Happy Halloween from the BOO-ter Family!
Ok, so Brody is going to be a ghost...and I made him this mask...which he LOVES (cough...not really). He FA-REAKED out when I put it on him...it was sad, yet SO funny. It took me forever to take a picture because I was laughing so hard. 
If you hold his arms down really tight he'll keep it on.
Anyway- HAPPY HALLOWEEN FROM US. 
Don't be jealous...I can make you a mask too if you REALLY want one! (wink, wink.)HAPPY BIRTHDAY to my little sister, DANICA LEONE.
Just wanted to write one or two or a few things about her that I love her.
1. She is the biggest smart-a and can be quite intimidating if you get on her "wrong side"...yet she has the softest, most tender heart ever and will do anything for you if you ask her to.
Remember when you were like 3 and we lived in Vernon and we'd all be sitting around the bar eating breakfast and you would walk in all happy and say "Mornin' every-body!" So cute. As time went on...you weren't quite as "chipper" in the morning.
Remember when I used to come home from college and you would be sleeping and I would sneak into your room and whisper, "Danica...Dannnnnica...psssst....Danica....NICA." Each time I got a little louder and louder until finally I was yelling at you? You would kind of smile and then put a pillow over your head.
2. When we worked at Torreon together (I was a server and she was a busser) she could lift the really HEAVY trays. She could lift more than most of the guys that worked there. Hence the nickname "MAN-ica".
Remember when I wasn't very nice to you my senior year, your freshman year? I regret that...I should have been a lot nicer to you.
Remember when we would help each other through our "boy troubles" and would just listen and try to cheer each other up? You were always there for me.
3. She is very creative and crafty and very talented. She can do and make so many different things.
Remember when you were like 4 and it was around Christmas time and we were playing Airplane. I would lay on my back and you would sit on my feet and I would FLING you through the air onto the couch. One time I flung you too hard and you went WAY up high and not far enough out and you broke your fall with your arm....and your arm broke? Then remember that one time all my High School friends were over and we were sliding down the basement stairs on a sleeping bag and we talked you into doing it and you were clumsy and somehow broke your arm. TWO broken bones...both my fault.
4. You are a great sister and aunt. You have so much love for me and Brody...and everyone else you care about.
Remember how pretty you were on your wedding day? You looked absolutely gorgeous. I even got a little teary-eyed when I first saw you all dolled up. I knew you were going to be an amazing wife and mother someday.
Remember when you had a MAJOR growth spurt and grew like 5 inches and totally towered over me? I looked up to you...and still do. Physically and spiritually.
5. She has always had a funny since of humor. One time, while we were in Texas visiting my Nanny and Grandaddy, my Nanny told Danica that she was "as cute as a little button head." Danica quickly replied, "I'm not a BUTTHEAD!!" (By the way...is a button head cute??)
Remember when I would come home late and you would be downstairs watching a movie and I would wait in the hall bathroom until you came walking by and then I would jump out at you and yell "RAHHHHHHHHHHH!!!". You would always jump SO high and scream like a little girl. You were always so easy to scare.
Alright...well HAPPY BIG #22! I love you lots and hope you have a great day!!
This is one of the projects I've been working on. I just have to bind it. I think that it turned out pretty good...but I'll let you know after I bind it. I actually made 2 exactly like this one. I call it {what boys are made out of}
(I actually got the idea from Jessica's friends blog...http://www.aquiltisnice.blogspot.com/) She's Brilliant.
Wow! What a past week. Between school, company, work, Brindi going into the MTC, getting our basement back together, and LIFE I've been pretty darn busy! We had such a fun time with Mom and Pops Porter. They are fun to have around. We did a lot of last minute shopping for Brindi. We went and watched "FOREVER STONG"....LOVED it. Enjoyed the breakfast run to The Great Harvest (aka...the best bread in the world). I also played Poppa Lon in a game of raquetball...in which I got my butt kicked. He switched to left hand eventually- to give me a chance! (Note to self: practice so that next time he comes up I won't embarrass myself.) I even hit him 3 times with the ball...and he didn't back down. Here he is playing with Brody. 
Saying goodbye to Sister Brindi Porter. We will most definatley miss her.
Ok. So in the mall...Brindi and I were getting SICK of shopping so we decided to rap. I think it went something like this: (just so you know...I was the one bustin out the "yo, yo, yo's" and "Oh ya's" and "WHAT's".
Yo Yo Yo. My name is Brindi
You got that? I say, I say, I'm not trendy. Oh ya.
You see that fur coat?
Yo, I think it looks like a goat. Ohhhhhhh.
(then me Beat-boxin in the background)
Shopping fo' hats, boots, shoes, skirts, shirts...
Yo I think I'd rather eat dirt. WHHHHAT?
