Camera Dump

This was Porter's first time swimming.  We just kept him in a real diaper because we didn't have a swimming one. Bad idea.  Those things are not made for that much water.  Porter was six weeks old.

Auntie Ash with her first nephew. This girl is a real gem.  I love her!

Porter at about 6 weeks old still.  These next few pictures {and the ones above} are all from our trip to AZ for his baby blessing.

Watching Auntie Ash kick butt in Volleyball!

Nana Duke - Except for seriously - this woman does NOT look like she could be a Grandma! Back me up, people!

This was when we went to Yellowstone National Park on a whim.  We are pretty spontaneous people.

Not Really. But that day we were! Porter was eight weeks old.

My little turkey on Thanksgiving.

I don't remember this picture at all, but I love it!

And so our teething journey began. Porter started teething at three months.  Today he has seven teeth. He has four teeth up top and three on the bottom. Teething is a long, obnoxious journey.

I love my boys!

His face in this picture kills me every time.

One of the first things Porter ever learned was how to flip the pages of a book.  Story time is absolutely one of his favorite things. 

One day I came home and Trent had created this. There are no words.  When you take a chain and wrap it around your sons play toys, you have reached a new level of desperation.  The funny part is that it is actually one of his favorite toys. 

My cheering crowd at my 5k on Valentines Day.  It was cold and miserable. But they stayed the whole time and cheered me on. 

Love you, Portmaster!

S.U.M.M.E.R

One thing I absolutely love about Rexburg is that the outdoors is in your backyard.  Shooting trips in Arizona consist of a 30-45 min. drive {at least!}, bonfire consist of an hour drive for sure {unless you have a fire pit in your backyard}, and don't even get me started on fishing.  But in Rexburg, you can be out in the middle of nowhere in minutes.

That beautiful place is literally 8 minutes from our house.  I just can't get over it.
So tonight we finally hung out with some friends.  Since the Merrells left like 3 weeks ago we seriously had not hung around anyone.  Who else could compare? But we had to burn some old files that were taking up space in the office, so we got together with our new friends/co-workers the Salinas and had an epic bonfire.  It consisted of two moves in location, one burning pile of papers in the back of Trent's truck, and one heck of a good time!

Anyways, what kind of Mother would I be if I didn't document Porter's first bonfire?!  He had an absolute BLAST crawling in the dirt, having the smoke in his face, and eating tin foil dinners and S'mores.  He is an absolute natural. Trent was super proud.

 Porter still LOVES his pacifier.

 Look at that cute smile!

  A little blurry, but so STINKING cute! He was seriously loving it you guys.  He hated that I kept trying to stop him to take a picture.

 This cracks me up.  He seriously looks homeless!

 We are a truck family for sure.  Every stigma that goes with people who own trucks, we probably fit the description.

 Oh, hey. I'm adorable. 

 Look at that tiny waist and belly button! Porter has his Dad's body type for sure. 

It is definitely the start of summer here.  Rigby Lake is filling up, bonfires, camping, Karie Annes, perfect weather, farmers market, and the splash pad is opening up! Oh, and did I mention that there are exactly 20 school days left. This is the best season of the year, folks.  And knowing that it is our last one here, we plan to take advantage of everything Rexburg has to offer!

Be There

I promised myself that when Trent got his calling in the bishopric, that I would NOT complain. I would be like Sister Hinckley or Sister Monson.  I would be a supporter and not a complainer.  But seriously.  HOW THE FREAKING HECK DID THEY DO THIS? Sometimes I really questions if this is worth it.  I mean, the kid is nine months old.  He doesn't notice if we are at church or not?  And when we are there, it is absolute chaos the entire time.  What did I learn in church today? I don't know? I couldn't hear the speakers.  I had a Tyrannosaurus Rex beside me the entire time.  My fourth graders lovingly refer to Porter as, "the raptor."  I think that sums him up perfectly right now.  But then in the peak of my anger, reason softly whispers, "Be where your suppose to be, when you are suppose to be there." It's a principle that was taught to me at BYU-Idaho.  And its a life changing, important one.  And I know that despite the difficulties, we are meant to be there.   Also, we went to the park, again.  I think that is going to turn into our second home.

Trent and I watched the "Best of Me," together over the weekend.  We have this rule in our home that we don't allow media that makes immoral things look okay or has language in it.  So... we really shouldn't have watched that movie. And to be honest, I wish we wouldn't have watched that movie.  It has the "f-word" in it, which I was not prepared for! I hate that! And it makes cheating on your husband look fine as long as your super unhappy and you do it with the person you "really love."  It totally had that "whatever-makes-me-happy-I'm-going-to-do-it" attitude. And I HATE that! But.  It was actually really good for our marriage too.  I had felt really disconnected from my husband.  Nothing awful or too extreme, I just didn't feel like we were communicating enough.  I also didn't feel like we were spending enough time together. Let me rephrase that, I didn't think we were spending enough meaningful time together.  We had a really good conversation after the movie about a few things and some tears were shed.  Partly because we realized how poorly we were treating each other { of course, unintentionally} but mostly because the movie is pretty dang sad.   I am just thankful that we are both passionate about making marriage work.  Because honestly, I am so surprised with how much effort it takes every day to make a successful marriage! Marriage is not for the faint of heart.  It is for the person willing to sacrifice some of their own happiness for someone else.  But when all is said and done, I am sure it won't seem like that big of a sacrifice at all. 

