She ate the entire thing . . .

in one sitting . . . all by herself!!! Yes that's right folks, you heard right!!! Dad bought GG a Carl's Jr. $6 burger for dinner. As you can imagine dad's eyes about popped out when he watched GG eat every single bite of that sucker. Who ever says senior citizens don't have an appetite should think again!! Although we're VERY surprised that our little, petite, not a big eater grandmother was able to down a burger like this we have to say . . .GO GRANDMA!!!

This is good news that she's eating a lot. She seemed to lose her appetite after having her hip replaced when she fell and broke it.

Follow the prophet . . .

What an amazing sight . . .
To be in the same room with one of these men, let alone ALL of them, would be amazing and indescribable. All the prophets of the last dispensation. Any guesses on which temple it is?

If you guessed Salt Lake you are correct!

Say what?????

There isn't much to say because BYU wasn't WAY great tonight. Max didn't show up for the game until overtime but at least he came. No matter what, we came away with the victory on our own field. For the next year we have the bragging rights and you'd better believe we'll stick it to any Ute fan we come in contact with!!!

GO COUGARS!!!!!

I like Kym . . . except how she spells her name

Reality shows seem to be taking over the television and I'll admit . . .I'm a fan. Now that I have the blessed invention of Tivo I tend to watch shows I normally never would before, only because they are accessible at any hour of the day (or night!) Last night was the finale of Dancing with the Stars where the two Utahans competed against each other. One was the pro dancer (Louis Van Amsetel) and the other a celebrity (Donny Osmond).

I really wanted Kelly Osbourne to take home that coveted mirror-ball trophy. Her British accent spouting off hilarious one liners made me roll on the floor each week. Her sincerity and vulnerability made me keep cheering her on. She definitely was the underdog. She wasn't going to go far. . . Except she did! She made it to the finale last night and did an awesome job!!! I wish she would have won, but she didn't. Bummer.

Instead . . . Mr. Puppy Love himself won the whole shabang! Some predicted the victory while others were surprised Mya didn't win. Either way he was happy, his family was happy, and most mormons were happy.

At lunch today it was decided that the reason he won was due to his large family. With each member allowed 4 votes that would equal close to a million. That is if you count siblings, nephews, nieces, cousins, etc. etc. etc. Hey, who said "multiplying and replenishing the earth" wouldn't come in handy one day???

Pretty accurate

Saw this picture today and about died of laughter. Pretty accurate if you ask me . . .

Maybe Kate can cut his head off and eat him for Thanksgiving dinner.

He will be missed . . .

This blog might not get a lot of readers but we are sad to say that one of our most dedicated viewers lost his fight with cancer. Holly's future father-in-law passed away in Albuquerque, New Mexico on Thursday, November 5th, 2009. He was surrounded by his loved ones.

In Memory of Martin's Dad-
Joseph Felix Chavez
Born February 11, 1946
Died November 5, 2009
I'll miss you Daddy-o!!!

THE speech

So the president gave a speech yesterday. A speech. He gives them all the time, right? Well this time he did one that I was actually interested in. For some reason everyone was having issues with him talking to the kids. Like he is going to corrupt them by encouraging them to work hard in school. Oh brother. I hated going on Facebook just to see everyone's comments about it. Blah, blah, blah. So my class watched the speech yesterday. All 15 minutes of it. Being in 4th grader most of my kids were actually interested. They listened, they laughed at his jokes, they even got big eyed when he talked about how his dad left his family at a young age. They could relate. When it was all said and done we had a little talk. I asked what they thouught. I got the typical answers: "we need to work hard in school" or "we need try our best" or even "don't come to school if we're sick". Yes the president said that and to most teachers we would laugh because that would just be an excuse of the students to stay home.

"Cough, cough. I'm sick mom, I can't go to school. . . President Obama said so!"

But in our case we have a little boy fighting cancer and is in the final stages of his chemo treatments. He missed all of last year to get rid of his brain tumor and has been able to come back this year, miraculously being caught up with all the other students academically. We all know that if we're sick we stay home because we don't want him to catch anything that will slow down his amazing progress.

Overall the speech was good. It was uplifting. It was motivational. And yes, even 4th graders got the point. They realized that just like President Obama they too can have difficulties and issues going on in their life but if they work hard and try their best they can achieve greatness. I'm not saying I agree with everything Obama has ever said and done or that he will say and do. I'm not even admitting whether or not I voted for the man. I am saying that for those 15 minutes I watched and listened to our leader encourage my students, and thousands around the country, to work hard and to never give up. Nothing too bad about that.

We now have a sign hanging in our classroom that says "There's no excuse for not trying". We have bigger issues in the world to worry about than a 15 minute speech. It was refreshing for my students to remind me of that.

Okay, I'm done. The end!

Already?!

