The Thirty Throne, Trick-or-Treat Thrill, and a Thoughtful Thug

Laurie finally made it to the 30 Throne of power and respect. Now when someone asks me how old I am, they will see that I have experience and wisdom. (okay, not really, but i do hear 30 is the new 20....am i right? holla!!) Anyway, we celebrated hard in ChinaTown Houston at the hot, hip YesKTV Karaoke. And NO ONE BROUGHT A CAMERA!!! No, I'm not kidding you. But songs were sung, microphones were dropped, and water was poured....on Cade's head.

Halloween was a blast. Our ward's trunk-or-treat was so fun! I still can't get over how many people don't watch the office.... Cade was Dwight (not Brother Hyatt) and I was Angela (not a Sister Missionary). Benson's hat, cowboy boots, sword (didn't know that cowboys carried swords), and his guns (thought that the sword would be efficient enough) have been his everyday ensemble (not entourage =) ) for at least 2 weeks. So the cute, little astronaut costume Nana sent him had to be refashioned into a SPACE COWBOY. And Connor has become quite the ham, even though he is a CHICKEN.

Since the Trunk-or-Treat was a great substitute for Trick-or-Treating.... we took up my cousin, Rags', offer to hit up a Houston Rockets game (hence the "Thoughtful Thug" in the title). Ragnar (he is my cousin from my German side) is not a certified "thug," but he does call me BRO (that can be considered "thuggish")whenever he talks to me, even though i'm more of a SIS. He's awesome and we had such a fun time. We were even able to enjoy it with Gigi and Grandpa! AND THEY WON! And yes, Benson the Cowboy attended.

o..hi...O

we finally made it up to see my brother and his awesome family in ohio. benson got some good "boy" time in, and i got some good "girl" time with his amazing wife, dara. my brother and i are 8 years apart and this was the first time we spent "one-on-one" time in 10 years. it was fun to see how much we had in common and how much we are alike. needless to say, he is the best (said in a "nacho libra" accent). =)

we were very sad that we all weren't able to attend cade's grandma allis' funeral, but we sure had her in our thoughts and were glad we were able to see her last time we were in salt lake. cade and connor (who is walking EVERYWHERE now!) were able to spend the last couple of days in ohio after their quick trip to utah.

Families, Fun, BiRtHdAyS!, and Balance

We have been so tremendously blessed to have been able to spend so much time with family!  Both Stephens and Porters!  WE LOVE IT, WE CAN'T GET ENOUGH OF IT, AND WE WANT MORE!!!  This month has been filled of time with family, and fun, and growing among all of us....age whys and relationship whys.  

Happy Birthday to Benson! And what a great birthday to spend with our cousins!  Happy FIRST Birthday to Connor!  We are SO loved here by our "Houston" family.  Happy Birthday to My Cade!  Fourth of July has and will always be my MOST favorite holiday of the year (sorry to have missed out on it this time).

I LOVE FAMILY.  i have learned and grown so much this past month about that wonderful term, "family."  What a great blessing to be in one, to be married into one, and to be apart of a church one.  And they all come with so many things that make my life and my family's life that much better.  There is a reason why we are in one for eternity....it may take us eternity to finally realize what a great thing family is, or we learn and grow as we are tested in the dynamics of "family", which we can only grow and learn in those family dynamics.  But as we do, we want eternity with them because we are growing to love them so deeply and eternally now.  

Of course we don't have all the pics from our trips.  I would love to see the ones from St. George, since most of my time was spent in bed or on the spin tables.   So i'm just as anxious as i know all of my readers are. (and i know i have a huge following. =) )  We'll have to post some of all the fun things the boys got to do with all of their families.  

We love you, Gigi and Bapa, Nana and Poppy, Uncles, Aunts, cousins, and friends.  Hope everyone had a Fabulous Fourth of July!

SUMMER!!!!

Summer is here!!!  WAHOO!!!  i LOVE the summer.  the heat, the sun, and the water.  oh, and of course, summer vacations.  we've already started some of ours, well, hosting anyway, which is fun because you get to play tour guide (although, i never leave my house to explore the touristy, fun things about houston unless i have company).  but we've made it to the beach twice already and june has just begun.  and i'm sorry, cade, palm trees and beaches trump pine trees and snow ANY DAY!!  

February Showers bring.... ApRiL fLoWeRs!!!

I LOVE TEXAS IN SPRING!!  the bluebonnets will ALWAYS be one of my most favorite things.  and of course, another trip to brenham to catch the fields of them. 

 

if you look closely at the pictures, you'll notice cade's black eye...and YES he still wanted to take family pictures with it (yes, cade, we all think you are tough).  it's a good thing he is still so handsome,

black eye or not. =)  

besides the fire ant pile that benson stepped in (which will ALWAYS be something i despise), it was another good trip... with good weather, good smiles, and good company.

Welcome to the family!!

March was a long, packed month.  We would like to welcome to the family....our new niece, Olivia, our new uncle/brother-in-law, Landon, and Laurie's new set of eyes.

Thanks to Gigi and Pawpaw for allowing Cade and I a honeymoon of our own...traveling to Hawaii by ourselves was full of giddiness, rejuvenation, and bliss.  Although I called a lot, I was surprised that not a tear was shed by either parents nor kids (is that a good things?) but a lot of smiles were there to welcome us home.

Congratulations to Steph and Todd for another job well done, and to Amee and Landon for the opportunity to share such a special day with you.  We had a fantastic time.

Well, February is almost over, and yes, I have not posted since Christmas.  The weather has been SO absolutely beautiful, we spend almost ALL our time outside.  It helps that we LOVE our neighbors and we DON'T know what we are going to do when they move. (insert sad face here) But this is the time we really enjoy Houston.

Cade's dream is coming true and he "showing" Benson all the trix on the board.  Connor won't be far behind seeing that he is already crawling.  I can't believe how my "little" boys are getting so big already.  As slow as the time feels sometimes, when I do have that realization that I need to be taking it ALL in, I just want to yell at Father Time and tell him to SLOW DOWN!!!  Because I know they'll be all grown up in no time at all.