coleslaw

Do you ever feel like coleslaw? You might ask "what a strange question, she must be writing this at 3:00 in the morning." And you would be right. It's like this. Coleslaw is great...as a side dish. You never want to just order a big plate of the stuff and dig right in, then when you are done you sit back and think to yourself "gee, I'm glad I put on my stretchy pants today." That feeling is reserved for the pot-pie. So I ask you again: Do you ever feel like someone's side dish or are you a pot-pie kind of person?

Road Trip

So after the family reunion Taylor and I got in the car and drove to Fort worth TX. There was a horrible storm coming into Amarillo and For Taylor it was the best part of the hole trip. For me, I'm just glad we didn't die. There was tons of lighting and hale and the rain was so loud that Taylor and I could not hear each other yelling in conversation. Right now I'm at Trish and Gus's in Houston and it is one weird dejavo being back here. I think I will be staying at Trish's for a day or two before starting out again on the road. Aug! I hate driving!

Porter Pics (By Mara)

Riri couldn't think of what to write, so she put "by Mara" in parentheses and gave me the computer.

This weekends camping experience: Wet, cold, dirty and full of hikes. Dad decided it would be great if we hiked down the valley/canyon, and it took forever. cherry on top, at the end of the hike it rained so everything was slippery and wet while we were hiking back out. Just for emphasis, wet, cold, dirty. That pretty much sums it all up. One of the few really fun things was the rock garden. People when they come through, they stack rocks. It was really cool. Near the end of the rock garden, there was a rock statue that looked like a person in a top hat. It had legs, arms , and a flat rock with a square rock on top of it to make it look like a top hat. The coolest part was a rock that was the shape of a head, and had marks on it that made it look like a face.

Last week Riri took us to take pictures and it was the worst trying to get the pictures taken. There was some sort of a convention going on and they had rock music playing in the background, and I could not look at the camera. (Riri posted the pics and comments)

Can't you tell they are not having any fun and Riri is torturing them?

(actually Kristen told them to picture her naked to make them laugh. You can see Mara almost throw-up in her mouth :)

Porters looking so cute it's almost deceiving.

Mara -12

Taylor-12

Joanna-10

Rebecca-8

Jeremy-4

Kate-3

By Kristen

OK, so mother nature didn't cooperate while we were camping. The first night the low was 34 degrees and it poured rain. The second night was warmer, no rain either, but the wind made up for that and it was even more uncomfortable than the first night.

We had great food (planned by moi), but the hamburger/hot dog cookout for the second night was replaced with a local restaurant because it was....wait for it....raining cats and dogs.

Thanks to Mike's wonderful planning and two sleeping bags each, everyone came home in one piece and no one got frost bite or swept away in a flash flood.

None of us had ever been to Bryce Canyon. It was absolutely remarkable. The rock formations are called Hoodoos. They are created by erosion. Bryce canyon is one of the most rapidly changing landscapes on Earth. The ridge is being eroded at the rate of 1 foot per 50 years. We went on a hike 350 feet down into the canyon and back up again on a path from Sunset Point to Sunrise Point. It was about 3 miles all together. We walked through some narrow canyon paths, and some natural (and less than natural) bridges. It was great to be above, at eye level, and then below these huge hoodoo's that looked like sculptures by Picasso.

At the bottom of the canyon about half way through the hike we came across a rock garden. Hikers throughout the years had made piles of rocks everywhere. On the ground, in the dry wash, in the trees. Some of them were really intricate and complicated with balanced rocks defying gravity. Others were just small piles. It was fun to make our own piles before we left to continue the hike.

Andy came on the trip with us - he's always been a glutton for punishment. We invited Riann, but she is not a glutton for punishment and made her apologies while waving goodbye to us as we drove away pulling our gear behind our minivan.

Thanks for reading my comments on RiRi's blog.

Jesus is INVINCIBLE!

The other night I was singing a song to Jeremy and Kate that our dad used to sing to us called 'Lord Randal'. At the end Jeremy asked "what does 'fate will lie doom" mean?' So I told him that it means he will die and he can't run away from death. Jeremy asked 'where do you go when you die?' and of course I told him you go to heaven to live with Jesus. He then looked at me like I was crazy and said 'but Jesus is so, is so...INVINCIBLE!' It was the best answer I ever got from the "where to we go when we die" conversation that I ever had.

Where is the grass greener?

They say the grass is always greener on the other side. However, I seem to enjoy the turfs of grass that are growing on top of the fence post separating the two fields.
I watched Kristen's kids again for 3 days while she was in Vegas with Mike. I am so glad I don't have 6 kids. Being the favorite aunt lets me have some of the benefits and trials with out having ALL the benefit and trials. I think fence sitting is my forte.

Grad Gifts

So I graduated last week and Kristen took me out to eat, it was very yummy! I also got a surprise from my parents that I was not expecting. My dad gave me a HAND written note saying that he was proud of me and that I am his favorite. (so suck it DeNae, I have it in writing and that will hold up better in court that your "verbal" confirmation of you being his favorite). My mom gave me a loaf of bread. Ahhh, yeah, you heard me right. A loaf of bread. I could not stop laughing. Nothing says "congratulations!" better than bread.
Can I just tell you how much I love my parents. They are the best example of everything I want to be when I grow up. They are kind and Thrifty- what more could you ask for?

Author: Kristen Porter

Jeremy antics
This week has been an adventure medically for the Porter family. On Monday at recess Rebecca broke her arm - snapped the ulna neatly in two. We have a good orthopedic surgeon after Joanna's adventure last year, so she'll be fine.

Anyway, on Thursday Jeremy woke up with urine the color of Dr.Pepper again. We ended up at the pediatrician, the hospital, the nephrologist, the blood lab, and radiology. For 8 hours I was alone with him and he was cracking me up.

We played the "I got your nose" game with every body part imaginable. Then he started "I got your head". At first he would take my head and not give it back. Then he threw it into the hallway and I said "You can't do that, go get my head and give it back". He said "Mom, you can't talk, you don't have a head". So I started gesturing toward the hallway trying to get him to understand that if he didn't go get my head he was going to be in big trouble. He said "I don't think I'm going to give you your head back, I like it when you can't talk". Finally he got my head out of the hallway, but instead of giving it back, he took off his head and put mine on and said in a high pitched voice "I'm Mommy, so you have to do what I say!"

Anyway, we had a lot of fun. We learned that the blood is not being caused by an infection like strep, and it isn't being caused by kidney stones. Everyone is trying to rack their brains and figure out what could be causing this. I'll let you know when we find out.

Thanks for reading my silly story.
- Kristen