What you lookin' at me fo'...
Yep, that's right- you're a silly HO!
Ohhhhhhhhhhhhhhh.
(we said that because girls in the store were looking at us like we were retarded.)
Anyway- I will truely miss her for the next 18 months. She rocks.
Brody will also give you kisses if you ask him to (most of the time)...completed with the "lip-smacking" sound. It is awesome. Except sometimes I have to beg. He's not "easy" ladies! :)
Well, I'm pretty sure that is all for now...plus I'm off of work in 10...nope, make that 9 minutes...so I gotta run. Love to all!
PS. I'm thinking that I just might be the first white rapper chick. Maybe I'll sign a label this week.
Brody has been up to A LOT lately. He loves to help me with the dishes and laundry. He's best at UN-loading the dishwasher and UN-folding the laundry...but at least he trys! He says now says"aqua"...for those or you who don't speak spanish, that means "water". 
He also does some sign language. "more" and "please". And he will point to his eye when you tell him too. It amazes me how fast little tykes learn.
He is a little more focused when playing with his toys. He used to just dump everything out and then throw it around. Now I'll catch him actually sitting down...everyonce in a while. (Don't get me wrong...he is still SUPER busy.)
It is also cold enough for full body thermals. Our heater is on. Sweaters are put back on hangers. Snow shovel is ready. Socks, slippers, sweats, ear muffs, turtlenecks, and heavy blankets are all ready to go. I just don't think I'm mentally prepared for winter yet!
I finished one of my baby quilts....BUT I FORGOT TO TAKE A PICTURE OF IT. Darn. I thought it turned out really cute too. Not perfect, but dang cute. I'll have to get a picture of the next one.
So, guess who the new face of Provo City is...
IT'S ME!! (Don't laugh. It was WAY unexpected and there are A LOT of other really cute girls here. I just somehow got nominated.) 
So that picture (which is NOT the bestest best picture of me) was blown up to a 10 X 30 and then it was also plastered all over the city brochures. EMMMMMbarrassing. I thought that maybe since I'm a diva now they should give me a "hair and make-up" room as well as bottled water on a daily basis.
When I was in 7th grade I came home from a basketball practice to an empty house. My family was most likely gone doing their after-hours cleaning job. (I just LOVED that job...) Anyway, so I walk in and here this loud "werrrrsssssshhhhhhhhhh sound", kind of like a waterfall. So I start examining. Kitchen...nothing. Outside faucet....nothing. Family room....nothing. Hall bathroom...HOLY COW...a FOUNTAIN!! I panicked. What to do with all that water? Needless to say, it was a mess. The basement was flooded and yada-yada-yada.
I tell this story to tell another story. Tuesday morning I wake up to this sound, "TARA!!! COME DOWN STAIRS NOW!!! I NEED YOUR HELP!" I'm thinking, "Oh great- what did I do now?" I put my contacts in and run downstairs and then as I'm running down the basement stairs I hear, "THE BASEMENT IS FLOODING." I instantly had a flash back to that panicky feeling of my 7th grade year....OH CRAP. (Talk about a RUDE awakening.)
I hit the bottom floor with a "squish" and proceed to the bedroom. Only to find the window well FILLED with water, which is gushing through the seals, running/spraying down the wall, and the carpet SOAKED with water.
{Trace is modeling how high the water was...}
As the insainly crazy morning proceeds we get the mattresses, beds, love sac, blankets, and everything else OUT of the soggy basement. I call Provo City and then send a guy over to turn off the water. We also realized how "lucky" we were because the neighbors basement window busted out from all the water pressure. A LOT more damage would have occurred if that had happened. Anyway- come to find out it was a broken sprinkler line and it flooded ours PLUS 3 others. We had a DISASTER cleaning company come and start the process.
The carpet is ACTUALLY light brown...
As of today...the process is still going on. It is SO hot and humid down there....and windy. 
Our living room is packed with a BIG wooden bed frame, two love sacs, box springs, 2 couches, a bench, blankets, and other what not. Looks like we'll be spending a LOT of time out in the park. Either that or doing more of this...
Other than the mess...I don't think MUCH damage was done. Plus HOA issurance is going to cover all the what-not. Anyway, that's what the Utah Porter's have been up too. Welp, big gulps huh?
Ok, so I saw a few people do this a while ago and I thought that since my memory is ALREADY bad enough I should probably write some things down.
1. Building ant "forts" with little bark wood chip things in the flower bed in front of our Holbrook house with Rustin. (Yes, I lived in Hell...I mean Holbrook.)
2. Going camping at Heart's Canyon with ALL the Pearces. There were a TON of us. I also remember eating lots of starburst and licorace.
