It's time

I needed a recipe.  I thought it was on my food blog.  Geez, remember that adventure?  But it wasn't.  And then I remembered it was on my personal blog.  I could see the picture of Porter standing outside my itty bitty townhouse holding the chocolate muffin.  That's how I remembered where it was.  I came to this blog, scanned through and found the recipe.  Then I found myself scanning old posts, making pictures bigger, and being blown away at how faithfully I blogged, what I blogged about, and even the clever things I wrote!  This blog is an amazing piece of family history!  And so, I decided, it's time.  It's time to do it again.  Not for you, not for my mom, but for me.  A place I can write at the end of the day.  A place I can add pictures of my family.  A place I can come to and just feel like I'm doing something FOR ME.  Because let's be honest, at the end of each day, I'm exhausted and usually feeling guilty about the things I failed on.  And to be even more honest, I've been yearning for something to make me feel like an individual.  So, I think this is it.  Something that can make me feel like an individual and be fulfilling family history. So, here we go!

Last time I blogged was Paige's 3rd birthday!  What?!  Seriously! (She'll be 5 next month!)

So, at her birthday party in Draper, I was totally pregnant!  It's true.  Probably like 6-7 weeks at that point.  And I was sick.  I remember driving home from this lake after the party and feeling so sick.  I had no food in the car, I was dying and my mother in law wanted to make all these different stops on the way home.  I almost screamed, "I'm pregnant, please stop somewhere so I can buy a snack!"  But I didn't. I made it home.

That fall we did fun stuff for Halloween

In November we went to Draper for Thanksgiving, got a pedicure with my in laws, watched Paige dance at her ballet class for parents day, Paige got dental work done on her teeth, both Porter and Paige got notebooks from a primary activity and loved them, my baby belly started growing, Paige got a fairy set from her aunts, and the kids had a "sleepover" while we went Black Friday shopping. 

In December, we did A LOT. Family parties and get togethers. We saw Elsa and Santa Claus - who Porter was afraid of this year still. We saw cousins and made treats and had a great Christmas!

And I'll start with 2015 another post :)

a superhero party

Porter had a friend superhero birthday party today.

 It was hilarious!

We invited ALL of our little friends to play at the park.

We told them to dress up in superhero costumes.

I gave all the kids squirt guns and they chased the "bad guys".

We played duck, duck, goose.

We beat a homemade piñata until the candy came out.

(I totally just saved a few kids from getting whacked)

And we ate cupcakes and opened presents.

Best birthday party ever!

(it was SOOOO cute to watch little kids run around the playground together in their superhero getup)

Porter is four

I cannot believe my little guy turns four today. I'm that Mom who doesn't want him to grow up. I don't want him to go to school. I just want him to stay home and play with Paige and I forever.

 

Porter is the best little boy in the world. He's wild and active. He loves to run, jump, climb, and wrestle. He loves summer. He ALWAYS wants to wear shorts - no matter how cold and snowy it is outside. He loves to play with friends and dress up like a superhero. He loves movies and books. See...he's the best, right?

 

Happy Birthday Porter! I love you so much I could go nuts.

(James's birthday was yesterday. Happy Birthday James!)

summer, please don't go away

We have had a lot of fun the past month.  And I'm sad because summer is about over.  Most of my friends have kids who start school this week.  I can even feel the cool air coming.  Don't get me wrong, I do enjoy the fall.  But summer....oh, summer.  How I will miss you!

 

James took Porter to work one day, so Paige and I had a girls day.  We rode the bus to the library.  We painted our finger nails and toe nails and made cookies :)

 

Blast from the past!  My childhood friend from PA, who I haven't seen in like 10 years was in Utah on vacation and came to Logan to see me.  We had a really fun day.

(her kids, my kids, the neighbors)

 

 

AND...we took our first family vacation to California.  We of course stopped in St George to see my parents.

 Then in California, we met up with James's parents and toured the USS Iowa.

That night we went to a Dodgers game - woo woo!  The kids did awesome.

 

And we spent a whole day on the beach! (I could have spent 10)

 We went to my sister, Rachelle's.  I wish we had stayed longer there.  Paige loved Dash.  Porter and his cousins played so well.  And Rachelle and I could have made yummy food and talked for days.  We even ran on the beach - we almost got swept away.  Not even joking.

 And on the way home we stopped in Vegas for a night.  The kids LOVED IT!

AND....my dear little Paige turned two.  I honestly never thought this day would come.  I had my first two babies extremely fast and she was SUCH a hard baby.  I remember thinking we'd never make it to bedtime, let alone her 2nd birthday.  But we did.  And she is the happiest, kindest, silliest, most tender hearted little girl you will ever meet.  She can win anyone's heart over.  On our trip, every 5 minutes, a new stranger would say, "Oh my goodness, she is beautiful!" and stop to talk to her.

 Happy birthday my little lovebug.  We're so lucky to have you.

 

And that's a wrap.  Sorry for the picture overload.  Hope you enjoyed it Mom and Dad ;)