The Nielsens

busy, busy, busy

2012-02-12T21:21:00.004-05:00

I do believe that this is a good indicator of how busy we have been and how our whole family feels right now. I walked into the kitchen and there she was almost falling out of the chair, absolutely sound asleep. Poor girl. As uncomfortable as she looks, of course I had to take a picture of her before I put her in bed.

Porter is my favorite little boy ever! I love his happy face all the time. Just look at that cheese. Anyway, he REALLY wanted his picture with his salmon slider so here it is. He is so funny. He even put an onion ring on it because he thought it would taste good, and yes he ate it that way, the whole thing. He is just like his dad.

If you want the recipe you can go to this blog to find it.

I'm baaaack...

2012-02-05T21:58:00.004-05:00

So since I can't get this above the picture it is going to be right here. We have been pretty busy lately which is why I haven't posted anything. I am back now, not saying that I am going to post every week or anything, but I am going to try to be better. Especially at the food blog that I started. I have so many recipes I want to add to it. Maybe a little later though. So here is just a little catch up and glimpse into what we have been doing.

Our one and only snowman this winter as we have really not had that much snow. Glad the kids got a chance to make one because they really wanted to. My favorite part is the chocolate money for a mouth and buttons, carrot nose, and football chocolate eyes.

Adie got into my makeup over Christmas. When I saw her I just started cracking up. She didn't know how to react because she didn't know if she was in trouble or not if you can't tell by the look on her face. I thought she looked like Hitler with that mascara mustache.

We went swimming in Utah with all the cousins. The kids had so much fun. Although it was also a wave pool and Port just didn't know what to do. He almost started crying and wouldn't go back into the water until it stopped.

Things that we have missed. Idaho (yes, I know some people think we are crazy, but we REALLY like it there.) and 75 mph speed limits. It felt so nice driving fast again.

These are the lego batman cupcakes I made for Porter's birthday. It was a lot of fun and I think they turned out pretty good. Although I forgot the capes.

Porter loved it. He even sang "Happy Birthday to me"

Eric went ice fishing with his brother one day. He was in heaven. He may have caught the least amount of fish, but he did catch the biggest. It was 25 inches long and 6 lbs. From what I understand that is pretty darn big for a rainbow trout.

Christmas at Grandma's house. Lottie didn't know what to think and Porter couldn't have been more excited about every little thing that he got. (as you can tell by his facial expression)

We also went bowling and yes, this is how Adie stood after every time that she bowled. Then waited, and waited, and waited, and waited for the ball to actually get to the pins with only enough momentum to knock down one pin. I loved it.

Lottie turned 8 months old and wants to walk. She just figured out crawling over Christmas and the first thing she did was try to climb the stairs. She is getting big so fast.

We also did a lot of other fun things like ice skating, and saw the lights on temple square, had a family party with my siblings and spent time with Eric's siblings. It was so much fun. We also spent a couple of days in Boise as Eric met with dental brokers to look into buying a practice there. That meeting pretty much ruled out Boise for us unfortunatley. Then Eric and I went up to IF and Rexburg to meet with another dentist selling his practice. It was a lot of fun to go and we realized exactly how much we missed that place. Then Eric went by himself up to Butte, MT meeting with a dentist up there and stopped in IF again on the way back and in Rexburg and in Blackfoot all to meet with dentists. He was a busy man looking for a job. We think that we may have found what we are looking for but we aren't going to say anything (although some of you already know) until we know for sure.

Chaos and then some

2011-10-10T18:38:00.006-04:00

So this is in no particular order because I just don't have that much of a brain right now. I think I just need more organizing skills. I just feel like a chicken with my head cut off. Anyway, we had a super busy summer and beginning of fall. Here are some pictures of our fun. (from now on just so you know, I will be refering to my kids by their nicknames to just be a little more careful. If you know us, you will know who is what.)

This is a typical sight of our kids. They love playing around each other, and our little froggie doesn't like to be left alone at all. When the other two run into the other room, she starts screaming.

This is what we wear when Monkey picks out our clothes. This is how we went apple picking with Eric's class. It was fun....although we didn't actually pick apple because we already had a couple weeks earlier. We just had donuts and cider. They were really good.

During football season, every Saturday is appetizer night. So they are not full balanced meals, but I do try a little. This is a picture of ribs, zucchini fries, and sun-dried tomato cheese balls. We are getting a great list of delicious appetizers.

Hippo loves to do things with dad when he is home. Needs that man time, you know? So when he was painting the front porch, Hippo had to help. He really did a great job and is very meticulous.

I have realized over the last little while that I have instilled my OCD ness in my children. We had friends over for dinner a couple of weeks ago and Hippo wouldn't let them in until he had picked up the front room (which I had been asking him to do for at least 30 min prior). Monkey was frosting a cookie and freaked out because the frosting got on the side of the cookie instead of just the top. I don't think that I am that bad....but I guess maybe I am if they are.

Hippo started school. I still can't believe it. He has been going for over a month now and is doing wonderfully. It has really changed him...some for good and some for bad. But that just gives us more teaching opportunities at home. This is him with his teacher Mrs. McCarthy. She is absolutely great, I love the was she is with the kids. Hippo really likes her too, and always wants to take her flowers, cookies, muffins, or whatever else is special to him.

Here he is before we left for school that first day....SO excited.

I made these for him as first day of school treats. He was so excited when he woke up and saw this. He was nice and shared his treats with everyone.

Froggie just loves to be in the middle of everything. This one looks like she was just caught red handed or something.

We also did a LOT of canning this summer. We made 5 pints strawberry jam, 5 pints peach jam, 5 pints peach raspberry jam, 11 quarts pickles, 12-15 ( I can't quite remember) quarts peaches.... .and I think I am forgetting something. Oh yeah, 5 pints strawberry kiwi jam. So we were pretty busy with that.

Hippo and Monkey love to be superheroes, especially after watching Super Why. I think I need to make Monkey a REAL cape.

Froggie turned 4 months (even though she is actually 5 months now). She keeps us busy as she is fussier than the other two were, but she melts our hearts every day too.

We headed down to Letchworth State Park which is called the grand canyon of the east. It really is pretty, but definitely more like a resort. All the kids wanted to do was play on the playground.

But I loved the fall colors in the canyon, and the drive was gorgeous.

The kids also loved the waterfalls.

We also had some excitement of Eric getting in a car accident that totalled our blazer leaving us in need of a new car. We decided on a sedan (since we still can) and then wait for the next baby to buy a bigger car. That way it saves us on gas right now. There were other things I wanted to write about but now can't remember. Maybe next post....

owie :(

2011-07-31T20:56:00.007-04:00

We had a BIG owie happen a little over a week ago. I felt like the most horrible mother in the world. We had some friends come over to enjoy our a/c during a major heat wave. While us adults were inside cooling off and talking, the kids went outside to play. We had cooked dutch oven that night and Eric took care of the coals, or so we thought. I had a feeling I should go out and check on the kids, and thought for a second, but then went and sat down. I have been kicking myself about that every day since and with a new resolution to listen more closely to the spirit and follow immediately. When we eventually went outside, Adie was screaming so hard she was shaking. And all she could do was point to her foot. No body knew what happened and her foot was filthy. So we brought her in and washed her foot in cold water trying to calm her down enough to talk to us. We also were interogating Porter to see if he knew what happened. I finally asked the right questions "were you in the garden?" and "was the dirt hot?" to which she answered yes to both. She was playing in the garden, which she wasn't supposed to do anyway, and stepped in the hot coals. We also think that she got one stuck in her sandal under foot which is why it was so bad. She sat in a cool to cold bath and watched Tangled to help her calm down. Then watched probably two more movies while on the couch with either an ice pack or frozen juice on her foot. Again, mother of the year award goes to me right? I felt horrible and still do. I stayed up with her until about 1 am because she would just start screaming every once in a while.

This is a picture the day after. It is pretty gross. It looked even worse after some of the blisters ruptured. We lanced them trying to preven that, but alas, it happened anyway. I still have a hard time looking at it....it just hurts me. Eric thinks I am silly, but I have talked to other moms who feel the same way, and it is not even their kid. So luckily he is home for the "summer" and he can take care of it. And luckily we have "Hello Kitty" bandaids to ease the pain.

On a happier note, this is a delicious cake that we made for fun the other day. A little labor intensive, and very rich, but very good. It is called a red velvet crepe cake. Just imagine the possibilities with that. I am excited to try them.

Porter has been so cute lately. The other day he had Adie sit down in front of him and he pretended to do her hair. She sat there for him as he tried to pull it back into a ponytail. So cute.

Also, he does things semetrically now a days. I don't know if this is just a developmental phase that every kid goes through, or if it is just the way that he thinks. I had just asked him to clean up his train tracks before dinner when I came in and saw this. I couldn't get mad because I was just too amazed and had to take a picture. He is so creative. You should see the things that he makes out of his legos. They are pretty amazing.

I think this is just how she smiles, chunk and all. I love it. She is her happiest right after the kiddos go to bed. She lays and wiggles and talks up a storm. I love it. I think she just wants to one on one quiet time.

the kiddos

2011-07-19T16:10:00.004-04:00

I think this is one of Porter's favorite words right now. He is always asking me when I call them, "mom, just one kiddo, or both kiddos?" Or when playing, he'll be like "mom, you lost your kiddos!". Anyway, that is totally besides the point.

I got the kids pictures taken by a friend who just wanted some practice. I think she did an AMAZING job. Tell me what you think.

Well, for some reason this is being dumb and it won't let me edit my last post. And I am having to go a round about way to publish my posts too (if anyone knows how to fix it please let me know.) At 2 months she is 12 lbs. 6 oz. and 24 in. long. When comparing all 3 she is just 2 oz more than Adie, and 2 lbs. less than Porter. Man he sure was a chunky monkey.

4th of July and summer fun

2011-07-18T13:13:00.004-04:00

We have had a lot of things going on lately. Here is just a little catch up.

The forth of July

Adie was the only one brave enough to hold the sparkler. Porter wanted to do it after they were all burned, of course.

We went to the local parade. We ended up sitting with a whole bunch of friends that live around us and didn't know they were going. Glad we say them, it was a blast. Porter and Adie didn't quite get the idea of running out into the street to get candy that was thrown. I am a little torn on whether that is a good thing or not.

Our red kids after the parade. They are just hot and sweaty. We did have sunscreen on and the next day they were all tan, except for Lottie. She was completely covered the whole time.

Random

This is Porter with one of his best friends. We didn't know they had the same shirt, and wore it on the same day. So we had to take a picture.

Blessing

We blessed Charlotte on July 10th with all our family in town. It was a lot of fun. We wanted to get a picture of her in her dress, but she didn't want to cooperate. So I will have to try again soon.

Family

I wish I had taken more pics, but my hands were a little full, or I just forgot. I am going to get some from family that took pics, but this is the second round of family that came. Eric's brother Kevin, his wife Laura and their little boy Trent. It was so much fun to have them.

We went out to Palmyra, saw the sights, went to the Grandin Press where the Book of Mormon was first printed. It is a wonderful place. Then went to the Hill Cumorah and saw the pageant. If you haven't seen it, it is definitely worth the trip. Our mail lady has been several times, she is not LDS, loves it and tells everyone to go. So seriously, everone should make the trip. They always do it in July, the second weekend and third full week.

Charlotte turned 2 months old. I don't have her stats yet, but will get them this week. She is big, and I can't believe how fast she is growing.

Porter asks almost everyday to play in the sprinkler. I totally indulge him because everything needs to be watered since we are in a "drought". (meaning it hasn't really rained in several weeks)

This is one of my favorite atempts at getting a picture of Lottie smiling. She looks like such a chunk. But yes, her hair is usually in a fro. I guess it just naturally has a lot of lift in the roots.

I love this picture too because it reminds me of my moms baby picture that I grew up looking at in my grandparents room. It just makes me happy.

Stuff

2011-06-22T22:14:00.004-04:00

So this isn't in the order that I wanted it but I am too lazy to care right now.

Father's Day turned out perfect I thought. I made cinnamon swirl french toast with buttermilk syrup for breakfast. If it didn't take so darn long to make, I think I would do it more often. Then for dinner we had steaks, berry brie, and some other stuff for dinner. It was delish. This was what we (the kids actually did help) made for Eric. They are pop top cans filled with his fav candies. He thought that was pretty cool, which made me happy that he really liked them.

Then the pie turned out perfect and was one of the best I have ever had. It is a five fruit pie consisting of strawberries, blueberries, raspberries, apples, and rhubarb (even though technically it is a vegetable). Wow, what a great pie.

Here is my mom with the girls. Porter only wanted to take the picture, not be in it. She was such a great help. And it took me quite a while....in fact I am still getting used to not having her here to help.

And the traditional bum shot. Usually we only have these with a wedding and all of my sisters. But alas, my kids have joined in the fun. The funny thing is this is actually a tantrum throwing party on the couch.

Our first picture of our family of 5. I can't believe it.

Somewhere in there, Charlotte turned one month. I can't believe how fast time flies. I totally forgot that she was one month until grandma reminded me. Hense the jammies and the mohawk bedhead look she is sporting.

Here's her stats.

10 lbs. 11 oz.

22 3/4 in long

holds her head up

Starting to like to be put down when she sleeps

is mastering breathing out of her mouth (she has a stuffy nose)

She rolls over on to her side all the time

she has rolled from back to tummy twice

during tummy time she scoots herself forward

she is very opinionated and will let EVERYONE know when she is unhappy

she takes a "me-me" (a pacifier) which is a blessing to me.

It's a Girl!!!

2011-05-17T13:39:00.005-04:00

So, I know this is later than a lot of people want, but what can I say....I just had a baby.

Friday morning I woke up a little discouraged having not gone into labor yet, wondering if I ever would on my own, and headed to my dr. apt. Much to my surprise, I was dialate to a "good 2" and Dr. was willing to stretch me to see if I would go into labor, and assured me that I would probably go into labor that weekend. Needless to say, the stretching definitely gave me some contractions, and I decided to go through my day and spend as much time "verticle" as I could so hopefully I would go into labor. By 6pm the contractions started to hurt and I would have to concentrate to get through them. But they were all over the place, and not consistent at all. I remembered that happening with Porter so I was pretty sure I wasn't in labor. We watched the kids that night for our babysitting swap (but we did ask that they keep their phones handy) and then watched a movie. By the time the movie was over they were slowing down, so I was a little sad, but didn't think that anything would happen. Eric was a little excited because he wanted to go to sleep. As soon as we got into bed the contractions got harder and were all of a sudden 2 minutes apart. After about 5 contractions within 10 minutes that I couldn't even open my eyes through, I told Eric we needed to go to the hospital. Luckily a friend of ours was willing to come over and be with our kids while they slept. So after he arrived, we headed straight up. We got up to the labor and delivery and everyone was going SO slow (or at least it seemed to me). Granted they did have to wait for my contractions to stop so I could move. Within a couple of minutes I was checked and they said, we need a room ready now for her and moved me over. People were running around like crazy and another nurse was spouting off random questions at Eric. The rest is kind of a blur for me except for the fact that I knew that I couldn't hold off pushing until the dr. got there. Baby popped out in just a few pushes and ..... IT"S A GIRL!!!! I was so excited. Dr. walked in as they were cutting the cord, and he joked with me that I don't mess around when I go into labor. I tried to warn him and Eric warned the nurses. She was born at 12:46am on May 14th. I am so glad that I missed the Friday the 13th by 45 minutes. I loved this experience giving birth. Everything was perfect.

