In the blink of an eye...

My dear Shirley Lynne,
You are ONE! I honestly can't believe it.  I feel like I just found out I was pregnant with you, just found out you were a GIRL, just had you in the hospital.  This year was full of challenges and struggles.  But this year was magical.  I saw all your firsts.  I was home, with you and your brother. Right where I belonged.  Shirley you are a fire ball.  You entered this world screaming at the top of your lungs! You are the comic relief we need, the soft gentle reminder that all is ok.  You are the sweet influence for us to hug more.  You are a doll.  You love to play peek-a-boo.  You love clothes and you think you look pretty when you are dressed, even in a night gown.  You love your brother.  You love everyone you see.  You started getting shy.  You are a big flirt.  You are a really big cuddle bug.  You are one determined little gal.  You've been walking for months, you can climb on the couch, you want to do everything your brother does.  I am so glad you are a part of our family.  You were meant to be here.  I love watching you grow and am so grateful I get to be such a big part of your life.  It's going to be an amazing life.  We sure love you little lady.

Love,
Mommy

All pictures are copyright Kristal Price Photography.

Statdium of Fire 2013

We were driving in the car and the hubs goes, "I have a surprise, I have two tickets for the stadium of Fire, one for you and one for a friend" I love his way of making it clear he did not want to go! Well I knew it would be a blast and called my sister to see if she wanted to go.  Of course she did, she would be crazy not to! 

 I especially love the patriotic beginning, it makes me all teary eyed and so grateful to be in this amazing country.

 Can you guess what song is being performed right now? Call me maybe!

Kelly Clarkston was AMAZING! homegirl can sing. I loved watching her.  Carly Rae Jepson was just ok.  It was fun to dance to her kits but she didn't have a lot of energy.  We had a great girls night and watched the biggest fireworks!

BYU Football

I did it! I went to my first BYU football game, after living here 6 years! We got front row seats with some of the hub's coworkers.  We rode bikes over with our friend Ed (pman's God-Father) and it was really fun...but soooo cold.  The game was amazing.  There was always some sort of entertainment right in front of me, great for my short attention span.  I loved watching the cougarets (?) and the cheer leaders.  They were really good.  I didn't know that a cannon went off every time they scored a touchdown, and the first time I screamed and covered pman, I honestly thought it was a mass shooting.  It really freaked me out.  everyone else was laughing hysterically (apparently they all knew about the cannon) I was trying to think how I could escape with my three year old alive. No joke.  Aside from that terrible experience, it was so much fun.  Pman made it to right before half time, then he fell asleep sitting up. I cuddled him into me and he slept the rest of the game away.  I even got a free shirt! I made sure we wore our cougar gear, I had a jersey that matched pman's (both the kid section on clearance!) and got Y stickers for our faces.  We really had a blast and are looking forward to the next game in November!

 Just look at this.  The hubs is actually smiling.  I don't think he could hide his excitement :)

 Pman pointed to this cheerleader and said, "I like her, she's cute" And so it begins my little man!

                                                        My sweet sleeping boy.

11 months

Hello World,

I am now 11 months (as of September 29th).  I am walking everywhere, at first it was very Frankenstein like, my parents call me frankenbaby.  But I've gotten a lot better at it.  I am a tall and slender little lady.  I love to talk, and play.  My favorite toys are my Jessie doll, my brothers Woody doll, any ball, my shopping cart, and any empty box I can get my hands on.  I am very fast.  If I know I'm doing something I'm not supposed to I will try and go faster, it's really cute.  I love to clap and play peek a boo.  I give lots of kisses.  I wave all the time, my cute little backwards wave.  I love to cuddle and will pat your back if I give you a hug.  I love Porter but sometimes he can be too rough and I get really mad.  My cry is very loud...just to be sure everyone can hear me.  I am very sensitive, sometimes my feelings get hurt more than I get actually hurt.  I walk everywhere and try to climb up things.  I still love the bath. I will kick my legs as fast as I can.  I want to do whatever the bigger kids are doing.  I love babies, which is funny to see because I'm not much bigger than they are.  I still love to eat, I will eat anything I can.  I really love peas.  I can be quite a flirt.  I have a very fun and social personality.  It's hard to believe that I will be one year old!!

