We live in the Wild Wild West

 

I think I'm going to have a series of posts showing how we live in the Wild Wild West--because we do.  It's a different kind of life--a lot more basic, but really cool.  Our house is pretty small, but with plenty of room for our little family.  The first picture is the view from our driveway.  Our friends let us borrow their playplace and Porter lives most of his days climbing on it or going down the slide.  In the second picture, that's the back of the house and why yes, that is a clothes line--and it is awesome.  We have a dryer downstairs in the basement, but we've only used it one time because I just loooooove to hang clothes up on the line.  I don't think we'll be able to do it as soon as it starts to snow so I'm living it up and hanging the line as much as I can.

We have a thermostat, but we don't want to use it very often because propane costs and wood we get for free, so that's the wood we have so far, but we'll have to get three times as much to make it through the winter.

Bring on our Wild West Adventure!

We're Here to Stay! EDITED

We have decided to stay in Idaho...in Wayan, ID even.  Jordan got a job (yayayayay!), and we''re moving into a little house today.  We're excited about it and glad we finally made a decision!  If you live close and want to visit, there aren't a whole lot of people here (I think the population here is 54...not an exaggeration...), so email me or we'll have cell reception in a couple weeks so give us a call!

EDIT:  We did NOT buy a house--we're just renting one, and a very small one at that.  Just wanted to clarify.  I'll put pictures on here soon (hopefully before this weekend) when I get pictures on the walls and it looks more like our own. 

Here is where we're living:
View Larger Map

I don't even know what our address is--I just know it's some number on Wayan Loop, Wayan, ID 83285.

We're still in Idaho!

We've been in Idaho since the end of July--and been having a blast! 

We've been enjoying very much the outdoors by going on fourwheeler rides everyday and having bonfires as often as possible! 






We were introduced to GIANT marshmallows, shown in comparison to a regular marshmallow--they're amazing!  You cook the outside, slide the cooked skin off, and then cook it again!  It's like 5 marshmallows in 1!  This is a strawberry one, but it's disgusting--just the white ones are good (to me...).

We've also had some fun huckleberryin'.  We really like it.  Porter sits on a log and just eats the huckleberries off the bush while I pick...it's win-win! 

There is a family with two young girls in our ward who Porter plays with and they just have a blast!  We have a wagon and they just love pulling each other around in it.










They also have a cat that Port loves to carry around like it's a baby.

We'll put an update on our job status later in the week when everything is finalized--we're finally making a decision!

Destructo Boy

Here is our own Destructo Boy.  You also get the treat of hearing a bit of his nerd laugh.  It's a fake laugh and it usually goes on for a full minute, which is hilarious. Enjoy.

I'm sure you thought we were dead...

But we aren't--we just haven't blogged in a REALLY long time. Jordan's grandma asked if it was her computer that wasn't updating--I told her no, it was that we haven't updated. So here's the update. We lived in St. George for two months, then we came to Idaho at Jordan's ranch for a week but Jordan's grandpa died, so we stayed that week, and then stayed another week to visit, and we're thinking that we might (this is NOT set in stone) stay a month or so because of this and that. Anyway, we still don't have a job, but Jordan's brother, Garrett worked on his resume and we think it's going to help a lot. If not, we finally even have a back-up that we'll take advantage of. Port's talking a super lot (super lot to us...). He says apple, please, I'm sorry (kinda), up, down, happy, and says the animal sounds to a camel, whale, snake, gorilla, lion, and his FAVORITE is the cow. He screams MOOOOOO all the time.  I think it's really fun.  Here are some pictures of our gorgeous child, and his cousin, Wyatt.

i never thought this day would come...

i discovered something today...


the internet is not the absolute for information.

blast.


we discovered this when we couldn't find a splash park in ivins, ut online and then drove around (ivins isn't very big) until we found a park--and it had a splash park in it.  we were torn between joy and devastation.  anyway...

i didn't take pictures the first day we went (yesterday...and yes we do plan on going everyday we're here--it's SO hot here, and it hasn't even hit SUMMER yet!), but i did take pictures today with my phone.  we weren't planning on getting wet, but we did anyway--this is why he has regular clothes on.