Here she is. Our little Charlotte Ann (I call her Lottie). She was 8 lbs. 8 oz. and 20.5 inches long. She looks like her daddy (which I think is pretty darn cute), and loves her siblings already. I love this little girl. I feel like I have had her for forever, and am so excited to be able to keep her for forever more. It was definitely time for her to come to our family, and she just fits right in.

This man is my hero. I wouldn't have been able to do this without him and he is just smitten with this little girl. It only took me three kids to figure how I needed his help through labor and he went above and beyond the call of duty. I sure do love him.

With her eyes open for really the first time. I was lucky I caught it with our ancient camera.

Adie is so happy to be a big sister....can you tell. She is constantly asking to hold baby Charlotte.

At first Porter didn't want anything to do with her, but now is constantly telling her how pretty she is and how much he loves her. What an amazing big brother he is.

I sure do love my family. And thanks mom for coming out to help us, I couldn't go through the day without you here.

Birthdays and more

2011-04-10T21:33:00.005-04:00

We will start off this post with my birthday. I had a wonderful day. It was so much fun. The weather was fairly nice with no snow on the ground, and there were wonderful strawberries in the store. I also was taken out to lunch by my wonderful friends in the preschool. We went to Red Robin and it was a blast. 4 adults and 7 kids. We got a lot of looks like we are insane. Go figure. Maybe we are, but it was fun none the less. Then Eric made me dinner, but I helped because I wanted to. And I made this strawberry cake. The actually cake is strawberry. I think that I need to tweak the recipe a little, but it was pretty good. And it looked really pretty. This is supposed to be me blowing out the candles. I think we had 5 in there. Yes, I am that young. We also celebrated Eric's birthday. From what I know he had a great day too. The group that he was on rotation with took him out to lunch at a place called Global Market. He had an apple brie cheese sandwhich. He came home and said that we needed to make some. Maybe after I am not pregnant anymore. Anyway, he had requested a dinner and pie that are generally more summertime food, but they were delicious. We will definitely be making them again. Here is a picture of the pie. It turned out perfect so of course I had to take a picture. It was a raspberry rhubarb pie. mmmmm....

We also got to celebrate April Fools Day. I don't usually do anything but this year I really wanted to. So this is what I made for dinner.

Eric was a little suspicious, but had no idea what it really was. Porter was so excited to have cake for dinner he couldn't stop talking about it. Also, Eric's birthday was coming up and he knew that so he thought it was for that. He even asked for us to sing happy birthday to Eric, so we did and then he held out his plate for a piece. You should have seen (and I wish I had a picture of) the look on his face when he saw what was really inside. It was utter disappointment as he sadly said "it's a sandwhich." Then he didn't even want to eat it. Poor kid, mom pulls a crazy joke like that on him. So really it was just a sandwhich made in a bundt cake pan and topped with cheese to look like icing. I was pretty proud of myself.

I love that all of these things happen around the same time. Not so good for the weight gain, but I love it just the same. We also had general conference, where we listen to the voices of modern day prophets. Sunday breakfast is always my favorite. Crepes with vanilla yogurt, strawberries, blueberries, mini chocolate chips, and a sprinkle of powdered sugar. With sausages on the side.

With all the nice weather we have been having we have been going outside more. My poor kids. I need to invest in more bandaids and neosporin. We were walking to playgroup because it was in our neighborhood and it was nice, but the wind was a little chilly so we were still wearing coats. Adie had put her hands in her pockets so she wouldn't be cold. The one time I stopped paying attention to her to answer a question from Porter, she totally trips. And because her hands were in her pockets, she did a total face plant into the cement. I felt so bad and almost started crying with her. My poor baby. Luckily we were only half a block away so I picked her up and ran to playgroup so I could wash her off and take care of her. She even had some rocks in her mouth. Her upper lip was all swollen, and luckily she has bangs to hide some of the damage done. This is later that night. So it looks a little better. But she definitley had some scabs to deal with, and woke up the next morning with a sore face.

Porter is getting very artistic. We made mosaics the other day and this is a dragon. There are also two people, fire, and a sheep. See if you can find out where they are. I think he did a good job.

I sure do love my kiddos. They are so silly.

This is how Porter draws people. This is a picture of Porter, Adie, and Dada. See if you can guess who is who.

While Eric was gone, Porter learned how to write his name. I think that he is doing great. He needed a little help with the order for a while, but now can spell it all on his own and he writes his name on everything. I am so proud of him. He is also learning how to sound out words. I can't believe how big he is getting.

I have also been working on a quilt for Adie. I chose the pattern when I was with my mom last summer. This is generally a bad idea because I think that I can do anything when I am with my mom. This has taken almost a year for me to do (granted it was here and there, but there are a LOT of little pieces). But I am pretty happy with the outcome. I still have the applique and the border to put on, but that isn't going to take as long. My goal is to have it done by her 3rd birthday. We will see if that happens with baby coming soon and all. I would really like to quilt it this summer, but again, we will see.

Spring Break 2011

2011-03-14T20:31:00.011-04:00

So while Eric has been here doing "dental work" for spring break....(plus one week with a vacation in Fiji),

We have been here,

But I am not bitter in the least can you tell? I think the worst thing about the whole thing is that I have not talked to my husband in 2 weeks. Part of me has gotten used to it. Part of me is kind of angry about it. And the rest of me just wants to get even. I know I need to get over my anger issues, but I am having a hard time doing that when he is half a world away in paradise while I am stuck in Buffalo with two kids that only want dada now, and am 7 months pregnant. Maybe one day I will get over it.

And for the record the weather really hasn't been that bad. I did snow the first couple of days, but nothing stuck and then it has been pretty warm since, like in the high 40's low 50's. I think even one day it got up to 57. Yeah, we didn't wear jackets or anything that day.

Porter has been way into superhero's lately. So while doing spring cleaning we found the superhero kit that my mom gave Porter for his first birthday that we never opened. He wore it for several days straight and jumped off of everything in sight trying to fly. But we had to talk about what superheroes do because he kept trying to beat up Adie's babies. We'll get there.

Adie has been my little helper in the kitchen. Especially when it comes to chocolate. And she has to lick the spoon. I don't blame her.

One of the days we went with a friend to the East Aurora Explore and More Museum. It was so much fun. The kids played for probably 4 hours and would have loved to stay there longer, but we needed to go home. The had a whole section dedicated to droping balls from different heights on tracks to see how far they go. My favorite part was the probably 8 yr old in the picture that kept trying to do it all by herself and telling all of the 3 and 4 years olds that they were being selfish.

Adie playing with Valorie, one of her best friends.

This was fun, Porter played in a boat catching fish. His favorite though was the construction zone in the back and he spent most of his time there. But I didn't get a picture of it.

We played outside as much as we could. This is one thing that they did. They made a "road" by putting all of our rocks in the little place inbetween cement slabs. We also had to discuss the difference between rocks and bunny poop as it seems one has been living in our back yard for a while. Here is hoping it won't eat all of my plants that are just barely coming out of the ground.

We also rode bikes. Adie is learning how to pedal which is a lot of fun. But she gets really frustrated quite quickly when her legs don't do what she wants them too. Hhhhmmmm.......I wonder where she gets that from. In this picture she isn't just looking down, she is pouting because she can't get it to go as fast as she wants.

We also had a baby shower for a friend. We did a brunch and it was a blast. Can you tell these girls were ready for food? After it was over we stayed and played for a good portion of the day as both of our husbands were out of town.

We did do a few other things that I didn't take pictures of. Like we went to see Tangled at the cheap theater, which is fun because that was the first time they have ever been to a movie theater. Both of them loved it. I thought it was cute but had a part that I didn't really think was necessary and made that part a little more scary. But it ended up being ok. I just covered my kids eyes.

We had several play dates and invites to dinner at friends houses. I am glad that my kids eat wonderfully for other people even though they don't always for me.

We also had a date night where we went to Red Robin for dinner. The kids ate almost all of their food, again a suprise for me. And were well behaved for the most part. We even shared a milkshake. Then we came home and watched Megamind because Porter has wanted to watch it for a while now. It wasn't the best. A good idea and nice moral, but really not my favorite movie.

I have also been able to catch up on a lot of projects that I haven't been able to finish. The front to Adie's quilt is almost done. Pictures to come. And I will be doing some scrapbooking this week. I wanted to do spring cleaning but realized a lot of what I have left requires heavy lifting and I just can't do that on my own.

On another note, Porter is registered for Pre-K and learned how to write his name this week. He still needs a little help with the order, but gets all the letters right. He also has to show everyone that comes over what he can do. What a smart kid. He will do just fine in school, it will be me that has a hard time.

I also had a doctors appointment this week. The doctor is getting worried about how big this baby is going to be. He said that I am measuring good (right on what it is "supposed" to be) but that I need to be really careful. I was kind of thinking well I measured two weeks big with Porter and about a week and a half big with Adie, so I think I am doing pretty good. But I am also not a dr. I have only gained a little more than 10 lbs., but I guess that isn't really a good indicator. So we will see. We may have another induction for this one if it is going to get too big. I have an ultrasound this week so we will see what they say.

Everything...

2011-03-13T20:13:00.005-04:00

Well, I have been debating for a long time whether I should play catch up or not. I've decided this will mainly just be pictures with some captions and subtitles. I just know that if I don't do it now it won't happen with all of the recent and upcoming events not so far away.

Christmas

For Christmas we got to spend some time with Eric's family in Brigham. It was fun to see so many people. Some of them had never met Adie, so that made it even more exciting. We loved seeing the mountains again....we really miss them. Here's hoping that we get to move back to the west to be closer to family and the mountains.

Porters favorite thing to do at grandma and grandpa Nielsen's house was to help feed the horses and to ride them too. He loves animals. It is too bad his mama has such bad allergies or maybe we could have animals some day.

Adie's favorite thing was to play with baby Trent. She just adores babies and wanted to do everything with him. I think she sat here holding him for a good 10 min before anyone started to worry if she was going to drop him. I remember being like that when I was little. And she was just totally content with holding him and watching everyone else. Hopefully a good sign for the upcoming baby.

This is what Eric did for almost the entirity of the "vacation". He got in a skiing accident Christmas Eve day and couldn't move. Fortunately he was willing to bring his decrepit self into the living room for Christmas for his kids.

We were also able to get together with my family. Every family was represented out of us siblings. We were just missing Sarah, Ali, Andy, and Mom and Mike. The twins aren't in this picture because they were already in bed, but it was amazing to have so many people together. Amy and I are both pregnant and due a week apart from each other. We'll have to see who delivers first, or maybe they will be born on the same day. It was fun to see everyone there too.

Porter's Birthday

In January, Porter turned 4. I can't believe how big he is getting. He starts pre-k next year and is starting to learn how to read. I can't believe it. He wanted a Buzz and Woody party, so this was the best idea I could come up with for his cake. Although after the second year in row of him not eating any cake and only eating the ice cream, I have decided that he doesn't really like cake. So next year we are going to do an ice cream cake.

We had a fun birthday party for him with his friends. We did a pizza lunch where the kids made their own, and I just made some for the adults. Then we played a couple of games like, pin the parts on Mr. Potato Head, pass the present, etc. Just simple games. They had a lot of fun and I had fun doing it. Luckily Porters birthday is right around Martin Luther King day so he always has a holiday to celebrate on.

He was so excited about these presents.

Chinese New Year

Even though we are not Chinese, I really like celebrating the holiday by making a Chinese feast.

This was after we ate, but there was definitely plenty of food. We had Long Life Noodles, egg rolls, pork loin, steamed pork buns and several dipping sauces. It was really yummy but we should have had someone over to help us eat it. There was TONS of food.

Valentines Day

We are not usually into a whole bunch of stuff for Valentine's Day. But I thought it would be fun to have a delicious special dessert just for me and my honey that day. These are molten chocolate cake. But I cooked it a little too long so it wasn't so molten, but it was still yummy. And Eric got me a present that I wasn't expecting. He got me a 10" chefs knife. It is amazing and I use if for everything now. I love having an amazingly sharp knife that cuts through everything like butter. Then Eric got himself and handy knife sharpener so that we can keep it sharp. What a great guy.

I also tried my hand at cake balls and decorated them for the holiday. They were so yummy, and easy to make. It was fun. Then we gave them to our friends.

Lately

The kids have absolutely loved building tents lately. So for fun we have been having picnics in them and doing other things in it. It has been fun to play with them.

I finally took my last certification test in February and have felt this overwhelming sense of freedom since. So I finished some projects that I have been working on for a while now and just haven't had time to go back to. The first was to make aprons for the kids. They were so excited and wanted to wear them for the entire day. It was fun and easy. I'm glad they like to use them.

I also finished their growth charts but haven't taken a picture yet. I am quite proud of them and the kids like them too. I did a separate one for each of them just so they can have it when they have kids and can keep track of it on them. We'll see if that actually works out. But I had fun making them.

That's Right....

2011-01-13T14:57:00.002-05:00

You guessed it friends and family. For those of you who didn't already know. We are expecting baby number 3 around the middle of May. Although Eric and I are hoping for the beginning of May because that fits nicely into our schedules, and according to past babies, we just might get that luxury. But we will take baby whenever it comes. The funny thing about it is that when we started talking about having more kids, I remember saying to Eric, "May would be a good month have a baby someday." Thinking of springtime and how I love opening windows again. This defintely wasn't my plan for this baby, but that is how it worked out. Lucky me. Now I will only be big and fat in the winter when it doesn't matter so much and can start exercising outside again after baby is born.

Once again we want it to be a surprise so we did not find out the gender of the baby. My motherly intuition tells me that it is another girl. I have been right with both kids so far, so we will see if my luck hold up.

This has been the hardest pregnancy for me by far. There has been a little more worry about different aspects of this baby that resulted in a lot of testing, thanks to all of you who babysat for me. Now that that is over I just have a lot of aches and pains that I didn't have with the other two. But I also didn't have two kids when I was pregnant with them. I just have to rest a little more and watch my activities so I don't strain too much (which is sometimes really hard to do).
Other than that everything is going well. Just look for new pictures of baby when May approaches.

Thanksgiving 2010

2010-11-28T12:16:00.003-05:00

I have been counting down the days to Thanksgiving this year. I have wanted all of the foods that you have for Thanksgiving since Halloween. We had so much fun with all of our friends. We got together with our child swap group, the same as last year, except this year, we hosted it. It was so much fun and Eric even found place holders on line that he wanted me to make. So this is our table that mostly fit everyone since all the kids didn't sit down at the same time.

This is what the little place holders looked like. I thought they would take WAY less time than they actually did. So I was still working on them when people started showing up. But it was ok, our friends are pretty lax. And they were fun anyway, but don't put them at the kids seats. They want to eat them first and we had a lot of fights and tears over having to eat turkey before they ate their "turkey". It is humorous to think about now. Anyway, I thought they turned out pretty good.

This was our buffet line. Everyone brought two or three things and it was great. Just to list off our food (there was a lot, the perfect THanksgiving feast) we had: tukey, stuffing from the bird, stuffing from a box, and cornbread stuffing, cranberry sauce, mashed potatoes, gravy, wonton salad, green bean casserole, candied yams, rolls, cheese and crackers, a veggie tray, and pickle-olive-cheese spears.

Then we come to the pie. Pumpkin pie (which no one really ate and I thought was funny), mini cherry pies, apple crumble pie, pumpkin cheesecake, coconut cream pie, a brownie peanut butter pie, and blueberry custard pie. THen of course I made the little pie cinnamon rolls with my left over pie dough, that was the kids favoites.

What a wonderful day it was of completely overeating. I think everyone snacked until bedtime. It was so fun. Eric had set up the basement like a "man cave" with a foos ball table, and the wii ready to go.

