Porter Theme 2015

It took us awhile to decide on a scripture for our 2015 theme.  

This year we are going to focus on Philippians 4:13:

"I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me."  

I hope that this year we can study what this scripture teaches us about our own abilities and the absolute necessity of learning to draw on the enabling and strengthening powers of the Savior's Atonement. I think the key word is through.  It is through Christ's power that our abilities are magnified and we are strengthened. To me, this is powerful and empoweringing.  We can do all things. We can overcome all challenges. But only when we are strengthened through Christ's power, which is absolutely available to each of us.  

During the FHE in which we chose this scripture, I felt impressed to talk with the family about the words of the hymn "Where Can I Turn For Peace."  

Where can I turn for peace?

Where is my solace

When other sources cease to make me whole?

When with a wounded heart, anger, or malice,

I draw myself apart,

Searching my soul?

Where, when my aching grows,

Where, when I languish,

Where, in my need to know, where can I run?

Where is the quiet hand to calm my anguish?

Who, who can understand?

He, only One.

He answers privately,

Reaches my reaching

In my Gesthemene, Savior and Friend.

Gentle the peace he finds for my beseeching.

Constant he is and kind,

Love without end.

I printed out the lyrics and we studied them as a family, looking for phrases which resonated with us.  (I wish I could say that this was an amazingly uplifting experience for every family member, but it wasn't. I do hope that some of the discussion penetrated the maelstrom of feelings in the room that night.)

I see so many phrases and words in this hymn which are powerful to me. I have a hard time reading it without getting emotional.  Just a few:

quiet hand to calm my anguish

reaches my reaching

gentle the peace he finds for my beseeching

Constant he is

He, only one

I thought it was interesting to read a little bit about the life of the author Emma Lou Thayne and some of the trials which preceded the writing of this poem. She dealt with significant family struggles and worries for her children which were tearing her apart.  After this poem was turned into a hymn, and shortly before it was to be published in the LDS hymnbook, she was in a terrible car accident.  A crowbar flew off a truck and came through her windshield, almost killing her and severely damaging her eye and face.  For 7 months she was in great pain and couldn't lift her head or read.  She said in her re-telling of this experience that this experience caused her to "reach" as she never had before and to learn better what it means to rely on the Savior.

I appreciate the fact that Emma Lou Thayne's poem states beautifully what my Spirit feels.

Most of all, I appreciate my Savior and I want to do a better job of using his ever-offered power to bear my burdens and strengthen my weaknesses.

Other random February and March moments

In February the girls and I enjoyed a Girls Night On the Town.  First we ate at a quirky Portland healthy food restaurant (hard to see in the picture, but there are random posters and action figures all throughout the restaurant. Somehow it works in a "Portland is Weird" sort of way.")  Then we attended the Rodgers and Hammerstein musical of Cinderella at Keller Auditorium.  It was fantastic, with impossible-to-figure-out special effects (Cinderella spun around, and before our eyes her dress transformed into a ballgown. Twice. It was magical!)

This was the photo I took at the end of the "no sugar week" Bailey and I observed the week after Valentines Day.  This was the very moment Bailey was finally able to eat the chocolate pieces in her favorite Costco Trek Mix. 

It was ROUGH to cut out sugar for the week. We had to be very creative to satisfy munchies when all sugar and chocolate was unavailable.  But, we both felt really healthy and I even lost a few pounds that week.  Of course, the minute the challenge ended I went right back to my sugar and chocolate all-the-time diet.

Actually, to be truthful, Bailey and I decided that we have no desire to avoid sugar all the time, but we realized that we consume too much added sugar in a myriad of foods. We vowed to do a better job of avoiding added sugar which isn't totally delicious, and to save our sugar for the really good stuff!

In other  news, these are the cleanest shoes in town.  And proof that sometimes I'm moving a little fast through life.

Dan always brings home his stinky Crossfit workout clothes in a plastic bag.  I do not touch the clothes directly (eeeeww), but use the bag to dump them directly into the washing machine.  One Friday night I dumped in his clothes, added some more dirty clothes, and started the washer.  A few times during the cycle I heard a thump, but our water-efficient front load washer makes strange noises all the time.  It was when I removed the clothes to the dryer that I realized that I had washed Dan's expensive, purchased last June at Nordstrom, black Ecco dress shoes.  I'm guessing that it's not a good idea to wash leather dress shoes in water and detergent?  I stuffed them with chamois cloths to suck up the water and put them in the sun to dry.  They actually don't look any worse for the wear, but Dan says they feel a little different . . . .  

And it's back to the theater . . . when I bought tickets for Cinderella around Christmastime, I couldn't find good tickets sitting together, so I bought tickets for just the girls and me and we all sat separate. I decided to buy tickets to Guys and Dolls the next month so that Dan could attend a show, and I bought tickets for the girls again.  And, once again, the tickets were all separate, but at least they were good seats!