A Little Complaining and a Birthday to Make It All Better

This past week, the Thompsons have been through the good, the bad, and the ugly.  And we have survived.  Actually, I wouldn't even call it surviving. I would call it barely-making-it-out-alive.  We had 1 big move, 2 new people in new positions, 3 Lewis and Clark play productions and 4 days to fit everything in. Oh. And I was working full time. Oh. And we have a nine month old who gets into everything. And did I mention I also got sick with the stomach flu?  Yeah.  I was about to send up the flares. Which is code for calling the Grandmas and booking some plane tickets.  But instead, we said a whole lot of prayers, received a whole lot of tender mercies and I can finally say that things are starting to slow down in the Thompson home {a little}.   I should have taken a picture of our house during the chaos.  Think of your home at its very worst moment.  Now multiply that by 100.  You think I am kidding? Ask anybody who saw it.  "Buried Alive" wanted to come in and do a special on our apartment. You could not see our floor.  However, there was definitely a positive side.  Porter was always entertained.  In fact, now that our house is clean, he hates it.  He has nothing to play with.  Sorry, Portmaster.   Also, I was being so good at being a Mommy and reading my scriptures, and then I started sucking again! What the heck?! So I just bought this to help re-motivate my scripture reading.  You need to watch this video when you have a few minutes.  The first twenty minutes is where the main, good stuff is at.  I need to become what He wants me to be.  This will help me get there.   On a another note, my birthday was this week.  Twenty-three.  Gosh. I am so young! I feel pretty accomplished.  Two half marathons, one degree, one baby, and two years of teaching under my feet. Now, I just need to add some spiritual accomplishments.  Like reading the New Testament all the way through! Or having 50 scriptures memorized from the Old Testament.  You know? I hope each year when I look back, I feel accomplished.  I never want to stop pushing myself.   {To be honest, I should probably be more worried about pushing myself too far.}     I walked into my classroom on my birthday to streamers EVERYWHERE!!! There were balloons streamers, banners, and posters covering my classroom.  It was cute! The posters said Happy B"Earth"day {My birthday is April 22nd, also known as Earth Day}.  I had about 12 students out of my 21 students jump out and yell surprise.  During the rest of the day, I had students and parents bringing me gifts.  I got gift cards, flowers, plants, candy, and more.  I was very overwhelmed with gratitude and completely surprised.  Students don't usually celebrate teacher's birthdays?! I also received this e-mail.  I cried.

 

Thanks for all your work with the program, and for all your work with ------ this year. This morning ------ set his alarm to 6:00 a.m. (30 minutes earlier than normal), got his own breakfast, and got himself ready for school so that he could go to school early to surprise you for your birthday. As we were getting ready to drive him to school, he noticed that some friends were already headed to another friends house (they’d planned to all go early and surprise you). So ------ just told us that he didn’t need a ride and ran down the street to that friends house to ride with them.    As his father and I watched ------ navigate all of this on his own, his father commented that ----- couldn’t and wouldn’t have done that last year. He would have been too unsure about participating, about going down to his friends house unannounced, and about getting himself ready. We attribute a lot of this growth to you and your classroom. Thank you for holding him accountable for his work but for also giving him confidence to take risks. Thank you for making school a positive experience and helping him be included in so many aspects of the class. We had thought to have ------ go to 4th grade at the middle school with the AIM program but finally decided that he should stay at Adams for one more year. I believe that this prompting was a great blessing, as it allowed him to be in your class and to have you as his teacher.  Thank you for the wonderful educational experience you have created for -------. That took an amazing amount of time and care on your part, and we are very grateful for it.   And happy birthday! I hope that you have a wonderful day.    After the week I experienced, I needed that message. Just reading it again makes me emotional.  I pour my HEART and SOUL into these children.  I guilt myself into believing I am not making a difference and should be home with Porter instead.  And although I CAN NOT WAIT until I can be that stay home mom for Porter {exactly one year folks - I am counting down}, I am doing something important right now and my efforts are enough.   After school, I took out my camera, Porter, and headed outside {you inspire me, Abbie Martinsen. I need to take more photos like you!}.  Gosh. I love that kid.

Seriously, this kid is such a goof! I tried SO HARD to get a picture of his fang teeth up top.  You guys, it seriously looks like I have a vampire baby. And although when they started coming in I was dreading it because I thought he would look weird, he actually looks adorable! Haha! Anyways, I couldn't get a picture of his top teeth. Sad!

I have an obsession of diapers popping out of baby's pants.  I think its so cute! I just want to give him a friendly diaper wedgie!

Concentrating so hard on walking!

We have a lot of emotional breakdowns over here, folks.



Some "no helmet" time. 

He loves to hold my finger.  He grabs for it all the time and walks around with me.  Its adorable and one of my favorite things right now.

Is it just me or does he look like a little man without his helmet. Gosh. He is getting so big!!

 

 And finally, after my husband FINALLY got home at six o'clock, we had a homemade dinner. YUM! I emphasize homemade because we have not had a homemade dinner in so long.  Really, that is all I wanted for my birthday.  If that doesn't disgust you, I don't know what will.  Just thinking about it disgusts me. So much fast food. So gross.   And then it all ended by my sweet husband handing me my birthday present.  He knows me to well. This woman is my favorite author of all time.  I love her. I can't wait to read it!  

  Also, five weeks until SUMMER! I think we are going to make it after all!