I think the funniest part of the night was finding Adie in the kitchen up on a chair picking all of the meringue off of the blueberry custard pie. The look on her face was hilarious and oh so guilty. So our left over pie had NO meringue, but that is ok, I am glad she liked it.

Adie's Birthday

2010-11-16T09:47:00.003-05:00

I can't believe she is already two. It just blows my mind and makes me a little sad. She is getting so big and doing so much. Here are some things about her that show her little personality.

She has an opinion about everything from cereal to how to layer her blankies to who can touch her and when.
She loves both monkeys (and acts like one on a regular basis), and princesses (which I don't think she has ever acted like one)
She has been potty trained for almost a month now and doing great
She loves babies and almost always has one close by even if she is playing rocket ship with her brother.
She absolutely adores her brother and will do almost anything that he says, which sometimes gets her into trouble.
She loves to help cook even if all she can do is hold a spoon and taste test the end product.
Her dada is her hero. She talks about him all day and is the only person that she will really snuggle with. She is more devestated when he leaves than she has ever been with me.

We sure love that little girl. She amazes us every day. If you have talked to her recently I am sure that she has mentioned to you about her monkey birthday. She has been so excited about it for months, not that she really knew what a birthday was. But let me tell you, her party was a lot of fun except for her crying. Here are some pictures of her family party and with her friends. It was a wild time.

Thanks to Great Grandma and Great Grandpa Stevenson for the tea party set and princess shoes.

This was her monkey cake. I have to say having cocoa krispies on a cake is one of the best ideas anyone ever came up with. It was SO delicious.

All her little buddies that she loves and talks about regularly minus one. There's Tyson, Brielle, and Valorie couldn't make it but we thought about her. Along with Kaleb, and baby Lexi. It was fun.

Then this is what I found them doing this morning, so of course I had to get out some snacks so they could have a REAL tea party.....well, they had water, pretzles, marshmellows, and ritz crackers, but it might as well have been a real tea party with the way they were acting.

Reflection

2010-11-09T21:43:00.004-05:00

As many here in Buffalo already know. We recieved some very sad news Monday morning as we got up to get ready for the day. A wonderful friend of ours had passed away.

Megan came here to Buffalo (from Hawaii) so her husband could join our class in dental school. How much fun it was to spend time with them. This summer while giving birth to her first child, she was diagnosed with leukemia. It has been a long battle for her with many ups and downs, the pain, being away from her new born child, not being at home with her wonderful husband, etc. She is one of the strongest people that I know. I have always admired her attitude. She was always smiling, always making new friends. Everyone that knew her loved her. Even in the hospital she just smiled as best she could. We loved her dearly. Very earlly Monday morning, Megans poor body just couldn't fight anymore. She slipped away from this mortal life to enter into the open and loving arms of our Savior.

There are so many times I have asked "why? It's not fair, her baby needs her, her husband needs her! Why does it have to be her?" I have really had to dig into my testimony of the Gospel of Jesus Christ to find peace. And when thinking about her beautiful daughter that will never know in this life the amazing mother that she has, I have been reminded that this is also of trial for her. But you can bet that the spirit in that little girl is just as amazing and strong as that of her mother. As I have had the opportunity over the last two days to reflect on life and death I have learned a lot of things.

I know that the plan of salvation is true. I know that this life is not the end. My faith in my Savior is not questioned by trials that come our way. Unfortunately for us here still on this earth we lose some of the best people first. I have known quite a few good, amazing people that have passed away all too young from this life. But I also know that there is a work for them to do on the other side, and since they have accomplished what they needed to on this earth, they are called home to do a greater work. I am so grateful for the beautiful temples that we have on this earth that dot the land to make it so that we can be with our families not just "til death do we part", but for all eternity. Her wonderful loving husband and beautiful daughter will see her again and will be with her forever. The peace of that knowledge is undenyable and unexplainable. I know that the Savior love us, and I know He has a plan for each of us with different trials, but if we turn to Him, he will guide us home.

We love you Megan, and will miss you dearly. And we love you Ryan, and Rylee.

What we believe

All things work together for good

Halloween and a few of my favorite things...updated

2010-11-03T20:48:00.004-04:00

So it wasn't me, there is something wrong with my computer. So while my wonderful husband tries to fix it, I am using his to post the pictures.

Here was halloween. Their costumes aren't perfect due to the fact that 1)they are costumes, 2) I made them, and 3) I only got the idea a week before Halloween. But they are ok and everyone understood their costumes. I didn't get a pic of Eric and my costumes, which I kind of regret, which no one understood.

Porter was Mario from MarioKart (64 if you ask Eric) and he loved the hat and car the most. He even let me draw his mustache on several times, then he would lick it off. Makeup must tastes good.

Adie was Princess Peach, also from MarioKart and she loved her crown the most unless I stabbed her in the head. And she definitely did like being a princess, since that is what she thinks that she is.

I think that Eric did an absolutely awesome job on the cars. I was REALLY impressed by them.

SOME OF MY FAVORITE THINGS

My kids of course. We were just trying on coats to make sure they fit and they would not take them off all morning. They even put their boots on. They love them now, but come January/February they might think a little differently about them.

Adie absolutely loves her dollies. She is constantly telling me that her dollies love her. It is so cute and she really does try to take care of them, wrap them in blankets, feed them, etc. It is fun to watch.

I woke up to this the other morning. Dark clouds, bright sun on the horizon shining on golden trees.

Porter just being silly

Adie playing under the table

One weekend we were babysitting some friends kids so they could go on a date and we went apple picking with Eric's class. It was a lot of fun and the kids were definitely well behaved. But I definitely do not want 5 kids under the age of 4. That would be too hard. These are Porter and Adie's good friends so they had fun. The oldest ,Megan, was 4, then Katie and Porter are 2 months apart, then Adie is 2 years younger, then the youngest, Laura, is 9 months younger than Adie. We were busy, but it was definitely fun.

I hope Natalie doesn't hate me for putting this picture up, but it was one of the funnest nights that we have had recently. A whole bunch of friends over (I can't remember what for) and we played this cookie game where you start with the cookie on your forehead and without hands move it down your face into your mouth. Carl Fricke was the best at it by far. I have a video of it with all the finalists but for some reason they are not working. So you will just have to ask Carl about it if you want to know. But it was a blast. One of my favorite things to do.

Vacation

2010-08-28T20:58:00.007-04:00

Well we had so much fun on vacation. Sorry it has taken me a month to update this. Needless to say I have been busy as we all are, and this just hasn't been a priority. So sorry for those who were really wanting to know, now you will.

We had so much fun just hanging out and of course gramma and poppa have way cooler toys than we do. He cooked in his little kitchen every morning, noon and night. There is also a fun carousel close to their house. The kids did not ever want to get off.

We also went camping the first weekend we were there. It was so much fun. This is what Adie looks like when she is having an absolute blast. She was eating and then fell right into the dirt. She is so silly, it didn't bother her at all.

We also went fishing. We didn't catch anything, but Porter liked it for about 10 minutes. Then he just went on hikes with grandma.

The next week was an adventure. We went to the Tillamook cheese factory one day which was a blast because I had never been there. You get to see how they make the cheese, sample all the different types of cheeses they have and then get some of the yummiest ice cream there is.

We played a lot with Uncle John (who is the new favorite uncle) and Aunt Sarah. They got to meat Ali and Andy for the first time and they are good friends. Porter still asks about her.

Right after the cheese factory we headed over to the coast. On the way there Adie threw up in the car. As soon as she did of course we pulled over but I tried to keep Porter in the car so that he wouldn't run in the road while we cleaned everything up. Bad idea, he started dry heaving so we got him out as soon as we could. Then I started dry heaving because of cleaning it up. Poor baby, I didn't bring any extra clothes for her on this outing so all I had was a sweatshirt for her. So that was all she had to wear. For those who are unaware, the Oregon Coast is not a place, even in the middle of the summer, where you go in a bathing suit, or even shorts for that matter. So we didn't stay all that long.

But they had fun anyway.

They really enjoyed playing with gramma and poppa King.

This is the whole family (kind of) out to dinner after the beach one afternoon to the Harbor House Cafe, one of our favorite restaurants. Starting on the left, Great grandma and great grandpa Stevenson, gramma and poppa King, Auntie M and Uncle Rob with cousins Simone and Graham, Aunt Kelly and cousin Ashton, the Porter and Adie.

Right outside of the restaurant. They thought this was great.

Porters church that he built in California. He was so excited about it and didn't want anyone to take it down. Luckily the next day he didn't remember so when we put it away the night before, it wasn't that big of a deal.

Playing at the beach in Huntington. It was such a blast. Porter and Adie both wanted to dive right in and go out really far. We also saw a school of dolphins and of course lots of boats.

Porter holding cousin Robert Graham.

Adie holding Robert Graham. She did not want to give him up and just loved holding him and Simone. She is a cute little mommy already.

All the cousins in Cali.

Emotional Explosions

2010-06-20T21:22:00.004-04:00

So as many of you know we have had a wonderful year full of surgeries, illness, and we are just waiting to see what happens next....the car break down? I don't know. Hopefully not, but if it does then I think that we will be safe from anything else going wrong for at least a year.

Life has been interesting lately for all of us. Eric, although he is doing way better now, has been basically a third child. It started getting really bad mother's day weekend where he couldn't stand up straight, lived in the bathroom, and could only walk the 10 steps from the toilet to the bed. By that night and about midnight, I was begging him to go to the hospital. At about 3, I had layed awake crying all night, expecting the worst (because we didn't know what it was at this point), and starting to plan out my life without Eric in it, he finally agreed to go to the hospital at 6am. So bright and early I called a wonderful friend to watch the kids so I could go to the hospital with him. Sometimes I don't like how calm all the drs and nurses are at the hospital, especially when I am in a panic and want to know right now what is wrong with my husband, and if he is going to live.

Luckily, it was something that they had definitely seen before, (a bacterial infection, or infestation, in his colon) and knew what to do for it. Not that Eric was going to get better any time soon, but at least they knew how to treat it. Needless to say, I was an emotional wreck the entire day having no sleep and still worried about Eric. We got the medicine we needed and things started looking up. He was getting better and I was so excited to have my husband back. Then once again, things took a turn for the worse. The problem that initially caused all the other problems was wreaking havoc again. And this time it was worse.

Eric ended up having two surgeries, one on a Thursday, and then again on Monday. Of course, to make matters worse, as soon as he got home on Monday, he was down again. The exact same bacterial infection came back with all its original fury and making life hard once again. I didn't know how to help him or even take care of him properly. I was doing my best to change his bandages (diapers basically). And worrying about his weight....he has lost about 30-35 lbs. We have absolutely amazing friends here that helped with the kids in the mornings so I could study for my recertification tests that I had that Saturday, and made meals for us. What a blessing. I don't think I could have made it without them. And let me tell you, even with all of the help, by Wednesday my nerves were shot, I was exhausted in all aspects of the word. Just that night when I didn't know what else to do, I get a knock on the door and the most wonderful person is standing there with these:

Thanks so much Fran. I then proceeded to use her as an emotional vomit bag, sorry about that. But I have to say that I felt so much better afterwards and felt like I could cope with life again. And of course, the next day we were back in the hospital because Eric was just dehydrated. However, once they got fluids in him, his body took a drastic turn for the better. Like he just needed the liquid that he couldn't keep in his body to help him heal. Thankfully that week is over, my test is done and I am just praying that I will be blessed to have passed it with everything that has happened.

Things are definitely not perfect yet, but definitely getting better. My poor kids went through the ringer too. Adie hates her carseat now because she doesn't want to be left anywhere. Even in nursery where she used to love. The sadest part is that they don't really want to spend time with dad anymore because he can't do much with them. Hopefully things will get back to normal for them soon. I just don't know how people that have spouses that are chronically ill, or single parents, or ones that their spouse just works all the time and is gone handle life. I really look up to you and yes I do know some of you. I aspire to be like you, but right now I guess I am just not that strong. With all of this happening and everything I am taking a vacation with the kids in July to see my parents and extended family. I am so excited I can't even tell you. There are even times that I find myself wanting to start packing and then I have to call myself back to reality.

Thanks to all of you who helped us during this time. We appreciate your prayers, thoughts, and help; from meals, to babysitting, to just listening when I needed it. Thank you SO much. You are amazing and I know that you will be blessed for it. I would list off names but I know I would forget someone, and you know who you are that helped us. Hopefully this will be the end of our issues and I will at least stop being a basket case.

Again with the long posts....

2010-06-06T21:22:00.009-04:00

Really if I was on top of things, a little more organized....blah, blah, blah. Yeah, I am sure you all know that I am just a slacker lately and have put other things before this. Which really isn't bad or anything, just means I am behind on this. So here is another long post of pictures to show what we have been doing.

Adie

Adie is our little ball of energy and acrobat. I actually walked into the kitchen today to see her literally swinging from the silverware drawer. What a kid. She is almost always a good eater and is hilarious to watch. When she gets nervous or is in trouble she puts her hands behind her head (no matter what she has on them) and plays with her hair. Means a lot of hair washing due to really dirty hands.

This was a night we had lasagna for dinner. Wow, I didn't know she loved it so much. She ate like at least one, maybe one and a half adult sized pieces for dinner. As you can tell it was all over her face and not surprizingly on the back of her head.

Adie loves to help me cook. Especially cookies or bread or pie. And if I leave flour on the counter for a little bit. This is what she does to help clean up. What a good girl to clean up after her mama. Grandma, I just don't know how you handled us playing the flour. What a mess. But she even liked the taste of it oddly enough.

She also obviously likes butter right off the stick. This was so funny when I caught her. She just smiled and said "nummy". Whatever floats your boat sweetheart, but lets watch those LDLs.

This is what she does in her spare time. Actually I walked in to the playroom one day and found her like this in the corner. And she actually was talking into the phone. I don't know who to, but she was having a great conversation and then got shy when she saw me. But I did get her to do it again so I could take a picture. What an obedient girl.

Adie doesn't like pigtails nearly as much as I do. But I think she looks so cute in them and her hair is really long enough to do it now.

This is a really funny story. I was upstairs working on a project, or changing sheets or something while the kids were downstairs. It got really quiet, but I remember thinking, I'm almost done then I will go check on them. Well, when I got downstairs, the house was a mess. The kids had somehow survived a tornado that came through. So when I asked Porter what happened he handed me the camera. He had gotten out the camera and followed Adie around the house while she reaked havoc and took pictures of her doing it. This is just one of them with her taking the kleenex's out of the box one at a time. Boy was it a mess, but when I saw the documentary that he made, I just had to laugh. It was so funny.

Porter

Porter is a ball of fun and loves to make people laugh, just like his dada. I love having him in our family and although he is shy sometimes, he loves to make new friends.

Porter has finally reached the age of fascination with bandaids. They make everything better now. So he crashed his firetruck into Adie's feet the other day and came and asked me for a bandaid. As I have been trying to teach him that we only use bandaids when we are bleeding, I asked him what it was for and was there any blood. He looked at me for a minute and told me that his truck was sad and needed a bandaid. I asked if his truck was bleeding and he told me yes. I was on the phone with my mom and she said that I should give him a bandaid. So being the obedient daughter that I am, this was his fire truck with an owie made all better with a bandaid. Then of course Adie had to have one as well.

Sometimes I just lay out clothes for Porter and he is really good at getting dressed all by himself. Except when there are two shirts. He was really proud of himself as he should be. I was proud of him too, took this picture because I thought it was funny, and then helped him change it.

He also just liked being silly.

And this is what he usually does with his trucks. If they are not in straight lines (or he doesn't have enough space) he stacks them. And really quite well. I was incredibly impressed with his ability to stack irregular objects. What a boy.

