We're Outta Here!

By 8:20 am tomorrow, me and my little boys will be on a plane flying to Utah to visit my family. We're always sad to leave Brandon, but someone's gotta work, right? My parents have a ton of things planned for the two weeks we are there, so Porter is super excited to visit and I think Hudson will just be glad to go along for the ride. I'm already behind on posting pics, but I probably won't post any until after I get back, so until then.... see ya later!

Bad News & Good News

Bad News: I'm not going to run in the half-marathon this Saturday.

Good News: I'm pregnant!

So, the whole story is I just had my first Dr. appt. and I told him what I was planning on doing on Saturday (running 13.1 miles, that is). There are lots of reasons why he said he wouldn't recommend that: it's going to be hot that day, I've never ran a half marathon before, he just doesn't know how my body will react to running that long while pregnant, and he said I could feel totally fine the whole time running, but then have issues later. My #1 priority is a healthy pregnancy and baby, so of course I'm going to take my Dr.'s advice. (I just try not to think of all the work and long training runs I did to not be able to meet my goal of running a half marathon!)

I'm still going to run through this pregnancy. I ran through both my other pregnancies and I felt so good doing that. I'm just going to do shorter, more normal runs:)

BTW- We will be really excited to welcome this little bundle of joy in January! (and I'm trying not to think about the fact that I will have 3 kids 3 years old and under for awhile!!) It's gonna be crazy, but so worth it!

"Jesus told me..."

We've been talking to Porter about things that Jesus has told us not to eat, like coffee. He notices coffee commercials and he will say "That's not good for me. Jesus told me not to eat it." I was glad he was understanding this concept.... until now. Here is how our daily dinner conversation goes now:

Porter: "Jesus told me not to eat (fill in the blank with whatever we are eating that night)."

Me: " Jesus wants us to eat good food that is good for our bodies. He doesn't want us to eat food that is bad for us. Mommy only makes food that is good for us, so you need to eat your dinner."

Porter: "But Jesus doesn't want me to eat it."

It's hard to argue with a very picky 3 yr old!

Beach Day!

So, I finally figured out if I load each pic one at a time, then it works! (not that I want to do that every time I post, so I still want to figure out what's going on. But at least I can post some pictures!)

We took a day trip to the beach with some of our friends for Memorial Day. It was so much fun! The day consisted of throwing frisbees, picnics, a candy store, kite flying, geocaching, Mo's, and of course playing in the sand and water! Porter loved, loved, loved it! (although you wouldn't tell it by this picture. I think he was crying because he wanted me to let go of him so he could go play some more.)

It was cold, but that didn't stop this little guy! When I told him we were going to the beach, he couldn't stop talking about it! When we pulled in to Lincoln City I told Porter we were here, but we were going to go to a candy store, first. He told me he didn't want to go to the candy store, he wanted to go to the beach! What child doesn't want to go to a candy store?!?

Hudson wasn't as enthusiastic as Porter was about the whole beach thing. The sand was hard to walk on & he didn't like the water, so he was content sitting with the adults. Eventually, he got used to the sand and played with the sand toys we brought.

Porter was all grins when he was flying his Buzz Light Year kite. He did a great job, I was impressed!

Give Hudson some food, & he's a happy camper!

"Bad Request"

My sweet husband gave me a new camera for Mother's Day, which was so nice of him. I've been taking lots of pictures with it. I can load them to my computer just fine, but when I try to post them to my blog, it just says it is a "Bad Request". Hmmm. I'm baffled. So, until I get this figured out, no posting pictures. If anyone has any ideas of what I should do, I would gladly take advice:)

T-Ball

Our little Porter is doing T-Ball this year! It's been fun for him and also a learning experience because he always wants to get the ball, but sometimes it's a teammate's turn. It's been really good for him, though. 5 out of the 8 kids on his team are in our ward, so that has been fun!

The team lined up for pictures from tallest to shortest... Porter is the last one in line. Sorry you didn't get some of your Mom or Dad's height, Porter.

