Finally

I have avoided it long enough... more than that I think I have kind of caught up with sleep because usually by now I am starting to fall asleep. Here it is the long awaited post to catch everyone else up:

The week before the 4th of July Leigh and Joyce came down and stayed at a resort in Scottsdale, so we went and hung out with them for 1/2 a day. Porter loves the pool so we swam and played and had a blast. Thanks for the invite!!

Loved the splash playground... we are going to have to go to the one at

San Tan Village or Tempe Town Lake... he clearly is ready!!

Playing with dad... Porter loves to be thrown!

Check out that little plummer... I mean swimmer!

Porter is one determined little boy who knows what he wants these days...

he always likes to drink out of our glasses.

This night he put his sippy cup into one of our cups and would not drink any other way... adorable!

For the 4th of July we decieded to escape the heat and headed up to Lakeside (plus Bryce had work to do!) Porter's favorite part about grandpa and grandma's... he can play outside a lot! They really have a fun yard and lots of grass... which we lack both of at home!

that little spec in the center of the picture is Porter while the rest of us were eating dinner, contently playing way out in the yard!

playing, playing, playing

Porter even got his cousin Lauren (who is almost 2) to give him a ride in the pink jeep... which gave her mom Caroline a scare, we weren't worried she seemed to know what she was doing. Caroline knew better... she knew that she didn't know how to steer! oh well fun times!

(sorry no pictures we were busy helping her steer!)

On the 4th we went to the Show Low Parade... it was a lot of fun for the kids. It was different than the parades I remember from home... they had tractors, cowboys, horses, fire trucks... lots of small town fun and candy being thrown for the kids... Porter enjoyed it as you can see from the final picture... he was exhausted!

waiting for the parade to start Bryce saved the day (Porter was grouchy) with a little game of throw the ball in the cowboy hat... worked like a charm!

He had such a long day we didn't make it to the fireworks... maybe next year!!

PS- for those who know my little sister, she got engaged this weekend... despite what she may think by my reaction we are excited for her!

Saving Money and Losing Keys

I know I know its been awhile since I did a post, but life's been busy and we've been going through lots of changes. In the last 2 weeks: Bryce got a new job (in addition to still running his own business job= benefits=maternity coverage), I completed my last 2 weeks of work= no more sleep deprived mom/wife, we went to Lakeside for the 4th... and it seems like so many other little things have come up. I am now just a stay at home mom... which is an adjustment... Bryce is really worried that I am going to get bored and go crazy... I am too, I can't believe its only been 3 days since my last day at work it feels like its been way longer. Anyway this was suppose to be a post about the 4th of July and visiting grandma and grandpa in scottsdale before that and all that jazz... but then today happened.

I thought we would go to the beach with some friends from church today, but then that fell through and Porter played in his sandbox with a hose instead (kind of the same right?!?). Then he went down for a nap. Rewind to yesterday... I will NEVER complain about junk mail again (at least not for a little bit)... we recieved an offer from Liberty Mutual for a free auto insurance quote through our credit union. I hate making these calls,but hey I have nothing else to do and anyone who knows me right now knows I am all about saving money and this is the only thing I can think of where we just might still be able to cut costs. So I call and go though all the questions and matching policy options etc (really wasn't bad the guy was way nice... I have his number if you are in the market) and then he says well just give me a sec and I can give you a ballpark quote for your 12 month rate.... drumroll it'll be 1474 a year. I look down at my current policy and see a number very close to that and then it hits me... our current plan is for 6 months. WHAT!!! We can save $1430 a year! In shock I say what I always say when making big decisions let me talk to my husband and I'll get back to you. Ummm... yeah 1st- Bryce doesn't care about these things I am in charge of bills and insurance and stuff 2nd- I text him and he's like well yeah!?! So I call them back and in 1 hour I have saved that much money. I am SO happy and feel so good about not ripping up that junk mail... definately earned my keep this week!

I am in such a good mood, I make Porter's lunch so it will be ready when he wakes up, he wakes up smiley and we have a wonderful lunch... then I remember that while on the phone with the insurance guy I discovered I couldn't find my keys... which I remember seeing in Porter's hands just the day before (when I saw him with them I was on the phone and thought uh oh he's going to loose those!) For the next THREE hours I look for them... I clean behind places I haven't looked in ages, went through the whole closet- my shoes, my baskets, everything! I start to get mad and I am bugged because now Porter is back down and I haven't run my errands, I haven't done a post I have looked everywhere.... I am MAD! Then I look in a drawer in the kitchen that is too heavy for Porter to open and there are my keys (he's getting stronger... and quicker and smarter... what a STINKER!).

