Prom Night

Today was Sydney's first date. She was so nervous. Her friends came over to help her get ready and I could see it in her eyes that she was just petrified. Luckily it was with a good friend of hers. Her and Jace have known each other for 5 years and are two peas in a pod. They are both really genius but are a little socially backwards. They are forgetful and scatterbrained but they "get" each other.
It was really cute how excited she was that his tie matched her dress. She was just giddy. I hope she has a great time and this experience is good for her.
I still remember my first date, and believe me that was a LONG time ago.

Festival of the Trees

The boys started ballroom in
October. This was their first
performance. Aren't they cute?

Word of the Week

At the kids school they have a pretty intense program that helps them to master the 1200 ACT vocabulary words. I love it when my kids tell me the meaning of a word they have just learned. Many times I don't even know the meaning. Sometimes they will hear a word and just spontaneously blurt out the definition. So I thought it would be fun to work on our own vocabulary words at home. This week the word is farcical (Far sickle) meaning absurd or ridiculous. They have to see how many times they can use it in a proper sentence. They have had a lot of fun doing that.
It has been a very farcical week this week.

Weekend

My best friend came up from Utah this weekend, with her kids Jake and Bryce. Oh yeah, and Bella (the dog). We had a great visit. She is so refreshing, and she makes me laugh all the time. My kids had fun, too. We took a trip up to Swan Valley (my kids insist we do an annual trip in the fall). The leaves were all gone, but it was nice outside. We had to stop at the Square Ice cream store, of course. We took pictures at the Dam, and the Dam store. The kids always like to think of all the things they can call the Dam..... It's legal swearing, I guess.
Can someone please fill us in on what Rip-Rap is?

Danny, Nick (Bridegroom) and Drew

Me and My Sisters

These are my sisters. L to R Gayle, Kathy, Me and Susi

Rescued birds

Pacific Beach

The water was so warm. I wish I had worn shorts down to the beach. It was a very windy day though. They had actually forcast a mini hurricane at the coast of San Diego, which is almost unheard of.

Trip to San Diego

Nick and Jen's Wedding

Cute couple. Married October 10, 2008. Twenty one years after Andrew and I.

We were able to feed the Bat-Ray's by hand and pet them. It was a really cool experience.





Seaworld

My Great Nephew Luke and his Dad Scott.

Cool Pictures

Rule Breaking Runs in the Family

McKenzie learned some great things from her Uncle Doug. They are quite the rule breakers check out the signs.

Jeremy Horn and Doug

Brooke and Terri

Andrew, Doug, myself and my best friend Brooke went to a ThrowDown show this last weekend. For those of you that don't know what this is, it's MMA fighting, like the UFC. My brother in law Doug is working on a deal with them and we were able to get floor seats to the fights. We had a really good time and I especially had a great time getting to see Brooke.

We were able to meet Jeremy Horn (Professional MMA fighter) and Doug got a picture with him.

Porter's at Mesa Falls

We took Andrew's brother Doug up to Mesa Falls this weekend. It was beautiful this time of year. We have never been up there before. Landon did a report on Mesa Falls at the beginning of the school year and after having seen the photo's, we decided we wanted to go up there this fall.

luau pictures

My nephew Nick and his Fiance

This is my Nephew Nick and his soon-to-be wife Jen. They
are getting married in San Diego on October 10th (my 21
anniversary). We are heading down there on the 8th. I am
really excited for him. I have never met her, but all of those who have, have been very taken with her cute personality. I am excited to go back to San Diego I haven't been back there for 22 years. It's a beautiful city.
Isn't my nephew cute. I love his dimples. He's a really great person too.
There is a cool article on them about there wedding in the Bride and Groom magazine. You can check it out at
sandiegobrideandgroom.com.

Football Season

Brady started football last week . He really loves it. He plays offensive lineman. He really prides himself in not allowing that boy to get past him. The boy that is directly behind Brady (in the picture) is an old neighbor of ours. They moved away for a couple of years and just moved back last year. The boys used to play together all the time. Trey's older brother was Britt's best friend in first and second grade. I am glad they are back. Trey and Brady seem to have a lot in common.

AAAAAAARRRRRRRGGGGGGHHHHH!!!!!!!

