I am BACK!

After a brief blogging hiatus, I am back! Alot has happened since my last post, so lets get right down to it.
1. We survived the plane ride from DC to Utah. Plane rides and Porter do not mix, he had a rough time but we made it through. It was nice to see mountains again, you don't realize how pretty they are until they are no where in sight.
2. We spent a few days in Utah with our families, one day with each. It was quick, but better then nothing. We were so happy to finally see them, laugh with them, and just hang out!
3. We survived the seven hour ride back to Laramie, by the time we got here all three of us were so over traveling!
4. We moved into a new, bigger apartment. We have so much more space, it is really nice! Thanks so much to the Daniels for moving us out of the old and into the new!
5. My job search came to an end, and boy was I glad! I found a full time job at Basic Beginnings Learning Center. I work with preschoolers and get to teach them and goof off!! They give me some great stories to tell Kevin at night, and keep my day fast moving and entertaining. I was so happy to find a job where I could use my skills as an educator, even if it wasn't exactly what I had hoped for, it worked out really well!
6. Porter started daycare, lucky for us it is in the same building I work in. We aren't in the same department, but at least if he needs me I can be there quickly! He did really good the first two days, didn't even cry once. The last couple were a little rough, but he did good! His teachers are really great so it makes it a little easier to get use to. It is still hard though,I hate dropping him off!
7. Kevin started his second year of law school! He has a busy schedule, and is always studying, studying, studying!
8. Porter went to his one year check up, his growth and development is right on track. He his getting really mobile, and is speaking up a storm! He only weighted in at sixteen pounds, but the doctors aren't worried! HE IS JUST A LITTLE MAN!
It's been pretty crazy around here, but we are getting into a routine. I am so thankful for everything we have, and for the many blessings that have come our way!

SO LONG...FARWELL

Unfortunately, our time here in D.C. is up. These last three months have gone by so fast, and have been filled with fun times. We have made a lot of memories, meant a lot of weird people, a lot of nice people, and have seen a lot of great things! Like I have said a million times before we have really loved our time here. We wanted to do some fun things for our last weekend in the city. So, last night we walked up to the Washington Monument and went a 550 feet up to the very top. It was so cool, to see the city from that view, all lite up! If you ever get the chance to come to D.C. you should definitely do this at night.













On the way home we had to stop at my favorite little place the Red Velvet Cupcakery. They have the best red Velvet cupcakes, they are Divine!








Porter loves them too!!!








Tonight, we had a great dinner at Martins Tavern. Every United States President has eaten there since Truman. It is also where President John F. Kennedy proposed to Jacquelin Kennedy. He did it in booth three and that is the booth where we ate dinner. Yea, the marriage turned out to be a big crapper but it was still cool! After we ate we just enjoyed Georgetown and then took one final walk down to the mall.








This is the part of the menu that tells you what happened or who ate at each different booth. Ours was known as the "proposal" booth.





GOODBYE D.C. WE WILL MISS YOU AND LOVED OUR TIME HERE!!!!

Ford's Threatre

This week we have been trying to see a couple of sites we havn't gone to. Ford's Threatre is a must do, not only did the completly re-do it, but its cool and its were we got engaged! Yea, I know its kind of a weird, slightly morbed place to ask someone to marry you, but it worked for us. We are both big old history nerds, and we are really big fans of Abraham Lincoln. So it meant something to us and plus it is a really pretty threatre. We went there yesterday with Porter and walked through part of the musuem, around the threatre and went up on the Balcanoy where Pres. Lincoln got shot and where we got engaged!




Porter & I by a picture of General Grant






Porter and Kevin with the Balcony where Pres. Lincoln was shot in the background







This is the exact place that Kevin proposed to me!





Then we headed over to the American History Museum, to go through a couple of our favorite exhibits.










A mold of Lincolns face right before his second term in office


Steel columns taken from the World Trade Center



This is a note and a can of beer taken from the Vietnam Wall, I thought it was cool! This old comrade wrote to a fellow solider that was killed in action, " Here is that beer I promised you."




Then we got Porter this stuffed Enisten Doll, he absolutely adores it! He is always talking to him and giving him hugs!

