Lack of Posting

I apologize for not posting, but I promise posts on the following subjects when I get the time:

Our third anniversary

Porter turning 10 months

Our first hand-drawn Christmas card by Yours Truly

Travel to Idaho

Christmas

Porter's mischievousness

Haircut (trim)

Seth's back pain

Mikayla's birthday

New Years Resolutions

2 new teeth

Travel to Utah

Utah activities

Back to Twin

Family Engagements

Be prepared!

Eight...

Tagged by Diane :)

8 Shows that I enjoy watching:
1. The Office
2. Pushing Daisies
3. Heroes
4. Chuck
5. Samantha Who
6. Life
7. Ugly Betty
8. Life on Mars

8 Things that happened yesterday:
1. Woke up earlier than Porter (which hardly every happens)
2. Conducted music at a funeral
3. Picked up Porter from the Bjorn's
4. Had Jenny and Lora over to finish watching the old Pride and Predjudice
5. Scott came over with Seth to study upstairs
6. Seth went online on Craigslist and found my Christmas gift
7. I went to Tigard to pick it up while Seth continued studying (so, yes, I know what it is and it's not wrapped, but I'm not telling till after Christmas...ha!)
8. Went to Office Depot to find some paper so I can copy my hand-made Christmas cards so I could send them out, but they were closed.

8 Things I am looking forward to:
1. Our 3rd anniversary tomorrow!!!
2. Christmas in Twin Falls where I'll get to see my WHOLE family!!!
3. Seeing Seth's family in Utah after New Years
4. Having Savanna in Forest Grove with us for a week or so in January
5. Getting to exercise again
6. Wicked coming to Portland in March (hopefully we'll have money for tickets!!!!)
7. Seth finishing his first year of Optometry school
8. Getting to teach music!!

8 Things I love about Winter:
1. Christmas time
2. New Years
3. Getting breaks
4. Hot Chocolate
5. Cider
6. Snow...if it snows
7. Valentines
8. Seth's and Porter's birthdays!

8 Things on my Wish list:
1. Getting the apartment organized and more baby-proof
2. Having a better fitting wardrobe that didn't wear out...
3. Having exercise time in the day
4. A better schedule so I can accomplish more during the day
5. Spending more time with family
6. Low gas prices all the time
7. A HOUSE!!!
8. A healthy and happy family

8 People I tag:
1. Liz
2. Jenny Rudolph
3. Jenni Warner
4. Lindsey Christensen
5. Kaylee
6. Shaylee
7. Sierra
8. Audrey Dye

The Dreaded Finals

Seth started finals week this week. He's been spending almost every hour of the day studying at the library, while I've felt very much like a single mom with Porter at home. Most days, I just hang out in my pajamas because I'm not in the mood to leave the house. When Seth is gone, I become lazy, like since I have no man in the house, there's no real reason to keep things clean or even shower *gasp*. What is wrong with me!?

I've been exhausted, still, even without doing everything. Granted, I've forced myself to accomplish cleaning the apartment because we'll be leaving for break soon, but if we weren't leaving I'm pretty sure it wouldn't look like it does. Porter wears me out!

I've been trying to get Porter on a schedule, finally, but he's not cooperating very well. In fact, he cries his little eyes out every time I force him to go to bed for a nap and it breaks my heart. I admit, I'm not as good as I should be in keeping him in the crib once I put him there, but if you heard his cry, you'd understand. It's like I'm torturing him. I need to be firmer, but I just can't help myself.

Porter is an official walker! Ever since last I wrote, he has become a semi-pro! He takes cute little baby steps with his hands out, and he's so wobbly! I love it. I know in another week or so he'll be running around the house. Maybe then I'll get the exercise I need ;)

Other than that, it snowed here yesterday and froze, so the roads are covered in sheets of ice and everyone in Portland area is driving 10 mph all over the place because no one seems to know how to drive in snow. Pretty pathetic, but I'm glad they're being "safe." I'm also glad I grew up in Idaho and lived in Ice-burg for 3.5 years. Nice to have some snow experience. While I was driving today (passing almost everyone) I imagined everyone saying after looking at my license plate as I drove by, "dang those people from Wyoming." Ha ha!