Love,

Shirley

10 months

Hello World!

This is my 10 month update! I am growing like a weed ( a small very petite weed).  At nine months I wasn't gaining weight, my mom's milk wasn't high enough in calories so we started supplementing with formula.  I love it.  So much in fact, that I decided I was done nursing and was going to stick with the easy bottle.  It was the best all around.  My mom was sad for about half a day but it really has worked out the best for us.  At nine months I was standing and during my 10 th month I started walking.  I took my first steps on September 10th, three steps to my Mama (grandma).  And then there was no stopping me.  I love food and will eat any and everything.  I still don't have any teeth yet.  I am always putting things in my mouth and my mom has literally saved my life countless times.  She says I'm a dare devil.  I got my very own Jessie doll and love it.  I love to play with balls and anything that my brother is playing with.  I LOVE bath time.  I sleep with my binkie, but when I get mad I throw it out of the crib and then I get really upset.  I give kisses and say "da" for all done, sometimes mama and dada when I am talking to my mom and dad, most of the time it's just fun to say.  I wave to people and dogs and say "hiiiiiiiii" when I see someone.  I love to be silly and get tickled.  Sleeping is a little rough.  My brother usually wakes me up and then it's hard for me to get back into sleeping. I sure am loving life!

Love,

Shirley

8 months (June 29.2013)

Hello World! I am 8 months old! My mom tells me all the time that she can't believe it. I can crawl any and everywhere.  I am also crawling up the stairs.  I pull myself up and hold on to furniture and walk around.  I can't sit still.  If you put me down I will crawl wherever I can and explore.  My mom bought a baby gate and she says it is the best thing ever.  I really love to crawl into the bathroom.  I am a tiny little thing.  I eat every four hours and eat as much real food as I can get my hands on.  I have been saying mama and dada for awhile now but now I say them with meaning(not always).  I really love to look into the mirror.  I am a very busy little lady.  I have a little purse that I love to play with, I still love my brothers Woody toy, and any of his toys.  I am very smiley, when we go on walks or to the store people think they have to stop and talk to me. I get very loud and make sure that my voice is heard.  

Love,

Shirley

7 months (May 29, 2013)

Hello World! I am trying to get caught up.  I am seven months old and mobile! I can crawl and roll all over.  I am very ticklish.  I still love food.  If I had to pick a favorite it would probably be sweet potatoes and avocados.  I am getting better at sleeping through the night.  My favorite thing is my mom's hair and my brother.  Porter can make me laugh so hard. I really love to be sung to.  I take two naps a day and eat every four hours.  I am a very distracted eater!  My favorite toys are my brothers Woody toy, my caterpillar toy, and I really like rattles. I love to go on walks, as long as I can sit in the stroller and face out I am happy.  I learned to patty cake and I give open mouth kisses.  I am very cuddly.  When it is bedtime, my mom walks me into my room and I lay my head on her shoulder right away.  Everyone tells me I am a very happy baby.  My mom says that's true but I am also very sassy!

Love,

Shirley

One time I woke up and ran a half marathon

The Utah Valley Marathon and Half Marathon ends near our house, I don't know why but I didn't even think of signing up.  Then Friday night a friend posted on facebook that her brother was hurt and couldn't run it. I was interested but it was like 6 pm.  Who thinks of doing a half marathon 12 hours from the start? With NO training? Crazy people, that's who.  But then the hubs came home from work and asked why I wasn't running the race? Done. I called my friend and meet them to get the bib.  So June 8, 2013 I ran my 6th Half marathon with no training and three hours of sleep.  And I had a blast.  It was a great course, downhill, cool, lots of people, beautiful and just fun.  Around mile 6 I knew I was going to be sick.  At mile 10 I was dying.  My stomach hated me.  But I could still run.  At mile 12, yes ONE mile from the end I had to run into the Einstein's bagel and use the restroom.  I finished in 2 hrs 8 mins, nothing great, definitely not a PR, but I really had a blast!

                                       Me and Sabrina at the start.

                                       With the start line behind us!

