Monday, December 20, 2010

Mariah's Birthday

Mariah had a birthday yesterday. She turned 14!

I remember the day she was born vividly. I was 11 days overdue and went in for a stress test so she could be induced the following week. The doctor on call looked at my chart and asked if I wanted her that day. Of course! 12 hours of pitocin, an epidural, a 3 hour nap and 5 minutes of pushing later she arrived before the doctor. She suprised us then and continues to do so now.

I love her ability to tackle new projects. She loves to read, sew, and craft. She is always looking for a new project to start.


Christmas Sunday

The Sunday before Christmas is dress up time for the kids. They look so beautiful and handsome.


Aaron is the church choir. In addition to singing with them he had a solo. I love to hear him sing.

Band performance

Alyssa played in her firstband concert at the junior high last week. She is the first chair and the only girl trumpet player! She is doing really well and likes to play. We are very happy for her.

I am also grateful that she has her fathers musical abilities and not mine!



Christmas Candies

Some people bake cookies, others make fudge. I make truffles and candy.


I tried my hand at a few different recipes this year.

I made:
Dark chocolate truffles
Mint truffles
Raspberry truffles
Lemon truffles
almond roca
toffee
buttermints
turtles with homemade caramel
toasted almond clusters
peppermint bark
oreo balls
mint oreo balls
peanut butter balls
I was very happy with the results!


Sunday, December 19, 2010

Christmas Letter


The Porters 2010
Another Wonderful Year
We have settled into our new house in Utah and love our opportunities. Our neighborhood is great, the schools are good and we have found wonderful friends. We especially love being near our Utah family and have the opportunity to see them often.
This year Mariah and Alyssa both participated in plays. Mariah was a Who in the school play Suessical. Alyssa played several supporting roles, including a Winkie, in the Wizard of Oz put on by our community youth theatre group. Alyssa also had the opportunity to sing with the school choir at a Utah Flash game. Both girls have found friendship and support in our neighborhood. They have also discovered make-up!
Caitlyn was a finalist as she represented her 3rd grade class in the school spelling bee. She did great! Caity is our girly girl. She loves dresses, wearing flat and painting her nails. She is learning to make jewelry this year after school and has made some lovely pieces.
Andrew started Kindergarten and has started to read chapter books. He still loves Spiderman, playing the Wii and bulding with his Lego's. His favorite foods are spaheti and broccoli.
Parker is 3 and is our big boy now that he is potty trained. He loves jumping, tumbling and just being a boy. He makes us laugh everyday with the things he comes up with.
Helen was laid off in September and is loving this surprised blessing of being able to stay home. The days are spent running kids to school, cleaning house and getting things organized. She also went back to school in August. She expects to graduate in July 2012 with a Bachelor's in Business Administration.
While Aaron loves the rewarding work he does at UHIN he does not enjoy the hour long commute (or longer when weather or traffic are bad). But we are thankful that he has a job! Aaron co-authored a book on project managment titled Project Pain Reliever. The book is currently available for pre-order on Amazon and is expected to be released in January. He has also written and published an article. He stays busy with his writing and his position as Vice President of Education and Certification for the Northern Utah chapter of PMI. When he has time Aaron loves to cook. This year he is perfecting sushi!
We are so blessed to have family; both immediate and extended, near and far. We have friends! We have the church. We have peac. We love you all!
We wish for you a year of happiness and peace.
May the important things in life be in abundance.

Monday, December 6, 2010

Christmas Cruise

For family home evening we took the kids to Provo to go on a River boat cruise. The cruise was only 25 minutes but it was a fun experience. While on the river Santa came by on his canoe (he fell out of his sleigh!). Parker thought that was the best and got to give Santa a high 5!





Winter

The girls couldn't wait for the first snow. Mariah spent several days building forts, castles and even snowmen.
She built these snowmen in the front of the house. Can you tell which one Aaron is?