Thanksgiving

Amy and I started off Thanksgiving with the Utah Human Race 5k.  I'm not sure what part of me thought I could just up and run 3 miles, but that's what I did.  Now I can't even walk I'm so sore!  I was pretty proud of myself for "running" the whole thing.  It was physically the hardest thing I've done since birthing Porter...wanted to quit the entire time!!  I had to do something to balance out the 5 pieces of pie I would eat later! (Oopsies!)

 

 We had Thanksgiving dinner at Nana and Papa's this year.  James and I made stuffed mushrooms for everyone.  They were delicious!

 We had a delicious dinner after squeezing our nephew Taylor.  He got home from his mission that morning.  It was the first time for Porter to meet Taylor.  It was so fun!  Then we followed up dinner with pie...lots of pie!

 Here was our Thanksgiving crowd...

 

This was the first time that Brett and Jenny's new kids had ever had Thanksgiving.  It was so cute to see how excited they were to try turkey and all the Thanksgiving fixings.  Such sweet kiddos!

 

Matt and Max came too, but we missed taking a picture of them.  It was a wonderful day!  I really hit the jackpot in the in-laws department!!

Football and Snow

We have finished another season of football.  It has been an interesting season to say the least!  The one thing I can't complain about is the weather!  We couldn't have asked for better football weather this year.  Thankfully football and snow never mixed this year!  We took Porter to one game.  We were prepared for it to be a nightmare.  He doesn't sit in one place for very long.  It ended up going great!  By the end of the game when he was ready to be done, the Cougs were winning handily, so people cleared out and Porter had room to roam. 

 

 The Grossen's had tickets near us, so got to play with them for a little while too!

 The last home game was a little windy and cold, but the snow held off until the next day.  Another season in the books!  James and I had the most fun testing out all the new food vendors and of course a cougar tail or two!

 We got our first snow on Nov. 17.  When I brought Porter downstairs, he noticed the snow out the window on the back door.  He exclaimed, "Oh wow!!!"  Then he kept saying, "mess! mess! mess!"  It was pretty funny.  It sure is a mess!  And a mess that last 4+ months and it cold and terrible but kind of pretty as long as you don't have to touch it!  Porter asked to touch the snow so I got him all dressed up in his snow clothes and let him play.  He lasted for about 10 minutes and had the time of his life until a big gust of wind blew snow all over his face.

 You will noticed I did all my videoing from the back door.  Sorry Porter...you'll have to wait for daddy to get home to have a parent play in the snow with you!

I heard of someone doing a family tradition of eating a first snow pie on the first day it snows in the winter.  James and I loved the idea, so this year we had banana cream pie for our first snow pie.  Any excuse to eat pie!

Rocked the Vote and Football

It has been a pretty wild week!  On Tuesday, James and I headed straight over the elementary school to vote.  I have never had such a difficult time deciding who to vote for.  Talk about being stuck between a rock and a hard place!  I woke up at 3:45am that morning and couldn't stop thinking about all the things going on, including this vote.  The whole process took us about an hour at the elementary school, but I voted.  It's done!  Then all these gems rolled in...

 That night, Kara and Ryan had us over for dinner and we watched all the numbers come in.  It was a crazy, crazy night!  Around 1am, Ryan and I were the only ones still awake, and we watched as Donald Trump delivered his speech.  I still can't believe it!  I am overjoyed that Hilary lost and hesitantly hopeful that DT won.  It will be interesting to see how this all goes!

Then yesterday, we were brave and took the P-nut with us to the BYU game.  This was the first home game that wasn't in the middle of the night, so we decided to make it a family affair.  Those who know Porter know that he does not sit still for more than 3 seconds so James and I were fully prepared for this to be the worst experience of our life, but he really surprised us! 

 I'll take a 65 degree November 12 any time!  It was a perfect football day!

The Grossen's were just a row below us, so once people started clearing out in the 4th quarter, we all got to sit together.

In Porter's words, "Go Cougars!!"  We are bowl eligible now, baby!!

29 Years Old Again!

I still feel like I'm 29....25 even!  It was the big 3-7 this year though!  It was a great day!  James made me a purple cow before he headed to work.  Porter enjoyed his with this lunch.