TEACH ME

Bare with me on this post, this is something that should go in my journal. However, it is eleven o'clock at night and I am to lazy right now. Typing is faster than writing, and this way I won't forget my thoughts. My little man taught me another important lesson tonight. For a little person, who can't speak he sure does do this a lot! As most of you know I have spent the last four months searching, and praying that I would be able to get a teaching job in Laramie. I have put so much time and energy into it, and spent so many days stressing and worrying about it. However, because of the size of the school district and lack of openings, this did not happen for me. The Lord has his reason, that I am sure of, everything happens for a reason. I struggled with this and still continue to. I did things the way I was suppose to, worked hard for five years and earned my degree. Things are suppose to be easy after that, your supposed to get a job. I have put so much time into thinking about TEACHING, TEACHING, TEACHING. Maybe, I lost sight of what kind of TEACHING, is really important. Now, back to the original reason for this whole rampage of a post. My sweet little Porter was having a really hard time falling asleep tonight. So I got him out of his crib and sang to him. The song that came to mind was " Teach me to walk," we all know it, I've heard it a million times throughout my life. As I sang it I listened carefully to the words, and realized that is what I am suppose to be doing right now. It's of far more importants right now to be with my little man, teaching him right from wrong and teaching him to "walk in the light." I just had the most precious moment with him, he was laying in his crib, I was on the floor next to him. He was just looking up at me with his big eyes, and singing along. Wow, what an amazing moment, I love that little guy! There is no doubt in my mind that i will have the opportunity one day to be a teacher, to land the job. But, right now I have the greatest of all opportunities, to TEACH my child. I am so glad that the Lord continues to give me these moments of inspiration through my little man.

Tommy Pickles Look-A-Like?

So, we have had a numbered of random people tell us that our cute little Porter looks just like Tommy Pickles from the Rugrats Cartoon. I don't know if its the hair, the big eyes, or the huge smile? But, whatever it is, I guess he kind of does! That's ok though, because Tommy was the cute one, the little LEADER. So what do you guys think is Porter a Tommy Pickles LOOK-A-LIKE?






I think my little guys is cuter!

What....2 post in 1 day

Today, I had such a good day with my LITTLE MAN! I decided we needed to break out of our daily routine and do something fun. So today, I went down to McDonald's and got him his favorite a CHICKEN NUGGET HAPPY MEAL. Then we walked down to the National Mall and had a little picnic! Porter loved it, he loves playing in the grass and watching all the squirrels. Then after our little pininc we walked down to the Natural History Museum and went through the Mammal & Fossial exhibits. I had no clue how much Porter would LOVE the MAMMAL exhibit. He loved all the animals but in particular the Giraffes & Lions. He also loved feeling all the different types of fossials, and the big dinosaurs. I didn't get to take a lot of pictures at the museum, because its hard when there is just the two of you.

My Top Ten

So, I have spent the last three months in the great city! We will be coming home next Saturday, and I have mixed feelings about it. On the one hand I absolutely love it out here. On the other I do miss our families and I am ready to see them. If I could move our families out here I would stay forever! So today I wanted to do my TOP TEN THINGS I WILL MISS/THINGS I LOVE ABOUT D.C.:
1. ALL THE HISTORY: You guess it people Kevin and I love history, especially American/Military History. Well, if you love those type of things this is the city for you. I love all the museums they have here, and will miss taking Porter to them. We had so much fun going to all the Smithson's and reading and learning about our favorite historical time periods and people.
2. THE FOOD: There are so many different types of restaurants out here. Where we live makes it even better, because you can walk outside and you are surrounded by them. They have some of the best seafood out here, and we will greatly miss that and oh POTBELLY'S SANDWICH SHOP I WILL MISS YOU AND THE WRECK SANDWICH!
3. THE PEOPLE: So you always hear some crazy/scary things about D.C., but I love the people out here. Everyone is so friendly and willing to help. I have had so many conversations with complete strangers.
4.OUR NIGHTLY WALKS TO THE NATIONAL MALL: I will greatly miss our nightly family walks to the mall. How lucky were we to get to be a fifteen minute walk from the Washington Monument. Every night we would walk down there and just walk around, it never gets old to me. Porter is going to be so bored when we go for walks in Laramie, there is not near as much to look at.
5.THE NATS GAMES: So I am a huge sports fan, but baseball was not by any means my favorite sport. I never really liked it that much, but I had so much fun going to the Nationals games this summer. We always had a great time, and got to see some really good teams play there.
6. THE CRAZY PEOPLE: This city has a lot of them! They crack me up, I could people watch all day. I have some great stories to bring home because of them. GOD BLESS THE CRAZIES!
7. NEVER BEING BORED: There is just so much to do here, you never get bored. Porter and I always had things to keep us busy. There is always something going on, on the weekends!
8.ALL THE FREE ENTERTAINMENT: It is so great, here you can do so much and still keep a budget. Mostly all of the museums are free, the mall is free,and they always have festivals that are free. FREE IS ALWAYS GOOD!
9. THE SCULPTURE GARDEN: One of me and Porter's favorite spots to go is the Sculpture garden. We go down there all the time and play in the water. Porter goes crazy for it and I love it too.
10. OUR WARD: Let me tell you our church ward out here is so different from any other I have ever or will ever attend. Testimony meetings are my favorite, the people are so grateful to have this gospel in their lives. Lots of them are from different countries in Africa and the Ivory Coast, they left everything they had, their country, their jobs, and in most cases their families for this gospel, they gave it all up. With that kind of sacrifice comes so much love for the gospel. When they speak it comes straight from the heart, they don't try to be master scriptorian's or show how in depth their knowledge of the gospel is. They just speak what they feel and their words carry so much power. They are the kindest, happiest people,that have such a pure love for our savior. I have learned so much from them! Some of them don't even speak, instead they sing and at first I thought this was a little weird, but not anymore. I love it, I have never felt the spirit so strong. I am so glad I got the opportunity to be in this ward.

