Us. . . day to day

House Cleaning and Visits

2012-02-10T09:32:00.000-08:00

As I was playing around in my blog this morning I came across this post I hadn't published. It was written one year and one month ago. My first reaction was to delete it, but then I read it and I remembered so clear my feelings that day and just having so much of our family around in December, I feel the same way this morning. I love spending time with my family, especially our grand babies and getting to know them, seeing their parents in their eyes. I know my kids were put through the ringer with me as their mom and I made lots of mistakes but I know Heaven forgives because they keep sending these beautiful little people into my life.
I woke this morning to little pine cones scattered and hid throughout our house. I keep finding them as I am doing my Monday cleaning. They were left by a beautiful little princess, at least that's what she tells us she is, and expects us to act accordingly. I thought I had it all cleaned up until I was putting things away in my china hutch and I found a little gifts. I wonder what else I will find.

Kassey and Will came for the weekend. Kassey called on Wednesday afternoon to let us know they would be here Thursday evening. Will was on Spring break and they wanted to get out of the house. It was a very pleasant surprise. With baby Gus only a month old, she said they wanted to just relax and hang out. I should have been smarter than to believe her, but we loved every moment of them being here and now it just seems too quiet.

Merry Christmas!!!

2011-12-22T14:49:00.001-08:00

It's hard to believe 2011 is almost over. We've had a great year and almost too much fun.

I had plans of sending out a Christmas card with the picture above, but due to circumstance beyond my control it just didn't happen, so I took a deep breath and will try again next year.

I'm a bit behind with my posts and since it's Christmas letter time I'll just share a bit about our year.

In January Kyle was seal in the Las Vegas temple to Megan Schiess. I was a little worried for Megan; joining a Porterfield family is hard enough, but one with so many sisters seemed it might be a little overwhelming. Megan didn't miss a beat and fits in the family perfect. We love her and are very happy for them.

Sweet baby Augustus, or Gus-Gus as his sisters lovingly call him, was born to Kassey and Will's family in February.

Gus is our 7th grand baby. He is all boy and very patience with all the love his big sisters give him.

Swimming is an all year sport, and happily in March attending Kloe's swim meets was one of the main things we did. She swam on both the school team with took district and a club team. Photo's seem to be my main problem as of late so this will have to do for now.

In April we enjoyed spending Easter with Kaira Fern and Tyler's family here at home. I love living close enough to grand kids to be able to see them on a regular basis.

You could say that we spent the month of May in one big party. We started the month with both Mack and I celebrating birthdays that had a 5 in them and ended the month with a big welcome home party for Kody.

Kody returned from serving a 2 year full time mission for our church. He had a wonderful experience and loved the time he was able to serve.

He came home a little skinny, but I went right to work getting meat back on his bones.

June was as pack as we could get it, but the 2 main highlights were Kloe's graduation from middle school and a visit to California to play on the beach and visit with family and friends, but mostly grand babies.

In July we had a visit from Kerin and Cory's family. We enjoyed spending time out on the boat, camping and seeing the sights of the Seattle area.

Life didn't slow down in August, I think it only sped up faster. Kloe and I enjoyed a week at girls camp that was only top by me sneaking out of camp to make a visit to our newest grand baby.

Florance Elizabeth was a welcome addition to Kaira Fern and Tyler's house of all brothers.

We also managed to fit in a relaxing week on Lake Shasta. There is nothing like warm sunshine, big trees, a beautiful lake and almost no cell reception.

We ended the moth by celebrating Kloe's 14th birthday, which means she is now off to church dances as often as she hears of one.

September was a high light of the year for me. Early in the month we used the excuse of our sweet niece, Mackenzie's wedding to gather as a family in Utah.

It was the first time in 4 years we had all of our children, in-laws and grandchildren together in one place in person.

I had hopes of having professional pictures done, but time together was more important than the stress of pictures, besides my brain was too mush with the joy of the moment to schedule anyone.

We gathered at Kassey's home, watched Kassey, Kaira Fern, Tyler and Will put together a play set, visited, barbecued and enjoyed the cousins play. For Kim and I it was an evening that was near perfect.

September was also a big month for Kloe as she started high school and joined the schools swim and dive team. I'm not sure how I feel about my baby being a freshmen in high school, but I know Kloe loves it, maybe even a little too much.

October was at fast trip back to Utah for General Conference,

visits to the pumpkin patch and Halloween fun.

We had another visit from Karly, Kody, Kerin, Cory and little Junie, for Thanksgiving in November.

It was a short visit for Cory Karly and Kody, but Kerin and Junie stayed around

for the first weekend in December attend the Teddy Bear Breakfast with us. This is a special day for us with our grand kids and a fun way to start off the Christmas holiday.

We have had a wonderful month of December and have enjoyed seeing all of our kids and their families. Even though we are living a little farther apart from each other than we would like we still manage to see each other as often as we can, especial this time of year.

We hope that you had enjoyed this wonderul time of year and been able to spend some time with you family and loved ones.

We are grateful for opportunity to take time out with family and friends, to ponder the blessings of our Savior and the gift of the atonement. May this new year be full of great memories and joyful moments for you and yours.

He's Home!!!

2011-06-08T09:53:00.000-07:00

I am about a week behind with this, but we have been having too much fun and have had lots of catching up to do.

We picked Elder Kody Porterfield up from the Seattle airport on Friday May 27th at 1:20pm. It should have been 1:05pm but the plane was a little late coming in; I forgave them very quickly for this because the Seattle airport is such a great place to pick up a missionary. We could see Kody leave the gate and walk straight to us. There was no optional way to get to the baggage claim like there was when Kyle came home, Kody got all the banners the minute he came walking out.

The security guard earn his pay that day because we were waiting right on the line and some of us had to be reminded to stay back.

We had a pizza party the night before and everyone made a banner to welcome him home, even Mack and Henry had made banners. Kaira Fern, Kim and I were the only ones that didn't. Kaira had her hands full of little people and Kim and I had to keep our hands free for instant hugging.

Five of the six grand babies were there and they were all perfect, even when Henry tried to climb the railing to see the people down below.

Finally we saw him walking towards us. I thought Kyle was going to jump out of his skin, buthe wasn't alone in his excitment.

Four years is a long time to wait to hug your brother.

After Kyle we each got our turn, mom of course was next.

Next came some introduction. Kody has a new sister in-law, Megan and two nephews and two nieces that he had never met. Will, Basyil and Winni were able to come out so Kody has yet to meet Winni and he is still waiting for his hug from his girl Baysil.

If you notice the girl standing by the snack stand. She was standing there the whole time, just watching. I wanted to invite her over to join us, but was too focused on Kody to think about it long enough to talk to her. She either is a Latter-day Saint or needs the missionary lessons.

Kody was very sweet and patient with us through all the pictures and squeezing

Once we got to baggage claim the questions started. Kody just smiled and answered, while keep a little distance, sisters can be so overwhelming.

Since Kassey was busy taking pictures for us, (none of which I have yet seen, these are all from me and Cory, I'm still waiting Kassey!), Kyle carried baby Gus. it was good practice for him No Megan is not expecting but it is always fun to tease a little, or a lot.

On the way home a stop to Five Guys was in order

Then home to see his girl. She knew who he was the minute he got out of the car. She was so happy to see him and was on her best behavior for him.

We spent the weekend eating and trying to get Kody adjusted as quickly as possible to life after the mission. Thankfully he had Kyle turn to cause mom can be a little overwhelming.

Welcome Home Koderman!

Busy Weekend

2011-05-08T18:26:00.000-07:00

We are quietly enjoying this weekend. Last weekend we spent on the road and I mean "on the road". Kim, Kloe and I flew out Friday morning at 6am, which meant we were up at 3:30am to be at the airport on time. Kloe and I agreed that Kim will not be allowed to make our travel arrangements next time. The good thing about the early flight was that we got to Vegas in time to have breakfast with my Bec. I love that Becky lives in the lower 48 now, but I won't be happy until we are in the same state again. Kim was very sweet and set the whole thing up with Bec as part of my birthday celebration. After breakfast we made the 3 hour drive up to Kerin and Cory's to celebrate Junie's 1st birthday. Hard to believe she is already 1 year old. Kerin threw a Fiesta party for her with yummy food. If it hadn't been for the wind it would have been perfect.

The next morning we drove up to Kassey and Will's. Little Gus was blessed on Sunday afternoon. Gus looked so handsome and was a perfect angel as always.

Kassey and Will had wonderful support from family and friends. It was wonderful to see so much family supporting them. Karly, Kyle and Megan drove down from Idaho, Kerin and Cory drove up from Cedar and both my sisters and my dad were there, even our AJ and his family where there.

After church we went back to Kassey's for a yummy lunch and a surprise birthday for me. I have the sweetest kids.

That evening we were back on the road driving up to Salt Lake to fly home. It was a fast week but I love every moment.

Easter

2011-05-08T15:40:00.000-07:00

I know I am late getting these pictures up, but they are too cute not to share.
We had a nice calm Easter day. With only one child at home, the toughest part of getting ready for Easter was getting grand baby's outfits made and packages off to Karly and Missionary Kody. I was a little sad to think this was the last missionary Easter package I would be sending for who knows how long. For the last four years we have had a full time missionary serving from our family. Man, time really does fly. Kaira Fern, Tyler and the boys when to church with us and spent the day. I loved having them with us. I was waiting for them outside the Primary room and then just as I looked down the hall someone asked me, "who's the rock star?" It was Henry running down the hall to meet me, with his long hair and sunglasses on. It made a granny proud! Are these boys cool or what?

We had a great day napping, hunting eggs, a yummy dinner and all spent with grandpa home and just family.

Visits

2011-04-18T00:04:00.000-07:00

The past two months have been full of visits for us. In March Kassey,Will and their family came for a visit during their Spring break. It was baby Gus's first big trip. We loved seeing them and had so much fun I forgot to take very many pictures. We shopped, went to the park and beach, strung beads, had cousin time and these pictures are all I have to show for it. Gus is growing fast, Baysil never stops and Winni tried on every pair of shoes she could.

The first is of Winni in granny's shoes, Bay is hiding behind and the next pictures is handsome Gus.

Next we had a visit from Kyle and Megan. It was their first visit since they were married in January. It was a short visit but we had a great time. We went to Pike's, shopped, went to the Tulip Festival, had a girls night out, and enjoyed General Conference. The only disappointment was that the flue came to visit while they were here, stayed longer than we wanted and messed up our last day of fun.

Sadly the flue stayed even after they left and on till we had a visit from Karly the next week.

Karly has been working at a trampoline arena in Utah called Airborne Trampoline Arena. Thank you Kassey for helping her get the job! Karly was here for just a short visit before it was time for her to go back to school. She and I were the only ones that escaped the flue. Her visit was nice and relaxing. Of course there was shopping and yummy food, but mostly we just visited and got caught up with all that is going on in life.

In Their Footsteps

2011-02-27T22:21:00.000-08:00

Like my mother before me and my grandmother before her and I don't know how many generation before that, I go to my daughters homes after they have their babies, to take care of them, their new little one, and their other children. When I was a first time mother I made the silly assumption that every ones mother or mother-in-law came to stay with them after they had a baby. My grandma Cope had always come to our house when there was a new baby and my mother, even after she was diagnosed with cancer came to help with babies as long as her health would allow. From my grandma Cope and my mom I learn to care for a new born, how to burp, bathe, swaddle, feed, change and put to sleep and I have tried to pass these things on to my daughters.

My grandma Cope was a true expert at babies and I feel very blessed to have had her in my life. Grandma could burp any baby, calm the fussiest and colickiest baby, and get any baby to relax, eat and then to sleep. She was born in 1898 and the story is she started helping deliver babies around the age of 13. She had 7 children of her own and sometime after my dad, her youngest, was off to school, she became a nurse in the neonatal department, working with hard to handle preemies. I remember when my mom was teaching me to bathe and burp babies, the instruction always began with, "this is how grandma Cope does it".

My mother had 6 children and 31 grandchildren; 29 of those grandchildrens were mostly taken care of their first week by her. As I helped Kassey with little Augustus this last week I couldn't help but think of my mom, partly in gratitude and partly in irritation. In gratitude, because my kids were old enough and have fond memories of her coming to our home each time a new baby was born; in irritation, because I am expected to be at their homes when they have new babies to help the same way she did. Don't get me wrong, I love being with my grandbabies and holding and loving on the new little ones, but my mother had the energy of 10 women. After our 3rd baby was born, I had a friend ask if my mother hired out, she could have made a bundle.

