Brayden at 4 months

Brayden went to the Dr. today for his 4 month check up. Here are his stats:

16 lbs 7 oz (80th percentile)
his height was the 80th percentile also, but I can't seem to find my paper with the number at the moment.

Brayden is a very happy baby and just started giggling the last couple of weeks. I love it!
He's not to interested in moving yet and is content to just stare around. He rolled over once last week.
He is a pretty good sleeper for the most part once we get him to sleep. He fights every night.
It's been fun to watch him grow.

We love you Brayden!

blessing collage

I thought it would be fun to put this together. The kids are all about the same age in the pictures. Hailey top left. Conrad top right. Jackson bottom left. Brayden bottom right.

I just love how Conrad looks like a little temple worker. :)

Brayden's Blessing

Bo blessed Brayden on Sunday, January 2, 2010. It was a nice blessing and a nice day. Thank you to all of the family and friends that we able to make it. I don't have Bo's phone with me so I just have the pictures from JCPenney. I got these taken a couple of weeks before when he turned 3 months.

Happy New Year!

Well since I was horrible and didn't get my Christmas cards out, I thought I'd at least say Happy New Year to all of our friends and loved ones!  We hope you had a great Christmas!

Here's our family newsletter for 2010:

Our biggest news from 2010 is the birth of Brayden E Porter!  He was born September 15 and he is happy and healthy.  He is such a sweetheart.   This little man fits in perfectly with the family and we just adore him.

Jackson is now 2 and busier than ever.  We have to keep a gate up in his doorway so he won’t get up and wander the house at night. At about 2 in the morning one night I caught him on the counter top in the pitch black getting a snack out of the cupboard.  Then and there we decided we’d better lock him in his room.  He never stops going.  He eats everything in his sight.  Gratefully, we’ve only had to call poison control once. :)  Jack has such a fun personality and loves playing with anything on wheels.

Conrad is 4 and LOVES Spiderman.  He would want toilette paper if it had Spiderman on it.  He wanted to be black Spiderman for Halloween and we got the costume about a week before.  It has been glued to his body ever since. Con is so sweet and makes sure everyone is happy and doing what they need to.  He is excitedly awaiting Kindergarten next year.  This summer he also played on his first t-ball team.  It was tons of fun for everyone in the family.  It’s so fun to watch little kids play sports.

Hailey’s is 6 and her big news is finally being able to start Kindergarten.  She LOVES it and still can’t wait to go.  When school first started she would wake up super early thinking she was going to miss it or be late.  She is doing well and loves to learn.  Her favorite part of school is art.  She wants to be an artist when she grows up.  We are good friends.  She is a great big sister and is always happy to help out.  She got a Journey Girl doll (American Girl) for Christmas and said it was like she had a new sister.  Well, if you can’t have one, invent one. :)

Bo is happy at work.  He is still doing his Ecommerce business: Foxwebstores.com.  They are always busy with new ideas some great and others we’ll call learning experiences.  He loves it.  He gets to work with great people which is always nice.  They bought a ping pong table a few months ago.  It has been a big hit and everyone, even some friends, have been having tournaments at breaks and lunch ever since. (They even keep track of it on paper with charts and all.)

Well, I am just feeling grateful for a happy healthy baby and feeling happy and healthy myself.  It’s now been a year and 3 months since I went gluten free and I feel great!  I feel very blessed that I don’t ever crave anything with gluten (I believe it to be a tender mercy of the Lord).  I am happy with the food I get to eat and that my family likes it too for the most part.  I’ve picked up a new hobby of reading the past couple of months and I love it.  I just wish that I could devour a book a day.  It’s more like a month. (My new years resolution is to read at least a book a month).

We pray that your new year will be blessed and filled with great memories. 

Better Late than Never

As Thanksgiving has come and gone, I have thought a great deal about all that we have been blessed with.  There is so much.  We have been so blessed this past year.

First and foremost I am so truly grateful for our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.  I am forever indebted to him.  He loves us more than we can understand.  He endured more than we can comprehend.  He was and is perfect.  He did not need an atonement.  But we did.  There is no other way we can return to our Father in Heaven except through him.  He will guide us through this life.  All we have to do is remember Him and listen.

I am so grateful for our prophet President Monson.  He is truly amazing and has led an outstanding life (his biography "To the Rescue" is very informative and interesting).  He wants all of us to return to our Heavenly Father.  He loves EVERYONE.  He has many Christlike attributes.  He is the Prophet for our time and I am so grateful he is here to guide us at this time.

I love the scriptures.  They are such a blessing in my life.  As I read from them I can feel the love that grows in our home. They make me want to become better.  They guide me, comfort me, and give my life meaning as sometimes it's tedious doing the same thing every day.

I am so grateful to be a wife and mom.  Bo is such a great husband and father.  He makes us better.  He is always there when we need him.  Which is every night.  I still can't wait for him to get home from work every night.  I still can't wait for the weekend when I get to see him more than just a few hours a day.  I am so grateful to be married to such a great man.  He brings peace into our home.  And he just got back from pack meeting with a caramel sundae just for me. :)

I love being a mom.  I've wanted to be a mom for as long as I can remember.  I was always asking for a new baby doll each Christmas.  Each one of our children is special in their own way.  I am grateful for their unconditional love and forgiving spirits.  I love their little giggles.  The way they think I don't ever make mistakes.  The way they are ready at any time to give me a hug and a kiss.  And each of them gives a different wink.   They are always making gifts for us.  The things I learn from them.  The way they always see the positive and reach for the stars.   The way they treat each other (for the most part).  Yes, as every parent thinks, I have the best kids ever.  What a blessing it is to have a family.

As we raise our kids, it makes me realize the many things that our parents did without so that we could have every opportunity we could.  I am so grateful for all that my parents have done for me and continue to do for me.  And for all Bo's parents do for me and our family also.  We are so blessed to have great loving parents!

Of course I can't forget the rest of our family and friends.  We always have so much fun when we are together.  I know I can count on support from each of you!

Life is easier with the extras.  So, I must say the many things I am grateful for every day.  I am grateful for a variety of foods to eat.  I am grateful for a warm home in the winter and a cool home in the summer.  I am grateful for my bed, my bathtub, my kitchen, a car to get to places I need and want to be, cleaning supplies, a dishwasher, and disposal. My piano.  I'm grateful that we are all healthy and happy. I'm grateful to live in Rigby, ID. I'm grateful for time to myself every morning (well most mornings if I get up early enough). 

If any of you are still reading this my list could go on forever.  We have been so blessed.  I'm not sure what we have done to get all these blessings.  I just hope I can always remember our Father in Heaven gives us everything we have and not take them for granted.