Help Has Arrived

And it has come in the form of my friend Angie.

I am spending 2 days a week in the office so I can get more work done and Sean is spending 2 days a week hanging out with Angie. Monday was the first day and Angie won Sean over with cookies. He told me repeatedly after she left, "Mom, Angie cookies."

Angie is also shuttling the other 2 kids around town as needed as well. I have to say it is nice to get a break so I hope we don't send Angie running away anytime soon.

First Day of School

Finally. I was starting to think school would never start.

Kira looked smashing in her first day of school outfit. I have to say it looked like something straight out of my closet, except the sparkly, I am little old for sparkly.

Andrew, well we were just glad he made it there.

Ron's Auto Shop

This is a photo of my dad's auto shop, Ron's Auto Shop. He has been in business for many years and my siblings and myself spent a lot of time hanging out at this shop. The best part about being at the shop were the donuts, bb guns, owl pellets, canal to explore when dried up, a riding lawn mower, and getting to drive before being legal. There are many stories about what went on here that we love to laugh about. My favorite was the time my brother shot my grandma in the head with a bb gun.

This week Andrew has been hanging out with my dad at the shop and I was happy to send him to experience all the fun things I experienced as a kid. I found out today that he burned himself a little. When I heard it involved carburetor fluid and a blow torch I was quick to stop the conversation. I don't want to know any more.

Andrew, have fun and come back alive.

A Big Party

Most of you know the Porter's love a good party so we were thrilled to spend Saturday night at Julia and Lester wedding reception. It was a packed house, with good fun, yummy cake and our favorite, a DJ. We danced the night away and even Sean got his groove on.

I decided to let the kids have full run of the camera and with Andrew only being 9 and shorter then most adults we got a lot of up the nose shots. Here are few.

The groom, an image from down below.

Sorry Mariah, not your best shot.

Not sure who this is, but another up the nose shot.

Wow! A good shot of Maddie.

Trying to show Andrew how the camera works.

Another good one for you Lisa.

The bride and groom.

Good shot of the gym by Kira.

Andrew and Austin trying to figure out what to do with this fork with out any food.

My most favorite part of the night was watching all the kids get down on the dance floor. Andrew and his friends were really getting down and some cute female teenagers kept wanting to get their picture taken with Andrew and his friends. It was hysterical watching it all take place.

And, of course Sean did his share of dancing. You will have to go to facebook to see this video as videos from Tom's iPhone4 are too large to upload here.

http://www.facebook.com/video/video.php?v=1332640688423&ref=mf

A Great Way to Spend a Saturday Morning...

is at the temple watching our good friends daughter Julia, get married to our other friends son, Lester. It was wonderful to watch, and to be reminded of the covenants and blessings that come to us when we are sealed.

My favorite part was that the sealer miss-pronounced their names repeatedly. Julia went from being a Hanee-yak-e to a Piñata. That should be a Hanaike and Pineda. It made for a good giggle and I am sure Tom will be calling them the Piñatas for a long time.

Here are few pictures from this morning compliments of Andrew.

Waiting for the Bride and Groom. Not sure what is up with the faces.

Mother of the Bride and the Maid of Honor.

Sean loved hanging out on temple grounds. He kept trying to get into everyone car.

More waiting.

The Newlyweds.

Just coming out of the temple.

The Pineda Family

The father and mother of the Bride. Nancy and Reggie, you should have more children get married. I haven't seen you both look this good in a long time.

Seriously...

What is wrong with this kid?

We finally got some sun for a short period of time so Andrew, Sean and I dropped everything and headed to the beach. Nothing beats throwing rocks and...

eating sand.

Jade's Favorite Things #4

Neighbors who share.

When I told my neighbor Chuck that I was attempting to remodel our downstairs bathroom on my own, he showed up at my door shortly after. With him was a Miter saw (which I needed badly), a nail gun with the compressor (super cool), and a bag full of tools that I needed. Along with the tools, he gave me a 45 minute lesson on how to do all the things I was about to do. The result has been 3 days of the most fun, and a bathroom that is looking pretty good.

I can now patch a wall (due to the leaking of the upstairs bathroom that has been fixed), and install baseboards. I have discovered the joy of working with power tools and my Christmas list has just been established (hint, hint Tom).

Some of you might think I am crazy but my neighbor Chuck will never quite know the level of joy he has brought into my life. Thanks Chuck!

Now I am off to find a neighbor that is a plumber and can show me how to change the shower fixtures.