When our first grandbaby was born I lucked out because our daughter and her husband were living with us. Still my daughter reminded me of what my mom had done for me and let me know I was expected to do the same. I guess you could say the care of a new born and mother is sort of a tradition in our family. I know that my older sister does the same as my mother did and I am sure my baby sister will also, once she starts to have grandbabies.

My mother-in-law was asked what is was that I did to help with the newborns, my mother-in-law answered, "everything!". This was very sweet of her to say and if it had been said about my mom I would agree, but I don't have the energy of 10 women, like my mom. My mom would arrive the night before I came home from the hospital and stay for about a week. The new babies always slept in the room with her and she would bring them in when they woke to eat, with their diapers changed. After they were fed, she would come and get them, burp them, change them again if needed and stay up with them till they were back to sleep. Along with that, it wasn't uncommon for her to get up with our older kids, feed them a warm breakfast, make sure Kim ate before he left for school or work. She took care of the house cleaning, laundry or whatever needed to be done. I actually did very little the first week of my newborns life; she would tell me my job was to rest. She made sure I followed whatever instructions the doc had sent home. She shared all the things her mother-in-law, my grandma Cope, had shared and taught her. I have tried to teach my daughters these same things, but I fall short when it comes to all the little extras.

I am grateful for the privilege my daughters have given me to help them bring their new little ones into the family. Even more I am grateful for all my mom and grandma's example.

There is a New Champ in Town

2011-02-19T20:04:00.000-08:00

Wednesday, the 16th of February, Augustus Champion King made his arrival into the world at 7:28pm. Delivery went well and Kassey is feeling good. Gus weighted in at 7lbs 10oz and he was 19.5 inches long.

I get to be here for a week to help with the girls and nights.A BIG Thank you to Karly for helping with the girls when Kassey and Will went to the hospital. As soon as I got in town I went straight to the hospital, camera in hand; too bad the battery was dead. So, I'm a little limited with the pictures until Kim gets here with my charger. Thankfully Will is a pro, now I just have to get him to post them on their blog.

The first thing Baysil said to Kassey at the hospital was, "where is he, where's my brother?". Winni was not as excited about the arrival of little Gus. She had no interest in seeing or holding him at the hospital. She wasn't upset, just not interested; not until he came home did she take an interest and then only when he is in the arms of Kassey or Will.

Gus has jondus and for a couple of day has to have his blood tested and he is sleeping under a warming lamp. He is a real Champ about the whole thing. He is a normal new born and has his days and nights mixed up, but other than that he is perfect. To me he looks like a perfect mix of his dad and uncles Kyle and Kody. I see no girl in him at all.

Gus is our 7th grandbaby and our 4 grandson. It took us 14 years to get our 7 children and only 41/2 years to get our 7 wonderful grandbabies. I think the grandbabies might end up costing us as much or more than our kids.

Congratulation Kassey, Will, Baysil and Winni.!

Unexpected Valentine

2011-02-13T20:49:00.000-08:00

For almost a year I have been begging our missionary to send home one of his picture cards. He has emailed pictures off and on, but never sent a card full of pictures. While I love the emails pictures, I desperately wanted a full card of pictures. I have never stopped asking him to send a card, but never really expected to get one. This last week my request was granted and I received a picture card in the mail from Elder Porterfield. Although I'm sure he didn't expect the picture card to be a valentine gift, for me it was.

I cherish every email and letter my missionary sends me, but there is nothing like getting pictures. I'm not sure where all of the pictures were taken or why he took them. I know some are from the beginning of his mission and some are recent. I love them all and so I share some of them with you, enjoy and Happy Valentine's Day!

Back on the Farm

2011-02-06T23:12:00.000-08:00

On the way home from Kyle and Megan's blessed day we took a slow ride home visiting with family. Kim and Kloe flew home and missed out on the fun. Kaira Fern, her 3 boys, Karly and I, squeezed ourselves and our stuff into my Acura and did the drive back. Thank goodness for the DVD player and sweet little boys; most of the time they were sweet.

The first stop was to see grandpa Cope, or as Henry kept reminding us, Donald Duck, and Kathy. They live just outside of Saint George. My dad now has a mustang he rescued named Tiny. They also have chickens and a friendly dog; another rescue.

Tiny had been staying across the street so we also got to see the neighbors horses, dog and sheep as well and the boys loved it.

Wallace was the most excited about tiny. He was so excited about it, 4 days later we made his 1st birthday cake a horse cake. All 3 boys took a ride and Karly held Wallace so he could ride.

My dad rode Tiny around so the boys could see her run. Seeing my dad ride brought back great memories of Saturdays renting horses and riding in the Chino hills with him and my brothers and sisters.

The next day we spent in Cedar City and Parowan with Kerin, Cory and Junie. We went out to Cory's family farm so the boys could see all the tractors and the cattle. The night before a calf was born and so that was the first stop when we got there.

As we pulled into the farm, we drove past all the tractor, Henry said they were the biggest tractor in the world.

Cory's little cousin Jake and Uncle Mark showed up right after we got there. Jake and Mack became instant friends.

Jake showed the boys all around and told them all about things. Jake is 4 years old, same as Mack and he has been going to the farm with his dad everyday since he was just a little baby. Uncle Mark gave them a ride on a bail of hay.

Uncle Cory gave them a ride on a tractor and Jake showed them where the best mud puddles were. Wallace and Junie slept through most of it.

Our last stop was to see Kassey, Will and the girls. We woke up to nice fresh snow and it snow most of the day, but that didn't stop us from a very important stop, the Dinosaur Museum at Thanksgiving Point.

The kids loved this place, especially Henry, he loves all things dinno. That evening Karly and I went to visit with our dear friends the Wilkins. We had a short but good visit, sadly I didn't take any pictures. Really the only sad thing was how tired and puffy I was looking by now from eating so much junk food and lack of sleep for more than a week, so really it's a good thing no pictures were taken.

We got home the next night and just in time to celebrate Wallace's 1st birthday

and pack Karly up and move her to Utah where she has a job. She'll live with Kassey for a few months while she's off school. Me, I am still doing laundry and waiting for grand baby #7 to arrive.

They Grow Up So Fast

2011-01-30T19:35:00.000-08:00

A few months ago we brought home a handsome baby boy, a week or so later he started school. Last month that same boy graduated from high school and went off to college. Two weeks after that he returned from serving a Full time Mission for our church and last week he was sealed for Time and All Eternity in the LDS Las Vegas Temple. . . . . They grow up so fast.

We are very happy for our son Kyle and love his new wife, Megan.

I was prepared to not be so thrilled with my sons choice in a wife because I had heard so many woman say that's just how it is and now he has a new first lady in his life, but so far I could not be happier for him. I say "so far" because I'm sure someday Megan and I will have our differences or Megan will let it slip how much I bug her. When that day comes I'm sure, for a few days, I will find faults with her, it's just the "mother-in-law" thing to do, but at present things could not be better.

Megan is from Henderson, Nevada, which is why they were married at the Las Vegas Temple. We use to tease our kids about being able to elope because there are Temples in Nevada, I just never expected any of our kids to really get married there.

Kyle and Megan were sealed on Saturday, January 22nd. It was a beautiful sunny day and everything was perfect, other than we seemed to be running behind by about 20 minutes all weekend. On Friday we met Megan's family for the first time. Being an in law is great, it's not like in high school where you really need to get to know your child's boyfriend or girlfriends family; once they are adults it's their worry; sure you want them to have great in laws, but it's their choice and they are the ones who have to deal with them for years. So far all of our kids have great in laws and that now includes Kyle's. Friday night Megan went through the Temple for the first time and receive her endowment. We were staying on the Strip and it took longer than we expected to get to the Temple, but they were kind enough to delay the session till we all got there. I was told the next day that a dear friend of Megan's family was also running late and knew that they wouldn't hold the session till she got there, so as she drove to the Temple she prayed that somehow things would work out and she would make the session; knowing that, I don't feel so bad about being late. Saturday morning we were all on time, well almost. My brother Brent realized when he went to get dressed that his pants were not with his suit, so he and his son made a detour on the way to the Temple. With a minute to spare before Kyle and Megan entered the sealing room, in walked Brent and AJ.

The family and wedding party were to be at the reception one half an hour before things started. Again we were running late, but we weren't the only ones late. Megan had forgot her shoes and she and Kyle had to go back to her house to get them. Even with all the late starts, things ended right on time and the bride and groom were thrilled to have all the hoopla over and to be able to get on their way.

Between the sealing and reception we had a yummy BBQ lunch for the wedding party and family. Thanks to my wonderful and dearest friend Becky it worked out great. The food was yummy, the company was great and the clean up was easy. Happily we even enjoyed our son Kody there, well not really, but we pretended. We had a life size post of him made up and as you got you food you couldn't help but be face to face with him. We missed not having him there in person, but the poster reminded everyone that he was in our hearts and thoughts.

We all had a good time and had lots of good laughs. I think the best laugh we had was over the groomsman's pants. The wedding colors were Cranberry, grey (wet cement) and black. Megan wore a beautiful creamy while dress in a mermaid style with rooshed organza and dark red boots. Her maid of honor and brides maid wore black dresses and dark red heels.

Kyle wore a grey suit and his grooms men were the best in show. They wore white shirt, black skinny ties and grey tweed pants from H&M. We managed to find pants for my grandson to match the grooms men and made them little bow ties.

They looked almost like the groomsmen only the groomsman's pants were much tighter. Kyle had a pair of pants from H&M that were the perfect color and looked great on him, so the guys deiced that was the pants they wanted to wear. Kyle got me their pant sizes and I went shopping. None of them live by us except our son-in-law Tyler, and Ty said we had the right size for him so none of the guys tried on the pants until the morning of and by then it was too late to change anything. All of their pants were tight, beyond tight, comically tight. There were bets made on who's pants would spilt first. Kyle's best man and cousin Ian's pants were the best fit, but Ian was made to wear tight fitting 60's style pants. By the end of the night no ones pants had spilt but there were some stretched seams.

Watching the dancing was another enjoyable moment of the evening. We love to dance and although there was not a lot of dancing at the reception it was enjoyable.

There was the first dance of the bride and groom, the father-daughter dance, the son- mother dance, but my favorite was watching our oldest grandson, Mack dance. He has the moves and he uses them. Our granddaughter Baysil is normally the one to watch dance, but this night was all Macks.

We had great support from family and friends coming in from out of town and we loved seeing them all.

Friends from California and Utah came,

family from Utah, Arizona, and Washington were there

and dear friends we had served in the Air Force were able to come.

The reception was held at the Dragon Ridge Country Club in Henderson. It is a beautiful place with a wonderful view of the Las Vegas valley. It was a clear night and you could see all the lights of the strip and surrounding area.

It was a wonderful day. Kim and I both agree that having sons get married is the way to go. Sure there are things to do, but mostly you just show up and enjoy the hard work of the brides family and friends, and we did just that. I'm sure in a few day it will really hit me that my baby boy is married, until then I have laundry to do.

Christmas in Seattle

2011-01-16T23:53:00.000-08:00

We celebrated our 2nd Christmas in Seattle this year. The celebrations began the day after Thanksgiving and I feel like I am still cleaning up from things.

We started the season off with our annual tree hunt. This year Kaira Fern and Ty's family, and Kassey and Will joined in our search for the perfect tree.

After finding our trees we went home to decorate the house and the little people had fun tents to play in that Grandma Jane sent to them.

With our tree in place it was time for the Festival of Trees. This fun event is sponsored by the hospital where Kim works. The first week in Dec they put on a 3 day event. Large Christmas trees and wreaths are decorated and put on display at the Everett Comcost Area.

There are fancy parties for adults, an open house for the public to view the trees, with crafts and cookies for the kids. The event ends with my favorite, the Teddy Bear breakfast and ice skating.

We've made it a tradition to take the grandkids. Kim ended up having bishop responsibilities and wasn't going to make it so Kaira went with Kloe and I in his place. This year was Henry's first year. Santa and Mrs. Claus are there along with a giant teddy bear. We had a yummy breakfast, heard a story, sang songs and watched a fun play.

Then just as it was time to go ice skating, who showed up? Grandpa Kim!!! It was a fun day and started December off in a great way.

We found lots of Christmasy things to do all through out the season,one big hits was The Festival of Lights.

Karly got home the week before Christmas. Then day Junie and her parents, Kerin and Cory, came into town we all went up to Vancouver to the Christmas Market. It reminded me of the Christkindel Markets in Europe. They even had my favorite Christmas store, Kathe Wohlfahrt.

Kyle got in town the 23rd just in time for the big day. Christmas Eve started with breakfast at the Mukilteo Cafe, then that night we had our traditional festivities.

Family and friends gathered, we acted out the Nativity, sang Christmas songs, ate yummy food and had our talent show. Kassey and her family even joined us during our talent show through skipe. That was one of the best Christmas presents I got this year.

