True Meaning of Easter

I love this video from Elder Holland's recent conference talk. It was the perfect to watch with kids after church today.

CAN'T WAIT!!

I am so excited for Thursday night. I know I am probably the only ER fan left on the planet. It's OK. I also admit that ER is no longer what it used to be. It is time for it to end. Sad but true. But, I LOVED this show. It has been a good Thursday night friend for the last 14 years (I didn't watch season 1). Thanks to my friend Leah - I got hooked back in our Provo days at Raintree. We used to put in our VHS tape on Thursday nights. When we had all our homework done then we could turn on ER.

Kenyon is probably happier than anyone that this show is ending. He has had to endure it for the past 11 years. He is sick of it. There have been too many episodes where he has to give me the "This isn't real" speech. I know it isn't but it kind of seems real. And I have shed a few tears. I'll admit it. He only has 3 more hours to endure - and probably he will just work anyway.

Didn't you just love that original cast of ER?

PS - Kenyon continues to make small improvements. At least it isn't steps backward. He is trying to get back some strength. Slowly increasing his diet. The funny thing (but not really funny) is that he can't tell if his food is hot. Everything seems cold to him. Isn't that strange? He can see the steam coming off the food and it still feels cold. Plus, his taste is kind of messed up which makes eating less enjoyable. The biopsy results all looked good - no detectable signs of leukemia. So hopefully we can keep this GVHD under control and we will make it out of this ordeal.

Two New Bear Cubs

I think both of our bear cubs are pretty cute. However, they are both fairly noisy and they cry a lot (sorry but it is true). But we love them both. Teague LOVES scouts. He was so excited to complete his Wolf (except the part where he had to give me a kiss at pack meeting - SO EMBARRASSING). He thinks we ought to complete all of the Bear book as fast as possible. We'll see how long that momentum lasts.

Our very own Quinn E Bear. She has mastered the growl. Happy or sad she uses that as her favorite way to communicate.

General Conference Packets

Once again this lady saves the day. She has updated her General Conference activity packet. Check it out here. Gavin's favorite part of the packet is cutting out all the ties. But, hey - whatever keeps him busy and relatively quiet. And hopefully - they get a little bit out of it as well. Can't wait for General Conference (April 4th and 5th).

You can also check out another General Conference packet here.

Family Motto

I would say that we are pretty out of control at our house. We all seem to be too short and irritated with each other. Everyone is bossy and there is way too much fighting, arguing, etc. It is driving me crazy. But, the truth is that I have probably added to that. Yesterday was especially bad. We went from laughing to crying to yelling in the matter of minutes - over and over and over.

So, when we finally sat down for dinner I decided to tell the kids about the funeral that I went to on Saturday. My cute great-aunt Nadine Cook (sister to my grandma Elaine Cannon) passed away and the funeral was held Saturday. I have always loved her and felt loved by her.


She has a large family full of beautiful, good people. I was always impressed that she even remembered who I was. She always had a smile and used the words darling, wonderful, or great. Always positive.

At the funeral, each of her children and a couple of grandchildren, spoke so lovingly of her. She was a great mother and grandmother. They talked about their family motto -

The Cook Family Has The Most Fun.

They described loving all their family activities and that the goal was always to have the most fun. I love that and I keep thinking about it. I don't think that is true in our house. I know it isn't. I hear about how NOT FUN we are every time I suggest a chore, homework, bedtime, or some other responsibility.

I told the kids about this motto. They got excited about the idea of a family motto but they also knew that this one did not yet apply to us. Teague quickly came up with:

Porters Always Fight.

That might be the current motto but I would like to come up with something that we can work towards. However, it did create a good laugh at dinner.

Do you have a family motto?

Kenyon Update

I set a goal this week to drastically limit my time online. It was a good thing because I really needed to spend any extra time focused on a different project this week (I have to teach Gospel Doctrine - eek). Because of that goal, the blog was neglected and I haven't updated everyone on Kenyon. Sorry about that.

Well, the good news is that he is definitely feeling better. There are still things to complain about. I wouldn't say that he is all better but we are so happy that he is improving. He has been trying to get out some walks with Quinn E. It is slow going but it is progress.

We do not have the biopsy results back yet but all seems to be looking better. Thanks for checking in with us.

Rex Lee Memorial Run

I did it! I have NEVER run a race, but today I completed my first 5K. I didn't run the whole way but I sure gave it my all. I can sort of see how this could be addicting. I definitely want to do it again so I can improve my time. I would really love to be able to run the whole way.

Egan and Kristine joined me in the run (aren't they cute?)- and they DID run the whole way. Egan did the 10K and beat me. We all ran in honor of Kenyon. It was so cool to run for cancer research with so many other people. I also loved running around BYU campus. It brought back lots of good memories. The only thing that I really hated - IT WAS COLD. My lungs hurt so bad.

Next year - I want you all to join me!