The last few weeks

This is a random rundown of happenings in the Porter home over the last few weeks.

Vancouver Springtime

 The weather has been nice - occasional rainstorms which don't last forever and are followed up by some magnificent rainbows.

Aubrey's new morning routine

Aubrey has decided that she wants to exercise at 6 am to help re-set her sleep schedule in preparation for early morning Seminary next year.  She has also decided that she kind of likes running. She found an app which guides her through run/walk intervals until she is jogging for the entire time. Most of the time she goes with her friend Laura, but sometimes she and I go around the neighborhood in the morning after I get Dan and Bailey off to Seminary. However, my bad knees don't let me run so I walk while she jogs around me in circles. Luckily, my long legs help me walk almost as fast as a slow jog!

Done with AP Tests - woot woot!

Two weeks ago Bailey took her last (of four) AP tests!  She feels like all the tests went pretty well. In other academic news, she was recognized for being on the Honor Roll again.  To celebrate the end of the big tests, as soon as she walked out of her last test at 11:30 a.m. we took off to celebrate.  First stop, Panera for lunch. We sat outside to really enjoy the 80 degree day.

Then we were off to Portland's famous and uber-trendy ice cream shop, Salt & Straw. They have the most unusual flavors and delicious ice cream! We lucked out and didn't wait for service, but many times people wait for over an hour.

We sampled quite a few of these flavors after settling on scoops of Honey Lavender and Rhubarb Crumble with  Toasted Anise (for me) and Almond Brittle with Salted Ganache and Cinnamon Snickerdoodle (Bailey).

Gardening Fever

For the last 3 or 4 weeks I have spent every free moment gardening. The weather has been beautiful and the flowers and plants in the garden centers are simply irresistible to me.  Planting flowers and veggies always feels like to me like the embodiment of hope. Every May I succumb to the vision of possible beauty and I am wooed by the promises of blooms on flower tags. I feel giddy as I try out a new variety and new combinations in areas of the yard. I wish I could say that I'm as good at follow-through for the rest of the summer as I am with enthusiasm in May.  Once summer hits there are so many fun places to go and things to do that my plants get somewhat neglected, but the hardiest of the bunch still make it through.

My trunk looked like this after just about every trip to the store. (In fact, this trunk kind of sums up the last few weeks with few words. Lots of flowers, a few groceries, and football and soccer balls mixed inbetween.

This year Bailey's AP Environmental class has ignited her interest in gardening, healthy eating, and being environmentally conscious. She scrutinizes every label on food we buy and eats more fruits and veggies a day than any kid I have ever met. She helped me plant our herb pot and garden as part of a project for that class on planting, buying, and preparing locally grown produce.

Sisterly Love

Bailey has a lifelong habit of pinching Aubrey's cheeks and cooing at her. Aubrey tolerates it.

Dan the DeeJay 

Dan reprised his role as the coolest deejay in Vancouver with a performance at our Stake's Dance in May. He was up on the stage with all his paraphrenalia, including the big screen and projector with which he showed some funny video clips and played Just Dance songs on the Wii. The large crowd of kids (including Bailey, Aubrey, and two of Aubrey's friends from school) all seemed to have a great time!

Football and baby watching

It's always fun to watch Joseph play flag football or soccer. He is on a flag football team this spring with two of his best buddies. It has been a good experience for them to learn the sport. Who knew that football was so complicated? It always looked pretty simple to me. Players tackle eachother and someone grabs the ball and runs until he, too, is tackled. It turns out there are things called plays and there is a lot of strategy involved.

Bailey and Aubrey are especially entertained at the games when they can hold the coach's 1 year old daughter Tilly. Tilly has five siblings, the oldest of whom is 7 years old. The youngest is a newborn baby brother. Her amazing pioneer-stock mother goes to almost every game and practice (including the one which was 4 days after she gave birth) with the newborn in a front pack, Tilly in a backpack, and holding the 2 year old's hand. Wow. Makes me tired just talking about it.

Absentminded or losing my mind?

