A Visit

from Grandma and Grandpa Porter...so much fun. I love the way they play with the kids. We went down to Orlando and picked them up. The day before they arrived Brandon and I went to the temple, we went as a family to Downtown Disney and ate at the Rainforest Cafe which was fun. I had the best salad with some awesome pecans. It may not sound like much but I saw someone else eating and stopped to ask them what they were eating (no manners, but it looked that good) and they said they were loving....I did too!



Jungle Chop Salad - Romaine and Iceberg lettuce, black olives, cucumbers, carrots, red cabbage, candied pecans, blue cheese crumbles, dried cranberries and grilled chicken tossed in a raspberry vinaigrette dressing.



Hannah didn't like it when it "rained" in there. She was afraid the elephants were going to come after her.



We stayed in a hotel for two night, the first night was not fun at all cause we were in a room with two small double beds. Hannah and I did not sleep so I knew they had a semi family suite so I said Brandon we gotta upgrade and they upgraded us for free. The suite had a full/queen bed and the a closed off room for the kids with bunk beds and a twin with their own tv. They loved it!



Anyways we took a tourist packed trip home in which we visited the Desere Ranch, an orange grove cause Rhoud wanted to pick an orange from a tree and let me tell you it was an excellent orange. Oh my! Then St. Augustine cause Susan's wanted to go there for some time, we just stopped for a bit but it was nice, the sun was setting, we'll visit there again. And then we stopped by my dad' where Linda had a scrumptious dinner made. So we made a three and half our trip home into a twelve hour trip. Not like us at all, very adventerous. The kids did well thanks to our rigged dvd player and Grandma and Grandpa playing games with them.

slowly but surely... Soccer

catching up on the blog...I'm at the beginning of January and it's only the beginning of February. I am going to try to condense though.
The kids are both signed up for soccer. The season started 1/2 way through December and they're doing pretty good. It seems this may not be their calling in life, but it's fun to watch and it wears them out :)



waiting during Cole's game, soccer is not Hannah's favorite thing right now

catching up on the blog...I'm at the beginning of January and it's only the beginning of February. I am going to try to condense though.

The kids are both signed up for soccer. The season started 1/2 way through December and they're doing pretty good. It seems this may not be their calling in life, but it's fun to watch and it wears them out :)

bdays and sleepovers fun fun fun

Melissa decided to come down from the great state of NC for Anya to have her bday party with her cousins. They all had a great time. The best part was that all the kids slept over at Grandma's the night before and all the mom's and dad's went bowling to dinner and played Rock Band...soo much fun. I"m hooked on the drums. The girls were all rocking to ummm what's that band with Gwen Stefani....No Doubt. We ended up having a sleep over at Carmen's. Probably will be the last time that ever happens. It was a great time. Thanks Lissa for coming to share Anya's bday!
Jackson fishing


Jacob helping Anya go fish



It's Momo's and it's as good as it is big




all dolled up

Laura was a little confused about who's bday it was, but I don't think she actually blew out any of the candles

Wild Thangs

So we're not big amusement park people, we've only ever taken the kids to Disney and that was on a dime. I've wanted to take them to Wild Adventures which is nearby but it's just a lot of money. I happened to find a good special they were having and so on Dec. 30th we took off. The kids were just like whatever let's go to Wild Advenures...because they didn't know what awaited them. Cole and Laura are a lot like Michael and I, including enjoying rides. Michael hated them and I loved them. Well, Laura loved the rollercoasters, couldn't get enough and Cole wouldn't step near them, wise man I tell ya. Anyway, we had a great time and will proably go again in the future. They had a great live nativity, that was worth going for. Laura was amazed that hey had a "real"angel and was concerned about her falling.

More Christmas and fun

Cole, Zachary, Jackson, Jacob, Laura at Carm's

Laura and Emily at Mary's with puzzles from Miss Sonya

On the 29th we gathered with my dad and Carmen's family to celebrate Christmas. It's always good stuff it Carmen's cooking and I can't remember what she cooked right now, but you can bet it was good.

That night we celebrated Christmas with Mary, Brooke, Emily, Karis and Sonya! We ate such good food all day I thought I was going to pop. The older girls stayed after dinner to watch Mama Mia, love that music..the movie was just okay; while dad's put kids to bed.

This concluded our Christmas festivities finally. It was a good year, surrounded by family and friends, hope yours was the same.

Christmas day and more

Hannah got the inflated school bus from santa and she really did love it, didn't want to get out of it to open any other presents, but she also loved her craiglist sesame couch and crayons and coloring book. You guessed it...the bus is busted. She does enjoy the little couch and we'll repair the bus. She got a bus because she's always so excited when she sees one and Cole and Laura "get" to get on one so she got hers. She's such a sweetie!

Laura got the gotta go potty doll that she asked Santa for, but she was most excited about the easel because it's the biggest present she ever got. She loves to play school and she and Hannah have a good time with the easel. Laura was annoyed by the potty dolls incessant talking after five minutes.

This is the castle that took over three hours for Santa's elves to put together. He's had a great time with it. Plays with Laura and Brandon and would with me if I were more cooperative. Well it is in pieces now but he has Lego battles with all the pieces parts and people. Let me just say it's a lot of dough for teeny pieces of plastic that Hannah will eventually throw in the toilet. ;).

We've tried to be really good at teaching the children how you respond when you get a gift. This is Cole hugging Laura after getting a gift that he already had one of. I take the kids to the dollar store to get gifts for each other and us. Not ironically I suppose, it was after we did this, that the kids were most excited about Christmas...it is better to give than receive! This may be one of the few pics we have of them hugging, they love each other, but she is his little sister!

We had a big brunch, took naps. Later we went to my mom's and have fun with everyone. My brother Gary bought Guitar Hero and we played for the first time. It was fun. The we came home and collapsed. Another big day gone for the year. Time to start anticipating the next.

An Eight year old

We started a new tradition this year that on a child's birthday they get a date with mom and dad to the reasonable destination of their choice. So Cole chose to go to funstation and Sonic. We played golf, some games and enjoyed a yummy lunch. I can't believe eight years has flown by. Wowser. I still remember bringing him home. It's been a great eight years.