Welcome Baby Emi!

Well we said our goodbyes to Grandpa Porter then all went back to our busy lives.  Lexine and I flew out on Monday evening to Dallas TX for the big CEDIA show taking place there that I would be at with Aaron our Home Theater director.  Lexine wanted to go a day early so she could swing by Waco, TX to see Magnolia which she's been wanting to go to for a while -- I don't know much about it, but I guess its a couple who do lots of home decorating.  Kami wasn't due for another couple weeks, so as I sat in the airport about to leave, I texted her to make sure everything was still fine.  She said she was and that she didn't think Emi would be coming for a while still -- at least until after we got back in a few days.  Our flight to Dallas went smoothly and we drove 2 hours to Waco to find out hotel for the night.   It was late when we went to bed and I got up around 3am for my nightly routine.  After laying back down I heard my phone buzz that I received a text message, which I immediately knew was from Kami and I was exactly right.  She said she had been having labor pains for a couple hours and they were on their wait to the hospital!  Bummer...the very night we had just left!  I wanted so bad to be there and helping out with the boys and now I wouldn't be back for a few more days!  Little miss Emi was born fast, just a couple hours later and we got to video conference with Kami, Tim and Emi shortly after having breakfast at the Magnolia restaurant.  What a beautiful baby girl she is! And born on Porter's birthday too!

After we visited the main Magnolia campus, then drove to North Dallas where I would be meeting with another company the next morning before picking up Aaron for the CEDIA show we would be hosting a booth at Thursday - Saturday.  One really special thing that happened for me was the first visitor to our booth as soon as the show opened on Wednesday was a visit from Elder Barbachano, my mission companion from so many years ago in Washington DC.  I recognized him as soon as he walked up!  It was a wonderful reunion and visit with him...I thoroughly enjoyed it and look forward to getting together with him and his wife the next time we're up in the Logan UT area!  We raced right to Kami & Tim's house from the airport after returning form Texas to meet our precious little miss Emi in person!  

Grandpa Porter's Funeral

This week was filled with wonderful reunions of all the Porter family -- now very large -- coming together for Grandpa Porter's funeral.  Lots of planning and arrangements.  Last minute I found a flight that would work for getting Caleb down for the funeral even though he had only been gone a few weeks.  Porter had been asked to give the opening prayer and Garrett to speak, I was asked to dedicate the grave which was our privilege and honor...the three of us were asked to help dress Grandpa's body which was a neat experience as well.  It was such a nice time and reunion, what a shame we couldn't have held it one week earlier when Grandpa could have been there to join us all -- but I'm sure he was still there even though we couldn't see him.  It was a wonderful tribute to the life of this great man who we all loved so dearly. Grandpa's grade is right next to Cindy's...it will be nice to visit him as we visit hers.

  

Happy 1st Birthday Violet!

With all the craziness going on in our lives, we had a very nice time this evening celebrating Violet's birthday!  Happy 1st birthday little miss Violet who turned 1 this week!  What a special pretty little girl you are who Papa just adores and loves to spoil!  We celebrated her birthday today at Porter & Amy's house.  It was a nice time with everyone there on both sides of the family.  This little girl sure is loved by so many...I hope she'll never forget that!  Happy 1st Birthday Violet...we love you!

Goodbye Grandpa Porter

Well if these last two weeks were not enough for us, on Wednesday evening of this week Lexine and I decided once again we needed some peace, so we went to the temple to do some sealings.  I always leave my phone in the car so that its not a disruption and we enjoyed an nice visit there for about an hour.  When I got out of the temple I found I had received several text messages from Mike & Lauri letting me know Grandpa had a massive heart attack and was in the Intensive Care Unit, so that he couldn't have any visitors just yet.  I volunteered Garrett and I to go give him a blessing since Jeff had Covid and grandma said she would let us know the next day.  On Thursday, Grandma Porter asked I would assist her ministering brother in giving Grandpa a blessing -- that was a very special experience and privilege for me.  I assumed their ministering brother would give the blessing since I has only been asked to assist, but when we got to the room he thought I was going to give it.  He then said, well lets have a quick prayer and he immediately offered it, to which he looked up immediately after and said "I feel you should give the blessing." :-) I was honored to  and it was one of those blessings where the spirit and love were so strong that the worst flowed smoothly and I recall saying in the blessing that it would be his choice to stay or leave this world...then we rejoined Grandma and Lexine down in the lobby since the hospital only allowed 2 people at a time to visit him.  He was supposed to be taken off the ventilator the next day, but due to a staff infection and fever, the decided to keep him on it another day.  On Saturday, everything was looking good and everyone thought he would be just fine.  We were visiting Grandma Glasgow who had been moved to a care facility down the street from the Banner hospital she had been in until Tuesday night and that Grandpa Porter has been in since Wednesday...when all of a sudden we all received a text from Grandma Porter that Grandpa had taken a turn for the worst and if we wanted to see him we need to come quick.  We were just moments away, so Lexine and I were the first ones there and the hospital sent us immediately up to his room where we found grandma by his side and the hospital staff surrounding him.  I walked up and put my arm around grandma and within 30 seconds he was gone -- we had just made it as he left -- I guess he made his choice to go.  I'm sure it was a wonderful reunion with Cindy -- he better have given her a big hug from me!  The picture below is Grandma Porter holding his hand as he passed.  Shortly after Mike showed up with Bailey, then Lexine and I left since the hospital was back to the 2 person rule and we found Lauri and Jeff trying to get in, then Kevin, then Garrett & Bailey came and Porter & Amy.  It was a nice final visit to say goodbye to this husband, father, grandfather and great grandfather who is so loved....

