Christmas Season

I love the Christmas season. And it's especially fun with little kids!

We had a family dinner at the Messer's! This is the little boys table. These three boys are so cute together- it's so fun when they get to hang out!

Johnny and his gingerbread train. Shelby and I did the frosting and he added candy. It's so fun to do things like this with him and see his excitement!

This is the first year we've put out cookies and milk for Santa and a carrot for the reindeer with Johnny. He thought it was awesome and in the morning when he saw the empty plate and cup he exclaimed, "They're gone! Santa ate them!"

A couple days before Christmas, Johnny informed us that Santa would be bringing him a Santa hat. And Santa did.

Claire loved Christmas, too. And she's just always adorable.

Lucky for us- Christmastime meant the Weaver's came to Utah! We love seeing them and hate that we live so far away. But no matter how long we've been away- when we get together it's like nothing has changed. They are awesome friends! And Sadie and Johnny have an arranged marriage so we'll be friends for ever :).

Merry Christmas!

We sent out our Christmas Card via email so I thought I'd post it here in case I missed anyone!

 Merry Christmas!

2013 has been a great year for us. Here’s a recap of our year.

Marcus:

Marcus finished his second year of Law School in April. He had an externship with the Franklin County Prosecutor’s Office and so we spent the summer with Marcus’ parents in West Richland, Washington. It was great to spend so much time with the Gilson side of the family! Marcus is currently in his third and final year of Law School and is very excited to graduate in April 2014!

Brittany:

Brittany stays home with the kids and has taken up quilting/sewing as a new hobby.

Johnny:

Johnny turned 2 in May! He is so fun and full of laughs. He loves music- especially Walk Off The Earth and Pentatonix. He took a mom-and-me Kindermusik class this fall that he loved. Johnny will often break out in song- his favorites currently are Jingle Bells and I Am A Child Of God. He is also really into Mickey Mouse Clubhouse, Mike the Knight, blocks, puzzles, dinosaurs, playing with friends, and going to Nursery. He talks like a 4 year old and is always saying things to make us laugh. When we tell him to be quiet during church he responds by yelling, “NO! I can’t be quiet!” Johnny is a great big brother. He is so sweet with Claire and always wants her to play toys with him in his room.

Claire:

Claire blessed our family in March! She is such a sweet baby. She loves food (her brother does not so it’s nice to not fight both kids to eat!). Claire started crawling between 7 and 8 months old and now she pulls herself up to everything and will walk while holding on to things. She also loves Mickey Mouse Clubhouse, Walk Off The Earth, and Pentatonix since her brother controls what is watched. Claire is starting to want to play by putting toys into Mom and Dad’s mouths and then laughing really hard as she takes them away. She loves to clap, give big smiles, and laugh.

We feel so blessed! We hope everyone has a very Merry Christmas and a wonderful New Year!

I'm back- hopefully!

I am such a terrible blogger. I check my blog feed and read other blogs daily, but I have the worst time keeping this blog up. BUT I just got a desktop computer! So my hope is that I will be a better blogger now that I don't have to deal with a dying laptop.

I will just do an update post and then hopefully my posts will be more frequent and exciting. Really, here's just a bunch of pictures of what we've been up to.

Celebrating Mommy's 25th Birthday! I'm glad I have a little helper to blow out my candles. :)

He saw Uncle Jordan grab his backpack to go to school.
So he got his backpack, shoes, and sunglasses and was headed off to school, too.

 

We love Uncle Jordan

Playing at the park.
He saw a Dad take a picture of his daughter so he came over to me and told me to take a picture of him. :)

 

I love babies in footie jammies!

In October, we took a trip to visit our good friends Chase and Kami in Rexburg. Johnny and Ryker are about 3 months apart and Claire and Ashtyn are 1.5 months apart. We had SO much fun visiting with them and Johnny and Ryker were instant best buds.

 

 Chase is able to rent side-by-sides from work and so we took one out and it was tons of fun!

Happy Halloween from Bilbo Baggins and Minnie Mouse! :)

 

I love watching them interact. They are so sweet together.
Johnny calls her "pretty girl" and always rushes over to her if she starts crying.

Johnny and his giraffe. This was his first stuffed animal and he loves it!

We spent Thanksgiving up in Centerville this year with two of Marcus' sisters and the Messer's.

The Baby Table at Thanksgiving. Marcus' cousin has twin boys- so cute!

 

Our Summer in Review

Since summer is basically over, I thought I should finally update this blog on what we did over the summer.

On May 3, we drove to West Richland, Washington and moved into Marcus' parents' house for the next 3 months. Marcus had an internship at the Franklin County District Attorney's Office. He really loved the work there and got a lot of great experience!

The kids and I tried our best to stay busy. We went to the ward Picnic in the Park on Wednesdays and played with cousin Ukiah and Grandma Gilson (and cousins Cole and Lola for the short time they were there). It was a lot of lazy days and the boys playing in the kiddie pool but that's what summer is all about, right?!

 We took lots of walks around the lake.

 Puddles are the best places to play!

 Johnny loves giving Claire hugs and cuddling up next to her!

 My first Mother's Day Card from Johnny. Melted my heart.

 Riding the horse outside of Fred Meyer.

 Shopping in style.

 Johnny and Lola get along so well. We really should live close to each other!

 Sometimes it's hard to give up the spot as baby of the family. ;)

 We went to Twin Falls to celebrate Grandpa Gilson's 90th Birthday and Grandma and Grandpa Gilson's 66th Wedding Anniversary. What a wonderful celebration!

 My younger brother Kendall married his sweetheart Ale. We were able to come home from the wedding and it was a wonderful week with the family. Johnny and Claire had so much fun with their cousins, grandparents, aunts, and uncles.

 Little Angels :)

 Zoe loved holding Claire. So sweet!

 Johnny and Grandma Smith

 Claire and Aunt Grisel

 Wedding Day!

 We love swimming!

 We also love Grandpa Smith!

 Johnny, Ashlynn, and Madison

 The whole Smith crew touring SLC.

 Johnny being a helpful big brother.

 Ukiah and Johnny had so much fun together!

 We love and miss Grandma Gilson

 Claire especially misses snuggling with Grandma Gilson.

The stairs are a great place to read.

 Play area at the mall.

 Ukiah was baptized! We love you, Ukiah!

 We had a couple of really great picnics and walks on the Columbia River. It's so beautiful there! When my parents came to visit us at the end of July, we went to the river and took turns riding on a jet ski. It was the most fun we've had in a long time. It was so wonderful!

 We love Grandpa Gilson!

 Our kids have the most wonderful grandparents! 

This picture was taken the night before we left Washington. We had a truly wonderful summer! Here's to the last year of Law School and hopefully finding employment before graduation!