Being that they hardly ever have snow here, even if there's only an inch on the ground, they close school. I understand why, though. Too much ice. I don't think they even have a plow or any other form of "ice control." Plus, a lot of the teachers commute into Forest Grove. I just wish I lived here all those years in Twin growing up. I would've had a ton more snow days than just three in my lifetime. Problem about having snow days during finals is, Seth will have to take the final the next semester. So...no break for him. School was closed today, and luckily, Seth didn't have a final, but tomorrow he does. We're praying the snow melts and doesn't come back until after finals for his and all the students sakes.

I'm really excited and ready for the break, and I'm positive Seth is, too. I'm ready to have my husband back and I'm sure he's ready to be done studying.

PS: here's some proof of Porter's new walking abilities!

Christmas Carols Being Sung

Last Friday was the ward Christmas Program. I am on the activities committee and was put in charge of the program order and speaking parts. Sounds easy, right? Well, let me tell you, it wasn't. I thought with all my Vocal Union experience of ward Christmas shows would have been more help than it was. And, yes, that experience was helpful, but because of those shows, my expectations were really high. I thought everyone did a great job that night, but if I would have had the time, I would've fixed some of how smoothly it ran. I heard nothing but good comments on the program, so I'm happy to say that it went well. If I am put in charge next year, there are a few things I'll do differently. One being: have an actual rehearsal on stage in the cultural hall so that we can hear how long songs are, time them, and arrange mics accordingly. But, we'd have to be as professional as Vocal Union was to actually have it go as well as I would like it to...and that's not going to happen. All in all, though, I'm very happy with how it turned out. I think I'm even happier that it's over.

I have to say, I'm really missing all my experiences I had a BYU-Idaho at the moment. I have a lot of friends and family up there still who are having or continuing to have all the great experiences I had while I was there, and I feel like I'm just stuck at home missing out on everything. I love being Porter's mother, but I want to be able to do the things I love to do...like perform. I miss ballroom so much it hurts, and the only ballroom classes here are on Sundays, so that's not possible. I miss singing Jazz, but I don't know how to get into groups here that perform in clubs or otherwise. I miss professional choir like Collegiate Singers. I want to try out for Portland Symphonic Choir, but I missed the audition time in August, and they wont be having another audition in January so I have to wait until next August. I'm seriously going crazy here! It doesn't help that I torture myself more by looking at all the said friends and families pictures off facebook and otherwise all the time. Maybe I should stop doing that. I just feel a little jipped on my time at BYU-I, that's all. I know I've made the right decisions as far as Seth and Porter are concerned, but I just can't help feeling that way when I don't even have an opportunity to move on here.

Now that I'm done venting, I want to say that I really enjoyed Tuesday when I went Hip Hop dancing with a bunch of girls here. It was fun and funny to see all of us white girls attempting to be black. Thanks for teaching, Heather!

Also, Porter took at least four steps on his own last night!! He'll be walking on his own permanently in no time!

Thanksgiving Break

Seth and I travelled to Seattle for Thanksgiving break. My cousin Jenni lives there with her cute little family, and neither of our families were travelling home this Thanksgiving, so we decided to spend it together! I'm so glad we got to go visit the Warners because it had been such a long time since we'd seen them!

We took the drive to Seattle on Tuesday evening when Seth got out of class. We got stuck in Portland traffic for a while, so we arrived at the Warners a little later than we'd planned. It wasn't too bad, though. 3.5 hours with Porter screaming most of the time felt a bit longer, though. We were definitely happy to arrive.

So was Porter :)

Payton and Porter had a lot of fun playing together, and they were so cute to watch.

We got to meet cute little Sadie! She's only 5 months younger than Porter. Isn't she adorable!?

Seth had fun playing with the boys while Mark was away in St. Louis the first day we were there.

Before Jenni went to pick up Mark, we had luch at A&W. Seth was so excited that there was one close to the Warners house. There isn't one closer than an hour or more away from where we live.



