Life has been Crazy!

Life has been CRAZY here since the weather got nice. We started doing outdoor projects. I feel like these projects have consumed our time and we are still not even close to being done! Brandon tilled our whole yard (which was very hard to do and he had aching muscles for a week afterward). We raked and leveled it (which I helped with and that was not fun, either). Then we put the yard on hold and started building our fence. We have a beautiful, newer fence all the way around our house, just leaving an opening for the driveway. If we had the money, it would be perfect to put in a retractable gate to close our whole property in... but that is not going to happen on our budget, so we want to fence in the backyard. Luckily it's not too much fence building, but it is still a huge project!

Brandon digging the post holes with the help of an auger (I don't know if that is spelled correctly). Porter was enthralled with the big machine.
Some of Brandon's fam came to help. Sharron and Sharri were a BIG help helping Brandon get the posts in straight.
Here are all the posts on one side of the house. Luckily the other side isn't so big!
After the posts were all in, the actual fence can be built. That is where we are still at, with the fence. During the fence building, we started another project of planting our grass, so we have been doing that most recently. When the fence is finished, I will post more pictures!
Thank you Uncle Tim for being a help to Brandon and keeping Porter distracted.

{Buddies}

We went over to Brad and Ali's house the other night. It was so fun to see a bunch of friends we hadn't seen in awhile. Garrett, Blake, and Porter are all close to the same age, and had so much fun playing together! Hudson even got into the mix a little bit. We decided to take pictures of all of the boys and this is what we got...
Porter wouldn't take off those silly glasses at first, but everyone else was smiling and looking at the camera.
Still, everyone is looking at the camera, except Porter. Come on Porter! We finally got Porter to smile at the camera by bribing him with dessert.
By the time Porter started cooperating, Garrett had had enough of the picture taking!
This is as good as we got! Notice, Hudson was the only one that stayed put the whole time, and that's because he couldn't move as fast as the other guys! Blake did a good job staying put, too! Go Blake! Way to show 'em how it should be done!

"I'M DANCING!"

Our little man, Porter was watching "So You Think You Can Dance" with us before his bedtime. When it became time for him to go to bed, he decided he wanted to be one of the dancers. This video proves he is a dancer...look at the moves. Brandon and I could not stop laughing which probably didn't help much. Ohhhh...The 2 1/2 year old 'tude we got this night! Porter always seems to find ways to put smiles on our faces!

Need Help!

I am trying to upload a video and I can't figure out how. Actually, I am trying to upload it to YouTube first, so I can then upload it to Blogger. Brandon has uploaded a couple videos a long time ago and he can't remember how he did it! I noticed that the videos he uploaded were mpeg files. The video I have tried to upload is a jpeg, and it says it needs to be converted... the problem is that I don't know how to convert it! This is driving me crazy!!!!! I know it can be done, because it has been done before, but I have been trying to figure this out for awhile now. Any one that is more computer saavy, Can you help me?!

The Tale of the Many Blenders...

I have never had luck with blenders. I hate them! At least the ones I have owned. They just don't work the way I like them to. When I used to make a smoothie, I would blend all the ingredients for what seemed like hours, and there would still be ice chunks left behind! The food processors have been the same: not good! Well, two Thanksgivings ago, my brother, Brandon came to visit us. I was making a couple of dishes that required a blender. My not-so-lovely blender decided to brake that day. I was fed up with all of the blenders I had owned (which were many) and I think I scared my brother (he didn't know someone could get so upset over a stupid blender). It was just the culmination of failing blenders when I really needed one, that sent me over the edge!

Well, last Christmas, my brother, bless his little heart, got me a blender... not just any blender, but a Vitamix! These things are awesome (but very expensive)! My parents have had one for years, and so I knew what a good blender was capable of. I guess my brother didn't want to see me have another melt-down over a stupid blender! I have loved having a Vitamix. It makes the BEST smoothies in a couple of seconds- that's after you put whole fruits in- you don't have to cut them into small pieces! I can make soups- it is so powerful, that as it blends, it actually cooks the soup! With a different canister, I can grind whole grains. Basically, the possibilities are endless with this thing. It is like a blender, food processor, wheat grinder, and more, all in one!

I wanted to make my own baby food for Porter, but stayed away from my blender as much as possible, so I never got around to making any. This time around, I was excited to make baby food! I have only made peas, carrots, green beans, and pears, but when I have more time I will make other foods. It was really easy, so much fresher, so much cheaper, and the homemade baby food sure looks a lot better than the stuff you get in a jar!
After it's blended, you just put it into ice cube trays and freeze it. Here's the green beans, carrots, and pears.
After the cubes are frozen solid, you can pop them out and put them in a freezer bag. This way, they are just as convenient as the jars b/c you can get out what you need. I'm sold on making homemade baby food! (and you don't need a Vitamix to make it. I just had bad luck with other blenders)

Happy Mother's Day!

I had a wonderful Mother's Day, today! It was so nice not to cook at all today, and I really just had a relaxing and somewhat lazy day! Even after Brandon tilled our whole yard yesterday and was soooo sore this morning, he still got up and kept busy this morning, so I could have a break. I love being a mom and feel so blessed to have the wonderful husband and children that I have. I am the luckiest mom the the whole wide world! I also want to say Happy Mother's Day to my mom. She is the best mom and a wonderful example to me!

Normally we would go over to Brandon's parents house for Mother's Day, but we didn't because they are on an ALASKAN CRUISE! Happy Mother's day, Sharron, and Happy 50th Anniversary!