This morning I (Brooke) did something I haven't done in almost three months. Yep, I used my hair straightener and actually did my hair. School starts on Thursday which means I get to sit through awesome, amazing, spectacular meetings all day today (can you hear the sarcasm in that?!). In fact the PTA is going off right now about parent involvement. . . blah blah blah. Anyway, guess that's it. It's official, life is crazy again. But then again, when did it ever stop being crazy? Maybe I'll just do the whole pony tail thing the entire school year. Who knows.

BTW: I'm taking any pictures/special events from my siblings and parents that want to be posted. Now that I've moved (pictures to come) I have a little, and I mean little, bit of time to post things.

WA-HOO!

The knee . . .

Checking out the ring. . .

The HAPPY and ENGAGED couple. . .

How does the saying go? First comes love, then comes marriage, then comes baby in the baby carriage!

NO!! This is NOT an announcement by any means. We still have to get to the marriage part. This is just a shout out to grandma Jan that there now MAY be more babies for you in the future!

(Holly please remember that odd numbers are evil with the exception of 5 and 25. Also, I look smashing in the color pink . . . hint, hint!!!)

She's getting married!!!!

Well it's official everyone, Holly's getting married! It happened yesterday in New Mexico at a Father's Day BBQ. Ed and Jan are on a 3 week trip visiting all the kids and grandkids and were stopped in Albuquerque, New Mexico for a few days. Everyone was over at Martin's house for a BBQ and before she knew it, Martin was down on one knee!

We all are super excited for Holly and Martin and are waiting to hear when the big day will be. Congrats to the happy couple and welcome to the family Martin! You have NO idea what you're getting yourself into!!!

FINALLY!!!

20 pizzas + 8 boxes of CapriSuns + "Night at the Museum" = end of year party!!! Thank goodness the end has arrived because I don't think I can handle these adolescent, drama-filled, too cool for school students much longer! I've loved this year but we ALL need a break! Watch out pool . . . here I come!!

Wordless Wednesday

go, Go, GO

Since I, Brooke, didn't even go on this little vacation to California I'm not quite sure why I ended up being the one that got to blog about it. Nevertheless, to continue on as the favorite child and to make mother dearest happy, I will gladly write about these MANY pictures she took while there. What I say, however, may not be 100% correct but that's what you get when you put me in charge! So this trip involved a lot of people coming together from a lot of different places. We had: Ed, Jan and Maryn coming from Utah. Holly and Martin coming from New Mexico. Judy and Andy coming from Utah. And Joetta, David, Joyce, and Rebecca coming from Missouri. Joetta loves coming to Utah for her birthday and going to Vegas and Disneyland while out this way. Justin just happened to be getting his Eagle at the same time so it became a big trip full of lots of things. Here is a little sampling of what took place during those 4-5 days. . .

That week was full of birthdays. We had Martin, Joetta, David, and Craig all celebrating together and what better place to do that than at On The Border, a great restaurant that everyone loves to go to when visiting San Diego. When you go make sure to get the fresh guacamole . . . Que rico! I think it's hilarious that mom gave Martin a BYU tshirt. At least I'm assuming it was from mom.

The next morning everyone got up and got ready for church. Doesn't everyone just look snazzy?!?! If you look closely Madison is almost as tall as grandpa! That night Justin received his Eagle, the highest rank in scouting. I know that grandma and grandpa were very happy that they could be there to see Justin receive this award. Craig was able to give Justin the same neckerchief he got when he got his Eagle in 1984. Yes, I said 1984!!! (see two segments down on this blog!) Way to go Justin on working hard and earning this award and setting a great example for so many people! We're proud of you!!!

And then came Monday . . . all the vacationers were off to the Happiest Place on Earth. To hear everyone talk, they had a fabulous time. Push the play button to check out the video above.

And they saved the best for last! The day before Ed, Jan, and Maryn headed home everyone went into San Diego to surprise Craig with a cake for his BIG birthday! He turned the dreaded age of 40 and would have preferred we didn't make a big deal out of it. But come on! Since when do we listen to peoples requests, especially those that involve embarrassment? Everyone got the little tour of the lab and the I'm sure they learned all the "secret" things going on in there. Yeah right, as far as I understood it life came to an abrupt halt the moment the "civilians" entered the building and didn't resume until 20 minutes later when they left to enjoy their lunch in Old Town San Diego. While there they spotted two famous celebrities. Ever hear of Ben Affleck or Jennifer Garner? Yep, they were there too. I'm just hoping and praying that my family weren't their usual selves and didn't do something embarrassing. I can just imagine mom starting up a conversation with them like she does with a perfect stranger in a line at Disneyland. Maybe find out that their neighbors housekeepers uncle is best friends with mom's visiting teachers brother? Hey - it could happen!

