Kanarra Falls

This weekend, Kimbrey, Daniel and Chase headed down to stay with us. We decided that Saturday would be a great day for a hike and we were right.

We headed to Kanarra Falls, and the scenery along the way was breathtaking. The beautiful falls at the end were more than worth the frozen feet it took to get there. Kyle, Porter and I headed up this little make-shift ladder to the next falls. Coming back down was not much fun, but the view of being on top of the waterfall was beautiful. I believe that is what I am exclaiming to Kyle in this picture. I felt bad that he had the camera, the view was incredible. All in all it was a great weekend, and we were glad to have the Torgerson's over to visit. You guys are welcome anytime!

And I know that this has nothing to do with the hike, but I thought I would let you all know. All of our sewer problems seem to be over. It seems like when you threaten to dig up pipes and change them out for newer, better, shinier pipes (okay, I don't know if they would necessarily by shinier, but that's what I told the pipes); they all of a sudden start to behave themselves. Or at least that's how I like to believe it happened.

great outdoors

I love being outside, and I'm glad that my boys do too. We go for walks all the time and play in the yard (now that we have a yard), and we are looking forward to the warmer weather to allow us to go hiking! I don't know what the obsession is or how it started, but I love hiking. I love going to Moab and hiking arches, and I am now so excited to hike through Zion's and to all of the little less known areas around here.

I'm very privileged to work with people who have lived their entire lives here and know the little trails that lead to magnificent places. Places that most tourists don't know about. I talked with some people at work last night, and all I can say is that I have a list... and it's getting long. I may even have to get over that fear of falling from heights and take up some repelling lessons. It looks like many of the great hikes are only accessible to rock climbers, but don't worry Mom, there are plenty of places for me to hike with my feet on the ground before I get that desperate to get my adrenaline pumping!

I just can't wait to get started! We are going hiking with Kimbrey, Daniel and Chase tomorrow and I'm so excited!

On to other topics...

This week has been so hectic and I'm sorry for the lack of posts, but things have been a bit crazy.

Our main sewer line broke this past week, and we are waiting to have it fixed. Kyle believes it's just a crack in the main line (I don't understand all of the rest of the stuff he explained, but I'm sure that CRACK and MAIN SEWER LINE in the same sentence is bad). We can still run our water, and everything still runs fine, but that means that they will have to dig up our yard that we just seeded in order to replace the pipe.

But, enough of all that. I know that this blog is mainly checked for pictures of a small red-headed boy, so here they are!

Porter loves to crawl out onto our front porch and sit and watch the children who run down our street. We have schools near our house, so at about 2:30 in the afternoon it's Porter's people-watching time.

Still just as smiley and happy as ever. I can't get enough of this kid!

8 Months!

It is amazing to me that just 8 months ago, this darling little guy was born. I can't believe how big he is getting, and it seems like everyday he starts doing something new. So, yet again, here is a little list of what Porter can (but sometimes shouldn't) do. These might not be the greatest pictures in the world, but they get the point across.

Porter...

* Crawls everywhere... and fast

* Climbs up on things

* Jumps whether in his jumper or not

* Holds his own bottle

* Loves dirt
* Eats solids (including sticks, leaves, rocks and dirt)

* Loves playing peek-a-boo

* Flys through the air with the greatest of ease

* Talks, babbles and chatters constantly

* Blows raspberries and makes sucking noises with his tongue (see previous post)

* Loves his baths

* Hates getting dressed. He would much rather be naked!

* Crawls with his cup in his mouth

* Drools constantly

*Favorite Animal : Duck* Has the cutest tooth (and a half) I've ever seen

* Loves his Daddy

* Loves his Mommy

* Has a smile and giggle that makes his mom's heart skip a beat

Raspberries

The past week has been a little hectic around here, and some of us haven't been feeling the best (ie. Porter). Porter has another tooth that has popped it's way into his mouth; and the way we have been using Oragel ... we should buy stock. Porter hates the taste of it, but moments after it's on his gums, he feels so much better. I was putting it on him the other day and about 10 minutes afterwards (after wiping my finger on a towel) I licked my finger and my tongue instantly went numb. It's powerful stuff.