On one particularly busy day I was running around like a crazy woman all day and misplaced both pairs of sunglasses. Finally, after running into several stores I looked in my mirror and found them . . . .

Not sure why I'm including this, except that it makes me smile

Joseph and Alex have been best friends since they were 2, and we are always so happy to have him and his brothers hang out with us.  Mason is the cutest redhead I know.

Third annual Bailey Birthday Shopping Day

Once again, this year Bailey chose to spend a day shopping with me so she could pick out gifts for her birthday. Now that the girls mostly like clothes for their birthdays, it's impossible for me to pick out the clothes without them in attendance.

This year we started the Saturday at the Vancouver Farmers Market so Bailey could pick up some locally grown produce for her AP Environ. Science class. It was delightful and oh-so-Northwestern.  Look at the descriptions on these signs:

We live in a very health- and environmentally-conscious corner of the world!  I especially like where it says "organic, raw, alive, loved."  Hee hee.

While there we discovered that Hood Strawberries were ripe!  What - you mean you have never tried Hood Strawberries??  They have a really soft texture, taste like pure sunshine and literally explode with flavor in your mouth. Nothing like any of the strawberries you can buy in the store.  They are only ripe for two weeks a year and are in great demand.  So what did we do when we saw them at the Farmer's Market?  Yep, we bought a whole delectable flat.

The only problem? We were on our way to Portland to shop all day, which would leave our precious strawberries in a warm car. It was quite a problem. We had a few ice packs and a small cooler, so we put as many strawberries as possible in the cooler and ran back to the car about every 20 minutes during our shopping trip to check on our "babies" and let some cool air into the car.  I'm happy to report that most of the strawberries made it through unscathed and were happily consumed by the Porter family.

Here Bailey is carrying our awesome organic finds at the market.

Next we were off to Hillsboro to go to Charming Charlie, the super fun jewelry and accessory store. Bailey found a necklace I dared her to buy (she didn't): "Single . . . Ready to Mingle"

Later, at Ross, she also found a giraffe shirt which she thought was very appropriate because of her height. Nope, didn't buy that one either.

And I had a "told you so" moment when we saw overalls in literally every store. I still have a pair of overalls from the last time they were in still (circa 2001).  I told Bailey that eventually they would come back in style. She swore they wouldn't.  Ha!

For lunch we got burritos at Qdobas and later we got Jamba Juice smoothies. Bailey, my very health conscious girl, chose two very healthy green drinks (filled with kale, greek yogurt, chia seeds, etc).

But we had to follow up all that healthiness with some Dulce de Leche cheesecake from the Cheesecake Factory - pure scrumptiousness!

We had a fantastic day being together. We looked at lots and lots of stores and were able to find Bailey a skirt, a dress, a sweater, a few shirts, and some jewelry and accessories. It was a great beginning to her birthday celebration!

And finally, a few more things I've been up to

Mostly, between doing kid stuff, keeping up the house stuff, and gardening stuff, I've been working hard on wedding stuff.  I have a long to-do list for the wedding and it will be very busy for the next month, but things are falling into place. 

In addition, here a few iphone shots of other things I did.  Yesterday I met my friend Rachel at a Portland food cart pod. It was fun to visit and always so fun to try the fabulous food from Portland's eclectic and unique food carts.

I also played DIY-er and helped two friends prepare their houses to sell. I painted the front door at one house and helped the other friend spackle holes in the wall and replace the screen in their patio screen door. We were pretty proud of ourselves for this do-it-yourself wizardry.  It was so easy and the screen looks good as new!

And now, off to a long list of Saturday commitments and projects!

Memorial Day Bliss

We spent a wonderful Memorial Day Monday hiking beautiful Latourell Falls, with breathtaking views of waterfalls and the entire Gorge and Columbia River.  We invited 6 families to join us for the hike, because it's always more fun to hike with friends.  A few hours after returning from the hike all the families and more joined us at our home for a barbecue.

We took our time hiking the steep 2.4 mile loop because there were so many fun places to stop and explore along the way.

  Everything about the Gorge is unbelievably beautiful. Magical almost . . .