Freedom Festival 5k

We couldn't miss our favorite freedom festival 5k! This year was awesome because ALL of my sisters ran it with me! Kelly and Khole stayed with me and we walked to the start. Unfortunately we left really late and it was a LONG walk.  It was not my favorite start to say the least.  By we made it.  It was an unusually humid morning, so thick you could see it.  And of course there were a million people so I spent a lot of time and energy bobbing and weaving around people.  I finished in 27 mins I think.  Nothing special. But it was fun as always.  We then went to the parade and had a packed full day, more to come!

Our little running family!

                                     The famous jumping picture.  Look who jumped higher!

AAAAAANNNDDD the PORTER GIRLS!!! Kendra, Katie, Kelly and Kristie.  I so love my sisters.

Porter and his adenoids

Remember when Porter was an excellent sleeper?  We do. Sort of.  It is just shy of a year mark since Porter has turned from a great sleeper to nothing that resembles good sleeper.  A year.  Night terrors, sleepless nights, tears, one grown man, one pregnant lady and one toddler in a full size bed, no one is getting in real sleep, kind of a year.  And guess what? We have some answers! After switching doctors, trying all sorts of "natural" crap, seeing a sleep and pulmonary specialist we finally got a referral to an ENT.  He did a nasal scope and Pman has some huge adenoids! So big in fact that they block 85% of his airway.  This kid has been suffering from sleep apnea.  And after the most ridiculous attempt to schedule surgery and some secretary cancelling porter;s surgery on accident and a very emotional mother crying, no sobbing, calling the hospital and Dr for over two hours he will finally get his adenoids and tonsils removed tomorrow! Tomorrow, tomorrow I love you, you're only a day a way!!!!!

I like to educate my self on what is going on and I do best when I am prepared for things, pman is like me in this way.  The hospital offers a free surgery prep class and thanks to my sister Katie for taking Shirley, we went.  It was the best thing ever.  They showed a movie for the kids of a robot who goes through what is going to happen at the hospital, they had a Q and A with a nurse, they showed the kids everything that would happen in pre op on a little doll and then each child got a "little buddy" doll with hospital pjs, he got a mask, gloves and cap and we got a tour of where we would be in the hospital.  It was amazing.  I am so glad we went.  I am so thankful we finally have answers and that this little boy can finally have the chance to get well.  It has been quite the year for us.  Sometimes I feel like I am the bud of some joke with the way things have taken so many wrong turns, but all that matters is that we are moving forward.  I love this kid.  Porter, my kid.  I am very anxious about tomorrow, I don't know exactly what to expect, I don't know how well I will handle letting someone take my child out of my arms and operate on them. It makes me feel very sick to my stomach.  I know this is a surgery that is done all the time.  I don't care.  Don't tell me that.  Things can happen.  It scares me.  I know the next few weeks will be trying, poor kid is going to be in so much pain and not really understand.  All this talk has got my stomach in knots... Wish us luck, feel free to send prayers on his behalf.

Growing like a weed

But we don't want to get rid of this weed! Porter is growing by leaps and bounds lately.  At first I thought turning three was the worse thing that had happened to us, but he is so fun these past few weeks.  Some of my favorite porter-isms are: "Mom, I have a question.." And then he will ask me a question, one day on a run he asked "why can't we walk on the moon? Will we fall? By the stars?" He calls Shirley "baby girl" and whenever she cries he will sing her A Child's Prayer.  It warms my heart always.  He still says "sootball" for football, but no longer says "chocolate shaken" One day I stubbed my toe and it REALLY hurt and I put my head down and held my breath and Porter came and patted my back and said, "it's ok babe, be tough". One day in Sacrament I bore my testimony I sat down and Porter turns to Caleb and not so quietly told him "it's your turn now" we have a friend that was growing his beard and hair out and Porter looked at him and said "Jesus?" And we all burst into laughter (that was the look he was going for, he was working on set of the Bible movies for the Church) and then he got really shy.  He really is a sweet boy.  Wild, but sweet.  

 Here he is going to see the Cruds.  Caleb took him one night and I guess there is a part where they ask "hello?" And Porter answered "Hello, I'm right here".  

                    Caleb took Porter to see the Owl's baseball game.  He loved it. 

 Here is one of Porter wearing his favorite basketball outfit asleep with his basketball.

