The Newest Porter Teenager

Joseph turned 13 years old and officially joins the teenage world! His birthday fell on a fast Sunday, which would definitely not work with breakfast in bed, so he started his birthday celebration on Saturday. His breakfast in bed included two types of donuts, bacon, and strawberries.

 After eating, Joseph wanted to open half of his presents, as is the tradition. This year he received some clothes (he picked out), some superhero bobbleheads (which he requested), some cool headphones, and the movie Coco.

 After church on Joseph's birthday, we made his requested treat, chocolate marshmallow cookies. 

 On Monday I took him to lunch at Mod Pizza, his favorite restaurant, for some delicious (and hot) pizza.

The next Saturday Joseph had invited 7 friends to a laser tag birthday party. 

Earlier in the day, the girls helped me make the cake that Joseph requested, a white cake (we found a great, very moist recipe) with homemade chocolate frosting.

All of Joseph's friends met at our house and then we drove two cars to Wilsonville. Bailey was in town for the weekend, so she came along! Aubrey was attending a friend's play.

 Ultrazone kept us well supplied with junk food (soda, pizza, chips, candy), which fueled us for some amazing laser tag games. In between the two games, the boys talked animatedly about their strategies for the next game.

 Then we ate the delicious cake and he opened gifts.

 We are grateful for these good friends.

 And it was so much fun to have Bailey attend the party.

We love our new teenager. He is witty, smart, loving, talented, and fun to hang out with. And he has the best smile!! Dan and I are glad that we get to hang out with him for 5 more years!

The Newest Porter Adult

Aubrey's got a birthday surprise when seminary was cancelled (due to projected snow which didn't materialize), so she was able to sleep in until her breakfast in bed was ready.

 And then she opened all her presents, since she would be going straight from school to a special birthday dinner in downtown Portland. She got journals and lots and lots of pens (her favorite),

 awesome Demarle cookwear (which also works as a hat apparently) to use when she has her own kitchen in college

 and a super fuzzy rug for her college dorm (which she says will make kneeling down to pray SO much more comfortable!)

For a birthday lunch, she and I went to Mod Pizza. It was so fun to visit with this gorgeous girl!

That night we picked her up directly from a Thespians club meeting at school and went to a special dinner at The Melting Pot (a fondue restaurant) in Portland. Her friend Seth came with us. It was a really amazing meal! Cheese fondue for appetizer, then a salad, then the main course which we cooked in the boiling vat of seasoned broth, then chocolate fondue. Delicious, all of it, and such a great experience!

I love, love, love this post Joseph put on his brand new Instagram account in honor of Aubrey's birthday.

We love our birthday girl! The years have flown by, and we can't believe that she is almost launched into the real world. We will miss her so much for so many reasons. She is insightful and intelligent, thoughtful and kind, resourceful and hard working, organized and talented, loving and courageous. She is going to love going to college, but our home won't be the same without her! 

January through March

New Year's Eve

This year we spent New Year's Eve (which was a Sunday night) at the McDonnell's house. They just finished a major renovation which created a big gathering space and a nicely updated kitchen. We played games and ate goodies and tried not talk about the ward realignments which would be announced the next week.

Sunny Winter

We went on several walks in the unseasonably warm January weather, including a nice walk on a Sunday afternoon after church. Now that church is at 9 a.m. instead of 1 p.m., that's a possibility!

 

I love this picture of the kids

I have been sorting through decades of memorabilia and pictures, preparing to scrapbook or digitize them. Here are a few fun gems I discovered recently.

In retrospect, this is really funny! (Written by Aubrey, age 9 1/2)
(My favorite part is the postscript: "Do good deeds they don't want you (to do)"

I promise that Aubrey has written so many kind and nice notes also, but this just happens to be the one that I found in my pile today!

 Bailey wrote very impassioned letters to the tooth fairy back in the day

And some other fun notes:

 

 And I love Bailey's career plans:

 Ivy League Interviews

 Aubrey went to interviews with an alumni of Stanford and Harvard. She will find out whether or not she was admitted on April 1. She thought that the interviews went very well!

Joseph and Dad

 Dan and Joseph attended the yearly Fathers/Sons campout on the coast in the rain. They stopped at Tillamook on the way for a triple scoop of ice cream.

Dan and I also attended the Awards Assembly for Joseph's excellent school performance first semester.

Dan the Man

Dan was not amused this day that we stopped after a funeral at a juice bar called Nekter and got something called the Toxin Flush (parsley, spinach, apple, lemon, ginger). I thought it was yummy!