Okay, I feel better having let that out. Well, not really but I feel like I could just let out one big huge aaarrrggghh! My life seems to be one trial after another right now, people living in my house, more people living in my house, business slow, oh yeah and did I tell you I have a potential Dylan Klebold (Columbine killer) living in my house. NOT! You would think so though.
Wednesday I got a call from school that I needed to pick up my son at school because he went ballistic and kicked the crap(literally, about 10x's) out of a girl. Yeah, a girl.
I am of two minds about it. 1. As a mom I want to shake him and ask him, "what the crap were you thinking"? 2. I want to hug him and say, "what did that mean snotty girl say to you that caused you to react that way"? (I have been told that 12 year old girls have the market on "snot factor".
I have had tons of advice, along with lots of other very "helpful friends" tell me things like, "yes my daughter says that he is always yelling at people and losing his temper and being mean". Thank. you. for. that, especially in front of all my other friends. I mean gee, could you have thought of a better way to say publicly, "you suck as a mother and your kid has problems". But, you know I will consider the source. This person seems to gain great joy and self esteem from telling me my kids are losers and hers a perfect. so.......
I have weighed out a lot of options as to whether or not to keep him in the charter school, send him to a "normal" public school, or home school him. I have a phone call to a woman who I feel is the "child guru". She is the most amazing person when it comes to dealing with kids and their bad behavior but also really putting things into perspective and allowing me to see things for what they really are. She is really busy, but I hope she can shed some light on this dilemma before I burst with anxiety.
Maybe someone can answer this for me? Do some kids just not ever get along well with kids? Should I keep him home until he is older (and maybe shaving) and dealing with peers that may be able to better understand him? I don't think he has anything psychologically wrong with him. I think he just doesn't like to be told he is wrong, and I think he doesn't give himself permission to be wrong. So maybe if he understands that it's okay not to always know everything, or to be the smartest or allow other people to have an opinion even if he doesn't agree, that is okay too.
I don't know....Why is being a parent so hard? I hate knowing that the decisions I make now will forever have a lasting affect on who he is and what kind of person he becomes.
Oh please pray I can get through this motherhood thing without really creating a Columbine killer. I think that is all any mother really wants out of life.

The County Fair

The County Fair. What a joy :) Our family (minus all who have a teen in there age) went to the Fair this last weekend. We went on Saturday. I figured with it being the first day, and the weather being beautiful it would be packed. To my amazement, it wasn't. This is a tradition the kids look forward to every year, and Andrew and I count down the days (hint...a bit of sarcasm).
I know, you are all saying to yourselves......."What about the fair could they not just love?" Well, let's just start with.......in the fourteen years we have lived in southeast Idaho, the fair has never changed. I could tell you exactly every attraction that will be there, even the booths in the exhibitors barn. The same food booths, the same rides, probably even the same Carnies....I'm not sure about that, only because they scare me and I can't look at them for more than just a fraction of a second. I think the hardest thing about raising a large family is, doing the same things year after year (tradition) and trying to be as excited the fourteenth time as you were the first time. Not sure I do a good job of it, however, I am still doing those same things, so give me a few kudos for that.
The thing that amazes me the most about the State Fair is, the people that it attracts.....I know, I am one of those people. I look at them and wonder where they hide the other 364 days of the year? There are not enough trailer parks in all of Idaho to house all of these people. I think if they set up a dental booth, to replace all of the missing teeth these people have, someone would make a killing. (I know I am being really "Harbor" right now)
I don't think a year has gone by where I haven't walked away from this place feeling rather sick to my stomach. I'm not sure if it's the "amazing" Cuisine, or the pleasant "aromatic" smells from the barn.
Every year we have to spend an unfathomable amount on tickets for rides. I know you say to yourself, "buy the bracelets", but, even for just the three boys it would have cost $90 for bracelets. NOT going there. So instead we spend $50 and get 6 or 7 rides each. I know doesn't make sense. My logic for not buying the bracelets is......If we buy the bracelets we have to be there until they are sick of riding the rides. If we buy the tickets, once they are gone, we go home.
So once again we survived the Idaho State Fair and we start the countdown just waiting for the next one.....361, 360, 359..... I can't wait.

GNO

Girls Night Out! That's the official name. I'm not sure who decided this was going to be a continuous thing, but I'm glad they did. I have to say it is the thing I look forward to the most (out of all my social activities).
The women that I get together with are some of the most incredible women I know. We have laughed together, cried together and acted like petty, gossiping teenagers together. The loyalty I feel for these women I can't put into words. Something recently happened to one of them that was truly devastating and I felt like it happened directly to me. I felt as protective as a mother bear and wanted to rip out the throats of all of those people that were responsible for her pain.
The women in this group all have a different story to tell, some struggle in their marriages, some with there weight, some just struggle to pull themselves out of bed in the morning, but somehow we have all found a commonality that pulls us together and bonds us forever.
I feel I can tell these people anything. I truly trust them (probably more than family). They are some of the most honorable and noble people I know. Let me just tell a little bit of some of the things we have gone through together. Divorce, miscarriages, hospital stays (near death, whether she admits it or not), loss of parents, moving away (but keeping in touch, I hope), major illnesses, devastating diagnosis', struggles with children, marriage, and four years of a very large roller coaster ride that comes with all of the ups and downs you could imagine.
I just want to thank these women for helping me to grow, to really know compassion, to have patience, bite my tongue, and endure to the end.
I love you guys!