PORTER"S

Wednesday, May 23, 2018

Easter 2018

The kids love Easter. I think it's Conrad's favorite holiday. They really enjoy coloring eggs. This year we decided to try a pack that had a bunch of emoji stickers. It was fun to see them after they were decorated. It really added to the eggs. :)

The Easter bunny comes Friday night at our house, and it brought a whole bunch of fun legos. Hailey got a book and read it the same day, of course. :)

Conrad's lego set

General Conference was Easter Sunday. We had lunch at Mom and Dad's with Aunt Joyce's family, Jenna, and two kids. She had this fun activity for them. The kids loved it. :)

Easter is such a special time, and I feel it gets so overpowered by commercialism. I'm grateful though that the church leaders have made some great videos for us to watch. It helps the kids remember and keep our minds on the Savior and his sacrifice for each of us.

Spring Break 2018!

We had a great time down in St. George this year. The weather was sunny and warm. We had too many activities to do, so we'll go down there every Spring break for at least the next few years.

The kids LOVED the pool, of course. I didn't get a whole lot of pictures, though.

This was our first quick ride. We just drove out behind where we were staying and saw this:

We were able to see some really amazing things downs there.

First, some petrified dunes:

We stopped at some cool rocks and played there for a bit.

We also stopped at a couple of neat places with dinosaur tracks and hieroglyphics (some of the kids made their own):

Dinosaur Track

Hailey and Ilzay posing with a track between their feet

Sunday, April 1, 2018

15 Years Has Gone by So Quickly

As a child, years took an eternity to pass by. I remember birthdays and Christmas took forever to come. As an adult, the years go by so quickly, almost too quickly. So fast, in fact, that they blur as I look back (part of that may be the fact that I was exhausted all the time too, haha.) But, as I think about all that has happened since Bo and I were married, I almost can't believe it all. Like all couples, we've been through a great deal together. The Lord has blessed us more than we deserve. We've had many great times and times where we've had to learn through struggles. Each of these times has strengthened us and our relationship. I'm not totally to the point where I can say I'm thankful for all of it, I can say I'm grateful for this life of ours and what life has made us.

I'm so grateful to have gone through it all with this guy by my side. He's still my best friend, and I still love spending time with him. He's fearless and goes for the things he wants. He doesn't give up when things get hard. I've learned many things from him, and he has so many qualities that I wish I had. He's so patient with me and keeps me sane. :) He stretches me to do things out of my comfort zone. We balance each other out. The older we get, the more I see it. I'm grateful to call him mine.

Speaking of stretching me to do things, our Anniversary celebration was totally out of my comfort zone. I've never driven a snowmobile except for a few minute ride a couple of weeks before this trip. But, Bo really wanted us to get away and have a fun time together.

I was nervous all week knowing that we'd be riding on snowmobiles, and I had to drive my own! But, when we got up there and rode around, I realized that snow machining was fun and didn't have to be scary or cold. The weather was amazing! I actually got hot at one point. We had a great day together, and I was in awe of the beauty of the winter scenery we were able to see. We live in such a beautiful place. I LOVE that we have seasons that change. I think I love the look of nature blanketed in the snow more than any other scenery.

We had dinner in Idaho Falls at Krung Thep Thai. This is our favorite place to eat.

I love this phase of life. The thirties are great! I wonder what life will be like 15 years from now. Things will look much different, I'm sure of that. Our youngest will be 20 and our oldest 28. I don't want to think about how old we'll be. ;) My hopes are that we'll be a close family that loves the Lord and that we'll all be better people than we are today seeking to serve Him the best we understand how.

Wednesday, February 28, 2018

A Day at the Museum

I took the kiddos to the Museum of Idaho on President's Day. The Exhibit was Dinosaurs in Motion. There were many different dinosaurs made by a man (I should have taken note of his name) who molded scrap metal together. It wasn't my favorite exhibit, but the kids loved it. This man was genuinely talented. The T-Rex was very tall.

Here are some pics from it.

One Year Older and Wiser Too...Happy Birthday, to You!

Caleb is Five! It's hard to believe our youngest is five. When I compare Hailey's first five years to Caleb's, it feels like it took forever for her to get there, but Caleb's first five years have gone too quickly. I love the ages and stages of our kids right now, but as I've been warned so many times, time really does move too quickly.

Caleb is such a blessing and has all of the kids (actually parents too) wrapped around his fingers. He just has to smile, and he gets what he wants from any of his siblings. Jack and he have a close bond, and Jackson has been carrying him around piggyback style quite a bit as they play lately. It's fun to see.

For Caleb's birthday, we went over to the warehouse and let him and a couple of friends play. They disappeared for quite a while, ate cupcakes, and opened a couple of presents.

Brooklyn, Caleb, and Jacob

Then in the evening, we had Chicken Rolls for dinner, went back over to the warehouse, and partied again. This time with Grandma and Grandpa, who also brought Great Grandma Christensen, who is staying with them right now. He got all three Despicable Me's from Grandpa Porter, and they watched the second one.

He said it was the best birthday ever so and I was relieved because he's been talking about his birthday for months and I didn't want him to be disappointed.