The latest

A rundown of the last few weeks . . .

Bring on the rain. I am prepared.

Yep, I have stocked up on plenty of Starbucks dark hot chocolate to get me through winter. 
I call it my sanity insurance.

End of Summer/Beginning of Fall Hike

Dan went on a beautiful hike in the Columbia River Gorge last month with a friend. It was a nice break before a particularly grueling month at work and the daily task of preparing a seminary lesson. By the way, he is really loving teaching Aubrey's seminary class this year. He feels like this, his third year teaching, has been his easiest and best so far. 

Beautiful tunes ahead

Joseph told us last year that he really wants to play the cello. He was, I'm sure, influenced by his favorite cello player from The Piano Guys but he has always loved the sound of string instruments. Just to be sure, we took him to a big music store where they let him "audition" a huge variety of instruments. After trying them all, he decided that the cello is his instrument. He started group lessons/orchestra through the school district, taught at VSAA, the Arts and Academics middle school/high school. (And Bailey and Aubrey's alma mater).

Spiritually and Literally Feasting

LDS General Conference was a few weeks ago, and we feasted in every way. We loved the messages, with many of our favorites during the Saturday sessions. As we watched that day the girls kept pausing the session so they could take better notes and so we could talk about the concepts being presented. That was a happy moment for me, to see how much they love to hear the words of the Lord's servants. I thought it was funny that they "shushed" Dan and I if we ever talked because they didn't want to miss anything!

Creative use of the DVR allowed everyone to watch all the sessions despite a Saturday filled with a flag football game, a soccer game, and 5 hours of theater practice. 

Joseph made a huge fort and we set up blankets and chairs everywhere.  (Can you see Joseph poking out of his fort?)  His favorite part of Conference has to be the endless supply of Skittles and peanut butter M&Ms.

We had planned an overly ambitious and incredibly delicious menu for our weekend. We made and thoroughly enjoyed:

• A close approximation of Zupa's cauliflower soup
• Apple Crisp
• Cinnamon Rolls
• Overnight pumpkin pie steel-cut oatmeal
• Roasted tomatillo salsa
• Homemade "not" refried beans (Ali's recipe - we loved it!)

We bought ingredients for and planned to make even more food, but were too stuffed to make and eat everything. So we have been making the remainder of our Conference recipes in the weeks since Conference:

• Peanut Butter Cup Brownies with Oreo Crust
• Pumpkin Spice White Hot Chocolate
• Italian Potato-Sausage Soup (knock-off Zupa Toscana)

And more feasting . . . 

The week before Conference the girls and I attended and enjoyed the General Women's Broadcast. Afterward there was a light dinner served at the church, but the girls and their friend Ashley talked me and Ashley's mom into taking them to dinner at Olive Garden instead. This is a re-creation of their shocked face when we said yes. I guess I'm kind of cheap and I say no to Olive Garden most of the time. In all fairness, Aubrey does ask me if we can go to Olive Garden at least once a week. 

Oh look, a mermaid!

Bailey walked into our room one day and noticed that Dan had turned into a mermaid through apparently unintentional tucking of a blanket!

Football, soccer, baby holding, and sunsets

Joseph is a . . .  right linebacker (I think) on his flag football team.  He very effectively blocks players on the other team, allowing our quarterback to run plays. The games are fun to watch. 

And when he is on the sidelines he gets to help hold the coach's cute baby. 

Soccer - not his favorite team this year, but a sport he has always liked.  

Beautiful sunset during a recent game. Joseph said he thinks he saw heaven. 

And, just because.

A super  huge bear at  Costco. Who buys these things?  

 My baby sleeping with a more appropriately sized teddy bear.  Love it.

And, my latest food adventure was Iraqi food in Portland with my friend Rachel. It was interesting and delicious! 

Reunion Thoughts

Dan and I flew to Arizona last weekend for his 30 year Mesa High Reunion. He was excited to see friends he had known from elementary through high school.  Not all of the people he hoped to see attended the reunion, but we still enjoyed visiting with the people who were there.

We also just loved taking a mini "vacation" together. We have a lot of fun hanging out together, especially without the incredibly pressing demands of our normal life schedules. We felt very relaxed over the weekend because we knew that Bailey was expertly handling everything at home. It was such a fun thing to do exactly what we wanted to do for a few days. A few of the things we did (other that official reunion activities):

• We ate as much Mexican food as we could fit into a day and a half.  Dan's parents joined us for some meals and we met Rich and Lindsey for breakfast!
• We had a strong need for liquid in the dry and hot Arizona desert. Sonic slushies - mmmm.  Bahama Bucks shaved ice.  Deeelicious.

• We spent a few blissful hours browsing through two bookstores!
• We saw the new "Meet the Mormons" movie
• We attended the Friday night Mesa High football game along with some of Dan's classmates. His team got obliterated by their opponents, but we mostly talked instead of watching the painful scene.

