Going Private

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Happy Bday Porter

I'm sure every child is this way...but Porter was so excited for his bday and was looking forward to it for weeks! Porter has thi special bond with bugs lately weather it's a fly, cricket, lizard or worm he and the creepy crawly have an instant bond. For example they will crawl on his shoulders and hands forever. We thought the fly's wings didn't work one time but brent flicked it and away it flew. Just wanted to hang out with Porter for a while...interesting

So Anyways, we decided to have a Bug Party for his 4th bday! It turned out pretty good.

We took fly swatters used bubbles as flys to swat as many as we couldWe ate Dirt cake with works and bugs crawling out of it. I even made my first icecream cake and it turned out pretty good if I do say so myself.

He got so many fun presents!! It was funny to try to open them with him. All the kids just wanted to open their present they were supposed to give to him. It was cracking me up. I had a hard time keeping track of what present went into what gift bag, they just kept getting into them. Thanks all for your gifts! They were great!
We were able to get 2,000 lady bugs from a garden store and at the very end had a live lady bug release! It was exciting to try to catch them and put them in their little bug catchers we gave them!
FUN STUFF!! Happy birthday My sweet Porter! I sure LOVE YOU!

SRP Steak fry

Every year Dad (Olsen) takes us all to the SRP steak fry to enjoy some good food, good company and good music. This year we got to enjoy Jo Dee Messena! It was AWESOME!! We got to meet her back stage and man did we feel cool! Thanks dad! I especially liked dancing with my husband!

SNOW!!

We wanted to take the boys to the snow this winter, so we did just that. Brent had some points to stay in the hotel for free (from the traveling he's been doing with work) so we went to Flagstaff! We broke down and bought some of the essentials. we got the boys gloves and hats and borrowed the rest. We had fun building a snow man (or should I say elongated woman). The boys didn't mind the snow as much as I thought they would. The hotel was fun to stay in and we made sure to get some delicious chinese one night.


On the way home we stopped by Sedona. We took the Pink Jeep tour trail. A family with all this testosterone, off roading is a MUST...ok I LOVED it too!


We stopped by Jerome as well to pick up a bookshelf we found off craigslist and I think Brent found his new favorite town in Arizona. I had been there before with my family to do puppet shows but it was all new to him. It's a town on a cliff. Really quite incredible.

Family fun golfing

Daddy surprised us and took us to Castles and Coasters for a day of fun! We first had fun doing arcades inside and then Miniature golfing outside. It was cute watching the boys focus on aiming the ball into the hole. They loved when it disappeared in one place and magically appeared somewhere else. It was so fun to play together as a family. Brent is so good at making sure he has plenty of time for that. He makes sure not to overdo it at work and come home in time to be with us for a while before the boys go down to bed. He is usually the brains behind all the activities we get to do together. We've gone mining for Apache tears several times, gone to play out in near a river in the desert looking for rocks and fun out of town trips. Any spare time he always tries to be WITH us. Thanks hon for being such a wonderful husband and Father! I love you!

Christmas '09

I feel like a kid again at Christmas! I love the feeling the holiday brings! The boys have so much fun unwrapping presents. Brent wasn't feeling well but had a nice day planned. Poor guy. We had a good Christmas. Mason got an art easel and has LOVED it, he's my little artist. Porter skipped that stage I guess. Porter got a train set that he has had fun with. Brent got us a television with our credit card reward points and I got my bike! It was great!

Stockings

traditions...Decorating the tree

Hosting Christmas

We hosted the Calhoun Christmas at our home this last Christmas and had a great fondue dinner and great time together. Our nativity was quite comical with Porter playing Joseph with an older woman as Mary and Kris as the manger. We love our time with all the Calhouns and this was no exception!!

Sweet little man

This was the sweetest thing ever. Brent wasn't feeling well, hence the pjs, and was having a fever and chills. We sat down and were eating dinner and Brent mentioned his feet were cold. Next thing we knew Porter was not in his seat, I look under the table and there he was on daddy's feet warming them. It was so sweet. I just love him!

