Lately

My posts lately are not as organized as I'd like them to be, but I don't see our lives changing any time soon.  In fact we just got some news today that we'll actually be adding to the to do list in the form of a church calling.  When it's made official we'll let ya know more.  So even less time but more blessings. :) 

I still want to share some of the things that are going on with us.  Without frequent blogging though some of the best stuff gets left out.  We're happy and I'd like to share just a little of that for memory sake. 

I missed one of my favorite things from our Christmas season this year: our wreath and home made banner.  It matched the snowman table cloth and it made me happy.  

 After Christmas we took on a task that has been overlooked far too long.  We organized all of the toys we have acquired since Porter's birth.  As I did the purge I thought about how it had gotten so bad and honestly our home has lots of nooks and crannies to house lots of toys so it wasn't terrible.  I love our new system though.  Both kids have a major play item in their rooms (i.e. play kitchen) that they love and play with every day without getting bored.  There are 4 bins of toys that are in our living area that the kids can play with without adult interaction.  Then the majority of our toys are in a closet in containers organized by activity and they're toys that we use for preschool.  It's so wonderful because I can teach concepts with hands-on play activities that my kids are excited to engage in.  That and less clutter.  If you're curious I tossed over 50% of our toy inventory.  It's all being sent to new homes or donated to children shelters.

 I continue to weave necklaces for Porter every week for his oral sensory input needs.  I thought this captured a lot about our current state of life with our little man.  He's going through a lot right now and we're working through a lot of different things.  It's sad knowing that Porter isn't well, waiting for doctors to discover what causes him discomfort, but we will not giving up.  The doctors agree something is wrong and they're working on it.  It just takes time.  Part of his coping is chewing so I weave a lot. 

 Aaron worked an INSANE amount of overtime this last month.  We all missed him a ton and I was batty by its end.  Mostly because I missed Aaron so much.  Aaron's boss is awesome though and has decreed that Aaron will get some free time off on condition that I have a day off.  Aaron is required to report back on his day with the kids.  LOVE THAT! 

 There has been a lot of blood work needed for Porter and this was after his first draw.  We had a Mommy Son pity party, including cuddles, cars, and cookie dough (vegan style). 

 We had to change her diaper in the middle of the night and sleeping beauty was not amused. 

A late night visit the the doctor after a particularly bad string of problems.  The doctor scared me to death and suggested the P may have HEP B during this visit.  His blood work came back good though and I was also informed he was CANCER FREE... yeah, doctors are tricky like that sneaking the super scary test in with the not as scary stuff.  I was grateful but also a little taken back to find they were looking for cancer.  :-( We love our new Pediatric office and they all work with Porter and do an amazing job.  It's nice feeling confident in their care of our Porter Ray. 

Friday family date night: Tinker Bell The Secret of the Wings, Games and Pizza.  Priya is now obsessed with all of the Tinker Bell movies.  I'm so grateful because I can do Tinker Bell instead of the Princess stuff, which I'm sure is just around the corner. For now she only seems interested in Rapunzel (my favorite) and Cinderella.  She's easing me into this girly business. 

 I came out of the bedroom after getting ready for church to hear Donkey Kong Country old school style.  I found the boys playing Super Nintendo.  It was AWESOME! 

 I did this for a week with the kids in Preparation for Potty Training.  I did a 2 hour trial with Priya and she is absolutely ready...not what I was hoping for... I'm just not ready.  But Priya sure is.  We've had to postpone with Porter's health problems and Aaron's overtime.  I'm going to go 3 days intense because I just want to get it over with and I feel Priya can handle that.  She is talking in complete sentences and tells us when she needs to go and she's got control of her muscles so my hope is that it's simple.  Hopefully in the next week or so life will be calm enough I can find 3 free days to get it  done.  I really dislike Potty Training. 

 We still have a dog and he's cute. 

 We did some waltzing and swing dancing to celebrate having Daddy home for Breakfast.  We were all sad when he had to go back to work. 

 Sibling love!  These two are buddies and I so love the tenderness. 

 Our Friend Danny hanging out with us one morning.  Danny just became a big brother!  Oh yeah, we use our guest bath as a ball pit, much more useful that way. 

 It is the little moments that fill my heart with joy.  I sometimes get overwhelmed at all I HAVE to do, but when I let the spirit of service enter my heart I see it as doing good works.  Even in my family Heavenly Father still sees me in service to him.  These Children are so amazing and I'm so grateful I get to care for them. 

 In "You Must Be Crazy" news we have changed our lifestyle and we are now 80% organic, mostly meat free, the kids and I are 90% dairy free, I no longer consume refined white sugar (only on special/rare occasions) and we're loving it!  I made these changes because of the medical diagnosis I got in October (no, I never shared the details nor do I intend to do so here) and for Porter's overall health.  I'm doing incredible on a whole foods diet and my symptoms are so much better!   I will never be completely rid of this problem but it's much, much better and so is my life because of it.  Part of this lifestyle has involved creating lunches for Aaron that are more nutrient rich and appetizing to him.  We created a nuts about berries salad in a jar and it's very tasty.  We make them ahead and they're good for a week.  We've also done a taco salad and this week we're trying a Thai salad.

