WE'RE GRANDPARENTS AGAIN!

We are now the proud grandparents of two grandsons! Jade and Brit had Gavin Brett Porter yesterday afternoon (October 29) at 1:21 p.m. He weighs 7 pounds 6 ounces, just 3 ounces more than his brother, Branson. Brit was induced this time as she goes to a doctor in Ogden and she was dilated to 3 at her last doctor's appointment and her doctor didn't dare let her wait to go into labor on her own and drive to Ogden. I think he was afraid Jade would have to deliver him in Sardine Canyon.

They finally got her going around 8:00 and the doc came in at around 10:30 to break her water. By 1:00 she was dilated to 7cm. She was very uncomfortable and having some pretty fast and hard contractions. Poor little Gavin's heart rate kept dropping. The nurses were alarmed, although they tried to stay calm around us girls. The only ones able to make it down to the hospital were Wendy (Brit's mom), Kandice and myself, and of course Jade. They had to put the little corkscrew thingy in Gavin's head to try to keep an eye on his heart rate, but even then they weren't able to get good readings, and when they did, it was very erratic. The nurse was afraid the cord was around his neck or that he was trying to come sideways.

The nurse finally told us that they were going to prep her to go to the OR for a c-section. That was Jade and Brit's worse fear. She has a 1-year-old baby at home who needs and loves his mama so much that she didn't want to be away from him for 24 hours, let alone four or five days. She was crying. I was crying. Kandice was crying. Wendy was crying. The only one staying dry eyed was Jade, and I think he was in a bit of shock. They had asked earlier for Brit to get a blessing and the nurses were trying to find someone in the hospital that held the priesthood to do it, but had no luck. I finally offered to say a group prayer and we all agreed that was a good idea. After we said the prayer I think our nerves settled a bit.

They wheeled Brit across the hall into the OR and we waited. They came and got Jade to get gowned up and go with her, and we waited. The OR doors had windows we could see through and we were spying through them. They soon moved a screen in front of the doors, so we just stood in the hallway and we waited, and waited. Someone came out and told us that she was fully dilated and going to try to deliver him normal. A few minutes later, we heard him cry. One of the nurses came out and told us he was here. He was fine. Brit was fine. Jade was fine. We waited for them to take him to the nursery.

We got to watch him get his bath and cleaned up through the window.



They finally brought him out to the room where Brit and Jade and the rest of us were waiting. He is so precious and so cute and cuddly. We all took turns loving him, cuddling him, dressing him, changing diapers and feeding him a bottle.





He looked just like his big brother at first, but then as the hours passed, he started to take on his own looks. He is wonderfully cute, healthy and and we are so glad he is finally here!


Brit is doing great. She was able to walk down the hall at about 6:00 to go visit in the waiting room with Branson. It is so sad that they won't let children under the age of 12 into the hospital rooms due to the H1N1 flu. I am sure he is missing his mommy, and she is missing him. We are missing him as well. We have gotten so used to seeing him nearly every day.

We look so forward to watching these two little guys grow and learn and become best buds!

CONGRATULATIONS JADE AND BRIT!

I can't tell you how wonderful it is to be a grandma. I can't believe the love you feel for a grandchild. We are glad he is healthy and doing well, and Branson is having a fun time at his other grandma's house for the time mommy and daddy are at the hospital. They will all be home tomorrow afternoon. I am so glad that we get to live close enough to see him and his big brother and mom and dad very often!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY BRANSON!

One year ago today, we received the most special gift ... our first GRANDCHILD, BRANSON. I can't believe it's been a whole year and he is now turning one. This past year has flown past so darned fast!! He is so smart and so loving and sometimes he's a little devil, but we love him with ALL our HEARTS and can't get enough of him.

Newborn baby Branson

Jade and Brit had a family birthday party for him on Saturday with grandparents, great grandparents and aunts and uncles that were able to get here. He was OVERWHELMED with the amount of presents he had, and really didn't know what to play with first. He received a lot of new clothes and toys and a book and movie.

GOT CAKE?