I think there might be 50 different shades of green in the forest. It's almost blinding. 

We lucked out with the weather - it was the perfect temperature and sunny.

 We carefully crept down the slick rocks to the area right under the waterfall. The power coming from the force of the water was amazing, and we got soaking wet from the spray!

 Our friend Kristi sang the same obnoxious camp song up and down the mountain. Aubrey joined in happily. Bailey was not amused.

 It's hard to tell from this picture, but we are standing on a ledge overlooking a REALLY high dropoff. Can you see the tiny cars in the left middle of the picture?  We were way up the mountain!

Joseph dressed in his special Pokemon trainer outfit for the hike.

The following pictures were all taken by Joseph, who says he wants to be a photographer when he grows up.

 Joseph also took some pictures of us setting up for the barbecue. We set up two tables on the deck for all the delicious food. We spread blankets and chairs around the yard.

We had a great time visiting with friends. It was hard to get back to the reality of school, seminary and work today!

Mmmmm - Cowboy Caviar just waiting for the guests to arrive.

Dan was a grill master - he cooked some fantastic burgers, hotdogs, and chicken.

Happy Memorial Day!

More Mother's Day Thoughts

On Mother's Day Sunday Bailey was asked to consider the following question and present her thoughts to her Young Women class:

 "Please talk about the influence your grandmother (your Mom's Mother) had in your Mom's life and how that influence has impacted your life and your relationship with your Mom."

This assignment generated a wonderful discussion and afterward I found I wanted to record some of my thoughts about the influence of my mother in my life.

A picture from the wonderful trip Dan and I took with my mom and dad last fall

These are a few of the things that I learned from my mother which have had a profound effect upon me:

Education

From my mother (and my maternal grandmother and great-grandmother) I learned and internalized the value of education. Both the education you get in school and the always-wanting-to-learn-something-new type of education. Each of these women was and is intellectually curious and intelligent. 

 My mom made learning a principal value in our home. One of my earliest memories involves being read to and looking through the stacks of books in our home. Many of the books were from the Moses Lake Public Library which we visited weekly. We were each allowed to check out one book for each year of age (8-year-olds checked out 8 books, etc.).  I remember looking forward to turning one year older so I could add another book to my pile. 

When we visited the library we didn't just breeze through quickly or pick up "hold" library books, the way we sadly do much of the time these days. No, instead we pushed through the heavy glass doors and then each of us gravitated to our own section of the library (children and teen section to the right, adults to the left) and gathered a pile of possibly interesting books. We planted ourself in a comfy spot (my favorite was the old clawfoot bathub lined with carpet scraps), and immersed ourselves in a story in the hushed quiet of the library for an hour or more. 

A few years ago when I visited Moses Lake I walked into the library which has not changed at all since 1970 (that's kind of a problem - it badly needs an update).  Immediately I was drawn back in time 35 years to when I would look at the shelves of books like a hungry child looks at a buffet. I knew, I just knew that there was so much to discover, so many lands and times to explore, and I knew that reading was my passport to amazing things my small-town-girl-mind could scarcely imagine.  I share this love of reading (and the ability to basically speed read), emphasis on learning, and intellectual curiosity with my mother. 

My mom exemplified this thirst for learning and desire for further education when she went back to school in her 30s and eventually completed her Master's degree at age 40.  

"I can figure that out"

My mom has always had the desire to learn new skills and information and has had the confidence that she can figure out pretty much anything if she approaches it in the right way (learning higher levels of math in her master's program tested this principle, but she survived). This is how she does it: she identifies something she wants to do/learn, researches it to death, culls through the knowledge she has gained, and emerges with either new mastery of a subject or the training necessary to attempt a new skill. 

Anything she tries to do she does well. She continually improves any environment she is in. She is an expert seamstress, decorates her homes like a design professional, has attempted and has mastered many assorted skills over the years (decorative painting, canning and other food preservation, financial investing, needlework, photography, and so many more).  Mom and Dad are very similar in their fearlessness about what they decide to learn and do, and they have created a heritage of intrepidness and excellence. They are a great team. 

