3 Years of Bliss...

I could say it has been the best 3 years of my life but anyone who knows me already knows I hit the marriage jackpot. So here is a post for my best friend who I tricked into marrying me.

I don't know what our future holds but I do know with Phillip it will be amazing...

Help!

I am out of ideas and in way over my head! I am doing more laundry, bathes, and floor cleaning than is healthy.  I'll let the pictures speak for themselves but if I can't fix this soon, I'm going to go nuts...

 So to all you moms out there with way more experience/patience than I have: How the heck do you teach them to feed themselves without losing your mind?!? Or maybe I am just feeding him the wrong things but I swear he can make a mess with AnyTHiNg! 

I didn't think it would be this hard to let him turn into a big boy..

Can't Wait...

It is official. We bought tickets home for over Labor day! I am giddy like a school girl!

June Part 2

The rest of June was spent recovering from our trip and enjoying the beautiful weather (this was before the humidity set in).
Father's Day was wonderful; we had awesome food with awesome friends and I don't think it gets better than that! Phillip is the world's best dad (even if we didn't get a perfect Father's Day picture). The picture thing was my fault. I forgot to get one before church and Porter fell asleep in the car after church so it wasn't until right before bed that I remembered. Of course at the end of the day Porter was exhausted which equals ornery, mean, sad baby. He took 1 good picture and fell apart. So I did what ever good mother would do and stopped taking pictures. O wait, no, no I didn't. I gave him a lollipop and said "smile". I know I have a long way to go...

I remembered my camera on a play ground trip and we finally got Porter to the pool. He hates the sand box and was not digging the pool either. But I was insistent that he love the pool so he wouldn't break his father's heart (Phillip was a big swimmer)  and after about 10 minutes of him trying to get me to pick him up he gave in. When it was time to go I had to drag him out. I finally won a battle with my one year old!! YEA!

June was a great month and July has started off pretty good as well. Hurray for summer!

June Part 1

We celebrated Porter's first birthday on the 1st and it was a bust. Phillip was in Cambridge for work that day and so he didn't get home till 7 (darn Boston traffic!). I kept Porter awake so he could have his moment and cupcake, unfortunately he wanted to go to bed at 5. Looking back I realize I should have given in...

He cried through us singing to him and looked at us like we were lunatics when we said to eat the cupcake. Needless to say dad fed him about 2 bites, I took 5 pictures, and we put the kid out of his misery and let him go to sleep. Good parenting 101 : A one year old does not care about their birthday!

The next day we flew to Utah to watch Audri's kids for 2 weeks while she went to France. It was a trip for sure. Side note: 2 babies is OVERRATED! Any one with twins you are my hero. Seriously.

We had a week in Idaho with my parents (who saved my life, or the kids lives depends on how you look at it) and then my in-laws drove down to visit for the weekend. It was great to see everyone and it reminded me how blessed I am to have such great parents (including my husbands). We went to the park, had picnics, I went on a date a night with each one of the kids, and got to see old friends that I miss horribly.

Porter and Max playing together at Grandmas. Poor Max kept falling in the toy box :)

 At the park with Grandpa and the kids. Clayton made it all the way to the top of a random pole to rind the bell and stayed up there till I had taken his picture. Quin and Jack were so funny on the teeter-totor; Jack is 3 Quin is 7 but it seemed pretty even as they went back and forth. No wonder we call him fat Jack :)

 Aunt Cheri and the cousins came to visit and I can't believe how fast they are all growing! This is Cheri's baby Troy, who is definitely not a baby anymore.
 

Porter had a great time playing with Grandma and Grandpa Wulf and Joseph.

A big thank you to everyone who we got to see! Ben and Karin for helping with kids, Amanda for drinking soda with me, the girls for going to Cafe Rio, and family for making time for us! It was a great trip and my biggest thank you goes to Porter for being SO nice on the planes. He was an angel; so unlike him but I'll take it :)

May

I know I have pushed procrastination to a whole new level when it is almost July and I'm just posting about life in May. I should win some kind of award; I'll look into that soon (so sometime in October).

At the end of May I had a cousin from St. George visit so we finally took some time to visit some of the wonders of New England. A big thank you to our great friends the Becksteads for hitting Boston with us, the amazing Palmers for showing us Cambridge, and of course Shelly for visiting.