I tried to up load a video so everyone could see how much talent our family has, but couldn't get it to work. Thankfully Kerin and Cory were here and stayed up to help finish wrapping presents. This bishop stuff had really sapped Kim's energy and he went to bed as soon as the rest of the kids did, don't worry though we woke him up to finish with the "important" duties.

Happily everyone slept in until after 7am and Christmas was a nice slow day. I was worried little Junie would wake us all early, but even she slept in.

Kaira and Ty's family came over in the afternoon and joined us for more presents and dinner.

The day reached it's peak with our call from Kody. I loved my missionary phone call and am counting the days until Mother's day when I get to talk to him again. It really was a great Christmas and wonderful time together as a family. Now we are on to Kyle and Megan's wedding. Happy New Year!

Thanksgiving

2010-12-21T09:14:00.002-08:00

This years Thanksgiving is one that we will talk about for years. Dinner was wonderful and it was a pretty normal Thanksgiving. We baked pies all the day before, Kids came in from out of town, we had the missionaries over and we ate later than planned. What wasn't normal is what we will remember.

Kassey and the girls came out almost 2 weeks before, Karly flew in the Friday before and the Monday before Will flew in to town. In was also the Monday that Seattle was hit with a wonderful snow storm. It didn't seem like any big deal and we went about our day as planned and enjoyed the weather. Kloe went off to school and those of us at home ran around getting ready for the big day. By lunch time the snow was increasing, but still nothing compared to Utah or Idaho, the problem was the cold. It's wetter here and the snow had been melting during the day and around noon the temperature started to drop and so things were starting to freeze. By the time Kloe came home from school we had about one inch of snow, but it was on top of ice. Will's flight got in at 6 but just to be safe Kassey left at 4:30 to do the 30 minute drive so that she would have plenty of time knowing Seattle has poor drivers and with any weather they get over cautious. She took both the girls to greet Will and so she could use the HOV lane. Just as she was leaving Kaira and Tyler dropped off their boys and left to go on an anniversary date. The evening went great and just as we were expecting Kassey and Will to show up after having some planned family time, around 8:30, we got a call from Kassey. She was stuck on the 5 freeway heading south near Boeing and still hadn't picked up Will. The snow had gotten worse and as she reach downtown Seattle things had come to a stop and only crawling once in a while. She had been in touch with Will and he was waiting at the airport along with a lot of other people. She told us the freeway was like a parking lot and didn't know why. We looked into things and found out that there were lots of jack knifed diesel trucks. Kassey had been in the car now for 4 hours and had 2 very hungry girls and she needed to go to the bathroom. To top things off Kassey, 7 months pregnant, was having a some false labor. Kim couldn't handle sitting a waiting for things to change so being a true John Wayne kind of dad, got together a blanket, some juice boxes, cookies and donuts and went to help. As he was on the way we learned that there was no real efforts to try to get things moving on the freeway. The snow had increased and with the black ice there were cars all over the freeway that had spun causing blocks and accidents. Drivers were having to maneuver their way around everything. The mess had started just as everyone was leaving work downtown and as Kassey reached the Seattle Boeing field there was a shift change which only made things worse. Kim drove streets to get as close as he could to her and found the best place he could hop the cement wall. He walked down the freeway talking to her until he found her. By now it was close to 10pm and Kassey had only driven about a mile since she first called home. People had started to run out of gas and were leaving their cars abandoned to go a get gas. There wouldn't have run out, but the temperature was now in the teens so you could only sit with your car heater off in the cold for a short time. Around 10:30 Kaira called and told us that they could come and pick up their boys but once they got to out house they probable wouldn't be able to drive back up the hilly streets to go home and would be stuck, so the boys stayed with us. By now everything was covered in snow, schools were closed for the next day and Kassey was still stuck. Kim had gotten her gas and helped her in every way he could, but things were just not moving and the longer things lasted the more people just abandoned their cars. There was only one lane open and Kassey was only a few miles away, but only going a foot or so every hour. Thankfully Kassey and Will had just bought a mini van with a DVD player and the girls were not completly out of controll. Kim had tried to get to Will by streets but the freeway jam had caused grid lock in the whole city and Kim couldn't get near the airport. By 1am Kim was ready to give up and just come home. We checked one last time to see if the other freeway that gets you to the airport and found that things were finally clearing on it, Kim found a route to get to Will and then came north on the 5 freeway until they saw Kassey on the southbound side. Will hopped the center wall of the freeway to Kassey and by 2:30am Will was with his girls. The whole thing felt like a movie that someone had forgotten to tell us we were part of. Kim said the freeway looked crazy; cars were all over and big trucks had jack knifed. As far as we know there were no fatal accidents. Kim made it home around 3 and Kassey and Will around 4:30am, 12 hours after she had left. Strangely there was almost no news about it that night or the next day. The boys woke up in the morning surprised to find themselves still at granny's house and as soon as the girls woke up there was a great cousin reunion. Things stayed cold and the snow continued for the next few days and Kloe got her dreamt of school snow days.

Our dog Georgia loved all the cold because it meant she got to sleep inside. Having to sleep in her kennel was no problem as long as she was in side she was a happy girl. She would walk in the house straight to her kennel and with in minutes the snoring would start.

Thanksgiving dinner was great and we enjoyed a calm day.

Kaira cooked our turkey for the first time and it was very yummy.

Kassey made the traditional sweet potatos as she always does and Karly tried her hand at pie crust and found a hidden talent.

Not everyone was here this year, but we are getting use to having to share.

Kerin and Cory were with his family, Kyle was with Megan's and Elder Kody Porterfield is in San Antonio, Texas.

By the weekend we had very little snow around and so by Sunday morning when Will and Kassey left things seemed safe to be on the road, except by the time they got to the pass it started to snow again. The rest of the drive home was done very slowly with chains on the car and took a day and a half longer than planned with a closed freeway in Idaho. Kassey told me they will never drive out to see us in the late fall through winter again.

Halloween

2010-12-21T09:14:00.000-08:00

Because Halloween was on a Sunday this year we had our own little party. Growing up my mom and two of her friends families, Barbara Lewis and Betty Skoglund seem to have the best Halloween parties. I looked forward to those nights almost as much as Christmas. We had spook allies, scary stories, great games, homemade root beer and yummy treats. I didn't get as our of control like my mom would have but I think we all had a fun time and a good laugh. We started the night with our traditional dinner in a pumpkin. I always think of Grandma Jane when we have this. I think she and I like it more than any one else.

The boys came in their custumes, but only the important parts. They had been to two Trunk-or-Treat parties the night before and bits and pieces of their costumes were in the cars and somewhere at home, but that didn't stop our fun. This year all three of the boys wore hand-me-downs so Kaira Fern didn't have to make new ones, it was great and everyone was happy. Mack was Batman. He wore the same Batman suit Uncle Kyle and Uncle Kody wore when they were his age. As you can tell Mack is a bit Taller than they were, but when he wore the boots you couldn't tell. Henry was a dinosaur, his favorite thing these days. Kaira had made the costume for Mack a couple of years before. Wallace was a sweet lion. Another costumes Kaira had made for the older boys. I think at the trunk-or-treat parties Wally wore a pumpkin suit that the older boys had also worn, but I could be wrong.

After dinner we played the spider web game. Kloe turned the "man cave" into a giant spider web. Everyone followed their yarn, untangling as they went to find the treat at the end.

Then we bobbed for apples. I say "we", but I was busy taking pictures so I excused myself. I think this was the game Mack was looking forward to the most. He had played it at his Grandma Karen's party and had success and could wait to try again.

We ended the night with donuts on a string. Again someone needed to take the pictures so I made the sacrifice. I'm not sure if the pictures are blurry because everyone was moving or because I was laughing so hard. They all took this game serious which only made it funner to watch. We all enjoyed watching the boys, and I include Tyler, going for their donuts. This will be a night that needs repeating every year.

Out on the Farm

2010-12-21T08:02:00.000-08:00

I should be wrapping presents and mailing out Christmas cards, but I am months behind on posting and everyone is still sleeping so I thought I should do a little catching up. On a beautiful day in Oct, Tyler and Mack went and climbed a mountain so the rest of us went off to near by pumpkin farms. I love having the grandsons close enough to have outings like this. I wish the rest of the babies were close by too.

Henry used his climbing stills to concur giant pumpkins. I tried all day to get him to look at the camera but had no luck.

Wally was another story, he knew every time the camera came out. He was his normal perfect self all day and sat happy just enjoying the ride.

There were corn mazes, tractor rides, cow trains, pony rides and yummy treats. We couldn't get Henry to go on any of the rides this year. He mostly liked watching the chickens and just exploreing the pumpkins.

Pumpkin inspecting can be very serious business

For Wally I think the day was just another photo opportunity.

Bend in the Road

2010-12-07T10:55:00.000-08:00

It has been about 3 months since I last posted and there is a really good reason for it, October. You read that right, I blame October, the very beginning. We hit an unexpected blend in life's road and most things after are a blurr.

On the first Sunday of the month we got a call from our stake president asking if he could come by and visit with us, what could we say? We didn't really want to visit with him, knowing very little good news came from an unexpected visit from your Stake President. He asked Kim if he had any appointments or other plans for that afternoon and if so, he should call and let them know he would be late because this could take some time. At that news my heart sank. The first thing that I thought was there was something wrong with my missionary. We couldn't think of another reason the stake president would want to talk to us for so long. Maybe there was going to be a change in the stake Young Men's, but we didn't think so and we had recently gotten a new High Councilor for our ward, so that couldn't be it. It all came back to our missionary. I was so worried by this time, I asked Kim if we could please have prayer together before the Stake President got to our home so I could handle whatever the news may be. When the President arrived, he asked to talk to Kim alone, and I was relived; I assumed it was a stake calling and left the two alone. A short time later I was invited to join them. The first thing I asked was did this concern our missionary. The President looked at me surprised and with a big smile said no. He had never thought we might suspect something was wrong with our son, with a big sigh of relief I sat down. Kim still didn't know why the President wanted to see us and there sat the President with a big smile. Kim was asked to serve as our ward bishop. We both sat there silent with our mouths open. This was the one thing we had joked about but thought we were safe from. We had only live in Mukilteo for just over a year; I felt like I knew no one and Kim knew even less. Bishops now seem to be younger and Kim is 50. The Stake President stayed and helped us deal with this shock to our systems for about an hour. I was still relieved that our missionary was safe and healthy, but numb with my husbands new calling and I knew our ward would be too. I was sure some would ask, "Who's Kim Porterfield?"

Kim's 50th surprise birthday party

So I will answer that question, the greatest husband and dad ever. He is known for his plaid shirts, great laugh and big smile. He's the best skier on the slopes, a fan of F1 and any team his kids play on.

He likes Oreo's dipped in running water, ice cream and late night movies with his kids. He speaks German like a German, exploring Europe and all things Scottish. He is more romantic than he admits, tolerates his wifes love of BBC and he's the guy you want on your side when someone tries to bully you or your when you're in trouble. He has the biggest heart and the emptiest wallet; he is so loved by his children they made him a fan page on facebook; his daughters girlfriends often love him long before they meet him. Joseph Smith is one of his hero's, but only after our Savior Jesus Christ . So there is an introduction to Kim A Porterfield.

with Karly at BYU-I

Kyle and Kim at the Ballard Locks Salomon ladder

It would be two weeks before Kim would be sustained at church because of General Conference so there where very few we could talk to about this big change in our live. We told all our kids but Kloe ahead of time, so they could make plans in case they wanted to come out for Kim's sustaining. Kloe found out as we were leaving for church the day of because we were afraid she would slip and tell someone or post it on facebook. She could barely contain herself and as we came in the door from church she walked right to the computer and posted it on facebook.

Holding Kloe's prize pig

The Saturday of the same week Kim was sustain in church , we were in the Seattle Temple attending Stake Temple night. Still in shock, we went through the night like deers in headlights. As we left the Temple I checked my phone for missed calls and I had 3. The first was from a good friend in Encinitas congratulating us on Kyle's engagement! What!?! He wasn't engaged before we went in to the temple. We knew it was coming and could happen really anytime, but Kyle is the child that tells me everything . . . really everything! The next message was from Kyle simple saying he needed to talk to me, Kim had the same message. I don't even remember hearing the next message.

Kyle and Megan at the Ballard Locks

Kyle had proposed that night to Megan Schiess from Henderson, Nevada. We love Megan and are so excited for them. Megan came with us on our family vacation this summer to Lake Shasta and we knew she was the one when she joined in with the sisters as they teased Kyle and helped Kyle fly off the tube during tub wars.

