Happy Birthday to Me!!

My birthday was on Wednesday and it was wonderful. You know you are loved when you get 20+ cards/phonecalls/emails/happy birthday songs sung to you in one day. It really was a great day. I went out to lunch to Casa Brava a mexican restaurant with all of Terry's sisters and sister-in-law. It was so much fun. Donna watched the kids while we went. Then Terry took me out to this really nice Italian restaurant in Bloomington. We dressed up a little and really felt like we were living the high class life. It was fun to be there just the two of us. Terry was so cute. He wanted to surprise me and had done some looking around and talking to everyone to pick just the right place. He did good and I almost think it is my new favorite restaurant. Needlesstosay we won't be going there very often due to the price, but it was fun to do for this special occasion. One of my other favorite things was a little scrapbook card/album from Tania with a few pictures of me and Miller and Dallin. It is soooooo cute! As I remember back I can't believe that I was there when both of them were newly born. I'm glad that we have had other special times too throughout their growing up years. It is really a treasure. Anyway, I mainly wanted to write about my birthday to thank everyone for their friendship and love. Thanks for remembering me!!

Picture time

Just wanted to share Porter's 8 month old pictures with everyone! He is so handsome!

Just an update!

I have applied for a few jobs and had an interview. My interview was to possibly work in the OB unit of the local hospital on the Mother/Baby side. We'll see what happens. I have mixed emotions about starting working. I've put it off for quite sometime and now think that it would be good for me to work just a couple days a week, just part-time. I have loved being home with Porter everyday. I am also grateful that if I do work there are so many willing to help out and babysit Porter. Mainly Terry's mom, Donna, she is retired and has helped out so much with babysitting Porter already.

Terry is loving swimming, but is now counting down the weeks of when it will be over and he will be able to spend more time with us. He is also starting to apply for jobs for the next school year. Hopefully he will get a teaching job.

I am most excited about the upcoming week when I will be going to Idaho to enjoy some much needed family time that I didn't get over the holidays. I am going to go to the Rexburg temple dedication and attend a session there to before I come home. I hope I can see Marianna play some ball at her district basketball and have a wonderful time with the anticipated cousin craft with all the girls.

All Boy

Porter loves dogs! I can't believe how much he enjoys them. Most kids I think would be scared of them, but he just wants to grab them and let them lick him and everything. On Sunday Alida's fiance Aaron brought his dog to stay the weekend, when we went over there Porter was in heaven with his dog Mali. We were in the other room when we hear a loud giggle from Porter. Katelynn and Sam were playing fetch with the dog and it just made Porter laugh. Every time the dog would jump up in the air Porter would let out these big belly laughs. It entertained all of us for quite a few minutes.

Could Beethoven be in our midst??

Porter has now began to officially coordinate arm and leg movements for me to say with proudness that he is crawling!! I say that with mixed emotions because it is so fun to see them grow and develope, but at the same time it is sad to see my stuff broken, eaten and destroyed within seconds of him being out of my sight. He is also pulling himself up on everything. I can't believe that he can do it. I didn't think that he was strong enough to. It just started a week ago and now he thinks he can pull himself up on everything. Last night as we were watching TV we looked over to see Porter pull up on the piano bench. It didn't stop there though. He reached his little hand up higher, I am sure to grab on, but to his amazement music was heard. We couldn't keep him away from the piano for the rest of the night.

Happy New Year!

It is so good to be back to what sometimes gets to be feeling like the grind. My house is clean. Porter can take a regular nap. Exercising is back and of course nutritious food is being cooked. I do miss spending time with Terry, but getting things done feels great too! I have a lot of goals for myself for this next year many of which I know will make life much easier.
1- I am going to read my scriptures in spanish everyday. YEAH!! I got them out, wiped the dust off of them and got my colored pencils ready. It has been fun so far! The memories of the spiritual experiences of my mission come flooding back to me.
2- Become an ace at the organ. Actually I only wish to be able to play the hymns during sacrament meeting without making a million mistakes :)!
3- Get out of debt! Could it be possible!
4- Keep up on my blog and scrapbooking! I would say write in my journal more often, but I have decided that they are a wonderful substitute.
5- Attend the temple every month (with or without Terry). I know it sounds bad, but I don't mean it to. I want to go with him everytime, but it has become our excuse that we are to busy and it is hard to leave Porter for that long, so I have no excuses now. I hope we can go together often, but if not I am going alone!

Thanks to everyone for your comments. I love that you care about me and my family so much. I really enjoy reading about you all too!

Christmas Day

The fun started on Christmas eve whene we went to the Bailey's home for dinner and to see Santa. Thanks to Meemo and Grandpa Kern they have a wonderful tradition that includes Santa coming and being able to sit on his lap. Santa knows the children by name because he comes every year. There is a lot of chaos as the children each get a present from him. We went home and opened our own pajama presents before getting to bed. We got up early on Christmas morning to open presents and head to Grandma and Grandpa Tlusteks to open presents there and have breakfast together. Porter enjoyed eating the wrapping paper and pulling of the bows. He would have loved to have a big bag of bows to eat and play with. He liked the new toys we got him and a few new types of food to enjoy. He has a new tooth so we got him a toothbrush and toothpaste. Terry's two favorite gifts were the 7-in-1 grill/smoker and the Harry Potter jelly beans I got him. He loves it and tells everyone in detail all about it. His other favorite Bertie Bott's every flavor beans were a highlight for everyone. There were many dares given and dollars recieved to eat the worst of the beans vomit and rotten egg. I am proud to say that I tried every flavor!! The flavors were soap, pickle, sausage, booger, earwax, dirt, earthworm, vomit, rotten egg, and black pepper. We both finished reading the Harry Potter series at the end of this year and thoroughly enjoyed them. Terry gave me a beautiful diamond necklace and some clothes. I was surprised that he picked so well. This holiday season was a lot of fun. Terry's whole family was there. Another big news item was to hear that not only is Alida getting married, but she is going to stay around here in Bedford. I am so happy for them and am happy she will still be around to enjoy spending time with. I got so many Christmas Cards this year and I loved hearing about everyone's successes this past year. Thank you to everyone!