"I love to see the temple, I'm going there someday"

Today, my younger brother and his beautiful fiance are getting out their endowments. I am so happy and proud of them. I wish I was there with them but I am excited that I get to go home this weekend to attend their temple wedding on Wednesday!

My brother didn't choose the easiest path in High School. He has endured a lot of heartache and sorrow. But he has become a remarkable and wonderful young man. He has so much love and compassion and understanding. He is an example of love and that faith can make you whole. While some of his choices brought him unimaginable pain, it brought one family immeasurable joy to finally get a baby they could call theirs. And now he holds the priesthood and on Wednesday he will be sealed to his sweetheart for time and eternity. He will raise his family in the Gospel and be able to bless them with his priesthood authority and teach them that they will be together for eternity. Typing this brings tears to my eyes and great joy to my heart. I am so proud of my brother and the choices he's made to better his life and spend eternity with a wonderful woman.

I love you Kendall and Alejandra. I am so proud of you and the choices you are making. I am eternally grateful you are both a part of my family!

Johnny Stories

Johnny has us laughing constantly. He provides so many great stories. My dad suggested I put some on my blog- so here are some Johnny stories for your enjoyment!

I was finishing getting ready for church on Sunday and Claire and Johnny were laying on my bed. Claire started getting a little fussy so I asked Johnny if he'd hold her hand to comfort her while I finished getting ready. He responded with, "Okay! I'll do it!" and he held her hand. It was so cute and sweet.

I made a smoothie for Johnny to try and get some more fruits and vegetables in him. I put it in his sippy cup. He took one sip and handed it back to me saying, "No, I don't want it. I want juice." I said, "Johnny, this is your juice." He responded with, "No. Open it." He wanted me to open the lid so he could verify it was the juice he was wanting. You can't get anything past him.

I was finishing up dinner and so Johnny went and sat at the table and was setting up his spot with a napkin. He put his stuffed animal Lamby (from Doc McStuffins) on the chair next to him and gave Lamby her own napkin. Marcus went over to the table and as soon as he started to move Lamby so he could sit down Johnny yelled, "No! That's Lamby's chair and Lamby's napkin." We compromised by letting Lamby sit on the table next to Johnny's plate.

I took Johnny to the park a few days ago and after playing for 30-40 minutes he came over to me and said, "All done park. Go Grandma's house. Bye-bye boys!" He waved to the little boys he met on the playground and headed to the car.

As I was taking Johnny upstairs to put him to bed he looked at me and said, "I'm precious!" Yes Johnny, you are precious.

Ever since Johnny has been old enough to go to nursery, he would not stay in there unless Marcus or I was in there. We've been working with him and the nursery leaders the past few weeks to get him to stay in there without us. When I went to drop him off on Sunday I reminded him that he was going to nursery without Mommy and Daddy but we would pick him up after our classes were over. As soon as I set him down in the nursery room he turned to me and said, "Mommy, go class!" and kicked me out of the room! I'm so glad he's finally willing to go by himself!

I love this boy and how much he makes me smile! :)

Lately

Marcus is interning at the Franklin County District Attorney's office and he's loving it! They're in the middle of a murder trial and so he's getting tons of great experience. Plus he was able to get a Rule 9 license which allows him to actually work as an attorney as long as he's supervised. I'm glad he's enjoying it and now we're just hoping it won't be too bad getting a job after he graduates next year.

We'll go through what else we've been up to lately via pictures.

 We go almost daily on a walk around the pond behind Grandma and Grandpa Gilson's house. Johnny loves throwing rocks in the pond. We only have a single stroller and so one time Johnny wanted to hold Claire in the stroller instead of Mommy holding Claire.

 I have a picture of Johnny at the same age Claire is in the above picture doing almost the exact same pose and facial expression.

 It's so fun to play in the puddles in Grandma and Grandpa Gilson's driveway!

 Johnny LOVES to love on baby Claire. It's so sweet but we always have to remind him to be gentle :)

All ready for church!

So much love!

 For awhile, Johnny loved to play in our shower.

 Johnny made me a Mother's Day card in nursery. It melted my heart!

 Church is from 11-2 and Johnny usually naps from 12-3. So normally he gets home from church and crashes on the couch for an hour or so. 

