Porter 11 Months and Easter

Porter's 11 month birthday and Easter were on the same day.  It was a fun day!  This was the only picture we could get him to sit still for...

 We splurged on an Easter outfit which will also be used for his 1-year-old pictures in a month.  I can't even handle the cuteness!

 Sunday morning we headed over to Highland for my cousin, Benjamin's, mission homecoming talk.  Then we headed back to our ward for the rest of the meetings.  We put Porter down for a nap and dyed Easter eggs.  This was my favorite...

 Once the eggs were dry, we "hid" them around the living room so Porter could do an Easter egg hunt when he woke up.  It was pretty fun to see him find all these new things around the house.

 

 

 

 

 He would grab them and then immediately smash them into the tile, so we ate a few of them right away.  Then we led him to where his Easter basket was hidden.  We just used my old purple Easter basket...classic!

 He was pretty pumped about his new toys and candy.

 Then we had dinner and some Easter cookies.

Pink frosting!

Then we had a little Family Home Evening lesson about Jesus and the Resurrection.  It was a special day to be together as a family!
Here are a bunch of pictures of the Porter boy from the last month...

One day it was warm enough for shorts.  He looks huge!

Another day we played outside and Porter destroyed his socks and discovered rocks.  He loves to try to eat them!

He also loved the flag!

This boy loves books, especially anything involving animals.

We let him go at spaghetti one night.  He didn't love eating it, but he sure loved playing in it!

 One afternoon while I was working, Porter was busy playing in the blue room.  Usually I'm overjoyed if he's entertaining himself so I let him do whatever he was doing because he was so happy.  Then I went to see what he was up to...

Almost a whole box of Kleenex!

He was so proud!  Why do they like to eat it?!

James and I were called to be a Trek ma and pa, so we are gearing up!  Porter likes to help us shop!

He loves to play with the big kids, and by "play" I really mean pester.

One night we went to the puppy barn.  Porter loves doggies and makes the cutest little "woof, woof" sound.

He happily eats a whole cookie these days!

He loves his woof woof from Uncle Byde!  He kisses it and gives it hugs.

Sophie loves to be a little mom to Porter and wanted to feed him his bottle.  He looks gigantic!

One morning, James set a single Cheerio on top of Porter's little stuffed dog and Porter went in for a face plant to give it a hug.  He came up with the Cheerio stuck to his snot flow.  We laughed so hard!  He also loves his letters that stick to the wall in the bath tub.  He almost always has one in his mouth.

We have been borrowing Jake and Olivia's baby backpack to go on prep hikes for trek.  It was a little cold this morning and about 15 minutes in, Porter totally lost it.  He was almost inconsolable which is so unlike him.  I ended up carrying him home and he fell asleep.  Poor little buddy!

I love this picture!

Porter likes to borrow my water bottle.  He usually ends up with his whole shirt soaking wet.

He loves to read his books and will jabber away like he's reading a story.

Wrestling with the big kids!

Just when you think having a kid couldn't be more fun and more challenging, a new day comes and it's more fun and more challenging!  What he needs and wants changes every day.  He learns new tricks and discovers new things daily.  It's refreshing to see the world through his eyes.  Everything is new and exciting.  Turning off and on a light, brushing teeth, eating Skittles, etc...all so exciting!

Here are a few more things from this month...

• One afternoon Porter was getting a little fussy and it was getting close to nap time.  He came up to me at my desk, grabbed my finger, and walked me over to his crib.  He was ready!
• He loves to be in the pantry.  Any time I open the door, he bolts for it!
• He is understanding so much like light, bath, drink, let's go, night night, clock, kisses, and bye bye.
• He is obsessed with socks.  He will carry one around the house for hours.  He also loves to chew on them.
• We have started to try and teach him about using forks and spoons.
• He waves and blows kisses at everyone every where we go.  He makes friends quickly just like his dad.
• He officially mastered the stairs.
• He loves to point at lights.
• He is getting pretty good at some baby signs like eat, please, drink, more, and all done.
• When we go in to get him up from his naps, he likes to hand us his Mickey and Goofy dolls to hug and give kisses.  He thinks that is so fun!
• He met his newest cousin Hudson and needs a lot of work in knowing how to touch a new little baby!
• After his naps he like to touch the globe that hangs from the ceiling near his bed.
• He is obsessed with his penis and thinks it is his new toy whenever it is accessible.  Ugh!  Boys!
• He stands often unassisted but is still hesitant to take steps on his own.