Memorials, Baseball, and Fun

So since our time here in D.C. is quickly coming to an end, we are trying to do as much as we can. We have really just loved our time here, we are so lucky to have had this experience! I love this city and the people here! Anyway last weekend we went out to Virgina to see the Marine Memorial. The main memorial is of the picture of the raising of the flag at Iwo Jima. It is really cool to see, so here are some pictures of us enjoying it.











I REALLY LOVE THIS CITY


WE BOUGHT PORTER THESE CHEESE SHOES, NOW HE MATCHES HIS PAPA LLOYD, GRANDPA DANIELS,AND GRANNIE LLOYD.




ALSO, one of our favorite things to do out here is go to the Nationals baseball game. This week we were fortunate to find the best seats front row, between first and second base, on EBAY for a steal of a deal! We had so much fun being that close and seeing all the players. We even made the big screen, but I of course I was off in LA LA LAND and didn't even notice we were up there. I guess I was to into dancing to " That's the way I like it." I missed my 15 seconds of fame! Also, PORTER was flirting it up with the girls that work there. The ONLY foulball that came in our directions, she gave to PORTER!! We thought it was pretty neat, not to mention the Nats hit a homerun in the ninth to win the game! We decided that would be our last GAME, so we could end on a REALLY good note!

ADAM DUNN JACKED A HOME RUN IN THE NINTH INNING TO Win THE GAME






THE PRESIDENTS RACE



And today Porter and I pulled out the camera and had some FUN! P.S. that's my knee inbetween us, Porter Was holding on to it, I know it looks kinda funny!

Midnight Adventures

WARNING: THIS POST CONTAINS GROSS SUBJECT MATTERS!IF YOU HAVE A WEAK STOMACH YOU SHOULD PRECEDE WITH CAUTION. IF YOU ARE A LLOYD READ ON, IT IS ABOUT OUR FAVORITE SUBJECT MATTER.

Last night was just like any other night. I put Porter to bed, he talks to himself for about a half hour and then he is asleep. Little did I know what he was really up to. At about one in the morning he wakes up, which is out of the ordinary for him-he has been sleeping through the night forever. So I let him cry for awhile, hoping he would fall back into la la land, no such luck. So I drag myself out of bed and go get him out of the closet, ha ha HE SLEEPS IN A CLOSET POOR KID! Anyhow I look down, rub the sleep out of my eyes, and plug my noise because something STINKS! What the CRAP--crap is the right word! Then I realize my child has no diaper on, I search in a panic where could it be? Eventually, I find it under his covers and filled to the brim with you guessed it-POOP! My sweet little angel boy had filled his pants, took of his diaper and played in it. I find the evidence all over his feet, legs and all over his bed. I however, thankfully did not find it on his hands so I am hoping he didn't stick them in it. Gross I know, but believe it or not it gave me one heck of a LAUGH! It probably is giving you a sick stomach, but I thought it was HILARIOUS! You have to love kids, they keep life interesting.