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!

Stockings and Snow

Not only was I excited to get a package in the mail, but I got to open it before Christmas. And the best part of all was that the package contained these fun stockings from my mom. She made them. I was so excited to get them and consider them one of my prized possessions. I have been waiting all year for them, because we picked the fabric out together last year during black Friday at JO Ann's Fabric. They turned out wonderful! Thanks again Mom!!
It snowed!!! YEAH!!! I was worried t wasn't going to snow before Christmas, but it did. We got up early to go take some pictures and play in it for a while because I knew that it wasn't going to last very long. Porter didn't know what to think. He just touched it gently then licked his fingers.

I saw Mommy kissing Santa Clause

We went to our ward Christmas party. We had a special visitor come and guess who it was Santa!! If Porter could talk he would have told you that he saw mommy kissing Santa Clause, because it was Terry that dressed up. He was so excited to be Santa. Especially with Porter. It was the first time Porter saw Santa. He loved it!! He wanted to grab that white beard and pull.
We have been trying to be on the ball and send out our Christmas cards with pictures in them. Every attempt has failed. I just haven't been happy with the pictures that we have taken. This was one of them and as you can see Porter's face is blurry. Hopefully we'll get a good picture sent out before Christmas!
We had to take a picture together with Santa. Don't worry Porter's not mad because he's sitting by Santa. He's mad because I won't hold him right next to him and let him play with his beard and fur coat.

Candy Shop

Anita Horn and Diana Megnin from the ward invited me over to have a candy making day with them. We made a whole day of it and made all different kinds of candy. We dipped turtles and peanut butter balls, baked sugar cookes and bar cookies. We made about 10 different types of things. I was so grateful that they included me in the fun. What a way to get into the Christmas spirit both by being included and by making the Christmas candy favorites!
They sent me home with a whole bunch of it. What a treat, now my treat plates are done and I look like such a homemaker.

Porter loved it too!! His favorite as you can see from the picture were the 3 dogs that they have. Porter LOVES dogs. They will keep him ocuppied for hours. He pets them and talks and laughs at them. These little dogs loved him too, they wouldn't leave him alone. They kept licking him and pushing him in his walker. It was so funny to see.
We listened to Josh Groban's new Christmas CD and talked and laughed all day long.
There were a few recipes that I already knew, but some were new to me and will become a family favorite!!

The Fun Begins

In all my excitement to spend hours surfing the net, I have neglected Porter a little bit. The other day he was just playing away in his new walker one minute and then the next thing I knew it was dead silent. The cute little guy had fallen asleep mid play.
Caught red handed. I didn't think that I was going to have trouble with him this Christmas. I didn't think he was good enough at his army crawl to get to the presents. I was wrong and we have practically the whole month left to keep him from eating them or ripping them open!
I scooted him back and he got right back to them!
As you can see from the video he is unstoppable now. The moving has started!

Merry Christmas!!

This is our family photo in front of our Christmas tree! You can even see our piano in the background. It looks from the picture like we are finished unpacking. Looks can be deceiving!! I don't have anything up on the walls yet and am looking forward to doing that. Terry couldn't believe me when all I could think about was getting the christmas tree up amidst our chaos of moving. It was the first thing I wanted to do. He is happy now though. He has to admit it looks really good and is getting us more excited for the holiday season.



Porter is 7 months old today!! Yeah! His next step is crawling. It's amazing to see how they go through the process of learning how to do it. He has got the army crawl/scoot down. He can get his knees up into position, but he just sits there in the crawling position. You can almost see him thinking "now that I'm up how do I get to that paper I want so bad!" They learn fast though. He also is just a talker. During Relief Society yesterday someone was holding him and he was just playing with some toys and talking away. If it were me I would have put his pacifier in his mouth so that he wouldn't disturb anything, but all the sisters loved it. They were just smiling at him like crazy. It is fun to hear him wake up in the morning and just be cooing away in his crib.

Highlights of Moving In!!

