Brooke and Brenna!!!

A couple weeks ago we found out our ward was getting split. I let the Porters know and my sister Jody planned an emergency trip up for Brooke and Brenna to meet some unnamed boys in our ward that most likely would by in a different ward after the split (Despite Jody's intentions, Brooke and Brenna were very quick to inform us they were strictly here to hang out with us). When I told Kenley they were coming she nearly hyperventilated with excitement. Although a blind date with the boys didn't work out since it was the oldest boy's homecoming on Sunday, we had a fabulous time! They came in to town last Saturday afternoon so I met them up at T.J. Maxx and then introduced them to DSW. We did some shopping and then headed home to eat some Panda Express with Mike and Kenley and enjoy a night in.

After Kenley went to bed we decided to make Beignets since I had a mix. They didn't taste anything like the ones at Cafe Du Monde but we managed to eat a few anyway. Then we watched Wimbledon and Taken before finally going to bed at 2:00 a.m. These girls are so much fun to hang out with!


The next morning we went to church where the girls had a very awkward but hilarious meeting of the 2 boys. Brooke also caught some boys talking excitedly about having Brenna join their class. The girls were trying to get pictures of Kenley afterwards but with us she just wanted to lift her legs up and be swung.


When we tried to get a picture with the girls, she wanted to crouch down like they were.


If the girls stood up it was hard to get everyone in the picture given their height.


Luckily Brenna finally got a good one in front of our blue wall.


Midway during her undressing, Kenley decided she just wanted to play and ended up running around with her tights half way down. We couldn't convince her for quite awhile to finish getting undressed. Crazy girl!


During Kenley's nap, we somehow got into the discussion of Mike wanting to race Brenna (she is a track star). I don't even know how but that somehow evolved into us deciding to make a movie about the race. It was so hilarious. We had zero plan as we were filming where we were going with it but as we got to each point we just came up with ideas and props and a lot of improv. We personally thought the final product was pretty great but you can judge for yourself.

Some still shots of the race:


The super sisters!


The final product:


After filming, Mike and I headed to the church to find out the boundaries of the split. It turned out to be a good thing the girls came when they did as the unnamed boys ended up in a different ward. When we came home the girls were keeping Kenley very well entertained by this activity:


We had another late night watching Leap Year and doing film editing and then bid a sad farewell early in the morning. I just LOVE my nieces and nephews and really hope we can have another girls' weekend soon!!! Kenley hasn't stopped talking about "brookebrenna" since they left. We love you Brooke and Brenna!!!

Discovery Center

For Christmas Mike's parents gave us a family membership to the Discovery Center. What a fun gift!!! Kenley loves all the hands on activities and Mike and I love reading about the science behind each. Having a membership is so fun too because we don't feel like we have to see everything every time we go. We are looking forward to many trips in the upcoming year. Below are pictures of our first trip there in early January.


Kenley riding the pulley chair as though it is a roller coaster. So glad I have a future roller coaster riding buddy!!!!


Watching the magnetic ring pop.


Pushing the bellows on the wind pipe.


Feeling the tornado build up.


The final stop is a little kids' grocery store which is a major hit. It's a good thing it is at the end of the road or we wouldn't have been able to convince Kenley to look at anything else.

I Love My Friends!

When we were in high school, one of our favorite things to do was to dig in to our extensive costume closets, dress as crazy as possible, and go out in public. Last weekend Shannon, Renee, and I were planning a girls' night and decided we needed to flash back to old times and dress up for the occasion. We decided it would be funniest to dress up such that people wouldn't be sure whether or not we were serious.

Don't we look lovely? This is evidence of why I wear only mascara. . . adding more makeup makes me look like a drag queen.


The full ensembles. . . Shannon in her animal print on animal print on animal print. . . me in my pirate drag queen get-up. . . Renne and her yellow and gold glitz. I think I was definitely the one who made people really question whether or not it was a joke. We went to Cafe Ole (a high school favorite) and then wandered around downtown mixing with the Friday night crowd. We definitely got a lot of looks and whispers about the old cougar women obviously trying too hard on a Friday night. . . which is exactly what we were going for! I'm so glad that I have friends who are still willing to go off the wall with me.

Happy Valentine's Day!!!

This year for Valentine's Day we had the great privilege of having Mike home for the day so that was a real treat!


It was always my family's tradition to have a big Valentines breakfast with as many pink or red dishes as possible. So, I took charge of breakfast this year.


