Good Friends

Here is a shout out to some wonderful ladies whose friendship I truly value.  I joke all the time that us three act like military wives because we do everything together.  When you are sent to a remote area with 0 family, it brings people together quickly.  Luckily, both of these ladies are full of kindness and we are all just so much alike. I really love it and I really love them!
Anyways, we were all talking about out week and I mentioned that I had to go to San Diego and take Porter's cast off.  One of the gals said, "Can we just invite ourselves and go with you?" Honestly, it was such a tender mercy. Brooks had decided that day that he HATED his car seat. And honestly, he has kinda hated it ever since. So he was screaming the majority of the time, and I was doing back bends over my seat to try and keep the paci in his mouth. And then I parked at the lake instead of the beach and they had to come rescue me and show me where the beach parking was. AND I forgot a swim diaper, and had brought WAAAY too much to carry. Anyways, I honestly and truly could not have done that trip without them. Here are some pictures from our adventure.
Here we are. After our beach trip and shower fiasco.

Meet Beau. He has the best smile and the cutest zombie walk! He just learned how to walk and that's my favorite time with kids! They are so cute when first learning.

 I am so grateful for Charlie! He is such a good friend to Porter, and they play together really well!

Jana held Brooks for me the entire time! Thanks Jana! He obviously was in heaven with her snuggles.

I love when diapers creep out of baby bums!

 It's been fun seeing Porter explore different elements.  He was a total forest baby when we left. But he has also LOVED the beach. I think this kid loves anything outdoors.

 Beau's favorite part was the sand. Good thing it was everywhere!

Seriously. How cute is he!

Such a happy baby!

 And there is that adorable walk. Gosh. We know the best people!

This was Porter's face every. single. time the waves lapped up at his feet. Every time. For two hours. It was priceless.

I didn't really get too many pictures of us gals. Not any good ones anyways. When I wasn't taking pictures of these cute kids, I was playing with Porter in the sea. It was so much fun!
We also have all hung out at the Splash Park a few times. And of course, I took more pictures.

We are lucky to be here!

Brooks's Blessing

Oh Brooks. Sometimes being the second child is unfair. Like when you're receiving your baby blessing and your older brother has a ball {which I don't even know where it came from}, and is throwing it around while you are being blessed. Then, you're aggravated mother can't write your blessing down. 

But. I kinda let him throw that ball around for awhile because I was intently listening to one of the most beautiful blessings I have ever heard.

You are special one, Brooks.

Your Dad talked about your mission, marrying a sweet girl in the temple, and all of the ordinances you would receive one day. But he also mentioned something I have felt in my heart for awhile.  He mentioned how special you are.  You are a light, a bright one, in this awful sin infested world.  You are a leader of righteousness. 

In my eyes, you will be a hero. I see so much greatness when I look into your eyes. Your smile can make every worry disappear. And when you coo and try to talk to me, you make me feel so special. And you're only 2 months old!  

He told you to look at the men in the circle.  It was full of grandparents, great grandparents, uncles, cousins, etc.  Every man there meant something special to me or your father. You have such good men surrounding you Brooks. When I said the opening prayer, I started to cry.  Something I did not think would happen. But having everyone there in that intimate setting, your Nana Duke's home, was something special. The love that filled that room was too much.  And I would not be surprised if we had angels there too. Watching such a strong, valiant baby boy being blessed. 

Your Dad talked about the two special names you have been given. Duke & Thompson. He said both of those names mean something special. And he is right. Use those names with honor.

Brooks. We love you. Even Porter is just crazy about you.  You are the first person he says Good Morning too, and he is constantly trying to wake you up during the day to play with him.

You are going to do great things, Brooks.

We served homemade Belgian waffles and homemade syrup to all the guests with a fruit and granola trifle. It was all delicious!

My cousin Kerstyn holding you. And you sucking your thumb just like your Mama.

Kerstyn and your Great Grandmother Duke

Your Dad's cousin Savannah and her husband Josh.

The Merrells. You and Matix are 9 days apart and Liam and Porter are 6 months apart! It's so fun!