Both Kiddos

The blessing of two kids is that they always have a friend. And they really do love each other and will give each other hugs and kisses all the time. They are also really good at sharing most of the time. So here are some of the fun things they do together.

They both refused to take a nap one day and I had to leave to do something. So Eric put on a movie and within minutes, this is what they looked like. Not tired huh?

This is what the kids to with dad lately when he gets home from school. It is really the only thing they can do with him right now. So at least they get that.

My homies in the hood. They love playing ball together no matter the type of ball. Adie is definitely going to be the annoying little sister as she has to do everything that Porter does. If he puts on a hat, she has to. If he is carrying a ball around, she has to.

The Parents

We celebrated our 4th anniversary in April. We didn't get to do much that day because it was in the middle of finals, but I did make a yummy dinner and this luscious cake. It was so nummy but way bigger than we thought so we split the leftovers into threes and ding dong ditched some of our friends. I think that just made our night. It was a blast.

Our wonderful selves taking a sad photo of us. Sorry Eric's head.

Eric got me these for our anniversary and mothers day combined (so it actually came in the middle of the two). They were beautiful and I really appreciated them.

Part deux, trois, quatre.... it's long

2010-04-18T21:11:00.007-04:00

So I found it a lot faster than I was going to. Maybe I just opened my eyes because low and behold it was sitting out in the open....where I usually loose things.

Anyhoo...

Just want to forewarn you....this is a really long post to catch up on everything that has happened in the last almost two months. I did divide them into categories instead of dates just because I don't really remember the order.

My Silly Kids...

This was actually during our little birthday party for Eric this year. The kids picked out some things for him from the dollar store. Porter got him firemen guys like the little army guys and has loved every minute with them. Adie got him a "ginormous toothbrush" (yes that is actually what it is called) and some funny teeth. Porter and Adie are the only ones that have worn them and we think it is hilarious.

especially Adie....

We let someone borrow our car one night to move some stuff and took our carseats inside. The kids thought this was the best thing in the world. They even sat in them and listened to general conference for a while. But for some reason they both wanted to sit in Adie's carseat. They really do have fun together.

Adie has fallen asleep in the wierdest places lately. Here on Eric's lap. She had been screaming and all of a sudden flailed her head back and fell asleep. Eric was laughing so hard that he almost couldn't keep her still enough to stay on his lap.

This one she just conked out on the couch after playing. Both times was while Eric was watching them. Maybe she just gets bored with him.....

This is one place in the winter that the kids love to sit. There is a heater vent behind them. They go there first thing in the morning and then whenever they get cold. (or whenever the heater is on) They eat snacks there, play with their toys there. Giggle and sing songs there, and annoy eachother there.

Poor little Adie got roseola right after I had my surgery. She had a really high fever for a couple of days then got this rash all over her body. Poor baby, I felt so bad for her and I couldn't even comfort her.

Porter is just a silly kid, and yes this is how he always eats his bagels. I can't believe how big he is getting though.

Foods I am proud of making...

This one we actually made today out on our grill because it was kind of warm enough. It is braided pork loin, mediteranean tomato bites, and twice baked potatoes. I thought the meat turned out pretty.

This is the pie we had for Eric's birthday. It is blueberry cheesecake pie. My own creation of a combination of recipes. One of our favs now.

This is cranberry swirl bread with walnuts in it. It is actually a bread dough and is absolutely delicious...which I was grateful for because I made it for some people as thank yous never trying it....few! If not I would have totally done something else bigger to make up for it.

This is like a meatball torte. You are supposed to use a spring form pan, but I just did a cake pan and it worked just the same. It was delicious too. I really liked how pretty it looked right out of the oven.

Surgery....

We started off March with my surgery. Everything went great. I wanted to be better the next day, but of course that didn't happen. You can see my gross swollen tummy. Although I swear it looked worse from my angle than what this picture shows....don't mind the stretch marks.

Eric wanted to document me sleeping in a chair in our room ugly and in pain. He just came upstairs with a camera and said "smile"....yeah right. I think I was delirious. And yes there are frozen strawberries and raspberries on my shoulders because we didn't have ice packs. Frozen strawberries stay frozen a lot longer just so you know. (For those of you lucky people who haven't had surgery in your abdomen, when they go in the inflate your stomach with air so they can see what they are doing. Well, they don't suck it out before they close you up so the air has to escape or disappate somehow, and with the help of good old gravity, it settles in your shoulders and feels like your collar bone is trying to escape. The ice or cold helps it for some reason. Who knows maybe it just make it sink back to your stomach until it warms up again.)

Celebrations....

We had a lot of celebrations in a row this year. We are going out of order, but oh well. These are the kids in their Easter outfits. They looked so darn cute and I love Porter's face in this picture.

I posted two pictures because the one that shows the whole outfit Adie is looking away. That and they are the cutest kids in the world...who wouldn't want to look at them more.

This is what they sell in the grocery store for Easter. Forget chocolate bunnies, get the chocolate buffalo. So of course we had to have them in our baskets.

Easter dessert was a pastel checkerboard cake decorated like a sunflower made with peeps and chocolate chips. It was a lot of fun and really easy to put together.

This Easter dinner will send you into labor if you are pregnant. Just ask Natalie. This is our version of a crown roast (Eric called it his flower roast) with some stuffing (that I thought was gross but other people liked), rolls, corn, and a salad. The pork was really good but we still have some in the freezer that we have not yet eaten. I swear this could have fed 20 families. Maybe not that many, but definitely a lot.

Eric's birthday was right after Easter and was a lot of fun. I made Eric a special breakfast that morning of some sort of egg roll up. They are actually really good but take a long time to make. Then we waited for Eric to get home. After a nummy dinner of appetizers (at Eric's request) we had our own creation of blueberry cheesecake pie. Can you believe he is finally one? Really I just didn't have any more candles.

This was taken at our shared birthday dinner at Red Robbin. This onion ring didn't like Eric.

And the piece de resistance.....This was my birthday cake a week before. I was so proud of myself. It took forever to make but was soooooo worth it. Luckily all the wonderful people at play group helped us finish it. We went to Famous Daves for my birthday so I didn't have to cook. It was wonderful. Eric even woke me up that morning with breakfast in bed. It was sunny and the kids were great. We had such a wonderful day, we even got to eat lunch with Eric at school. I couldn't ask for a better birthday.

Forever and a day....

2010-04-18T20:17:00.003-04:00

So I know that it has been forever. Really the problem is that I cannot find the cord to connect my camera to the computer to upload them. Go figure. As soon as I find it there will be a ginormous post with tons and tons of pictures that are just waiting patiently on my camera.

Coming SOON!!!! Hopefully.

Not much going on...

2010-03-06T21:13:00.003-05:00

Well, here is another catch up. Sorry I am so slow at updating our blog for all of you. I will try to do better later after my surgery.

Eric and I had a fun date of fondue one night. It was wonderful but way too much food. We didn't think that we had actually planned that much. Although our cheese one wasn't so good. Next time we are going to use Laura's recipe.

Porter made a truck for "T" week and he had so much fun decorating it with stickers and puting the wheels and headlights on. Then he ran around the table for a good half hour using it as his race track. So Adie and I followed him around. I love it when they giggle that way for that long.

Porter and his best friend Katie. They had lunch like a tea party. It is so fun to watch them together. Although somtimes they like to lead eachother into trouble, they are also good at leading themselves out again. I love it.

Adie picked out her hair bows this day and decided on about half of the ones that we have. She is so silly, and I love her to death.

She just fell asleep eating her fishies last Sunday

She decided on day that she was going to go out on the town or something. So she put on her coat and my shoes and tried to go out the door. Needless to say we keep the deadbolt locked so she can't get out without me knowing.

Here's my sweet girl and me.

Camilla, it's a good thing you got out when you did. We got tons of snow all Friday and into the night. Wow, and it was heavy. Lucky you.

3 years?!

2010-01-24T20:33:00.003-05:00

I can't believe it. Porter was born three years ago. That just doesn't seem possible. Eventhough he is mistaken for a 4 or 5 year old sometimes. He is still my little boy. I love him so much and am glad that he came into our family. Life wouldn't be the same without him.

Porter wanted to have a dinosaur party (with a little encouragment from me) and we had a blast. He loves dino's now and Adie even knows how to say "dino". He invited some of his friends over for a party of games, cake and ice cream. The cake didn't turn out exactly how I wanted it to and everyone was at our house before I even got to ice it. But the kids and adults knew what it was so that was ok. It was a great learning experience for me. Porter picked out the color and this was his stegosaurus cake. If you ever talk to Porter about his party he calls the spikes on its back "bones" and he usually refers to the ones on his tail.

Porter got shoes and the coolest dinosaur from grandma and grandpa Nielsen. It moves on its own and Porter has finally conquered his fear of moving toys (with the help of this dino and Adie, she never was affraid of it) and he plays with it non stop now.

He also got his own kitchen to play with. He likes to make Adie and me lunch. He is going to be a little chef with how much he likes to cook with me. So now he gets to make his own. And he and Adie play with it together really well. This is the other thing that he doesn't stop playing with.

We even had a picnic on Friday with his kitchen stuff (and real food) for lunch. The kids were so excited. The just sat there and ate. We had lil smokies wrapped in crescent rolls, clementines, carrot sticks, and milk. Adie had to have one little hot dog in each hand at all times in order to be happy. It was such a blast. Maybe we should do that more often.

He got a whole bunch of other presents too that I just didn't take pictures of. He got some really fun trucks (fire and ambulance), a whole bunch of clothes, road signs, bath crayons, and a dino quilt for his bed. He was jumping up and down the whole time saying "presents just like christmas!". It was so funny. I sure love that kid.

All you can eat salad bar....

2010-01-17T21:44:00.003-05:00

So I know this is totally going to be a long post, just consider yourself forewarned. I really have just not kept up with it and had about 70 pictures on the camera. So here you go.

For New Years Eve we had the Goode's over for our special dinner that we do of all appetizers. It was so much fun. I actually made more thinking we wouldn't have enough food. Boy was I wrong. For dinner we had: fried mozzarella sticks, potato skins, chicken wings, hot spinach artichoke dip, veggies, fruit dip with toasted cinnamon sugar tortillas, stuffed mushrooms, wrapped lil smokies, and nacho cheese dip and chips. I think that is everything....oh, martinelli's and raspberry gingerale. It was absolutely delicious, especially considering that we had several things that nobody has ever made before. This picture is after most of us were done eating, except Roland (I think this was his second time back) and Adie who is my bottomless pit. Wow, did all of us over eat.

We also carried on the tradition of clown ice cream cones. But seeing as how there are no Baskin Robbins nearby, and we are cheap, we made our own. It was so much fun but the kids didn't really understand how to eat them. It was funny. So here is how they turned out, and all the kids eating theirs.

This snow fell in all one day sometime after Christmas. Idon't remember what day. Then it just kept snowing. We had like constant flurries for about a week or so. It was crazy!

And we had the coolest icicles which after I took the picture, we knocked them down. And I seriously mean Eric out on a chair with a hammer knocking everything down so it didn't break our gutters off. We couldn't even get the Christmas decorations down until just a couple of days ago when all the ice and snow melted off of our porch railing.

We went to a party that our friends the Moellers had called "fry on the pounds" where they deep fryed a turkey (which is really good) and then told us to bring anything that we wanted to try deep fried. It was so much fun. We had battered french fries, fried ice cream, and all kinds of goodies. Here are some of the other things.

fried cheese sticks

battered and fried oreos (the kids loved them)

and we also had deep fried pineapple dipped in a butter and brown sugar concoction which was actually really good I thought. But we could all feel not only our pores clogging up, but our arteries as well, so we stopped eating around 4 and we didn't eat the rest of the night.

And this is what our kids looked like on the way home.

2010-01-17T21:42:00.001-05:00

2009-12-08T14:06:00.001-05:00

Birthday Bliss

2009-12-01T20:38:00.003-05:00

So I know this is late and I really wish there was a viable excuse, but.....there isn't. Really I like to blame it on illness, efforts to get organized, Thanksgiving, blah, blah, blah. In all reality, I just keep forgetting. So here you go.

Adie had her first birthday recently. For those of you who are thinking, "Wow, that went fast", you have no idea. This year has blown by for us an our little girl is getting big fast. (Not to mention her older brother.) She is such a happy girl most of the time but knows how to try to work over her dad. Mom is a little less sympathetic. But she has the funnest sense of humor.

She didn't really know what to think about her bithday party. She didn't really want everyone to sing to her and of course had no idea what to do with the candle. But she did want the whole cake for herself.

She is such a dainty eater. Porter had is everywhere, and Adie just had it on her hands and a little around her mouth. But she did eat the whole thing (slice that is).

Porter liked it to...he even learned the Happy Birthday song to sing to his sister. It was so cute.

I have to say I was proud of the cake. It turned out just like I wanted for her ladybug party. And now Porter talks about it all the time.

All things Halloween

2009-11-05T21:17:00.007-05:00

We had an exciting Halloween this year as Porter is starting to talk more, can say trick-or-treat and understands what candy is. He still wouldn't stick his hand inside of the pumpkin when we were carving but it was fun just the same. We have a problem here where if you put out pumpkins, a neighborhood squirrel likes to come and eat out the seeds, or just eat the pumpkin. So this is how we painted one just so we could get this picture.

And this...

We had a lot of fun going trick-or-treating at the mall again this year. It is nice to have somewhere safe and inside to do this with your children. It only costs a dollar and the proceeds go to helping kids get off and keep away from drugs. So this is Adie after eating her frozen chocolate banana (given away for free at trick-or-treating).

The Porter LOVED his ice cream that he got to eat before lunch. Luckily, he had pooped in the potty that morning so it was his "big treat".

We also had a ward Halloween party. It was a lot of fun to have the kids run around and play games. Porter is such a timid child that when other kids ran in front of him in line, he would just step back. Which I am glad that he wouldn't fight and cry, but he almost didn't get to play some of the games because he would let all the other kids in front of him. I just love him though.

We went to the Great Pumpkin Farm for preschool the week before Halloween and it was so much fun. There was a petting zoo. Adie and Porter fed goats....

and lamas, a pony, a calf, and a really mean turkey.

They also had this ginormous playground with really fast slides (there was even a sign telling us so.) And this cute wooden train that the kids could play on (as long as they didn't climb on top). So this is them playing on the train.

PUMPKINS!!!

A tradition in my family is to ice sugar cookies before every holiday. So we carry out that tradition. We made some Halloween cookies, and Porter got to ice some this year. He really just liked licking his fingers and wanted to eat every cookie after he was done.

But it was a lot of fun...here are the finished products.

Halloween was full of fun meals. For breakfast we had pumpkin pancakes which were absolutely delicious with sausage and eggs.

The for lunch we had grilled ham and cheese pumpkin sandwiches.

Then for dinner we had spiders covered in bloody ears, topped with eyeballs, leg bones and swamp juice. (Halloween pasta, pasta sauce with mushrooms, meatballs, breadsticks, and sour apple soda)

This is Porter's costume, inspired by his everyday playing. He was a fly that was being eaten by a frog.

Adie was our little ladybug. I was very proud of their costumes.

This is the newest happiness in my life. Adie can now have pigtails. I love it. It took forever to do it because she is not used to it, but looked so cute. Then she took them out.

New Batteries

2009-10-19T20:55:00.004-04:00

Well it is time to catch up with everything that has gone on. So bear with me. This is definitely going to be a long post.

