Earth Day 2011

April 22nd was Earth Day! Save the planet! We started out by enjoying a nice afternoon at the park with my friend Bonny and her kids with a picnic. Porter was very calm that day and stayed close by which was nice. Bonny's kids went caterpillar hunting and played in the water/stream. I made sure we wore "Earth colors" if you will: I layered blue and green shirts, and Porter wore a white shirt with cute white Old Navy shorts with green/blue plaid.
Baby sunbathers.
Porter was little Mr. Joe Cool with my sunglasses on. What a cutie pie!
Bonny and her baby Mikelle who is almost a year old!

When it was time to leave Porter was not ready to go; he wanted to sit on the steps and watch some kids play "baseball" so we did.
Porter really loves keys right now (more so during the past month) and he "helped" me by opening my car door.
After the park we went to recycle; this was the first time I ever let Porter out of the car to help me. Took twice as long but he loved it! He was such a good helper. I hope I'm teaching him good habits and important things.



After recycling we went to a friends house and watered her pretty flowers with her pretty watering can. Good simple touch to Earth Day. The plan was to give him a green or blue bath at the end of the day but that didn't happen. It would have also been appropriate to finally plant our garden that day, but 'twas not to be. Someday I will also paint little Earth's on my fingernails. =P

Relief Society-Emma's Garden Party

Wednesday March 30th we had our ward Relief Society birthday celebration and it was a wonderful evening! The theme was "Emma's Garden Party" (Emma Smith was the wife of the Prophet Joseph Smith and the first Relief Society General President). We were asked to wear garden hats and I don't own a single non-casual hat so I went to the woman who has it all: my awesome beautiful mother-in-law. She is such a hat person! She had this red one and I LOVED it so she let me borrow it along with some red jewelry. I got a lot of compliments on the hat and accessories but could not take credit for since they weren't mine. I was glad she was there so I could point out the woman with good taste. (pictured Mir, Shondell, & I...poor Shondell; my hat almost took her out)
They cultural hall (gym) was decorated so nicely! Greenery and garden furniture everywhere. Dinner consisted of lasagna, salad, garlic bread, and lemonade, and was delish!
It was so fun to see the majority of sisters wore hats or dressed up. Here are a few pictures of some of the sisters there that night.



My ensemble; baby is really poking out there. Couldn't button my shirt all the way.Close ups of the awesome hat.

The evening included a program with a skit about the past and current presidents (totaling 15) of Relief Society as well as a beautiful musical number and a slide show about Emma's life. I portrayed Eliza R. Snow in the skit who was the second general president called in 1866; she served for 21 years. I had nothing to wear for the part so I asked around and borrowed a pioneer outfit from my friend and neighbor Faith. It was perfect.



There was a hat contest for the best decorated garden hat (Sister Cox won) and a cake competition. There were some cute cakes there and everything was so tasty!
The winning cake was amazing and incredibly detailed! Aurie in our ward made it and I can only guess how much time it took. It had Emma and a table with beautifully detailed sandwiches, flowers, birds, tiny tools, peach trees (the peaches were even peach flavored), and a replica of the first edition of the Book of Mormon in the gazebo.

Amazing details!!! The veggies and vines, grass and fence...so fun! It was a wonderful evening. I love being a part of an organization like the Relief Society! (www.lds.org)

Natalie's 30th Birthday! (& Golden Flashback)