His favorite toy I think is his new vacuum. As I have posted before, this kid is totally in awe of vacuums. He followed me with the vacuum every day he lived with us. His vacuum can either play music, count or do ABCs or just make a vacuum sound. He pushes the little thing back and forth, back and forth and has the most serious look on his face while he is doing it. It cracked us all up on Saturday watching him so serious into his housework! He gets so mad if you take it away from him. Brit says she can't turn it to the counting or ABCs or music or he gets made and throws the vacuum. He wants it to sound like a vacuum.

I just can't tell you how much he means to us. There aren't enough words to describe the love you feel for a grandchild. It has been so much fun watching him grow and learn. He is such a character and keeps us laughing.

HAPPY HAPPY BIRTHDAY OUR SWEET BOY! GRANDMA AND GRANDPA LOVE YOU!

What We've Been Up To

Branson and Roxy wondering if they could make a clean escape out the window!

It has been a crazy BUSSSSSY month it seems. I don't seem to have much spare time these days. We've been enjoying watching Branson grow right before our eyes. He has now got four teeth (two more will be in within the next few days). He has learned to walk. He just takes off and goes. He seems to go so fast for such a little guy. He wanders around all day long jabbering to himself, humming and pushing his "swatter." His favorite toy in the whole wide world is a fly swatter. He sees grandma swatting flies and laughs and laughs. He decided they are a great shovel, cane, poker. He pushes it into, under, over, around or on top of anything and everything in the house jabbering to himself the entire time. He has learned so many words. He is such a smart little guy. He will be 1 on the 26th of this month. I can't believe it. It seems that he was just born. Now we are eagerly awaiting the birth of his baby brother, Gavin, who will be here in less than a month.

Jade and Brit have bought a trailer here in the park and have been busy getting it ready to move into. They have been painting and cleaning like crazy. It is a nice home and will be perfect for their little family. It will be nice to still have them so close so I can get baby hugs and kisses often!

I have also taken up the hobby of jewelry making. I am totally obsessed with it now. It is a great stress reliever and not a terribly expensive hobby. Here are a few things I have done. I'm not perfect at it yet, but am working on it every chance I get.

These are just a few of the interchangeable watch bands I have done.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY BRITTINEY!

Today is Brittiney's 24th birthday!



We are having the traditional roast and potatoes sunday dinner for her today. I am so glad to have Brit as a part of our family. As they have been staying here, we have gotten so much closer and gotten to know each other very well. She is such a good mom and a great wife to Jade. She works hard and deserves the very best!



HAPPY BIRTHDAY BRIT!

28 YEARS!

Yesterday was our 28th wedding anniversary. I can't believe I am old enough to have been married for 28 years!!! YIKES ... through all the years we have been good times and bad times but I wouldn't trade the past 28 years for anything in the world. We have three great kids and a great family and we are all so close. Glen is truly my best friend in life and the one I go to when I need to laugh, cry, complain or get a boost of encouragement. He is such a hard worker and has always makes sure we are all okay. He is the first to help out when someone needs help and you will never hear him complain. That is what I love most about him. He is such a generous person. He has done well with putting up with me for all these years, so he really needs a pat on the back!

Just to think that most of our family didn't think we'd last six months being married. I was 17 and Glen was 25 so we really had the odds stacked against us. Here we are 28 years later!

LOVE YOU HONEY!

LONG OVERDUE UPDATE

I haven't posted in a while. Not really much exciting has happened in our lives over the past month (that is probably a good thing)!

Glen has been busy in our yard and his mom's yard and has things looking beautiful. He has quite a vegetable garden growing and keeping us all full of zuchinni. We have a HUGE pumpkin patch growing in the mulch pile as volunteers from last year's pumpkins. Glen had thrown six pumpkins in the mulch pile last year as we didn't get to carve them since Branson decided to be born that day! There must be at least 20 pumpkins growing out there now. We'll have fun carving this year for Branson's birthday party!

I spend most of my days working from home and watching Branson for a few hours a few afternoons a week. He is growing like a weed and is such a smart baby. He loves our cats, or "kees" as he calls them. He is crawling all over the place and walking around furniture. He will be walking before long I am sure. We are anxiously awaiting the new baby who is due Novemeber 5. I am so excited to have a new baby to hold and cuddle. Branson doesn't like to cuddle much anymore. He has much more important things to do than to sit on my lap and cuddle!

