Our 2010 Year in Review

The year 2010 in the Porter house was an amazing one.  We climbed mountains (literally), traveled, celebrated our one year anniversary, and welcomed the most precious gift into our lives, our son, Grant.   

Our year started out with a bang!  We found out that we were expecting a baby right before the new year.  This was such a wonderful blessing for us.  I continued to teach in the Spring semester while pregnant.  My students were amazing and I loved teaching community college, especially criminal justice and sociology.   Jeff switched jobs at work and began a schedule of working Monday through Friday.  This made life easier from a planning perspective however, I missed having him home frequently and my workout partner. 

 

To keep ourselves fit during the year we participated in several different runs through the year.  In March Jeff and I ran in a Boulder, CO race.  Jeff did the half marathon while I did the 10k.  In May we both ran in the Junior League of Colorado Springs 4miler.  Then in June Jeff ran the Garden of the Gods 10 milers.  He shaved over 10 minutes off his time from the previous year too!  I cheered him on at the finish line with a very pregnant belly!   In addition to all our running we still continued to spend early mornings traveling up the incline.  It has become a staple tourist event when anyone comes to visit!  Jeff also made a trek up Pikes Peak with some of his co-workers in August.   

Jeff’s job requires a decent amount of travel and occasionally his work will take him to Hawaii.  In June he had to travel to Kauai, HI and we saw this as the perfect time for me to travel with him!  Our trip turned into a babymoon that was much needed!  After work Jeff and I would hit the beach and snorkel.  I have always dreamed of snorkeling with seaturtles and I finally got my chance in Kauai.  It was the last morning that I was there and it was nothing shy of perfection.  Swimming with the turtles made the day so special that I didn’t even mind that during our swim Jeff lost his wedding ring!  (It was quickly replaced when he got home!)  We both loved Kauai so much that we definitely plan on vacationing there in the future.

In the beginning of August Jeff and I celebrated our one year anniversary.  Jeff had made plans for us to go to dinner and have a romantic date night.  Knowing that the baby was coming soon we really wanted to make sure that we had a special night with just the two of us.  Baby Grant decided that I was not going to having many nights out because I did have a good deal of Braxton hicks contractions therefore, our night out was actually spent at home with take out! 

Of course the greatest and most remarkable part of 2010 for us was the welcoming of Grant Allen Porter to the family.  He was born on August 20 at 2:42 pm.  He was a little 7 pound 20 ¾ inch ball of perfection!  Jeff did great as my labor coach, although I was only in labor for 3 hours total and part of that he was driving from Shriever AFB down to the hospital at Fort Carson!  Sydney has embraced having a little brother and cannot wait until he starts eating food that he can share with her.  She really is the best and most loving dog, especially to her little brother! Grant has been spreading his love since his arrival.  My mom flew in the day we were discharged from the hospital and was an absolute joy to have.  I could not have asked for more as she is the best Nana to our little man.  My mother-in-law also flew in to welcome Grant.  It was so nice to be surrounded by such loving family members during such a happy time in our life. 

Grant celebrated his first Halloween as the world’s cutest duck!   We went to the boo at the zoo where Grant collected candy, only to be eaten by Jeff and I!  On Halloween night we did go to a few houses to trick or treat with some of our friends. 

For thanksgiving we traveled to Washington for my family to meet Grant.  Of course Grandpa fell in love at first sight with his first Grandbaby.  Grant was of course a HUGE hit!  Family and friends surrounded us and provided so much love.  We are so grateful to have a great support network at home. 

Christmas eve was spent with our very good friends, the Anderson family.  They welcomed their second child, a baby girl, just a few weeks after Grant arrived.  We are so blessed to have the friends here that we do.  We are truly lucky to have friends here that are like family.  True friends love you through the good, the bad, and the ugly and we couldn’t ask for better people to be surrounded by. 


Christmas was spent as a family at home.  We woke up to a very smiley little boy!  He is such a delight in the morning and always greets us with a big smile when it is time to get up.  Christmas morning was no exception!  After some snuggle time we made our way downstairs to make french toast casserole and coffee!  Everyone opened presents and it was great.  We also were able to see Nana and Grandpa via a webcam.  Having modern technology really allows us to connect better with the grandparents and we are so lucky to have it.  Christmas is a special time and we look forward to building more memories and family traditions as our new little family starts out.

It is amazing to see how things have changed for the Porter family in such a short amount of time.  2010 was nothing shy of perfection!  The highlight has certainly been our beautiful baby boy!  We are looking forward to 2011 and all the adventures that come with the new year!