• My blood provided sustenance for about a hundred Arizona insects. Arizona is experiencing an unusual infestation of insects because of the incredible amount of rainfall they have received lately. Our first night we chose to eat outside at Rosa's.  WRONG DECISION.  Some hungry bugs feasted on me throughout the meal. We think they were "noseeums". True to their name, we didn't see 'em.  My legs were feeling itchy throughout the meal, and by the time we left for the football game the skin between my capri pants and shoes looked like this:

When I researched noseeums I learned that they are "voracious feeders. One noseeum may bite up to 12 times in succession, and the bugs generally travel in swarms."  Ouch. The bites were unusually itchy. We ran to Walgreens to get bug spray to ward off further feasting and learned that the ENTIRE city of Mesa was out of bug spray because the bugs had been so bad. Shouldn't there have been a traveler advisory issued or something??

By the next morning my ankles and legs had swollen terribly, which made standing on them for hours at the reunion party that night especially fun. 

I was more than happy to attend the reunion activities with Dan, and I had a reasonably good time there, but in no way did it ignite in me a desire to attend my 30th reunion in a few years. I actually haven't attended any of my reunions.  Just because it's on my mind, here are some of my thoughts about reunions.

1. There are some people for whom high school was the high point. I am not one of those people. (Either is Dan).  I am grateful for the experiences I had in high school, but I was glad to move on to better things. I don't feel any need to relive high school moments.
2. I attended three different high schools, so the people I graduated with I only knew for one year. I realized again this weekend that it would be really painful and embarrassing when I couldn't remember anyone and they couldn't remember me, so I will avoid that experience.
3. I have pretty much stayed in contact with the people I care about. In fact, I think that facebook is the reason that lots of people didn't come to this Mesa High reunion. People feel more connected these days.
4. While most of the people at Dan's 30th reunion were very down to earth, there were some who were very painfully trying to pretend like they aren't almost 50 years old. They were dressing and acting like out of control 18 year olds. It's not pretty to see or witness. I'm still trying to get certain images out of my head!  Hee hee.
5. I have to admit that one of the thoughts I had when I looked around at Dan's classmates was that many seemed so old.  In my mind, he and I are still pretty darn young, so it's a shocker to confront proof that middle age is upon us. So maybe I'm not that different than the people I just made fun of in the bullet point above? Hmmm.  Am I in denial about aging? I'm not sure. But I really don't feel that old. I feel active and happy and energetic, despite the encroaching truth of wrinkles, grey hair, and stiffer joints.
6. I would have to say that there was a distinct discrepancy at this reunion between those who have lived healthy and happy lives and those who have been unkind to their bodies and dealt with a lot of trauma and sadness.  All those things are hard to hide in middle age.
7. At this 30 year reunion it was abundantly clear that relationships are what make people happy. At this stage of life, those who have invested in relationships seemed to be more likely to have full, rich lives.

For the record, final roundup of summer

I have a long list of current things I want to blog about, but I promised myself I would catch up first.  So, this is a smattering of the rest of our summer happenings.

Day In Portland with the Springers

Brandon and Angela's wedding was on Tuesday, July 1st. The next day we spent with Scott & Ann's family and Mom and Dad in Portland. I have to admit that we were pretty wiped out when we woke up the day after the wedding. It was a bit of a hard sell to get everyone up and out the door early, but we all really enjoyed the day with our much-loved family.

We ate at the famous Portland food carts and then walked over to Powell's Books, where most of our family could have happily spent the day!

 But, we eventually dragged ourselves away from the bookstore and visited an arcade that Scott and Ann had researched. The arcade was sort of dingy and grungy, which means that it was really "authentic." Afterward we walked to one of Portland's wonderful homemade ice cream shops, Ruby Jewel. It was so delicious!

Mom and Dad left to drive to the beach house that night. The rest of us found a local yummy pizza shop for some dinner. Next we drove away from quirky, unique downtown Portland to experience another side of Oregon/Washington . . . stunning outdoor beauty.  

We drove to/walked to see several waterfalls along the old Columbia River Highway.

 Finally, we drove to Crown Pointe for an amazing view of the Gorge just before sunset.

 Very limber Alexa showed us her skills!

I tried in vain to get Cam and Joseph to be serious for a picture. One of the other was doing a silly face every time.They have similar ebullient personalities!

This is the best I got from them!

Finally, we loaded up Scott and Ann's girls and took them back to our house for a big sleepover in the bonus room.

I hope they had fun. We Porters were all barely keeping our eyes open at this point, but we put on a movie for the few kids who had energy to watch it. It had been a long, long week!

Cameron was completely attached to Bailey and Aubrey and did NOT want to leave the next day.

We are so glad that Scott and Ann and family were able to come for the wedding and then spend an extra day with us. We thoroughly enjoyed our time with them.

Click below if you want to read more summer updates.

Porter Reunion 2014

The end of July we met up with extended family in AZ for the Porter Family Reunion near Heber. Bailey, Aubrey, Brandon and Angela flew to Arizona from Utah (the girls had been at EFY) and Joseph, Dan, and I flew there from Washington.  First we spent a few days in the Valley eating all the Mexican food our stomachs could handle.  Tia Rosa's . . yum.  Cafe Rio . . . . double yum.

