Santa Cruz-The Beach

Despite the rather chilly conditions, Porter and Jack requested time at the Beach every day we were in Santa Cruz.  We had a different activity everyday, but each and every day ended with time at the beach.  So without further ado, Santa Cruz Beach in pictures.

BE PROUD. . . ONE OF THE FEW PREGNANCY PICS THAT WILL MAKE IT ON THIS BLOG

CONSTRUCTION BEGINS ON THE GREAT HOLE. . .

 LET THE CRAWLING THROUGH BEGIN. . .

CAROLINE AND SISI TESTING THE STRUCTURE

 UNFORTUNATELY, JACK TRIED IT POOH BEAR STYLE WHICH DIDN'T BODE WELL FOR HIM. . .

 BUT ONCE WE TURNED HIM AROUND HE WAS QUITE PROUD OF HIMSELF!

California- Day 1-3

While most normal people look forward to A vacation with excitement and anticipation, as the day of departure quickly approached I felt a build up of hesitation and dread. Pregnancy hasn't been so friendly this time around and my bulging disc and aching hips could think of nothing worse than a 12 hour car ride with a hyperactive 2 year old . Our trek began at 5 :30 and we were off with well behaved kids the entire way.

I will guiltily admit that jack looked like this for most of the trip which Porter worries has left Jack with a rotting brain but while Porter had toys, work sheets and sticker books to keep him entertained the only thing that kept Jack happy was Phineas and Ferb. So what was a desperate mother in pain to do? Not my proudest moment for sure.  But since our arrival home we have taken a break from technology.

 Johnny and Kristas family welcomed us with a wonderful dinner and a delightful walk around their San Jose neighborhood to get the wiggles out before we went to bed. Tommy headed into work the next morning At EY's San Jose office while Krista and I enjoyed a morning at the park and pool followed by protein smoothies and much needed naps for Cubs and I while Porter passed hour upon hour playing with Kai in pure Lego bliss. Sisi and I indulged in American Girl magazines as I realized how truly excited i am for this baby girl! A perfect day followed by a great dinner and some Downton Abbey after the kids went down. 

Don't know why but Jack loves to hide in towels!

Porter and Kai (sadly the only swim pic I snapped)

Tuesday brought a lazy morning and an expedition into San Francisco for a trolley ride, a little jaunt into China Town and a little sand time at the beach with a beautiful view of Golden Gate bridge.

Ready or Not. . .

To say I've been paranoid about how Jack will handle this upcoming arrival is a gigantic understatement.  He is a bundle of CRAZY energy that is hard to tame under the best of circumstances, let alone having a newborn who also requires constant attention.  I may wake up some nights with panic attacks but there's no turning back now!  Jealousy, fighting, attempts on her life are just a few things that my imagination has considered

.  Our recent trip to California definitely confirmed my fears but for different reasons.  Maybe the fear is that he may actually LOVE the baby too much to be safe!  It melted my heart to see how this crazy boy absolutely is 100% head over heels in love with babies.

He could not get enough of baby Anna!  He wanted nothing more but to hold her and attend to her every need (ok, well at least what he thought she needed).  Unfortunately he is 2 and really cannot hold her by himself nor should he worry about wrapping her in blankets and providing pillows for her!  Yikes!  But honestly, it melted my heart to see my little boy so in LOVE with her.  He would giggle whenever she would touch his face and would refer to her as "My Baby".  (yes, unfortunately we have a case of the 'MINES')

Oh how I love this boy of mine!

Kicking the Summer off Right (almost)

Well, we started off Summer with a BANG!  Ok, so maybe it wasn't that exciting, but we are sure enjoying ourselves.  

Let's start with the SUMMER BUZZ. Let's just say we buzzed at a 2 and this boy was basically BALD for a week or two.  But here he is at Preschool loving life and showing off for his momma.  My heart melts when I get to volunteer at school because he is so PROUD that I'm his mom and I hope that never changes!

This year was a HUGE stepping stone with Porter finishing his first year of preschool.  So bring on the summer!

This is Porter's very best friend Roxton

 (who we just found out is moving and we may never see again, poor Porter!)

Then on to LAKE POWELL with 30 mph winds (ok, so it may not have been our greatest trip, but Porter always loves being spoiled by 20 adults who adore him)  With winds like that not much could be done but we managed to enjoy ourselves immensely.  Pictures were few and far between this trip but I'll post soon.

Where was Jack you ask?  Oh just hanging out at Jenny's with her 5 fun loving kids and these adorable little puppies

Folks they aren't all pictured but there were 11 of them and combine that with 2 built in babysitters that adore him and a backyard as his own personal domain and that boy was in HEAVEN! (luckily it took out a little sting of guilt for deserting my baby boy)

And finally as if these boys life couldn't be any better this past week, daddy got to attend a BEE's game today in the Middle of the Day sponsored by work which included ANY treats they wanted including ice cream filled baseball hats!

However, truth be told the BEE's aren't having a great season so we found more enjoyment on the playground.  But we do have 2 energetic boys and sitting in the sun next to Tommy watching our two boys play, well, life couldn't be better!

FHE Flowers and Such

Wow, it was one of those days with my boys.  This morning started with an ultrasound as we scrambled to get everyone ready, but that baby girl is growing so fast and is measuring a week and a half big already!  (although we don't want her to come too soon or else Tommy won't get his 2 weeks of paternity leave which I am pining away for!) Oh, and my hopes have been dashed for a calm baby as ultrasounds prove to be super difficult as this little girl can't stop doing backflips!  But we can't wait to meet this little girlie (even though we still have 19 weeks to go!)