Daddy's little "rocker"

Chelsie and Brian came home last weekend and camped out at Glendale Lake in Brian's parent's camp trailer. They decided to try to get one camping trip in before summer was over and Chels started her busy schedule back in school. There are no mountains or nice lakes around Twin Falls so they were happy to have a weekend to spend outdoors. They told us all that if we wanted to see them we had to come to the camp spot and they wouldn't have to spend the weekend running to all ends of the county seeing everyone. It was nice. We went out both Friday night and Saturday we had a barbecue and dutch oven potatoes with our family, Brian's family and even some family friends showed up. The girls all sat down and made beaded watches, as I had taken my beads and stuff, while the boys played with the dogs and fished a bit. The food was delcious and it was nice to spend some time with the kids.

This is what my office looks like most afternoons. Branson just plays and plays. He is a good boy and so glad that we are able to spend as much time with him and watch him grow up.

One of his FAVORITE things is watching me vacuum. He used to crawl behind me and grab the cord. In fact, that's how we taught him to crawl. Now he just kind of sits off to the side and occasionally gets brave enough to crawl over and touch the big black "monster." If he is in the tub or highchair or in his bedroom and he hears the vacuum come on, he gets mad and throws a fit until he can come join me. He is just mesmerized by the vacuum. This is one of the mornings that Brit had him in the tub and he just had to get out and come help me vacuum.

He loves his "papa" and grandma (he sometimes calls me "nana" but not sure that's really what he's doing). He makes me laugh many, many, many times throughout the day and laughter is a GOOD THING!

24TH OF JULY WEEKEND

I finally got out of town for a couple of days!! I had the opportunity to go down to Spanish Fork and visit with all of my sisters and my mom. We had a very fun weekend and it was good "therapy" time for me to get away and spend GIRL TIME with my sisters and mom.

Friday we went to the Spanish Fork parade. It was a BIG parade and lasted for a very long time. After the parade, they have games and booths and variety of stuff going on on the stage. It was nice to sit and relax and visit with all my sisters and their families.






Draven on the bungie jump trampoline. He was so funny to watch!



After the park, we went back to mom's apartment for some air conditioning and rest. We all met up at my sister, Shelly's, house and my sister, Amanda, had brought hundreds of sets of beads and some watch faces and all the necessary doo dads to make beaded watches. We had tons of fun and laughs and made some pretty cute stuff. THANKS MANDA! She claims she got it all in a clearance bin at a craft fair and wouldn't let any of us give her any money ... she is sooooo busy all the time. I don't understand how she has time for craft fairs!

Friday night we went to the carnival. Amanda and Shelly run a preschool and Amanda had made 500 prize grab bags for the fishing pond she had at the park and parade Thursday and Friday. She was charging $1 each for them and they all had a glow necklace or bracelet in them. She was selling them as a fundraiser to get a new play yard for the preschool and had made quite a bit of money throughout the day. She decided that the carnival would be a good place to try to sell a few more of them, so Amanda and I sat on the grass and sold the grab bags. The closer to dark it got, the more popular they got! The kids all wanted a glow necklace or bracelet. It was nice to sit and visit with Amanda and her husband while my other sisters all took their kids on rides. Aspen asked if I would take Hallie and Draven to ride a couple more rides. They are 4 year old cousins only a month apart and are so close and so darned cute together. It was great fun for me to watch the cute little guys ride the train and wave so excitedly every time they passed me standing there watching them.

Hallie and Draven on the train

My sisters' and brothers' kids are all growing up so fast. I don't get to see them often enough. They have such cute families and have to make trips down to see them more often!

After the carnival, we went to the baseball park and watched fireworks. I must say, I am impressed at the big time Spanish Fork has for the 24th.

Saturday was a lazy laid back day. Mom, Shelly and I made a venture to Sam's Club. Mom doesn't go anywhere but Shopko (where she works) so it was fun for her to get out a bit. We all met up at Bajio Grill for lunch and then back to Shelly's to make some more jewelry creations. I hated to leave to go home. I really, really, really wish I could live closer to them. I think it would be so great to be able to drop by and see any one of my sisters at any time, and would love to live closer to my mom. We get along so great and I just love my getaway weekends down there. The only thing that would have made it better would be if MY girls would have been able to go with me. THANKS GUYS! I'll be back down soon. LOVE YOU ...