Brandon gave me a big hanging wall clock that I have been wanting for a long time, and Porter and Hudson gave me the cutest Elmo card that says "Elmo loves you!" Of course Porter picked it out! We hung the clock yesterday because I kind of found it on Friday in the back of the car... ooops! Brandon was bummed out, but I told him it actually worked out well because I could just enjoy it today, already hung up!

I love you Brandon, Porter, and Hudson! Thank you for making this day and every day special for me!

My Little "Helper"

Porter loves to help his mommy. Whatever I am doing, he has to do, too. He likes to wash the dishes (or play with the water and get it all over)...
He loves to help feed Hudson (even after I was done and took Hudson's bib off)...

He loves to help me cook dinner (or pull the bulk bag of macaroni down off the counter).

"The Bruiser"

I promise I do not beat my child! See, he's happy in this picture. The problem is that Porter has no fear, loves to climb ANYTHING, and is the energizer bunny! That combination means lots of bumps, scrapes, and bruises! He is definitely all boy! If I could have just a small portion of the energy he has! He keeps me on my toes, but I love him just the way he is. Life would be boring if Porter was "normal":)

Lazy Sunday

It was such a beautiful day today, so after church, we decided to go for a walk. We went to Brandon's office that backs up to a private lake. There is a walking path around the whole lake that was perfect for a lazy stroll.

I wanted to take a picture of Porter with the baby geese in the background. He would NOT look at the camera and I took a million pictures of him. In this picture he looks mad because I kept taking pictures of him. This was the best I got, though. The baby geese were so cute! (I guess I better say Porter was, too!)

Whenever we go on a walk, this is always what I see... Porter does not have a walking mode. He runs everywhere he goes!

Porter got the idea to throw rocks into the lake. From then on, every rock and pine cone Porter found, had to be thrown into the lake. It took us forever to get all the way around!

Porter and Daddy feeding the ducks. Porter couldn't get it that he needed to break the bread into small pieces. He would throw HUGE peices of bread that wouldn't make it into the water. Oh well, he still had fun:)!

Hudson was just chillin' with his Momma. I thought it was funny that by the end of our walk (or actually mid-way) neither of the boys were in their stroller!

The Hunt!

After church, we went over to Grandma and Grandpa Hoopes' for a yummy dinner, "fishing" (a tradition they do on Easter where the grandkids fish for fun prizes), and a big Easter Egg Hunt.



Grandma Hoopes, Grandma Perry and Hudson cheering Porter on! Notice the umbrella. It was raining pretty good all day. In fact, there were moments when it was raining solid sheets of water! I think it's pretty ironic that the weekend before was soooo beautiful and warm, and this coming weekend is also supposed to be in the mid-seventies! Of course it has to be cold and rainy on Easter. Welcome to Oregon!

Easter Morning

When Porter woke up, he found the Easter Bunny had left his Easter Basket, full of fun things, outside his bedroom.

Easter at the Zoo

We went to the zoo, again, on Saturday. They had fun Easter activities and an Easter Egg Hunt. Porter wouldn't get close enough to the Easter Bunny to get a picture, but he did give the Easter Bunny a high five!



Feeding the Lorkeets. Hudson wanted to grab one. Porter let one land on his arm. I was surprised he held still! It was a fun day!

Our patio addition...

We wanted to add on to our patio to have room for some patio furniture so we can eat outside when the weather is nice. The original patio was too small and narrow to really use. I'm glad we had room for the huge truck to make it as far as it did!

Go, Ryan, Go!

I just couldn't resist! I figured it's our cement, so why not!

Brandon working his magic...

The finished product! It's going to be so nice to have this extra patio area!

A busy Easter Weekend!

My mom, Brandon (brother), Ben, and Ryan came to visit us for their Spring Break. They were soooo awesome to help us add on to our patio. Brandon was a pro at it. I know they probably had things they would rather be doing during their spring break, but they worked hard helping us. Did I mention how awesome they are?:)

Zoo Adventure!

I decided to take Porter and Hudson to the zoo on Monday because the weather was so nice. We got there and realized that everyone in the Portland Metro area decided to go to the zoo, also! We drove around for a half hour looking for parking, and decided it wasn't worth it. I didn't want to turn around and go home, but I also don't know the area very well and didn't want to get lost. I felt adventurous, though, and decided to drive around and look for something else to do. Past the Rose Gardens, I found an awesome park. I decided this would be the next best thing to the zoo. We had our picnic there and Porter LOVED playing in the sandbox (even though we didn't have any sand toys). I didn't get a picture of the play structure, but it was huge! It was almost too big- it was hard to keep Porter in my sight!


After spending 3 hours at the park, I decided to drive by the zoo on our way home and see how crowded it was. Porter was still talking about the zoo, so I really wanted to go. It was still crowded, but I could see parking spaces, so I decided since we were here, we would go in for awhile. That's the nice thing about season passes, you don't have to spend all day there to get your money's worth. We just went to one section (the area with the bears) and stayed for one hour. We were all tired by that time and I didn't want to get stuck in rush hour traffic. Things didn't go as planned, but it was still a fun day and we were outside in the nice weather all day. I wish the weather would last, but today and the rest of the week are supposed to be cooler with rain coming our way. Bummer!

My latest project...

I got this idea at the Street of Dreams a couple years ago, and knew I always wanted to use it. I love having a family wall full of pictures. This is a neat way to organize and display a bunch of pictures. It was super easy, too! That's always a plus! This is in our entryway, so that people that visit will see pictures of our family right away.:)