Two years!

Yesterday, Deven and I celebrated our 2 year anniversary because we couldn't really go out today (Sunday) and do much. We started the day off by driving to Wyoming and going snowboarding at the Grand Targhee!! Yay!! I haven't gone in two years and it's been a year for Deven so we were both stoked...I got whiplash a couple of times so I only was able to do four runs (my neck is killin today) :( Afterwards, Rhonda met up with us (thanks soooo much!) in Tetonia so we could bring Porter with us to JACKSON HOLE!! I've NEVER been and boy is it the most breathtaking place I've ever experienced!! Beautiful, majestic mountains and I absolutely LOVE the look of all the shops in town...WONDERFUL experience! We got there kind of late so we ended up going into a few shops then taking Porter swimming at this most amazing swimming pool! There were two fun slides (we took Porter down the smaller one) which led into the kiddie pool..Porter LOVED going swimming. It was enjoyable watching him laugh, giggle and have a CONSTANT smile on his face:) I am so grateful to have such a beautiful family...Deven I LOVE you SO so much and can't wait to spend an eternity with you!

Arrival of a sweet little gentleman..

Just wanted to give a shout out to Beth and Chance on their newest arrival Ian Chance! Can't wait to meet my little nephew..he looks so sweet in his picture! Love you all!

HELLO WORLD!

I am SO SOO stoked! For those of you who don't know ( I am very bad at calling people when something big comes up) we are moving our little family to DC! NEXT MONTH!! APRIL!! WHOO!! I can't wait! At first I was pretty against the idea because it's not just a change but a BIG BIG change and that scared me. I was nervous about being a FEW DAYS journey away from either of our parents' homes or any family whatsoever. BUT NOW YAY! CAN'T WAIT! We will actually be in Fairfax, VA...it's about 20 to 30 minutes away from DC and so far this is only a temporary move...6 months at most. If we like it much and if Deven is able to land a good job, it may become our permanent nesting grounds for a while.


Although, the packing is starting to get on our nerves.

A Beautiful Insight

While talking with an amazing person the other day, we were on the topic of gifts while skimming through Black Friday Ads and this person mentions that her and her husband don't usually "ask" for things that they'd like for Christmas. They feel as if it takes away from the true meaning of Christmas. I strongly agree with this point. Rather than asking for gifts, we are surprised by a a gift our spouse has put much thought and time into. It's more meaningful to receive a gift that wasn't "asked" for.

(Thanks to this amazing woman who shared her thoughts with me).

What would you like for Christmas Jimmy?
"I want the red race car on page 6 in the Toys 'R Us catalog, bar code # 47389578939574758!!! And it MUST be the one from Toy's 'R Us okay?!

See the point? When the word Christmas is brought up, the first thought that comes to mind of many individuals (esp. children) is presents and what they'll receive this year. I grew up this way as well. I remember STUDYING the new ads that came out with my siblings and circling the things we 'needed' oh so badly. Deven and I want to make it a tradition in our family to have the main focus of Christmas be our Savior and Redeemer, Jesus Christ. We don't want ourselves or our children to ever forget and question the true meaning of Christmas.

I am looking forward to starting new traditions with our growing family:D What an exciting time of year, a time to celebrate the birth of Christ and to bear testimony to our children and family the kind of life Christ lived and the sacrifice He's made for all of us. Oh I LOVE Christmas:)

Christmas Season

Christmas Season....there is such a different feeling about this month. Overall, people seem to be happier. For some, it's unexplainable...the happiness just is. I am one of those people. For some odd reason, I am sooo much happier in December. I promise I'm not depressed throughout the other months in the year but the month of December is always accompanied by the "spirit of Christmas." I know this all sounds cheesy and cliche' but it's true! Everyone is excited this month...there could be many reasons factoring into that though; presents, end of the semester, presents, visiting family, Santa clause, spending time with loved ones, engagements, incredibly delicious food. For me, I believe it's Santa Clause that has me so excited:)!! Kidding...I'm excited for Porter to meet Santa for the first time, but I believe I am most looking forward to spending time with my family. I haven't been 'home' for Christmas in 3 years now and I can't wait to reminisce with my siblings, parents, cousins, grandparents aunts and uncles and friends who've been needing a visit for one too many years now.

Mastitis:(

Today, I woke up with symptoms of EXTREME nausea, CRUSHING killer headache and ...yep, the REALLY PAINFUL SORE (mastitis)! Deven has been such a blessing today, I couldn't even lift Porter out of the bath and I was COMPLETELY out of it today...slept until about 4pm. I would NEVER wish this upon anyone..I felt miserable all day. After Deven brought my prescription for antibiotics home I've actually been able to get things done around the house. THANKS SWEETHEART!

WALKING!!

Porter started walking for the VERY FIRST TIME YESTERDAY at 1:30p. I had my cell phone or the blue ball to get his attention (can't remember which one) and he started walking towards the bed rather than me..but it was 5 steps!! Last night, he walked 7 for daddy..then later on 10 for Grandma Munns and Aunt Jaclyn. Today I got him to walk 37 steps!! 3/4 the length of our Kitchen!! Yay Porter!!! I'm soo so proud of my little guy!


