Twas the Night before Christmas

Twas the night before Christmas, and all though the Porter house, all the children sat still (oh my gosh that's unbelievable!). For Daddy was reading from the scriptures the birth story of Christ. With hot-chocolate in hand and a warm bath just past, it wouldn't be long till all the kids would finally crash, Mamma proclaiming "at long Last!!"

Then out crept the Elves and got the tree and gifts ready for the next day's events. Just before 1 am the Elf's eyes started to close, not like the nights long ago when they stayed up to see Santa arrive. Soon the visions of Christmas will just be dreams in their heads, when they'll be hearing "wake up Mom, wake up Dad!"

We hope everyone has a joyous Christmas.

**A special shout out to those that made Christmas extra special this year! Thank you for your gifts! They are well received!

Mini Grand Prix & a Chihuahua?

What do a Mini Grand Prix and a Chihuahua have in common?? Parent/child dates.

My husband and I started a one-on-one date with our kids this Saturday. This is a family tradition I should have started a long time ago. We have four children and usually four Saturdays in a month, perfect! Joe and his dad went to the mini grand prix. Brianna and I went to see Beverly Hills Chihuahua. What fun times. It was nice to only have one child to focus on while doing something we knew they would enjoy. I know the boys had fun too, my husband reported back to my mom about the experience.

I think it is important to get that one on one time with each child and am looking forward to all of my future dates.

Stop over

My brother Calvin, and his beautiful wife, came for a visit on their way back to Oregon from Mississippi. The kids had a blast visiting Red Rock Canyon, and a couple of other parks. Brianna couldn't get enough of her Aunt Becca. Calvin had to tell her that Becca was his kissing toy, not that that stopped my sweet kiss monster. Calvin and Rebbecca are alway teasing each other about who Brianna loves the most. This visit Calvin asked Brianna and she told him she loved Becca more. Ouch, but really, don't ask a question if you're not ready for the answer. I think he took it in stride and found another willing admirer in Kaitlynn who told him about 20 times in the car that she loved him.


They are a sweet couple. It was Calvin's first time meeting Elizabeth. They hit it off just fine. Although he did try feeding her to a dinosaur at the park...

Busy August

Gosh, so much to catch up on!

First there was my birthday, the big ## (did you really think I would reveal my age?). I don't like getting older after all, I think I'd really like this machine my son keeps talking about inventing where you can go back to a younger age. I'm not sure what age I'd pick but I'm sure I'd like to go a "little" younger, oh, but I'd like all the things I have now like my kids and my husband.

My in-laws visited for a week just days after the water heater was fixed (thank Heavens!!). It might be the last time they could come to Vegas and have a free room to stay in, and see their grandchildren to boot.

We went to my family reunion in Malad, Idaho. What fun that was! And only a little family drama. We were missing only a few of our family members, my brother Ben, my brother Calvin and his wife. We try to meet every year to celebrate the life of my brother Lachoneus, who died when he was 17, we call it "Lakie Day." This year we had all of the 13 grandchildren in attendance. Unfortunately we did not get any pictures of the whole family.

My little Elizabeth was the "baby bully," she may be the youngest but she is for sure the biggest and the meanest (but she really isn't mean, she's just very aggressive with her love)! She is one of the luckiest cousins around, she has three cousins born just two months before her (Jessi's little Zeke, and Zeb's twins, Elliot and Otto). Otto and Elliot got to the point where just seeing Elizabeth coming was enough to make them cry (in unison), I can't wait till next year when they will get her back.

Then we had my my Dad, my sister Rose and her two, Eamonn and Fiona, stay with us for a few days before we went to my cousin Traci's wedding in California. Her wedding was very beautiful up in the hills at Palos Verdes Estates overlooking the ocean. The wedding lasted six hours, only 4 of which we stayed for...kids don't do too well after 9pm.















There was a lot of waiting around after the ceremony and before dinner, during which time my children made the best of it.


Funny story: A couple were sitting and betting on which one of the kids would fall into the fountain first. Not pictured in above photo: Joe (wearing blue).

Me: "What's the bet?"

Gentleman: "I've got $100 on the boy in blue going in first."

Me: "Who's putting up?"

Gentleman: "My wife."

Me, to the wife: "Might as well pay out now. My bet's on the boy too!"

Although no one fell in we had quite the time trying to pry them away from the beautiful fountain. I can't wait to see if the photographers got any good ones of Elizabeth touching the water with her momma holding a foot to make sure she didn't go face first into the pond. Every time I would try and get her away someone else with a camera would say, "Just one more?"Even one of the flower girls and bride's mother partook of the cool water.

Joseph and Elizabeth had birthdays, posts for them later.

That's it for now. I told you it was busy. One more California picture: