Joyce's Three Obsessions/Collections
1) Dishes--even if they only cost 33cents--I love collecting dishes. When food costs get extremely high, setting a pretty table--even for a tuna fish sandwich--makes it taste better.
2) Cookbooks--the best novels ever--and yes, I do try out many new recipes. I'd have to say I prefer cookbooks to internet recipe sites. However, I do have many internet recipes I have printed and used--some back from 1997 even.
3) Children's story books--I love the fact the each of the kids and grandkids loves to look at books. It's neat to see Bryson get excited about reading.

Three Random Facts About Joyce
1) I actually am an organized person, even though to many of you I may appear totally unorganized. Some of my projects are in a transition to becoming organized. I love having the house totally clean. When the kids were small, I have been known to call Dennis and say, "I wish you could run home right now and see that the house is totally clean. I know it's a temporary state but for one minute it could be spotless."
2) I am basically a quiet individual--it just depends how you look at it. I love to sit a watch people; they are fascinating things to watch.
3) I love to do things and go places. Yet at the same time, I love being at home. Hey, I guess I just simply love being the person I am and being able to enjoy all of the things and people around me.

Joyce's Three Goals
1) To actually get each of my four kids from childhood to adulthood--in the history book format. I get very behind and would love the time to work on them.
2) To spend a complete day or two sewing. I have tons of "projects" to tackle and finish. It would be fun to be "grounded" to getting to do whatever I want to do in the house.
3) To loose these extra pounds I cart around. I guess I've learned the hard way that stress can hinder the loss weight. Whoever came up with that idea knew what they were talking about.

Greatest Fears
1) Being left alone in the world. I enjoy my independence; I love being needed to help anyone in our family.

Three people I am tagging for input:
Trever and/or Carah (that means blogging would being important)
Dennis
Mike

Hurrah! Hurrah! Today's Our Day

It's hard to imagine, but 32 years ago on Sunday, June 22, 1976 Dennis and Joyce were hitched. Our dreams, our hopes, our potentials were combined. (Hey, it wasn't a Sunday then)

The Best Invitation Ever

On Saturday, March 3, Trever called to see how Grandma's trip to Orlando went. Bryson wanted to talk with Grandma. He asked when the next sleepover would be. I told him we would try from next Friday night. I said I would have to check on a few things first and he remembered it was Sissy's turn. Then he said, "Grandma I want to have the sleepover. When can you come to my house for a sleepover?" Trever was standing by and told him that they didn't have a bed for Grandma to sleep in. Bryson replied, "But Grandma can sleep in my sleeping bag!"

Jentrie goes to the Wedding Reception with Bumpa and Grandma

Jentrie loved story time with Grandpa---she enjoyed it with Grandma, too. Oh wait, Grandma and Grandpa enjoyed the story times.
Jentrie loved playing with the manger scene. She probably knows all of the characters now!
Sitting very pretty. Answering a phone call from Grandpa.


Aunt Sarah did Jentrie's hair. Grandma dressed her in one of Aunt Sarah's velvet outfits. Jentrie looked very pretty to go to the wedding reception. She loved the attention and even the treats. We laughed, sang, and clapped beats to the music all the way to Layton and back.

Jentrie Comes to Grandma and Grandpa's House

When Grandma and Grandpa were watching the news, Jentrie went in the bathroom. She came back out carrying the hairbrush, so Grandma took out her piggy tails and brushed her hair. Then she went back into the bathroom. All was quiet. When Grandma walked in to see what was happening, Jentrie was removing the tissues from the Kleenex box, tearing each in pieces, and neatly throwing them away. When Grandma said something to her, she looked so innocent. Then she turned, grabbed the toilet paper, and threw some of it away also.

Jentrie has mastered the Tic Tac Tony game. She can throw the disks as well as any of us!

One January day, Sarah came with Grandma, Sissy, Bryson and Jentrie to the Treehouse. Bryson was extremely excited about beating Sarah on the chess board. I think Sarah even had fun with us that day! A good way to spend Martin Luther King Day!

Bryson and Sissy had lots of fun on our special play days when Mom and Dad head over to the hospital for what they call work!

January 2007 more

Tubing fun--hey! it's in Grandma and Grandpa Porter's front yard.

January 2007

Dad loves his IPod--it's his constant companion. While listening to music, he is frequently seen playing with his electronic SuDoKu.