On a side note: check out mcnaughtonart.com this website is truly INCREDIBLE! Deven showed this to me a couple of night ago and I'm not quite sure if this is an lds artist but I'm about 98% sure he is. Go check it out! I promise you'll love it!

First Snowfall

I left for class today around 7:30am...it was just starting to snow then. It continued nonstop throughout the whole day! At around 1pm..there was at LEAST 3 to 4 inches of snow on the ground! The first snowfall has always excited me...there is so much beauty in a snowfall; watching as it collects on the leaves of tree's or even better..barren branches? Yeah?! I wanted to whip out my camera and start snapping some pictures then blow 'em up and hang 'em on the wall ....but then I came to the VERY disappointing realization that my camera was dead. :(

Although I DO find snow to be SOO wonderful and beautiful...I was beginning to have mixed feelings about my excitement of it's grand arrival. Twice a week I walk to class very EARLY in the morning (when the temperature is the lowest)...I'm not quite looking forward to walking 15 minutes to class while trying as best I can to keep my body temperature as high as possible in such low temperatures. Next semester I once again signed up for the earliest class time and I can only imagine how many layers of clothes I'll be wearing to keep warm:). On a more positive note...SNOWBOARD SEASON!! I hope to go snowboarding with my hunny at least two or three times this season...I have a new board which I have yet to use, last year I couldn't go because I was pregnant with Porter and I am so grateful...honestly...no regrets. (Of course!) He's such a blessing in my life! We'll see how I cope.

FIRSTS!

Porter DANCED for the very FIRST time yesterday!! We were visiting Grandma Munns and she played some music from his little exersaucer and he started moving his legs and bending his knees...soo sweet!

He is now recognizing the word "TOUCHDOWN"! ALMOST every time we say it he throws his hands up in the air...Deven and I have been attempting to teach him this on and off since he was about 3 months old..but while I was doing homework in another room, Grandma Munns got it through to him as he was chucking her apples all over the floor from the box.

Porter's tooth up top is looking SO SO big! His second one up top looks like it will be making it's grand entrance soon as well. Deven and I threw our very first annual Halloween party last night! We had a great turnout...about 22 people came decked out in SWEET costumes!

We had a pole and dancer ;) with their little ADORABLE witch:)...SOO CREATIVE! GOOD JOB Nick and Haley!

...an olden times couple from Ukraine..LOVED THE HATS!!

...a "how to train your dragon" family theme...Little Bailey was the dragon while Beth and Chance dressed the parts of the two main characters..( I don't know the names because I haven't seen the movie :(...but after talking with Beth, I will see it soon!!) Beth had a lot of work and time go into these costumes..home made! yay! They looked so great!!

We also had a Squaw (Scotty) and Becky was a cowboy..sweet costumes and arm n face paint...There was a pirate (jac), 80's chick (aubrey), and my cousin Tyson and his wife Cassie swapped clothes...tyson didn't look too hot in a dress but we'll pretend he did.

Addison came as a referee, Dion came as a "black guy"..haha, he came straight from a test with no time to dress up..then Deven came as Dr. Doofenshmirtz, Porter as a dinosaur (thanks grammy Terry) and myself as a cowgirl...fun times! Great food! Exciting "games"!!

Latest Upcomings

Porter is scooting the hamper around like a grocery cart
Weighing in at 20lbs 9oz 28 1/4 inches long 18 in head circumference
His percentile is going down:( I wasn't aware that I could start feeding him meats at 6 MONTHS! WHEW! I'll be getting on that...given him Ham (disliked) and Turkey (not sure about it yet) thus far...we'll see how it goes as I give him a bit more protein and LOTS more calories through meats. (The doctor told me that cats LOVE jarred meats because they taste like cat food. I should have asked him how he knew that huh?)

Porter JUST started cutting a tooth up top on the left center!! Yay! (it would be HIS right though)

We'll be going to visit a pumpkin patch hopefully soon..if we can find one around here...no luck thus far. Our pumpkin patch fun may have to end up being the front of Broulims or Wal-Mart. :/

And even MORE milestones reached!!

3 days ago while Deven was changing Porter's VERY HEAVY-LOADED STINKY STANKY diaper, he noticed "deer poop" in Port's diaper!! His first solid poo!! My reaction to missing this was rather odd now that I look back on it...I was SO sad that I didn't get to see it and I wasn't the one changing him for his first solid poop! Funny right? Or maybe just weird. We'll go with weird.

For the past two weeks Porter has also been starting to stand himself up next to the hamper and push it around the house like a GROCERY CART! SO SWEET! He'll be walking by 10 1/2 months...I'm bettin' on it!!:)

On Wednesday, Porter was invited to his first PARTY!! Now when I say party...you know I meant a BIRTHDAY Party right?? Sadie Terry, Porter's (let's go with cousin)...so Porter's cousin Sadie celebrated her FIRST birthday!! She was SO darn cute! She's got 4 teeth now and LOTS of hair! We haven't seen her for a while now, so when I heard her "cackle" (sp?) I almost cried!! (well, maybe not that emotional) but I missed it SO much! Nick and Haley (with the help of Brent and Joyce) had decided to do a fun BBQ at a park in Iona. The homemade, WELL DECORATED cupcakes were incredibly delicious and the food just hit the spot. Thanks Haley and Nick for such a fun time! Happy Birthday Sadie girl!