 The night before Dan's birthday we went to dinner at B.J.'s, where Dan got his favorite avocado egg rolls.

 And Dan opened gifts at home.

 He started his birthday morning by teaching mission prep at our home. We had a breakfast - blueberry french toast casserole, bran muffins (Dan's favorites), sausages, and cinnamon pecans rolls.

Bailey's St. George adventure

Bailey joined many of the other Springer girls (Kara, Ashleyn, Lauryn, and Ali) at a house in St. George for a long weekend in mid-January. It was a nice (and very needed) break for all of them! I just wish that I could have joined them.

The oldest three

While they were visiting Utah for the Sundance Film Festival, Brandon and Angela met up with Bailey for lunch!

President Aubrey

I had to take a picture of Aubrey's presidency agenda. She developed this when she was the Laurel class secretary, and they have continued using it now that she is the president. The agenda is beautiful and very efficient and effective (just like Aubrey!)

It takes a village

When we first moved here, I saw how people gathered to help at every wedding reception or other  events, and I secretly hoped that someday I would be someone who would be asked to help at weddings of people in the community. It really feels like a "village" of friends working together to pull off big things. I am happy to report that I now frequently get to help, and it is so fun to work next to my good friends!

 What I've been doing

Lots of things, including hosting book club at our house (this is the aftermath of the yogurt bar brunch.)

I did  a lot of painting this month. More about that in another post. The color on the wall behind the piano was version one before I changed my mind and repainted. I loved seeing my two youngest playing piano together.

 Monsters at the end of the book

At Kohl's one day I saw these books on clearance and snagged them. They were our kids' favorite books growing up! Joseph had a childhood replay moment and read the books to me.

There is Beauty all Around

Views of our trail in February. Seriously, we live in a gorgeous place.

Taste of Thai

 I took Aubrey out to get Thai food one night when Dan was out of town. This was her first time tasting Thai (she tried Pad Thai, Mussaman Curry, and salad rolls), and she decided it is pretty good! She has become a pretty adventurous eater.

Snapshots of Joseph

Joseph and Aubrey working on some Algebra together, and a picture of my sweet youngest asleep.

 I took Joseph shopping for his birthday, and he was a very enthusiastic shopper and fun to hang with.

 I love what Joseph said when he looked at the stacks of color coordinated, carefully folded towels, "This is so satisfying. . ."

Snow Surprise

On February 18 we had a surprise snowstorm which canceled school and seminary one day and seminary the next day!

Jane Eyre

Yesterday, Aubrey and I spent 3 1/2 glorious hours watching the Masterpiece Theatre adaptation of Jane Eyre. This was the first time I have seen a theatrical adaptation of my favorite book which I thought did it credit. Relaxing in my bed with Aubrey watching an epic tale was a perfect way to spend a lazy Sunday afternoon!

As the movie ended, we agreed that the movie was fantastic (especially the last half) and we mused over some of the themes of the story. I was reminded of why this became my favorite book (Les Miserables is a very close second) as a teenager and why it still moves me. Before the threads of my thoughts escape me, I thought I would write them down.

Jane Eyre is a story about resilience and optimism

I have always been fascinated by the ways that Jane handles the extraordinary challenges throughout her life with optimism and determination. The book unfolds Jane's evolution of understanding her own worth despite her circumstances and her determination to carve out her place in a world which has left her no space. Jane is spunky and determined, and she knows her own mind and heart.

“I am no bird; and no net ensnares me: I am a free human being with an independent will.” 

“I care for myself. The more solitary, the more friendless, the more unsustained I am, the more I will respect myself.” 

“I can live alone, if self-respect, and circumstances require me so to do. I need not sell my soul to buy bliss. I have an inward treasure born with me, which can keep me alive if all extraneous delights should be withheld, or offered only at a price I cannot afford to give.” 

“If all the world hated you and believed you wicked, while your own conscience approved of you and absolved you from guilt, you would not be without friends.” 

“Even for me life had its gleams of sunshine.” 

Jane Eyre is about forgiveness

One of the most beautiful scenes is when Jane returns to visit her dying aunt, who treated her abysmally even to her dying breath. Jane had every opportunity and right to respond with anger and hurt to her aunt at this time, but she chose differently. She instead offered compassion and forgiveness, underpinned with confidence that her aunt's actions had no bearing on Jane's worth. It gives me chills to think about it. Jane shows this same compassion at several other key moments in the story, refusing to hold onto anger and maintaining her dignity and assurance of her own path.

