We're Back in Business!

Well, Tyler, the kids and I pulled into our house around 10pm Sunday night! What a drive, but what a time we had in Utah. Finally we are back in business with our AWESOME computer (seriously for those of you who don't have Mac's you've got to invest!). Ty and I walked in and went right for the computer. Sad huh? Well, now we can actually post pictures, so I thought that it was about time that I write about what's been going on in the last few weeks. I do have to say-I wrote the cutest post a few days back at my sister's house, and yes, it was lost because her computer froze! AHHHHH...I didn't have the patience or energy to retype, so sorry it was left unsaid!

So...first let me say that about two minutes ago I almost wet my pants laughing. Why? Well, Tyler just headed out to the gym, but we were both back in our bedroom. He was charging and updating the iPod and I was laying on the bed talking to him about his day at work. So, imagine this...Claire was strapped into her high chair and Porter was watching "Shrek Christmas!" and all of a sudden we heard screaming. It was Claire-no big surprise right? Well...the screaming went on and on for over five minutes and really sadly enough we didn't think anything of it because of her lovely screaming habit. Until....Porter comes running into our room and stops all of a sudden and with both hands on his hips he says...."Guys, guys...wait a minute, wait a minute. We had a problem....(pause for seriously a long time, then he gets this sheepish grin on his face) Claire's hand in stuck in her yogurt container and she can't get it out!" I felt so bad-we left her in there for quite some time as she must have been growing more claustraphobic since her hand was indeed stuck in the yoplait yogurt container. She had been shaking it to try and pry it off, which was the reason that there was yogurt all over the walls and all in her hair and on her face. Squirts of yogurt. When I got it off, she just looked up at me and said, "Thank you" in her own special language! Then it was followed by, "I Stinky!". Double Whammy folks!

So, we had a blast in Utah-although it was FREEZING cold and yes, I only brought one sweatshirt and the rest of my clothes were short sleeves! I can't find our winter clothes. We had a great time though. We mostly just hung out at my mom's house and at my sister Stef's house. We babysat for my sister while they went out of town-four kids? Wow...but I have to say it was SUPER bad-but we didn't leave the house much. We went to the park, went on walks around the block while Porter rode a big bike! He was AWESOME at it! He would speed down the sidewalk and he was just having the time of his life. Santa...bring him a bike! Ty and I got away for a day or so up in Park City which was a blast. We shopped, went to eat and watched endless movies in our sweet room. We spent a lot of nights up at my sister's watching shows and movies...many sleepovers up that way. We had a great time at Thanksgiving and especially playing dart tag that night at Mom and Dad's house. Dad-you seriously have to find a new place to hide! The kitchen corner isn't working for you anymore, and for the record...I did shoot you in the den-there is NO way I could have missed. The best though was me hiding under Joni's bed and I went to shoot Tyler and the gun went off, so I got shot in the head! Darn! For those of you who missed the game...there will be plenty more at Christmas.

One of the greatest things that we did was go up to Gardner's Village with my sisters and mom and yes, all the kids. Wherever we go it is one big goat rodeo with all five kids under the age of four. Wow! It was a blast. I guess that is just the stage of life that we are at right now, so live it up...right? The kids had a great time up there. They had decorated for Christmas with these little elves-I thought they were cute, Tyler on the other hand thought they were creepy-really creepy, so you'll have to judge for yourselves. We dressed all of the kids in red and white to attempt to take a Christmas picture-you can probably imagine how well that worked. Porter was about the only one that was sitting still, looking at the camera with a constant smile. The others (Brooke is three and the others are between 12-18 months!). Yes...it was quite the experience. But we did get some cute pictures. I just think my kids are the cutest things in the world-I know some of you may say that I am biased, but how can you not love their little faces? Seriously? Well, the moment for me was when we came to this one display. There were two elves there making lists-can you guess? Naughty and nice lists. Porter was so excited and wouldn't let us move on until he found his name. Okay...no one is named Porter, we are realizing...and so you guessed his name wasn't on either list. He first checked the naughty list-does he have a conscience? He got through it and turned around and smiled (photo) saying with a grin..."I'm not on that list!" Although it did disturb him that pretty much all of the rest of us were on that list-Tyler, Erica, Stefanie, Elizabeth, Brooke, Jenn, Carolyn, Wayne...yeah, funny huh? He got very defensive when he found out that his dad was on the naughty list. He could have been a star attorney to save Tyler's name from being on that list! "My daddy is NOT naughty!" Well, then the concerning part came when he looked through all the names on the nice list and did not find his name. "What about me?" He seemed to say....my sister Stef chimmed in..."I guess they haven't decided yet on you this year, so you better be on your best behavior." Wow...a little motivation and the kid was a saint for the rest of the day. His sweet little smile-I just love him and Claire so much. They are such joys. It was a great afternoon-the last day of nice weather in Utah! So, enjoy these few pictures.

We love you all and can't wait for Christmas and for a rematch of the dart game! Get your guns ready folks. Keep posting-we are all falling a little behind it seems! We love reading how you are doing...so keep it up!

Until next time....Love Erica