Porter's 6th Birthday

Porter is such a cute kid. I love him so much. He was so superly excited for his birthday this year. He's been counting down the days all month long and every day he knew exactly how many days until he would be 6. All the kids woke up super early and Porter's breakfast request was his favorite, waffles. After breakfast he opened his presents before Kyler and Lexi went to school.


He LOVES the game Sorry!
He got a new bike. We haven't had the best luck with bikes. A few have gotten run over either in our driveway or when the kids park them behind cars at friend's houses, and Porter's bike got stolen last Fall when we rode our bikes to the library! After Dave and Kyler put it together all the kids went outside to ride bikes. At 7:45 in the morning.
One of the kids gave Porter a bubble wand and after taking the others to school it was so cute watching Porter and Brenner blowing and chasing bubbles around the backyard.
Love this one of Brenner! He was hilarious chasing the bubbles and got so excited. We laughed and laughed watching him run around.
Porter is definitely our most money-conscientious child. He asked his Grandparents for just money this year. He's been saving his $ for months and including his birthday money he has saved over $100 so far! He wants to keep on saving it. I'm very proud of him. He also got some quarter collecting books and is working on collecting all the state quarters. He got some 50 cent pieces from his Great-Grandma T and is collecting those in a book too.
Later in the morning he helped me make BLUE (his favorite color) cupcakes for his kindergarten class with chocolate frosting and a big "6" on each one (all his request)!
At Kindergarten with some classmates before handing out the cupcakes.
His class has a 'birthday bear' and whoever has a birthday gets to carry the bear around all day.
After school Porter wanted to have a cookout before Kyler and Lexi's baseball games that night, so Dave made a fire and we cooked hot dogs and s'mores.
Porter also got a kite and it was windy enough to fly it.

After the baseball games (we got rained on the whole time and were FREEZING when we got home) all the kids had a hot bath and then we had birthday cake. Porter wanted giant "6" cake.
Happy Birthday sweet Porter! You are such an important part of our family! WE LOVE YOU!!!

Winter Gear + Blankets = Baseball Season 2010

This has been the coldest baseball season ever. A few games have been cancelled because it's either snowing or raining, and the kids have played quite a few in the rain. It has been so darn cold! Hopefully summer weather will come soon so they can play a few in the sunshine. They have all done great and really enjoy playing and being on teams with friends. Here is a compilation of photos from the season. Fun memories.

Swing Batter!

Kyler and his best friend Carson.
Cute Lexi always tries so hard, always with a smile on her face!
Lexi and Breklyn, trying not to freeze!
Cute Lexi.
Lexi and Cambrie.
Porter ready for anything!





I enjoy visiting with the other moms while they play, but the trick is trying to keep track of Brenner! He is all over the field!



During one of Lexi's games I couldn't keep him out of this muddy water. He was a muddy mess, but what do you do? He thought it was great.

Hawaii

Okay, so I have the best husband in the world. He loves to travel and when we found out I was pregnant he decided we needed to go somewhere tropical immediately... before I get huge, and before we have a newborn because it will probably be a long time before we get to travel again. He found some amazingly cheap tickets and we had sky miles and Capital One points, so since it was pretty much a free trip we couldn't NOT go! We haven't been on a trip alone together for more than 10 years, we've always gone with family or friends or had the kids with us. It was very fun to be with just my husband, with no agenda, 6 days wide open to do whatever we wanted to do. It was a true vacation! We went to the islands of Kauai and Oahu. It was gorgeous with perfect weather the whole time. We thourougly enjoyed soaking in the sunshine, especially when we heard it was snowing the day we left, and has snowed pretty much everyday since we've been back. Ugghh! Although today I have to give the weather credit, it is actually sunny.

We took 250+ pictures and saw so many things every day. There was walking on the white sandy beaches, snorkeling with schools of bright tropical fish and sea turtles, all the delicious food and desserts, especially all the fresh pineapple, Honolulu and Waikiki, and all the gorgeous scenery. But here are photos of a few highlights...

...Our room in Kauai that was right on the beach. We felt like we were in paradise.


...A helicopter tour of Kauai. This was one of Dave's favorite things; I got really sick last year on our helpicopter tour of Maui, and being pregnant I'm nauseous anyway, so I didn't dare go with him. I wish I could have! He said it was amazing. Especially seeing the Napali Coast. He loved the steep mountains that rose abruptly from the coast and seeing how green and massively steep they were.




...Waimea Canyon, also called, "The Grand Canyon of the Pacific." It was breathtaking. These pictures don't do it justice.




...Walking along the beach enjoying all those beautiful sunsets.



...Pearl Harbor. We felt a little somber while we were there but also a reverent respect for those who gave their lives on December 7, 1941.





...The Dole Pineapple Plantation. It was so fun! Who knew pineapple grew like that? They also had the BEST pineapple ice cream that tasted more like real pineapple than real pineapple does! Our kids would have loved the train ride out through the pineapple plantation and the world's largest maze!



...The Polynesian Cultural Center. Learning to hula and spear throw, watching the Polynesian dancers and the boat parade, eating at the yummy Luau, and watching the night show "Ha, Breath of Life."






...And now my very favorite, the Laie Hawaii Temple. The grounds are gorgeous, like everything in Hawaii, and we met lots of cute couple and sister missionaries in the Visitors Center. I couldn't stop crying while we were there and during the short video we watched, I blamed it on my hormones. I'm sure the missionaries thought I was crazy. I was just so thankful for the goodness of the gospel. Before we left we wanted to go through a session but found out it's been under construction for awhile and the missionaries said it probably won't re-open until December. How neat would that have been to be able to do a session in Hawaii?




It was a wonderful trip but one of my favorite parts of going away is coming back home and seeing our kids. Oh it was good to see them and hug them and smile and laugh with them. Many thanks to Dave's Mom and my Mom for taking such good care of them! We honestly can't thank you enough! They had such a great time with each of you.
I picked Kyler up from school and he had this note folded for me in his pocket. I thought it was so cute.

And loved these ones from Porter.


It was great to soak in the sunshine but it's so good to be home.