to lay down. More later...

Dr. Studly

Sorry ladies. He's mine. ALL MINE! I know you want a piece of this and I can't blame you, but he's sworn his undying love to me and there's no room for anyone else in this stud's heart!

#1

I sometimes like to refer to this hottie as "The Chud-Stud". Last night he and his vball team took first place and not only that, but undefeated in the "play-offs". I wish I could have been there to see it all go down, but "watching" the game with 4 youngins doesn't really work. Oh well. Here are a few action shots of my man.

Lately...

We've been pretty busy lately running back and forth trying to figure out where we're going to end up in the next few months, and I think we have, but until it's for sure, we'll keep it a secret. :) So let's see, since he last post, nothing major has happened, just a little bit of this and that. First, we had a penny walk. Tradition at conference time. It was great weather and fun to all be together. Mellie was the honorary penny dropper this year. She's had A LOT going on! Well deserved.





Then we've had the trips to the park. This is the best park around. It's huge. I've talked about it before. My Mom and Mellie and her kiddos came up and we went to it. Will and Coop had such a fun time toghether.





Easter was a good day. We of course had to bypass picture taking before church, and after, why bother! However, Isabelle had just turned 9 months, so I grabbed some of her after church and snagged one with all the girls. We didn't get them dresses this year. Just felt like they have enough dresses and didn't want to buy just to buy. We went to WeeMama's and Papa John's for dinner and an egg hunt. First though, my parents emptied their coin jar and put on an egg hunt for the adults. The hubbies were blind folded and we had to instruct them where to go to find the egg. It was so funny. Total money added up ended up being around $75. Now that's my kind of money jar! Afterwards the kiddos had theirs.






Of course we had the decorating of eggs. This year I splurged and got the one with the "egg wraps". I love those things. They had fun decorating. A dozen eggs goes way too fast between 3 kids... and Bri. :)

Other than that, just in the midst of major decision making. We'll post when we know more.