Decorations fit for Batman

Told ya, huh?

My lil' sister, Whitney, came up for Mr. Porter-Pot's big day, so we had some fun decorating.

Here she is adjusting her bat cut-outs.



And here is what the little stink got for his present:



Did you notice the little fact that there are no petals? It is called a "balance bike"... pretty self explanatory.

And yes, he loved it.



And what does Batman have to eat on his birthday?

Why, present-shaped chocolate chip pancakes, of course!

Tree!

Today is my baby boy's big day.

The Big 3.

Or "tree" as he says.

Here's my baby when he was just a few days old:

Right around one year old:

And here he is at two (this is before I could break down and cut off all of his white-blond, curly locks. Which, by the way, never did grow back):

We are going to spend the day celebrating Porter's little life; giving presents, eating his favorite food, partying at Chuck E. Cheese, but this early morning, while everything is quiet, I am having my own little moment...

I am remembering how hard I had to work for you, my little man. I went into pre-term labor at 25 weeks, and had to spend three long months lying down, "relaxing", trying to keep you in.

My water broke at 34 weeks, much too early for a baby to come out (obviously). I then had to lay in a hospital bed, while the monsoons raged outside the window, being poked and proded, tested and injected with steroids and any number of different things. I was earning you.

The nurses and doctor warned me that white male babies that are born early usually are pretty weak. Their lungs aren't developed, so this little man will probably be sent directly to the NICU.

But not you, Porter Pot. You came out pink and screaming.

It took Dad and I two days to decide on a name.

You were very nearly named Cory Porter (after your Papa).

Now here we are, three years later, and you are still my sunshine, my miracle. Bringing smiles and laughter where ever you go.

You love monster trucks, motorcycles, Batman, Hot Wheels, playing "na-na" (being chased), making your sisters (and your mom) scream, feeding the fishies, dogs (namely Snickers), jumping off of stuff, eating anything with sugar in it, hot dogs, and playing outside.

Oh, and you adore your Daddy.

So today while we party down, and you tease your sisters and play skee ball, I am going to be marveling you. Pondering how it is possible that I am good enough to be your Mommy. Wondering about the kind of man your going to grow to be.

Oh, my little man, you are so loved.

I will also be wondering when you are going to stop screaming, "I'm baby!" everytime I try to get you to use the potty and ditch the diapers...

Miniature Golfing, Goofy Style

It was such a beautiful day out today (meaning it wasn't snowing- although you can see the snowy mountains in the background of these pics).

We decided to go hit the miniature golf course.

First, I must disclose that there is a debate running in our family. I, the Utah girl, call it Miniature Golfing. Orrin, the Arizona boy, calls it Goofy golfing. I say that since we are currently raising our kiddos in Utah, this sport should thus be called Miniature Golf. OP thinks that since they were all three born in AZ, they should call it Goofy.

So we call it Goofy Miniature Golfing.

It's all about compromise people.

Anywho, OP gave the kiddos quick lessons in putting.






The girlies did all right, considering it was their first time out on the green.



We call Piper's swing the Happy Gilmore. Remember that old school movie?

She just about took out Porter Pot a few times with her wild swing.



Mr. PG really got into the game. He was doing the triumphant golfer arm raise after he got his ball into the hole.

Which he did in less swings than his momma.

And I was really trying.

I think that it is merely the Buckway in his genetic make-up shining through. Or perhaps his namesake (my Grandpa, Leland Grant) was helping to guide his ball in.

I'm just saying that the kid had some kind of help, since it is unnatural for an almost-three year old to sink a two-foot putt. Am I right?



He looked a lot like this guy:

(I am choosing to ignore Tiger's recent err, naughty behavior and am instead focusing on his awesome golfing abilities)

Anywho, even though Adi-Baby and I tied for last place (by far), it was an awesomely-cool way to spend Family Fun Day and to celebrate the warming weather.

And now I am keeping my fingers crossed that we have seen the last of the snow storms until at least October.

Greenies

So last night before the big Irish holiday, the kiddos set traps for the tricky little leprechauns

Why? 'Cause if you catch one, you get to keep their pot of gold. Duh!

Piper and Adi spent a lot of time designing and setting their traps.

Which, by the way, I forgot to get a picture of.

Porter colored a picture and pretended to glue Skittles onto it (he mostly ate them though).

Did I mention that we had a visitor? Uncle Hyrum came to see us... errr, or really, someone special (which I absolutely cannot disclose).

In the morning, the kiddos were disappointed to see that the smarty pants little man escaped from their formidable traps.

He also did a victory dance across their faces.

And he died the eggs, milk and butter green.

Happy St. Patty's Day to ya'all!

Question of the Day

Mom?

Why are there so many Popsicle sticks down the window well?



Because you two put them there last summer.

One a day, everyday.

Oh. Okay.

Batman's Birthday Is A'Comin'

Whose gonna come?

What? You don't put your kids to sleep under their beds?

Incidentally, neither do we.

But you wouldn't know it most nights if you peek in at Porter...

I even woke one night to something squirming under my bed.

I let out an "Eeek!"

(No, honestly I did)

Apparently my exclamation of surprise scared my little boy, and he started to scream.

And then he got stuck under there.

Orrin had to carefully maneuver him out from under the center of our king-sized bed. Who knows how long that little tyke was under there?

Doesn't he look so sweet though?

The Merrills Do St. George...

We went on a quick weekend trip to St. George, meeting my parents and Whit & Christ there.

Let me tell you, it was nice for us Utahans to warm up a bit!

We visited Brigham Young's winter house, and I think that Piper was the only kiddo that actually listend to our tour guide. Adi was busy looking off everywhere but at the nice man,




and we tried to control our monkey boy the entire time. Fortunately, President Young's hose survived.



The kiddos also got some swimming time in (in a heated pool, of course. It wasn't that warm).



Miss Pipes had a near-drowning experience, but luckily she picked up on doggy paddling quite quickly ;)



And Porter just liked following his big sister's around in the water.



We got in some shopping while the guys went golfing, then met up for pizza in this cool little restaurant (they had those cool breadsticks on a stick. Sweet).









The best part for the kiddos was actually getting to be outside without their big puffy coats on.






Porter decided to turn the rock hill into a slide....



which, for some reason, didn't really work out.







Taking a walk around Utah.



Porter's shoes were too big and kept slipping off, which would then start Porter off on a wonderful fit.

Luckily, Daddy can fix anything.



He is also the bomb at Follow the Leader.



It was hard to come home from the very nice weather, but we are now counting down the days till our Easter Arizona trip (31 days).

Exploring Zions

On the second day of our rockin' two day trip, we drove through Zions National Park. It was pretty nice, since not too many people wish to see these beautiful red rocks when there is snow on them.






And here is the proof that my dad was on the trip...



My kids were so stinkin' excited to just get down and run and climb outside again (it's been a few months since they've been able to).



Miss Pipes always has to go off the beaten path.



Adi was paranoid that I was trying to get a picture of her bottom here...



And Topher is looking for the closest golf course.



Isn't it beautiful?



Whit and the girlies showing off their awesome matchy-matchy Twinkle Toes.






I am pretty darn sure that it is impossible to get a good family picture of us.



We dropped by the lodge to check things out after the visitor's center, and decided to stay and eat at the Red Rock Grill.

Yum-mo.



Mom and Whitney imitating Adi & Pipes.



It was a pretty good lil' trip, wouldn't you agree Porter-Pot?



I thought so too.