this was my favorite part of today:  we've been bringing porter's sippy around everywhere so he stays hydrated (he doesn't care--i don't know why we do...).  he brought it into the water park with him.  there's a button the kids push every once in a while to tell the park they're still there to keep the water running.  this button makes a noise...of course it does.  this shows the order of importance to porter.

picture 1: porter sacrificing his body to get soaked so he can push the button

picture 2: porter fleeing before the water near the sippy because while buttons that make noise are worth getting wet, sippies are OBVIOUSLY worth abandoning at the first sign of discomfort.

and just some more:

This Is the Christ

I've been listening to this song almost everyday this week. I've loved it for so long, and I have yet to get tired of hearing it. We sang it in graduation choir when I graduated, and they sang it at last month's General Conference Sunday Morning (Easter...perfect) Session. In the last run-through before our performance at graduation I started to actually listen to the words and let them touch my heart and the line "how many drops of blood were spilled for me" just killed me. I still cry almost every time it gets to that part in the song. Here's the link for the Conference performance, and below are the words. I just like them so much, and I like so much that President Faust wrote the words--I have a big part of my heart especially for that Presidency.

They heard his voice, a voice so mild,
It pierced them through and made their souls to quake.
They saw Him come, a man in white,
The Savior, who had suffered for their sake.
And each could testify:

This is the Christ.
This is the Christ, the Holy Son of God,
Our Savior, Lord, Redeemer of mankind.
This is the Christ, the Healer of our souls,
Who ransomed us with love divine.

I read His words, the words He prayed,
While bearing sorrow in Gethsemane.
I feel His love, the price He paid.
How many drops of blood were spilled for me?
With Saints of old in joyful cry,
I too can testify:

This is the Christ.
This is the Christ, the holy Son of God,
Our Saviour, Lord, Redeemer of mankind.
This is the Christ, the healer of our souls,
Who ransomed us with love divine.

I used to have a solid loyalty to Del Parson's painting of Christ, but since the Christ Ensign issue I have branched out. Here are some of my favorites. (there are, of course, so many more but I can't get the pdf of the Christ Ensign issue to load so I can't find the artist names...)

Artists: Heinrich Hoffman (top left), Del Parson (top right), Minerva Teichert (bottom left), J Kirk Richards (bottom right). I saw the bottom right one in real life--it is at least 10 feet tall and there is gold leaf on Christ's and the angel's halo, and around in different areas. It's so beautiful.

porter can

porter can say:
dog
dad
mom
cat
moon
moo
yeah
bubble (kinda)
banana (nana)

porter can:
make a fish face
beat his chest like king kong when we ask him what a gorilla does
give you a high five
clap when you ask him what a seal does
make an elephant noise
make a car noise (vroooom)
point to an airplane
get something and put it somewhere if we ask him
throw a ball
kick a ball
wave goodbye
wave hello (different waves)
give you a kiss
a hug
snuggle (laying down)
give loves (pretty much snuggling standing up)
blow in your face and laugh about it
smile (shows teeth, but does not actually smile)
blink
dance
snap (not really, it looks like he's doing it to the rhythm of the song)
walk backwards
pretend to count how many fingers he has
show you his feet
belly button
hair
nose (picks nose)
mouth
tongue
teeth
eyes
ears (sometimes)

...i'm sure there are more.

BIG Announcement.

You're going to be disappointed...

Porter has officially grown out of being allergic to milk!

I made him homemade macaroni & cheese with butternut squash today! It was great!...until he wouldn't eat it. BLAST.

My whole world has to be rethunk because I've spent the last 16 months NOT letting him have milk...

Bubbles with Grandma

We did bubbles with Grandma Bodily on Saturday--the pictures are just kinda fun. Most of the time, though, he just looks like he hates us.

 

Dedicated to my Grandma

My Grandma Elaine's birthday is today, and I couldn't think of a better way to tell her Happy Birthday than to shout it from the rooftops (or through the internet cable...) that I think she's a wonderful, a very classy lady, and I love her.

