Wow its been crazy here

 Well, things around our house have been pretty crazy. Troy and I took the two boys and went on a little trip..we took a cruise to the bahamas and spent a few days down at Disney World. We left on Jan 21..and came back on Jan 30. On Feb 1, a huge storm started moving in...they were predicting it to be a record ice/snow storm. Everyone was urged to get prepared with food, fuel, etc...as power could be knocked out and we could be snowed in for days. Of course, we did as much as we could, especially since we had just gotten home...I ran to town and got food from walmart and sams. Before I could leave, it was already snowing/sleeting. Anyway...so Tues it continued. No school. The ice started forming on everything....as the freezing rain continued....all day, all night. About 10:30 pm...we are laying in bed trying to go to sleep...we hear a huge crash...we then notice there is no lights. Power was out. We look out the front...this is what we see (except its dark, so we can only kind of see this). Holy Crud! Well, good news is that we had some power..some worked some didnt, so we had some lights and such. We call the electric co...they say stay away, its live wires! They cant come til the morning sometime. So we lay back down....ya its not to easy to try to sleep after that. Crash! Again! We look, another tree fell. Ok, thats it. We got the kids up...and called the only hotel in town...booked. So, we very happily (not) drive to our favorite dump...Motel Centralia...and got a room. Its about 11:30 or so by then. We walk in, STINK...ugh. Smoking room. Britton cries half the night, he cant breathe...try to get the kids to sleep..after midnight...troy finally gets frustrated and lets britton get in the bed, and he sleeps on the nasty floor in a sleeping bag(yes we are cheap). $65 bucks for that crappy room! Anyway..long night...wake up early, no school again. Troy calls work and says he isnt coming in.. We head back to the house, to see what the deal is. Seems  ok for now. So we stay and wait for the power guys. Luckily, we have some power, so out comes the extension cords to plug in the fridge's and microwave...we are pretty much in business for the most part. Flashlight to go to the bathroom, but no biggie. So finally about noon or so...the elec guys come and survey. Bad news. There is a pole in our yard, that has a street light on it...and it has our elec box/meter on it. The lines go underground to our house, but they go from that pole to the other lines in the trees. It ripped some lines out, so we have some power. Bad news is we have to have an electrician come and fix the pole and box, then they can come back and reconnect the lines..oh ya, they have to cut all the power, and cut the lines. GREAT! sounds like its gonna be fun. So I call my friend to ask for a name of an electrician. She says she has a line down as well, and she called all the ones in Centralia...everyone went to voicemail but one..she gave me the name and said this morning they were number 8 or 9 on the list...wonderful. So Troy calls and they say, we will add you to the list..prob wont be until tomorrow or friday before they can get out to look. (crying). So, he randomly picks a name from the yellow pages and calls...they guy says, ok, I will be right over! About 30 min later he is here looking. Says he can come tomorrow( thurs) and it should take 5 hours or so. So...we throw some clothes and food in bags, its about 5 pm now and getting dark in our electricless home...and decide to get a hotel in a town about an hour away...a nice hotel. So we book it for 2 nights, and head out. We talk to the insurance guy..I LOVE Allstate by the way...he says they will reimburse our hotel/food/gas. YIPEEE. So we go to the Holiday Inn...its soooo nice, especially after motel centralia..its like heaven! kids were soooo excited. they had an indoor pool!!!! so we had a fun time there wed night...ate pizza, swam, slept nice and cozy. Thurs the kids had school, but we decided to ditch. Its too far and we had a good excuse! So Troy got up and went to work..poor guy. We stayed at the hotel, slept in, went shopping, swam, ate lunch and had a fun day. Troy came later after work. So we find out the electrician is done! So we call the elec co and they say they will head over to connect. Later that night its reconnected! yeah! We stayed at the hotel that night anyway..and early this morning we got up and checked out, and got back in time for the kids to go to school. I got to go clean house all day...cleaning up from the disaster zone..and that is inside..not out! So here are some pics of the yard Wed morning after the storm...yikes! This is our parking area, its a circle drive where we park. We decided we should move the cars out into the yard, cuz limbs could fall on them....thank goodness we did!!

The yard really looked like a war zone. Branches EVERYWHERE! Actually, the whole town of centralia looks pretty much like this. Its crazy. Luckily, this happened when we got home, and not while the girls were here alone! Also, our home and family was safe and sound...even though we lost power, we still had heat becuase we have gas fireplaces..just for fun...it kept us warm, and no frozen pipes! The people got this fixed super fast, and the insurance took great care of us, and we were able to make it almost a vacation. We have been so blessed!! I know Heavenly Father was watching out for the Troy Porter Family this week! Thank you!!

Happy Birthday to Me!

 So it was my birthday...ugh...so what did I get to do on my birthday?? Go and get my hair cut and colored! Yeah me! It was a great day!! I decided to go crazy and get it cut real short again, and go back blonder...and the lady talked me into putting red streaks! I LOVE it, its so fun. 

Disnee and Brooke also got to go to the salon for my birthday, and get their hair done as well. They were in HEAVEN!! They had never been to a real salon, just those cheapy $10 places...so this was so fun for them. They both got cuts and highlights. Cute Cute girls! All three of us ended up with some sort of red in our hair...what does that mean? Then my sweet Brookie made me some yummy red velvet cupcakes with white chocolate frosting..yum! My sweet angels helping me blow out my candles...I am happy:)

Christmas 2010

 This Christmas was wonderful!! We started out our Christmas with the traditon of our "nice meal". The kids always insist that I make something nice, and we sit together in a fancy table with candles. We had Malibu Chicken (Sizzler style:), baked potato, salad and veggies. With some Vimto!! That is a yummy blackcurrent drink we got in England..our favorite!!!

