What I Think About The Direction We Are Heading. . .

"You cannot legislate the poor into freedom by legislating the wealthy out of freedom. What one person receives without working for, another person must work for without receiving. The government cannot give to anybody anything that the government does not first take from someone else. When half of the people get the idea that they do not have to work because the other half is going to take care of them, and when the other half gets the idea that it does no good to work because somebody else is going to get what they worked for, that my dear friend, is about the end of any nation. You cannot multiply wealth by dividing it."-Dr. Adrian Rogers

The Chocolate Thief

On Tuesday, Porter and I were hanging out in the kitchen.  I was scrapbooking at the table and he was doing his usual, loading and unloading the drawers.  I heard a rustling of wrappers and decided to peak over the counter to see what he was doing.  This is what I found:

Apparently, he had been in the candy drawer.  Ok, so my weakness is M&M's and I had a huge open bag from Valentines in the drawer.  It looks like Porter has the same weakness.  As soon as I looked at him he knew he was in trouble.  And when he knows that, he responds by yelling at me and shaking his arms really hard. 

Ok, so I indulged his chocolate craving later on with some chocolate covered pretzels.  So sue me, at least that is something to give some kind of nourishment to this busy little body.

My Little Chef

Apparently Porter is an aspiring chef! If he could he would spend all his time in the kitchen. Who needs toys when you have bowls, pots, and utensils? His new trick at my mom's house is to open the silverware drawer and lick the spoons and then put them back. It would probably be in her best interest to give all of those a good washing. He also loves the lazy susan. It has lots of the ingredients he needs, especially Karo Syrup and Slim Fast Powder.  He is becoming quite a crazy handful of a boy.  Today by 9am, he had fallen off my bed and smacked his head, dumped the dog water all over himself, wet my bed, had the jogging stroller fall on him, escaped up the stairs three times, threw my phone in the garbage, and attacked Miko.  Who needs to exercise when you are chasing around a naughty little boy all day.  And the worst is that he is a master manipulator.  When he really wants something or is trying to get his way, he gives you a giant hug and a big fat kiss.  And believe me, he knows what he is doing.  Its amazing as a parent that no matter how mad your child makes you they still can melt your heart.  

Happy Birthday Tommy!

Today is Tom's 25th Birthday. Be sure to call and wish him a Happy Birthday because he will hold it against you if you don't:) He is pretty pumped about his present, a brand spanking new bike. Thanks Neil for having trade to make this happen because it cost more than we have in our savings account. Sad huh! But he deserves it. He is such a hard worker, working a full time job up in Ogden trying to keep the business alive, going to school every night of the week, and trying to squeeze Young Men's activities in whenever he has a chance. It always seems like the ward wants to give him all these extra assignments on top of that. I feel so bad that he never has time to do anything for himself so I am glad he has this bike to take a break from everything else. (Not to mention it is motivating him to sign up for some triathalons this summer) In these past couple of months he has also taken a lot of his own time to help other people complete their projects. He put in my parents front door, put base boards in the front entry way, and laid a wood floor in their dining room. He has also been very helpful to his brothers and is always willing to help anyone who needs it. I am grateful to him for being such a good dad and having so much patience with me and Porter. Porter loves cuddling with his dad which gives me a nice break at night since he won't come to me. Tom has been an amazing husband so far making sure I am always taken care of and that our family has everything we need. Thanks for all you do babe, I hope you have a Happy Birthday.

Sick of Being Sick

Not much has been going on lately here in the LeBaron household. Porter and I have been MIA passing our sickness back and forth three times over. Lucky for me, Porter loves Tommy way more than me which allowed Tom to enjoy being thrown up on more than once this past week. It is amazing what can come out of a kid who only drinks a bottle. We are now both on antibiotics, me for the second time and Porter for two giant ear infections so hopefully we are on the mend. It is pretty sad when your little one is sick, but there is a part of me that loves that all he wants to do is cuddle. He has been so sleepy lately. Today at four o'clock in the afternoon he found his pajamas and brought them to me. I started playing peekaboo with him, but obviously that was not the response he was looking for. Turns out the kids wanted to get in his pajamas because he was wanting to go to bed. Here he is at 4:30, poor little boy.

If any of you know tom or I you know then that he is his parents child who loves to go to bed early. As referenced to the pajamas, Porter has developed quite an opinion, especially about what he wears. He prefers his Lightning McQueen Crocs to any of his other shoes. He brings them to me in the morning when he wants to leave the house and gets really upset when I try to put on any other pair. He has certain pairs of pajamas he likes over others and when I put one pair on he brings me another pair. Who knew that a one year old could have such an opinion, and about clothes?

Here is Porter playing with Justin in the snow.

The 911 Call

I bet most people can't say that their child was in trouble with the law at age 1. Not that it is anything to brag about. Yesterday Porter and I visited my mom to help her take down the last of her Christmas decorations. He had been playing with the phone earlier that day, but I didn't think anything of it. Well as we were taking down the tree in the front room, I looked outside as a police car pulled up. He knocked on the door. When my mom answered he said, "What's the Emergency?" We both looked at each other rather confused. He continued explaining that there had been a 911 Emergency call from this number a little earlier. Right when he said it, I could guess what had happened, but chose to still look confused. We said we didn't know anything about it and he explained that during storms sometimes lines get crossed and they get phone calls. He left but waited outside for probably another half hour. I'm guessing just to make sure that someone really didn't make the call. I feel guilty for not confessing, although I don't have any real evidence. You can get fined for stuff like that right? Well, nonetheless, my parents had the police check up on them a couple more times that night to make sure everything was okay. I guess it is comforting to know that they really are there to protect you. But needless to say, my naughty one year old has had his first and we pray his last run in with the police.
Yesterday we also had a last minute family portrait done by Busath photography. The owner is my parents home teacher and he said he wanted to use our family to try out some new techniques with family portraiture. Tom and I are guessing it is to try out some new slimming technique, but it will be interesting to see what he comes up with. Porter was a darling little cheese head (with the exception of stealing the toy away from the assistant) so I am excited to see some of those prints. If there is anything worth showing, I will post them. Happy Wednesday!

A New Year

As I'm sure most of us are, I'm welcoming this New Year with open arms. The other night Tom showed me an article in the Ensign that really got to me. It is an article called Putting My Hands in the Lords. It is a very humbling article, one of those that puts your life into perspective. It quotes Elder B.H. Roberts who said that "those who have to contend with difficulties, brave dangers, endure disappointments, struggle with sorrows, eat the bread of adversity and drink the water of affliction, develop a moral and spiritual strength together with a purity of life and character, unknown to the heirs of ease, and wealth, and pleasure." I love the final paragraph which reads," The challenge is to love God, keep our covenants, and live the great plan of happiness even when loved ones die and other trials and disappointments occur. It is not just the attractive, smart and wealthy who are expected to endure in faith to the end. That is expected of all of us. The challenge is to remember why we are here: to work out our salvation, alone or married, childless or with a quiver full of children; to shout for joy and then work at being joyful; to remember that the Lord stands ready to succor us through the Holy Ghost. He will go before us and be on our right hand and on our left."
I have a wonderful life and have been blessed with so much. It has been hard to witness struggles and trials of many different family members and friends but I am grateful for the examples they have been to me as they have faced them.

I have always made resolutions and met only a few, but my goal this year is to try to better myself and focus on why I am here, not letting all the worldly things get in the way. I would like to develop more patience and try to keep perspective in my life. ( I also want to learn to quilt, take time to go running (yea for a Jogging stroller and Nike Fit), and read more books)