I made heart shaped french toast with strawberry butter (might be a new favorite recipe) and strawberry syrup, pink hot chocolate with pink whipped cream, mixed fruit, a berry smoothie, and heart shaped raspberry muffins (that I forgot about and they got totally charred in the oven so we didn't actually eat them). That held us over for several hours!


After breakfast Kenley and I got cleaned up and met a couple of her friends at the Discovery Center. Mike tried to go fishing but sadly, the river was too high. Above is Kenley with her good friend Ruby on the pulley chair.


Kenley and her friend Ally trying to get the stuffed animals to spin in the centripetal wheel.


Kenley showing off our Valentine door where we hung all the Valentines we got. She also thinks she is showing her Valentine's Pez dispenser but isn't doing too great of a job of that.


After Kenley went to bed, Mike made me an amazing dinner!


Finger potatoes, grilled steak and asparagus, and ciabatta rolls. Everything was at least as good as what you would get at a fine restaurant. DELICIOUS!!!!


And what better picture to end on than dessert! Hot lava cakes with toffee bits, rasberries and whipped cream. YUM!!!!!

I'm so grateful for my 2 Valentines!!!!!

Valentine's Party!

There are a couple Valentine's crafts that I had been wanting to do with Kenley but was afraid I would never get around to them. So, I decided the best way to ensure I would do them, was to invite some of her friends to come over and do them with us. So, last Wednesday Kenley and I had a little party with 8 of her friends. The kids did crafts, made Valentines, ate, and just ran around the house and played. It was so simple but so much fun. It might have to become a tradition.


I figured this would be the perfect opportunity for me to self indulge and show the wreath that my friend and I made a couple weeks ago. It was simple but took forever! I hung it out front for the party.


In addition to a Mickey Mouse Clubhouse Valentine from Kenley, we sent each kid home with Valentine's pencils and erasers.


All set and ready for the guests to arrive. Kenley was getting a head start on the art day by coloring while waiting.


This is a typical Kenley thing to do. . . contort her body while working on something.



A couple shots of her cute party guests working away.



For snacks I served PB&J sandwiches cut out into heart shapes and Valentine's chex mix. I also meant to cook up some Pillsbury Valentine cookies but totally forgot!


This was the only organized craft we did. . . a Valentine tree in which the kids could glue their heart leaves wherever they wanted. My mom used to do these with us when we were little. Kenley was pretty proud of hers. In addition, she got all her Valentines made for her grandparents. We had such a great time. . . especially Kenley. She couldn't stop talking about all her friends who came to visit (anytime the doorbell rang she would say "My friends!"). Can't wait until next year!

Snow!!!

Well, this is very late but on 18 January we had our first (and only) real snowstorm. We woke up to several inches and it kept up all morning. Unfortunately by late afternoon it turned to rain for the next several days so what we did get was gone before long. Luckily we took full advantage of that quick window of time and went outside to build a "Frosty."

Kenley ready to go outside and play in the white stuff.


Kenley checking out the snowfall in the backyard.


The snow wasn't enough to keep Daisy from giving Kenley her usual affection. LOVE that cat!


It was a decent workout for Kenley to walk through the snow. . . especially in her large boots that we bought her to fit for next year as well.


Mike and Kenley working away on Frosty.


Kenley and I showing off the finished product. We placed him so that Kenley could see him from her bedroom window.


2 hugs for Frosty.


The front yard with our Frosty snowball trails winding throughout.


I can't let a snowfall pass without making a snow angel! Sadly I wasn't able to convince Kenley to join me.


Afterwards we went inside to make a delicious pot of Ghirardelli's hot chocolate! What a perfect way to spend a day together.

Reunion Weekend

This past weekend Kenley and I made a trip to Utah where I was able to meet up with some dear friends that I hadn't seen in years. We had such a great time and despite getting little sleep, Kenley was a trooper and loved every visit as much as I did. It made me so grateful for the amazing people I have known throughout my life and I can't wait for another visit both with these same people and the long list of other people I wasn't able to meet with on this trip.


While I was packing Kenley's clothes, she left her room for a bit and then came back to let me know that her Smurfs were in the "soupcase." I went and looked and sure enough she had packed her Smurfs, making sure they weren't left behind. I thought that was so cute!

Friday we drove to Salt Lake and went straight to IKEA. . . one of my favorite places! After a pretty awful drive with Kenley (I don't think either of us have ever been that mad at each other), it was nice to let her get out and run around. I think she enjoyed the stop as much as I did.

