Happy Holidays

Sorry folks, I haven't written in a while cuz when Sam was here I was kinda focused on spending time with him before he left... plus we did some traveling and my parents computer only lets me upload pictures some of the time. Enough excuses and on to what you want to know. First we drove to Gatlinburg, TN (by the Smoky mountains) for some alone time. We stayed on Honeymoon Island (pictured below) and it was so beautiful... the town and everything. We had a great time just relaxing. Did I forget to mention the room had a hot tub in it. :-)

From there we drove to see Sam's family in SC and spend Christmas with them. It was nice to see them and I know they were happy to see Sam before he left. We hadn't seen Alex, Sam's nephew, in over a year. He's so cute, as you can tell from his picture. He's wearing the "Santa Hat" used when we passed out gifts Christmas morning. :-)

Amanda Sam's sister is getting to be such a wonderful young lady. She's a blast to hang out with and as you can see Sam still picks on his little sis. It was funny cuz on Christmas day I guess it's a Porter tradition to play Monopoly. I did not play, because of past experiences, but it was fun to watch. :-) Let's just say some pieces went flying at people. ;-)

We left a couple of days later and drove back to my parents house to celebrate a late Christmas and New Year (and my Dad's birthday). Sam got all excited cuz he got to buy fireworks and set them off... the kids also loved it. We also got to take a family picture in front of the new HUGE Christmas tree... It's 12 feet tall! We also took family pictures with Sam's family but I can't find them and I think they accidentally got deleted. So, Amanda if you read this can you send/e-mail me the ones you took? Thanks!

Mom and Anna watching the "show" Sam put on New Year's Eve

Well, that's about it... I leave on Thursday to head back to Hawaii and Sam leaves about that time to Iraq... I'm not gonna lie, this last goodbye was tough, but I hope when I get home I can get into a schedule and not think about it as much. I'm also looking forward to seeing my friends and my little Magnum, of course! So my next post should be from back home! Please keep Sam in you prayers and me as I travel. Love you guys and I'm looking forward to getting home and checking to see how your holiday went.