Out & About

A couple of weeks ago we were able to go to Smithfield for Mom and Dad Porter's 50th anniversary party. We did family pictures Friday evening, then had an open house/reception for them. It was beautiful and they had a good turnout. On Saturday we had a family picnic, which was also excellent! Here are a few pictures that we took. The professional ones aren't back yet.

The following week was my office's summer party. We went to a Salt Lake Bees game. There weren't a ton of people there, but still a decent group. The Bees won 5-2. It's always fun to see people outside of work.

This weekend is a Utah holiday, Pioneer Day - July 24th. The holiday was observed today by a lot of businesses, including mine. Last night Dave and I went on a date to Trafalga. We played miniature golf, which was awesome. It's been some time since we've done that. It turned out to be $3 Thursday, which was even better. The course really wasn't that great, but it was nice weather and great to just be able to get out.

We went to lunch at Romano's Macaroni Grill today, tomorrow we are getting up at 5:00 to paint the fire zones in our community, hopefully we'll go swimming this weekend, and see a movie. Hooray for long weekends!

End of the Trip

We've been home a couple of weeks now, but here's the end of the trip. Friday and Saturday we played more at the Disney parks. We watched fireworks from the pool Friday night, which was cool. Sunday we started off for home. A long trip...

Before we left for the airport, Dave was getting out of the shower, when some siren went off and we were informed we should exit the building. We didn't leave, but it was just the start of our fun-filled trip ahead.

In order to make sure we got to the airport on time, we arrived 5 hours early. So we got to the airport, where we thought we could get checked in, etc. However, there was a sign that said they wouldn't be checking passengers in until 2:00, which was 3 hours before we took off. Finally got checked in, we weren't sitting next to each other, got our seats reassigned...next to each other...in the row in front of the emergency exit - no reclining.

Got in the air, got close to Denver, and were informed there was a tornado watch. Plane was diverted to Grand Junction, Co (1/2 way back to Salt Lake), and then circled around the Denver airport for another 3 hours of so. Arrived at the gate about 10:30 vs 6:30 PM. Hoped we would be able to start driving part way back to Utah, didn't happen. Finally found a Village Inn that was open at 11:50, restaurant closed at midnight. The employees were very nice and it was great to eat after 28 hours of fasting!

Almost done - stayed with Dave's sister in Fort Collins, then finally headed home. After all we had been through in our traveling, how could we finish without getting a ticket? Yep, speeding ticket through WY. I'm still working on the pictures. Think it's about finished, and hopefully I'll get them posted soon.

A Note on a Few Days...with a Few Pictures

Last few days:

Tues - Epcot
Wed - Hollywood Studios/Epcot
Thurs - Animal Kingdom

Attempt 3 at pictures...Epcot

Teppan EdoYummy, yummy food and
our funny, funny chef

Rock 'N Roller Coaster

Dave in a line with Hollywood
Tower of Terror behind him

Tigers

Kim chillin' by the tigers.

Hippos

One of the walking trails

at Animal Kingdom

Progress and Resistence

Progress: Things have been going better. We got to visit Wayne and Sandie and their family on Friday, then Sonja, Brent, and Brian on Saturday. We enjoyed our time with all of them and are glad we could visit and catch up a bit. We attended church with Sonja's family on Sunday, and then it was off to the airport.

We apparently cut it close; however, I thought we had enough time to get everything done. At any rate, we decided it would be best for us to drive ourselves to the airport. We got there with approx 90 min to spare. What we didn't foresee is that getting from parking and then checking in was going to be such a pain.

We flew on Frontier, which is definitely not my favorite airline, and "barely" made it. It wasn't too bad getting through security, although, Dave set off the alarm with his belt. Our bag was checked in late, but made it onto our flight with us. Hooray! We also learned that we weren't seated together. It was a mere 5 row difference, but it was 5 rows nonetheless. After 3 hours of flying time, we arrived in Orlando.

We got to our hotel around 11:00 and got a nice surprise. As we were checking in, I mentioned that we were on vacation for our anniversary, and we got our room upgraded for free 99...to a suite! (I'd like to find out, but I think it's about the size of our first apartment.)

Today we spent the day at the Magic Kingdom at Disney World and we had a great time. It was definitely hot, but surprisingly not as bad as I think I thought it would be. This is my first trip to Florida, and to Disney World. It has been interesting to see some of the differences from Disneyland. I'm looking forward to exploring the rest of the week. :0)

Resistence: Once again, I took pictures and have downloaded them. The issue tonight is that I can't get them to upload. So, I suppose there will be a somewhat lengthy picture post in the next week or so. The other challenge of the day is that I can NOT get the computer to let me type without everything being underlined. I guess it's all just that important today.

