Reports from the Ports

Happy Thanksgiving!

2011-11-28T21:04:00.000-08:00

We spent a wonderful weekend with Ally's family and here was a little surprise that we helped create...

What were they so excited about?? Watch the next one and find out...

Ally's brother Steve and his family flew in from Ohio to surprise Grandma and Grandpa on Thanksgiving day. As you can see it was a fun surprise for all.

Some Random Cuteness

2011-10-23T21:02:00.000-07:00

We've had some more fun moments with Naomi that we'd like to share: Enjoy!

I set Naomi down in the front room while I played the piano and she decided it was time to practice. American Idol, here we come! :-)

Naomi loves being naked (we know we're living dangerously here) and she has found her feet.

Summer Adventures

2011-10-02T19:06:00.000-07:00

Hello again. Just thought we would share with all of you some of our fun adventures this summer.

Brian's Triathalon. Burley, Idaho.

Naomi relaxing with Daddy after the race.

Our family on Naomi's blessing day.

Naomi in her blessing dress.

Our hike around Silver Lake with the Hamilton Fam.

Our trip the the Uintahs with our friends the Holmes.

Snake River, Wyoming.

Naomi in her Wyoming cacoon. This is how you keep a baby warm on a 39 deg. night.

Naomi's first trip to the zoo.

Blue and red make purple.

Naomi and Lincoln sitting in a tree.

Lake Powell.
I'm thinking Naomi doesn't like her life jacket much.

Naomi playing with Grandpa in Lake Powell.

BYU/Utah State Game.

Just hangin' out.

The first two weeks

2011-06-25T14:07:00.000-07:00

I'm not sure I can put into words what the last two weeks of my life have been like. Motherhood is truely amazing and utterly exhausting! I couldn't be happier! Here are some pictures from Naomi's first two weeks of life. I'm warning you though....pictures do not do her cuteness justice.

Coming home from the hospital.

Daddy daughter time.

Worked like a charm.

Some of our fun visitors!

Naomi's worried face

Naomi's tired face

Naomi's MAD face

Who's happier here?

"I'm watching you Mommy"

Our latest family picture.

She has arrived!

2011-06-12T13:36:00.000-07:00

It's been an amazing weekend for the Porter family! I'm sitting in the hospital for the best reason there is; we just had a daughter born this weekend! She was born late Friday night and she is very healthy and her Mom is doing great as well! We named her Naomi Anne Porter and she is already made our lives more "pleasant." I can't even begin to describe how wonderful it is to be a father, so I won't even try here, but it is definitely the most incredible thing I've ever witnessed. I know Allyson agrees... I'll ask her again after she wakes up. :-) So here are some highlight photos of the weekend. They don't do the experience justice but they do give you an idea of what our little Naomi looks like.

Just after weighing in at 8 lbs 7 oz. 21 inches long.

Beautiful Mom, Beautiful Baby!

There's her eyes :-)

Just a good sleeping shot.

Proud Father.

A much deserved Sunday afternoon nap.

This took over an hour...

2011-05-29T19:58:00.001-07:00

FYI. Careful trying to use Internet Explorer 9 to edit your blog. It doesn't work yet. :-) We're getting closer to a real blog entry but ran out of steam tonight.

A new place, a new name.

2010-04-25T21:18:00.000-07:00

As many of you know Ally and I have now bought a new home. We have survived (and quite enjoyed) our exciting adventure in the Serengeti but now we're on to new adventures.

We've enjoyed being home owners and have MANY new projects to keep us busy for years to come. It's work but is a lot of fun. Sorry, that's all I have time for tonight. Still trying to figure out how to do this blogging thing.

A sighting...

2010-03-07T13:23:00.000-08:00

Recently, I journeyed to the Pacific Northwest to visit Brian and I's new niece, Ava, and see her be blessed. After a 14 hour day of driving, we had one day of sightseeing before Ava's blessing day.

It's a rainy Saturday afternoon. The place: The Puget Sound. Is it a sighting? We'll let you determine by the evidence.

Look familiar?

Brian, myself, and Brian's family couldn't help but laugh at the similarities. I love my Sasquatch-like husband!

2010-01-10T21:58:00.000-08:00

So Ally and I are sitting here enjoying a lazy Sunday evening and trying to fight off the Sunday night blues and I've done about as much Facebook as I can stand so I decided it's time to try my hand at this blogging thing finally. Allyson and I set up this blog a couple of months ago with the help of Allyson's ex-roommate Melissa but haven't taken the time to start it yet... Well here goes nothing!

I guess I should explain why this blog is currently called Tales from the Serengeti. Allyson and I were married back on October 22nd, 2009 and after a wonderful Honeymoon in Hurricane Utah, (yes I said Hurricane) we moved back to our new 700 sq ft apartment in Serengeti Springs, West Jordan Utah. Here are couple photos of our first couple days there:

Here are the sleeping arrangements from our first night. We still had to sleep on separate beds and mine was on the floor so it was a "terraced" bed. It's a little better now because they are on the same level and tied together with a rope to keep the mattresses from sliding apart, but we can't wait to get a house and a new bed to match. :-)

Here is what our tiny little apartment looked like the first night we moved in. Not much room to move much less make dinner. We ordered some free pizza that our management had given us. We actually have been able to find a place for most of this stuff but still have caches stored around the Wasatch front. (Porter's, Hamilton's, and even my Duplex :-))

Here is what our appartment looked like for Christmas. My wonderful wife has made this place into a quaint and comfortable little home:

This is our Christmas dinner the Sunday before Christmas and before taking off to celebrate with all of our family.

Here is what Christmas looked like in our little living room. Like I said, quaint and comfortable.

~Brian