First off on one of Eric's days off we went down by Orchard Park to the Eternal Flame. To those that don't live around here, it is a natural gas leak underneath a waterfall. When it gets lit it will burn until the waterfall puts it out. Thanks to friends with hiking backpacks for kids, we were able to hike along with Porter and Adie on our backs. It was beautiful as you can see by the pictures. Unfortunately everyone else and their dog was there that day too. But we still enjoyed it. Next time, we will actually wear tennis shoes.

I thought this was a really cool tree that I saw right down by the falls. I was impressed.

Porter's new favorite hat which actually inspired his halloween costume. You will see soon what he is. I am really excited for it.

These were some fun cupcakes that I made for a baby shower. The theme was about frogs, snails, and puppy dog tails. I was really happy with the outcome.

Adie turned 10 months old and has actually been walking for a month already.

The kids are getting big (as you can tell by the strain on Porter's face) and are really having fun playing together. It is a lot of fun to listen to them laugh most of the day.

Poor little Porter woke up last Tuesday looking like this. I thought it was a little humorous thinking he just bumped his face until I found a couple of other body parts that were completely swollen. In a panic I called the doctor, a urologist that is in our ward, and any one else I could think of, wondering if I need to take him to the hospital. Come to find out it was a random allergic reaction (we still don't know what to). By the next morning he was pretty much back to normal. Then on Thursday he woke up and his face was swollen again along with his hand that looked like a blown up doctor glove. So this time we tried Benadryl, stripped his bed and washed everything, and Eric gave him a blessing. It hasn't happened since.

The kids ready to go on a walk in the cold to get the Benadryl. It really was cold enough to dress them up this much. The wind was freezing that day and we didn't have a car.

Then Adie turned 11 months. I can't believe she is getting so big. My little girl is really growing up. She is starting to say some words as well, it is so much fun.

This was Eric's (rather sad) effort to grow a beard. I want to say it was like 4 weeks of not shaving. I have to admit I like him much better clean shaven.

This is Dada holding his babies, holding their babies. It was so cute. Adie also learned how to burp her baby today. It is so cute to watch her "take care" of her baby doll.

Please hold....

2009-09-30T20:55:00.002-04:00

Sorry it has been so long posting again. The batteries in our camera are dead. So when I finally remember to change them, I will update our blog again. And there will be plenty of pictures of our wonderful children to look at.

9 months and counting

2009-09-06T14:42:00.003-04:00

An exciting thing is that Adie turned 9 months old. She is getting so big and is actually walking already. She is not too sturdy but can get from place to place and is starting to prefer walking as her sole mode of transportation. I can't believe how big she is already.

This has become one of Adies favorite things to do lately. I have always kept my baggies in a drawer in the kitchen probably because that is what my family has always done. Well, unfortunately the drawer is not baby proof and she likes the feel of the bags. So she pulls the bags out one by one until the box is empty. Eric thinks it is funny, takes a picture, then leaves it for me to clean up later. Silly guy.

Porter has started to build trains out of everything. His legos, toy people, cars, goldfish crackers, you name it. And he freaks out if anyone touches them which makes it hard on Adie a little. He has actually gotten really creative with it so I had to take a picture. You can see how much he consentrates on it.

Porter loves to do this with Eric. Moms and grandma's don't look. We took this picture because Eric wanted to see how high he was actually throwing him. He was pretty impressed with himself when he saw how far up there Porter was. And don't worry, Eric has never dropped him. The best part is you should see Porters face when he gets to the peak and starts to come down. It is sheer terror, but always wants to do it again.

Adie has learned how to climb the stool in the bathroom. Her next step was to find her toothbrush. She makes her dada proud. And yes it was cold enough here a little while ago to get out the winter jammies. Its not anymore.

Obviously a lot of the things that Porter and Eric do together require elevation. He loves to be able to touch the ceiling. This is Eric laying on our bed legs up against the wall and Porter sitting on Eric's feet. He laughed the entire time.

Porter also likes to dress up in dada's clothes. This is Eric's belt wrapped around him I think about 3 times. It was pretty funny and really reminded me of 80's clothes.

That is pretty much all that has really happened lately. Although there are more pictures to come soon, along with videos.

Other Randomness...

2009-08-27T13:54:00.004-04:00

In no particular order....

I was proud of how this fruit pizza turned out. Unfortuately the cookie was really thick underneath which wasn't the plan at all.

These were fun cupcakes I made for a baby shower. They turned out pretty cute.

This is our neighborhood watch system.

Adie loves bath time

My friend from high school stopped by to see the family. Thanks for coming Kama, we enjoyed having you here.

Porter graduated from shape school. He wore this hat all day long and part of the next day. It was so cute.

The first of our harvest this summer.

This is what our garden looked like for a while.

Adie turned eight months old

The biggest marshmellow I ever saw.

Utah or bust

2009-08-16T15:18:00.006-04:00

We traveled to Utah this summer for a kind of family reunion. We got to see all of Eric's siblings except for one. So our kids got to meet most of their cousins from that side. It was a lot of fun. Adie got to go on her first plane ride and actually first trip anywhere. They both did so good on the plane. Porter was just so excited to be on one, he didn't want to go to sleep even when he was exhausted. And we had a lot of fun things to do to keep him busy so he would be happy. They both just loved it.

I don't know if you can tell in the picture (it's kind of dark) what they are doing, but one of Porter's favorite things to do in the airport was to ride the moving walkways. So that is what we did, Eric and I took turns taking him on the moving walkways. He had so much fun on them.

Porter also got to ride one of grandma Nielsen's horses. This is Porter riding Sage. He loved being a big boy and riding all by himself. Last time he had to ride with Dada.

If we couldn't find Porter, this is what he was doing. He loved having the kitties with him up on the tramp. If they got off he would get down and put them back on them climb back up. He definitely got his exercise while we were there.

We also got the chance to go to Lagoon with my mom, niece, and nephews. It was fun to see them and spend time with my mom. I am glad that she was willing to drive down to Utah from Oregon to see us. We had a lot of fun with them there as I had only ever been there once, it was raining, and I was pregnant. This time was much more fun. This is us on the carousel, and we had a picture of Porter on every ride, but I am sure that it wouldn't be as exciting to you as it was to me.

So here is Porter on the boats with his cousin Theron. I haven't seen these boys in a while so it was good to spend time with them.

Porter also got to ride his very first roller coaster. I was affraid that he would get scared but he loved it so much he must have ridden it three or four times. And he would laugh the entire time he was on there. It was cute. If you can see Eric in the red shirt, Porter is right next to him.

I am also really grateful for Eric's mom who invited my sister and her family, and my mom up for dinner that Sunday. It was great to see Amy and talk to her again. We loved spending time with all the family. We had a big dinner at Eric's sister Camilla's house with everyone Saturday night which was a blast. She made a Japanese dish that for the life of me I can't remember what they are called, and probably wouldn't be able to spell it anyway. It was delicious! Then got to play a fun game with whipped creme that had everyone laughing so hard. If you want to know what it is let me know and we'll invite you over to play it.

This is Adie with her cousin Rachel that is only a couple of weeks younger than her. This is the first time they ever met and they had no problems playing around each other.

Almost all the sisters, but only two of the kids, Adie and Rachel.

Grandma Nielsen (Mother) with all the grandkids that were there.

Grandpa Nielsen (dad) with Adie and I think Tiana (she has a twin)

We also spent a day out on Willard Bay with the boat, but I didn't take any pictures. Porter even got out on the tube with me for a little while, but then got a little too scared. Adie just hated the life jackets and opted to stay on shore with grandma. But it was a lot of fun.

Is it a bird?....no wait

2009-08-15T21:00:00.003-04:00

This one was made for Aunt Mandy. Hope you enjoy it.

P.S. Porter really loves three superheroes. Batman, Superman and Spiderman

Tender Mercies

2009-08-13T21:08:00.003-04:00

So yesterday I totally spilled a pot of boiling water all over my right hand. Like I seriously just pulled it off the stove and had barely turned the flame off. Of course it hurt for a long time, but by the time I went to bed, I had one small, and I mean small blister on my ring finger up by my nail and that was it. When I woke up this morning.....nothing. Eric and I couldn't believe it. He thought I would have some pretty serious burns but I was blessed to be able to take care of my children and my family. I cannot express how much gratitude I have for this miracle in my life. We are truly watched over when we do our best to fulfill our callings in life.

Most recent events

2009-08-12T15:17:00.005-04:00

We have had so much go on and I am way behind anyway, so here is what is most recent and then I will slowly go backwards.

My grandparents came out to visit and we had so much fun. The kids loved having them here but I think I confused them because I naturally call them grandma and grandpa, but Porter is used to the King grandparents and the Nielsen grandparents, but he was ok with it after a while. We went up to Niagara Falls (which I forgot my camera so the picture will be coming soon). And then of course went to Duff's afterward on the way home. They seemed to really enjoy it, I hope they weren't just humoring us.

They loved playing with the kids and this is the these are the type of things they did, along with crashing cars alot. Porter had to show them all of his toys, twice.

We also got to celebrate grandma's 73 birthday. (na na na na na na) I was glad that she wanted to, and it gave me an excuse to make a cake and practice my decorating skills. So we had a fun breakfast with our cool happy birthday table cloth, got to hang up our happy birthday sign and then go out to The Cheesecake Factory for dinner. Although we didn't get any cheesecake, but we had cake at home. So these are all the fun pictures. And I have to say that I am proud of how the cake turned out.

Poor Adie only got goldfish

They also got to experience our horrific electrical storms that followed them from Calgary. Sorry I don't have a picture of those, but we were all up from about 2-3 am watching it because the lightning never stopped. Thank goodness for a good sturdy roof, and a/c.

Aftermath...

2009-07-19T15:22:00.006-04:00

So here are a few of the aftermaths we have had lately....

Porter's first fudgesicle

He really is more chocolatey than you can see in the picture. But he enjoyed every minute of it and we got to hose him off afterwards.

Adie's first teething biscuit

And yes, oddly enough all of that came out in the laundry thanks to the magical oxi clean

After 4th of July treats (I must say I am pretty proud of this. It was a blueberry cheesecake pie all in one.)

Porter just catching an Adie with his fishing pole

She was as shocked as he was.

Father's Day

2009-07-12T12:33:00.008-04:00

I know this is way behind, but I just wanted to say how great of a father Eric is. That was one of the biggest reasons I married him. I wanted my children to have a father like him. He does everything for his children and his wife even though they are sometimes demanding.

So this year, Porter understood a little more and we made cards for dad and Porter got him the book "Just me and my dad" with little critter. I remember those books from when I was little and Eric and I both can hear the tapes that went along with them as we read.

Adie made Eric a picture frame that he can take to school with him next year and put in his locker. It was a lot of fun to be able to bestow gifts on him to show him how special he is to us. And I got him a meat thermometer for his grill that he was more excited about than I would have thought.

Anyway, happy belated father's day to all you dad's out there.

Many, many things

2009-07-11T22:07:00.006-04:00

Well, a lot has happened since I last posted so I will be slowly updating, maybe one like every other day or so. That way I don't miss all too much. With that said, here is the first...

My sister and brother-in-law came out to visit on their cross country trip to celebrate the graduation of both from college. I was so excited as it had been about a year since I had seen them last. Porter was so excited and would ask where "Maaaeeee" was all the time. He was also very demanding as he would tell her to sit down all the time so that he could play ball with her. Although, he kept getting Uncle Rob confused with Carl who had come to play with him a lot. We took them to Niagara Falls which was the first time that Mandy and Rob, and our kids had ever been there. And a beautiful day for it. Although the mist was a little thick so we couldn't see the full horseshoe but it was beautiful none the less. Porter kept wanting to get closer to the water so we had to keep him strapped in the stroller.

Since Eric was still in school we had to do some things without him. So we went and played at the park for and ate lunch there. It was a lot of fun. Porter loved playing soccer with Rob. It is one of his favorite sports and actually calls it football.

This was also Adie's first time at the park and she had a blast but her legs stuck to the slide so she didn't get very far sliding. So Mandy helped her walk down instead.

Adie also turned 7 months and I couldn't get her to sit still for anything. It was actually quite entertaining. Here are a couple from her photo shoot.

As you can see she is crawling and sittin up now. She loves to follow her brother around everwhere and has mastered going up the stairs, but not coming down yet. But she is definitley a busy girl and loves to play with everything and everyone.

And then this was her just sitting out on the grass of our backyard. She just wanted to strike a pose...well, not really, she just didn't want to touch the grass with her hands.

A few of my favorite things....

2009-06-04T14:46:00.005-04:00

So over memorial day weekend we went camping with a bunch of friends. We had such a blast and Porter loved that he got to be outside all the time, he never had to go in except during bedtime. It definitely wasn't what Eric thinks of as camping, or even what I am used to for that matter, but we had a lot of fun anyway. Here are some pictures from where we were.

Yes, there was a huge slide there, and it was fast

Yeah for digging in the dirt

Our friends

This is Porters best friend. He always wants to be with her, and usually sits by her in nursery. They even hold hands every once in a while. It's cute.

And on Sunday morning when we woke up, I came downstairs to this.

If you can't tell, Porter has put a little bit of trail mix on each plate. After that he put them on the table like he was making breakfast for us or something. It was really cute.

Porter has really gotten into having "fun" lunches. It seems to be the best way for me to get hime to sit down without a fight. He loves to have sandwiches that are cut into shapes. This is his favorite.

On another randome note...Porter has learned a new song. Eric and I were cracking up all last night because he kept singing it over and over. It is fun to watch him learn.

Behind again...

2009-05-17T21:13:00.004-04:00

So I keep getting behind. I try hard to keep up but too many things happen all the time to do that, so, oh well.

Mother's Day

I had an absolutely wonderful mother's day with my hubby and two kids. The day started with Eric letting me sleep in and then bringing me breakfast in bed. Porter and Eric even made me flowers. This is what they looked like.

They are beautiful and never die. Then we got marigolds at church for being moms. And Eric made a wonderful meal for us. Thanks honey for all you do!

Random

This is the biggest green pepper I have ever seen. Those of you that go to county fairs might have seen bigger, but this is from the grocery store. You can see what it looked like next to this normal sized apple. It's HUGE! I couldn't believe it so I had to take a picture. I even measured it, it was almost 5" in diameter. Crazy, eh?

I still can't believe it.

6 months

Adie turned 6 months this week. I can't even believe how old she is. Her new stats are 17 lbs 12.5 oz. and 27.5" long. She is getting so big. She is knawing on her fingers like there is no tomorrow. I guess her teething toys just aren't good enough. She has been getting so frustrated at herself when she can't get her arms and hands to do what she wants them to do. She is going to be one busy little girl when body parts get under control. I guess she has a lot to do in this life. She is all but sitting, but she has to do it on her own. If Eric or I sit her up she just tips over. But she rolls from her tummy to her side and then props herself up on her arm so she can play with the toy she just got to.

She is also making lots of sounds and trying to keep up with her brother (which by the way also frustrates her). And Porter doesn't really like to leave her side. He is so good to her most of the time and always wants to hold her. And he tells me when she is sad, or when she is silly. It is funny. She is getting in her blonde hair that is mainly growing on the top. Kind of funny, but GREAT for hair bows.

Porter

With Porter though, I think that he is looking more and more like Carl and Stephen every day. Isn't that crazy? He is asking what everything is and trying to say them after we do. I love it when he says new words. His r's still aren't quite there yet, but he'll get it. I don't know if you can tell in this picture but both Adie and Porter have the most beautiful blue eyes. I hope they stay that way. He is also my little helper. He likes to do anything that I am doing. Today he helped me make the strawberry shortcake and laughed the whole time. I just love him to pieces.

Another bit of Randomness....