HAPPY HALLOWEEN

Funny Sarah and Grandma Joyce decide to take these three little trick or treaters to Weber State to do some early trick or treating last week. Silly Trever was very frightened by Bryson's choice of costumes. Apparently Bryson was supposed to be a baseball, football, and soccer player from B Y U. Ha! Ha! Silly Trever was very scared.

You will never guess who showed up at Grandma Joyce's and Funny Grandpa's house on Halloween. None other than Napoleon Dynamite (GOSH!) with his "Vote for Pedro" T-shirt on, Pedro, Uncle Rico, Pretty Princess and a little Strawberry. What a terrific idea Bryson had to dress up like the characters from Napoleon Dynamite. However, I don't recall the Pretty Princess and the little Strawberry having major roles in the movie. I could have missed something there though.

Napoleon Dynamite said Funny Grandpa's costume didn't count as a real costume because it was just a T-shirt with Elmo's face on it. Funny Grandpa was able to catch the little Strawberry after she had climbed up on the table by herself and before she grabbed the 7 layer dip off of the table. She settled for the cell phone instead.

Hope you all had a fun and safe Halloween. Grandma Joyce has her candy strategy already figured out for next year. Always planning ahead.

Hmmm - Now it would appear as though Pedro may have some unusual feelings for Uncle Rico - now that would explain a lot of things.

PORTER TOWN CRIER

The Rest of the Pictures from the Treehouse

PORTER TOWN CRIER

PORTER TOWN CRIER

The Chess Champion
Monday, October 30, 2006, Bryson, Sissy, Jentrie and Grandma went to the Treehouse Children's Museum. Wow! Bryson headed to the chess board. There at the chess board sat Mrs. Carol Thornock, of T. O. Smith Chess fame. Bryson wanted to play. Grandma asked Carol if she would play Bryson. She said she could tell who his daddy was and she would be glad to play him. She was surprised at how well he could play. He was winning! She had to go over to the children singing for a second and had her daughter finish the game off. Bryson was the winner!!!!!! Way to go Bryson. During the game, Carol wanted a full report on all of you! You know she got a good one from Grandma!

Mr. Spider Visits Mom

It's true. Mr. Spider paid a visit to your mother this morning. I think he was planning on taking a bath with her. Mr. Spider liked to play hide-n-seek. He also apparently had an aqua-lung because your mother is sure he came through the bathtub drain.

Hmmm - ugly little fellow. Your mother decided that he needed a bath more than she did. So the big bad spider went down the drain where the sun won't come out to shine so he can climb up the waterspout again.

Mr. Spider was coming to bite your mother because she killed Mr. Spider's wife a couple of days ago. Thanks to your mother Mr. Spider won't be biting anyone again. He's gone to that big spider graveyard in the sewer.

But I'm pretty sure that Mr. Box Elder Bug will be paying your mother a visit sometime in the night. Your mother does not like Mr. Box Elder Bug. She had me call the killer people to come out and kill all of his family. A sad, very sad day in the bug world.

Love,
Pops

A San Francisco Treat (Ding Ding)

As some of you are aware, my flight benefits kicked in on Friday and Sarah and I decided to take advantage of this opportunity to visit the beautiful city of Saint Frances for those of you who don't speak Spanish. We woke up early in the morning and took the first flight and then we got back home around 8:30 pm.

That is all.

Just kidding, of course there is more to the story than that. We flew into SFO and took the BART (a public transportation system) to the city. We got off and began our walking. We walked and walked and walked, some people were skipping, but not us. We came upon many types of people and places as we journeyed to the edge of the city. While we were walking to the Bay, we passed through Chinatown. It is now time to play a game. The game is called "Where are Trent & Sarah?" In this first picture you must find Sarah.

Now it gets a little more difficult; find Trent.

As you can see from the pictures, it was hard to find me when I wandered off from Sarah. We saw many raw chickens and looks of different kinds of meats and smelled a lot of garlic (how much garlic you might ask; let me put it this way, it was about as strong a garlic smell as after Dad has visited Lee's Mongolian). We then went through a part of town that must have been little Italy or something and finally we made it to Fisherman's Wharf. It was here that we first laid our eyes on the Golden Gate Bridge and Dad's former residence, Alcatraz.

