Five Years and Counting

Can you believe that I've been married for Five Years?? I can't it's gone so quickly. I think back on the 29th of December and how much I loved Travis then, and realize how much more I love him now. We've gone through 30 months of pregnancy, 23 hours of labor, 3 boys, lived in 3 states, moved 6 times, bought two homes, gone through five months of unemployment, potty training, 2 graduations, bought one minivan (which we swore we'd never do), dealt with numerous fish deaths, lived in snow, rain, sunshine, cockroaches, we've built a waterfall/pond together, we've known poor times and comfortable times, we've laughed and cried together, we've definately grown together. It has been a wonderful journey! Thank you Travis for choosing me!!

Our Holiday

We have had a great Holiday! We hope that you have too! Here are just some of the highlights of our Season.

So this wasn't the smartest day of my life. Travis took a youth group down to Utah to do baptisms. I brought the kids and we went to my parents house and then met up with them on Temple Square . . .well they went to watch the Joseph Smith Movie and I said "Oh the kids wont sit with that, you go ahead and I'll just walk with the boys around temple square." Oh my heck . . .me with all three boys by myself amongst the crowd! What was I thinking? But none of the kids got lost and they were so good to stay in or by the stroller. And who knew that the movie was over an hour long?? WE ended up going to the visitor center basement where I let the boys loose and told them to push every button they could find!!

Kyler took this picture!

Walking back to the car.

Kyler refused to have his picture taken outside but then when we went to go meet up with Trav and the youth he wanted to get his picture taken infront of this statue.Travis had to work Christmas Eve, isn't that great that I get to say that he had to WORK!! It's nice to have a job. But because of that we weren't able to go down to my parent's for the annual Christmas Eve Program. Instead we were able to go over to our friends house the William's, and enjoy an evening of Fondue and fun. We love them!

Eldon and Katie playing around.
Eldon was getting quiet, come to find out he was just chillin' in the entertainment center!
Boys in their Christmas P.J.'s! I love, love, love this picture of the three of them! We gave Isaac a giant Elephant for Christmas. I think that he likes it!! I love his little grin!

My Mom doesn't sew, never did hardly when we were growing up. But she made these blankets for the boys so that they could be nice and warm this winter! They love them. Oh and she also gave Kyler this flute. . . yeah thanks for that one mom!

Kyler got the flute and Eldon got the maracas!

I love this picture of Travis. Travis comes from a family that loves to scrapbook. I haven't really been that into it. But for Christmas I made him a scrapbook of how we met and fell in love. I love his face as he's looking at it. It makes me very happy.

We had a great Christmas and we hope you all did to! Can't wait to read about them on your blogs!

Santa Reactions

I saw this on the Robison's blog and I thought that it would be fun to do. Here is how our children have reacted to Santa over the years:

Kyler

2006

2007

2008

2009
Eldon
2008

2009

FYI

Just so you know I've been unable to update this blog lately. So today while I've been homebound by two flu-infested boys, I've updated. There are a lot of them. You can read all of them, or none of them! But I just wanted you to know that there are a few so keep looking down! Thanks for checking in on us!

Decoratin the Tree

I love Christmas time! I love the traditions and the decorations! Finally we were able to put the decorations on the tree between the different things that Travis is involved in. It's not a great picture of our tree but it's fun to see our kids having a good time and then very proud of their work!

Travis turns 32

So Travis turned 32 on December 5th. I was so proud because not only did he not guess his present (he is an expert at shaking a gift and knowing exactly what it is), but he had no idea about his surprise party!! It was great! We love our friends here! They made it so fun and wonderful! I know that I should write 32 things that I love about Travis . . .and believe me I really do have 32 things that I love about him, but that would probably bore you so I'll just make sure that I tell him. Travis is amazing! And I always am in amazment how great he is for me and how lucky I am to have him. So I hope you know him and if not then I hope you get a chance to meet him and get to know him because he's wonderful!

Evanston Light Parade

So we all got dressed up in our warm clothes, packed the kiddos in the car, and went down town to see the light parade. . . only to be in the one spot on main street that the parade didn't pass. By the time we realized it we caught the last float . . . the only thats lights was out because it's generator went out.

Evanston Christmas Carnival

We were able to go to the Evanston Christmas Carnival and it was soooo much fun! The boys loved it and had a grand ol' time. Needless to say they slept great that night!

Bouncing in one of those bouncy things.

Kyler took our picture of us having such a good time!

Eldon loving the cotton candy!

Showing off his snowman face paint!

The boys with Santa; One is bored, one is screaming, and one is just wondering why he left a perfectly comfortable carseat to be held by a wierd man.

Grandma's 80th

The Saturday after Thanksgiving we headed down to my parents for my Grandma Porter's 80th birthday party. Come to find out that my dear Grandma had a siezure that created bleeding on her brain. She was unable to come to her own party, but because we were all there we decided to hold it anyways. We are happy to report that she is doing much better, the bleeding has stopped, and she is home. It was still good to see everyone but needless to say the Porter's were much more calm then usual.

Thanksgiving

So this year we had a little Thanksigiving at our house. Travis' sister Tavia and her fam came down from Rexburg to spend it with us! It was so fun . . . but I really did feel that this was the first year without any adults to cook the meal. But we did succeed and I was so proud of my Turkey! Here are some pics of the highlights. We had a great time and loved having them here to share it with us!

Yikes! I'm responsible for the turkey!

Yeah it didn't catch on fire!
Boys trying not to eat before prayer!

One last hug before we say good-bye!

Really what can I say?

Ice Cream for Dinner!!

Yes we ate Ice Cream for dinner last night. You may think that is a little extreme and maybe it was but we had to celebrate. Travis got a job!! And not just any job a great opportunity sort of job. He has been working with a company called White Mountain Lumber, to try to get the old Stock store to open up a lumber yard. Well they tried buying the property and that didn't work but yesterday they signed a lease with the guy who bought it. They have asked Travis to be their manager. It is a great opportunity and we couldn't be more pleased.

I know that I've said this before but this has been quite the experience for my family, to be unemployed. I have learned a lot about myself and my relationship to my Heavenly Father. As times started to get harder I was talking to my father who mentnioned that God tends to push us farther then we think we can handle. Well it was just a week or so ago that I sat at the computer and looked at the $0.00 balance in our bank acount and just cried. And now here we are, soon to be employed again. We are going to be far from millionaires but our bills will be paid and our boys will not starve.

It has been almost a year that we have been without renters in our St. George house and we still have it. It is a miracle that even when we had no income some how we had enough to cover the expenses we needed to. We live in a ward of ministering angels and they have encircled us many times. Words can't express the joy that we felt last night as we looked over the past few months and saw the Lord's hand in guiding and protecting us.

And as strange as it sounds I am very grateful for the time that we had to be tried with unemployment. It has helped put things in perspective. I feel we have a stronger family, a stronger marriage, stronger testimonies, and stronger friendships. So here we go on another chapter in our lives. Ready for the next page with very grateful hearts.

P.S. This little guy has been sleeping through the night. Yes he goes to bed at 11:00 and then sleeps until 7:00. I know he's so great! Also he is 6 weeks old and weighs 11 lbs and 10 ozs! So he's doing great!!