I just thought I would share this fun movie of Porter playing with Adie. He started this out of no where and she just kept laughing and laughing. It was so cute.

A New Decision

2009-05-12T12:29:00.003-04:00

So, thanks to our friends the Goode's I have decided that when the time comes to get another, larger car. This is the one I want. A Toyota Sienna. Nice to drive, good ratings, and all kinds of fun features. I went with Erika to help her drop off one of their cars at the shop so I got to drive it, Eric told me I can never do that again. I guess me liking it was a bad thing. But just so you know, this is my new decision. And I wouldn't mind this blue color either.

On to 2nd Year!

2009-05-10T20:00:00.006-04:00

Finals are done and "technically" Eric is in his second year of dental school as that is what his classes count for during the spring extension. But I have to say I love having my husband back for however short a time. He is truly a different person when he isn't constantly needing to study.

Here are some pictures of what we have been doing lately....

This is actually a really bad picture of us in the car after
stuffing our faces at Duff's (the best place for buffalo wings) on our anniversary.

This is when you know that it is time to stop squeezing her into those jammies.
By the way, that is her pinky toe.

The BYU Ballroom dance team came here to do a performance, which was really great so I understand. Instead of trying to find a babysitter we decided to be a babysitter for someone else who wanted to go. This is Porter's best friend that is his age. Her name is Katie and if she is there, he wants to be there too. He asks to go to her house about 5 times a day. In fact after today at church, I think he would rather be part of their family then ours. But this is just one of the things that they did together.

We also go to go to the temple on Saturday. When we came out of the session it was so beautiful. We looked out the window on the sacred grove right when the sun came out after it rained. It was so beautiful, what a wonderful world the Lord created for us. And what a special place that we live in. The spirit really resides there.

Happy Anniversary

2009-04-29T09:35:00.009-04:00

So today is mine and the love of my life's 3 year anniversary. I can't believe it has already been three years. That and we have two wonderful children. I just want everyone to know how much I love and adore my husband. We have been through a lot of hard times together in the last 7 years that we have known each other, and our love has only grown. What a blessing he is in my life. Although we can't really celebrate much because it is finals time I am just excited to still have him around. I am really grateful that I was able to talk him in to marrying me (heh, heh....I did have to convince him a little). Here are some fun pictures from when we were younger and skinnier.

My favorite pic

We had a lot of fun. Thanks Natalie and Thayne, Eric was really surprised and we had a great time together. We went to Duff's which we decided was going to be our new anniversary tradition while we are here in Buffalo. Then after the kids were in bed and Eric had studied a little, we made vanilla malts and watched Madagascar 2, so romantic I know. But it was fun none the less. I love spending time with the love of my life, and I can't tell you how excited I am that I get to be with him not only for life, but for eternity. What a blessing it is to have been married in the holy temple by someone (in our case, Grandpa Ricks) who has the authority from God to seal couples together forever. I love it!

5 months, can you believe it?

2009-04-19T18:51:00.005-04:00

Well, this is Adie's slightly belated 5 month post. Sorry for all of you that have been wanting to see it. I thought I would do it sooner, but quite honestly my memory lately has been all but non-existent. So here she is.

She is getting bigger than we would like. She has started eating solid foods, both rice cereal and sweet potatoes. She scoots around all over the place, and I must say it is really funny to watch. She gets herself into pushup position and then pushes off with her toes. She laughs at almost everything that her brother does, and adores her dada. She plays with her toys now and actually likes to play peek-a-boo with her blankets. Unfortunatley she only does this when she is alone, but she sits up there and laughs to herself. She absolutely refuses to sit up as I think it makes her too much of a target for her brother and she would rather be mobil. She is about 27" long and a little over 16 lbs. although I swear she weighs more. She rolls both ways and can get away from her brother. She also is learning how to keep toys away from others. Unfortunatley we are still working on the sleeping through the night thing. Hopefully it starts sooner rather than later.

Also, Porter is sillier than ever. This is what I saw the other day when I walked into the living room.

Can you find Porter? I couldn't until he moved a little because he put it back down right where I set it in the first place, silly boy. And this is what he looks like when he doesn't want me to take a picture of Adie, he just wants me to take a picture of him so he gets in the way right before I take the picture. He really is silly, and I love him for it.

Fish all gone...

2009-04-12T21:05:00.005-04:00

This is really a catch up and the title has nothing to do with it except this is now Porters favorite phrase. Especially when I am trying to ask him to do something or when I tell him he can't watch Finding Nemo (his new favorite). Anyway, I have been so caught up with birthdays and holidays that I haven't done any real posting, so here you go.

The story begins with my success with a chicago style pizza, I guess is what you call it, it is like a meat stuffed pizza. It was so good. And it was HUGE! I don't know if you can tell from the picture, but you really couldn't eat more than one piece. It was a lot of fun to make. I loved it.

Porter and Adelaide really love spending time together, they have fun just making each other laugh. It is fun to watch that as a parent, and when it happens, I stop whatever I am doing and find myself just staring and smiling at my two beautiful children. What a blessing they are in my life even though I am exhausted. I think they were watching either Finding Nemo or a Goofy Movie. Porter was sick and we were trying to keep him relaxing so he would get better.

Adelaide has started teething, which has made her more cranky than usual and will either just sit there with her mouth open while we massage her gums, or she will do this.

Hey, as long as it keeps her happy and cuts those teeth through faster I am all for it. And she won't take a "me me" or binky, so fingers and blankets are the next best things. (It must be from Eric's side because I had my "me me" for years. I actually remember the day my mom made me cut the nipple part off so I couldn't use it anymore.)

Conference was a wonderful weekend filled with the spirit and great insight into what I need to do better in my life. This week will start the beginning of my effort to do better. As with the rest of my family, we made crepes for breakfast, with lil smokies and eggs. Although Eric makes his crepes with lil smokies and eggs, mine were made of strawberries, whipped cream, and chocolate chips....mmmm....that is the only way to have them.

We were also able to have fun treats at each session. So if you ever want to come to our house for conference, you are always invited. Just show up in your jammies with a blankie and pillow. We will even have a bingo card ready for you.

Adie also started to eat solid foods....well, cereal (if you really want to call that solid.) She loves it and opens wide when she knows its coming. What a good girl. Here she was sad that it was all gone.

And if she doesn't finish it, then her brother surely will. I think he is weird because I wouldn't want to eat it.

With Eric's bday right after conference we had A LOT of food around our house. Thanks to all those that came a celebrated. Eric sure loved it. I had a lot of fun planning his surprise party. I was so proud of myself with the cake that I made him, then I forgot to take a picture of it....stupid me. Well, I don't know if you can tell but it was a quarter since he turned 25. I had so much fun making it. It was also my first time making a checkerboard cake which turned out really good. Thanks Laura.

And this is what we woke up to April 7th.

I guess we live in Buffalo, NY.

And last but not least, HAPPY EASTER! Porter still didn't understand about the basket but that is ok, we are focusing a little more in teaching him that Easter is about Christ. But he does like the candy. We hope you all had a wonderful Easter Sunday full of the spirit.

Ode to Eric

2009-04-04T20:55:00.009-04:00

I just wanted to do a special post for my sweet husband for his birthday. Sometimes I think it is unfair that he is younger than me, but I chose him so I guess it is my fault. But I wanted to share with everyone the top 25 reasons why I love him (not in any particular order).

1. He can always make me laugh, even if I am trying to be mad at him

2. He can make our children laugh more than anyone else I know, and they adore him.

3. He is all mine and no one elses

4. He makes cute babies

5. He has soft hair that I love to touch.

6. He trusts me completely, even to cut his hair, and shave his face

7. He has bigger feet, and hands than I do (one of my marriage requirements, silly I know, but there were plenty of guys that I dated that had smaller hands and feet than me)

8. He is very much a people person which helps me get out of my bubble more than I would by myself.

9. He quotes movies with me, and can really stump me with them

10. He loves my cooking, or at least eats it anyway

11. He is strong

12. He makes me want to be better (and sometimes even to be better than him. He brings out the competitive side of me)

13. He plays sports with me

14. He watches the kids so I can go and "really" exercise.

15. We can just be silly together

16. He loves me for who I am and not what I look like (which can be pretty scary, especially right after I have had a baby, or am sick)

17. He takes care of me no matter the situation

18. He teaches me

19. He will help whoever needs it, whenever they need it.

20. He can do whatever he puts his mind to and excel at it. If he doesn't know how to do something, he will research until he figures it out (which saves us lots of money)

21. He has gained weight with me during each pregnancy so I have never weighed more than him.

22. He gives me backrubs just about every day, and is learning to braid my hair

23. He cleans the kitchen, vacuums, cooks, does laundry, mows the lawn, washes the car, cleans bathrooms, changes light bulbs, bathes kids, climbs up on the roof to fix our chimney cover, cleans up puke and poop....nothing is too low (or to high) for him.

24. He still gives me butterflies when he kisses me.

25. He lets me have alone time.

Sam's Club

2009-04-03T20:26:00.004-04:00

Does anyone out there use Sam's Club diapers on their little boy? I was just wondering and wanting some input to see if they work before I buy a box of 200. Let me know! Thanks!

Happy Birthday to me!

2009-04-03T07:52:00.007-04:00

Thanks to all of you family and friends that helped to make my birthday wonderful. It really was a great day. I had happy kids, lots of great food and even got to spend some quality time alone with my husband. He even made dinner for me. I loved and appreciated all of the phone calls and wishes on facebook and whatever.

I love you all and thanks again!

Spring Break!

2009-03-27T07:51:00.003-04:00

Yay for Spring Break. We had all of these fun things planned to do then.....

(those with weak constitutions may not want to read the following)

Porter woke up Saturday night and he had thrown up all over the place. It took us a good hour to clean it all up and get him back in bed. It was nasty. So Eric stayed home from church with Porter and apparently he threw up again that morning. But Sunday night he was acting ok so we thought maybe he just ate something bad. Sunday night he wakes up again and has thrown up and it takes us another hour to clean it up and get him back in bed. After that he was just tired a lot so he slept and we tried to keep fluids in him and bland foods. By Tuesday he was acting fine so we thought is was all over. On Wenesday we went to the zoo and saw all kinds of fun animals. They had an elephant walking around the zoo, it was fun to get so close to it. Then, he wakes up Thursday night and has thrown up again.

Conclusion no more grapes and multi-grain breads for a while.

Then on Friday I started to feel sick, thought nothing of it thinking it would just pass. I was completely incapacitated on the couch for all of Saturday. I couldn't to anything to take care of the kids, I could hardley feed Adie...it was ridiculous. I started to get really worried because I couldn't even keep water in me. I thought I was going to dehydrate and my milk would dry up. Luckily neither happened. Early Sunday morning I started to feel better, but we all ended up staying home from church so Eric could take care of all of us.

We finally thought it was all over and then we wake up Monday morning (school is in again) and Porter has thrown up again and then slept in it all night. I felt like such a horrible mom because I didn't even know. And he had the worst diarrhea as well, poor boy. So Eric hurried to help me clean up before he had to leave. Unfortunatley I wasn't 100% better so I was in tears by the time Eric had to leave. So he went to the classes he needed to and came home to help me. Poor guy, he didn't really get a break at all.

After reading you probably understand why there are no pictures on this week. There will be more soon.

4 months with a little extra

2009-03-15T20:52:00.004-04:00

Well, not all that much has happened this month which is why I haven't really posted anything. But here are some of the funny things I have seen this month with my chillins.

This was the very first trifle I ever made. It was so delicious. You can't tell in this picture, but it was actually about half gone on the other side. We had Doug and Rachel over to help us eat some of it. Thanks guys. It had angel food cake, cherry pie filling, whipped cream, cherry jello and brownies in it. mmmmmmmmm.......... Eric wished he had a bigger mouth.

Porter is such a loving boy. He loves to play with his sister. Wherever she is, he has to be. So this is how he plays with her when she is on the floor. He piles all of his toys in front of her. Unfortunately this over stimulates her and she gets frustrated. But he really is trying to play with her. I can't wait until she can play with him, he will be in heaven. He just loves his baby sister to pieces. What a good big brother.

I saw Porter running around like this the other day and thought it was the funniest thing ever. He made himself his own tutu out of his slinky. What a creative boy. The thing in his mouth is a baby bottle (you know the kind with fake milk that disappears when you turn it upside down). What a funny kid. The poor boy has been so sick lately. He woke up last night crying so I went in to see what was wrong. He just held his hands up to me and said "uh-oh", and when I touched him is when I found out that he had thrown up all over himself. It took both Eric and me to clean him and the room up, poor little boy. I felt so bad for him.

Adie has learned how to roll over, so here is her debut.

She also turned 4 months old and here is her picture. She cannot wait to move. I am excited to see how big she is this week at her appointment. She is growing so fast. I can't believe how fast time flies. She can scoot around in circles whether she is on her back or tummy. She laughs and smiles all the time, and she has her dada's laugh. Her blonde hair is growing in underneath the dark. And she has lots to say all the time, and loves to play with her toys. She can grab them but gets very impatient with herself. Soon enough she will be able to make her body do what she wants it to.

V-Day and 3 months

2009-02-20T14:17:00.004-05:00

So these are pretty much the same days for Adie, but I thought it would be fun to take pictures anyway. Valentines Day was fun as it was on a Saturday and Eric and I got to spend the whole day together. In the morning I convinced Eric to go mall walking with me and the kids. We did and then got a peanut butter cup blizzard on our way out. (I know, totally defeats the exercise. But it was Eric's reward) Then as we were getting diapers at Wal-Mart, Eric picked out tulips in a pot for me so that I can put them in my garden. I thought that was a great idea. He also got me a rose just because which is this beautiful pinky peach color. Wow! We then ended our day by putting the kids to bed, making dinner together and eating it by candle light and watching a movie. It was fun, but we didn't get to eat until about 9pm. A little too late to do dessert afterwards. So we did our chocolate fondue on Sunday, and Porter just wanted to eat the chocolate without the fruit.

We also got these really cool valentines day cards from my cousin Kendall. Thanks, we really enjoyed them. Of course I did Adie's, but Porter picked out the pieces and I stuck them on. Then he also had to have one on his hand which suprisingly stayed there for half the day.

Then Adie turned three months. I think that she probably weighs in at around 14 lbs or so. She is getting to be quite the chunk. She loves to watch her brother play around her, but is terrified if she is on the floor when he is around. She is a very smiley baby and smiles at anyone who will smile at her. She props herself up good on her elbows for tummy time and is working on grabbing the toys in front of her. She can hit them but then they are out of her reach and she gets frustrated. She has found her hands and her tounge and likes to use both all the time. She also loves to sit up and would rather sit and stand than lay anytime.

Miracle Cleaners

2009-02-13T10:25:00.004-05:00

I wish that I had a before and after picture for this but I don't. I guess that would kind of make it look like an infomercial.

But I just wanted to express gratitude to whoever invented OxiClean. It is a complete and total lifesaver to baby clothes. Adie has started the stage of blow outs and has them now on a regular basis. Thanks to OxiClean, none of her clothes are stained. It is a miracle with how bad the blow outs are. All I have to do is soak them in OxiClean for a little while and *bing* they are bright white again (or whatever color they are supposed to be). So if you are ever in doubt about how to get stains out of clothes (or carpet for that matter), get yourself some OxiClean and follow the directions on the back. It really is a miracle cleaner.

More fun with two

2009-02-07T17:02:00.007-05:00

Can you say cute?

This is the fun part about having two kids instead of just one.

I can't believe how much she wants to sit up already. Maybe it is to escape her brother.

New Hair Cut

2009-01-25T22:19:00.002-05:00

Thanks to Rachel Shaw, I feel like a new woman!!