1. Visiting teachers and sisters of the church in general are awesome!! It was only them and us that showed up to help us move on Tuesday. They were such troopers. They helped us move all the stuff acrossed the street to our new duplex and even started to help get stuff organized. I am so grateful for that.

2. I love new things. We have been putting Porter on the ground with no fears. If he falls over he won't crack his head open, nor will he get as dirty.

3. I can't live without the internet. We just got it installed today and it is so fast. It takes like one second to go to the next page. I haven't had internet like that ever in my home. I know that I am going to get a lot more done now.

4. I love visitors. I don't know what it is about a new home. It might be because it is so much more homey and inviting, but we have a lot more visitors now. I am so grateful for that.

5. I love to play the piano. A cousin of Terry's gave us their old piano. YEAH!! It is like an early Christmas present. It is really old and worn, but it is a treasure to me. It reminds me of that poem about the touch of the Master's hand. I've cleaned it up a little and sounds so sweet when you play Christmas music on it.

6. Terry's favorite is Space. We have so much more room than before. It is small compared to our giant dream home, but for now we are living in the lap of luxury.

He's sitting up!!

This past weekend Porter has been perfecting the art of sitting up. He can do it for a long stretch of time, but eventually gets off balance and falls. It's quite an accomplishment.

Porter's other great accomplishment is falling asleep on his own. YEAH!!! I just lay him in his crib and he puts himself to sleep. What a blessing it is and I don't even know how he started doing it. I have decided that I can't complain about him not sleeping the whole night. This makes up for it. I don't have to sit there forever trying to help him fall asleep because he does it on his own now. He ends up in crazy positions like this sometimes though.
Porter loves his pacifier. It has become his favorite toy. He is always trying to succeed in stuffing the whole thing in his mouth. I don't think it will fit, but he gets most of it in by putting it in sideways like you can see in the picture. It is so funny.

Our Family Photo

This is a little late. We took it in July, but thought it would be fun to have on our blog.

California

Well this last weekend I fullfilled a long time dream of going to California. I left home Thursday the 8th and returned on the 11th. Some old roomates and myself got together and kind of had a last hooray because the last of us is getting married in January. We picked this time to do it, because everyone's schedules fit perfect. Thursday I flew into L.A. and met up with my friend Jared who had flown in from Colorado. Our other friend Keldon who lives in L.A. picked us up and took us to his place for the night. That night the three of us sat up until about two o'clock in the morning talking about anything we could think of. Friday morning the groom to be, Ryan came and picked Jared and I up and brought his fiance Larissa. It was awsome to meet Larissa, she is a great person and ryan and her fit very well together. Keldon had class that day and so he was unable to hang out.
Ryan's parents and brother Stuart and his family were all in town also and because Stuart is in the Air Force he was able to purchase really cheap tickets and we all went to Knotts Berry Farms Theme Park in Orange County. It was alot of fun riding the rides and just being able to hang out. It was during this time that both Jared and I wished we had had our wives and kids with us. We talked all day about how our wives would have loved this or that, or would have loved to ride a certain ride. That night Jared and I stayed with Ryan at his house. Ryan lives with seven other guys and the place was a total bachelor pad complete with aluminum foil on the attenas and stains in abundance on the carpets, it also had a very "guy" smell to it (if you know what I mean). It was at this point again that Jared and I both were greatful we were not still single and had wonderful wives that liked to make our homes very crafty and homey and smelling good.
On Saturday morning Larissa invited us to go surfing with her sister Pam and brother-in-law Mike. Surfing is something I have wanted to try since I was a kid and we all jumped at the chance to go. Keldon drove down to Seal Beach where we were and joined us for the day. We had a blast. I have been told time and time again that surfing is not easy and guess what? It wasn't easy. It was, however, very fun. I got all the way up on the board three times, rode in on numerous waves and tumbled in the surf for the rest of the time. It was tough, but was alot of fun. We surfed for about three hours then cleaned up and went to eat with Ryans family. We were beat to death. After we ate Jared and I rode back to L.A. with Keldon.
That night Keldon took us to Santa Monica and showed us "The Promanade on 3rd." 3rd street in down town Santa Monica is shut off from traffic and is a big strip mall. they had all sorts of cool stores. We got to the end of the strip and went to poke around in the Barnes & Noble there. I was standing there with both Jared and Keldon and Jared pointed out a man that was looking at some books and said, "hey isn't that guy famous?" I looked and there was the actor Donald Sutherland. Jared kept trying to get me to go say hi to him and after some convincing I went and stood next to him and quietly asked him if he was who I thought he was. He informed me that he was, I introuduced myself (as if he really cared); shook his hand and asked if I could get a picture with him. He said "no" but was very polite however. The next morning we got up, had some breakfast and flew home. I had alot of fun in California, but I missed Bethany and Porter and knew it was time for me to get home. Let me tell you, any ideas that I ever had about wanting to live in a big city like that were gone. I like my small towns and lots of space.