Facts about Grandma:

• Had the 1st computer when it came out--is super good with electronics and always has been.
• Always up for exciting new adventures!
• Works at the Provo Temple.
• Spends lots of time taking care of her family.
• Does enormous amounts of genealogy!
• I chose her first name as my middle name because I love her so much.
• She loves her family and they love her back.

This is when she got married--gorgeous, right?

She always made it a priority to come to our big deal events (like Priesthood ordinations) even though they lived far away.

Her family.

Feeding Porter in the outfit she bought him!

First time meeting Porter, and loving him!

Happy Birthday, Grandma Elaine!

Nutritional Visitor!

Our friend Sarah just graduated in Nutrition at SUU, and came down to present for a research conference and we had a blast! We went to Sprinkles (I had the dark chocolate one, Sarah had the coconut one, and Porter had the vegan [meaning no animal products, which includes milk]), the beach (Corona del Mar) with SUPER cool fire pits ON THE BEACH, walked around Downtown Disney (which I had never been to before), and found out that all Starbucks in the Anaheim area close at 10:30...stupid. I don't have any pictures, but she did on their great blog here.

Go check it out!

Raising Tips for Porter

I get weekly emails from Babycenter.com that tell me different things about how Porter's developing, tips on ways to play with him, etc.  This week's email was perfect for what I've been frustrated with him lately.  Here are some ideas:

• Most consistent idea:  Give him a choice.  Whether it's between grapes or a banana, give him a choice so that it's him who chooses he wants to eat a banana.  So if you want him to take a bath, give him a choice between the toy he wants to play with.  If you want him to put on clothes, let him chose between a green shirt or a red shirt.
• Give him the appearance of a choice:  Do you want to get out of the car now, or play for two minutes and then get out of the car?  No matter what he'll be getting out of the car but it's making him feel like he has control about his life.
• As long as he has a balanced diet over a week or a month's time, he's going to be fine.  Work on getting him 5 fruits and vegetables each day, but if it doesn't happen--that's just fine.
• Some days he'll eat lots and some days he won't eat anything.  That's just fine.
• When he wants to say "no" to everything, find ways to distract him from saying no.  Here's an example: My 2 1/2-year-old won't always cooperate — no surprise! For instance, I'll ask him to sit down to eat and he'll say "No!" and laugh, and start dancing around instead. That used to make me mad (okay, it still does), but I try to laugh back and say something like, "What's going on there, Legs? You tell Bottom to sit right in that chair!" That makes him laugh and breaks his defiant mood. — Jan, Minnesota
• Take advantage of the "me do it" attitude.  He wants to do everything himself because he wants to be independent, so make a big deal about him doing it himself.

I dunno...a lot of people have different ways of raising children, but these seem to be consistent with the way I'm raising Porter.  Hope it's helpful for you!

girlfriends

i'm too tired to type out the wonderful activities that happened with ladie and miss britt came to visit me (just a few days apart!) during the fantastic month of march, but here are some pictures to illustrate how delightful it was. also, i started off editing the pictures from ladie's visit, and was too tired to make the ones from britt even more spectacular than they are, so i'm sorry about that too...

job update

we thought we had something in valencia...no go.

we're going to the temple tuesday...hopefully we'll have an update on what the plan is after that.

Body Type?

We had some friends over Sunday night and our friend Tanya (aka Jasmine) was one of them and she looked so cute!  The next day I wanted to see if I could look as cute, so I tried a similar outfit, and every time I saw myself in a reflection I was like "Oh my gosh--what is going on here..."  Which led me to the question, what the heck was I doing that is different from her?  Well, I would have to say that our bodies are completely different, so I wondered what clothes make me look good?  So I went online to find out my body type by going here and typing in my measurements.  I am a "spoon" body type (sounds horrible, doesn't it?)...it means I'm small on top and big on bottom, which I had NEVER thought, but then I went on another site talking about body types and they said "The typical spoon measurements are...." and they were MY MEASUREMENTS!  Whhaaaat?  Along with the website were good and bad ways to work out for your body type, and so I've started to do try the "good ways" today.  We'll see what happens, but the question is,

do you know your body type?

Ruffles, Tandem, and a Great Weekend!