New Years, 2 months, and 2 years

2009-01-19T21:35:00.004-05:00

So this is catch up and it is going to be long. So consider yourself warned.

For New Years my family always had the Baskin Robbins clown cones. Unfortunately, here in New York, no one knows what they are and they don't have them on hand, so we had to make our own this year. They don't look perfect, but Porter couldn't tell the difference. He was just happy to get ice cream. We also started a new family tradition where we have buffalo wings, fried mozzarella sticks, shrimp, and a cheese log with crackers, and of course...Martinelli's. This is Porter trying to be patient for mom to say it was ok for him to have his ice cream.

I decided as one of my New Year's resolutions that I wanted to do more fun things with Porter so he can have mommy time when Adie is sleeping that would be special for us. We made a lion mask and as you can tell Porter had a lot of fun.

Adie turned 2 months on the 15th. We can't believe how fast time has flown. She is getting so big. She is 12 lbs. 3.5 oz. and 24" long. She also has a lot of control of her head. When she has tummy time she holds herself up and looks at the toys around her or watches her brother play. She smiles all the time and has started to carry on conversations with us with her cooing. She is very soft spoken unless she is upset. She even likes to scoot around in her crib so that her head is up against the bumper. We definitely love having her in our family and Porter can't get enough of her. It is so much fun to see your children love each other.

Porter also turned 2 today. It was so much fun for me as a mom to watch him and celebrate his birthday. Of course he doesn't understand that it is his birthday but we had a little party anyway. We invited some of his little friends from nursery and he had a blast. When the first child showed up Porter was so excited he didn't know what to do with himself. I think I need to invite kids over more often. Anyway, we had a hippo party so I tried to get creative and made a hippo cake. It was a lot of fun and turned out better than I thought. The grey icing was a little gross to make just because it looks funny as your mixing it. But it was fun ust the same. And Porter ate all of his piece with ice cream and was so excited about the fire on his cake. Unfortunately I think the singing embarassed him or something because he started crying when we started singing. Go figure.

He also learned his ABC's and how to count to 10. It is so much fun because now he says them all the time. Here are some video's of him saying them. He was a little distracted so you might have to listen hard to hear what he is saying.

Christmas smiles!

2008-12-28T22:14:00.006-05:00

Sorry this took longer than I would have liked to get up on here. But as you probably can figure, we have been a little busy with children. Anyway, we had an absolutely wonderful time this Christmas. Porter had so much fun with the presents, but was really only interested with one at a time. So our Christmas lasted pretty much all day. Which made it even more fun. Here is Porter Christmas morning when we all came downstairs. He was so excited when he saw that he got a Wii for Christmas he didn't know what to do with himself. He wanted to keep his cup but wanted to play with it, so you see his confusion with it all. But he played with it for a couple of hours before he wanted to really do anything else.

As you see from the video, his Wii is a slide. That is what he calls them because you say "Weee" when you go down them. But he gets a kick out of it and is already experimenting with the different ways that you can go down it, or up it for that matter. Eric also got a Wii. His was not a slide.

They are pajamas that say Wii on them.

Christmas eve was fun for me. We read Luke 2, about the birth of our Savior, and sang some Christmas carols. Then we got to open one present. (A tradition from my childhood) Pajamas. And this year I made them. They aren't perfect by any means, but they are fun for me.

Well, Adie had her first Christmas this year and it was so much fun for me. She, of course, didn't care much for what was going on, and she didn't wake up until about 9am to open her presents. But here are some cute pictures of her Christmas morning.

I have also finally caught her smiles on tape. Two of them actually. Eric got some earlier but they were on his phone and we don't have the stuff to transfer those pictures on to our computer. Anyway, the first was just a little smile. The second is her big smile that makes her look a little Chinese. Isn't she adorable!

Brace Yourself...

2008-12-21T21:05:00.007-05:00

So I have decided that this weather thing lies. But the temperature is generally pretty accurate. So if you are wondering how cold it is it is a good reference. But the whole sunshine thing just isn't true.

Anyway, we celebrated Adelaide's 1 month birthday on Monday. We can't believe how fast time has gone. She is getting too big too fast. She holds her head up wonderfully, smiles all the time at her mama, and is gaining weight so fast the doctor is even suprised. At her last doctors appointment she was almost 10 lbs. and has grown about 2 inches. Crazy!

We also put up all of the Christmas decorations and got our Christmas tree. Porter had a fun time decorating it with us. We realized exactly how few ornaments we have so we strung some popcorn and made some ornaments out of jolly ranchers and starlights. Porter has been caught trying to eat both. You would think that we starved the boy. (although at his last dr. apt. the dr. just said "you have a big boy". He is over 30 lbs and is over 3 feet tall.) He has been walking around for the last couple days saying "ho ho ho". It is pretty funny. He also likes to wear Adelaide's bows, and dad even helps him put them on.

We have also had crazy weather the last couple of days. For those who think that Buffalo doesn't get bad weather...here is a news flash for you. We have been on winter storm advisory for the last 3-4 days. On Wednesday we got about 4 inches of snow overnight. I had to go to the doctor in the morning and people were off the road all over the place. Friday we had a storm and got somewhere around 8 inches all during daylight hours. Saturday was sunny but the warmest it got was about 15 degrees. Today (Sunday), we had another storm that has dropped somewhere around a foot or so. Luckily we have wonderful neighbors that have snowblowers and plow our driveway and walkways for us. And needless to say, we are going to have a white, frigid, Christmas. We are so looking forward to it this year with Porter. He is so excited to open presents now. It will be fun.

These pictures were just after the 8 inches dropped. The wind was also blowing, hence why there is little to no snow on our roof. So imagine like another foot on top of this. We cannot see out of most of our windows because there is snow plastered to them. We cannot get out of our back door and half the time our side door either because of all the snow. Even our porch is filling up. There is no difference between our front lawn and our front porch. Just to give you an idea of what it is like here. Other than our winter wonderland it is a lot of fun.

What have you done?

2008-12-18T22:09:00.003-05:00

So I saw this on my cousins blog (Thanks Lauren, Brooke, and Riley) and thought it was a fun idea. So what you do is copy this and highlight all of the ones that you have done.

1. Started your own blog
2. Slept under the stars
3. Played in a band
4. Visited Hawaii
5. Watched a meteor shower
6. Given more than you can afford to charity
7. Been to Disneyland
8. Climbed a mountain
9. Held a Praying Mantis
10. Sang a solo
11. Bungee jumped
12. Visited Paris
13. Watched a lightning storm at sea
14. Taught yourself an art from scratch
15. Adopted a child
16. Had food poisoning
17. Walked to the top of the Statue of Liberty
18. Grown your own vegetables
19. Seen the Mona Lisa in France
20. Slept on an overnight train
21. Had a pillow fight
22. Hitch hiked
23. Taken a sick day when you’re not ill
24. Built a snow fort
25. Held a lamb
26. Gone skinny dipping
27. Run a Marathon
28. Ridden in a gondola in Venice
29. Seen a total eclipse
30. Watched a sunrise or sunset
31. Hit a home run
32. Been on a cruise
33. Seen Niagara Falls in person
34. Visited the birthplace of your ancestors
35. Seen an Amish community
36. Taught yourself a new language
37. Had enough money to be truly satisfied
38. Seen the Leaning Tower of Pisa in person
39. Gone rock climbing
40. Seen Michelangelo’s David
41. Sung karaoke
42. Seen Old Faithful geyser erupt
43. Bought a stranger a meal at a restaurant
44. Visited Africa
45. Walked on a beach by moonlight
46. Been transported in an ambulance
47. Had your portrait painted
48. Gone deep sea fishing
49. Seen the Sistine Chapel in person
50. Been to the top of the Eiffel Tower in Paris
51. Gone scuba diving or snorkeling
52. Kissed in the rain
53. Played in the mud
54. Gone to a drive-in movie
55. Been in a movie
56. Visited the Great Wall of China
57. Started a business
58. Taken a martial arts class
59. Visited Russia
60. Served at a soup kitchen
61. Sold Girl Scout Cookies
62. Gone whale watching
63. Got flowers for no reason
64. Donated blood, platelets or plasma
65. Gone sky diving
66. Visited a Nazi Concentration Camp
67. Bounced a check
68. Flown in a helicopter
69. Saved a favorite childhood toy
70. Visited the Lincoln Memorial
71. Eaten Caviar
72. Pieced a quilt
73. Stood in Times Square
74. Toured the Everglades
75. Been fired from a job
76. Seen the Changing of the Guards in London
77. Broken a bone
78. Been on a speeding motorcycle
79. Seen the Grand Canyon in person
80. Published a book
81. Visited the Vatican
82. Bought a brand new car
83. Walked in Jerusalem
84. Had your picture in the newspaper
85. Read the entire Bible
86. Visited the White House
87. Killed and prepared an animal for eating
88. Had chickenpox
89. Saved someone’s life
90. Sat on a jury
91. Met someone famous
92. Joined a book club
93. Lost a loved one
94. Had a baby
95. Seen the Alamo in person
96. Swam in the Great Salt Lake
97. Been involved in a law suit
98. Owned a cell phone
99. Been stung by a bee
100. Talked your way out of a ticket

This really makes me feel accomplished in life. But now I want to go do some of the other things on this list.

Baby Shower

2008-12-14T21:22:00.004-05:00

So I have some really cute friends that decided to throw Adie and me a baby shower. Thanks girls! Here are some pictures from that day. Everyone was so generous and now Adie has a wonderful wardrobe and a whole bunch of cute headbands and a fun stuffed elephant that Porter wants to claim as his own. And thanks Stephanie for posting it on your blog so I could steal the pictures.

Some of her loot

Adie with all her loot

PINK!

I am so excited for all of the pink stuff. It makes me so happy to have a little girl that I can dress up with bows, dresses, and tights. Thanks again everyone!

We also got a package from Great-Grandma and Great-Grandpa Stevenson, Aunt Vicki, and Aunt CC. Those were the cutest clothes and I was really excited about the pink foofy dress. And thanks CC for the new blankie. It is fun to have both kids with similar blankies. Porter was excited too. He couldn't stop telling me that she got a nigh-nigh (night-night).

Porter even got some toys out of it which he loved. When the ball lit up he said "wow", and was super excited about the truck. But his favorite part was the packing peanuts. He played in them for about a half hour. He kept calling them "no" (snow) and would throw them up in the air by the armfuls.

Adie's Blessing

2008-12-01T19:14:00.005-05:00

We were blessed enough to have both mine and Eric's parents come out for Thanksgiving and for the blessing of our sweet little girl. Here are some pictures from the special day. My mom made her blessing dress out of fabric from my baptism dress. So it was pretty special to me. Also if any family has more pictures if they could send them to either me or Eric, we were a little slow at getting the camera out.

The cutest girl in the world

2008-11-19T20:47:00.005-05:00

I cannot tell you how excited we are to have our little girl here at last. Here are some more cute pictures of her now that her head is going back to normal. Here is her with her eyes open and alert. She loves to look around in the evenings and try to figure things out.

Proud Big brother

Porter is just in love with his little sister. He showers her in kisses and hugs all day and shares all of his toys. He even offered her his milk one time when she was crying. Now he wants her to kiss his owies better (he does this by putting his owie to her mouth and making kissing noises)

Adelaide with her first teddy

She's Here, Adelaide

2008-11-16T18:09:00.002-05:00

Here is our beautiful new baby girl, Adelaide Mae Nielsen. Born Saturday November 15, 2008 at 6:30 am. She weighed 8 lbs 10 oz and was 20.5 inches long.

Halloween

2008-11-08T16:27:00.007-05:00

Porter didn't really know what to think about Halloween this year. He just looked at everyone funny because they looked so different. But he was more than happy to take their candy off of their hands. We had three parties to go to this year and it was so much fun. First was the ward party. Porter only wanted to play with the bean bags and tried to hord all of them.

Next we went trick or treating at the mall. It was so much fun and I didn't have to worry because I knew it was safe. But the only thing that Porter would say to people is "bye". So obviously he was not so keen on being there as I was. Maybe because I got to get out of the house and go hang out with friends and their kids.

We also carved a pumpkin and Porter wanted nothing to do with touching the inside of it. It was so funny. He really is a texture child. But when the candle was in he was more than interested in playing with it.

Then two fun things about Porter. He is learning how to dress/undress himself. He knows where all the different articles go but it is much more fun to take them off and he does it in his own way.

Then this is how much Porter likes his books. He spreads them all over the floor, reads them one by one and then puts them back. Really putting them back means giving them to me to stack wherever I am. But I thought this was so funny.

October Observations

2008-10-23T20:47:00.004-04:00

Fall is here and we love living in a place that turns such vibrant colors. This is a bush in our backyard. It was yellow for a very short period of time and now it just looks like it is on fire. Unfortunately we had a big storm come through and blew most of the leaves off now. But we can tell that winter is just around the corner as it snowed the other day and gets really cold at night.

With October comes Halloween. The fun part is having kids this time of year. So we went out to a pumpkin farm that is somewhat close to us. It was fun for us and Porter thought he was in heaven. He wanted to climb on everything. We thought this pyramid was pretty impressive.

Porter picked out a pumpkin and even though it was kind of small he still couldn't lift it. So we also got some really little pumpkins that he could carry around.

This was fun. Porter wanted take it home and use it as a slide. These are huge! I wonder how they get them this big.

So my school does research and pay money to the participants, which usually end up being students. Well I volunteered and had a bad experience because... I lost a central incisor and the other started bending to fill up the gap. Needless to say the researchers will fix them after their experiment is complete.

So what really happened....Eric came in to wake me up one morning asking me to look at his teeth because they hurt. I was so confused in my morning delirium by his request in the first place wondering why he would ask me and not one of his dental school buddies. So when I first saw him I could do nothing but laugh. I guess his whole dental class made these for Halloween and everyones looked totally different. The funniest part is that I had just asked him a couple days before if he had made any because I saw someone elses and he told me "no". What a fibber. But I have to say that it was the most hilarious suprise. Eric just doesn't understand why I won't kiss him with them in...go figure.

Also the baby has finally dropped so the day is coming soon. Everyone around here gives me two weeks. We just hope that it is after Eric's big gross anatomy test that is Nov.7th.

Four, Four, Four

2008-10-23T09:43:00.002-04:00

I get to thank Sarah for this one.

A) Four places that I go to over and over: grocery store, gas station, church, dr. office

B) Four people who e-mail me (regularly): Natalie, The dental wives, Mom, Danielle

C) Four of my favorite places to eat: IN-N-OUT, Famous Daves, Duff's, Olive Garden

D) Four places I would rather be right now: In bed, California, Europe, the Caribbean

E) Four people I think will respond: I have no idea, anyone that wants to try to get their brain to work and think of these things.

F) Four TV shows I watch: I don't watch tv so I will list the movies I watch: Ratatouille, Veggie Tales (any of them), Stewart Little, Stardust

I tag Natalie Gardner, Michelle Zwahlen, Angela Starks, Stephanie Evans and Amber Sessions

FHE activity

2008-10-19T19:24:00.004-04:00

We had a lot of fun after listening to a talk by Elder Joseph B. Wirthlin. Porter even was able to join in the fun. We laughed so hard that both Eric and I were crying and I almost wet myself. I think we burned off all of the calories from dinner and dessert so we had a wonderful negative calorie night. I will update more later, but I just had to put these pictures on because they were so funny. Hope you enjoy seeing them as much as we enjoyed taking them.

Flushed Away...almost

2008-10-02T22:17:00.003-04:00

Oh, how I wish I had a picture of this, but you will just have to enjoy the story and imagine what it looked like in your head. So get ready to turn on your vivid imagination.

