Porter's 1st B-Day

We celebrated Porter's first birthday back in May. (Yay, we are caught up to May now!) Jeff (Porter's dad) made Porter his own frog birthday cake to destroy. He was pretty timid at first but that did not last very long. Soon he was diving in head first - literally! His aggressive tactics worked well for a while. But before long the cake ended up on the floor! Happy Birthday Porter! You can find more pictures here.

Curt's Triathlon

On a chilly morning in April, Curt decided to try his hand once again on a Triathlon. This time it was a Mountain Bike course and race was for the benefit of the Fourth Street Clinic and their efforts to end homelessness. The race was held at the University of Utah. Curt had to borrow one of my mountain bikes since he does not have one. The morning was cold and wet with the threat of more rain. That made the mountain bike course quite muddy. You can find more information about the race on their triathlon blog. You can also see all of the results here. And of course...there are more pictures of the race here.

Bell Canyon Hike

On Easter Sunday we decided to go for a walk to enjoy the great weather. We ended up at the Bell Canyon trail head and decided to go for it since we had never hiked this trail. The trail does not waste anytime gaining some serious elevation has we climb out of the subdivision where the trail begins. We had our heart rates up to a screaming pace before we passed the last house along the trail head. The views were great as we traversed around the reservoir, opting for a leisure stroll back down instead of continuing up the canyon. Maybe next time we will adventure past the lake. You can find more pictures of our hike here.

Easter Eggs

Here are some shots from our Easter Egg decorating party. (Yes, we are still trying to catch-up). You can find more Easter Egg pictures here.

Springtime at the Zoo

Here are few pictures from our first trip of the season to the Hogle Zoo. You can find more zoo pictures here.

Nightshots

Here are a few nighttime shots taken during a recent field trip with the Photographix club.

Grandma and Grandpa Kneeland Visit Noah

We were blessed to have 8 fun filled days with Grandma and Grandpa Kneeland in town (back in March!). I am so sad they are far away and that we don't get to see them more often. We loved having them here. Their trip started out a little rough. They arrived at the airport gate and learned they had missed the "check in 45 minutes early" rule by 3 minutes. So they lost out on their non-stop flight and needed to rebook a later flight with a connection, costing more money and more time spent in airports. Luckily when they arrived, cute Noah made them forget all their traveling woes. We spent Saturday catching up and trying to organize some space for two extra people and their luggage in our humble abode. We enjoyed the evening playing with Noah and Maya and prepared food for Noah's blessing the next day. Sunday was Noah's blessing and it was a wonderful day. His blessing was short and sweet as Corey is his father. I remember Corey mentioned that Noah will love to learn including learning the gospel and that he will share what he learns with others. I am so excited to watch this little guy grow up. We had an open house at Cecil and Kathy's house with the whole family and a bunch of friends. It was wonderful having everyone come together. Noah looked adorable in his little bow tie. (Thanks Emily B. for letting me borrow the blessing outfit). We were blessed to visit with my Aunt Linda and Uncle Kent who were in town from California. We haven't seen them since our wedding. The food and conversation were great. Monday we packed the car and drove down to Cedar City to visit family. My uncle Gary was in the hospital with a serious infection and we wanted to visit with him. Faith, Judy and Erin drove us to the hospital in St. George. That evening my cousin Carrie and her husband Rob organized a great dinner at Faith's house back in Cedar City. Carrie's two daughters, Annie and Kathy came with their cute kids and Bryce and Caroline came with two of their boys Matt and Tommy. We had a wonderful time eating and celebrating family. I am happy to report that Gary is home from the hospital and his health continues to improve. He is a strong and amazing man. Although Faith has since had her own share of health issues. Our prayers go out to them. We were able to stay the night in Cedar City and drive home on Tuesday. It was a quick but rewarding trip. Tuesday night we enjoyed being home and playing more with Noah and Maya. Wednesday, dad and Corey worked a bit while Mom and I enjoyed a day of shopping. I took her to my favorite home decor store and then to the mall. Mom spoiled me by buying me some new after pregnancy clothes. Thanks mom! I have received many compliments on them. Thursday dad took our car and visited with some pharmacists, Corey worked from home, I went to the office for a meeting and mom hemmed my new pants. Thanks mom again. Thursday night my parents, Corey's parents and us went out to dinner for Chinese food. yum yum. Corey and I feel so blessed to have our parents happy, healthy and so much fun. Friday we took my parents to a session at the Jordan River Temple. Thanks Cecil and Kathy for babysitting Noah so we could go. It is always a blessing being inside the temple. It was a wonderful week. I know mom and dad were ready to return to their own home but we sure miss them. You can find more pictures over here and here.

Shelley and Katie Visit Noah

Aunt Shelley and Aunt Katie came into town in the middle of March for a long weekend to play with Noah. I like to believe they wanted to see me as well but I know that really it was for Noah. We had a FANTASTIC weekend. Almost two months have past and I still can't believe they made the effort to come visit. Such good friends I have. The weeks excitement started early as Shelley overslept. She woke up to a text message from Katie saying "where are you". They planned for Shelley to drive them to the airport. So Shelley curses a little, washes her face, lets the dog pee and off she goes. She was looking mighty fine upon arrival to Salt Lake. I am so glad they made it safe and sound with no other problems. We spent the first day chatting and chatting and chatting. We also opened gifts, and gifts and gifts. They went way overboard on the gift giving but we love them all. We also had the exciting task of going grocery shopping since I hadn't had time beforehand. The next morning we decided to go for a walk along the Jordan River. It was a beautiful morning and nice to be outside. That afternoon I took them to Gardner Village which is a really cute shopping area. We had lunch (lots of yummy fried appetizers my favorite being avocado), shopping, and then pedicures. Our feet looked beautiful. I think the spa was a little nervous when I came in with a 2 month old but Noah being the perfect baby was quiet and adorable. They couldn't be mad at us. That night Corey babysat (father'd) while we went to the movies to see "Bride Wars". I recommend it, it was funny. The next day we drove up Little Cottonwood Canyon and saw the weather change from comfortable at our house to windy and cold in the mountain. We watched the skiers going down the mountain and visited the souvenir shop. Katie needed to get a snowbird t-shirt because she thought the logo was pretty. She has now been to that resort twice, skied not at all and bought the shirt. Fun Katie. That night we had game night with Emily Brannelly, Shelley and my high school friend. We had fun eating dinner and playing doodle dice. I think Maya won, she always wins at that game. Emily did not. She was not happy. :-) On Sunday we drove up to Park City for shopping at the outlets, walking down main street and going to lunch. We found some fantastic deals at the outlets. I was worried the girls wouldn't be able to fit all their treasures in their suitcases but they did good. Probably a blessing as there was no more room for Noah. They kept threatening to pack him in and take him home. I really enjoyed annoying Katie with not putting my new purchases away. She hated that they were still in the bags sitting next to the front door for a whole 12 hours. Silly girl. That night we attempted to watch a movie but fell asleep about 15 minutes into it. Monday morning they were up, packed and headed out the door by 8 am. So sad. If I had to describe the trip in just a few words it would be: Refreshing - i cant tell you how good it felt to be with my friends. I have missed them soooooo much and I just loved having them around Food - well is that any surprise? we ate and ate and ate. Laughs - who would have thought a $1.00 in the grocery store toy machine could bring such joy. Spoiling Noah - he loved all the attention and is loved by his aunts. and Gas- you would think it was us with the gas issues with all the food we ate but Noah wins that award. There were plenty of laughs associated with some fine music coming from my baby's bum. He is pretty talented. I have to share that as I write this post six weeks later his gas has decreased. Thank goodness.