Porter's "Lego" Spongebob Comic Strip

As many of you might know already, Porter loves to draw. He's always trying to draw new lego characters. Today he wanted to try and draw a lego Spongebob story. He did a great job and didn't give up until it was all done. We're very proud of him!

p.s.

Baby #3 is due May 2nd!

Halloween

We had numerous chances to celebrate Halloween this year. We started with a trunk or treat at the ward the week before Halloween. On Wednesday they had trick or treating at the mall. In Columbus they have what is called "beggars night" which is the night they designate for trick or treating, it ended up being on Thursday this year. Weird, I know. Then on Saturday we went to a Halloween party! Whew, I guess we can't get enough. It was really fun though. I really slacked off on the Halloween costumes this year. My kids just dug these out of our play costume box and they were happy, so I was happy. We went trick or treating with some friends and had a blast!

Spiderman and The Clone Tropper

My sweet neighbor Linda had a special treat for the kids, it was so nice!

Trick-or-Treating Group

One house had hotdogs, so we stopped for a few minutes and ate dinner.

Our cute kids

Porter at Gymnastics

We signed Porter up for gymnastics this fall and he loves it so much. We missed the sign ups for soccer, but this was the next best alternative. Porter wants to do it again! We met a family who is involved in wrestling, so Lynn is super excited to get Porter started.

Circleville Pumpkin Festival

We decided to venture out of Columbus to Circleville, home of the annual pumpkin festival. It was crazy!!! So many people and so many pumpkins. We couldn't find parking for like 30 mins. It was really cold, so we basically took pictures and went home. It was fun, but we aren't sure if we will be back next year.

Walking from our far away parking spot.

The pumpkin behind us was over 1600 lbs.!

Crazy big pumpkins

Check out these pumpkins that were formed as a face out of a mold.

Erin's Trip to Omaha

So, this last month I had the awesome opportunity to go to Omaha all by myself. Originally I was going to be there for my friend Jennifer's endowment in the temple, but it ended up being postponed to the next week. I came anyway and had a blast!!! My friend Jessica picked me up at the airport at 2:00 am and we spent the next day just hanging out and talking. It was great to catch up with her and her cute kids. Alicia came and picked me up from Jess's and we got to spend the afternoon chatting. Emmett and Melynn are getting so big, it was great to see them. I think that Emmett even remembered me (we used to be neighbors). The Wilkinsons were the best hosts and we had a wonderful dinner with the Chambers, the Huynh's, and I. We got up the next morning and did baptisms with Jennifer and her kids, which was great. We went shopping and then the Saxton's had a party for Jennifer at their house. Chelsea and Craig were so much fun to be around. I miss everyone already, it was so great to see them. I wish that I would have taken more pictures though. It was a whirlwind of a trip, but the best time ever!!!! Thanks Lynn for being so willing to stay home with the kids, you are the best!

Andrew, Anthony, and Jessica in their BYU hats from the Chambers

Jeshua and Elyse

Andrew, Jessica, Me, Jennifer, and Anthony

Jeff and Craig

Chelsea and I

Lynn's Birthday

I know that Lynn's birthday was almost a month ago, but I wanted to post the cake I made for him. He absolutely loved it! I found the big toothbrush at the dollar store. Who know someone would love a tooth cake so much. It was fun to make!

Porter's first college football game! Go Buckeyes!

A couple of Saturdays ago we received a phone call from one of our friends during which they asked if we could use two free tickets to the game. Of course we said yes! The problem was deciding which two of us would get attend. Porter and Dad won out this time. It was kind of cloudy but he was still excited to go. We attended the Dental School tailgate before the game. He actually didn't want to stay at that too long. He was just soooooo excited about actually getting to go inside the huge stadium. To our surprise and Porter's dismay we had to climb several flights of stairs until we made it to our seats. The seats were only two rows from the top of the stadium. I was amazed at how steep the stadium seating was. It was incredible. Porter had a great time. He was the photographer. I think he ended up taking about 30 pictures. The game finally started as did the rain. It rained so hard we left toward the end of the second quarter. Porter and I were soaked to the bone. The amazing thing was Porter didn't even complain. By the was OSU beat Illinois.

Family Home Evening--Blues Clues

For family home evening the other day Porter wanted to make cookies for our activity. So, we made blues clues cookies and then delivered them to some of his friends!

The First Real thing I've made in my Residency

This is Erin's Night Guard. Things are going pretty slow clinically. I think that our director is trying to ease us into the program. I'm ready to start doing more with patients and I think things are going to start picking up in the next couple of days. Outside of clinic things are very busy. Between literature reading, lab work, and a couple classes there doesn't seem to much spare time. Well, I take that back, I do spend more time with the family each day than I did during most of dental school. We're enjoying Ohio and still glad we're hear. Porter mentioned the other day that he wants to stay here forever.

