Those Dumb Hard Things

You know that motto - "We can do hard things." I like it. I love it. I want to live by it. Most the time. But dang it, when you are in the middle of something hard it isn't such a cool motto. I was having a total meltdown a few days ago about something that I felt was too hard. I didn't say those words. I was just complaining and worrying about all the parts of this dreaded event. And yep. Kenyon says, "But you can do hard things." Gag. I really didn't want to hear that at that moment. But it is true. And obviously he was right. We can and I did. And I survived. And the kids claim it was the best ever. I don't feel that way but I made it.

(*free download from the wonderful blog Simply Fresh Designs)

What was that dumb hard thing? Taking all 4 kids to Las Vegas (the worst place ever) by myself. With no help. 6 hour drive. It may sound wimpy of me but it was seriously stressful. Every part of it. The hotel alone. Getting around. Sitting at hours of soccer games with Quinn. Find places to eat.Trying not to damage my children with all the terrible sites but still show them some fun. At one point when I was stuck in stopped traffic with a HUGE billboard truck next to us of mostly naked women - I thought. I'm done. This doing hard stuff is LAME. But we got Toy Story going and they were distracted for long enough. But not long enough. I still had to spend all of dinner trying to explain why they have trucks like that and why people do that. Nice.

Here is why do we hard things. Elise probably won't love these pictures but they are awesome. She worked so hard this weekend. And she is so sore to prove it. She loves her soccer team and even though they didn't win they really gave it their all. Quote of the night: "Mom, did you see me foul that girl?" Me: "Yes." E: "That was the best. I was so proud of myself. I just took her down." Should I be proud? 

Re-Thinking Chores and Stuff

Look how we (the kids) spent their Christmas break. Yep. I really did make them clean out all the kitchen cabinets. Fabulous. I am tempted to keep them home from school forever. And they even look so happy. No tears. No yelling. It really was brilliant. Here is why it worked: 1) they really needed money to buy their siblings Christmas gifts.  2) all their friends were still in school and they were bored. Result: the insides of my cupboards are clean and organized. Wahoo!

I am in the process of creating a new chore chart/system and allowance program. So many factors. It needs to be simple. The kids need to be motivated. It needs consequences. By the way, I need a chore chart for myself. I am getting so behind on the housework too.

Anybody have any brilliant ideas?

Our Version of the Nativity

For Christmas Eve, we went to my Grandma's house in Bountiful. She asked me to be in charge of the nativity. Wow. I learned that I will never be a good play director. It was pretty silly and we all laughed a lot. Quinn was a shepherd but wanted to take care of the baby and was pretty ticked when she saw Joseph (who also looked like a shepherd). She thought Joseph (aka Gavin) was trying to upstage her. She stormed on the stage and shoved him off yelling, "You not a shepherd. I is a shepherd." If only it was on video.

Besides the acting, the craziest part was how bad one family can sound singing the simple little Christmas songs. But it made for some good laughs and memories.

Hopefully some touch of the real meaning of Christmas got through all the silliness.

We love going to Grandma's though and it was a wonderful evening.

New Year's Goals

I have been thinking A LOT about my goals or at least in general the things I want to improve on.

Here is a blog that will address what most of us want to improve on. I have told you about it before but in case you forgot or fell off the wagon for a bit (like me), jump back on. Let's make some healthy changes. He breaks it down into pretty simple, doable challenges. Take one at a time.

Word of Wisdom Living


Other goals me for include - learning how to use my new camera to take better pictures, take pictures, and post them on this blog. I want to post more often than I have but I am trying to figure out if I have anything inspiring, meaningful or motivating to say. Working on that. There are also all those parenting, financial, exercise, crafting, spiritual, mental goals to work on too. Yikes.

Tonight I reviewed 2011 with each of the kids using this cute form my awesome friend made. I asked Quinn all the questions and her answers were amazing. My favorite: "Quinn, what do you want to do next year?" Quinn's answer, "I want to watch a movie when you and Dad are gone and I babysit." She is sure that she is actually the babysitter when I leave. She has mastered the skill of bossing everyone around. Good times.

Starting Off 2012

We are always a little late to the game. I know this came out forever ago but I got it for Christmas and we watched 17 Miracles as a family last night. What a perfect movie for us to kick off a new year and a focus for a our family that I have been thinking about for a long time. That whole idea about how "we can do hard things."  And the message of the movie is "that it is all worth it."

I just started the most interesting book that has me thinking constantly. It looks at the most amazing stories of survival. How did the people survive? And how can we increase our chances of survival? And what kind of survivor are you?  (I know you are all singing Destiny's Child in your head right now. Keep it up.)

2011 Highlights

 

I love a new year. I love a new blank calendar. I love the chance to start over. I don't really love "resolutions" but I do think through all the things I want to do better or change or improve. And I do love setting goals (thanks to my family goal group). And I have plenty of big ideas for this year. We'll see...

But I have not been cheering to see 2011 go. I saw lots of posts/status updates/tweets declaring good riddance to 2011. It certainly had some challenging moments but overall it was not a bad year and I am sad to see it end but ready to get geared up for a new one.

I asked the kids to help me think of all the things we loved about 2011 (basically our Christmas card repeat).

Bear Lake was #1 in everyone's list. No question
Cousins Camp at Heber Valley
4th of July in sunny Southern California with our Bourne cousins and Aunts
Teague - trip to DC and xcountry
Elise - soccer
Gavin - giving up the blanket, getting a filing cabinet, performing in Chinese at the Capitol
A trip to St. George with friends
Having our Aunt and Grandma live with us
Cheering on Aunt Egan in the Half Ironman
Learning to ski/snowboard
Annie - Meeting Pioneer Woman, sisters trip to Seattle, completing a year in nursery
Kenyon - he got new knees (now he just wishes they would all work right)
Going without SUGAR for a month

A day at Lagoon
Quinn - owning a fish for a day, her birthday and playing dress-ups with her friend Isaac (who always protects her from the bad guys).

Merry Christmas!

We wish you all a Merry Merry Christmas!





Porter Family 2011 - By The Numbers


55 members of the Porter Family - camping at Heber Valley Girls Camp


365 days this year that Quinn thought it should be her birthday


14.26 Teague's time at the 2 mile state cross country meet. His team took 1st place.


6 weeks Aunt Carla and Grandma Holly lived with us. It was a sweet, peaceful time in our home.


555 feet to the top of the Washington Monument on Teague's trip with his grandparents and cousin.


2 new knees and counting for Kenyon


5 Metcalf sisters and parents make the 7 mile walk around Lake Union in Seattle. We also did our share of shopping, eating and celebrating.


4 Chinese Governors and State officials that Gavin performed for in Chinese at the Utah State Capitol


16 Elise's number on the #1 girls U10 soccer team


1 boat, 25 rides with 12 excited cousins, 3 grandparents, and 9 aunts and uncles at our first trip to Bear Lake. Endless fun and excitement


And of course another year full of countless blessings, our friends and family.