Happy Birthday to meee....Happy Birthday to me.....I'm 30!!! (Horrible picture but only one of me from my first day as a 30 year old.) Tuesday March 29th of 2011 I turned over another decade.
Best part of my birthday: my boys singing Happy Birthday to me. Porter was so cute! I woke up to Aaron singing to me but Porter didn't join in. That evening he did and it was perfect.
Any time a candle is lit or a match struck everyone has to get the Happy Birthday song according to Porter. So we sang to Daddy and Porter too. I had such a nice day. Went to lunch with my bestie to one of my favorite restaurtants--Benja's Thai--while Porter stayed home with Daddy. Had gone there to eat the Friday before with two of my friends for an early birthday celebration. I had a yummy week. After lunch I did a little shopping and stopped at Sweet Tooth Fairy to buy cupcakes (didn't want to make a cake for my own birthday but needed something to put a candle in to blow out). Bought one and got three free! Got coconut, grasshopper (mint chocolate), cheesecake, and strawberry. Yum yum yum! That night Aaron and I went on a date (Porter played with cousins and had SO much fun) to eat chinese (Panda Gardens at my request although Aaron didn't enjoy his dinner) and out to a movie. Saw "Limitless". It was really good although not exactly my kind of movie; more of an Aaron movie. The middle was a little too intense for me and the cut off hands gross, but great idea of a person being able to use 100% of their brain. It ended well in my opinion and after seeing it was glad I saw it. It was a wonderful quiet birthday.Sunday April 3rd after General Conference we had a family birthday celebration at our house. Hamburgers, chocolate cake (I put the candle's in a smiley face), presents, and talk time. Always fun gatherings!
Flashback!!! Last year was my golden birthday--turned 29 on the 29th--so Aaron gave me the surprise party I wanted and hoped for. Hawaiian themed. It was wonderful! My birthday was on Monday but we had the party Sunday evening on the 28th. Aaron told me we were going to family dinner to celebrate my birthday (normal tradition) but had to make a detour "to get something for work" from Johnny who was at his parents house. Sneaky sneaky! If only I had not been sick I would have been able to enjoy it a little more. I had a bug or the flu or something; spent the weekend feeling like poo and throwing up. We had visitors that weekend too: Aaron's friend and mission trainer Jordan Marshall and my friend Kristin (with child) and her husband Ionuts. No fun being sick when you want to play and have fun. Johnny's parents are so kind to us and so nice to let us use their house for my party. Aaron and Johnny were partners for so long that he became another son to them. I thought it was strange of Aaron to say that day--as I lay sick and dying in bed--"I need you to be better for tonight." I thought what a weird, rude thing to say. As if I had a choice and could push the "off" button for being sick. I figured no big deal if I miss family dinner, but of course this is why he said that.
Party was complete with decorations from the party store, grass skirts as props for the pictures, the lei's and plastic coconut cups I'd collected and saved for a long time (always knew I wanted to have a Hawaiian party at some point), dinner, games (Limbo and hula-hoop contest which I happened to win), presents, and fun! I could tell Aaron really went to a LOT of work to do it all and Johnny helped. I was extremely grateful and very appreciative for everyone involved and all the love and time Aaron put into making me feel loved.
Johnny the man. Was so sad his wife (and my friend) Alicia couldn't be there. Think it was a sick kid that kept her home.
Aaron and Johnny really went to a lot of work for my party. They carved out this pineapple and put a tropical smoothie/slushy drink inside for me, the birthday girl. The pale, white, sickly birthday girl.
Aaron went all out--food catered by Texas Roadhouse and chocolate dipping fountain. Too bad I didn't get to enjoy any of it; everything made me want to puke. I was ticked the next day when I felt good enough to eat and Aaron hadn't brought any food or cake home. I wanted it then! During the party I kept having to sneak away to the bathroom because I kept feeling the need to...um...you know, "up chuck." Thankfully I didn't.
My amazing HUGE birthday cake as a gift to me from a friend at the party. Loved it!
The candle was a singing rotating thing; the flower opened up and spun around. It was crazy fun!
The birthday party crew.
The girls =D

Happy Birthday to you and me!

