Nice Shot

This video is more for listening than it is for watching (talk to Andy about the camera work).
Just like his dad, Porter loves his basketball.

I'm going to Miss America!

Here's the skinny:

Miss Utah Jill Stevens, competing in the Miss America pageant this Saturday, January 26, is an SUU alumna and a former Miss SUU (in addition to being an amazing girl: combat medic for the National Guard, future nurse, marathon runner, honor student). We've been helping out with a lot of her publicity, and I just found out that I will be attending the Miss America pageant for "work." Pretty sweet gig, eh?

So, to any of you pageant die-hards who plan on watching the pageant (on TLC this Saturday night at 6:00 PM MST), look for a crowd of people clad in SUU garb; I'll be in there somewhere.

In the meantime, go to
http://tlc.discovery.com/tv/miss-america/miss-america.html?dcitc=w99-504-ah-1033
to vote Miss Utah in as America's Choice finalist. You can vote once each day.

Our Little Zookeeper

Porter got the Fisher Price zoo for Christmas and over the past month, his animal vocab has really taken off. Our only concern: he thinks parrots are chickens that say "cock-a-loo." Oh yeah, and he thinks "pitta" (pizza) is the perfect food for animals.

See for yourself.

Home Depot (AKA the longest post ever)

The title to this post may throw you off a bit, as this post is actually our holiday recap. Why the Home Depot title? Because we've been there four or five times in the 2 weeks since we've been home from our holiday travels. So, Home Depot is my excuse for not posting our Christmas pics earlier.

Why Home Depot? First, they were having a storage sale, and you all know of my affinity for organization. And second, in addition to making me realize I no longer have a baby, all Porter's new "big boy" toys seem to take up a lot more room than stuffed animals and rattles did. That's right, I've been driving Andy crazy by reorganizing the entire house around Porter's toys.

But enough about the unpacking, here's a quick (and rather untimely) recap of our holiday bustle...

Stop #1: Salt Lake City

We stayed at my parents until early Christmas Eve.
We crammed a lot into a two day visit, and amidst all the festivities, I forgot to pull out the camera even once. I'd say that's a sign of a very fun time, yes?

Stop #2: Milwaukee

We spent a majority of our holiday break in Wisconsin with the Burts.
Our visit in a nutshell: lots of fun, lots of candy, lots of snow, lots of spoiling Porter, and a much-anticipated and very relaxing visit with the fam.

Opening PJs on Christmas Eve with Grandma Burt (We gave Porter a bath right before, so we let him unwrap in the buff rather than dressing him twice).

Porter played with each new toy for a while before he started opening another. His "Toe-mas" Train was the first gift to catch his eye.

This dump truck was, and continues to be, Porter's favorite gift though (Thank you Grandpa Burt). In fact, there's one just like it in our ward's nursery stockpile, and Porter fought with a little boy over it just yesterday because he thought it was his.

Throw in some snow,

Lots of dancing to Andy's childhood records,

A trip to the Domes to get out of the snow,

the best children's museum ever,

and a lot of playing with Grandpa,

and it's easy to see that our holiday travels were a hit.

Thanks to everyone who joined in the fun!

SUNDER! (birds)

I'm still working on getting those holiday photos added, but in the meantime, we thought we'd entertain you with a video.

Over the past few months, we've introduced Porter to live "basset-ball." We're regular fans at SUU basketball, where Porter yells "Sunder," "Sss...YOoooo," and "tweet-tweet" (the thunderbird is our mascot) at top of his lungs. He also loves to dance to the music played over the loud speakers. Although I do like to watch basketball games, I must admit, Porter's dancing is my very favorite part of this year's SUU sports experience.

This video is actually from a month ago, but the dancing is still going strong at every game.

Pickles?

Ok, no pics on this post, but only because this story is funny enough to stand alone.

While we were visiting Andy's fam in Milwaukee over Christmas, I was getting Porter dressed when he grabbed his bare chest and said "pickles." His uncle Jeff laughed and wondered if Porter meant to say nipples. Well Jeff, you were right. Last night when Andy was getting Porter ready for bed, he once again grabbed his chest and shouted "pickles!" I thought maybe Andy was to blame for the new anatomical name, but turns out Porter came up with it all on his own. Funny, no?