Five years ago today. . .

I was doing this . . . 

and celebrating with all these wonderful people . . . 

Thanks to all those who were there for our beginning.  We have had 5 wonderful years filled with so much happiness that the hard times (pregnancies) have been washed away.  Our family has grown from a terrific two to a fabulous five.  We have lived in Portland, Idaho Falls and Shelley where we have found a home.  We have been truly blessed from the beginning.  I can hardly believe it was five years ago that I met a wonderful man and he became mine for time and all eternity.   I can't wait to see how much we grow and develop over the next five.  Stay tuned to find out :) 

Straight up CRAZY! (Family Reunion Part 4)

Lily is the first niece in a LONG time in the Porter family and the fact that she knows and loves her hair products made her a perfect doll for the older girls.  

It took them about an hour but they straightened Lily's hair.  She was not impressed that I HAD to get a picture.

  

Thankfully I got a much better one before she jumped into the big pool and her hair went curly again. 

Review of Campfire Marshmallows (Family Reunion Part 3)

Campfire Marshmallow (as modeled above by Coleton and Owen) are about 4 times bigger than your average mallow.

As with any food you must pray before consumption.  

 

Fluffy Bunny becomes a game where you see if someone can fit 1 marshmallow in their mouth. 

But MMMM. . . are they good! 

They make excellent goggly eyes even if it doesn't create a reaction from the crowd.  

Overall I think we had much more fun playing with the mallows then eating them.  As a toy good fun, for S'mores pretty junky.  They don't melt right and it far to much mallow to create the perfect chocolate-graham-mallow ratio.  Sadly even the kids complained of this fact.  

It was a BIG fish (Family Reunion Part 2)

Owen caught his first fish at the lake during the family reunion! He did it all on his own with his very own Batman fishing pole.  

He was out fishing with Chet and he usually has Chet cast it out and then he immediately reels it back in.  Well it had been a while since Chet had cast it for him so he went to check and Owen's trying to reel it in but it wasn't moving. Chet thought it was caught in the weeds so he wiggled it and shook it around and realized that Owen had caught a fish.  I was walking by when Chet figured out that he had a fish so I ran and got the camera in time to document him reeling in his first whooper!   

Porter Family Reunion (Part One)

We have given up on telling our kids in advance that we are going to grandma and grandpas house because it becomes a nut house just trying to get ready after we have mentioned it.  Leaving for the Porter Family Reunion this year was no different, within moments of telling Owen we were going to Grandpas house I walked into his room to find this . . .  

He was packed and ready to go.  Upon further inspection of the suitcase we found that he only packed PJ's and underwear.  Hey it works that would have gotten him very far.

Day One of the reunion we went to the lake.  My water babies were in heaven.  It amazes me how much entertainment my children can get from water. 

 

Taylor however stayed on shore and for the amount of time she spent in the pack "n" play she did great. 

 

Day Two we stayed at Cliff and Nancy's house and they had enough play equipment to keep us busy all day long.

 

The kids jumped for a while.

 

Posed for kissy face pictures.

 

And played in the water (some more). 

It was great fun while it lasted.  I can't wait till next year when Taylor is going to be running around with all the kids.  

Happy 4th!!!

She is so stinking cute but this is what happened when I put her bow in and wanted to take a picture.

10 months already

I cannot believe my little baby is 10 months old.  This time last year we were thrown for a loop and who knew what was going to happen next.  This little sweetheart that caused so many problems before she was born has turned into just the sweetest little angel we could have ever had.  

Isn't that just the cutest little fishy face.  She is teething right now and she chews on everything including her cheeks and lips.  Makes you just want to kiss her.

Update on the living room

For those who did not remember or never even knew we had nasty baseboard heaters and PINK carpeting.  It was the bane of my existence.  But we lived with it until I ripped down the wallpaper and started a big ole' project.  

This is our new floor!!! Pretty huh.  The kids love it.  I love it! I feel so much cleaner since I can now tell when Taylor vomits on the floor or someone spills.  LOVE IT.  And Chet took out the big ugly stinky heater and put in this slick tiny one that works loads better.  

Before there was Owen

Weren't we so cute and naive.  Seems like that was so very long ago. 

Scrappin' Fun

Kristy got me interested in scrap-booking again this week and so I finally upgraded programs got some more 'supplies' and here's the semi finished product (I just realized I didn't date or anything on it).  What do you think?