Ward Camp Out

Our ward had a camp out last weekend at Alum Creek Reservoir. There were tons of families and kids. Porter and Peyton had a blast. The ran and ran and ran. Porter got to play monkey in the middle with the Frisbee and later on in the evening one of our friends let him use his head light and the running continued. He had a blast. The pictures depicts the boys and myself trying to go to sleep. They just giggled and laughed. Peyton thought it was pretty cool to be in the tent with Porter and Dad. Erin had a blast staying up late with the ladies talking like girls can do. We think we might like to do it again.

Man VS Food Thurman's Cafe Columbus, Ohio

Ok, so...have you ever watched the show on tv called man vs food? I can't say that I have, but there are several fellow residents that love the show and one of the episodes was actually filmed in Columbus. It's called the Thurmanator. Aproximately 1.5 lbs of beef, covered with ham, onions, cheese, bacon, etc. If you look closely at the picture it's about the size of Nate's head. He ate it in less than 30 minutes, and without any problems. I ate the 3 cheese burger with bacon. It was suppose to 1.5 lbs of cheese on the burger along with a 3/4 lbs of beef. I ordered it mainly to see how much cheese that would be on a burger. To my disappointment it looked like the normal amount of cheese. The burgers were huge and even better they were very good.

ESPN Gameday in Columbus, OH OSU vs. USC

All of us decided to brave the OSU USC gameday festivities on Saturday with some of our new friends. It was actually a lot of fun. We participated in the dental school tailgate party and then wondered around the vendor tents to see all the free things we might be able to win. I think we have about 100 free cheeseburgers redeemable at the nearest AM PM; we still need to look up and see if there is actually one located in Columbus. We had a great time. It ended up being a pretty good game, disappointing in the end. Especially since everyone will be disgruntled and talking about it for the next couple of weeks. Fortunately for us the Cougars and Broncos did just fine this past week. So, spirits are high around our house.

Left to right: Laura and Nate Farley (kids: Maggie and Sam), Laura and Jeff Pack (kids: Ethan and Austin), and Us.


This is Daddy and the boys trying to pose for the Heisman picture in front of the sports illustrated tent.


This is the real Heisman trophy...well I'm not really sure about that, but we liked it.

Winterset Wildcat

Porter started kindergarten...hooray! Friday was Porter's first day of school. The teacher had a little orientation for the parents while the kids got to play on the playground for an hour. I was a little bit nervous because I didn't want a repeat of last years drama in Pre-K. Much to my surprise, Porter did amazing!!! I went to say goodbye to him and he just waved and said, "Bye Mom!" No crying, no holding on to my leg, no screaming...SWEET!!! Let's just pray he continues to do well. Peyton and I get alone time together, but we sure will miss having Porter around. He is such a good kid and I know that he will do great this year!

spider boys

O-HI-O

So, we are really loving Ohio! There is so much to do here and the people are so friendly. Our new ward is HUGE! It is a shock because we just came from the small Conestoga Branch. I got a new calling as a Sunday school teacher for the 14 and 15 year olds. I love it!!! I miss primary a lot, but I'm loving teaching the older kids. Lynn got called as the Young Men's Secretary. It's a perfect calling for him right now because he can participate in the activities when he wants to, but he still has the option of not going if he is really busy with residency.

We have had fun swimming in our community pool. Porter has made friends super fast and we've already had quite a few play dates. I'm grateful for the kindness of the ladies out here, they are so good to invite us places. I have made friends fast as well! Relief Society is so great because whenever you move you've got an instant group of friends. Lynn is getting excited for football season, people are crazy about it out here. I've already made plans with a group of ladies to leave the kids with the football watching men, and taking a trip to the outlet mall.

I have to say that we miss Omaha a ton, but we are so blessed to be in Columbus now.

Sick of Dumb Ads on the Web

I just learned the other day about a great feature available with the firefox web browser. You can block all the adds that appear on most web pages. Download firefox if you don't have it and the google Ad Block and it should take you to the page where you can download the program and just like that those adds are gone. Cool!!!!

Powerful Lesson

I was preparing my talk this week and found myself trying to understand some of the covenant we make being members of the church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. Here is a very powerful piece of information in regards to covenant making with the Lord. It can be found in the bible dictionary. If you really want to gain the full meaning of the statement read the reference.

The gospel is so arranged that principles and ordinances are received by covenant placing the recipient under strong obligation and responsibility to honor the commitment. Thus the severe consequences to Ananias and Sapphira, who deliberately broke their covenant and lied unto God (Acts 5: 1-11).