I'm not sure Payton wanted a picture...but Jenni looks so cute, as always :)

Porter tried his first Teddy Graham, and he wasn't so sure about it at first.

Jenni helped him learn how to put it to his mouth. :)

Payton is so stinkin' cute with Sadie and Sadie is just so stinkin' cute!!

While Jenni and the babes went to pick up Mark from the Airport, Seth, Porter, and I went to visit the Museum of Flight!

Seth was really excited.

Porter and me in front of Air Force One

Hello, Mr. President

There were a lot of really neat planes there. Seth knew pretty much all of their names while I was more interested in the artwork on the sides.

This is how Porter was for most of the time spent in the museum.

So, Seth and I played around a bit.

This is a flight simulator...thing...kinda like a video game. It's harder than it looks!

Seth in the cockpit of his favorite aircraft, the SR71 Blackbird (and yes, I had to ask him the names)



Me in the F18 cockpit.

They didn't just have planes, they also had some space stuff, so I was excited about that. I love Astronomy and space things :)

Seth looking through binoculars in the Tower...Flight tower, I think it's called.

It had a great view of Mount Ranier.

We had a great time!

Porter decided to wake up on the way back to the Warner's.
I think he had more fun at their house.

On Thanksgiving day, before almost getting a turkey coma from Jenni's amazing cooking skills, we got a few shots of Porter and Sadie playing. They were so cute together!

I think Porter was more interested in the camera, though.

While Jenni spent some extra time in the kitchen making that amazing meal, the rest of us went to a gorgeous park to play. I know the lake is Lake Washington, so I'm just going to call the park Lake Washington Park...simple enough :)

Pretty!!

Payton loves to say cheese to the camera. :)

Mark led us down a walkway to a place where they were making more planes, and Payton was really excited when we were heading back so he could play on the toys.

But, knowing most three-year-olds are like this, he needed to go potty shortly after starting to play, so he and Mark raced to it. Cute.

Seth and Porter had fun playing on the toys, too!

This was Porter's first time in a swing. He didn't like it very much.

We had a lot of fun in the park!

Once we got back, we all settled down and ate a delicious Thanksgiving dinner! Jenni is one of the best cooks and hosts that I know. I'm so glad she shared the day with us!

After enjoying a relaxing night with very full bellies, on Friday we went over to Pikes Place Market. They have a weird store there on a pier that's like Ripley's believe it or not. I can't remember the name at the moment, but they had dead people in glass and shrunken heads...it was pretty creepy, but very interesting!

We had planned on seeing Santa there, but he was late and we needed to get back to the apartment to prepare for a fondue party! By the way, the thumbs up is to show how good the food (samples) are there!

On the way back, we stopped to meet this very attractive...um...troll.

This is the Fremont Bridge Troll. If you look close, you can see him holding an actual, very dirty VW bug! There's not much you can do on him, but we had fun taking some pictures!

Jenni was busy with Sadie. Otherwise we would have had a picture of her too :)

We put Porter and Payton in between the troll's fingers, and Payton was pretty scared of the troll, so this was an accomplishment :)

That night, a few of the Warner's friends came over for a fondue party! Again, Jenni is one of the best cooks/hosts I know :). We had meat and cheese fondue before bundleing up and leaving to the Botanical gardes to go see some lights!

Seth stayed home with Porter instead of going to the lights because Porter wasn't feeling well.

They had a lot of interesting lights! A lot of animals and designs, but I only posted my favorite ones so you're not looking at a bunch of lights.

We had a group picture under here, but I don't have it yet.

Jenni wanted a picture of her in the air, but my camera is too slow if it's dark outside, so here's what we got...

Picture something in the middle :)

I had a lot of fun there!

Porter had a temperature that night of 103, so we went to the ER. He has an ear infection, and he's doing better now, but it was pretty scary. I started feeling sick that night, as well...and Seth isn't feeling too good today. Why is it we get sick when we go on vacation!?

Anyway, I think my favorite part of visiting the Warners, besides getting to see them, was watching Porter play with his...is it second cousins?? Well, whatever the relationship is, it was sooo cute to watch the interaction.

I hope all of you had a happy Thanksgiving!