However, as the date of Guys and Dolls drew closer, we realized that the day was just packed with events and I wished I had not bought tickets at all.  Dan felt too overloaded on that day to enjoy going to a show, so the girls and I saw our second traveling Broadway show in 3 weeks.

The morning started with the Pinewood Derby.

The girls and I left directly from the church to Portland for the matinee show of Guys and Dolls. It was fantastic!

While we were gone, Dan finished his preparations for the multi-stake dance that evening. He once again has let the people in charge know that he is ready to let someone else be the official stake deejay. We'll see if anyone listens this time. I know I'm biased, but he is going to be hard to replace.  But, his free time is getting more and more precious.

The girls and I got back from Portland just after Dan left to the church and just in time for Bailey to get ready for a party and Aubrey to get ready for the dance.

Before the dance, we picked up one of her friends from theater and a few friends from the ward, including one who was attending her very FIRST dance. As is the tradition, I stopped with the girls to get ice cream to celebrate the first stake dance.  I was proud of Aubrey and the other girls. They all were so kind to each other and helped Hailee feel excited and comfortable.  Aubrey even showed Hailee how to slow dance in the middle of McDonald's, which was certainly a memorable moment!

March 20th was Joseph's first Cello concert!  He was part of a large orchestra concert at Aubrey's school, VSAA.  He did such an amazing job and was the most smiley and most handsome 4th grade cello player in the world.  

Afterward we took this picture with his best friend Alex and with Aubrey before we all left to get frozen yogurt.

My chances to attend field trips with my kids are dwindling fast. I enjoyed being with Joseph on the 4th grade field trip to Clark County Electric.

And one final moment from this last month, but I don't have a picture of this one.

One weekend Dan and I were invited to a birthday party for one of our friends in the ward. We spent a few enjoyable hours hanging out with the group of 6 couples. It was on the way home that I realized that all the other couples except one are empty nesters, and that one couple has one child at home, a junior in high school. As much as I enjoyed the company of everyone at the party, I was slightly horrified. 

Are we now classified with the older, empty nester group? Impossible. We simply do not feel that old. And, because we have 4th grade Joseph at home, I still feel like we belong with the "young kids" group, but I'm realizing that our age and our friends now indicate otherwise. I'm still coming to grips with this fact. I'm filing this in the same category as "I'm too young for reading glasses" (even though my eye doctor disagrees with me on this fact).  

Catching up with Joseph

I noticed as I sorted through recent pictures that Joseph has enough photos to justify his own post.  

At the Blue and Gold Cub Scout Banquet the boys set up a display of things they made and things that represent their interests.  He displayed a toolbox he made, his pinewood derby cars, a few Percy Jackson books (his current favorite series, but that is constantly changing), Pokemon cards, cello and piano books, and a family picture.

 Close-ups of the cool toolbox he made and decorated.  It is a Percy Jackson theme, with authentic Greek lettering, Percy's weapon Riptide, and Poseidon (because Percy is the son of Poseidon, you know.)

Getting his Bear Award in Cub Scouts

All dressed up for Western day at school.

 A fun photoshoot with Bailey (at Bailey's insistent request) on the afternoon of his birthday.

 His 4th grade flashlight project. He and his Dad built and re-built a homemade flashlight four times, but they had a terrible time getting the wires to stay in contact with the batteries to complete the circuit.  Dan and I were both near collapse the night before it was due, and nowhere near able to solve the perplexing problem.  Our good friends came to the rescue and soldered the silly wires to the battery.  Don't even get me started on what think some of these parent school projects. But Joseph's flashlight (in an old iphone box) turned out great.  

A picture from the "flashlight museum", where all the kids showed off their creative flashlights.

That afternoon it was so beautiful outside that Joseph and I sat on a blanket on the grass for a few hours and read books. It was beyond wonderful in every way.

 I had to take a picture of my favorite cello player leaving rehearsal and some beautiful spring blooms.

 Another project which is way beyond the capabilities of a 4th grader.  Pinewood derby. I will not say more.  Except that there is a reason why it is Dan in this picture instead of Joseph.  Joseph did a great job designing and painting the car, but the other requisite machinations are not in his skillset. It's a two week long project.

 Bliss on a Sunday afternoon.  Here Joseph set up his new Lego Mindstorm set to assemble his first robot.  Notice his friend Stampy the Wolf keeping watch behind him.

Birthday week

March always marches into our house with a flurry of birthday activities.  

We started the revelry on the last day of February (Saturday), when 6 of Joseph's friends joined us for a party at Ultrazone lasertag.  It was the perfect party for a group of 10 year old boys.