On Harvard's campus.                                        

                                                                                                                                                           

   Porter now has a thing for baby pacifiers. Too bad he gave them up at 5 months! 


    In front of the Charles river that separate Boston from Cambridge. Phillip went sailing that day and loved it!

On the water taxi in Boston. Porter was trying to jump overboard the whole time we were on the taxi and while we waited at the dock he watched me and would make a "run" for it if he thought I wasn't looking.

 

Porter's first trip to the ocean! Newport Beach in Rhode Island is beautiful but has freezing water. Porter was not a fan of the 0 degree water and he was ok on the sand until the water would wash it out from under his feet.

It was a great week of good food, friends, and fun. I already feel like I need to do it again...

Happy Birthday

My baby is One! How did the last year pass so quickly? We couldn't love him more and we are so grateful for the past year that we have grown and learned together.

Happy Birthday baby Porter! Please be good on the plane tomorrow...

What to post about...

A lot has been happening so I have of course posted about nothing cause I couldn't decided what to post about. Backwards right? So I decided I would post about everything in a MEGA post. (insert applause here)

My first Mother's Day was wonderful because it didn't start till 10am HURRAY! I came down to a super happy baby, presents, and flowers. If only ever day could start like that...

Sorry for the face that doesn't express my joy. I wasn't that happy to see the camera, even amidst the presents.

Porter was adorable for church that day and he had his "big boy" shoe debut. It didn't last long because he doesn't appreciate shoes or socks but he looked great for the picture. 

Phillip also had a reason to celebrate that day as his birthday fell on Mother's Day this year. He turned 26 and when asked what kind of cake he wanted he requested yellow cupcakes with chocolate frosting. A classic, that is why I love him.

I only used 1 candle to avoid a fire hazard at the Ferrins, but Will was still right there to help just in case Phillip couldn't handle it.

Happy Birthday Phillip, I couldn't love you more! O and if you are wondering where Porter was for his father's festivities he was climbing the stairs over and over again :( Yep, he has figured out the stairs and is addicted.

I have been working on a bunch of random projects that I will post about later but here is a taste. My beautiful pillows. At least beautiful from afar...

Phillip has been working on the Boston Temple grounds and loving it. He loves learning a new skill and has had the best teacher Paul who is a genius when it comes to landscaping. But he was offered a job with Genzyme a large biotechnology company and he starts next week. So no more playing/working outside it is back to the indoors with a desk and a 401K.

This was taken on our last trip to the temple and I took this particular picture for Quin, my 7 year old nephew, who helped plant the bulbs that are now the beautiful flowers you see. Well done Tin-Man!

That is a few of the highlights and I will try and share more soon. Porter and I have begun our final countdown towards our Utah trip to visit and stay with kiddies while my sister goes to Paris. Just 2 more weeks...

Why you should never sleep in...

I am sleeping soundly when Phillip comes in and announces that it is time to cut hair. I roll over. I hear him say he is going to cut Porter's hair if I have no objections. I fake asleep. Here is the result of my laziness.

The Before: My adorable baby with a head of gorgeous blond hair (and a serious "I will crush you face")

The right before: Phillip even spiked it up to get a good shot of what he was about to hack off..


The After: A still adorable but seriously bald looking baby! I can't say if he looks more like a little old man, an army recruit, or a cancer survivor but I don't think any of the above are good looks for a baby.

O and I still get the closed eye crooked grin.

Lessons Learned: #1 When Phillip says he is going to cut Porter's hair what he really means is "Maggi get out of bed or I am going to butcher our sons hair." And #2 Don't be so incredibly lazy and ignore your husband when he makes these threats because when all is said and done he'll say "I told you I was going to do it and you didn't object." I hope I learned my lesson, I would hate to see what happens next time...

Spring has Sprung

Hurray for spring!

We were excited for Easter this year because it was Porter's first and holidays are just way more fun with little people around. However, Porter definitely missed the memo on hunting Easter eggs! We set him down about 3 feet from a bright shiny egg thinking he would do the rest, but no, he just sat and looked at us (with a very disgusted look) and then began pulling grass.

I finally just handed him the egg so I could get my picture :) He still wasn't that impressed.

Then he found the things inside and he realized he kind of liked those eggs and he wouldn't let them go for anymore pictures. And of course he began stealing them from other little people sitting too close. He wouldn't even let them go when dad began tossing him around... He liked those eggs.

Can't wait for next year...
HAPPY EASTER!