Here we are, this is one of many cool little videos I have.

Here are various pictures of surfing and the steam train at Knotts Berry Farms

Fall is here and so are the Sunday drives!

We went to Brown's County State Park this past Sunday. We had fun going to all the look out towers and looking at the changing fall colors. We were a little early because there were still a lot of trees that were green, but it was still very beautiful.


Here is our Fall photo of the family.

This is Porter and I at the top of one of the look out towers. You can see the infamous southern Indiana view. All you can see are leafy trees for miles and miles. One of the signs said that on a clear day you can see for 11 miles.

Terry and I

We all went to get our eyes checked and we are sad to report that Porter had to get glasses too. Just kidding only Terry and I got new glasses, but as we were looking for ones for ourselves we couldn't believe these cute glasses and that they were so small. We tried them on him and he looked so grown up just like a little kid.

Porter tried on my new swim cap. I'll have to get a photo of me in it and post it later.

7 habits of a semi-effective person

Well Bethany tagged me. This is the first time I have ever written on this blog. I should make it more of a habit though. Well here are my 7 things.

1. I love facial hair. I know this causes complete and utter disgust from my wife but I just love it. I hate having to shave and any chance I can get to not shave at all or as little as possible makes life that much easier. I know Bethany can't stand it, but I ask her all the time "do you shave your legs every day?" Plus, besides loathing shaving, it makes me feel manly, as stupid as that may sound. I didn't get to the point where I had to shave every day until I was 20 years old and now that I have it I guess you could say that I appreciate it.

2. I am a complete dork. This will not be a surprise to those really close to me, but I am a fantasy/sci-fi dork. My favorite movies include Lord of the Rings, Star Wars and X-files. I don't think I have to write anymore about this topic because if I do I will only further exemplify my dorkiness.

3. I have a tinge of OCD. Not with cleanliness or anything useful like that. I have it when it comes to routine. I lay my clothes out the same way every night for the next day, I have to get dressed in the same order every morning. I eat the same thing every morning. I have to have my classroom the exact same way everyday before I leave. Its not like I will go "Rain Man" on myself if things get out of order, Its just nice to not have to worry about the inconsistency of certain things under my control. Like I said, just slight OCD... very slight, yeah definitely very slight, definitely very slight.

4. I love to be active. I know, I know, my stature would tell you other wise but I love to be out and about playing sports of all kinds, Preferably in the water. But, I do love baseball, basketball, football, rugby (when I get to watch it), I can get into anything I can understand. This is probably why I have yet to really like hockey, I've tried but its just too discernible. I LOVE to hike and camp. I know some would say this kind of takes away from my dork credentials but hey I am what I am.

5. I met "Slash" the guitarist from "Guns and Roses." Its a cool story ask me about it some time.

6. I love politics and history. This one should be kind of obvious since I am a licensed social studies teacher, but I have to mention it. If I could I would spend all day; in a library, museum, archives, special collections, watching history channel or talking to people who experienced history it just completely fascinates me to no end. I mean, isn't life about social interaction? I also love being politically active. I have for the most part lost faith in our political system. However, I try to be involved and slow down the continued digression as much as possible. I know this will set some people off but......... I am a registered Democrat.