For those of you who don't know we only have 1 set of keys for this car, we only got 1 set from the dealer when we traded (they were misplaced by Porter in Costco about a month ago.... big fiasco! but they were found and I found out without the originals it costs at least $170 to replace them, which I did not do) anyway I've learned my lesson I will call and get a copy made by someone my husband knows tomorrow... even though I don't want to spend the money... we need to in case this little guy find my keys!

WHAT A DAY!!!

(notice the finger point... grandpa cox calls him e.t. it's the way he says hello to everyone instead of waving or saying 'hi' he sticks his little finger out like that and if you reach out and touch his finger he kicks his little legs and giggles and is SO happy! It's really adorable!)

Maybe tonight before I go to bed I will work on a post that is less words, more pictures and a lot more fun to read! =)

Air Port-er

Porter got a Target giftcard for his birthday from his great grandma, but we couldn't think of anything to get him at the time because he really doesn't need anything. Now that Porter has gotten somewhat more stable on his feet we (meaning I with Bryce's approval) decided on a basketball hoop. He loves it! He caught on real quick... although he thinks that when there aren't basketballs close it's a good idea to dunk books, dinosaurs, juice cups, etc. whatevers handy. Pretty cute (sorry it's sideways I'm still working on remembering not to turn the camera)

I thought I would share something that made me smile... since the weather has been so cool here (112+) I force Porter to stay inside. The movie of the moment that gets played over and over is Ratatouille. Today while I was making his lunch I had him sitting on the couch watching it when all of the sudden he let out a cry and acted scared, so I ran over to him and assessed why he would be crying. He was still watching the tv, but clearly upset. Then I realized he is upset because it is at the point in the movie where the old grandma sees the rat (Remmy I think it is) in her kitchen and is trying to shoot him with a shot gun. This really upset Porter... he needed me to hold him on my lap until the little rat was safe. SO CUTE!

I know my child watches too much tv, but its really hot and I'm really tired!

Happy Fathers Day!

This is where I am suppose to do a mushy post about how great a dad and husband Bryce is... and he is but I will spare you all of that and instead share pictures of Porter making his grandpa's cards... I tried by myself and below are the results (I told my dad I would share) later when Bryce was home he helped make better ones and he made one of his hands and feet for his dad as well.

And here is a video of what Porter does all day long... he never gets tired of doing this:

(I am exagerating he also likes to watch tv and play outside, but if we are ever sitting down he will grab books and he nearly falls over because he ALWAYS brings 2 and has to sit on your lap... pretty adorable! and its so hard to tell him no cause he's just too cute.)

I told my dad there would be two video's, but I am not allowing one to be published on the internet because Bryce kept me in the frame, sorry!

Working and Playing at Grandpa and Grandma's

Porter got to hang out at his grandparents house this weekend. So here's lots of cute pictures of him helping grandma plant flowers (not that he really helped but he was company at least!) and more importantly he was happy to be outside (his favorite place!)

so thirsty I could drink right from the tap!

not sure which way this goes!

the dirt up here tastes so different from the stuff back home!

playing with something he shouldn't

telling Sariah to play with something they shouldn't! =)

(grandpa must of said it was okay!!!)

trying out the zip line

hanging out on the couch

Then this week Bryce went with the boys to scout camp... check out that cute uniform!

And while he was gone I finally went and bought my flowers for mothers day...

I wanted some that I couldn't kill so we'll see how it goes!

I'm offically walking

I realized last night as I was sitting at work that we haven't taken any video of Porter really walking... he has become quite the brave little guy and will walk out into the middle of the room (or the field at the dog park) without a destination in mind. Yes he often crashes, but that doesn't faze him. Now he's just got to figure out how to stand up without furniture and he will be set! Enjoy! (It looks like he totally took me out... he didn't really, he just grabbed the camera)

PS- Happy Birthday to "Grandma" Jeannie... hope you had a great day!

After completing the post we decided to show it to Porter because he loves watching himself... he laughed harder than this several times:

Crazy Kid!

(in other news Sadie actually swam in the lake and played fetch in the water at the dog park today (usually she just runs around with the other dogs) ... but today she got all the way in and quickly learned how to swim, we are such proud parents and she had a blast!)

Not Much to Post

I havent posted in quite awhile... mostly because not a whole lot has been going on. But for the grandparents and aunts (and whoever else is interested) here's a few little Porter updates:

This is how much Porter loved milk, right around his birthday:

I tried to slowly transition him over to vitamin d milk, but he was not having it. Then we had his 1 year appointment and during the appointment the pediatrician mentioned he could be drinking up to 24 oz a day... since that day he drinks it just fine most of the time... not even with trickery of sweetening it (I did that for a few days)... but not even warmed up. Such a little stinker... he HAD to hear it from the doctor before he would do it... what does his mom know anyway!