P.S. Check out the nice set of wheels Craig picked up for his 40th! Is it me or does this have mid life crisis written all over it? Nah, Craig doesn't look 40 nor act like it. In fact, he's probably the coolest 40 year old I've ever met!!! He's the bombdigity!

Happy Birthday to ME!!!

Thanks everyone for all the birthday wishes on Monday! I heard from all my siblings (even one at 5am!) and the rents, along with a lot of other friends and family! It was great going home for the weekend before and celebrating my birthday with everyone. I got back into town on Sunday night and got to start back at work the next day. I thought you'd like to see a little bit of what my day entailed. If you want to see the entire entry visit my class blog by clicking here. I knew that something was planned because I totally got my friend McKenna to spill the beans. What can I say, I have a gift. However, I wasn't expecting it to be THIS big!

To make a long story short my kids surprised me that morning by all wearing matching t-shirts that said "Happy Birthday Miss Porter!" and they each handed me a Diet Coke as they entered the classroom. It was awesome and I am so excited to be stocked up on DC!!!
Here is a great shot of my class! They are totally cheesing it but that's because that day they had A LOT of fun!!! As you can tell some of the shirts were a little on the big side but they were so excited to have them and wore them all day with pride. Many students throughout the school asked me how they could get one of their own. My class felt pretty cool!!!

Check out that mound of Diet Coke - I think I could drink that intravenously for the rest of my life and be ok!!!

And check out all those presents! Everyone was so kind and thoughtful. I couldn't believe all the amazing things people brought me. I got bookmarks, lotion, jewelry, stuffed animals, cards, chapstick, more diet coke, candy, cookies, balloons and lots more! I was super spoiled! Plus right after lunch our secretary walked into the classroom with some beautiful flowers that had just gotten delivered. WOW!!!

Besides all that I had a cake brought in and all my friends and coworkers surprised me at dinner. Everyone was super sneaky! Overall it was a great day and I didn't mind turning 21. In fact, I'm thinking of doing it again next year!!!

Happy Birthday!!

It's somebody's birthday today. He's OLD. REALLY OLD!! Luckily we like senior citizens!!! Are you able to get the discount now?!?!?!

ahh . . . doesn't he look cute!
To be 18 again!
HAPPY BIRTHDAY CRAIG!!!!!
So he'll probably be really happy with this blog entry but this day couldn't go by without us embarrassing him just a little bit. After all . . . HE'S 40!!!!!!!! Yep, that's right, our little guy is all grown up. We hope he has a great day full of fun and surprises. To send birthday messages to this OLD MAN go ahead and leave a comment!!! He might need to get his glasses to read it but we're sure he'll enjoy it!

Hippity Hoppity Easter

Happy Easter everyone from the Porter's! Because of crazy schedules we had our Easter dinner on Saturday afternoon and although the weather was yuck we still managed to have a fun time together. For those who couldn't be here, you were missed. Here is the run down on what our day was like: (please remember that these are the expressed opinions of many involved, not just Brooke. Although I DO have the power to veto!)
All morning long mom cooked. ie: made the dip (packet of dip mixed into sour cream), drained the beans for the baked beans (opened a can and poured them into the strainer), made boiled eggs for dying (put some eggs in water and put them on the stove) and made the jello (again, boiled some water and poured a packet of peach jello into it. Oh, and she stirred it a few times for kicks). As you can see she was swamped and did all the work!!! Dad spent his morning being Mr. Social. He was over at the church making sure the ward egg hunt went well and even went and visited some single lady who he home teaches. What a good little boy. He earned brownie points by bringing home donuts from the church function! Did I also mention he went and bought a new air mattress at Shopko. He sure got a steal of a deal - 50% off! Happy Easter to you dad!!! (Side note: he slept on it last night and says it was fantastic! A little cold but that's just because he's old and a pansie.)

Brooke and Maryn took one for the team and went shopping all morning/early afternoon. It was raining the whole time so their hair got ruined but were willing to suffer through it for those new clothes they came home with. It was fun being together since both of them are super busy all the time.

When Brooke and Maryn got back to mom and dad's house Katie, Adam and the kids were already over with GG. They were dying the eggs, a Porter tradition.

That last picture of Adam looks crazy and if you look closely to the egg he was dying right then, it might make more sense. Here it is . . .

Not only is it green (his favorite color) but if you look closely it says "I wish I was a Jehovah Witness". Don't ask, it's just Adam for you!

After coloring the eggs and decorating them we had a typical BBQ with the works. We had BBQ chicken, pasta salad, GG's potato salad, Jello, veggies & dip, and for dessert a carrot cake Katie made. We had tons of food and enjoyed every bite! It was so good we forgot to notice something was missing until we went upstairs and saw that the oven still had the baked beans cooking in it. Oops, I think they are now considered BURNT beans!