And Porter's first camping trip! May 31, 2013 Father and Son's Camp trip in the B4 ward.  Caleb said they had a blast.  He had his second camping trip soon after this.  I am trying to be a more patient mother, I am always trying to better myself, but bettering myself as a mother is something I take to heart.  It is very....humbling.  It is a process to say the least.  Tonight, as I was getting fed up trying to get Porter to sleep he rolled over and right when I was about to lose it he whispered "mom, I love you" and went right to sleep.  My heart could have burst right then and there.  I am so grateful I have this little boy.  I have no doubt amazing things are in store for him.

Going back, back to Cali Cali

In April, after a number of business trips I told Caleb the next trip he went on I was going home to Ca.  So when he told me he was going to Australia I was thrilled.  Not really, I couldn't believe he was going without me, but I was happy to be going home.

 Say what you will, but I love Riverside.  I used to think I could never move back, now every time I go home I look for homes to move into!

 We were able to go on lots of walks, on this particular night we went to Khloe and Jared's open house at my old Elementary school.

 Khloe made Shirley a duct tape headband! It was so adorable and Shirley loved it!

                                            We went to the best park!

                                       My mom and Porter feeding the ducks!

 He seriously loved the park.  It really is the best park I have ever been to.  But it was hot!

 Porter was OBSESSED with my parents home phones.  It totally blew his mind and got so excited every time they rang (which was often).  I let him talk on it a few times.

                                                       Shirley just being a little doll!

 A trip to CA wouldn't be complete without seeing Grandpa Bill, Caleb's grandpa.  He is so sweet and I really love him.

                                             The world's best grandma.

 Shirley had just started giving kisses and during the pictures my mom gave Shirley a kiss and Shirley returned the kiss!

                                              Pman and Shirley loving on "mom"

                       And Papa! Porter wouldn't take a picture with him...

We kept it low key, played in the backyard, lots of walks and just hanging out.  I got the flu and was sick for about two days, it was really bad. My dad took me on a date to dinner just him and me and that was really fun.  And of course there were a few trips to target! I look forward to our next trip home!

The best thing in the world

This fancy smancy little jogger/bike trailer. It has changer my life.  And these two munchkins love it.  We can run, we can ride.  Basically we plan to take over Provo this summer.  Happy days.

Porter's Third Birthday Party

I did it. I threw my son the party of his dreams.  Luckily, he can't check out Pinterest so he didn't realize I kept it pretty low key/low budget.  I want this to be his party, this was the first year I didn't work on his birthday and we didn't even do a party for his 2nd year.  So I asked him what he wanted and he told me a Woody/Buzz party.  And so it was....

                                                       Brooklynn and Cash

                                                             Summer and Brynlee

                                                   Kristal and Kami (my future daughter in law)

                                           I had pictures of Porter as a growing boy.

                                We started with pizza and watching a bit of Toy Story 3

                                                      Lucy!

                                                           Shirley!

 Then it was game time! I told them Andy's mom accidentally threw out the toy solders and we needed to save them! So, an army guy scavenger hunt.  It was supper cute.

                                            The kids got into it.

                                                Army guys hanging from the tree.

            Then we had an Army guy parachute drop.  The kids climbed on the slide and dropped them onto a target.

                                         Not too shabby for the birthday boy!

                                         Then we had to lasso in mean ole Lottso.  

                                           And it wouldn't be a party without a pinata

                                  The only picture Jackson would let me take of him :)

 The birthday boy and his cake.  He picked this cake out at Costco and was thrilled.  In fact, every time we go to Costco he asks to get his dino cake again!

                                                 Time to blow out the candles!

 Thomas was thrilled to get his picture :) His twin, Luke, would have nothing to do with my paparazzi

                                                     Wade, looking as cute as can be.

                                               My favorite sister in law Claire and me.

                                                   My bestie Corrine and Shirley.  

 Then it was present time! Porter gets really shy so his big cousin Quinn was able to help him out!

And the only mishap of the party... Miss Lyla got hit in the face with a bat! It was actually a pretty bad cut.  I so love her.  Don't mess with my Lyla.  

There were a few other kids that wanted nothing to do with getting their picture taken, but it was a really fun party! And the best part was Porter loved it.  He talked about it for weeks.  It was a wonderful day and we are so lucky to have so many fun friends that would come spend a Saturday with us!