Let the Fun Begin!

Happy anniversary Porters! And that's about as good as it got. We started our vacation today (or rather Tuesday night) and it went something like this...

Wednesday:
* Kim hoped to get off work a little early, left at 5:40 instead.
* Went to Wal-Mart to get prescriptions, took 45 minutes.
* Left for Logan around 8:00 PM to take Sadie to stay with Grandma Nelson; got home about midnight - still had much packing to do.

Thursday:
* Got up, later than we had originally planned.
* Took Jack up to the PetSmart Pets Hotel, got Jamba Juices, and dropped off some things at work.
* Realized we left a bag home and decided to go home to get it.
* Decided to try taking I-70 to get to Colorado - good plan until we got to the huge accident, not too far into the trip. (Highway was shut down.)
* Took the "alternate route" that was suggested, which led back to the same accident.
* Debated driving down I-15 and over to Price or up to I-80; decided to try taking Provo Canyon up to I-80.
* Made it to Denver in surprisingly good time, despite I don't know how many construction zones.
* Got to the Red Sox vs Rockies game, horrible lack of parking.
* Found a spot, didn't see any signs about not parking there and/or paying.
* Good game, Red Sox won 13-11.
* Went back to the lot to find our car missing... along with at least 3 other cars!
* Learned all of our cars were towed, hopped a taxi with several other people, stopped by an ATM to get cash to get our cars, and went to the impound lot - not so near to the ballpark.
* Took at least an hour to get the car released and $269!
* Finally got to our hotel, where we were put in a smoking room with lovely brown plaid curtains and 2 full size beds!

Definitely a good start to the trip I think. Hopefully we've had all of our "excitement" and we can actually relax and enjoy the rest of the trip.

P.S. I took a few pictures at the game, but seeing as it is 2:00 AM, I won't take the time to plug them in today.

Not So Surprise Birthday Party

Here's the scoop on the birthday party. We just had family and friends down to a park in Provo for lunch. Maybe it's not too exciting, but I was proud of myself for getting it planned and for getting out of my "bubble" to call several people, whom I have never or rarely talked to - i.e. Dave's friends. We had excellent weather, good food, and great company. We're so lucky to have so many wonderful people in our lives. Here are some pictures:

Sheldon, Stacey, Brandon,

Paul, Dave, Dave, and Dad Porter
Ben, Melissa, Jenna, and Dad PorterPaul and Becky

Pat, Aunt Ann, Aunt Terry,

Paul, Ginger, and Mom Nelson

Jenny and Kim
Hannah and Stacey
Sam, Rebecca, Dave,
Sheldon and Emily
Dave giving his speech...

(or nor really...)

Richelle, Jim, Thomas, and Kimberly

Dave, Mary, and Liz

Dave, Paul, Ginger (can't see her,

but she was in the shot), Mom and

Dad Porter, and EmilySheldon, Braydon, Dad Porter,

Mom Porter, Pat, Mom Nelson,

Aunt Ann, and Aunt Terry

Birthdays

Last week we celebrated my birthday. I'm now 25! We got to have kind of a week of Kimmy celebration. On Tuesday I was able to go to a niece's high school graduation. It was interesting because she was part of the 1st graduating class of a new high school. After the graduation we went to dinner at Brick Oven Pizza in Provo. It was so good! To my surpise, Dave was able to get off work early and he ended up being able to go to dinner with us. When I got home, I went out with a couple ladies from church and had some dessert.

I had a work celebration Thursday, where I got my desk decorated and we had cupcakes. One of my co-workers wasn't going to be gone on my actual birthday Friday. When I showed up Friday a couple of my co-workers brought flowers in for me. We also had a cake for all the May birthdays. Dave bought me a box of chocolates and then we went to dinner at Los Hermanos. It was excellent food and we got huge portions.

Yesterday was Mr. Porter's birthday; he hit the big 30! He, like I, spent the day working. A few of Dave's co-workers were out of the office Friday, so they had their birthday lunch for him on Thursday - Cafe Rio. I got to surprise Dave and have lunch with him. I also took in an ice cream cake, but they didn't get around to having any. So we brought it home and will enjoy it soon.

Due to a long day of work, Dave opted to have Subway for his birthday dinner. We did go and buy him a movie - "Race to Witch Mountain," which we watched last night, and we finished with a dip in the hot tub. Today we had our not surprise, surprise birthday party, which I will write about in the next couple days. Until then...

P.S. I had balloons on my desk and I did okay. For anyone who may not know, I have a huge phobia of balloons. My quarter of a century goal is to continue working on the balloon fear. :0)