Christmas Dress 2014

This year we swapped trees with different family members, and ended up with a six-footer, which has plenty of room for all of our ornaments above Miss V's reach. She likes the decorations, especially the lights and child-friendly nativity sets. A few presents already under our tree are just tall enough for her to back into them and use as benches.

We played dress-up today, since wearing a dress that gets in the way while climbing isn't what she wanted to wear after church on Sunday. She looks so big in all of the puffy layers, and then I see her in the onesie and ruffle-butt tights, and she appears to be so tiny again. Grandma found such an adorable outfit. It's a little more difficult taking posed pictures now than when she was just a few months old and couldn't even roll away from where I plopped her, but I love watching her explore, running around outside and through the house.

Each phase of her life comes with new experiences and opportunities. Right now I'm enjoying her adorable displays of mimicry as we fold our arms to pray, wave good-bye, or tickle toes. She loves picking up a book, and turning slowly through all of the pages. A few recognizable words are said, but her supposed words bring some interesting guesses. I think more crayon shavings end up in her mouth than on her coloring pages. One of my favorite sights to see is when Zak gets home from work, and V realizes he'll be coming through the door any moment. She sprints toward him with a big grin on her face.

We're excited for Christmas activities and presents this year. She's already made wrapping gifts and decorating the gingerbread house into adventures. She loves putting on necklaces. She is one of God's perfect little creations, and I sure hope I don't ruin that with my parenting. We love her very much.

Porter Thanksgiving 2014

James and Sue Porter Family Thanksgiving 2014

Grandma Sue wanted to get as many Porters as possible together for Thanksgiving this year. Jake and Katie offered to host it at their swanky apartment clubhouse, which worked perfectly. The only problem was that since we enjoyed our meal so long, we didn't get to utilize the theatre room very long, although the sports fans got to watch the game on a big screen t.v.

Boy I tell you, the Porter ladies can sure throw some decorations and food together quickly. Everyone unloaded the vehicles, and quickly the piles of boxes, coolers, and crock pots turned into rows of beautifully decorated tables (with Zak's favorite little shrimps as an appetizer).

The only times I've seen this many of Zak's Dad's side of the family has been at family weddings, when you can't sit down and talk because so much is happening. We loved getting to spend time with everyone, and also spending quality time with much loved food.

We stayed in town over the weekend, and got to see Jake, Katie, and Little L in "A Christmas Story." He made an intimidating mean Santa, and she made an angry mother about to punish the scapegoat boy after Ralph blames "fudge" on him. I've never seen the play form, and they did a great job of giving the hilarious story a moral.

Maybe one of these years we'll actually make it to the extended Porter reunion, but until then, we had a lot of fun.

James and Sue Porter Family Thanksgiving 2002 or 2003. Everyone is so young and little! [photo from Grandma Sue]

Flintstone Halloween

Zak doesn't always like to wear a costume for Halloween, so I've tried to go with family themes which provide a simple, comfortable costume for him. With Miss V a growing toddler, I decided the the time was right for the Flintstones. I looked online at available costumes, and decided to make our own. Rather than going with exact versions of the cartoon clothing, I used what I could find to create costumes in the spirit of the cartoon. Orange flannel fabric, a white leopard print fleece blanket, and a glow-in-the-dark bone bow from China all came together for our look. I even tried some temporary hair coloring foam.

I've claimed for a long time that it always snows here the week before Halloween, but this year my theory was disproven. It was so beautiful, we pulled out our lawn chairs and joined our neighbors in the driveway as the neighborhood kids made the rounds.

We went to the church Halloween carnival and Miss V stocked up on sugary treats. She enjoyed fishing for candy and shooting some cans. They also had an ooey-gooey sensory booth and some pirates battling the kid with foam swords on planks.

We found out later that Zak's cousin's family, dressed up like the Rubbles with their own little Bamm-Bamm.

photo stolen from Jake's Facebook page

Rather than carving pumpkins this year, we decided to help V decorate them with stickers. What she loved most was peeling the stickers back off her pumpkin.

Playing in the Leaves

My new neighbor, Sara, started doing professional photography recently, and offered to take some pictures of Miss V. She found a yard with large trees, and the three of us along with her two young "assistants" played in the leaves. V wasn't too fond of the crunchy piles at first, but eventually the horses across the street distracted her. (Unfortunately, that meant most of her pictures involved her pointing at them.) We are very pleased with the results. Thanks, Sara. These are some of my favorites.

Pumpkin Walk 2014

One event that always peaks my interest, and which I missed greatly while living out-of-state is North Logan's own annual Pumpkin Walk, held at Elk Ridge Park. The amazing creativity of local schools, organizations, families, and businesses began over twenty years ago, when the Beutlers converted their farmland into a temporary masterpiece of pumpkins forming well-known characters.

With the draw of Ida Beutler's homemade cookies and hot drinks, about 200 people attended the walk that first year. But it was such a big hit (and word spread so fast), that during the next year, attendance jumped to around 2,000 attendees. 

"The Beutlers took their apple crop and had them pressed into cider for Ida, in her gracious manner, to serve to visitors," said North Logan resident Nancy Israelson. 

With the help of enlisted friends and neighbors, it grew from there. There was one year when it was just too much for the Beutlers to do, so it was cancelled. The problem was that the Pumpkin Walk had become so loved - it left a void in the Halloween fun - so the next year the city of North Logan asked to help carry on the tradition. (The Utah Statesman, 10/29/03)

My parents moved us to the area when I was still in elementary school, and I remember walking as a class all in a line down the street to the park to see the displays.  I very excitedly got to go with Zak, V, Grandma Hooper, and cousin Jenny and her kids. Some favorites were the Lego Movie, The Christmas Carol, Sword in the Stone, and Robin Williams carvings.