The boys "toasted" the birthday boy with their rootbeer while they inhaled pizza.

 Joseph and best buddy Alex.

 I thought this was so cute - the present from Gabe was decorated with some pictures of the two boys from years ago!

All suited up for the second laser tag game.

 We were the CHAMPIONS! (Partly due to the way in which Dan and I aggressively protected our team's bases.)  It was intense.

The next day (Sunday) we celebrated Aubrey's birthday a day early with a special dinner of her choice - homemade fettucine alfredo with homemade bread, ceaser salad, and cherry chip cupcakes (a nostalgic choice for her - her favorite childhood dessert).

Monday morning was Aubrey's REAL birthday - 15 years old! She started the day by attending Seminary at 6 a.m. Dan brought her home after class and Aubrey climbed back into pjs for the traditional breakfast in bed: crepes with nutella and whipped cream, strawberries, and milk.  Then she opened her presents before getting ready for school.  

For lunch I picked up Aubrey and we zipped over to her favorite restaurant, Olive Garden. Dan was able to join us and we spent an hour eating delicious carbs and reminiscing about our favorite Aubrey memories.  

After school Aubrey spent the rest of her birthday auditioning for a play - Little Mermaid.  To her, this was the perfect way to spend the final hours of her special day.


Two days later (Wednesday) was Joseph's big day - his entrance to the world of double digits - 10 years old!

He had very specific requests for his breakfast in bed: bacon, strawberries, milk, a powdered donut, and a chocolate donut. (The powdered donut was inhaled within seconds).

 After eating, Joseph opened his gifts.  Pictured here, a fun sports xbox game from Grandma and Grandpa Springer. And his big present, Lego Mindstorms, which combines Legos with entry level programming. With this set he can build many different robots and program the robot to do cool stuff.

 Joseph would not allow me to pick him up from school for lunch because he didn't want to miss anything. He wanted to go to get a Burgerville shake (yum) and Burger King nuggets after school. He wouldn't even skip the bus ride home, so I picked him up from the bus stop and we drove to get his food. Then it was home to play with new birthday toys for a few hours, after which time a friend came over to play and share Joseph's favorite dinner foods - pizza, fritos, and oreos.  With a few carrots thrown in for good health.  (Birthdays are definitely not about healthy eating).

 And finally, two days later (Friday) we had a birthday celebration with Aubrey and a few friends.  After Aubrey was done with play rehearsal we picked up her friends and then ate a gourmet pizza dinner.  Bailey kept me company on the girls night out. 
Then we drove to Portland for some adventures. The girls loved the quirky, weird, and fun Alberta Street.  We walked about half a mile to the famous Salt & Straw ice cream store.  As is always the case, there was a long line out the door, but we didn't care. Totally worth the wait.

 Then, because it was a birthday and birthdays are all about unlimited desserts, we walked to the also famous Waffle Window and got a Bananarumba homemade waffle to share (plus a plain liege waffle).  So yummy!

Finally, we drove the girls home to hang out for a bit before we all collapsed into bed and declared the end to birthday week.

Favorite Florida moments - December 2014

I finally finished editing our Universal Florida and Disneyworld pictures.  Here are just a few of our favorites.  (If it feels like there are too  many pictures, please know that I only posted about 1/10 of the ones good enough to edit and about 1/100 of the pictures we took!  Also, these are our favorites because they remind us of a fun memory, not necessarily because they are a quality picture. I was the only one taking pictures on the trip, and I am by no means a  pro photographer.)

We pulled the kids out of school the last week of school before Christmas break and took off for Florida. We rented a nice house with plenty of room for us and the Texas Porters, who joined us after a few days. 

We started the vacation with two days in Universal Studios. We were entranced by Hogsmeade and Diagon Alley. Both were like stepping into a Harry Potter book!

Joseph bought an official Harry Potter wand at Olivander's and was able to use it all over the parks at interactive spell-casting areas.  Pure 9 year old heaven, I tell ya.

This is the Hogwart Express, running between Hogsmeade and Diagon Alley. It was SO REALISTIC. We also loved the Harry Potter and Escape from Gringott's rides. They were always crowded, so we made sure we were at the park first thing in the morning. Once the gates opened we ran through the park and jumped on the Harry Potter rides, avoiding the very long lines later in the day.

Knocking on the door at 12 Grimmauld Street (For all you Muggles out there, that's the home first occuped by Sirius Black and then Harry Potter).  Another cool fact, Diagon Alley is tucked away in a street in "London" in Universal Studios. Much like the book, Muggles would never know it was there.  A park employee stood at the entrance and pointed us to a small opening in the bricks which opened into an absolute Harry Potter wonderland.