We love this kid and Happy Easter everyone!

Temple, Babies Everywhere, and BYU Bball

Better late than never, but I finally made it to the Provo City Center Temple open house.  James had gone a couple months ago with the youth in our ward, and I felt like every person I know had been, so I was so excited to go!  It was truly breathtaking!  I remember crying the day it burned thinking about this beautiful building being destroyed.  I had a lot of stake conferences and other meetings in the Provo Tabernacle when I was a student at BYU, so it held special memories for me.  It makes me so happy to see restored as a temple.  It always amazes me how perfect and immaculate these temples are.  They are truly houses of the Lord.

 

Our reservations were for 7:15pm so we didn't take Porter with us, but we both wished we had when it was over.  He would have loved it with all the pretty lights, and when will this opportunity happen again in Utah?  Nothing for a while.  Parent fail!  But it was a fun date night with dinner before and dessert after.  I can't wait to go back and spend time in this beautiful temple!

A couple of days later, Olivia and Jake welcomed sweet little Ruby June to the world.  She is so tiny and so perfect!  We grabbed some pizza and spent the evening with them a couple days after they got home.  I can't believe Porter was ever so small!  Olivia and little Ruby are both doing great!  A new little buddy for Porter!

 

 

Kara was just a couple weeks behind Olivia for her due date, so we had to go get our baby pedi all together last Saturday!

 That pedi got things moving!  Kara started having contractions on Sunday, and then Tuesday morning Ryan texted me saying it was go time!  James and I grabbed Porter and headed over.  Ryan and Kara headed to the hospital, and then we took the boys to get donuts for this exciting day!

 Once we heard that Kara had been admitted and this was happening, we took the boys over the Amy's so James and I could go to a funeral.  My dear friend, Tricia, lost her grandma a few days ago.  She was almost 98-years-old and in quite a bit of pain, so it was a blessing, but still so sad!  James, Porter, and I were sitting in her funeral when we got the text saying Hudson had arrived!  It was really touching to experience all those parts of the plan of salvation at the same time.  The book ends to life in mortality and then they aren't even really ends or beginnings...just steps we have to take to return back to our Heavenly Father.  The gospel is truly amazing!  Maybe Helen and Hudson fived it up in passing and Helen told him to get down here and be a legend!  These are the types of things that I like to think happen.

Hudson MacKay joins the fam!

And let's just make a comment on how Kara leaves for the hospital at 7:30am, gets admitted by 8:30am, and has a kid by 11:30am.  I can only dream of such a thing!  She's wonder woman!  After the funeral, James headed to work, and Porter and I went to Amy's, and I left Porter there and grabbed Isaac and Wyatt to head to the airport to pick up Becca.  Everything really worked out so perfectly that day, and what a great excuse to not work!  Becca dropped me off at home so I could grab my own car, and I headed back to Amy's while Becca took the boys to the hospital to meet their new brother.
A few hours later, Amy and I took our brood to the hospital and we swapped turns going up to meet Hudson while the other watched the kiddos in the waiting room.  He really is perfect!  Love him!

 

It still always blows my mind that this baby was living inside of Kara just a few hours before!  Don't get it!
A few days later my cousin, Kimberly, was in town from Virginia, so we went to her baby shower.  It was fun to see her and other family that we don't get to see very often!  She's going to be a great little momma!

 Amidst all the baby madness, we have entered into March Madness!!  The Cougs really choked every time it mattered most (sounds familiar, I know), so they didn't make the real tournament, but we still went to support them in the NIT.  It was fun, Porter made friends with everyone around us, and the Cougs won! 

We took the binkie hoping he would fall asleep.  Who are we kidding?!

We are rolling right on through March!  I can't believe this boy will be 1 next month!  Seeing all these new babies has made me realize that Porter is a full blown kid now and not a baby anymore.  I can't believe it!