Kyle and Megan at Lake Shasta

Kyle and Megan met up at school in one of their classes and were friends as he dated lots of other girls including a date with her best friend. She was the one who was suppose to help him stay single and focus on school. Megan has been out to visit us here in Washington twice and we love seeing her and look forward to her being a member of our family

The morning of the Saturday Kyle and Megan got engaged, we received some very sad news, our daughters church building had been set on fire. They attend church here in Mukilteo, but are in a neighboring stake to ours. Kim, who had not even conducted a Sunday yet, found out quickly that he was the agent bishop of our building and was responsible for helping one of the misplaced wards settle into our building until theirs is rebuilt. It's hard to believe someone dislikes the Mormons enough that they would destroy their place of worship. Over the next few days I read news articles about the event and peoples comments. There were some very hurtful things said about Mormons. It's sad to think in today's world, where people are expected to be open minded, there are still those so full of hate for a religion and way of life.

Harbor Point Ward Building

just breath

2010-09-12T16:08:00.000-07:00

As I got out of the shower this morning I burst into tears. . .

why?

I usually do my crying in the shower not as I am getting out, it's easier on the eyes and my face doesn't get as red.

There was really no reason for the tears and there was no warning, other than the thought I had just had that unless plans change, it will only be Kim and I with Karly, Kloe and Kyle on Christmas morning. To some this still seems like a large group, but to our family this is almost an empty house. The thought that came right after that was that this could be Kyle's last Christmas morning as my little boy. No, you have not missed any thing, Kyle is not engaged, but he is a returned missionary and I count each holiday with him as possible the last before he is married and off to his in-laws home instead of ours where he belongs.

This last month reality hit Kim and I in the face. I spent the summer mending my broken ankle and not thinking about the impending changes fall would bring. Knowing I would have to be out of town early Sept, I spent late July and early Aug. shopping for fall. I enjoyed getting Kloe ready for 8th grade without admitting she would actually attend school as an 8th grader. I cherished the shopping with Karly getting her ready for college without ever considering that she would actually leave home and go away to school. As far as Kyle, I just refuse to shop for him, so he snuck things into the piles. Kloe turned 13 just days after our family vacation and I left town the next day to handle house business in southern California. Kim was left in charge of making sure Kloe was on time for her first day of school and someone took pictures of her, also that Karly and Kyle were packed and ready to leave for college. I was so busy while in California I never had time to think about my babies growing up and leaving home. I was home for less than 24 hours and we were on the road taking Karly and Kyle off to college. On the drive back home Kim and I talked about how quiet things would be with just ourselves and Kloe, still not until this morning and the quiet had settled in did reality hit me that my babies are growing up and I am almost out of a job.

I have thought about going back to school or spending lots of time volunteering or getting a part time job, but none of those things will give me my babies back, they are wonderful, healthy people, growing up and going on their own just like they should and I am having to reminding myself

to just breath.

Grandbabies

2010-08-02T11:15:00.000-07:00

. . . . are heaven on earth!

Last month for a few short days, we had all 6 of our grandbaies together.

Kerin and little Junie were here for a visit and we took advantage of the moment.

Kassey and Will took some pictures for us out on our lawn.

I am not a bragger, but we really do have the best grandbabies in the world. Don't believe me just ask our kids

Elder Porterfield

2010-07-27T21:22:00.000-07:00

It's been a while since I posted anything about our son, the missionary, so I thought I would give a little update.

He is serving in the Texas San Antonio Mission.

He was in the north west area of San Antonio, then he was transferred to Eagles Pass, Texas on the Mexican boarder. He could stand on a hill and see across in to Mexico. From the top of the hill it looks like a large fence runs through the center of the town.

I was a little nervous to have him on the boarder with all the drug wars and illegal issues that are going on right now, but I knew he was where the Lord wanted him and he would be watched over and protected.

He seemed to enjoy the area and loved his companion in Eagle Pass. The only complaint he ever made was about the heat. He has also mentioned that he likes Baja-California food better than Tex-Mex, but we'll see if he still feels that way at the end of his mission.

He was transferred back up to San Antonio about a month ago. This time he is in the south east area of the city. His area goes to just outside of San Antonio and is mostly suburbs and has some farmland. He is the Spanish speaking Elder in his companionship and they work with both an English speaking Ward and a Spanish Branch of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. He seems to get along great with everyone and every animal he meets.

He found a lost puppy a week or so ago that he named Chuck. He tried to talk us in to letting him send it home, cute puppy, but no. A member of the ward works for the animal shelter and is finding the Chuck a good home.

He loves the people and the work. Most important, he loves to teach and share his testimony of the truthfulness of the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

We love our Elder Kodyerman and miss him, but would not want him any other place right now.

Ouch! Dang-it! What!!!

2010-06-30T09:52:00.000-07:00

That about sums up my feelings. While hiking at a GEM family reunion with my dear Uncle Freddy, my summer plans were changed. I am now the owner of a pair of shinny silver crutches that I use to keep my cast from touching the floor. We did have a fun family reunion despite this being the highest number of real injures at one of our reunions.

The GEM (Gideon Earnst Marquardt) family gathered at Camp Myrtlewood, in Oregon, just west of Coos Bay. The weather was perfect, sunny days and some rain one night. The crowd wasn't big this year, mostly because we had to have it early in the summer to get the location and some still had kids in school, the economy didn't help either. There have been years our numbers were in the high 100's. This year was sponsored by Uncle Dres and family. We can always count on a relaxed, fun time with great food when they are in charge.

We played kickball, volleyball, softball, hiked, danced, roasted marshmallows, played cards and board games, talked about the good old days and of course had a talent show. Very few of us have any talent, but we pretend. It was great to get reacquainted and introduce the next generation to each other.

Kim came for one night and Kassey, her girls, Karly, Kloe and I were planning to be there for the whole time. After the first night Kassey realized no one would get any sleep without Will. Baysil wanted her daddy and she let us know about it for a while before falling asleep, but woke up at 6:30am with the same sad song. She was soooo fun during the day, that it was hard to believe she had a ruff night. She and Winnie were both fun trophies to have with us. Not wanting to have another sleepless night, Kassey caught the dad bus home while she could, but not before betting Karly she couldn't finish the remaining diet coke before the reunion ended. Karly won the bet and finished the coke, but I don't think she's had a coke since.

Karly and I enjoyed just relaxing and mostly visiting. We saw Kloe at mealtime and bedtime and a little bit in between. She was making great summer memories with cousins we hadn't seen in almost 10 years or more.

On day one the first two of the injuries happened while playing kickball, cousin Bruce dove into 1st base and fit cousin Pam (his sister) pretty hard, Ouch! pulled his hamstring Dang-it! and Pam crawled away with a compressed vertebrae, What!!

The next injury happen the morning of day three while Uncle Freddy and I hiked up to Vista Point. He had already done it but was sure it wouldn't take as long with me since I am younger and in better health than Aunt Ruthie and Aunt Marietta, ohhoho. We got up to the top in good time despite the wet trail from the nights rain. Near the top as we were starting back down, I step on something small with my right foot that rolled and went down on my left foot that didn't move, Ouch! We heard a loud crack and realized it was my ankle. I then realized I still had a mile and quarter to hike back, Dang-it! With the help of Uncle Freddy's walking stick and his shoulder, I destroyed Freddy's hopes of finishing up in the shortest time. Karly packed us up and we drove home a day early with what I thought was a ankle joint that had partially dislocated and bad sprain. The next morning I found out it was a broken ankle, What!!?!

I am not thrilled about the fact that I am out of commission for most of the summer, but as of now I don't need surgery and I had a great time with my family at the reunion and we are having another reunion next year! Just a little silver lining.

Graduation Time

2010-06-25T09:49:00.000-07:00

Our baby Kary is all grown-up, sigh.

On June 4th Karly graduated from Kamiak High School. It's hard to believe she is all done with her high school years, I feel like she was just a kindergardener at Rocklin Elementary.

She had the challenge of finishing up high school at a new school and with new friends. She has handled the challenge with very little complaining and her dad and I have enjoyed this last year with her at home.

We had a fun time at her graduation, with both Kaira and Kassey's families.

Our neighbor told Kim they saw and hear us across the arena. It's hard to miss the Porterfield's at a graduation, we know how to express our enthusiasm.

Karly is off to BYU-Idaho in the fall and will be leaving poor Kloe to be the last of the tribe home alone with mom and dad. According to our older kids, this means the end of the world is soon at hand.

We will miss our Karly Angel, but are so proud of the smart and beautiful young woman she has grown up to be. Thankfully Kyle will be at school to fend off the young men who are also happy about the beautiful young woman she has grown up to be.

Having Problems

2010-06-23T10:53:00.000-07:00

Something is going on with our blog and I am trying to make thinks right. I am pretty bad with computer, so we'll see what I can do. Hopefully it won't take too long, but really what else do I have to do.

Junie Pearl

2010-06-20T15:22:00.000-07:00

I am a little late in posting this, but I figure what the heck. I love the pictures and I love to brag about my new grand-baby. Enjoy!

A week before her due date, Junie Pearl made her appearance. She came with all ten fingers and toes, weighing in at 6lb 13oz. She is a sweet little darling and even though she was in the hospital a little longer than planned, because she and mom had a fever at birth, she is perfect.

She came with a nice head of brown hair, blue eyes and a calm personality.

Uncle Kyle came down from BYU-Idaho to meet her and I came in by way of Las Vegas with grandma Bec. Bec is my dear friend and my grandkids are her grandkids. Kerin wanted to make sure Bec was coming and every time she would call to check plans I was reminded that she expected Bec to be with me for as long as she could. Junie Pearl is named after Kerin's dear friend Destiny Pearl, that died as a result of a car crash a few years back. I love the name and I think it fits our new little bundle perfect.

Junie came home from the hospital on my birthday. There is nothing like holding a new baby andI loved I present.

Uncle Kyle was a sweetheart and stayed with us through the weekend. He even had the joy of hanging out with the old ladies! He is such a good guy and it was great to see him. (p.s. he is still single ladies! what a catch!)

Within 5 days Junie was back to her birth weight and was soon past it and hasn't stopped growing

I love these last pictures. I took them just before I left to come home. She really is a sweet angel.

Prometheus

2010-06-02T10:05:00.000-07:00

Through all of our comings and goings the last few months, Karly managed to find time for Prom. It's at moments like this I realize what a "girl" house we live in and feel a little sorry for my boys, but only a little.

For the first time in my life, a formal gown was purchased for prom. You read that right, we bought Karly's prom dress. It was a harsh reality and Karly and Kim were very patient with me as I had my multiple melt downs. Only I could have melt downs over not spending hours at the sewing machine, with expensive fabric, doing detailed sewing. With visits to see grandpa and new baby Junie, it was the best choice. I did get to make some adjustments to the dress, that can not be machine washed or dry cleaned, augh! Who buys that kind of dress?

Kassey came over and helped with make-up and hair, and her specialty, pictures. She didn't take any of these pictures, though; I still haven't loaded hers on to our computer.

Karly looked beautiful and was actually ready early, I'm sure it had nothing to do with the fact that we bought her dress.

Her date was a little late because he couldn't find the house, happens all the time, so she and Kloe had a little wii bonding time.

She went with a friend from school, Jake Dahlberg and they had a BLAST! Jake was voted class clown, so when the two of them get together Karly is her silly, goofy self and fun is had by all. They have all sorts of inside jokes that keep things hopping, note the candy cane on Jake flowers.

The friends all gathered at one house for pictures and our kids were the funnest and best looking.

A party van and stretch hummer were their rides. I don't know how many kids were at the house, but when it was time to leave, they just kept come out of the house. Of corse Karly and Jake were the last to stop taking pictures, they're a couple of hams. They ate at Buca di Beppo's and almost filled the whole place, then on to prom at a yacht club down in Seattle on the Puget Sound. One of my favorite things about the night was cost of prom tickets, $15 a person, what a deal. It's nice to have a prom that the kids can actually pay for themselves. I don't even think tickets were that cheep back in my day.

Goodbye Grandpa . . . .for now

2010-05-26T09:00:00.000-07:00

On January 21, 1935 Richard Allen Porterfield was born, on May 7, 2010 he went home to his Father in Heaven.

He was born and raised in Bellflower, California when it was still a small city with lots of open land that was wonderful for a curious young man to explore.

He grew up with a fishing pole in his hand and a rife on his back. He loved nature and shared that love with all. Roads and fences were meant to be ignored, and as far as he was concerned, fishing licences were an unnecessary detail. Life was meant to be lived and we were meant to laugh while living.