After the meal we had the egg hunt. We usually do it in the backyard but because of the rain we hid them downstairs. The kids had a great time finding them and counting how much each egg was worth before going to grandpa to collect their money!

Being the youngest Chloe got to look for her eggs first. She found hers quick and when she did she'd just chuck them into her bag, not even caring if they broke! She got 85 cents from grandpa for her eggs!!!

Ethan took the egg hunt very seriously. He could only find a certain amount so if he saw two close together he literally would stop and look at both before deciding which one he wanted. I guess it wouldn't be as fun to just grab both of them! His eggs earned him $1.15!!!
As you can see Tori is growing up and soon will be "too cool" to do an easter egg hunt. She found a lot of eggs too, even her favorite one which made her happy. She was the winner by getting $1.65 from her eggs!!!
You can tell very well but this egg has Chloe's name dyed onto it and it was her favorite one! What a cheeser!!!

And what were tweedle dee and tweedle dum (which ones which I'll leave up to you!) doing the entire time the eggtastic hunt was going on? Oh they were just relaxing. Tough life they have . . .

"So how 'bout them Jazz?"

Maryn is proud of her BOOTIE!!!

Happy Easter Everyone!!!

P.S. Who's doing the dishes? NOT IT!!!!

Oh boy

Okay. So most of us know I, Brooke, work at a bilingual school full of students learning English or Spanish and studying in both languages. Here is a fantastic example of one students writing. As you can see, this is an English learner but what he wrote is hilarious. Makes me wonder what I said when I was in Bolivia just starting off with the language!!

SOOOOO funny!!! Definitely something I had to share with the rest of the faculty!!

Under the knife

Dad went in for knee surgery this morning. His knee has been bothering him for quite a while now and the doctor has tried multiple things to see if he could get it to feel better but nothing would work. The cortisone injection only lasted about a week and that didn't even take the pain completely away. So they finally opted for the knee surgery. They knew that his knee had bone spurs and figured he would have other things wrong once they got in there. As you can see from the picture above, dad didn't seem too nervous for the surgery. I think his kids did enough of that for him.

Here one of the many nurses was preparing his right leg for the surgery. With multiple back surgeries behind him, this seemed like cake.

This is the best part of the surgery . . .the nurse shaving dad's leg. She asked if he wanted the other leg shaved as well but he nicely declined. Just a heads up dad . . . it is going to itch like crazy once it starts growing back!!!

The surgery lasted a lot longer than anticipated due to the fact that they found many bone spurs along with a torn meniscus and arthritis. The doctor thinks that the problems started clear back when he was a catcher for his little league team as a kid. So all you ball players beware!

Besides it lasting longer than they thought it would everything went smoothly and dad got to go home this afternoon. Here his nurse is pushing him out to the car and as you can see he looks totally stoned!! AWESOME!!!

I just talked to mom and she said he is doing really well and is keeping his food down. He hasn't taken his first dose of medicine since the GOOD drugs haven't worn off yet. We all wish him a speedy and healthy recovery. Feel free to leave a comment for dad/Ed and I'm sure his slave/cook/chauffeur/girlfriend will make sure he reads them! We love you dad and are glad it went well. Take it easy and don't try to do too much, too fast. We know how those stubborn Porters are. Milk it for all it's worth!!!

Happy Birthday Grandma!

Happy Birthday GG!! Has it only been 29 years? Today is your special birthday and we hope you had a fabulous day. Brooke especially hopes you got that stellar card she sent with those awesome penguins dancing to MC Hammer! Grandma, has anyone ever told you that you're pretty cool? Well YOU ARE!! On behalf of your 4 kids, 19 grandkids, and MANY great grandkids we'd like to wish you a very happy birthday with many more to come. Thanks for always being there for us, supporting us, and loving us. We all love you so much and can remember countless memories where you're involved. A few might include . . .
*Sleepovers and falling asleep on Friday night while you and grandpa watched 20/20
*Leaning over you in the car going through the eegee's drive thru. You couldn't say "pina colada" so we got to do the honors.
*Chick-fil-a
*Playing with your locket necklace during church
*Calamity Jane
*Your HUGE tupperware full of delicious cookies
*Going swimming at the club house and using those big, blue, striped beach towels
*When you fell off the ladder and got those really big and scary looking pins put in your arm
*All that tape on the boxes when wrapping a present
No matter what we think of we can't help but smiling. Thank you for all you do Grandma. We love you and hope you have a wonderful day!!!
Love,
Your Family

Painting at grandma's

What do you get when . . .

You strip the kiddos down to nothin' . . .

Splat a little tole paint on a plate . . .

And let the little ones have at it??????

FUN AT GRANDMA JAN'S!!!!

Thanks grandma for letting us do all those WAY cool things at your house that our mom would never let us do!
Love, T E & C