7. I saved the best for last. I love my wife and son. They make life completely worth living. If I didn't have anything else in my life that I believed in or enjoyed doing and still had Bethany and Porter I would be still so happy. I look at Bethany often, even though she may think I don't, and wonder how on earth a guy like me got a women like her to marry me. I sleep so easy at night knowing that she will always choose the right and never go against what our Heavenly Father asks of us. Also, Porter is amazing. I can stare at him for hours and just wonder how amazing he is. Of course I hope that starts to subside a little when he gets older, it might spook him out if I stare at him all the time.

Anyway, that is my list. I hope you enjoy it and the spelling and grammar was correct. I tag Jared, Anya, Ryan, my mom, dad, Porter and Marthea.

7 things about me.

I've been tagged (thanks to my friend from colleg Fern!). Here are the rules:
A. List 7 habits/quirks/facts about yourself.
B. Tag 7 people to do the same.
C. Do not tag the person who tagged you or say that you tag whoever wants to do it.

1. I'm a copy cat at heart. Anything cute I have is because I saw someone have it and I liked it so I had to get it! Sadly enough it is because I have to admit that I am not creative at all.

2. I have recently gone to the dark side and purchased a swim cap and goggles and am taking swim lessons from Terry and the head coach of the swim team. I am not very good, but I have been going out to the high school and swimming with Terry's sister Alida. It is a very peaceful and relaxing way to exercise I've found out.

3. I miss speaking spanish!! I am sad to say that I have been forgetting a lot of words that I have had to look up. I need to practice more, but it does make me nervous. I hate to make mistakes. I have been talking to Terry more and more in spanish. He doesn't seem like he really wants to learn though. I wish I had enough commitment to teach Porter. I wish even more that there was a bilingual school here like Tania has in Washington that would teach him spanish for me.

4. I love to go to church! I love the ward that we are in. I love my calling in the Relief Society as Secretary. It is helping me learn how the presidency's of the organizations work. All of this is attributed to the amazing feeling of peace, love and joy of the spirit that you get when you are at church. It is irreplaceable. The church is true!!!

5. I could live in a messy house and not let it bother me one bit (as long as no creatures came because of the mess!) I am sad to admit it, but I am sure that some of you who read this I have lived with and can remember my room and how messy it was. I am happy to report that I work against this tendency very hard and my house is pretty clean most of the time!!! (Terry helps too!! Aren't husbands great!)

6. I love breastfeeding! I would recommend it to anyone as the best diet I have ever been on. Since I have been breastfeeding I have lost all my baby weight plus 10 lbs. Yeah! I feel so good and look okay too! I need to work out a little more and have been doing that too, but I have been eating like I usually do and the pounds just slowly came off.

7. I love Porter's smile. It is so addicting. I could just sit there and make him smile back at me for hours. I find myself doing it a lot, because of all the time I have at home with him. Sometimes I look over and he is just smiling away even if I'm not paying attention to him. Lately, I just have to laugh which makes him smile even more as I am trying so hard to feed him some cereal and all he wants to do is smile. I feel frustrated and then he smiles and I just crack. I know that there are more of these moments to come when you shouldn't smile, but have to because the kids are so cute.

Well, I am glad that is over. It took me about a half an hour to think of just 7 things. I don't think I am up to the "100 random things about myself list" yet! It was fun to do though. I tag Terry, Alida, Kaya, Ruffin, Bret, Mary, my mom and Marianna. I am excited to see if you all do it!!

Trunk or Treat

We went to the ward Trunk or Treat. It was crazy because that is the first Trunk or Treat I have been to since it was invented. It was a cold fall day, but really fun. Porter looked so cute and he did so good. I thought that he was going to get sick of the hood to his costume, but he was so happy. Terry thought of his costume last minute and it turned out to be a highlight. He looked good dressed up in his dad's German clothes. I was maid marion, but not very unique. We'll have to coordinate better next year and not do it last minute. Happy Halloween.