Hi Mom!

Good Hit, Porter!

In position for a ground ball.

Get it, Porter! Get it!

Keep your eye on the ball! (Those helmets crack me up! They are so big on him!)

Safe!

WooHoo!

I've been slacking in the couponing department lately, but I just went to Albertson's tonight and once again got some great deals. 10 boxes of cereal, 2 boxes Capri Sun's, 2 boxes Nestle Drumsticks, 2 Danonino yogurts, 1 box popcorn, 1 box Reese's Pieces...... and Avatar! I spent $26.25 for all of this! Love it!

Tulip Festival

This is coming late, because as usual, things have been crazy busy here! A couple weekends ago, we FINALLY made it to the Wooden Shoe Tulip Festival. We wanted to go last year, but didn't make it because we were soooo busy redoing our yard and painting the inside of our house. This year I wanted to go, but our Saturdays were filling up quickly. We finally made it on the last Saturday it was open!

It was a lot of fun, but the weather was crazy: sunny and warm, then freezing and rainy, then sunny and warm, etc... We didn't even make it to the kids section with all the fun things to do there. Oh well, I guess there's next year!

The tulip fields were amazing!

Hudson, Porter, and Penny!

Too cute!

To say it was muddy would be an understatement! Of course Porter felt right at home, though!

Once again, too cute!

This was the best we got for a family picture.

Where's Porter???

Even with the crazy weather, it was a ton of fun, and I look forward to going next year!

Our Big Boy!

Hudson is 18 months old today! I have been looking forward to this day for a long time... not that I am looking forward to my babies growing up so fast, but it has been a huge challenge keeping Hudson for all meetings of church. He has a set a lungs, is a wiggle worm, and won't stay still on a lap. I take my hat off to Brandon, because he's the one that has had to take him to Young Men's with him, because I teach the 5 & 6 yr olds in Primary. Anyways, we are sooooo excited that he is old enough to FINALLY go to Nursery!!!! Porter is super excited to have him in there, also!
Besides going to Nursery, here are some of the other things going on in this little guy's life:

• He no longer uses a binky! (we ridded him of that habit at 16 months, just in the nic of time)
• He is getting a mouthful of teeth, pretty much all at once! Poor little guy! His mouth has just been a lumpy, sore mess for a couple of months. Literally, he is getting more front teeth, eye teeth, and molar after molar... all at once!
• He is communicating so much more, whether through body language, sign language, or saying words. He says: Momma, Dadda, Bubba (that's what he calls Porter), juice (for any drink), shoe, bye-bye, nana, ease (please), no-no, hi, thank you, what's that?... I'm sure I'm forgetting some, but this is what I thought of off the top of my head. He is also starting to put two words together to make a phrase. A couple weeks ago, I had been gone doing errands, and when I got home, he says "Hi momma!" It was so cute to hear my baby say that!
• He continues to hold his own against his big brother. He doesn't let Porter pick on him too much. And he follows Porter around, copying what he does all the time. He really looks up to him. These two brothers sure love each other and have so much fun together!
• He can do sommersaults now. Porter taught him how to and now they practice their sommersaults on our family room rug, all the time.
• I'm not very excited about this one, but he can climb in and out of his crib. I was hoping to hold him off a little longer, but a kid's gonna do what a kid's gonna do! Luckily it hasn't been a big problem yet. He hasn't climbed out after we put him to bed, but when he and Porter are playing in their room, they will both climb in and out.

We love having Hudson in our family! He has such a cute personality and LOVES people! He is easy-going (except at church) and is such a cutie!
WE LOVE YOU, HUDSON!

It's Official!

I am running a half-marathon in June!!! I still can't believe I am going to do this! I am not a runner, but this is something I have been wanting to accomplish for awhile now. I just finished my 1st week of training. It wasn't too bad, but I only ran 13 miles. I'm sure it will be a different story when I am running 13.1 miles in one day (hopefully in under 3 hours, but honestly, I will just be glad if I FINISH!) Anyways, wish me luck...I'm going to need it! :)

HELLLLLLLLLLP!