The day continued with crazy boys doing crazy boy things.  Jack's newest naughty thing is to chew things up and leave piles of the food he decided against all over my house, I kid you not! DISGUSTING piles of chocolate granola bars, bananas, and string cheese rounded our our day!  And Porter decided that today was whiny not listen day and he definitely excelled.  But we tried to pull ourselves together and still have an enjoyable Family Night planting flowers in our front yard front plot.

See, our nice LITTLE area! (a house one day, right?)

But at the end of the day, no matter how bad it seemed, I wouldn't trade my life for the world!  I love my boys!

We Survived!

We survived! We survived endless days, lonely weekends, daddy-less dinnners, lots of car repairs with two kiddos in tow, mommy story time (seriously I am horrible at the made-up story), and seriously late lonely nights.  Sorry is that too dramatic?  Well all I can say is I NEVER want to be a single parent because there is no rest for the wary pregnant mom who is on call 24/7 without a backup and life is lonely. So to me it felt that dramatic.  (blame it on the pregnancy?) But it is over and having daddy home makes everything better.  And why not?  Daddy is a better lego builder, a better story teller, a better cuddler, a better imaginary play companion.  Who wouldn't miss their daddy?  But we survived and it is over for now...

In other news, to celebrate Daddy's return to the family, we enjoyed an ultrasound to find out that this SLOWLY growing baby is a. . .

GIRL!

And we couldn't be more excited!  As a perfect ending to the night, Tom and I ran over to the hospital to see our friends the Jackson's new baby girl whom both of us got to snuggle for a minute. That made us both even more excited!  Porter was hoping for a girl so he is ecstatic and is drawing pictures for her as we speak.  Jack hasn't a clue what is even going on but I fear he is going to have a rude awakening when this baby comes and ousts him from his throne as reigning baby!

Conference, Bedsheets and Halloween Costumes

After a day of wallowing in my own self pity in what are very trivial issues, I decided the best thing for me would be to review what touched me at General Conference:

As I just hinted at my self pity, I must say Elder Holland's talk definitely hits home to a number of emotions I have been feeling lately.  The picked on feeling of why it seems like my life has much more opposition than those around me (ok, just some, obviously not all, I'm strictly speaking of the day to day grind here not any huge trails which I know may offend some but I'm only human).  His words hit me like a ton of bricks, "May I plead with us not to be hurt—and certainly not to feel envious—when good fortune comes to another person? We are not diminished when someone else is added upon. We are not in a race against each other to see who is the wealthiest or the most talented or the most beautiful or even the most blessed. The race we are really in is the race against sin, and surely envy is one of the most universal of those."

"The formula of faith is to hold on, work on, see it through and let the distress of earlier hours, real or imagined, fall away in the abundance of the final reward."

I took comfort in so many of the messages shared at conference and since I'm a quote person, I thought I would share some of my favorites:

"I testify that you have not traveled beyond the reach of divine love. It is not possible for you to sink lower than the infinite light of Christ’s Atonement shines."- Elder Holland

"Our Father in Heaven did not put us on this earth to fail, but to succeed gloriously."-Elder Scott

"Our Heavenly Father did not launch us on our eternal voyage without providing the means whereby we could receive from Him guidance to ensure our safe return. I speak of prayer. I speak, too, of the whisperings from that still, small voice; and I do not overlook the holy scriptures which contain the word of the Lord and the words of the prophets -- provided to us to help us successfully cross the finish line."- President Monson

"We may not be at our very best every day but if we are trying, Jesus' bidding is full of encouragement and hope, "Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest." -Elder Andersen

I also felt inspired and challenged and as stated before, lovingly chastised finding myself coming away from conference with a renewed sense of purpose and a better focus:

"Just as the atoning sacrifice of Jesus Christ is at the center of the plan of salvation, we followers of Christ must make our own sacrifices to achieve the destiny that plan provides for us."-Elder Oaks

"Each day, ours is the challenge to access the power of the Atonement, so that we can truly change, become more Christlike, and qualify for the gift of exaltation and live" -Elder Oaks

"Discipleship is believing Him in seasons of peace, and believing Him in seasons of difficulty, when our pain and fear calmed only by the conviction that He loves us and keeps His promises." -Elder Andersen

I have always enjoyed Conference but I definitely wish I had the incredible anticipation and excitement that Porter holds for Conference.  His childlike delight when we constructed his Apostle Chain naming and coloring every apostle was adorable and I must confess inspiring.  After we made it he danced around the room twirling and explaining why he loved each of the apostles and which ones were bald.  On Saturday evening while Tom was at priesthood he informed me that rather than Superhero Bedsheets he would like Apostle Bedsheets.  What?  Who makes a request like that?  I'm not entirely sure how I go about explaining to him that there is no possible way those will be an option.  

And after weeks of contemplation (yes we like to be prepared around here) Porter has declared that he would like to dress up as Elder Perry for Halloween.  Although an easy costume, really an apostle?  Is that blasphemous?  I've never heard of such a thing. Why Elder Perry you ask?  Well because his name is the same as Perry the Platypus.  Although Elder Cook holds a close second in this boys mind because his last name "means like baking and I love baking". I'm often questioned how Porter has developed such an amazing testimony and love for the church and although I wish I could take credit, honestly I believe this child was sent here more spiritually mature than I and feel humbled to be entrusted with such a sweet spirit.  (don't get me wrong, Porter commits naughtiness on a daily basis and faces the same listening challenges as all 4 year olds)