“Life appears to me too short to be spent in nursing animosity or registering wrongs.” 

“It is far better to endure patiently a smart which nobody feels but yourself, than to commit a hasty action whose evil consequences will extend to all connected with you.” 

Jane Eyre is about love and the foundations of a healthy marriage

Every time I read or watch Jane Eyre I am initially puzzled about how and why Jane would grow to love Mr. Rochester. And yet, by the end, it makes total sense to me. Jane chooses to completely love he who completely loved her, even when other options would have been more practical. Jane is also the embodiment of selflessness in the ways she treats everyone. She loves them by serving them.

“I have for the first time found what I can truly love–I have found you. You are my sympathy–my better self–my good angel–I am bound to you with a strong attachment. I think you good, gifted, lovely: a fervent, a solemn passion is conceived in my heart; it leans to you, draws you to my centre and spring of life, wrap my existence about you–and, kindling in pure, powerful flame, fuses you and me in one.” 

“I am not an angel,' I asserted; 'and I will not be one till I die: I will be myself. Mr. Rochester, you must neither expect nor exact anything celestial of me - for you will not get it, any more than I shall get it of you: which I do not at all anticipate.” 

“I know what it is to live entirely for and with what I love best on earth. I hold myself supremely blest -- blest beyond what language can express; because I am my husband's life as fully as he is mine.” 

Jane Eyre is about the power of education

Jane's one childhood friend, Helen Burns, counsels her to take advantage of the education she can get at the bleak Lowood School, so that she can use that education to launch her into a better life. And she does this, using her learning to find a way out and constantly finding ways to add to her learning. Later, she is determined to help the poor village girls she teaches find the same path.

“Prejudices, it is well known, are most difficult to eradicate from the heart whose soil has never been loosened or fertilised by education: they grow there, firm as weeds among stones.” 

And finally, Jane Eyre is about valuing relationships over everything else

I think this is the theme which resonates the strongest for me. I love, love, love the scene when Jane, a new heiress, insists on giving away most of her money to her newfound cousins, who have shown her such love and care. St. John argues with her about this, pointing out that she has never had money and doesn't understand how important it will be to her. I can't find the exact quote for this yet, but Jane explains to St. John that all she has ever wanted is family and relationships with others, after living an isolated life. And these relationships are far more valuable to her than any worldly wealth.

Aaaah, such a great story. I told Aubrey last night that after revisiting the story of my favorite book, I felt like writing an essay about my favorite themes. A full essay will have to wait for another day, but today these are my thoughts. 

Protests

There has continued to be a lot of gun violence in our country, and the breaking point for many came last month in Florida, when a gunman killed 17 students. Since then it has been fascinating and gratifying to me to see the reaction of students around the country. They are beginning to speak up about their rights to go to school in safety and their requests/demands that something be done to change our current mishmash of gun laws.  I think that it is going to take the efforts of this generation to make a difference. I heard something on a news show yesterday which explained why this generation may be the ones to finally get change pushed through. These are kids raised in the digital world, in which any answer is available in a nanosecond on google. They are not used to waiting for results, which is something we older people often decry as proof of the downsides of technology. But in this case, I think it is to their benefit that they have confidence that the answers are out there and that change shouldn't require an interminable wait.

Last week students across our district (and across the country, I hear) walked out of class onto the school grounds for 17 minutes to remember the 17 students lost in the most recent shootings. Both Joseph and Aubrey participated in this, and I was proud of them. We talked about it beforehand, and I felt like they were walking out in support of those who were killed and as a form of nonviolent protest about gun violence. We talked in the morning about Martin Luther King and his system of nonviolent protests. We talked about how change happens when ordinary people decide they aren't OK with the status quo, and they consistently send messages (through words or through actions) to their elected representatives about what needs to happen.  There is a huge political mudpit that I could get stuck in here, but I will just say that I do not think that reasonable limits and boundaries on weapons and permits and bans on assault weapons in any way endangers the Constitution.

This Saturday Aubrey (and maybe more of the family) will be participating in a protest walk in downtown Vancouver, "March for Our Lives." The march has been organized by students at Aubrey's school, and similar marches will be taking place across the country.

This is the email sent from the school district after the walkouts. I thought it would be interesting to keep a record of it, as I believe that our kids are a part of history in the making.