Ogling Gilderoy Lockhart's picture and butterbeer, which is so delicious that we tried the regular, slushy, and ice cream versions.

The fire-breathing dragon on the top of Gringott's Bank and the Midnight Bus (with a talking head - see it there behind us?)

There really were lots of other fun rides and cute themed areas throughout the Universal Parks. Harry Potter was just the best. But we did especially also like the Mummy ride and the Spiderman ride.

There were so many clever and authentic touches through the Harry Potter areas. The coolness was off the meter.  

Magic Kingdom

Late Tuesday night Dave, Mimi, and kids arrived in Orlando and joined our party. Early the next morning we visited Magic Kingdom for the first of three times. Ah, it never gets old. 

The new Fantasyland  is AMAZING.  Pictured behind the kids, Rapuzel's tower.

And Belle's castle is behind us in the picture:

Aubrey has acted in both Little Mermaid and Beauty and the Beast, so she found lots of things she could relate to throughout Fantasyland.

Pineapple Dole Whip.  Need I say more?

Bailey made this shirt for the trip:  "I'm not tall, I'm King-Sized."

 

Hollywood Studios and Animal Kingdom

Joseph and Jeffrey did Jedi Training and prepared to battle Darth Vadar. It was so fun!

The favorite ride in Animal Kingdom by far was Expedition Everest. I lost track of how many times we went on it, especially the teenagers!  We also loved the Safari and the boys liked the interactive clues game they played throughout the park.

The Animal Kingdom is my 2nd favorite Disney park, after Magic Kingdom.  I love the multi-cultural vibe.  In Hollywood Studios we enjoyed so many things, including Fantasmic, the Walt Disney Exhibit, Rockin Rollercoaster, Tower of Terror, and Toy Story (which was packed with an hour and a half line from park opening to close.  We finally bit the bullet and waited for it.)

EPCOT

We visited Epcot on two different days. Our favorite part was the World Showcase, with elaborately re-created vignettes from countries and delicious ethnic food!  These are the foods we ate as we traveled "around the world": nachos, tacos, delicious black beans, corn tamale (Mexico), eggrolls and potstickers (China), fancy mac 'n cheese (Germany), shawarma and tabbouleh/hummus plate (Morocco), Napoleon and chocolate eclair and homemade ice cream (France - we discovered the hard way that the gingerbread ice cream was way too strong. But the caramel del sel and white chocolate coconut ice cream were delish).  We ate our way around the showcase on two different days. It's a good thing we were walking about 9 miles a day which helped burn off the calories! The only rides which are worth it in this park are Test Track (very cool) and Soarin' over CA (which we have ridden many times in California).

Dan and I were impressed at how authentic the Germany area was. We recognized the castles and the wall in Rothenberg, which were the inspiration.

And now, some re-creation pictures from the trip we took to the same amusement parks in 2007 with the Texas Porters. Sadly, this time around Brandon, Brooke, and Megan weren't with us!

 2007 - Brooke, Megan, and Bailey   

2014 - Aubrey, Sarah, and Bailey

 Aubrey and Sarah

 

 Aubrey - our girl who loves maps.  

Joined in 2014 by her brother and cousins.

In the red phone booth in England (Epcot).  

2007 - Brandon, Bailey, Brooke, Megan, Nate, Aubrey, Sarah, and Jeffrey

2014 - Bailey, Nate, Aubrey, Sarah, Joseph, Jeffrey, Ryan

 2007 - Brooke and Megan (age 13) and Bailey (age 10)

 2014 - Sarah (age 13), Aubrey (age 14), and Bailey (age 17)

We worked hard to re-create this picture but the boat didn't cooperate and come by at the right moment. Oh well!

Back to the 2014 trip only . . . on Sunday we attended church and then took pictures by the beautiful Orlando temple.

We wore the kids and adults out every day. The boys begged to leave the parks by late afternoon so they could go swimming back at the house.

The parks were beautifully decorated for Christmas with huge themed Christmas trees.

 (One more flashback photo) These boys had so much fun together!
2007 and 2014

 

Last ride on the very last of 9 days in amusement parks:  Tower of Terror, three times in a row!!

We had a wonderful time on this trip, and it was even more fun because we were able to spend time with family. Because we had done the same trip 7 years previous, we projected 7 years into the future and realized this:

• It's very likely that Brooke, Megan, Bailey, and Nate will be finished with college and married.  
• Aubrey and Sarah will be 21, almost 22. They will be almost done with college.
• Joseph and Jeffrey will be 16 almost 17 and juniors in high school.
• Ryan will be 13 years old.

Well, doesn't that put things in perspective!  This was such a special trip to take because the coming years will only bring more changes and fewer kids at home.  Memories are priceless and forever.