 After church on Sunday we visited the Mesa Temple Visitor's Center and the grounds of the beautiful new Gilbert Temple.

 It was so hot, but we braved a few pictures outside. Joseph borrowed my sunglasses so he could handle the brightness.

 Then we packed everything up to drive a few hours to the mountains for the reunion. We were CRAMMED into our rental minivan. Every seat was filled and we all had to hold things on our laps. We had to take many more bags than usual because we had to bring all of our own bedding: pillows, blankets, sheets, etc. That was a pain and I won't try to attempt that ever again.

Click below if you want to keep reading

Little girl camp

For the last year Bailey and Aubrey have talked about running a camp for little girls in the summer. This year they made their dream a reality. They sent this email to some families we know with young girls:

Hi everyone! This summer we (Bailey and Aubrey Porter) are planning to host a day camp for girls ages 4 to 9.  The camp will be held from 9-11:30 a.m. August 11th - 15th. We have been working for months on fun activities for the camp and would love to have your daughter(s) participate if they are available and interested.

We will have a theme for each day and will do themed activities and games and have fun snacks.  These are our plans right now for the daily themes:

MONDAY: Scientist Day 

TUESDAY: Makeover Day

WEDNESDAY: Outdoor Day

THURSDAY: Disney Day

FRIDAY: Pajama Party

The price for each day is $8. Your girls could participate on any or all of the days.   

Let us know if you are interested in the summer camp.  Thank you so much, we are so excited!

Bailey and Aubrey Porter

The girls scheduled the camp for the only free week we had the entire summer. That week didn't work for some of the families we had contacted, but they still had a nice group of super cute girls every day. The activities they prepared were creative and fun.  Here are a few pictures from the week:  

The Fair - then and now

When I was a kid, going to the Grant County Fair was the highlight of the summer. From my childhood perspective, everyone in town went to the fair to socialize and it was a perpetual party. Our normally quiet and very small town seemed more festive and fun during Fair time.

I was very involved in the fair from an early age, entering sewing projects and participating in 4-H public speaking and cooking competitions. It was fun to earn blue ribbons and all year long as I worked on a project I would evaluate whether it was something I could enter in the fair. I loved to walk around all the exhibits and to see all the proudly displayed projects. I even tolerated looking at the animals, even though they smelled and I wasn't much of an animal lover. And nothing could be as exciting as the carnival rides at the fair. I spent my babysitting money on an all-ride-ticket but could never get myself to go on the Zipper ride.  

I could imagine myself daring to ride the crazy swinging upside down contraption someday in the future, maybe when I would attend the fair with friends as an older teenager, but what I really hoped to do someday was go to the fair with a date.

A lot happened to derail my plans and tarnish my view of fair utopia. We moved away from Washington before I was old enough to go on a date to the fair.  In fact, once we moved from Moses Lake in 1986 I never went to another fair for over 20 years. This fact would have shocked my 12-year-old mind.  Even though there were county and state fairs held every year in our communities, we weren't interested and it wouldn't have been the same. Whereas in Moses Lake the Grant County Fair was the town's claim to fame and the social event of the year, in other places I have lived the county fair is dwarfed by all the other enticing entertainment options and was not well-attended by anyone I knew.

The exception to this would be the community in which we currently live. When we moved to Vancouver 8 years ago I realized that the Clark County Fair was a sort-of-big-deal. 

Many people attended the fair every year in August and the Fairgrounds is a short drive from our home. The first August we lived in Washington I took my four kids to the fair so they could experience my childhood utopia.

So did it live up to my memories?  No, not really. As an adult I saw the fair through different eyes and it wasn't really magical at all. Granted, part of this might be because in Moses Lake the fair really WAS a big deal. I really think it truly was a big deal and that this wasn't just my childhood perception. But, there are (and were) evident down-sides to the Fair that I can see much more clearly now:

Aubrey's Utah Adventure

At the end of a whirlwind month (wedding, beach house, Girls Camp, visiting Mianna in Utah, EFY, Porter Reunion in AZ) Aubrey flew BACK to Utah for another week for some special time with Grandma and Grandpa Springer and two of her cousins.  Mostly she spent time with her cousin Sydney, but at the beginning of the trip Alexa was there as well. 

Grandma and Grandpa really tailored this trip to meet the needs of these two girls, who both love all things art, music, and drama-related.  Just some of the fun things they did during the week:

• Spent time at Grandma and Grandpa's beautiful cabin in Heber
• Toured Temple Square and saw a broadcast of the Mormon Tabernacle Choir's Music and the Spoken World (I'm sooooo jealous!)
• Visited the Springville Art Museum
• Drove to St. George and stayed in a condo
• Saw two different plays at Tuacahn (Joseph and the Technicolor Dreamcoat and The Little Mermaid)
• Went on a super cool backstage tour at Tuacahn
• Drove the scenic route back from St. George to see lots of quaint small towns
• Ate at Cafe Rio several times, Ihop, etc.

What a great privilege this was for the girls - to get to really know their grandparents and each other better. Aubrey had a wonderful time!