He is still working on the walking thing and is slowly getting better and braver... he has started to point at things a lot and demand things. His most common demand is going outside... even at bedtime he'll give that one a try... ordering Bryce and I around. Its tough cause you want kids to play outside and most of the time I will for a minute, but its getting SO hot. He sticks his little pointer finger out and says 'dat.' He does the same thing when he wants you to hold him to play with light switches.

The little guy got lucky though and on Friday Leigh and Joyce stopped by on their way to Mexico and watch the little guy and stayed overnight with us so that we could go to the temple... and when we got home the lucky little guy had grandpa sitting out in the heat and he was crawling/exploring all over the place. He was in heaven... Leigh was enjoying the warmth and a good book and Porter was just glad to not have a short time limit before his supervision got too hot. Thanks for hanging out with us this weekend, hope you enjoyed your shortened stay in Rocky Point before you head up to Utah.

A post wouldnt be complete with out pictures so here are a few of my attempts last weekend up in Lakeside to capture his cuteness... he's getting tougher as he gets faster!

Birthday Recap/Utah Trip

I can't help but post pictures of Porter eating his birthday cake... yes I made him his very own cake and he ate 1/3 or more of it all by himself. (I'm a horrible mother I know, but he only turns '1' once and why not). He definitely loves chocolate cake!

Shortly after he ate this cake we packed up and drove up to Las Vegas to visit his Great Grandma Bird... I did not take a single picture!! But we went to dinner with her and he chased her little dog Pumpkin all over her house. It was good to visit its been awhile and he got to show her how he's learning to walk!

The next day we headed up to Provo for BYU graduation... on the way we stopped often because we now have a child and so McDonald's play land became one of our stops. I climbed in with Porter and he crawled around some... he wasn't sure at first but eventually got pretty comfortable with it.

Once we got to Utah we stayed with Kim and Austin at a beautiful home where they live with the nicest lady (Georgia) and she was kind enough to put us up in an amazing room... we only wish we could have spent more time there, but once we arrived it seemed like we were always on the run. The first night we hung out at Troy and Heidi's.

The next day we drove through a blizzard (in April!!!) to go to a class party in my sister 4th grade classroom, which was a lot of fun (but I could never be a teacher!). Then we meet up with Danny, Rachel, Will and Alta for dinner at Goodwood (yum!) and then went back to Danny's house to see his puppies and hang out... their puppy just had 6 (?) little schnauzer puppies- if you live and utah and want one we'll hook you guys up they aren't planning on keeping any, they are adorable!

Porter loved the puppies (he was missing Sadie already!), but we had to keep an eye on him because he was a little rough.... he is used to Sadie who just takes whatever Porter does to her and loves him anyway, she just loves the attention.

The next day we skipped the actual commencement ceremonies for both of our sisters and instead meet up with my family afterwards and had lunch at Cracker Barrel... Porter hates hats, as you can tell, even though he looks adorable in them. He did like these rocking chairs in his size though and mom loved the photo op! (if only he were wearing cuter clothes... I didn't plan for frigid temperatures... it was 90 degrees when I packed to leave Mesa!)

That night we went to a Hawaiian luau for Donovon's brother. It was authentic Hawaiian food so it was definitely an adventure, but the entertainment was great-- especially a hula dance by Katie and Garren and cute songs sung by Jada with her dad... wish I would have recorded them she was adorable!

(Porter kept getting stuck between the bed and this bench at the end of the bed...he thought it was hilarious.)

The next day we meet up with some of my cousins, relatives, our college friends, and some high school friends of mine at a park to celebrate Porter's birthday. I made these cute monkey cupcakes that everyone told me not to beforehand but once they saw them they knew why I couldn't resist. Unfortunately I didn't take a picture but they looked like this:

Porter got more toys, since he is just a little spoiled, and loved them of course!

He also loves balloons so we got him some here's a video before they blew away:

(he did get lucky though cause his aunt's went and got him more so he had one to play with on the long drive home... thanks aunties and grandma!)

Then Saturday night was Kim's graduation party and that was fun as well! Here's a picture Joyce took of our little family:

Then our last morning we stopped by and visited with our old bishop and his wife... so good to see them again. Then made a quick stop to see a Bryce's friend Megan and then hit the road... what a long drive... we did get to stop in St George and visit our friends Dave and Lisa and their 3 girls.... it was a VERY long day, but we were so glad to be home. And boy was Sadie glad to see us... she has been especially well behaved and cuddly since our return.

And that's it... we are so glad to see those we got to see and only wish we had more time to spend with everyone!