This kid is a Houdini when it comes to clothes.... specifically pants and diapers. Let's just say he loves to run "free", which is a problem with his lack of bodily control! So, one of my friends gave me the idea to use a onsie under his clothes to keep him from taking his diaper off. Well, this strategy worked for about one week, then he figured out how to take his diaper off under his onsie! What a crazy kid!!! This is what I resorted to:
Duct taping his diaper!

The tape worked and he kept his diaper on, but it sure was a pain when changing it. Then, one of my friends gave me this idea:
Undies over the onsie!... and guess what? It has worked like a charm!!! It's a lot of layers, but I seriously don't know what else to do. I never had this problem with Porter! It's a good thing he's so stinkin cute!!!

Easter Happenings!

We had a fun and crazy Easter weekend! On Saturday morning we had a meeting for Porter's T-Ball he's starting. There's 4 other kids from our ward on the team. That's going to be crazy fun! After that, we went to Bauman Farms to their Easter Egg Hunt. I do have to say I am sooooooo bummed with the weather we have been having. It has been so so so nice most of February and March, but of course right before Easter, it turned nasty rainy & cold. Grrrrrr! But we made the best of it and had fun!

This was a practice run for Hudson. He learned really quick what he was supposed to do.... although, once he realized there were treats in his eggs, he'd pick up one egg & then try to open it. He wouldn't put it in his basket. He was so cute to watch, though!

The whole family on the farm.

That is one BIG tractor wheel!

Porter and Peyton

After the Easter Egg Hunt, we walked around the farm and found.... The Jumping Pillow!

I knew that Porter would get right on and have a blast, but I wasn't sure about Hudson. He loved it!

Brandon would throw him onto it...

then he would just slide down. He looked sooooo relaxed! It was so funny!

We went home, and Brandon tilled our garden, so we can get it planted soon. Then Brandon left for the Priesthood session of conference. Me and a bunch of my friends met at McDonalds to eat and play. It was so fun to just let the kids loose and to be able to chat... for 3 hours! Yes, that's right, we were there for 3 hours! Everyone had fun, though.
When we got home, it was past their bedtime, but we still had eggs to color. We couldn't go to bed without decorating eggs, so that's what we did!

Hudson had a little too much fun with the blue dye...

"Uh Oh!" he said. And I said "It's a good thing we have wood floors instead of carpet!"

The finished products. I think the Easter Bunny was very impressed with our egg decorating skills!

The Easter Bunny spoils: Hudson got Toy Story 1 &2, lots of books (thanks Grandma Perry!), and of course the lawn mower. Porter got Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs (he asked and asked for this movie!), lots of books and computer games (once again thanks Grandma Perry, I love having a mom that is a teacher, also!)

Our easter egg hunt:

Hudson was so cute b/c he would see an egg up high & point at it and go "uh, uh!" to let us know we needed to help him get it!

Porter wanted to get as many eggs as he could reach himself. He is Mr. Independent.

After all the eggs were found, we watched conference and ate a yummy crepe breakfast. Mmmmmmmmm!

Blueberries. Strawberries. Nutella. Whipped Cream. Powdered Sugar. Goodness!

Look how Porter attacked that crepe! We decided crepes are going to be our tradition for every Conference Sunday:)

We so much enjoyed conference. I loved how the emphasis this time was on family. For me, it gets hard being a stay-at-home mom. It's definitely the hardest job I've ever had. It was so good for me to hear that I am where I need to be, and I am doing the most important job that I will ever have. It gave me the boost that I needed to get to October's conference!

For dinner, we went to Dave & Kim's. (Brandon's brother) We had a yummy dinner.... then on to easter egg hunt #3! My kids were so spoiled this Easter!

All of the Easter festivities are fun and I loved watching my boys get excited about decorating and finding eggs, but my favorite part of Easter was asking Porter why we celebrate Easter, and hearing his answer: "Jesus died, and now He lives!" That says it all right there!