 Then that night, Amy watched Porter while James and I went to dinner and movie.  I chose In-N-Out.  It just never disappoints!  We saw Inferno, and it was awesome!

This beauty showed up at my door during the day too.  So lovely!

The next morning I remembered I had a present up in the closet from my parents to open.  Happy Birthday again to me!!

 

Yesterday, we had Amy and Kara and the kids and the Schofield's over to James' parent's house to watch the BYU game.  The game was a snoozer, but it was so fun to have so many of my favorite peeps together to celebrate one more day.  I am one lucky lady!!

Porter Antics - October

We started off October with General Conference.  Porter did pretty well keeping himself entertained through all the sessions, but there are definitely a few talks that James and I are going to have to revisit!

We made him a little fort to play in while we tried to watch.  It lasted about 5 minutes.

My fat-lipped little buddy.  Poor kid face planted on our tile floor.

It is just about the best thing when he moves into a new size of clothes so we can try out new outfits.  This one is my favorite in the 18 month old clothes so far!

Porter's first day of nursery was the Sunday after General Conference.  He did great!  He also wore himself out and fell asleep in his chair eating lunch.  Sweet little buddy!

My little helper in the garden!  "Cheese!"

He loves to walk around the backyard with this pot on his head.

One morning we headed out on a walk and got to see this amazing sunrise.  One of the perks of having a kid who wakes up before the crack of dawn is getting to see the crack of dawn!

James put bubbles in his bath one night and now he asks for them every day.  He loved it!

His favorite "seat" these days.

Porter loves to play the "pano" when we are at "Rara's" house.  He always is most interested in playing it while Hudson is sleeping of course.

Sometimes he rocks the pole dance during bath time.  Those buns!!

He also likes to take his washcloth and tie his "tie" to get ready for church.

One night Porter put every one of his books into his crib.  We put him to bed and then quickly started to hear them all hitting the floor.  This was the scene the next morning.

We love fall around here, especially crunching through all the leaves.

He looks like he's in pain, but he was really saying, "cheese!!"

Like mother, like son!  We had steak one night and introduced Porter to A1 sauce. He licked it right up.  He knows a good thing when he tastes it!

We went to Porter's 18 month doctor visit today.  He weights 23lbs 11oz (40%...up from 25%!!) and 32 inches tall.  His doctor was blown away by how much he talks.  He said it is extremely rare for an 18-month-old and especially a boy to say more than 5-8 words.  Ummmm...what?!  I'm pretty sure he was saying that many 6 months ago.  I would estimate he says around 200 words.  It is so fun to teach him new words things and watch him figure things out.  He teaches me new things all the time.  The other he kept saying, "Pete, Pete, Pete" over and over while we were doing one of his puzzles.  I didn't know what he was talking about.  Come to find out, one of the characters on his puzzle is Pete from Mickey Mouse Clubhouse.  Now I know!  We are so head over heels for this kid!

Halloween

Halloween is much more fun with a little buddy to celebrate it with!  We had our annual Taylor family Halloween party on the 22nd.  Porter wore the same little bunny costume that I wore when I was 1.

Are we twinners or what?!?

 I just can't get enough of him in this costume!  Come to find out, my grandma made it for me.  I love that it is still around and that Porter could wear it this year!

A bunny sitting on a bunny...his favorite thing in Nana's garden.

Wren was a little lamb.

Jenny made all these amazing costumes for his kids...S was a lion, E was a tiger, N was a black cat, and J was a little cheetah.  We had an entire zoo at our party!

My beautiful niece, Hilary!

The Paperman from the Disney short film called Paperman

 I sure love this family of mine!  Nana and Papa did not disappoint, as usual, with lots of fun Halloween games and a huge spread of treats at the end (thanks, Max!!)

 

 Then on actual Halloween, we took the little P master over to trick-o-treat at Dedo's and then around our little neighborhood.  He had the time of his life getting "canny" from everyone!

 

He could barely lift his loot!

And just for good measure, this video needs to be included.  Porter has been trying to jump lately, but he can't quite figure out how to get both feet off the ground at the same time.  It made for the cutest little bunny hop!