My 5 year old

The kids and I are in Utah, and I have a lot of stuff to blog about. But today is a very special day in our family. It celebrates the day our little family went from 3 to 4. It's the day the boys in the family tripled in numbers. It's one of my favorite days of the year. It's my little Porter man's birthday! I cannot imagine life without Porter in it. He brings so much excitement, love and adventure into our family. He has been counting down his birthday for months this year, and he couldn't wait to be 5. He jumped out of bed this morning and said, pointing up and down to his body "Look how much taller I am. Can you believe I'm this much taller now that I'm 5! Just look!" Then when he came downstairs he started to run around and said, "Look how much faster I am, just watch!" As he raced back and forth in my mom's living room.
Today I took him to Chuck E. Cheese for lunch. He loved it. He did notice that I didn't pay the big bucks to be a chuckee cheese "star" birthday kid, and was a little disappointed in that. I just told him he didn't need an inflatable hat to be a star kid, he could be one if he wanted to.

We then went to see Toy Story and played with his new toys. We're doing cake and ice cream when Brandon gets here and Grandma and Papa Bishop are back from camp. Overall though it's been a great day!

Some fun things about Porter are: He is tough as nails. Size doesn't matter to him, if you tick him off or someone he loves he'll come at you like a spider monkey.

He has one of tenderest hearts I've seen. He cares deeply for other's feelings and making sure that everything, treats, prizes, etc, are fair.

He idolizes his big brother to no end, and is incredibly thoughtful towards him. No matter what!

He LOVES being a big brother to the worlds cutest sister. He loves to play with her and make her laugh. They have such a great bond, I love watching them play. For that reason alone I'm a little nervous for him to go to kindergarten. Olivia is going to be so bored with just me to play with:)

Porter loves to play, and he plays hard. I've always wished I could bottle up his energy to sale. We'd be pretty darn rich if I could:) I know everyone thinks their kids are amazing, but really Porter is. We are so happy he is in our family. And that 5 years ago I laid in a hospital bed, looking at his chubby bruised little face and feeling so incredibly grateful for this special boy. We just love you Porter, Always! Always!

4th of July

The last few months, I've read several different books based on different women who live in other countries and different periods of time in history. One thing that I've always thought after reading these books was how grateful I am to have been born in a free country. I love being able to say what I want to say, go where I want to go, believe how I want to believe, and to just have the freedoms I have. I love the opportunity to celebrate those brave men and women who risked their lives to gain my freedom and for those men and women who continue to fight to keep us free. Since the 4th fell on a Sunday this year, we're having ample opportunities to celebrate this wonderful holiday.
We went and watched fireworks at the golf course the other night. We tried taking a family picture, which truly is a challenge for us:)

This was Olivia's first experience with fireworks. She was nervous at first and just laid down on my chest and didn't move. After the first few minutes she slowly sat up and just stared up at the sky, watching in awe the magic of fireworks.

Porter definitely is not a huge fan of fireworks. I think they make him a little nervous. He just wanted to lay down right next to me and have me hold him.

Logan loves to try to be silly in EVERY picture we take.

This is Olivia's face a lot these days. She loves to pull this surprise, shocked look all the time. Her new favorite word is "Look!" and "Cheese!" Which she says for the food and for taking pictures.

Michigan is definitely AMAZING during the summer time. We love the beaches here, and the weather is usually really nice here. Brandon doesn't have to take any call these days. He can take cases he wants and give away the ones he doesn't, so he's had a little more free time than normal. We're loving having him around with us.