The Sharpest Crayons in the Box

I know this is long overdue but I could not resist showing the world the largest/cutest box of crayons known to man! The costumes were a hit and the easiest and cheapest I've ever made! We had a ton of fun this year. I feel like every year I love Halloween more and more, not that I didn't love it before, but it just gets to be so much fun with kids! We had preschool halloween parties, story time trick-or-treating, ward trunk-or-treating and the list goes on. I think I just love the fall in general and Halloween is the signifier that it has officially come.

The day before Halloween we finally carved our pumpkins. In theory, I love doing this, but when asked to stick my hand in the gooey beast, I'd rather pass. So that's why I enlisted Brighton to do my dirty work. And she obviously took after her mom because that is just a fake smile on her face for the camera. Porter just had a fun time using the permanent marker on his before the incisions. He'd be happy doing anything as long as he got to graffiti it. Anyway, we are having a very busy but very fun fall season and we hope you are too!

Baby Shower to the Max

One of my closest friends, Jenny (Marathon buddy Jenny) is having a baby soon so another friend and I decided to throw her a shower. She already has two kids, but this is probably their last baby, so we wanted to make it special. We just thought it was a great excuse to have a party!

That bouquet was made of baby clothes and burp cloths. We know a lot of talented people here in Midland!

I made the diaper cake and the other host made the "M" sign. His name will be Max so that's where the "M" comes in. We had a great time! I couldn't ask for better friends here!

Rexburg Reunion

A few weekends ago was quite possibly the best weekend we've had ever! We were able to drive to Dallas to see our best friends ever! The Meegans! And what could be better than having the Meegans to hang with? Our other close friends, the Bradys too! To give you a little background, we've known these families since Kyle and I were first married. That's over 6 years ago. That's before we had kids. That's the classic BYU-Idaho days. They were our first friends and we love love love them all! We haven't all gotten together in over 4 years. We've all had to go our separate ways with school and work and for about 1 month, we've all been within driving distance of each other so we knew we had to have a reunion. It was just like old times, sitting around and laughing like crazy. I seriously don't remember the last time I laughed that much (It was probably the last time we all hung out together!). It's been weeks now and Kyle and I still can't get over how much fun we had. When we all settle down and stay in one place for good, hopefully it will be close because I don't think I could bare to have such awesome friends live so far away forever! Thanks you guys for such a fun weekend! It won't soon be forgotten!

I was super nostalgic after our trip so I dug up some old photos of "the gang" years ago and just had to share them.

4.5 years ago:


5.5 more kids (between us) later:

Turning Towards the Prophet

I know it's somewhat of a back track, but I just had to share what we did for General Conference that helped our family understand the importance of the weekend. In The Friend, they had helpful ideas that other families around the world did to focus on what is being said during conference and one of those things was to build a tent. For family scripture study, we had just read about King Benjamin preaching on the tower near the temple and people had set their tents up to face the temple so they could hear the prophet. Well, when I said we could build a tent/fort toward the prophet like in King Benjamin's time, the kids were up in arms. They were giddy with excitement for the weekend and when we made it, they actually listened and understood that we pay attention to the words that the church leaders speak. It was a great teaching moment and I just had to write it down. I am grateful for all the words that were spoken and I know that what the prophet and apostles speak are true. They seem to always know what I need to hear and I'm glad I could have a rejuvenated sense of the gospel to apply in my life. Yay for General Conference!

He's 2 Fast

I can't believe this little baby became...



This little boy



Where did the time go? I can't believe that on October 8th, Porter turned 2-years-old! Can they just slow down for me? For posterity sake, I thought I'd write down some of Porter's favorite things at age 2:

Favorite person: BRIGHTON! He loves his big sis so much and follows and copies her constantly, although mom is a very close 2nd.

Favorite phrase: "Hey you GUUYYYYYS!" It's from The Goonies and Kyle thought he'd teach him young to love the movie.

Favorite food: Spaghetti. You can tell for days that he's had the stuff because he's got an orange ring around his face.

Favorite toy: Anything that goes vroom. He loves cars, especially firetrucks.

Favorite thing to do: Make us laugh! He always has a smile on his face and his goal during every meal is to get someone to laugh at his crazy antics. Lately, it's been knock knock jokes. His favorite one: "Knock knock....who's there? ....puppy....puppy who?... puppy house!" That joke is always followed by an uproar of laughter on his part which in turn makes us crack up. He's quite our little comedian.

Weight: 22 lbs.

Height: 32.5 inches long

Anyway, this little boy is growing to be such a sweet little man and I love him so much! Happy Birthday little buddy!

Faux Hawk Follies

Ever since we came back from our summer trips, everyone has been making comments on how Porter got hair over the summer and how he looks like a little boy instead of a baby now and at first I loved it. It was actually fun to do his hair and make him look all grown up. But pretty quickly after this started to happen, his hair became unruly and way too long. Everytime I did it, it looked like he stuck his finger into a light socket. So it was time for a cut, but I am horrible with boy hair (Kyle will attest to that on several different accounts) so Kyle had to take the shears to it. I was lucky enough to sit back and document the event.
BEFORE: The crazy kid with his wild hair

The procedure.

AFTER: I think the end result turned out well. Although he wasn't a happy boy then, we are all more content with a manageable 'do.