Porter and Liam with Olaf.

Probably my all time favorite picture.

In 20 years, we are going to make them redo this pictures!

The Duke side! Brett and Tiah were at a wedding in Washington and Uncle Dallin is still on his mission.

Pictures with so many people can be difficult! The Thompson side.

Porter's Birthday Party

Sometimes I can turn into one of those people who do the whole, "I'll be happy when this happens..."  Well, I'll be super duper happy when I can just throw events at my own house. My Mother in Law and Mom were gracious enough to let me host a few events at their houses a few weekends ago.   The first being Porter's birthday party.  I absolutely love love love parties. But I am a novice and the whole planning and execution part. I plan for waaaaaay too many things, but then don't give myself enough time to execute everything.  Luckily, my test subjects for this whole planning shin dig are my boys. And they didn't seem to mind.

July is pretty miserable in Arizona. I had hired a trackless train to ride the kids around the neighborhood, but the week of the event I canceled it. And I am actually pretty glad I did. IT WAS SO HOT! Seriously. Miserable. I mean, I thought Imperial had the same temperature as Arizona, but I felt like it was hotter over there. I couldn't stand being outside and it was 11 in the morning!
Anyways, we turned it into a pool party, but hardly anyone brought their swim suits. I think they felt like it was too hot to swim, and they didn't want to have to watch their babies in the pool. All of which is totally fine!
90% of Porter's friends live in Idaho or California. So Trent and I decided to invite a huge amount of our friends from the singles ward and high school.  A lot of people were on vacation. But we still had about 6 families come with their kids, and then we had our own families on top of that. It was seriously so fun to see my friends as wives, husbands, etc. I loved meeting their kids and seeing Porter interact with them. We seriously know the best people.

 Porter jumping off the diving board. Something I wish he could have learned later in life. But whatever.

 Sweet Liam. I am seriously obsessed with him as if he was my own. I just love that kid.

Porter had no idea this party was about him. Ha!

There was definitely a house full of kids. Just the way I like it!
In the end, the decorations were pretty low key.  I made the banner, {which I forget to take a picture of, dumb!} the train signs {with the help of  my FABULOUS new friends, thanks Jana and Alli}, and the Birthday Crossing sign {also not pictured}.  I actually didn't take any of these pictures. My little sister Ashlyn took all the pictures for the party. Thanks Ash!

So. Porter LOVED the sparklers on the Fourth of July. So I thought, let's do it on his birthday while we sing.  Crazy sparklers in 110 degree weather. Such a good idea.

 This picture makes me laugh every time. Chad, being such a good sport about my sparkler idea, took one while fire is popping everywhere and smoke is flaring.  All while trying to protect Matix.  Merrells are awesome.  Needless to say, most sparklers didn't get passed out. And I had burn marks all over my hand.

Afterwards, we did an pinata. Porter had no idea why we were letting him hit this train with a bat. He was so soft with it. Haha! It was super cute. 

I love being this little guy's aunt.

Liam has got game.  He was smacking that thing with all his two year old mite.

Eventually, everyone wanted some real entertainment and made me go out there to break the train. And Trent had fun making me look like a fool and miss a few times. He is so lucky I have a sense of humor. 

It was a total game changer for Porter once he realized that there was candy INSIDE the train.

The rest of the time we ate some more, talked, and played corn hole. For the record, Kayla and I CREAMED Chad and Trent at corn hole. No, really. Like there was no competition about it. Better luck next time, fellas.

Speaking of Kayla. She is a dream best friend. The gal went and made and frosted like 50 cupcakes for Porter's birthday. And came to help set up early. Oh and the cupcakes were out of this world good. chocolate cupcakes with Oreo frosting and strawberry with cream cheese frosting. Open your own bakery, Kayla!

Any my mom made the. best. sugar cookies. It's all I ever want when I visit.

And here are just some extras for the party. Porter, you are one loved little boy. EVERYONE who meets you, automatically loves you. Happy 2nd Birthday, Portmaster.