 Popped Quinoa-  Since buying a better quality of this grain and learning how to cook it I've become obsessed with it.  We pop it like popcorn and add it to our salads. 

 I enjoyed my Christmas banner so much I made one up for Valentines day. 

*Girls Night* 

I don't have a picture but last Tuesday I got to sneak out for a night with the girls.  We went to the Blue Lemon, ate girly food our kids would refuse to eat, talked about everything, laughed our guts out and strengthened each other through our Friendship.  Special thanks to Aaron for doing bedtime with the littles so I could go. 

 We are increasing our toddler gospel study and hoping to teach our kids to love evening scripture study.  

 This past Friday we had to take Porter in for another blood draw.  He has been traumatized by all this lab work recently and this draw went very poorly when a newbie tried to do his work.  She dug around in this arm trying to find a vein for what felt like forever until her supervisor finally took the needle from her and got it immediately.  Porter and I both cried.  This test was for Celiac's Disease.  We'll see, guess we may be gluten free soon along with all the other healthy changes we've made recently. 

I took this picture because it was a happy sight for me.  It meant that we were finally going to bed and that we'd get to rest our tired bodies, we would have fresh energy in only a few hours and we could do it all again.  

I'm so grateful for our family's strong faith.  The truth of the gospel keeps us true in our tasks, trials, and triumphs.  

Thanks to everyone the supports and prays for us just because you love us. :-)  

Christmas 2013

Christmas is really MAGICAL with children.  Just looking at these pictures make me happy.  These pictures require few words, so I'll just put a few notes.  

Yummy, yummy sugar cookies for Santa.  Santa letter. 

Isn't this just perfection! 

The Kitchen was the first thing we unveiled for the kids.  We had it covered up with a blanket and they freaked out!  We play with it daily...most of Christmas this year gets used daily because I requested that Santa bring things that we could use with Home Preschool. 

She is trying to put on her new clothes! 

Porter got Cars bedding for Christmas this year.  This is the kids cuddling with McQueen and Mater. 

 I gave Aaron some Real fan apparel for the games we'll get to go to with our Pass of All Passes this year.  The Real Game tickets sold Aaron on the passes for the family. 

Aaron got me a Date night to my childhood favorite Chitty Chitty Bang Bang!  It was extremely thoughtful of him.  I'm very excited! 

 Reading Tent 

 

We visited my parents Christmas evening.  It was sad because we had hoped to get all 6 of my siblings together but because of general health concerns we just couldn't pull it off.  We're all looking forward to spring so we can have a family retreat. 

I love the ballerina point.  That Mickey she has now goes everywhere this her. 

On the 27th we got together with Aaron's family to see Les Miserable and presents.  

We had a wonderful time being with family, giving gifts, and celebrating our Saviors birth. 

We hope you had a great Christmas as well! 

The Holidays

So our Holiday Season was a step up from the usual crazy because of lots of overtime and a business trip for Aaron.  I failed to foresee said overtime and scheduled many, many doctor's appointments for Porter in December (not sure what I was thinking, but some of his specialists take a long time to get in with so you take what you can get) and then the kids and I were sick often.  My nephew Logan had heart surgery (he did great!), Grandpa Bruce had a massive heart attack and open heart surgery and one of my best friends tried to die on me.  See, Holiday's gone out of control.  :(  This lead up to a Christmas Eve wrapping party that lasted until 2 a.m.  Not the way I would have liked things to go, but we still managed to really enjoy some of the best parts of the season.  Was it story book perfect? No.  But, it was close enough.  Our children certainty didn't mind and loved all that we were able to do.

I'm just going to share my Instagram posts from Thanksgiving to New Years. This is condensed and hopefully I'll find time for the more detailed post soon.

It was a White Christmas for sure.   I often find myself defending winter just because it's the uncommon thing to do, why fit in?  I don't mind the snow or the cold.  I do enjoy the endless play that summer offers, but we've had some great adventures this winter as well.  The one thing that keeps me in love with Snow is that it's beautiful...no argument... just is. 

We tend to be spontaneous at our home and lots of things are done on a late afternoon whim.  I'll call Aaron to ask, "What do you think about this...?  We'll meet you in 30 minutes!" Our trip to Down Town for the lights was on of those whims.  We went early on a Monday just as it was getting dark.  We beat the crowds and the bitter cold temperatures.  We ended the night with some Red Iguana and play time at City Creek.  

 Car Hopping at Big H!  Our first real car hop experience.  We had been at the Cardiologist with Porter and lots of things went wrong, including a potty accident and no extra clothes so we couldn't take Porter in anywhere since he only had underwear on.  So this was our solution.  GREAT NEWS did come from Porter's Echo results though.  His heart is healthy, his heart does not have abnormal pressure and he is officially off oxygen!  YAY!!!  Every bit we can save on monthly medical will help since our insurance premiums just doubled, again. :( 

love him

Things we did at home every evening that we could: our stories of Christ and Music Advent, read Christmas Children's books, Christmas Movies and cuddles in Christmas tree glow. 