He was an old time skier, back when there were only rope tows. He told stories of skiing when you had the mountain to yourself and you knew the owner. I remember going to dinner with him to the restaurant at Sundance ski resort and seeing Robert Redford come in with his daughter. After dinner, he went over to Robert Redford, and as only he could do, talked to him about the ski resorts before it was Sundance. Grandpa was a ski instructor there, while going to BYU and just wanted to tell him how much he like the

improvements that had been made to the resort. Mr. Redford was very nice about it and they had a very sincere conversation. I remember standing next to him so nervous, but he talked so calm and could have cared less that he was talking to a famous person.

Grandpa's family meant everything to him and he was great about spending as much time as he could with his family.

His children all have great memories of family times together, camping trip and hunting trips to Mexico and Idaho. Great memories were shared at the funeral services of road trips, ski trips and scout outings. He loved music and was known for his massive stereo system. It was not uncommon to drive up to the house on Pecan and hear the stereo blaring outside. He loved good food, malts and his cars.

He adored his grandchildren and told each of them that they were his favorite, and he meant it and they believed him. When they called to talked to him he always listened and was very interested in what they had to say. He sincerely cared about their activities, their friends and their feelings. When my daughter's friend was baptised, he and Jane attended, because it was important to my daughter. When my son was playing college sports, grandpa would await his call to talk to him about the game.

When it was grandparents day at the elementary school, he and Jane were there every year, as long as grandpas health permitted. He was Santa Claus for my daughters 3rd grad class, and taught my boys about the stars and birds for scouts.

He had a contagious smile and a wonderful laugh. He loved to play jokes on people, sing, dance and wrestle with his kids, grand-kids and their friends.

While we were living in Germany we were lucky enough to have lots of visits and we will cherish those memories of time spent with him.

Grandpa had not had good health for the last ten years or so and was diagnosed with a brain tumor in April. I am sad, but also grateful for the time we were able to have him in our earthly lives.

The only thing that grandpa loved more than his family was the Savior. He loved to talk to people about the Savior and share his testimony with them.

His funeral service was more of a family gathering with lots of memories shared by the people that loved him most. One of my favorite quotes from the funeral is from Kraiger, "My dad was my John Wayne". Grandpa will be missed by all he knew.

Sweetness

2010-04-11T15:25:00.000-07:00

So maybe it's not "Us, day to day", more like now and then, but you get the idea.

I must share the sweetest thing of the day -

Two of our grandsons, Mack and Henry, are staying with us while their mom and dad are on a business trip. We came home from church today and did the normal stuff. After lunch, Henry (age 2) had decided to take in a little golf with his grandpa. He walked into the the living-room where Kim was watching the Masters and happily shouted "GOLF", and climbed up next to grandpa Kim to watch the game. He looked tired so I told him it was time for a nap, he replied "NO" and laid his head on a sofa pillow next to grandpa. I went and got his blanket thinking it would help him give into the idea of a nap, but I was told no again and this time he held his little pudgy hand up when he said it, but he took his blanket. He just wanted to watch golf with his grandpa; within 5 minutes he was sound asleep.
I wish little ones could stay sweet like this forever!

Change

2010-03-03T12:34:00.000-08:00

You may have noticed that our blog title has changed, I love change, but if you know me you knew that. I have been thinking about starting a new blog, not for the family,just one of my own and as I was searching for unused blog titles I realized how over used our blog title was and it was time for a change. I didn't feel like using our name in the title, besides with the all the married kids, I blog about more that just Portefield's now, so we are now just "Us. . .day to day "

So tell me what you think. . .

Wallace "Ace" Morley Thompson

2010-02-12T08:24:00.000-08:00

We are so happy to welcome our newest grand-baby into the world.

Wallace Morley Thompson, or "Ace" as his sports fan will know him.

Kaira Fern and Tyler had there third son on the 27th of January.

Life has been busy since this new little man entered our lives, but thank goodness

Little Wallace, as his big brother Mack calls him, is an angel baby, at least for now. Wallace's name is a link to Kaira Fern and Tyler's family blog. All the detailed info about this new bundle is there and great pictures that Kassey took at the hospital.

I spent Wallace's first night home with Kaira and Tyler, with Wallace sleeping next to me, but we quickly learn that Wallace loves his daddy the most and so I got the fun job of keeping the older boys busy. I have enjoyed spending lots have time with Mack and Henry in the last couple of weeks. They have had multiple sleepovers with uncle Kyle, nothing like a late night with all the guys. We have been on outings; our favorite one being with all the cousins to the Imagine Children's Museum of Everett.

The boys barely slowed down long enough for me to take pictures. Kloe, Karly and Kyle have all been big helps with the boys. Mack and Hank love their new brother and Mack has already let his mom know that he want 3 more Wallace's.

A Perfect Christmas Season

2010-01-08T09:36:00.000-08:00

Well maybe it wasn't a perfect Christmas season, but it was pretty close. Our holidays started out with an anything but perfect Thanksgiving. The night before turkey day Kim got us KFC to try to help ease up the pressure on our little kitchen. KFC gave Kim a sick stomach and a Thanksgiving in bed. He did manage to come out of our room for prayer and a few goodbyes much later that night. We trudged through as best we could, but his absents was felt.

Thanksgiving dinner started off pretty good, but with no grandpa the mischief makers were in perfect form. What started as a kids table quickly turned into a table for one, well behaved boy and hooks chairs for the wild ones. You can see where they ended their day, and it was well deserved!

With Thanksgiving over and Kim healthy, we found a free day and went in search for the perfect Christmas tree. Now that we are in Washington with lots of tree farms we get to cut our own tree down, something we haven't done in years. The girls and Kim loved being dragged all over the hills, well maybe Kim not so much, but the perfect tree was found and hauled home.

With all the grandbabies close by we enjoyed special times with them. One evening we had a wild time of gingerbread decorating, we made a train and houses. I will change a few things next time, but in the end it was a memory maker and a good time.

Our December did have a sad interruption, my sweet cousin Marcus Brown died from diabetes complications. I stole a day and went to be with family. I must say I have a great family and being with them reminds me how much I love and miss seeing them, but that is a post for another day. My baby sister Stacie wasn't able to make it and she was really missed.

Christmas Sunday pictures were next on the list. With less of us at home you would have though it would have been easier to decide who would stand where, but everyone still had to give their opinion. Thanks to our photographer, Kassey, we all got in the right place and I am happy with the results. We even got the grandkids to come over (in the outfits their talented moms made) to have their picture, I snuck in one. This picture taking tradition use to be on Thanksgiving afternoon, just before dinner, but with the family getting bigger and pretty clothes not ready in time, it got moved to Christmas Sunday, so now Christmas cards keep going out later and later, or like this year turn into a New Years letter that still isn't out.

With the family gathered, it was time for the traditional night at the theater. This year it was the Radio City Rockettes Christmas Spectacular. Kyle kept telling us how happy he was that we were not going to see the Nutcracker, again. It was a great night and the first time we had this much of our family together for the Christmas season in a long time.

The 23rd we went to explore Leavenworth, WA. It's a German themed town about 2 hours east of us, near Stevens Pass. Even though the people there aren't really German, they do a good job. We had a good German meal and left for home with German Chocolates in hand. For Kim the day was more surprising that he could have ever hoped. On the way to Leavenworth he received a call that he had won a raffle that was going on at his hospital; he was shocked! He had only bought one ticket and kept joking at work that he was going to win, and He Did! He won a wall quilt hanging that is very detailed and worth about 3 thousand. The raffle was to raise money for a nurse at the hospital.

Christmas Eve was very traditional but small for us. There was just our family and our son-in-law Tyler's parent, Jim & Karen Thompson. We missed all our friends that have become so much apart of our Christmas. We started the night with the Nativity, then on to our German meal followed by the talent portion of the night and closed with the ever so popular table of treats and PJ present opening.

A few high lights- Kloe danced and sang her famous cat song,

Karly showed us her tapping skills, Kerin and Kassey did a little rap/dance for us,

which left some speechless. Kassey also said Burglar Bill and Kaira show off her sewing achievements.

Some other talents shared - Mack sang in spanish, Baysil dance, but chose not to play the harmonica and Henry decided he din't want do his imitation of a dinosaur. Kyle share some sport info; Cory told a story; Will showed his skateboarding skills; Ty said Night before Christmas, Spanish style; I said a poem; Jim played the guitar and sang with the help of his lovely assistant, Karen and Kim told some new jokes, but closed with the kids favorite.

The night ended with the opening of the anticipated "one present before bed".

Christmas morning came too early, I was hoping with the kids mostly grown we might be able to sleep in past 7am (the magic time to wake the parents without being killed), but with Kassey in the house it was only a dream. It was a happy day, the highlight being the phone call from Elder Kody Porterfield in Argentina! That was my favorite present, I loved hearing his voice. I did pretty good and really didn't cry until after we hung up the phone.

Will & Winni Baysil Kyle & Kim

Cory & Kerin Will & Kassey

Kloe & Karly Kaira Fern Tyler, Henry and Mack

After Christmas Grandma Judy joined our crowd, just in time for Henry to turn 2! (post for another day). Kim had the week after Christmas off, which meant we were off and running. He and Kyle went skiing one day, we had shopping to do and places to explore. We were all tourists one day and did the Seattle Underground tour; ok, but not great. We also went to Whidbey Island and out Port Angeles one day; Forks will have to wait. The girls loved this outing.

For New Years, the over 18 crowed, went to dinner and then the Seattle Space Needle to watch fireworks. It was one of the few rainy days we had all season, but rain doesn't bother Seattle.

We ended the season with a New Years day sisters baby shower/lunch at a wonderful little restaurant in Edmonds, Chanterelle. Kaira Fern is due the first week of February and Kerin is due early May. I could not have asked for a better way to start the new year. I loved spending my mothers birthday with all 5 of my girls. I hope you Christmas season was a happy one and brought you closer to the ones you love, ours did.

Random Moments of Fall

2009-12-30T20:11:00.000-08:00

I am way behind with the blog, and really with life too. I still have Christmas cards waiting to be mail and our Christmas letter is still on the computer waiting to be printed. If you were waiting for our Christmas letter or card to get our new address, I am sorry, but if it gets mailed at this point it will be after New Years.

I have not yet up loaded our Thanksgiving or Christmas pictures, but I thought maybe I should post some that are since my last posting and pre-Thanksgiving. At least that will catch me up a little.

So much for thinking I would have all this free time once we moved up here, HA!

I do love living here and being so close to our grand-babies and kids, even if I don't have any more free time than I did in Encinitas. We are enjoying the beauty, the seasons and family.

This fall we enjoyed exploring the islands that are just a ferries ride away, nearby pumpkin farms

and family dinners

Kerin and Cory came for a visit and we went up to Vancouver, Canada for the day

We enjoyed taking them around and showing them our favorite places near our new home, like our beach

and the Ballard locks.

Fall also meant church trunk or treat parties, carving pumpkins and

the ritual candy swapping after the trick or treating was done.

We also got to enjoy Kaira Fern and Tyler's Day of the Dead party. It was so much fun for all of us, but especially the cousins; they love being together.

Early November Kim, and I enjoyed a weekend get away with Karly and Kloe to Disneyland. It was a relaxing trip enjoyed by all.

Karly's friend joined us and there was silliness non-stop. We also got to visit with Grandparents while we were in the south land

Fall ended with a great surprise. I found an old friend I hadn't seen since high school. She only lives about 15 minutes away. Her daughter threw her a surprise party and it was so much fun surprising my friend by being there. I have my daughter Kassey and a great friend, Doug Crab to thank for it.

12 Reasons to Run With a Big Dog

2009-10-14T17:59:00.000-07:00

Since our move Georgia has been my running/walking partner. I was a little nervous at first because she is such a strong willed and curious girl and the change of seasons only make her more curious, but I know so few people that I decided to give it a try. She has proven to be a challenge some days, but most of the time I love our outings together. It is so very beautiful here and the crisp air, rain or shine, is wonderful. The people are very friendly and everyone we meet comments on what a beautiful and well behaved dog Georgia is and most ask if we will stop so they can pet her, shocking I know, but true. During a morning run I thought of just a few of the many reasons I love to be out with my big dog and I thought I would share a few.

They don't make you feel guilty for not running one day.

They force you to meet new people.

They don't mind your endless venting.

They don't give bad advice.

They are always happy to go with you.

They let you set the pace.

They are happy if you walk or run no matter how fast or how slow.

They help you up the really tough hills.

They don't make you feel like an old lady.

They never show up in the same running clothes as you.

They never complain about your smell.

They don't mind the weather.

Deadliest Catch

2009-09-17T06:56:00.000-07:00

Our family has a new hobby, crabbing!