FUN

Well Porter got through a season of soccer. It was quite a season for us. He was a little young and I thought he would eventually get used to it and the kids and play but never happened. It was fun feeling like a soccer mom but he never actually got out and played. This picture was about as close as it got...when daddy was out reffing. There was a few times at practice he got into it but quickly reverted to his shy self. I guess as a mother I really can't just do everything for them. It killed me that he wasn't having fun out there with new friends but I realized more than ever that I just need to be his biggest fan, whatever it is he chooses to do or not to do. Hope I can remember that lesson. He is such a sweet boy and I love him so much.
Here Porter was really excited about making EVERYTHING into a train. Often used rope but wasn't always necessary. As you can see the scooter has been snugly placed in the back of the tracker that is tied to his bike. Quite creative!
These boys really love going to MamaZelle's house. They ask to go all the time and have a great time there. Jumping on the trampoline is just one of the many activities they enjoy there.
Grandma's is another fun place, their cousins live there too which make it fun! Mason is enjoying a horse ride ( I think this is a toy around when brent was young...don't quote me on that though...)
HAHA, this cracks me up. mason's got funny faces and funny poses that can give me good laugh anytime

Preschool Pumpkin Patch

We try to go on a field trip once a month with our preschool co-op, October was no exception as we headed off to the pumpkin patch. We had a lot of fun! We got to decorate pumpkins, find our way through hay mazes, check out animals, hay ride and of course lots of pictures! These kids really get along so well. It's fun to see our Porter make friends and enjoy being with other kids!

Zoo day with cousins

We didn't get a group shot but Ammon, Camille and I all took our kids to the Zoo and had a great time! Animals just never get boring!

Parks, Bikes and Riding the river

Aunt Jene, my sister, invited us to go down the river with her. Of course we took her up on it! We had a great time. If I remember right we were the only ones on the river that day! We ate lunch in the boat and had a great time spending time with Jene. Thanks!!


Have I mentioned how great it is to live in a neighborhood that has sidewalks and parks and so many fun things, so close to home to take the boys to. Below is actually 3 different parks close to our house. We've enjoyed many many days swinging, feeding the ducks, riding bikes, splashing in the splash pad, sliding down slides and reading time at the library. Yes, all minutes away from home! LOVE IT!!! With two active boys that would live outside if they could this is a dream for us!!
Most of you probably already know but Porter is loving bike riding. Brent had this ingenius idea to bend up the training wheels more and more till Porter was ready to have them taken off. It was quite a sight to see him biking with useless training wheels, but alas he would not let us remove them. They were his security blanket. Finally one day Brent ran over the training wheels with the truck ( I'm not saying it was on purpose, fate maybe ;) ) Clearly we HAD to take them off and Porter did just fine, as we knew he would. He loves bike riding! Some boys like sports, some like spider man but our little guy is loving his bike. He rides off road just as much as on. He really does well keeping up with dad pulling Mason behind in his trailor, Can you tell I'm a little proud? :)

Cali FUN!

Joyze has most of the pictures from this trip. We took Joyze and headed over to San Diego for the weekend (in November). We went to the beach, Balboa park and of course the main attraction we got to go to the Air show there. It was really fun and something we had been looking forward to forever! It was fun to get over there as a family and Joyze was a great addition! Hope we get over there again soon!!

Firetruck Day

We had fun day as a family! We love those craft days at Home Depo. The boys get to wear cut aprons and goggles and then handle miniature hammers and go at it. They went the extra mile and had firefighters and a firetruck come to the store. So after making the firetrucks we got to tour one and talk to the cool firefighters.

Here's the finished product. I love how Porter is imitating daddy and Mason's got such a sweet smile :)

Porter's getting that firetruck built!

Get working Mason ;)

Hey look!! We're in a firetruck!! :) :)