Today, Porter is feeling much better. He's started blowing raspberries. I just can't get enough of this kid!

23 Things in 2007

This has been a tough list to compile. I am just shocked and amazed at how few things I did last year! However, I do believe that my pregnancy and giving birth to Porter should count as 10 things each, so really I would have more than 23 things.

This has inspired me even more to get off my butt and do some things this year so I can have more than 24 on my list next year!

So, here it goes in not too particular an order!

#1. Gave birth to Porter

#2. Blessed Porter

#3. Gained 50 lbs.

#4. Lost 50 lbs. (and 12 more to date!)

#5. Bought and learned the basics of how to use a kick-butt camera

#6. Took photography classes

#7. Finished my first afghan

#8. Finished my first quilt

#9. Got a new job in the ER

#10. Took over 5,000 photos of Porter

#12. Started digital scrapbooking

#13. Became an Aunt again and again (and once more, but that will be on 2008)

#14. Went to my 1st water aerobics class (on my due date)

#15. Kyle started school again

#16. Spent our first Christmas with just the three of us

#17. Ran my first code (second, third etc.)

#18. Ran my first trauma (patient limped away with a broken toe... am I good or what?)

#19. Entered the blogging world

#20. Went to the temple to see Aiden be sealed to Jill and Kenny

#21. Became a Mom

#22. Went to Les Miserables

#23. Went to Thoroughly Modern Millie (twice)

Porter, meet grass.

The weather down here is just beautiful right now. So, tonight we decided to take a walk up to the high school and introduce Porter to the grass. He wasn't so sure about it at first, but it didn't take him long to warm up to it! Once he decided it wasn't that bad, he took off and it was a little difficult to keep up. When Porter's determined to move, you'd better get out of his way.

Okay, not pictures...

just picture. singular. not plural. only one. or, I should say 50, but all of the same shot. I can't believe that I didn't take out my camera more. But here is a picture of all of the grandbabies on my side. From left to right is Sophie, Riley holding Baby Ian, Wesley, Jack and Porter. Aren't they darling? Getting 6 kids to hold still and smile at the same time was near to impossible, and either Wesley or Jack were covering their eyes. Ian was losing his pacifier every other shot and Porter was desperately trying to fall off the couch. So this is the best we could do. Those kids are pretty cute.

Pictures to come...

This past weekend we headed up to visit with Gramma and Grampa M. Sadly, I forgot to pull out my camera very often, so I only have a couple of pictures. And, sadly I don't have access to those pictures at this particular time, so you will all have to wait on the edge of your seats for the pictures to post tomorrow.
But, we had fun (even though I don't have photographic evidence to prove it!).
Kyle got to spend Saturday and Sunday with us, but headed back to home for his classes on Monday. He returned Wednesday night for his Sagerider meeting and we all headed home today.
Porter is getting his two bottom teeth in and hasn't been feeling well. Lucky for us Porter's attitude when he's not feeling well is just as good or better than most children on their best days!
He is also climbing up on anything in site. He loves to pull himself up to stand. And, if you can have a box for him to climb up the side of, he will stay entertained for... well... minutes pulling things out of it and throwing them on the floor. He's just as talkative as ever.
I had fun this weekend getting my hair redone by Raylene. She believes that I should have been born a redhead and decided just to lighten it up a bit. I think I like it red too. I'm sure it will change again in a few months when I get tired of the red, but for now I like it.

We are so glad to have been able to spend time with family this past week. We celebrated Kari, Heather and Phil's birthdays on Sunday and enjoyed a yummy meal of BBQ ribs. I love being able to spend time with family and this weekend was just the ticket.
We also got to meet the newest edition to our clan, our sweet little Ian. (And by little, I mean the tiniest little baby I've ever held!)
Overall it was a great trip and we look forward to visiting again!