After being thoroughly overwhelmed at IKEA, we headed into SLC to stay the night with my cousin Trent. He is one of my favorite people and we hadn't seen each other since my wedding! It was SO fun to get caught up and laugh at all our crazy Hendricks' personality traits.


Saturday morning (after a crazy night of Kenley waking up for 4 hours), we walked half a block up the street for breakfast at The Park Cafe. There was a long wait so we crossed the street to walk through Liberty Park which was gorgeous with the morning frost. Breakfast was amazing. After that we went to the Tracy Aviary which is directly across the street from his house. Kenley LOVED seeing all the birds (once she got past the shock of sticking her fingers in the first cage and getting bit).


Luckily the aviary had some of these photo cut-outs which I love.


I didn't bring my camera on this outing so the only photos I have are the ones Trent took on his phone. Sadly that means I only ended up with this photo of Trent. Kenley just LOVED him though!


After the aviary we went to the playground at Liberty Park and let Kenley play on the swings and slides (and slip on the ice and fall in a puddle. . . would've been a great photo op). It was a gorgeous day and we had such a great time. I just LOVE LOVE LOVE my cousin Trent and know we can't go 8 years without seeing each other again.


That evening Kenley and I traveled to Lehi to stay with my MTC companion Happy. I hadn't seen her since she visited Houston about 4 years ago. She is one of my most trusted friends and we get along so perfectly. We were totally obsessed with each other on our mission. . . though sadly we never had the chance to serve with each other once we made it to Norway. We stayed up until 3:00 a.m. getting caught up.


The next morning we managed to get ourselves out of bed and to church with the kiddos. The highlight of that was sneaking into the kitchen after Sunday School to eat our kids' leftover snacks. Above is a shot of Kenley with Happy's beautiful daughter Teya after church. She is the sweetest girl! Unfortunately we couldn't get her son Dallin to get in this picture.

We spent the rest of the day resting and doing more visiting. . . which I'm pretty sure the 2 of us could do indefinitely.

Luckily Dallin agreed to get in some pictures before we left. This photo cracks me up so much (the macho guy and indifferent girl). What a cutie. Kenley just loved playing with him and Teya. They were so good at sharing with her.


And finally the shot of the 3 of them. Dallin's look is priceless and Teya looks just as sweet as she is. . . and Kenley is eating which is appropriate. It was SOOOOOO great to be able to get caught up with such a dear friend and I'm so excited to have her living closer (she moved recently from Florida).


That evening we drove to Provo to stay with my best friend and roommate from my last 2 years of college Allyson. So many happy memories came flooding through my mind as I drove in to Provo. Allyson and I started laughing as soon as we saw each other and didn't stop until Kenley and I left on Tuesday!

Allyson has a beautiful house up on the mountain. This is the view from her front porch. I went to sleep to the most amazing view each night.



Monday morning Kenley enjoyed a bath with Allyson's kids Max and Zoe. We can't wait to pull these photos out to embarrass them in 20 years when Kenley and Zoe are roommates and Kenley and Max are dating (we have it all figured out).

We spent most of the day laughing and reminiscing and going through Allyson's old scrap book from those years (that also led to some depression. . . me at my lack of wrinkles back then and Allyson at how thin she was).


That evening I was able to meet up with my amazing nieces Kylie and Brooke. They are involved with BYUSA so they showed me their offices before I took them to dinner at The Brick Oven (it was a memorable location where Allyson and I would study while enjoying the all-you-can-eat pasta bar). I don't think we passed a single guy all evening who didn't take the time to check them out. . . they are just so cute! Then I took them to the Malt Shop (another memorable location with a long, funny story). Afterwards they showed me their cute condo. I seriously love these girls!


Kenley insisted on bringing her 2 dolls into their condo so I told her she had to carry them herself. She did so happily.

Tuesday I was able to have lunch with 2 of the youth we knew in Houston, Andrew and Shantel. Sadly I didn't get any pictures of that reunion. It was so great to see them and introduce them to Kenley. They were both doing so great and seemed so happy which just made me so thrilled.


Before making the trek home, we had to have a Cold Stone run with Allyson. This place is what got us through the chemical engineering program! We went with our friend Rick after every test and the highest scorer would pay for the lowest scorer. We also went there for every bad day, good day, celebration, you name it. LOVE this place.


Zoe and Kenley being taught about the power of Cold Stone.

After we finished our ice cream, Kenley and I hopped in the car and headed home. It was such an awesome trip. I'm overwhelmed with gratitude for the amazing people and experiences I have had in my life.