Seriously, everything about this photo of them all at the piano just makes me smile. 

Classic "Glow" photo

Co-Worker Gifts and a special one for Daddy

One of the nights Aaron worked late I took the kids on a Christmas Light Tour as we listened to The Nutcracker.  My children are AWESOME: they prefer to listen to symphonic music over any other kind of music!  It does my soul well to share this love with them. 

I dressed Porter in Green and White for school in respect for those killed in the Connecticut School Shooting.  Thinking of it brings a heavy despair upon me.  Yet, having a smoothie for this little guy after he safely came home from school made me grateful for each blessed day God grants me with my family members. 

As a Young Women's presidency we taught a lesson called "The Life of Christ". I volunteered to reflect on his betrayal and death.  It was one of the Hardest things I've done in a long time.  Mostly because as I prepared I was overwhelmed by My Savior's love for me and my love for Him.  Talking about those two horrifying parts of his life was really difficult, but it was an incredible way to spend Christmas Sunday.  Aaron and the kids had to stay home that Sunday because of illness. 

We did get pretty sick but we wanted to keep enjoying the season so we loaded up and went to Thanksgiving Point to see their Holiday lights but to stay in our car instead of doing the wagon ride like we usually do.  The kids had such a fun time and we've been converted to car spectators.  It's warmer, a  lot warmer!

Christmas with the kids was exactly as it should be... magical! 

Here are our the kids on Christmas Eve in their PJs.  We had to stay home from the traditional Christmas Eve Party because we were not 100% and my Grandpa is recovering from Open Heart Surgery still.

Christmas Afternoon we joined part of my family for a Christmas dinner.  I got a big surprise when my friend texted to tell me her water broke and she would be having a Christmas baby.  About an hour after that Mom got a phone call and we found out that my Sister-In-Law Kaleena's water broke as well.  2 babies on Christmas Day!  It was such exciting news!  We sat down to this beautiful Christmas dinner and my heart was a flutter of anticipation! 

Hollie's baby came healthy and well!  She was named, Sydney.  Couper's baby, Emelia Noelle came into this world very sick and how my heart rejoiced that she was here, but I was very concerned about their girl.  Come to find out she was born with Strep B even though her Mom had been tested for it twice.  There was nothing they could have done to prevent what happened.  Their pediatrician most likely saved her life by doing a spinal tap to remove the liquid off her brain as soon as he got lab results confirming the extreme levels of her infection.  Their story is a long and heart wrenching one that lasted 2 weeks in the NICU.  SO, SO MANY things went right though.  She received incredible care that was accurate and immediate.  This lead to many blessings 

I have yet to meet cute baby Em, but the night she was born I went right to work on a blanket for her because that's what I do. 

This is me cuddling my darling niece Whitley.  I was a mess this day because my brother, his wife and baby Em were going through hell not knowing what was truly going on yet, they had to transfer the baby during a storm and my SIL had to watch her baby be wheeled away from her while she waited to be discharged.  Every private moment I got and some not so private moments I was crying.  Whitley brought peace to my heart.  She's a little slice of Heaven!  Thanks to her Momma for leading me her sweet baby. 

 My brother with Emelia in the NICU

Porter's got imagination! 

Homemade rolls for a Gelter family dinner

We ended up in a snow storm on our way to St George for New Years with Aaron's family.  It was a result of unanticipated events and I'm very grateful to Aaron for getting us through it.  It was a long ride but we were blessed and comforted along this trip.  It was not good conditions but I never felt terribly frightened.  We went to bed that night at 2 a.m.

We got a screaming deal on an extremely nice hotel room down South.   Last time we tried to stay with Aaron's family down there is was a train wreck (our kids don't sleep well together) so it was a blessing to find a hotel we could easily pay for with Rewards points for 2 nights.  There were 2 rooms, which is the key with our kids because sometime they just talk if they're in the same room and they often wake up very easily.  Having the option to separate them made our night so much more restful.  

We really enjoyed our time in sunny St George and getting to spend quality time with Aaron's grandparents and parents. 

This is from New Years Eve. After a little party at Aaron's grandparents we went back to the hotel, put the kids in the jet tub, cleaned them up, had some popcorn, watched an episode of curious george and magically they fell asleep in the same room together which meant Aaron and I got to watch a movie!  It was cozy. 

Our trip home was smooth except we brought home a flu bug that was being passed around.  The kids and I got it.  When I don't feel well but have responsibilities I get done up because in my mind if you can't make it, fake it.  I taught young women's so I had to pull myself together long enough to get that done. 

Season 3 of Downtown Abby...YAY! 

We took a trip to Park City to get above the nasty inversion.  We took the kids sledding and they had so much fun!  Don't worry once we got up there I pulled a pair of jeans over this clashing combo.

We discovered a better library for children in our area!  Priya wouldn't put that book down. 

Most recently terrible twos have started...we still love her!