Kid Stories and Updates

Johnny says some of the funniest things. We are always astounded by Johnny's extensive vocabulary and the things he comes up with. And Claire is just the happiest, sweetest little baby. She gets so excited and loves to play games with everyone and be the center of attention. Below is a video of her favorite game to play. She'll usually play with anyone if you start it but her favorite is to play with Daddy. She doesn't laugh as hard for anyone else.

She is so close to walking! She'll take up to 10 steps at a time. She is just SO cautious. She could totally walk everywhere if she just let herself. But you can see her start to think about it and then she'll just sit down and crawl.

We took the kids swimming at the Rec Center and it was a big hit! We had so much fun, I think we're going to make it a weekly thing.

Claire was moved up to a big carseat. I think she's a fan. :)

Valentine's Day balloons with cousin Lola! 

Johnny LOVES the group Pentatonix so we took him to their concert in SLC on February 17th. It was an hour and a half concert and he lasted an hour before it got too loud for him and he wanted to leave. But he loved it and he loves when people ask him about it.

Johnny walked up to my dad and said, "Can I have one drink? I'm not asking for a hundred drinks. Just one, okay."

Another time Johnny walked towards my dad saying, "Daddy. Daddy." My dad responded with, "I'm not your dad. Your dad is downstairs." Johnny responded with, "But you are a dad. You have kids just like Marcus has kids."

 Johnny laid with his head on the couch and his feet on the ottoman and said, "I'm a drawbridge." Grandpa Gilson asked him what a drawbridge does and Johnny replied, "It opens and closes."

 I heard Johnny yell "Help!" from the other room and when I ran in he said, "I was stuck on the couch."

Me: "Oh, really?"

Johnny: "Yeah, like this." He then lays on the arm of the couch and says, "then I wiggled around and got free."

Me: "Oh, I'm so glad!"

Johnny: "Yep! That's my story. It's called the boy who got stuck."

 My niece accidentally scratched my eye a couple weeks ago and so I asked Johnny to kiss it. After he kissed it I said, "Thanks buddy! You're so great." To which he responded, "I know. I'm a good kisser."

 Johnny asked our friend Mani what a bully is.

Mani: "It's when someone is mean to someone else."

Johnny: "ohhh.. so like mommy is a bully..."

(He did retract that statement later and told people I wasn't a bully)

My brother and sister went back up to school in Idaho and he was telling his Gilson grandparents about it. He said he was really sad his Aunt Shelby went back to school and then said, "Sad means you miss someone because they went away. It's okay to be sad. But I can still be happy."

He is wise beyond his years.

Grateful

Over the course of the last week, I have come across two separate blogs about women who are enduring some pretty awful struggles. Ashlee's, (you can read her blog here), husband was murdered by the husband of the woman he was having an affair with, leaving Ashlee a single mother to their 5 children, the youngest being six weeks old when her husband died. Caroline, (you can read her blog here), and her husband Nick had a son who was stillborn at 38 weeks and exactly one year later Nick got into an ATV accident and passed away. Reading these stories makes my heart hurt for them and their struggles. But I read them anyway because they teach me so much. These women are so incredibly strong! They have relied on the Gospel and Jesus Christ to help get them through their extremely difficult times and you can see the hand of God in their lives. I feel my testimony being strengthened when I read their stories and their sacred moments that they share. They remind me how precious life is and how blessed I am to have a wonderful husband by my side and two beautiful, healthy children that I get to spend every day with. I highly recommend reading their stories. It has changed my perspective on life. I find myself often feeling down about things in my life that I have realized are not a big deal at all. I have so much to be grateful for and I am better able to recognize the Lord's tender mercies in my life. May we all strive to find the blessings in our live and the things the bring us true joy!