Fun Teeth Attempt One

Here is Porter trying in my "new teeth." I'm making some cool teeth. Final product...stay tuned. It was kind of funny. I came home and saw Porter. I told him to pretend box with me. When he hit my head I said, "Ouch!" and spit out my new fake teeth. I continued to lightly proclaim my pain and concern that he "knocked out my teeth." His eye initially became real big with surprise. He immediately stated with question, "Those aren't real?!?" Of course, trying to continue the effect, replied with, "yes, they are and you knocked them out." I had enough fun and began to laugh with him as I showed my my real teeth. He, of course, laughed right along with me. He then wanted to try them in. Thus, the picture. Don't worry they're clean.

Building Lego Blocks for the Lego Master building Yoda

My wonderful, amazing, beautiful wife and friend!

I was just thinking about what a wonderfully blessed family I have. Especially in regards to the woman I'm married to. I'm writing this to let her know publicly how tremendously wonderful she is. Let me explain why she is so amazing.

Our typical daily activity:

I get up at 5:00 ish every morning. I quickly and quietly get myself ready for school and sneak out the door in hopes that I don't awake Erin or the boys. After you here the rest of my account a better understanding of my sneakiness will be understood. I then remain at work/school from 5:30 AM until about 5:00 PM. Depending on traffic and patient's I get home anywhere from 5:00 PM to 6:30 PM. While I'm away Erin gets up with the kids and gets them ready for each days activities. This includes grooming, clothing, breakfast, and their whining demands (very frequent whining demands). She then plans, organizes, and executes daily activities to help the boys learn, grow, and not go crazy. She also takes care of our food, supplies, and most of our bills. She then wrestles with Peyton each afternoon trying to get him to take a much needed nap at the same time Porter, I'm sure, is continually prodding for more this or that (usually game time on the computer). Once the boys are both awake again she begins again the list of tasks and activities mentioned above. Oh, did I mention in this crazy schedule she finds time to do the laundry, clean the house, all at the same time encouraging our boys to learn, from her example, important lessons in life regarding responsibility and hard work. After noticing that the day is coming closer to the time I get to return home, she commences the labor of preparing a wonderful family dinner that will be ready in time for my arrival. She does this I know to ensure that we can all eat around the table together as a family. She does this even though she'll often get a call saying I might be a little later than planned due to lab work or traffic. If I do get home late she always has a plate waiting for me ready to eat. We then spend the next couple hours together as a family doing as much as we can together. We say our prayers and read our scriptures and, depending on the work load I have, we help each other put the kids to bed or she puts the kids to bed. Usually she take the more difficult child, Peyton; because she knows how much I have to try to accomplish with the little time left in the day. I then descend to my cave and read for the next couple hours until I can no longer keep my eyes open. Erin spends this time as her much needed personal time. Often staying up as late as I in order to get to talk with one another before we go to bed. It never fails that not too long after we fall asleep Peyton awakes. Often I don't hear him, but I know that it happens as I awake and pass through the living room only to find Erin and Peyton on the couch fast asleep. Both exhausted from another short interrupted night.

I mention this because it truly exhausts me to think about how crappy our life may seem and how uninviting, to most women, Erin's life may appear; and to most I think they would "never put up with it." Erin does more than just put up with it...she makes it seem wonderful. Our life has followed a very similar pattern for the past 4.5 years and I know I can count on 1 hand, maybe 1 finger the times that I've heard her complain. I know I've done more complaining and expressed my stress way more often than she. She is amazing as accepting our situation and making the best of it (that sounds a lot like some other perfect being we all know and love) She's always encouraging me to do better and thanking me for working so hard. She is the closest I'll ever be to someone or something so perfect. She is supportive and positive which allows the rest of our family greater ability to do the same. I can't express enough how wonderfully perfect she is.

I felt like I should write this and I think it was a great exercise. It let me see really how much she does for myself and our family each day. She is probably one of the least selfish people I've ever met.
I love you Erin.

Porter's 5th Birthday

Porter decided that he could do whatever he wanted on his birthday, so most of his day was spent playing games on the computer, swimming, and playing with his toys by himself.

The Dragon Cake

Porter's new bike from Grandma and Grandpa Gurney

Porter really wanted to go to Chuck E. Cheeses for pizza and games. We tried to talk him into going some where else for dinner, but he insisted that the pizza was delicious, so we had to eat there.

Porter got really excited when he saw Chuck E. Cheese

This is Peyton's face when he saw
Chuck E. Cheese

So I posted this because Lynn sang Happy Birthday to "Peytor". I think he forgot whose birthday it was.