Next came time to open one present...of course Pj's! Here is daddy's new Pj's...Mom picked them out!!

 So the kids let us sleep until 6:01 am. Troy told Jalan not to come in before 6!!! Here are the kids on the stairs waiting to come down and see what Santa left!!

 Disnee was excited to find her new cedar hope chest!! She is looking forward to filling it with stuff for her future home!

 Brooke also got a cedar chest, and she is also thinking of what to fill it with! She got a sewing maching too, and has started making some clothes and pillows and such.

 Jalan overcome when he opened his new BB Gun!! Look out Centralia!

 Macee was so excited when she opened up her Pillow Pet from Papa and Grama Spear!! she has been wanting this forever!

 Look at this handsome boy! I got a new lense for my camera, just a simple one to replace my old one that broke..I cant believe how gorgeous the colors are!!

 This was what this Christmas was all about this year. Troy sitting here looking at and listening to the wonderful gift from Tim and Steph this year. A flash drive of tons of pictures, videos, generation charts, grandpa and grandma king journals, the funeral audio, and much more all together and a special video with pictures of the kids growing up some they had never seen. This was wonderful to see Troy sitting here with tears streaming down his face. Absolutely amazing.

 Here is Jalan enjoying our Christmas tradition..Green Chile!! YUM

 And Tex-Mex Dip!!

 And my homemade Salsa...

 Later the kids and Troy decided to go enjoy the snow we got Christmas eve and Christmas morning. They made a nice snowman! Of course Disnee and I stayed inside and stayed warm and dry :)

 Cuties

 I love this pic of Troy looking at the snowman and him looking back at troy...

 Say cheese......


Ok, so I had a hard time getting these in the right order...here is when the boys opened up their Leopard Geckos...Jalan was a little bit excited as you can see...he has been asking for this for years....



The three little ones were suprised as they opened up their presents labeled "do not touch" to find GERBILS!!



December events

 So December was a crazy busy month for us as usual. We finally tried to make divinity this year, and it was alot of fun, I even got the girls to help me! Brooke enjoying the "stirring"!

 Of course, this is not ARIZONA, where its dry...so our divinity turned out FLAT. It didnt want to set up, so we gave up and spooned out the gooey stuff into flat panackes...but it still tasted good!

 Macee had her 7th birthday on the 21st. She had a fun birthday, at school it was the Polar Express Day, and they got to wear their pj's and watch the movie. After school she got to open her presents. She is opening a special letter she got from someone special:)  She was spoiled with a coloring book/crayons, $10 from Uncle Stu and Aunt Janet (and Grandpa King), $20 from Papa and Grama Spear.

 Here she is fainting from excitement from her new Zhu Zhu pets and set she got!! Yeah for her!!

 She got a Zhu Zhu pet birthday cake, and here she is later that night as she blew out the candles.

 We had a very eventful month, as on Dec 19, Jalan was ordained to the Aaronic Priesthood. It was a special day for us. The following Sunday, the 26th, he got to pass the sacrament for the first time. It was very emotional for us to watch this boy turning into a young man.

Here is our handsome new Deacon!!

My Baby is 7 Years Old!!

Well, my baby daughter is 7 years old!! Man its crazy that Macee is so old. Next year we will be having our last baptism!!  Here is Macee with one of her favorite people..Elder T!!

7 Wonderful Things About Macee

1. Loves to give Great Hugs!!

2. Has alot of energy

3. Loves School and her teacher-and is soooo smart!

4. Loves her family!

5. Cute as a bug and loves to have "pretty hair"

6. Loves to play with her baby dolls

7. Has the sweetest smile around!!!

We are so blessed to have Macee in our life. She is the baby of this crazy clan, and definitely makes her presence known wherever she is! She is a wild and crazy girl, with a strong will! We love you so much Macee Noelle Porter! Happy 7th Birthday!! 

Happy 12th Birthday???

Yesterday was Jalan's 12th birthday! WOW. 12 years ago that little guy entered our lives. Its been a blast getting to know this amazing boy, and witnessing what life has had in store for him so far. We are so blessed to have him in our family!! Yesterday he had a great birthday present, NO SCHOOL!! It was so cold and snowy, they cancelled school, so he got to stay home, play in the snow and go see Harry Potter!! We did have to forego his favorite dinner, bacon wrapped chicken, because of the movie, so we will have that tonight! We love you Jalan, and are so proud of the great boy and young man you are! He will get to receive the Aaronic Priesthood on Sunday, and then be a Deacon!! WOW. Here are 12 things we LOVE about Jalan:

1. The most generous kid around
2. Very polite (when he wants to be:)
3. Funny and full of energy
4. Very strong willed!
5. Loves to tease and torture his brother and sisters
6. So smart
7. Made the Scholar Bowl Team
8. Loves to play sports
9. is great at multitasking..can watch tv, do homework and listen to me all at the same time:)
10. Loves going to church
11. Cant wait to be a missionary
12. Has the biggest heart of anyone I know!
This boy is amazing in so many ways. We love you Jalan and Happy Birthday Bud!!

England/Wales trip 2010

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