Lately. . .

I've been slacking on the pictures lately, but I've promised myself I'll take lots of easter pictures. I don't have much to report, just little tid bits that are of no real importance. I guess as a stay at home mom it is the little things that are exciting. This has been quite a good week.

We got back from a last minute trip to St. George with Joe and Carrie. It was really fun but definitely not long enough. It makes me so excited for summer. Thanks Bobbi for letting us stay at the St. George house!

In a period of 24hrs, Porter went off the bottle cold turkey (yes we found a sippy cup he likes and can use), he went back to sleeping 10-12 hours, and finally mastered the stairs. (which is a very important feat in our house) He is such a big kid now it makes me sad. Where did my little boy go?

I got my Mixbook book in the mail. It is an awesome photo book site that lets you upload digital scrapbooking stuff and then make the book there. (for me it's like taking the photoshop step out of the mix which makes my digital scrapbooking time much more efficient)

I got my Rite Aid and Walgreens rebate checks in the mail. I love it! I got some good deals on some things I acutally needed with some dang good rebates. I am not becoming the crazy coupon person, but I am loving saving money with coupons lately. Tom thinks I have an addiction to buying cereal. I can't help it when I see a deal because cereal gets expensive. I think we have like 12 extra boxes of cereal. Which I must confess, I don't really eat it so it will take him a long time to deplete my inventory.

And finally, I have decided to retire my blog and just keep my own little private one for chronicling purposes. (not sure if that is really a word, but it doesn't have a red line under it so I am going to say yes)

Swimsuits

Just an FYI for anyone who is interested.  A girl who went to highschool with me has started her own custom swimsuit business.  Her site is essentialswimwear.com.  Her suits look great and she is coming to my parent's house next Saturday to do measurements and show the fabrics and suits to anyone who is interested.  If you are, let me know and I'll send you the details.  

Park Playdate with a Little Political Commentary (Sorry, I can't help myself)

On Thursday we went to the park with as many of the LeBaron cousins that could be rounded up. Porter enjoyed every minute of it and following that child around can be quite exhausting. He is always so busy but honestly, the child cracks me up.

We have been working on animal sounds lately. We have cow, sheep, lion and snake down pat, but the others are a little confusing. Somehow, the dog makes the fish sound (as does the actual fish) and I can't for the life of me figure out how to correct that error. My triumph for the week is that Porter has crossed the eating barrier, we think. The other night he ate so much I was worried that he was going to puke.

Here's what we've been up to lately:

Swimming at the Lion's Club!

Porter wearing Gracie's PJ's after a bath at Nanny's

Sad that they are the same size when she is like a year and a half older than him.

In other news, in case you didn't already know, we are moving at the end of May!
Now forgive me for my next part, but I don't get to talk to very many people besides Porter. But this is my blog right? So stop reading now if you don't want my political yet somewhat religious commentary. My brother Justin told me that in priesthood last week the teacher said that there was a talk given in General Conference about 7 years ago concerning Seven Years of Feast and 7 Years of Famine. I started reading through some of the church talks around that time, and President Hinckley gave a talk in November 2001, right after September 11th called "The Times in Which We Live". There are no specific warnings, but he does say, "I do not know what the future holds. I do not wish to sound negative, but I wish to remind you of the warnings of scripture and the teachings of the prophets which we have had constantly before us. I cannot forget the great lesson of Pharaoh’s dream of the fat and lean kine and of the full and withered stalks of corn." Every morning when I turn on the news there is always more bad news. And to me, the most frightening thing of all is the fact that bills are being passed which are slowly turning our country into a socialist state without many people even realizing it.

Now I know that there are a lot of people out there that support the idea of socialism. I don't. It seems ideal to have everyone work for the good of everyone to share the wealth and have the government pay for everything etc., etc. In one of my classes in college, I wrote a paper about the United Order and the Law of Consecration. The attempts to live the law of consecration on this earth failed. And although the United Order is not the same as Socialism because it is a perfect law created by God and Socialism is far from perfect, it has a similar idea. I don't know, but I think if the church couldn't even live like this, certainly I don't think it would work very well in this world. The idea of heavily taxing everyone who makes over a certain amount of money doesn't work for me. I agree that the executives that got those huge bonuses shouldn't have gotten them, but now we are pretty much saying you only get to make as much money as the government wants you to. As my husband and my father both work in a small business, I do not support many of the ideas that are coming out of the government lately. But to me, I think that the President is using everything that is wrong in the United States right now to pass his agenda through. And people must either not realize it or they must support it. We don't want to call it socialism, but that is what our country is becoming. Now don't even get me started on the National Debt! The problem with socialism is that eventually you run out of everyone else's money.

A Day at the Park and OCD

First off, I hate this weather. It is almost 60 degrees out but the wind is horrible!!!! It totally tricks you! Yesterday Porter and I decided to brave the wind and headed to the park. I have a feeling we will be spending all summer outside, which, if you take a look at my child, you would agree he definitely needs that sun! Lately I have been noticing that Porter is a little Obsessive Compulsive. He freaks out when anything is on his hands. Even in the tub, he splashed the water and then hated that there was water on his hands! He hates things like cheetos and cries when he realizes what they have left on his hands. He fell down at the park, but it didn't seem to phase him until he realized he had dirt on his hands. When he thinks there is something on his hands, he rubs them and scrapes them and scratches them. What? How does this even happen? I am like the furthest thing from a clean freak and my child is seriously OCD. Any suggestions from you parents out there? Is this at all normal?

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.