We are in between seasons right now so I have time to post (hahaha). But seriously, we did spend a lot of time enjoying the ourselves. Kim and Kyle had been making their plans long before they had our boat up here in Washington. Wednesday through Sunday, you can stand in our house and watch the people dropping their crab pot; which aren't pots at all, they are more like cages. Turns out there is a shelf on the floor of the Sound right near our house and that's where you what to drop your pots. The days were sunny and clear and the guys were pretty useless, they wanted their piece of the action. We hadn't lived here more than a week and before boxes were unpacked, we were out crabbing. They went out one night to our local Fred Myers and got three crabbing license, one for each of them and one for Kloe. Why Kloe you ask? Her license was free, because at the time she was still under twelve. They bought 2 crab pots, rope, and buoys. They had hung out in the fishing department, of the said Fred Myers, enough to feel confident that they knew exactly what they were doing; so it was time to give things a try.

The morning of our first crabbing adventure, they went to the local Safeway and got the bait, two large turkey thighs. They tell you to use turkey legs, but Safeway was sold out, so they got thighs. They also have a special bait made up of salmon, but after multiple tries we found that the crabs in our area like the thighs, besides the thighs are cheaper and so many people here crab that the stores are almost always sold out of the legs. The weather had been so beautiful since me got here that we didn't check the night before and we woke to a gray sky. Being optimistic and knowing there was no way Kim and Kyle could wait any longer, we set out on our adventure. It was the first day we had taken the boat out on the Sound and the guys were like kids on Christmas.

We launched our boat here at our Mukilteo boat launch and the adventure began. After our names and address were on our buoys and the 120 foot ropes attached to the pots and the buoys, we picked our spot and dropped the pots. Thanks to Kim's depth finder it was easy to know where to drop them. You want them on a shelf at about 100 ft down, this is because as the crabs come and go with the tide, they will pass the pots and be tempted by the yummy turkey. As we prepared and dropped the pots, Kyle kept telling us how they do things on Deadliest Catch; you could tell he had done his research. With the pots dropped we had two choices go home and unpack boxes while waiting the 2 to 3 hours the pots sit there or go explore the Sound. The weather was a little gray, but not cold at all so we went exploring. We meandered up the Sound to Oak Harbor at the north end of Whidbey Island, stopping once in a while to check out little bays and towns. The sun had come out and we thought we were going to have a nice day after all. As we started back to retrieve our pots it started to sprinkle and by the time we were half way home it was raining. We were as happy about the rain as we were about the whole day. There was almost no one left on the water in our area when we got to our pots, just the crazy California transplants.

Karly pulled up the first pot and we were so happy to find 3 nice size dungeness crabs, sadly two were female and had to be tossed back. Again Kyle was telling us about Deadliest Catch as he pulled in the second pot. As you can see the second pot was the mother load! The pots have two side doors that the crabs can go in, but not back out. They do however, have emergency exits in case the owners of the pots lose their way or their buoy and never make it back to retrieve them; it just wouldn't be right if they didn't. There are rings in the sides of the pot that are held in place by little bits of rope; if the pots are under water too long the string disintegrates so the crabs can go free. We got a rectangle and a triangle pot and the crabs seem to like the rectangle one best. We caught 12 in the rectangle pot giving us a our maximum allowance of 15. Each license is good for 5 crabs per day, Wednesday through Sunday. We ended up only taking home 11 because of size and gender.

They were feisty little guys and one tried to take off the end of Kyle's finger, again we got the deadliest catch stories. Next time we'll bring a better first aid kit, but all it all it was a great day.

On the way home we gave Kaira Fern and Tyler a call to ask if they were interested in a crab feast. They met us at our house and brought the big pots, mine were still packed up.

We boiled water with a ton of salt, bay leafs and garlic, once things were going we added the crabs. It took a little while because we only had so many pots. We boiled the crabs for about 15 minuets and then they get put in ice water for a few minuets, then the messy part, they get cleaned out. The great thing about all of this, the guys did the cooking and cleaning!

We girls just enjoyed the food. There were enough crabs for one and a half each and I think Tyler and Kyle were the only ones that ate all of theirs. The rest I got to clean from the shells to make other yummy things with like crab cakes, omelets and soup. We gave Kyle the pleasure of eating the one that snapped his finger. That crab turned out to be the biggest of them all.

When I was down at Pike's Market a week of so later I checked the prices on dungeness crabs. It turned out we got quiet the deal. After just one use the license, pots and the rest of the gear had earned their worth and then some. For the rest of the season the guys were out almost twice a week. We didn't have as good a catch as the very first one, but we never had empty pots. Some of us started getting a little tired of crab of dinner or snacks. I wonder how you can crab?

Autodidact

2009-09-10T08:16:00.000-07:00

As I was dusting my piano I was sadden with the thought that I had stopped taking lesson, why? Why had I stopped taken any of my music lesson (yes I took piano and two other instruments) How foolish of me and am I too old now? Then the grown up regrets came on, "why hadn't I finished or learned how to . ." and the list started.
Then the questions, "Why do we stop things that will only improve us? Does that mean we don't know things if we don't take the formal classes? Are we ever to old to learn?"

Where would we be with out all the great self-taught people in the world? The first that came to mind were Joseph Smith and Abe Lincoln. I can't imagine history without these two great men. Here are just a few more influential people that dropped out of school and were still successful in some way.

Abigail Adams, wife of John Adams
Louisa May Alcott
Hans Christian Anderson
Jane Austen- very limited education
Alexander Graham Bell
Wilson Bentley -discovered that no two snowflakes are alike
Elizabeth Barrett Browning and husband Robert Browning
Robert Burns
Andrew Carnegie
Agatha Christie
Grover Cleveland- 22nd and 24th President of the US, very limited education
Ezra Cornell- Founder of Cornell University
Walter Cronkite- College drop out
Fredrick Douglas
Thomas Edison- taught by his mother and then self taught
Philo T Farnsworth- the man who made television possible
Henry Ford
Bill Gates & Paul Allen- founders of Microsoft, both college drop outs
John Harrison- invented the mariner chronometer
Patrick Henry- architect of the Bill of Rights
Milton Hershey
Elisa Howe- inventor of the sewing machine
Peter Jennings
Steven Jobs- founder of Apple computers, college drop out
Andrew Johnson- 17th president of the US
Ray Kroc- founder of McDonald's
Guglielmo Macroni- father of radio
Florence Nightingale
Beatrix Potter
Colonel Harland Sanders
George Bernard Shaw
Steven Spielberg
Harry Truman- no college, 1 year of law school
George Washington

My list is longer than I planned, but still barely touched the list of individuals who were self -taught in some way and yet managed to leave their mark on the world.
It is never too late to learn.

"Walk if you must, but don't you quit!" - Edgar A Guest

More Goodbyes and Hello's in June

2009-09-05T19:37:00.000-07:00

The changes continued in June.

Two days after Kyle got home, Kloe was promoted from Capri Elementary school.

It's hard to believe that all of our babies are finished with elementary school. I know it's a cliche but it really does seem like it was just yesterday that our oldest was starting school. Don't get me wrong, I am looking forward to only having to deal with two school for the kids here at home, but I will miss the elementary school dress-up days, fun field trips and class parties. I know they have all of those things in middle school and high school, but it's just not the same.

Kloe is our only child to start and finish the same elementary school, so with our move she left behind lots of friends she has known since kindergarten.

Capri is a great school and we will miss all of our friends, teachers and staff there.

It was great to have so much family together to celebrate with her.

Three days after Kloe's promotion, Kim left for Washington. He now works at Providence Hospital, Everett. It was a tough decision to change hospitals, but knew it was the right one for our family. Kim likes the new hospital and I love his hours. We haven't seen him this much since we were living in Germany. As much as we are starting to love it here, we will miss Tri-City and all our great friends there.

One week later, we ended the month of June with a Big Hello to our newest grand baby,

Winnifred Darling King.

We love this new addition to our family. This brings us up to four grandbabies, two boys and two girls. I am really loving the whole granny thing. I get to sleep at night after the first week of helping out and I still get to kiss and cuddle the babies. It's the best! Baysil loves her new baby sister and as long as she still got lots of attention, she was a good big sister. Winnie looks as much like her daddy, as Baysil looks like her mommy. Kassey made the girls matching little dress and they wore them the day Winnie came home from the hospital. Kassey is a great mom and very talented.

Winnie was in a warming bed for her first twenty four hours at home because of her jaundice count, but it didn't seem to bother her all that much. She is a calm, sweet angel and with Baysil hitting the two's soon,

she is just what Kassey and Will needed in a new born and we are hoping her sweetness lasts. Isn't she amazing?!!?!?

You Say Goodbye and I say Hello!

2009-08-19T23:21:00.000-07:00

June was a month of Hello's and Goodbye's.
I already mentioned the comings and goings of the boys in June in the last post, but I thought I would share more picture with you of the big events.
In early June we said goodbye to Kody for two years as he left to serve in the Argentina Buenos Aries North Mission, for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints.

After some final goodbyes to the nephews we were off to the airport, where we wait for six hours because our flight was delayed. Kody refused to go back home and wait. He had already said his goodbyes there and he had waited for this day for too long, he just wanted to sit it out. We did get him to leave the airport to get lunch, but was all. Kim took a nap in the car while Kody and I sat in the airport waiting. Once we arrived in Salt Lake we got the last rental car, actually van that was available at the airport. Kim informed us that he had forgotten to reserve a rental car, but not to worry they never run out, yes they do! No one could explain it but they had been very busy and no one had any cars left, except we finally got and twelve passenger van! Oh the memories! Kody and I could not believe our eyes when Kim pulled up in it, we thought it was a joke! We will always have a good laugh when we talk about that day.

We stayed in the Grand America Hotel in downtown Salt Lake, I love that place! Kim wanted Kody's last night to be in luxury and I was not going to argue. Kody hadn't eaten in almost two days because he was so excited and nervous and the way he looked at the room service menu we thought he would order it all!

After a restless sleep, there was last minuet packing and a little shopping to be done.

The traditional last meal at IHop then on to the MTC.

Kassey, Will and Baysil joined us for the morning adventures, why not there was plenty of room in the van! Kody was in the second week of curb drop offs at the MTC and you can only bring one car so we tried to fill it the best we could. We parked the car across the street and walked over to take the classic pictures.

Then back to the van and we drove through the MTC for the drop off.

Kody couldn't wait for us slow pokes. "Come on guys!"

I started my goodbyes in the parking lot and the crying kicked into full gear for this mom.

Last minute instructions were given by the hard working volunteers. This was only their second week of the curb drop off, but they were very organized and things went really smooth.

Then the real goodbyes and hugs and more hugs.

Bay's face says it all

"Now you're sure you are going to take care of my baby boy?!?"
No one at the MTC could shake hands or touch you because of the swine flue so they bumped elbows. Kody said it got old after while and you just wanted to shake hands or give someone a hug.

Then before we could think too long about it, Kody was off and in the MTC, no looking back. It was good I wasn't my makeup where it was suppose to be by then.

One week to the day later came the Big Hello and Welcome Home to Kyle!

We were at the airport and ready for him. We waited and waited

Then finally there he was, I spotted him across the airport and I took off running. Kyle had come from a different direction then the rest of the people and yes the rest of the family were a little embarrassed and I did look funny, but I wouldn't do anything differently.

A mom knows her baby anywhere!

Mack was a little confused. I think Kyle looked a little different that his picture on the frig and besides granny was acting a little strange.

Kloe remembers her big brother even if she looks different to him! Mack is still a little confused as Kyle tries to share pictures of the place he loves so much.

The happy group!

Once home the sisters continue the hugging and the sisterly teasing begins. They had been saving up and had two years of harassing to waiting for him.

A little before and after. We had this poster made for the girls weddings and used it at every family gathering. We are so happy to have our Kyle home with us! We miss our Koderman, but know he is where he should doing what the Lord wants him to be doing right now and he is loving his mission.

That's only the beginning of our June Goodbye's and Hello's! More soon!

May Through July

2009-07-19T19:53:00.000-07:00

I am way behind with the blog , but I have lots of good reasons, lots of good reasons. For now I'll give a quick catch-up and hopefully life will slow down just a bit and I will give more details soon.

In May I ran my first, and hopefully not last, 5K. Thanks to my good friend Deana Rosell and the support of Kerin and Cory, I made it all the way without stopping once.

June had major events every week, or so it seemed.

The first week of June Kaira and her boys got into town and the fun began.

On June 10th Kody checked into the Missionary Training Center to prepare for his mission to the Argentina Buenos Aries North Mission.

One week later Kyle returned form his mission to the Pennsylvania Pittsburgh Mission. When I say one week I mean one week to the day.

A few days later Kloe was promoted from 6th grade.