3. Grandma Leone taking out her dentures and dressing like a freaky bum and doing a skit that involved a paper doll chain. I'm not really sure of the purpose or what the story was about, but I remember thinking my Grandma was funny.
4. Grandma Leone could build the BEST forts.
5. Going to Texas for a week in the summer. We spent the days playing Dominoes, water skiing, swimming, fishing, riding in the paddle boat, and building puzzles. Cold cereal in the morning and dinner at an all you can eat Diner...or Taco Bell.
6. Going to Six Flags when I was 6 and getting a little pink bunny fan...and LOVING it. I also rode the big "BOAT" ride and got sick from swinging back and forth.
7. Moving to Vernon and living in the camper trailor for a week or so. Then as time progressed building a back deck, a storage shed, putting a rock wall around the front of it, planting TONS of trees, building a barn in the back corner, putting in a garden right in front of the barn. I also remember butchering the chickens and chasing them around the yard and the ONE million bunny rabbits we had under the bridge. The rope swing that was tied to the HUGE Cottonwood tree by the "river bed" in front of our house.
8. Getting a trampoline for Christmas and then 2 days later a big windstorm came through and blew it into the next year. Actually, the shed caught it but it was pretty banged up. Luckily my dad welded it back together. To this day it still has to be transported it one complete peice.
9. I was a 4-H clogger (so was Rustin and Danica). We clogged in the 4th of July parade. We also solicitated ourselves and clogged for money out at "THE RANCH" in Vernon. I think I made $13.00. I bought a fan.
10. Moving to Show Low when I was in 7th grade, on my 13th birthday...and being SO happy about having my own room. I also got an old yellow phone...it had the round dials where you had to dial each number seperately. It was SO old school.
11. I remember walking down the hill in front of my house early one morning. We were headed to a Jr. High basketball tournament. It was still a little dark outside and I couldn't see much. All of the sudden someone said, "Hi Taralee." I jumped so high and flung my stuff EVERYWHERE. It was Karah Reidhead...just meeting me at the bottom of the hill- which was previously arranged.
12. Riding my bike to Brenda's house...daily. Sitting and talking on the counter tops in the kitchen. Jumping on the trampoline, throwing golf balls at the cows, watching lots of movies, baking lots of cookies, and all sorts of fun stuff. Also eating bagel sandwhiches from Safeway almost everyday our freshman year.
13. Ryan making peanut butter kisses almost EVERY Sunday.
14. Going to summer school in Vernon and I woke up late one day and my mom had already left for work...so Rustin volunteered to braid my hair. (Yikes....it didn't compare to mom's braids.) Summer school consisted of playing Oregon Trail, that one math detective game, and Where in the World is Carmen SanDiego, and reading the Box Car kid series.
15. Making the 1 mile trek on our bikes and rollerblades to the little gas station/convinent store/grocery store/movie rental/and Post Office to get a twix. Rustin would get a Reeses and Ryan would get a Kit-Kat. Danica would get anything with sugar in it.
16. Riding our busted up four-wheeler all around Vernon and the surrounding hills and mountains. Getting caught by the Sheriff. He made us push it ALL the way home.
17. Camping up at Brown Creek and playing in the fort on the cliff. We would also have stick races down the little creek. Megan had a "Little Mermaid" rock that she always sat on. We would also hike up to the spring and talk about getting lost and what we would do and how we could survive by ourselves out in the wilderness. (Ya right.)
18. Kari and Kristen coming out to Vernon for a week or so and we would have roller blade races around the church. Yes, collisions happened. I recall Kristen singin some little ditty as she rode a bike with rollerblades on, "I ride my bike with rollerblades"...or something like that...very creative.
19. Going wood cutting in October which was ALWAYS an adventure in the Reidhead family. My dad threw a log threw the truck window and we had to drive home while it was snowing and I don't think the truck had a heater.
That's all for now. More to come....someday.
A while back Trace and I filled out this little survey thing. This was one of the questions...
1. Make sure your mom is in the shower so she can't stop you.
2. Go into the pantry and get a REALLY big box of Cheerios.
3. Open up the lid, no need for a bowl, just dump as you please all over the floor.
4. Feel free to scatter them with your hands and feet around the ENTIRE kitchen.
5. Eat off the floor (3 second rule applies).
6. Count the Cheerios for entertainment.
Brody is obviously stellar and excels in making his own cereal. I'm sure he could teach you or your kid how to make it if you want him too.
Momma ruined all the fun. Darn.
As you could guess Brody is quite the busy boy and loves to get into everything. He just putters around all day seeing what he can get his hands on to.
What else is new you might ask? Nothing much. Just school, work, and momly duties. Nothing too fancy.
I'm also working on a quilt. It might get done in the next century or so. Wish me luck with that!