Worst Cabin Trip Ever!

Well with all the sever summer storms and stress from repairs and the high costs, we decided we needed to take a much needed trip to the cabin with whomever in the family wanted to join us since nobody else was going to be up there this weekend.  When only Porter & Amy were able to come, we decided to see if Grandma Glasgow wanted to join us as well.  Everything was going so perfect, it was cool, but it was rainy with thunderstorms at times...we just relaxed, watched movies and rested.  Little did we know what was about to befall us when a little after 9pm the power at the cabin went out and it was pitch black.  We managed to use our phones and flashlights/lanterns to get ourselves into bed.  We checked the power outage news and it said everything should be restored by around 2am, so we just went to bed and set one of the lanterns out for Grandma Glasgow who was already sleeping.  When about 4am I heard screaming of "Toby!  Help me!".  Lexine and I jumped up and found that the power was still out and the lantern had died around 3am...Grandma had tried feel her way to the bathroom and over shot it, falling down the 5 or 6 stairs into the hallway next to it.  Porter, Amy & Violet were up immediately with all the commotion as well and we spent the next hour trying to figure out how to get Grandma off the floor -- whether we should call an ambulance (which we figured would take her to Showlow) or try to get her to the Payson emergency room ourselves.  Porter and I gave her a blessing then shortly after we were able to sit her up, then managed to help her get on her feet, then up the stairs and into the car.  We packed as fast as we could and took off to the Payson.  By the time we got there, Grandma was sound asleep and snoring, so we made a quick decision to keep going and get to a hospital in the valley where there would be much more family around to help -- which we did getting there around 8am.  Then we played the waiting game which took hours for them to see her.  Lexine stayed with her the full day while I ran home and got ready for church so I could go see Garrett speak at his and Bailey's ward -- he did amazing by the way, he always does and has a real talent for speaking!  After I went back to join Lexine hanging around the hospital until around 8pm when Lona came to relieve us.  It was a long day and our relaxing weekend turned out not to be so relaxing at all...  :-)

Severe Summer Storms!

Well these last 2 summers have has some wettest and coolest we've seen in a long time, but at the same time, they've had some of the craziest monsoons we've ever seen!  The summer of 2021 we had our play set picked up and thrown several feet...all while our trampoline stayed in tact and never moved an inch.  but this summer easily topped it.  In addition to Porter & Amy's basement flooding where we went and helped them one stormy afternoon, only to come home to it raining in our garage!  The strong winds blew in such a way that they ripped the roofing paper under the tiles and caused a major leak and drywall repairs in our garage.  We thought that was enough, but then the very next week, on Thursday, September 1st around 11pm it was so stormy we couldn't sleep, so i decided to check my phone to find out if Porter & Amy's basement was holding up okay.  Lexine decided to check her phone as well (which was still plugged into the wall) when all of a sudden the room completely lit up and there was the loudest thunder, then immediately alarms in the house started sounding and then two of our AC units stopped and everyone in the house was up wondering what happened.  It appears we were struck by lightning on the Northeast side of the house, although our neighbors on that side had no problems at all.  But we have a utility box right there and anything tied to it was zapped.  It zapped all our internet equipment, our sprinkler system from the adapter, control box, the outlet they were plugged into and even at least one of the solenoids in the ground.  It zapped the two AC units down to the thermostats and one of their control boards, our central vac system and worst of all our pool equipment.  When it came down to it, both incidents were only about $5000 each for insurance to bandaid the damages, which our deductible was also $5000, so it made not sense to file claims.  However when the repair guys came over and showed us that our equipment was so old that it would be better to refresh them with newest equipment, that's where things got expensive, costing us over $20,000 for a new roof over the garage and all new pool equipment!  What an expensive summer!