After a weeks rest and relaxation we were blessed with a new beautiful grand-baby. Winnifred Darling was born June 29. I got to go up to Utah and stay a week with Kassey and family and kiss, cuddle and play with our granddaughters.

After being home for another week the girls and I were off to church Girls Camp.

Now that we are home, I can get the house sold and pack for our move to Mukilteo, Washington. Oh did I mention Kim changed jobs and we are moving? Kim started work in Washington the week after Kyle got home and Kyle followed just 2 weeks later. We are all very excited about the move and the adventure it will be. If I am counting correctly this will be our family's 15th move, but before we move we have one more event, the blessing of our sweet little Winnifred. Luckily we will be close by when grand-baby 5 is born in February. You guest it, Kaira and Tyler are expecting their 3rd!

Oh My Man, I Love Him So

2009-04-29T18:05:00.000-07:00

Cheesy I know, but I can't help it. Kim and I celebrated our wedding anniversary this month and I needed to devote one post to the man that caught my eye when I was 14 and a true dork in yellow gingham checks and ruffles. I'm telling you I was a true dork. Kim is grateful he doesn't remember our first meeting. I thank his cousin, Kurt for introducing us. It was years later that I found out I was Kim's token "wall flower" dance that night. At every youth dance, he and his buddies would ask a girl to dance that would probable not get asked to dance by anyone else. They were so kind hearted, they wanted to make sure those sweet "wall flowers" would have at least one dance. These are the same friends I devoted a post to last month.

Our paths crossed several times in the next five years. Just a month before Kim left on his mission for our church, we went on our first date. I had lost a little weight and learned how to dress by then and he didn't recognize me as anyone he had ever met before.

After his mission we dated again and 28 years, med school, residency, Air Force, 7 children, 4 grand babies and 15 moves later I am still head over heels for the man I love.

Kody's Mission Call

2009-03-31T15:22:00.001-07:00

Kody's Mission Call is HERE!!!

Kody was at the mailbox for three days straight and we were all relieved the day the large envelope finally came, but the wait wasn't over. Kim was having a rare golf day and we promised we would wait until he got home. Kody couldn't wait until the men were done golfing so he made a call and Kim was on the road. I think that was a long half of an hour for Koder.

We didn't even have time to get all the sisters on the phone so they could hear him read his letter, Karly and Kloe were home from school just before Kim got home. The minuet Kim walked in the house the envelope was opened.

Kody has been called to serve as a missionary of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. He has been assigned to labor in the Argentina Buenos Aires North Mission for 2 years. He is to report to the Provo Missionary Training Center the 10th of June.

It only took a few minuets for it to sink in and then Kod started texting and calling family and friends. He is very excited about his mission call. Like his older brother he has had the desire to serve a full-time mission since he was a little boy. He did the happy dance, gave out hugs and then he was off with the boys to celebrate. The mission call came the afternoon of Kyle's "P-day" and it was too late in the day for him to get the email, so Ky had to wait for a letter in the mail.

It will be an interesting month of June around the Porterfield home. Kody leaves and the next week Kyle gets home.

You Gotta have Friends

2009-03-01T23:08:00.000-08:00

I had no idea that when I met Kim it was a package deal. Not only was I getting the best looking, most thoughtful and fun to be with guy, I was also getting his amazing friends, like it or not. They have been there since our first date, at our wedding, helped us move into our first apartment, when our children were born, holidays, when we were living away from family, graduations, all types of celebrations and when things weren't going right. They have always been true friends. They put up with all the wives and everything that goes with us, even gone along to family gatherings. They have asked very little of me in return for this friendship, just cookies and time with my husband. The guys gave us a cookie jar when Kim and I were married with a note letting me know as the wife I was to always keep the jar full for when the guys came over. The rest of the world can thank them for that tradition in our home. It is a rare event when there aren't cookies in the jar.

345

678

1. Rob and Kim at our wedding reception 2. Jim at high school graduation 3. Curtis and Rob at our wedding luncheon 4. Rob holding our first baby minuets after she was born 5. Jim and Kim dying Easter eggs with our oldest 2 girls 6. Rob at a gathering 7. Sam and Carol at Kim's 30th b-day party 8. Curtis and Rob during their missions to Bolivia

It has been 30 years since I first met this wonderful group of friends. In those 30 years, never has their friendship wavered, no matter the distance of miles or length of time. Recently, we enjoyed an evening together, afterwards as I thought about how enjoyable the night had been, I got all teary eyed. I would love to blame it on my age and menopause, but the truth is, I love these people and am more grateful for them and their friendship than words can say.

Readers Are Leaders!

2009-03-01T22:05:00.000-08:00

Yea For Kloe!!!!

Kloe just earned her 7th gold reading medal. Every year since kindergarden she has earned her California Reads Gold Metal. From kindergarden through 3rd grade you have to read for a total of 2400 minuets during a 5 months time period to earn your metal.

From 4th through 6th grade they have to read a total of 1800 pages during a 5 month time period. No easy read picture books are allowed during the upper grades only good chapter books. There were only about twelve of the 6th graders at her school this year that had earned their metals all seven years. This is a great accomplishment and we are very proud of Kloe and the great reader she is.

As her dad always says,

"Readers are leaders"

Tag

2009-01-18T22:59:00.000-08:00

I have been tagged by Marnie, someone I thought was my friend. I have never been tagged before so I'm not really sure what I am suppose to do, but I will give it a try.

Here are 7 things about me -

I like clean baseboards. I love the smell and feel of a clean room. I do not consider myself and good house keeper, but I know what clean is and clean is when ever the baseboards of a room are clean. Don't be checking out my baseboards, I am a few years behind with my house cleaning.
I can not handle stressful movies. If there is any kind of stress in a movie, I can't handle it. If we are watching a movie at home I start walking around the house during the stressful parts, I can't even go in the other room and just forget about the movie. I have to know that everything turned out okay. What's stressful? Bambi's mother dying, way more than I could handle.
I can never bake enough. I can bake night and day, and have at times, and still get up the next day and do it again. I love to bake. If I am worried about something or depressed or feeling overwhelmed with life, I bake.
I love to dig in the dirt. I like the smell of good soil. I like composting, I really like to plant things and see the results of my work. I am by no means a good gardener or feel like I know what I'm doing, but I enjoy playing with the soil.
I love the rain. I can never get enough rain. I am always sad when I am away and they have a good storm at home, because, just like the song says, "it never rains in California" and I hate missing it when it does. I don't even think it pours, the song is wrong.
I like Caramel more than Chocolate. I do love, love chocolate, don't get me wrong, only I like caramel more. The only thing better than caramel, is caramel with chocolate, add some almonds to the mix and it is almost the perfect treat.
I do not consider myself a "crafter". I love making things with my hands, but I don't think of myself as being really good at any one thing. Sewing is probable the craft I feel the most comfortable with, but I still don't consider myself all that great at sewing.

So there you have it, 7 things about me and now I tag Amber, Ashli, Lisa and everyone else who reads this and has a blog.

Christmas 2008

2009-01-15T21:39:00.000-08:00

The holidays were a heavenly blur this year. In mid Dec Kaira, Tyler and the boys came into town and stayed through Christmas and all but Tyler were here until after New Year. As soon as their plane landed we were off and running, I mean it felt like we were running. I am not as young as I use to be.

There was Kloe's choir performance, neighborhood caroling, shopping, baking and exploring to be done.

We had our normal Christmas Eve with one exception, we added Tyler's Family tradition of going out to breakfast. I really like that one and I hope we keep it, Thank you, Thompsons!

We all enjoyed Christmas morning and being together. It was a little too exciting for Henry, who needed a nap half way through opening presents.

This was our 2nd Christmas with Kyle serving his mission in the Pennsylvania Pittsburgh mission for our church. We missed him, but we know his is where the Lord wants him and we look forward to having him back with us in June.

We had a wonderful time with the grandbabies here and we wish they lived closer.

Good-bye hair

2008-12-11T08:20:00.000-08:00

Grandpa Cope and Kathy came to visit after Logan and Ashli went to the Newport Temple and were sealed for time and all eternity. They stayed two nights with us and we had a good visit. They have been serving a LDS mission in New Jersey, so the kids hadn't seen them in 2 years. Kim and I got to see them last September at the airport on our way to Germany. As they were getting ready to leave, Karly announced she wanted her hair cut. I told her to make an appointment and go into the shop. She said no, she wanted me to do it right then. Thinking she would give up the idea, I reminded her I was blind and to have grandpa do it. He has had more experience cutting hair, since he use to cut hair at my Uncle Harold's shop back in the day, beside he had always cut all us kids hair at home.

She said okay and asked him and before I realized it Karly's hair was being cut with a razor blade.

Grandpa told her how to prep it for that much to be cut off, she did it and with a big grin on his face grandpa cut 9 inches off.

She looks great, grandpa had a good time and they have a memory neither will forget.

Thanks, Grandpa

Turkey Time

2008-12-11T07:34:00.000-08:00

When do I eat mom?

The table was set and finally it was time to eat Thanksgiving at the Porterfield's!

Grandpa Porterfield and Grandma Jane rode the train down for the day.

Daddy carved the turkey and then we ate until it hurt!

After dinner it was the standard, rest, sleep, read, play games and then eat more.

Baking with Baysil

2008-12-11T07:00:00.000-08:00

The day before Thanksgiving has always been baking day in our family. This year you can see who I got the most help from.

If I Had A Wish

2008-11-20T14:03:00.000-08:00

If I had a wish
I'd wish for more,

More sunshine in the mornin'
More clouds in afternoon
More autumn leaves a' fallin'
beneath the starry moon
More happy smilin' faces
that show that love abounds.
More love for other races
More hope
More friends around
I want a world more grateful
for family and for foe.
I want a world worth sharing
with everyone I know.

If I had a wish
I'd wish for less

Less anger in a neighbor
Less sadness on a face
Less hatred for another
Less pride in human race
Less sorrow
Less sufferin'
Less bitterness and greed
I want a world less hungry
with little mouth to feed.
I want a world worth savin'
to sow for future seed.

And though this wish
may not come true, I ask,
Have I really cared?
Have I given to another,
This life I was asked to share?
Help me open up my heart
To make this wish come true.
For if I had I wish to wish
I'd wish it all for you.

copy write Karie Porterfield 2008

As I was going through files and throwing stuff out, I came across this poem I had written in December of 1991. If you remember, 1991 was the year of the Rodney King beating. We were living in Long Beach near Cal State Long Beach at the time. The Long Beach school district is one of the So Cal districts that buses kids from inner city to the good part of town. Where we lived was considered the good part of town, I laugh about that now. As much as I loved living there, we never consider our neighborhood a good part of town. At that time it was safe enough for the kids to play in front of our house as long as a grown up was watching. Only the 3 older girls were in school at the time and almost all of their friends rode the bus from inner Long Beach. Because of that, we were very aware of how hard life in inner Long Beach could be. At our elementary school, Tincher, English was the 5th major language spoken. If I remember right, Cambodian was 1st, then Mandarin, I don't remember what 3rd and 4th were. Like most schools, our school participated in the Reflections program. I have a friend who is an amazing artiste and always encouraged her girls to participate in Reflections. I loved hearing about their projects and how into they got, so I decided I would encourage my girls to really get into it that year. They all loved telling story's or writing poems so I thought that would be what I would encourage them to do. Our school invited parents to participate and so I decided if I was going to encourage my girls to participate I should also. One morning as I was going about my normal stuff I thought about the theme for the year, "If I had a wish. . " The events of the time defiantly influenced my train of thought. In a very short time I had this poem written. I never turn it in, it seemed too personal to enter in a contest. Instead I dedicated it to my kids and shared it at our annual family Christmas poetry reading.

Food We make

2008-10-29T13:05:00.000-07:00

I have started a new blog, Food We Make. I am very excited about this blog. It's a place that friends and family can go to share recipes, hints and ideas about cooking. I know there are lots of blogs out there about cooking, I know because of all the names we had to go through to find the right title for our blog. Cooking and baking have always been therapeutic for me and right now, I can use all the therapy I can get. This is also a great way to share and preserve family recipes, plus cooking and baking hints. We have just started the blog and I am loving every minute I can get on and post. I'm having trouble not thinking about the next recipe I want to post. My family may have to go with out meals until I get this out of my system. If you are interested in being a part of the blog, leave a comment and I'll run it by the committee.

Lonely

2008-10-20T16:16:00.000-07:00

Things around our house have gotten very quiet lately and Georgia May is lonely. With only Karly and Kloe at home, there just isn't as much noise and chaos as there use to be.

Recently I was feeling lonely and so I let Georgia in the house for the day, thinking it would help me not to feel so alone. She came in the house all excited and ready to play. She did her normal run up the back stairs and checked out everyone's room, looking to see who was home and who wanted to play. . . .