Dear parents and guardians,

As you know, many VPS students today joined other young people across the country in conducting student-led, supervised walkouts to protest school violence. Others participated in student-led activities that included honoring the victims of the Parkland shooting and writing letters to legislators. We want to thank our students, their families and our staff members for their safe, respectful participation in this learning experience. Today our students made us very proud for expressing themselves in positive and constructive ways, consistent with district policy and procedures.

We will continue to be committed to ensuring that all students feel safe and respected at their schools. If you have any questions or concerns about today’s activities, please contact your child’s school.

Sincerely,

Superintendent Steve Webb

March already

Every year about mid-February we enter a vortex which generally persists for a few months. In some ways life is less complicated than it used to be, but March is inevitably busy with birthday celebrating and church responsibilities.

Some of what we have been doing

This last month I spent a lot of time preparing for and taking over the primaries in the stake for ward conferences. One more next week and then we are done!

We spent about a week celebrating Aubrey and Joseph's birthdays, with birthday breakfasts, lunches, dinners, parties, etc. More to come on all of that.

Dan spent almost a week in AZ visiting facilities for work and then helping his parents with some projects. He has also been dealing with a lot of work stress, but (as always) is generally saving the day with creative solutions.

Decorating Drama

I decided early February to choose new wall colors for the den, living room, dining room, master bedroom, and master bathroom. Because . . . why not add more craziness to the crazy. After a few weeks of staring at splotches on the walls of the living room, I took a chance and bought paint. And, the first color I picked was wrong with the rug I had bought, so I switched and used that color to paint the den instead. It looks great there. Then, I tweaked the colors and bought more paint and painted the living room and dining room. My vision was for the walls to be a very light grey-blue with a slightly darker version of the color in the dining room. Instead, the living room walls ended up looking like a pale blue Easter egg and the dining room looked like the color which was on my girls' bedroom wall when they were little. Not at all the sophisticated colors I wanted. So, after staring at the colors for a week I decided to try painting over them with the neutral colors from our entryway and kitchen (one shade darker for the dining room). And, I really like it. I bought enough paint to finish both rooms, and I can finally say that I'm done with the paint in those two rooms. Truly, I had to go down the wrong road (blue on the walls) to realize that I didn't want blue on the walls but instead wanted neutral.  This experience has made me gun-shy about the pale green/blue/grey I chose for our master bedroom and bath. I'm wondering if I should  just save myself the trouble and paint the walls a light neutral, and then add color through accessories!  Also on the docket for re-painting: the laundry room, the half bath downstairs, Joseph's room, and the bonus room. So, basically the rest of the house. Luckily, I like to paint! In general, I have been lightening the colors and adding more "greige" rather than yellow-toned darker neutrals.

In order to make these color changes throughout the house, I have been continuing the process of getting rid of most of the home decorating accessories in those rooms. It feels good to have a blank slate! I haven't changed out the actual furniture so far, and I may not do so because I'm way too cheap for that. But, the wall art, curtains, pillows, etc., are all gone or changed. I'm living with mostly blank walls for awhile, and I'm OK with that.  I did buy new cream colored curtain panels at Home Goods, and in the next few weeks I'll be adding more fabric at the bottom of each to make them extend to the floor.

In addition to changing colors, I have felt lately like I only want to decorate with things that are meaningful to me/us. Soon I'll take some pictures of what I did in the family room and kitchen to show what this means. I truly don't care if what I put on the wall is what decorating-savvy people would do. If I like it, it works!

Re-learning Algebra

After discovering a month ago that Joseph had been confused by some of the concepts in Algebra and that this confusion was being compounded as more and more concepts were being piled on top and was causing frustration and low grades, the rest of the family members (Dan, Aubrey, and I) have been spending time every day helping him re-learn some of the Algebra skills and feel confident for the quizzes and the midterm he took a month ago. Our hard work paid off (all of us contributed, but Joseph did the most work for sure) and he got a VERY high score on the midterm. Regarding his process of recover ing from a mini school crisis, we think he is learning some valuable lessons about what he should do when he feels overwhelmed and how to reach out for help with things are confusing. And, we are all re-learning a bit of Algebra! Well, not Aubrey. She is still in the throes of Math (taking AP Calc right now), so she remembers all the math stuff. Dan is a little better than me, but when it came to graphing functions he was completely lost. And I remember almost nothing. Thank goodness for Khan Academy, that amazing free resource which patiently teaches anyone just about anything!