We ate some clam chowder out of a sourdough bowl, it was tasty. We then ventured out on a boat for a tour around the Bay. We went under the GG Bridge (I bet Grandma Porter enjoyed San Francisco just for that reason) and went around Alcatraz.

Take a moment to admire the amazing abilities Trent has at capturing a postcard shot of the bridge.

Oops, wrong picture.

After our voyage, we stopped for a bit of ice cream from Ghirardelli Square. It was mighty scrumdiddlyumptous.

We then journeyed back to the center of the city and snapped some great shots for you to admire. Look closely at the statues in the fountain in front of the cathedral and you will find some remarkable resemblences to Brandon, I guess they must have sculpted the statues as exact replicas of his body...at least parts of it.

It was a most triumphant journey through the city of San Francisco. We are going to go back again and may even throw on a pair of roller blades to tour GG Park...which is probably where a certain Uncle first heard the phrase "Cool roller blades, dudes!" GG Park, roller blades, San Francisco...I think we all know which Uncle I am refering to. I think in all we walked about 20 miles or something like that; my legs are still killing me. But, it was well worth it. Sarah and I had a blast!!

Love,

Trenton

Cases for the X-files

The following occurrences actually occurred, though the names have been changed to protect the innocent. For legal purposes we will refer to the two individuals involved as Haras and Tnert. Prior to the night of the first strange occurrence, Haras talked quite often in her sleep and occasionally hit Tnert or was found walking around the room and removing Tnert’s prized possessions from the wall. However, this night proved to be much different. At about 2:00 am Haras sat up in their bed and screamed, “Get it away from me! Get it off of me! Ooo gross!” Tnert woke up startled and watched Haras throw her pillow case far from the bed and then lie back down and go to sleep. Tnert’s first thought was that she had had a piece of Dennis’s cheesy old mustache touch her in her sleep and she found it on her pillow case; a common nightmare to anyone who knew Dennis when his mustache was at its cheesiest. But when the two awoke the next day, Tnert questioned Haras of the previous night’s activities. She hesitated a little, the embarrassment forcing her cheeks to flush and said, “I dreamt that there was Vegetable Pea Soup all over my pillow case and I had to get rid of it!”

Our second case happened to deal with the same couple on a different day but during the same week. Haras wanted to prepare Tnert a wonderful meal (as she does so often, sometimes adding a little hammer for extra flavoring). The gourmet she was preparing was Chicken Quesadillas with tortilla chips made from “Santa Rosita – Corn or Flour Tortillas.” She sliced the tortillas to make the perfect chips and turned the oven to broil. After a few minutes she checked on them and found them to be browning nicely. But this is where the story adds a bit of the unknown. She checked again in no more than a few minutes time and found the tortillas to have changed from being chips to “Flamin’ Hot Chips” (which would have been a good name for Brandon’s high school band). Yes, they were engulfed in flames. She pondered removing the tray and putting it in the sink but the flames were getting larger so she grabbed the extinguisher. This was her first time using a fire extinguisher, and like anybody’s first time, she was a little awkward and confused. She took it in her hands and pointed it at the flames and pulled the trigger. What came out was a mystery in itself, but it covered the entire apartment. Tnert came home and found Haras trying to clean it all up and air out the apartment that a few minutes prior had been filled with smoke.

What truly happened to Haras these two times in one week? Was Tnert sneeking Vegetable Pea soup to bed or was it her own drool? Do all tortilla's spontaneously combust when broiled or only the Santa Rosita brand? The truth is out there but I guess we will have to leave it to Agents Mulder and Scully. Doo doo do do … doo doo do do…(that’s the theme to X-files in case you didn’t know).

Funny funny

So I was looking at the darling little picture on our screensaver of Trent's graduation lunch at PF Changs... and seeing cute little pregnant Danielle and Brandon made me remember a funny funny story I must tell! Last Sunday we received a message on my cell phone that sounded something like this: "We had the baby! He was born yesterday at 5:45 pm, he was 6 pounds 3 oz. and he and his mama are as healthy as can be! We're going to name him Brandon Joseph and we'd love to talk to you guys soon!" Now, when I heard this message, I was very very confused. I thought, OH MY GOSH! Brandon and Danielle had their baby EARLY, it's a BOY, and they named him BRANDON!! Wow. It was a lot to take in at once.
THEN I realized that this guy's voice, which sounds astonishly like Brandon's, was actually Brett Lee's, our friend up in Glendale. He actually kind of looks like Brandon a little bit too! It was really crazy. My golly! ha haaa!!!