She soon realized it was just me at home. She gave me a little attention, but then went to the top of the back stairs, sat down and waited. You could tell she expected someone to come home soon. She stayed like that for almost an hour till she finally gave in and laid down.

The only time I could get her to get up was to go outside to go to the bathroom. At one point I was at the other side of the house and I could hear her snoring, but she didn't move. As the day went on her face just looked sadder and sadder.

Poor Sweet Georgia May misses all the kids being at home.

She is not the only one, we all seem a little out of sorts in an empty, quiet house.

Elder Porterfield

2008-09-27T21:14:00.000-07:00

It's been a while since I posted anything about our son Kyle, who is serving a LDS mission in the Pennsylvania Pittsburgh Mission, so I thought I would bring you up to date. He has now been serving for 15 months. Time is going much faster than I thought it would.

He is now living outside of Pittsburgh in the New Kensington area. He is doing great and working hard. Kyle is the second from the right in the picture above. You might notice that the Elders in this pictures all have very similar hair cuts, that's because Elder Porterfield is the mission barber (what do you think Grandpa Cope?) and he only does one style.

He loves his mission and the people there. Since being out on his mission Kyle has developed a love of reading. I never would have guessed that would have happened. He is always asking us to send him books. My only concern for him is that he tells me he has lost weight. Oh well, that can be fixed easily enough. I think I would lose weight too if I was eating the kinds of food they are making in the video, they seems to enjoy it though!

All Better!

2008-09-19T22:54:00.000-07:00

For those of you who tried to post on our blog, but were having trouble, the problem is now fixed. If you are still having problems, chances are it's your internet server. Maybe you should try firerfox. It worked for us. Just a thought.

I Know You're There . . .

2008-09-10T11:01:00.000-07:00

You can't hide. I know you are checking the blog out and yet you leave no comment. I am as guilty as you are, but I will make you a deal. I will try to be better at leaving a comment when I visit your blog, if you will try to be better at leaving a comment when you visit mine.

Deal?

Now enjoy the blog and have a great day!

(I know my kids are embarrassed by this, but I just had to get that off my chest.)

To College He Must Go!!

2008-09-07T20:22:00.000-07:00

I am way behind with my blog. Since I last posted, stuff has happen, maybe I'll get back to that and maybe not.

Most recently Kody has gone off to college.

That's right our little Koderman is graduated and is a freshman at BYU-I.

We had a family pot-luck for all the kids from church going off to school. A nice evening to say good-bye to friends and enjoy yummy food.

Kody and I left to start the road trip the Sunday before Labor Day. We spent a few days with Kerin and Cory in Parowan enjoying their county fair festivities.

We drove up to Salt Lake, enjoyed lunch with Grandma Judy and Aunt Kristal, and some last minute shopping with Tanta Jody, then on to the airport to pick up Kim, some more last minute shopping and then on to Idaho!

Kody quickly jumped into college life. We spent a day getting his dorm set up, getting his I.D. card, books and school supplies and getting his computer on-line.

He seems to have a nice roommate, even if he did bring his x-box up to school!

Friends were found and the fun started the minute Kim and I left him.

When we talked to him a day or so after we dropped him off, he seems to be doing good. He reassured us that he is getting enough sleep and honestly told us he's been getting to sleep about 3am, but not to worry because church doesn't start until 1pm.

We love and miss our Koder!!!

Life's a Beach . . .

2008-07-23T23:20:00.000-07:00

. .at least for now.

Our summer seems to be flying by, so we girls are trying to stop and feel the sand under our toes, and in our fingers. This week we had a perfect day at the beach. I love a beach near our house called Grandview. There is a little parking lot at the end of a street called Neptune and there is always a place to park, an important factor in that neighborhood. If you have never been there before you might think that maybe you got the instructions wrong. Across from the parking lot are stairs going down and the view is amazing. It is a long flight of stairs, but it is worth the climb. This picture doesn't really give you a feel for how high up you are and the length of the flight of stairs.

Grandview is just north of Beacons and south of Ponto. I was introduced to it by my daughter Kerin. I have never been there when it was crowed and there are never a ton of tourists, which is rare at a San Diego beach anytime of year. I love relaxing, reading and watching the people. The water is clean and refreshing even though I only go in up to my knees. I can sit for hours watching the surfers at all different stages. There is usually a surf school going on, some old men in their late 40's or even 50's with their long boards, young hip kids with their short boards and beginners getting a thrill out of every time they manage to stand up on their board. There are people playing paddle ball, Frisbee and just going for a stroll. Happily on this particular day there are lots of modest bathing suits on the beach, not a common site in our area.

Mostly, I enjoy watching my kids enjoy the beach the way I did when I was young. They jump waves, dig in the sand, body surf and ride their boogie boards or "sponges" as they now call them. Everyone is relaxed, minding their own business, enjoying a perfect summer day.

The Grandbabies

2008-07-05T09:53:00.000-07:00

I am in my happy place when my grandbabies are at our place all together!

My little bits of heaven!

Pictures by Kassey.

Someday I'll figure out how to do a slideshow on here and then I can put up my whole brag book.

Just a though

2008-06-30T22:38:00.000-07:00

Have you notice that life is not like the Sunday lessons? Is it just me or did they leave something out. It seems like the stories all had nice simple questions and easy answers with perfect endings. Don't get me wrong, I haven't lost my faith in God and I'm not wallowing in depression. We've not had any great tragedy (nothing new anyway). It's the same old, same old, I was just thinking maybe it's time to bring the lessons up to date. Just a thought.

Visitors

2008-06-03T20:45:00.000-07:00

I'm a bit behind with our blog and I'm blaming it on our visitors. Don't get me wrong, I loved every minuet of having my loved ones here. Early May brought Kaira Fern and the boys, Kassey and her family and Kerin.

Kaira and the boys were here for a week. Highlights of the week were a trip to Legoland, a picnic at the SD Natural History Museum, and a day at Disneyland.

I was in heaven with all 3 of our grand-babies and all 5 girls here. Kody really missed Kyle that week. Kassey and her family are here for a few months so I get daily cuddles with Baysil.

Memorial weekend brought Grandma Judy for a very short visit, but we enjoyed every minute. We spent Memorial day enjoying the boat on the big bay and a picnic on the beach. We even got grandma to go for a ride on a tube. I posted a picture for proof. I'm not sure we will ever get her to ever go again.

Spring Break: The Epic Journey to the Motherland and Other Prudent Adventures

2008-04-27T12:57:00.000-07:00

HELLO!!!

Welcome the world according to Karly!

Sit back and get comfortable while I tell you of the latest escapades of the Porterfield fam. (I recommend some popcorn or some sort of ice cream with caramel in it. caramel is good.)

(that's me kneeling down second from the left :)

I'm sure by now you've guessed that, like every other good Mormon family, (not to say that families who don't go aren't good!) we used this spring break as another opportunity to make the pilgrimage to Utah!!! Gotta love the motherland!

We left late Friday evening and made it finally into the city of the Salty Lake just before the second session of conference started. Literally. Our dreams of attending the first session and taking part in the solemn assembly being dashed, we could do little more than listen to this spectacular occurrence on the radio. Regardless of the time or place it was still an amazing experience. Truly the spirit and the happiness that sustaining the new prophet, President Thomas S. Monson, was limitless and is something I am sure to remember the rest of my days.We were able to attend the 2nd session of conference and watch the others on this wonderful little invention called television.

After the eventual winding down of the conference rush that occurs, maybe 15 minutes after the event actually ended, we spent the remainder of the week languishing on the hospitality of immediate family and other relatives in the area. We managed a day in the snow, a stroll round Temple Square, a visit to Great Grandma Dot, a visit to Grandma Judy, a visit to Aunt Jody and the Smith household, and the home and hearths of Kassey and Kerin. We ate good food and got a grand tour of nearly all the hotels in the city of the Salty Lake courtesy of Dad, who seems to be loosing his touch when it comes to hotels.

As I wrap up this herculean tale of adventure and humorous occurrences so slyly interwoven into the story (if I may say so myself) that they are nearly unnoticeable, I would like to acknowledge the shark attack and death of a 66 year old man that resulted in the closing of the beaches this weekend. This particular weekend in which the weather happens to be in the high 90's. In southern California. If you are heading out on a shark hunt, 1. take me with you. 2. take an oxygen tank with you. 3. don't waste your money by going to see The Forbidden Kingdom afterward.

Easter

2008-04-16T20:02:00.000-07:00

I'm finally getting Easter Pictures posted. This year we had a very quiet Easter. Kerin and Cory came down for the weekend and that helped to put some noise in the house. Kim had to work most of the day. We tried to wait for him for dinner, but no luck. He didn't get home until 8pm. I had fun sewing Karly and Kloe's Easter dresses.

Karly's dress was made from an old pattern of mine from the 70's. Sewing their dresses made me miss sewing. Most of the time, after I've finished a project I'm amazed it was made by my hands. I really enjoy the feeling of a sewing project well done. Now I just need to make time for me and my sewing machine.

We had a fun egg hung on Easter, thanks to Kerin and her tricky hide talents.

KERIN!!

2008-03-25T06:58:00.000-07:00

Our sweet Kerin was feeling left out because I hadn't mentioned her in our Blog in a while. She hasn't just had a baby, and hadn't been to see us in a while, but she and Cory managed to get away to spend Easter weekend with us and we had a good visit, but more about that later. I thought I would just let her know we love and miss her, by posting a few of my favorite pictures of her.

Kerin was very attached to her "binkies."

Note the white around Kerin's mouth, she wouldn't sit still and let me take the pictures without giving her marshmallows.

Kerin has always had a great sense of fashion as you can see in this picture of her

showing off her dance skills to Kaira and Kyle.

What a happy fun person she is, to know her is to smile

and quiet often have a good laugh with her.

To some she may be "the girl on the frig,

but to us she is our "Rin".

(Do you like it Rin?)

I Shouldn't Be Doing This

2008-03-16T21:03:00.001-07:00

There are so many things I should be doing tonight and blogging is really not one of them, but I am just not in the mood to be doing the other. With winter gone, (if you can call 60 degrees with light rains every few days winter) I am finally posting a recipe Kloe and I figured out for Carmel Apple Cider.

We had a cold day in the mid 50's and we were craving warm carmel cider, but I didn't want to go out to get it nor did I want to spend the money. We did some experimenting and we were very happy with the results. We used our Cocoa maker, adding 4 cups of apple cider a couple teaspoons of cinnamon, and 4 unwrapped caramels for each cup of cider.

Heat and froth it and add a dollop of whipped

cream if you have some. Kloe liked it better than Starbucks. Other excitement that's been going on was the California Reads award ceremony at Kloe's school, Capri Elementary. This was Kloe's 6th year to receive an award.

As a 5th grader Kloe had to read 2000 pages within a certain amount of time. We're very proud of her accomplishment. As her dad always tells her "readers are leaders". I tried to get her to wear all of her medals to the ceremony and she wouldn't.

The first picture is of her with her school principal and the second is after the ceremony with a sixth grade friend Rachel, from the ward.

Grand-babies

2008-03-14T21:40:00.000-07:00

I have missed a few things in my blogging. This is my feeble attempt at catching up with things. Other then Karly turning 16, we have also been busy with our grand-babies.

Kaira Fern & Tyler's baby, Henry Allen was blessed in February.

Kim and I were able to go up for the weekend of the blessing. We wish they were closer.

We also squeezed in a day of skiing at Big Bear.

(Note the new car)

Kassey and Baysil came for a visit earlier this month.

It was great to spend a few days with them and kiss and hug our grand-baby.

While they were here we spent a Sunday afternoon visiting with Grandpa and Jane. We love spending time with our grand-babies. They are wonderful, and their parents aren't bad either.

Party At Deadwood

2008-03-05T20:37:00.000-08:00

Karly turned 16! To celebrate we had a mystery dinner party. It was called Murder at the Deadwood Saloon. We found the game at nightofmystery.com They had the complete package.

The kids seemed to have had a fun time playing dress up and getting into character. Now we need to have a murder party for our grown-up friends. Kim and I use to have murder parties a lot when we where young married and had energy.

If you have never been to a murder party, everyone at the party is giving a character profile and basic story-line before coming to the party. You come to the party dressed as your character and pretend to be that person all night.

At some parties the murder happens before the party and others it happens during. At Karly's the murder happened during the party. During the party you solve the murder by talking to everyone and figuring out clues. It's a great way to get people to talk to each other. The kids did great and stayed in character the whole time.

At the end of the party we gave a prize to the person who solved the murder first and one to the one who had the most money at the end of the game. The kids voted on the Best Dressed and Drama Queen.