Happy New Year!

This New Year's Eve I went to my friend Heidi's house to watch a movie and then I went to my sister Becky's house for our family party. I love to spend time with my nieces and nephews (and the rest of my family)! I got to play barbies with Kylie! Becky has repainted and carpeted Kylie's barbie house. It looks awesome! I brought my 20Q game to play with as well. Chase is really good at reading it! I also had fun watching people play board games and played a little Clue myself. There was tons of yummy food including cranberry pudding and soda pop! Almost everyone stayed up until midnight when we watched the ball fall on TV. We yelled Happy New Year, banged pots and pans, and went crazy with our noise makers! We even wore Happy New Year hats! We also saw and heard some fireworks that night! We had root beer floats which have become quite a delicious tradition for us! Here's to a fabulous 2009!!!

Merry Christmas!

I had a very Merry Christmas this year! I even got to sit on Santa's lap! I also drove a car dressed up in a reindeer costume from the day after Thanksgiving until Christmas. The car costume was given to me by a man who lived at my work. We had two parties at my work this year. One was for the residents and their families and the other was for employees and their families. On Christmas day I got to sleep in. We had our family Christmas party at two in the afternoon. I always love it when everyone comes over! I got some pretty awesome gifts this year including a GPS system for my car that I am really enjoying! One of my sisters got one as well. I also got a Cricut cutting scrap-booking machine that I am absolutely loving! I can cut out letters and shapes including hearts, stars, circles, blue ribbons, apples, and even fleur-de-lis! We drew names and my sister-in-law Katy drew my name and gave me the DVD and CD of The Phantom of the Opera that I had asked for. I love it! I have watched the movie repeatedly and I listen to the CD whenever I go anywhere. Thanks Katy! I also got a coat and another CD. I had so much fun spoiling my nephews and nieces! I got so many barbies for Kylie! It was so much fun! I decorated our house with a Christmas tree upstairs and another one downstairs. I also found an old cardboard wall hanging of Santa in a sleigh and his reindeer that I hadn't seen since I was a child and I put it up in our basement. It is kind of old and worn, but it sure brought back memories. My nieces and nephews gave me the most darling handmade ornaments! My visiting teachers gave me the twelve days of Christmas this year! Every day was a different figure until I had a full nativity set! Thanks to everyone for making my Christmas so wonderful!

Once There Was A Snowman!

This is a picture of me with the snowman I built. The snow was pretty good packing when I rolled the bottom snowball. Then for some reason it became difficult to roll snowballs anymore so I just picked up snow with my hands or in buckets and tried to shape it into ball shapes for the other two snowballs. I added a hat and arms. I finished this before work one morning. When I came home from work that night someone had added the cutest eyes, nose, buttons, and broom stick! Thank you so much Isaac! What a great surprise! I added a yarn mouth and it was done!

The Lights On Temple Square!

On the night of Tuesday December 2nd I went to see the Christmas lights on Temple Square. I hadn't gone for a few years and I've always enjoyed going. They were beautiful! The temple looks so gorgeous at night! The lights were dazzling! It really put me in the Christmas spirit! I love to walk down row after row of sparkling lights! It must take them so long to put them all up each year! It was not very crowded that night. It had been raining earlier that evening, but fortunately it was pretty clear while I was there. The different colored lights really accent the temple grounds! The multi-colored lights on the trees around the tabernacle are so cheerful! I think I like the bright yellow lights the best. My favorite picture is the one with the water in front and the eight pointed star in the back ground. The trees covered with red lights look like they're on fire in the pictures. The picture with the tower surrounded with red trees reminds me of Thanksgiving Point. I really enjoy looking at the manger scene and listening to the story on the speaker. It reminds us of what the true meaning of Christmas really is. I just love the large Christmas tree with the star on it just outside the temple grounds as well. I had such a great time and wanted to share these inspiring pictures with you!

Thanksgiving!

We had our Porter family Thanksgiving party on Saturday November 22nd due to scheduling conflicts. We had it at my sister Sarah's apartment club house because that was about the only place big enough for all fifteen of us. The dinner was delicious! Thank you everyone! We had stuffing, turkey, rolls, salad, potatos, jello, and a yummy ginger ale appetizer. We had ice cream and four different kinds of pie for dessert-chocolate, pumpkin, lemon, and banana cream. Yum! It was great to see everyone again! I had so much fun playing with my nieces and nephews! Isaac is so sweet and thoughtful! Even with his broken arm he poured a drink for me! He was wearing a head band with a goal post on it that I thought was pretty cute! Chase and I played a word game that is similiar to scrabble. He is so smart and was even helping me with my turns! Kylie is such a cutie! We had fun playing hide and go seek. She loved it and hid in the same place at least five times! Lilly and Mason are darling and growing fast as well! They've changed so much every time I see them! We all had our cameras, of course! I had a wonderful time and I have so much to be Thankful for-my family, my health, the gospel, food and shelter, freedom...etc.
On Thursday, the REAL Thanksgiving, after watching some of the Macey's Thanksgiving Day parade on T.V., I decided to keep up with tradition and went bowling at Fat Cats. I tried Olympus Hills Lanes first but they were booked for hours. It was really fun! I played two games. Since I was by myself it went really fast! My scores were embarrassing by the way, 39 and 33. Oh well! I did get at least one spare in there. I had to work from 3-6:30 that night, but everyone was so stuffed from their big meal at lunch that we had only nine people to serve! It was the easiest night I've ever had there! It made for a very happy and memorable Thanksgiving! Gobble! Gobble!

Halloween!

Here are some pictures from Halloween including the pumpkin I carved and my cute nieces and nephews dressed up in their costumes. I had the day off so I went to see the costume parade at Cottonwood Elementary school that morning. There were some pretty awesome costumes there. The one that stands out in my mind was the kid dressed like a shark with human legs coming out of his mouth. I had fun dressing up as a nurse and handing out candy that night. The reason I decided to be a nurse this year is that a resident at my work gave me a pen that looks like a tool used to draw blood a few weeks earlier. It even had some fake blood inside of it. I found the rest of my costume at a Halloween Headquarters store. This year I decorated my windows with cute Halloween cling-ons that I found at JoAnn's. I had a spooktacular Halloween!

Spooky Work Party!

On October 30th, Le Chateau at Brickyard Plaza, where I have worked as a waitress for nearly two years now, had their Halloween Party for staff, residents, and our families. My parents came as well as my brother-in-law Jake and nephews Isaac, Chase, and niece Kylie. We served dinners of either chili or chicken and dumplings. I got to personally serve my family which was fun for me! There were also drinks and desserts on a buffet table. It was a costume party. My mom was Snow White, Isaac was a mummy, Chase was Prince Caspian, and Kylie was Little Bo Peep. I dressed up as a nurse in case you can't tell. Debbie, the other server, dressed up as a cat. There was a spooky Halloween movie, pumpkin decorating, a fish pond, and trick-or treating. I just feel bad that my nephews and niece had to leave after dinner and missed the activities which were the reason I thought it would be fun for them to come in the first place! It was a very fun night and I just wanted to share some pictures from the evening with all of you!