Porter usually follows me around wherever I go in the house. So when I walked up the stairs today to go brush my teeth I was pretty sure that he was going to follow me. He didn't but I didn't worry about it too much. After I finished brushing my teeth I heard him crying and I went to the stairs to call him but heard the water running. I thought "oh great, he has turned on the hot water and is burning himself." So I rushed downstairs to see what was happening. I started laughing as soon as I saw him. He had climbed up onto the counter and into the sink in the bathroom because he wanted to get to his toothbrush. So he was squatting in the sink and accidentally bumped the cold water on high and had also stepped on the drain plug and closed it. So there he was, "stuck" in the sink that was spilling cold water on his lap and the sink filling up covering him up to mid calf and not knowing what to do about it. He calmed down a little when he saw I was laughing and not mad. But I wish that I had a picture of his face when I first saw him.

TMI, so we thought we'd share

2008-09-18T14:39:00.009-04:00

Well, it feels as though we have had a very busy week. Lets recap. Porter got his first black eye this week. He was trying to climb on the counter without mom or dad watching and his hand slipped and he wacked his cheekbone on the edge of the counter. At first I didn't think much of it until I saw this huge bruise form that night on his cheekbone and now of course it has spread to his eye. It makes him look pretty tough. You can't really see it all that well in the picture, now of course you can but he won't sit still long enough to take a picture.

It was a long time in the coming but we finally had our first ultrasound this week. It was fun to see the baby. I don't know how much you can see on these pictures but one is of a foot and one is of the face see if you can tell them apart. (haha) The baby is healthy but BIG. It measured at 2 weeks bigger than my dates suggest. So they are going to be watching the size of the baby throughout the rest of the pregnancy, I'm guessing to see if they need to induce me or not. But we are pretty confident that it will be early just like Porter was. And probably as big or bigger. Crazy!

We were called as assistant nursery leaders in our ward which makes Porter think that he can get away with anything in there. It is a lot of fun. We have 8-10 kids right now and expecting 23 more in the next year. AAHHH!! But they did just come out with a new manual for nursery and it is wonderful. Our kids are great, it will just be interesting for a while when the new baby comes.

Porter learned a new dance and I wanted to show everyone. This was the funniest thing. He ran around our basement saying "na na na na" for forever it seemed. Eric and I could not stop laughing.

Also, we finally finished our dining room and all we have left to do is paint the chairs. But that is going to be done slowly but surely, so I don't have a picture of the table in there. But here is the finished product before decorating.

Before

After

Definitely my son

2008-09-10T12:24:00.004-04:00

So Porter really likes to help me make cookies (really he just likes to watch and eat chocolate chips). So today we made fudgebars and I had to use all the chocolate chips. So at the end he wanted to lick the spoon and I thought that I would indulge him since he hasn't been feeling good. But as you can see, he definitely is my son with the way that he is trying to get every last bit of chocolate off. It was pretty clean when he finally gave it back to me.

And he also loves pictures. You can hear him say "cheese" because he wants his picture taken. So I took another one.

He is the funniest kid. He also loves to do silly things with his dada when he gets home from school. Here is a video of one of those silly things.

Back to School Time

2008-09-07T15:02:00.005-04:00

It seems as though time really gets away from me now a days. So I thought I would briefly update again what is going on.

Eric is really getting into school as the homework, well studying, is really starting to keep him busy. He likes most of his classes, except for the boring ones like "Intro to Professionalism" which is just like his classes from his undergrad, poor kid. Anyway, he also was elected the secretary of his class and is really excited about it. He knows almost everyone and is having a lot of fun with his new friends in the study lounge where no one actually studies. (they have a foosball and air hockey table in there). But he loves the break from all the hard work.

I am still just hanging around home keeping myself and Porter entertained. We go to the park and the library along with the regular errands that have to be done. But I am getting too big to really be able to do that much with him. I can't believe how fast this pregnancy has gone and that we only have 2 months left. WOW!

Well, that is pretty much what is going on now, oh and we got our dining room done, but I am not showing pictures until we put the table in and the pictures up. Next time we'll have more pictures.

Family Day at Dental School

2008-08-15T19:03:00.011-04:00

So, today was what they call family day (for us LDS people it means bring your wife and kids...for everyone else it means bring your parents). It was a lot of fun to go and see what Eric is going to be doing and where he is going to be for the next year.

First we went to the students induction into the Dental Profession. They gave us a lot of stats and info on his schedule and everything. They even had the school councelors and those type of people get up and tell us to refer our dental student to them if we feel they need it. Then they had the "White Coat Ceremony" which is the official induction in. Here is a video and some pictures.

Class of 2012

Proud Porter with dentist dada

Our family

The LDS class of 2012 at UB (missing one)

LDS Dental Students and their families
(all are married and 3 with kids)

Then we had a whole school picnic which was a lot of fun. We got to meet a lot of people and hang out with those we already are friends with. Porter got a crash course, literally, in playground safety. He stood right in front of the slide as a kid was coming down and they headed eachother, and now he has a goose egg. Luckily someone grabbed him before he was taken out by the swings. After that we had to come home to take a nap.

We also went to the school after naptime and ate the best ice cream in town, and then went on a short tour of the school. It was a lot of fun to see all of Eric's tools and drills and molding stuff and his work station. Porter especially liked the tool that blows air (you know like when they want to dry off your teeth or something, water also comes out of it too but not today).

It looks like Eric is going to have a lot of fun at school and we are all so excited for him.

Brief Update

2008-08-09T09:46:00.002-04:00

Sorry, no real pictures this time but just a short update.

Eric had his first day of school on Wednesday and is actually really bored with it all. Right now is just a whole bunch of orientation info and spending all the money we have. He just got his new computer which I guess is mine when he is home and not studying because he still does everything on the other one.

But he can't wait for he actual classes to start except for the anat and phys lab in which he spends several hours a week in the cadaver lab. And Porter is still getting used to dada being gone during the day and then being really tired at night. He keeps asking me "where dada" but the good thing about it is that he has finally started calling me mama again because I am the only one home with him and I don't answer to dada.

Other than that everything is pretty much about the same. We will have more of an update with pictures next weekend as we have some special events coming up.

Mean Parents

2008-07-26T16:33:00.005-04:00

So we have been having a grand adventure in trying to get our house in order fix things and still be good parents. And alas, the parenting thing seems to come first. We can't really do anything unless Porter is asleep. But anyway, here are some fun things that we have been doing with Porter.

The first is Porter helping dad fix the wall and our new floor that Eric just installed. I really like it, and it will look better when the walls are painted.

The second is us having fun in the play room. Porter loves to play with tupperware. And so he gets his own to play with in his room and we put snacks in them. But he also likes to be silly.

And the third is dad being silly and making it hard for Porter. At first he thought it was really funny, but then he decided that it wasn't so funny. I turned the camera on him just a little too late. But I think you will get the jest of it. And he is not wearing a dress, it is pajamas because it keeps him cooler than other jamas do. It is just a boys undershirt that is too big for him.

Catch up

2008-07-08T09:15:00.003-04:00

So I've decided to do this all in one fell swoop. So this is going to be a long one.

We went to the Hogle Zoo in Utah one Tuesday with Porter's cousins. It was so much fun. We got to see an albino aligator, all kinds of monkeys, elephants, cats, and birds. Porter was more interested in the pigeons that flew in on their own and ate the left over popcorn from the passers by.

After Eric and dad loaded up the trailer and headed for NY, Porter and I hopped a plane to California. Hey, we might as well make it a real cross country trip. We went there for Grandma and Grandpa Stevenson's 50th wedding anniversary. It was so much and we got to play with everyone. Porter had a blast going to the beach and chasing around all of his cousins, and mine. He even learned how to do a sommersault.

Then we are finally here in Buffalo after a 6 hour plane flight and a 2 hour layover in Atlanta (where I actually had a hard time trying to understand what people were saying). Porter didn't know what to do when he saw Eric, he just kind of stared at him for a while. But now he loves being home with his daddy. He is also going through withdrawls of all the people to play with but keeps himself busy with plenty of new space to explore along with a backyard. And on the 4th we even got to go to the beach in Canada. It was a lot of fun. (They have really nice beaches.)

We love you all and more pictures will be coming soon.

Porter's Amazing Tricks

2008-06-01T21:39:00.004-04:00

Porter has just turned 16 months and loves to play around with all sorts of things. His new favorite thing is mom's purse. I guess it works good as a necklace too. He will take it off and put it on for a long time before he gets bored. He also does it with necklaces and anything that he can find that is long. Like tape measures, string, really big rubber bands, his sunglasses, etc. We just have to make sure that he doesn't choke himself.

He also has learned the motions to a song, and it is now his favorite. He will sing it (well, let you sing it while he does the motions). You'll have to see if you can guess what he's doing.

We can't believe how big he is getting now. He is a little thirsty for knowledge and will try and do whatever you do including cooking, tickling, speaking on the phone, etc. It is amazing to watch him grow. He can also run now so it is a little more of a challenge to keep up with him.

Life on the Farm

2008-05-23T16:41:00.004-04:00

Eric's family lives on what they call "the farm". To me it is not what I think a farm is as it is only on one acre of land. But boy howdy, they definitely grow their crops. They have all kinds of fruit trees and a fairly big vegetable garden. Then they also have four horses, four pigs, a dog, about 8 chickens, lots of cats, a duck, and a barn.

Porter loves being here as he gets to go outside a lot and play with the animals and feed the horses, jump on the trampoline and play basketball with dad and uncle Carl. Which is actually nice for mom because grandma and grandpa take him outside when I have really bad allergies and it would just be miserable for me to go and sit outside for a while.

Anyway, here are some pictures of his favorite things to do around the farm.

Playing on the basketball court

Jumping on the trampoline next to the chickens

Feeding Star

The Fruits of our Labors

2008-05-06T21:31:00.003-04:00

Well, our trip to Buffalo was a short and busy one. We had a lot of fun and got to eat at "Local" restaurants. (Kind of like Big Jud's in Rexburg) We also got to celebrate our two year anniversary without a baby to take care of. It was a lot of fun and we went up to Niagara Falls. Unfortunately, we didn't have our camera so no pictures, but then we ate at the restaurant that started buffalo wings. It was so good, and you could get them any spicyness you want from BBQ and mild to suicidal. Needless to say we got the mild and they were still kind of hot.

We also saw 22 homes in the two days we were there. We left at 9 am (which is 7am our time, when we usually get up) and didn't get home until after 5-6pm. Long days but it ended up being also very fruitfull. We got a house and I love it. Here are some pictures so that you can think that it is as cute as I do.

Front of house (duh!)

Living Room with a gas fireplace

Backyard and Florida room

(I am excited to finally be able to have my own garden)

Kitchen (we are going to switch the stove and fridge)

Graduation, Moving, and News

2008-04-08T13:03:00.003-04:00

I know I am doing this a little early, but I wanted to get it done before we move.

Eric graduates this Thursday and Friday and we are so excited. We are happy and scared to leave our home here in Rexburg, we have loved it here and have made some wonderful friends. But we know we will see them again some day. Eric is just excited to get on to the next chapter in life. It will be a lot of fun

For those of you who don't know, we will be moving to Utah this Saturday. Eric's parents are letting us live with them this summer to help save money for the move to New York, and luckily, they are kind of on the way out there so it helps. But one sad thing is that I don't know how often I will be able to check email and update our blog so this might be the last time for quite a while, but we will see.

Also for the news, if you already saw the wierd looking shrimp thing on the side, yes, I am pregnant with our second child. We are so excited. The baby is due, according to my calculations, November 22, although I am hoping it will come a little early like Porter did. We are also not going to find out what it is this time too. We really liked the surprise last time. We have wanted another one and it finally worked out that we could even try to have one. Lucky us. So life has been really interesting with morning sickness on top of the flu and really stinky poopy diapers.

Well, we love you all and hope that you have an amazing summer. We will probably talk to you again in July or August some time.

Love,
Eric, Melissa, Porter, and baby Nielsen

Birthdays and Illness

2008-04-06T00:22:00.003-04:00

Well, I would post a picture this time but no one probably would have even wanted to look at us. Eric and I are both celebrating our birthdays (mine a week ago and Eric's on April 6th). So we just have fun for a week and call it good.

My birthday was great. I woke up to Eric making me eggs benedict and doing everything to take care of Porter in the morning. When he came home from class he brought me a flower that is still blooming and is absolutely gorgeous. And then I made my own dinner and cake, which is fine because I knew exactly what I wanted. We had those southwest chicken wraps that I put on the family recipe site. They were so delicious, and the cake was great too. It was angel food cake layered with strawberry jam, iced with whipped cream, and topped with fresh strawberries....YUM! What can I say, I was spoiled.

Then Porter got the flu, poor little guy, I felt so bad for him. He is finally back to normal. We have been working on sharing in our home, and Porter thought he would share the flu with me. So I got and was throwing up all over the place. Eric actually had to come home early to take care of Porter because I couldn't get up off the couch. Eric kind of got it which was good so he could go to class, but it made me jealous.

Eric's birthday is tomorrow, but we celebrated today and had fun watching conference together. We got to stay home and watch it on our computer, Porter was so confused at what we were doing, and then was thrown off the rest of the day. You really don't get to listen as much with little ones. For Eric we had smothered chicken for dinner (almost like the Texas Roadhouse). And are waiting for our strawberry blueberry pie to cool enough for us to eat it.

We love you all and are excited to see all of you come up this week for graduation. Just please exuse all of the boxes all over our house.

Happy Easter!

2008-03-23T18:53:00.006-04:00

Porter had a lot of fun finding his easter basket this morning (like I really hid it, Eric took forever to find his). It was a lot of fun to carry on the traditions of childhood for both Eric and I. He was more interested in the ball that came with the toy, and the grass in the bottom than anything else. It was so much fun to watch. Here is a video of him finding his basket.

Then here is a picture of him playing with his stuff.

Then, the coup de grace, the best dollar store toy I have ever bought. He played with this and laughed histarically for a long time. It was so much fun. I am glad that we finally got to celebrate an Easter with him. Last year we were moving to Arizona and totally forgot that it was Easter until we got to church. Anyway, here is the video.

We hope you all had a wonderfull Easter full of all the family traditions you love. But most of all we hope that it was focused on the Savior as that is the reason for the season. We love you all, we know that Christ lives and are striving to be worthy of His gift to us.

"We talk of Christ, we rejoice in Christ, we preach of Christ, we prophesy of Christ, and we write according to our prophesies, that our children may know to what source they may look for a remission of their sins."
2 Nephi 25:26

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

2008-03-17T12:46:00.002-04:00

If you are not wearing green, we are going to come and pinch you!

We hope you have a great pinchless St. Patrick's Day with lots of corned beef and cabbage and red potatoes. And a lot of other green things like green milk, green eggs and ham, green macaroni and cheese, green bread, green hair, and green brownies (that would be interesting). Just don't eat anything that is green and fuzzy, that is probably mold.

Introducing the Amazing Porter!!

2008-03-04T10:31:00.004-05:00

Porter has just learned how to climb and he climbs on anything and everything that he can. I came out of the bathroom this morning and found him standing on top of the file box (yes, that is what it is, one of those plastic ones from walmart) and singing. Unfortunately he did not sing when I had the camera on him but it was still funny to watch. So here you go.

The Tale of Two Brains

2008-02-21T17:03:00.002-05:00

For all those who still wonder about the differences between you and your spouse....Eric actually watched this in his religion class on campus this week and we thought we would share.

You might want to watch this. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xxtUH_bHBxs