THIS IS DEDICATED TO THE ONE I LOVE!

This is a picture of me when I saw what we were having for dinner last night. I was extremely delighted to see what Joyce had sitting on the table for us to eat!

Most of you have no idea what baked spaghetti is. This is a most unfortunate situation for you to be in. Joyce and I had a rather lengthy discussion during dinner on Sunday about how all of the casserole dishes she had on the table were filled with everything but baked spaghetti for me to eat. Your mother was not sympathetic. Actually I think she felt like I was pathetic. Not to be confused with apathetic which I really don't care if I am or not. Ha! Ha!

Since you do not know what baked spaghetti is because you are never around when Joyce makes it, I've included this picture for you to salivate over. Joyce and I (well mostly me) ate lots of baked spaghetti for dinner last night. Yummy! It was good for my tummy!

I've also included a picture of the French bread I consumed along with a salad that was generously covered with Tony's salad dressing. Yummy! It was good for my tummy!

All in all - it was a great meal. It's a shame Joyce and I were the only ones who were able to enjoy it. Well - okay - it really wasn't a shame since I shall enjoy it again tonight.

That is all.

Sissy’s Philosophical Views on Reproduction

"Oh Poop!" Yup – any time you have dinner with Trent you wind up talking about poop. Our dinner with the relatives on Saturday night was no different than having dinner with Trenton. We talked about Dr. Porter, too much intestines (which, for Brandon’s sake, will be the name of the new Bernstein Bears book), healthy prostrates, Snufflufflagus, and colonoscopies. What does that have to do with Sissy’s philosophical views on reproduction? Nothing – except for Dennis happened to mention the word poop at the start of dinner last night and Sissy learned a new word to say during the blessing on the food.

As with any dinner at the Porter’s, the topic soon turned to babies. Joyce asked Carah to bring her up to date on whose baby was due when and so forth in Carah’s family of sisters and in-laws. That prompted Dennis to ask the question he so dearly loves to ask, “So, Carah, when are you having your next baby?” I like to ask that question because Trever always get this look (as shown in the picture entitled “The Fan”) on his face. Then he proceeds to say that they are done having children.

Well, Sissy decided to join in on the conversation with, “Mommy no have baby in her tummy.” By the way, do you realize that Bryson can actually say, “Grandma” 22 times before Grandma says, “I’m busy right now Bryson.” Well, maybe it was only 12. But, it sure seemed like 22.

After a delicious dinner prepared by none other than our family's own gourmet chef, while relaxing on the couch in the “formal” front room, I posed this question to Sissy. “So Sissy, do you have a baby in your tummy?” Sissy replied very firmly, “Sissy no have baby in her tummy. Her tummy too small. (Then with a funny little smile on her face said.) Grandpa have BIG baby in his tummy.”

Which brings me back to my original comment, “Oh Poop!”

The TreeHouse

We now have a membership at the Treehouse in Ogden. Each time that Bryson, Sissy, Jentrie, and Grandma go to visit, it's a game to see who can spot Angel Moroni first. This last week as we approached the temple area, Bryson shouted, "I see Angel Moroni!" Sissy, however, gave the correction, "Uh, uh, it's Templeroni, Bryson."

Sissy Sleeps Over-----The Edge

Friday, September 1, Sissy, Bryson, and Jentrie had a great time at the Tree House with Grandma Joyce. That night, Sissy stayed at Grandma and Grandpa's for a sleepover. She was really have a great time. We watched Blue's Clues, we read stories, and we finally went to sleep. Sissy has a tendency to sit up in bed in her sleep, and then she plops down in a different direction. Sissy and Grandma were sleeping in the big bed in the basement. Grandma had placed chairs along the one edge of the bed, with pillows on the floor, so Sissy couldn't "fall" out of bed. A little after midnight, Grandma heard a little voice saying: "Help me, Grandma, I'm stuck!" No crying. Again, "Help me, Grandma, I'm stuck." Grandma raised up in bed and could not find Sissy. The chairs were still against the bed. Grandma followed the little voice to the front corner of the bed. Sissy had slid off the bed, straight down to a pillow. She was standing on her head. When Grandma reached for her, she got Sissy's feet. After a little pulling, Sissy was back up in bed--still sound asleep!