They have imbued this principle in each of us children. However, none of us has attempted to build a house with virtually no prior knowledge or experience like our parents did in the late 70s, but we are all fearless in our own smaller ways!

I am not and will never be as accomplished as my mother in almost anything, but I have learned that I can learn to do (at least passably well) whatever interests me. When I wanted to learn how to garden many years ago I did what I had seen my mom do: I researched it. After reading many books and talking to smart gardening people I tried gardening and was not dissuaded by my lack of experience. I feel this way about most things - I think the key is knowing how to find information and taking the time to understand it.

Never an idler be

Determine never to be idle. No person will have occasion to complain of the want of time who never loses any. It is wonderful how much can be done if we are always doing.Thomas Jefferson

My mom is a do-er. She is incredibly productive and avoids idle time wasters. What I remember as a kid is that she didn't watch, read, listen to, or engage in things that were frivolous and a waste of time. She didn't read tabloids - waste of time (and stupid and full of lies to boot). She didn't watch soap operas or game shows (but Great-Grandma Bailey did watch game shows, and I loved being "wicked" and watching the evening line-up at her house!) I really never saw her lounging around unless she was sick or was focused on a book. She was usually moving quickly through the house and she always had a plan for dinner and several projects she was working on.

Because of this attitude, she accomplished so much. Have I mentioned that our house was almost always clean?  I'll talk more about that in a minute, but I'm really amazed how uncluttered our house was because I am constantly fighting the clutter monster in my home.

I don't know if I can adequately explain how much this attribute has incorporated itself into my psyche. I probably interpret "time waster" different than my mom did in the 1970s, but I really try to avoid silly, frivolous, non-redeeming-value activities. I like to multi-task in what I hope are good ways. I listen to uplifting talks/Conference talks/NPR science and money podcasts while doing mundane things around the house or yard or driving alone in the car. I also like to be involved and busy and try to be organized. I compulsively re-work my to-do lists and I LOVE crossing things off the list (or deleting them, as now my list is on my phone). And I have a hard and fast rule about TV: I want to rarely have my children see me zoning out to the TV. In fact, I hate to EVER be seen sitting down and watching TV unless we are all sitting down together watching a movie. That surely must come from my mother.

Order and Cleanliness, and the kids are involved

My childhood home was one of order and cleanliness. Like I said, I truly wish that I could manage a home nearly as well as my mother did. We just didn't leave things lying around to clutter up the home, at least not for long. I have to admit that I have failed in passing this along to my children. They leave many things out and then forget about them . . . forever.  

I have to say that, as for cleanliness, my mom did much to keep things clean, but my memories about ME learning to clean really are of my dad. He is a great cleaner and he patiently but without much mercy taught each of us kids to clean the right way every time. I still remember my dread and anticipation as I waited for my dad to inspect my Saturday chores.

My mom and dad both constantly enforced chore charts, and now that I have been in charge of implementing chore charts for my own kids for 20 or so years I recognize that it is HARD to be consistent. Somehow they were. We always had daily and Saturday chores, and chores always had to be done before any fun on the weekend. End of story. 

I remember angrily vowing to my Dad that I would never be glad that I knew how to sweep a floor the correct way, but instead I have been grateful many, many times that I learned how to clean and that I learned how to work hard.  I hope, I really hope that I am teaching my own kids to work hard.  

Frugality

“There is no dignity
quite so impressive,
and no independence
quite so important,
as living within your means.” 

Calvin Coolidge

I learned to be frugal from the example of my mother and my father. They have scrimped and saved and prepared for the future all of their lives. Because of this, they have peace of mind and some comforts at this stage of life.

My mom is a great money manager. It doesn't matter how much money she has, she will fight  for every deal and price break and is never taken advantage of by any hapless salesman. I like to think that I have incorporated some of this in my own approach to money. 

My patriarchal blessing talks about how I was born of "goodly parents," and I know that this is very true. I am very privileged to have such a wonderful mother and I am grateful for the many things that make her amazing. I know that I am the person I am today because of the the valuable things I learned in my childhood home.

Happy Mother's Day!