Today is the day. Stacey's birthday!!! Happy 30th! Now I'm no detective or Einstein or anything, but if today is her birthday, and we are identical twins, then today is something for me. What is it, what is it? *pounding fists on forehead* Think Natalie think...oh well. I'll figure it out later. =P Happy Birthday G! (Last year was our golden birthday--turning 29 on the 29th--but this year is another milestone birthday hitting another decade. The big 3-0. Wow. Where did the last 10 years go? Mission, marriage, college, child...oh yeah. It's all coming back to me. It just went so quick. Gotta tell you, enjoying every second of life! =D (Must also give a shout out to two others of my friends and neighbors who share today: my friend Erika Cardon and my friend's husband Craig Matthews. Happy Birthday to you too!) By the way, even though we don't look alike Stacey and I are identical twins and born a minute apart (C-section). Stacey was first so technically she's first in line to age and wrinkle as well as being one step closer to a nursing home than I. *tee hee* We were born in Kalamazoo, Michigan at 9:13pm and 9:14pm. She was 5 lbs 12 oz and I was 6 lbs 4 oz (I was on top). We were two weeks late; they didn't know there were two of us in there. =P Surprise!!!

Summer Fun

These are all pictures from last month. Porter devouring a sub sandwich (or at least making an attempt), playing with Daddy in the yard, and fun bath time hair. We have had a great summer thus far and it's not over yet! =)



Porter loves his trains and cars right now. He wakes up in the morning and first thing out of his mouth is "choo choo"! He lines them up everywhere and it's funny to see the random places they end up. He is really at a great age where he will play by himself for awhile. He is also really starting to say a lot more words (or at least a version of the word that probably only I can understand). Here is a small list of some "new" words in Porter's vocabulary: up ("uh"), mail (sounds like "may"), strawberries (berries), pancakes ("cakie"), slide (side), eat ("ee"), outside, juice (his version is "duice"), walk (today he said "walkie" because he wanted to take our dog-friend for a walk), baby, boots (boo), where ("wee" as he puts his hands up), again ("agay"), banana ("nana"), this ("deese"), spoon ("boom"), and ice cream (says "i-ceam"). There are more, just can't remember them right now. The oldies are milk (milkie), binki (says "bin-ti"), daddy, mama, doggie, duck (duckie), snack (snackie), truck, please ("pease"), drink (dink), swing (swin-swin), balloon (baoon), ball (baa), sock (sockie), shoes (oose), rock (rockie), monkey (mon-tee), teddy, night-night (ni-ni), bye-bye, go, jump ("dump"), hat (haa), all done ("ah-du"), nana, papa, hat (haa), and thank you ("tant you"). He knows a lot of animals but doesn't say the names, just does the sign and their sound (monkey, dog, cat, lion/tiger, elephant, fish, etc). The other day he signed chicken all by himself! Learned it from "Signing Time" and Aunt Stacey in May.

Porter is really good about doing his chores (diaper duty, "dirties" in the laundry or sink, picking up bath toys) and has a new one: making his bed. Before he gets out of the crib he straightens his comforter and wa-la! Bed is made. He started doing that one on his own (just like diaper duty which is putting his dirty diaper in the Diaper Genie). Guess he just saw me do it enough times. He is good about helping me get him dressed (putting his arms through or holding onto me while he lifts his legs out). I am doing swimming lessons with him again this year in a Parent/Tot class and I love it! It's at a late time for him when he should be down for a nap so half way through he is signing and saying "all done" because he is tired but I make him stay. He is doing so good kicking to swim and blowing bubbles. Last year at 9 months he didn't do much but look cute. He does great jumping in the pool and doesn't mind when I dunk him under. I am so proud of him! One cute thing he does is say "bye bye" to everything. When I let him flush his business down the potty he waves and says goodbye to it. When I get him out of his crib he waves and says goodbye to his bed as I walk away. Last week one day he was playing for a bit after he woke up in the morning but he soon came and found me, grabbed me by the hand, pointed to the kitchen and signed "eat". He was telling me he was hungry and wanted to eat! Oh how I love him!
I went with a bunch of friends to see the Twilight movie "Eclipse" on opening day June 30th. It was really fun! (Thanks for sharing the picture Erin!) No I have not read the books but the movies are good. I'm not obsessed but I'm not a critic. For me it's just pure entertainment.