 Johnny and his best buddy- cousin Lola. So sad they moved away to Colorado! But they have some legal connections there so hopefully they can get Marcus a job.

 Gotta look cool while grocery shopping.

 Sweetest baby girl!

 Lola and Johnny love Claire and are so good with her!

 Lola and Johnny also share a love of Mickey Mouse Clubhouse.

 She's found her thumb a couple times. I'm perfectly great with her sucking a finger or a pacifier. After Johnny, the idea of a kid being able to pacify themselves is awesome!

 Sometimes, Johnny wants to still be considered the baby.

 Grandpa Gilson turned 90 this year and we had a big birthday party for him in Twin Falls, Idaho. Since Twin Falls is only 3.5 hours from my parents, they came up to meet us in Twin Falls. It was so fun to have them there. We toured the canyon, Shoshone Falls, went to the park, went out to eat, and swam in the hotel swimming pool. It was a great time! 

Grandpa Smith and Claire.

 I'm pretty busy with Johnny during the day so when Johnny is napping or down for the night, I get some one-on-one time with Claire. She loves to hold on to my shirt as if to tell me that I shouldn't put her down. I love it! 

 She is already showing signs that she'll be a better sleeper than Johnny. She will put herself to sleep all the time. It's such a blessing.

 Summertime is all about hanging outside and ice cream cones :)

Ukiah is the best cousin. He's almost 6 years older than Johnny but he will always play with Johnny. Johnny just adores him and we are so glad we get to be close to him and his parents this summer! 

Johnny turns 2!

On May 17th, Johnny turned 2! We had a dinosaur themed party for Johnny with almost all of the Gilson side of the family (we missed you, Brittany!). He loved having his cousins at his party and all the attention he received.

Starting his birthday off right with a donut :)

 Johnny loved that they cookies were shaped like dinosaurs. The kids just licked off the frosting :).  

 I love making cakes! I really want to take more classes so I can do more with the cakes.

 Johnny and Cole hanging out while dinner was being finished.

Johnny's loot. He's a spoiled boy!

Happy Birthday, Johnny! We love you so much!

Kid Updates

I love being a mom. It's the most rewarding job I've ever had. I love watching my kids learn and grow and I can't believe how smart they are. I never realized my heart could have so much love for two little human beings. They, and their father, bring me more happiness and joy than I ever knew I could experience. I was definitely meant to be a mother.

Now don't get me wrong- it can be really hard sometimes. Johnny is almost two after all. And they aren't named the terrible twos for nothing. And I'm tired. I feel like I haven't really slept in two years! And I realize that I haven't been a parent very long and we will experience trials I can't even think of right now. But the joy I get from my children is totally worth everything else that comes with it!

Now on to some pictures and updates:

He loves his tools. If anyone in the house ever pulls out some tools to work on a project, he runs to get his tools to help out!

Johnny is genuinely the sweetest little boy! He loves people and especially loves being around kids close to his age. Marcus' cousin is about to move to Utah and she has a little boy about 18 months older than Johnny and another boy 5 weeks younger than Johnny and I can not wait for them to get here so all the boys can be friends!

He is a little jabber box. The boy talks like crazy. It is so nice being able to communicate with him and understand what he is wanting. He is starting to be able to count- he knows numbers 1,2,3,4,5,7,8,10. We're working on 6 and 9. He doesn't count on his own really- mainly if you start counting with him, he'll join in. He also knows 9 colors- red, blue, green, orange, pink, white, yellow, purple, and brown. The latter three he doesn't know as well as the first six but he does pretty well. I was changing his diaper the other day and he started looking at his hands. He pulled them right in front of his face and said, "White. Johnny is white." Hahaha it was so hilarious.

He has sensitive eyes so he loves his sunglasses

Johnny loves to make people laugh. He is so silly and has so many great facial expressions. He loves to play a game my sister taught him that he calls, "neak neak BOO!" It's his way of sneaking up on people. He'll whisper "neak neak" (sneak sneak) as he's walking up to who he wants to scare and then when he gets to them he yells "BOO!" Then it's your job to act scared at which time he'll laugh hysterically. It's pretty fantastic. Johnny sure does love his Aunt Shay Shay and all the fun things she teaches him! :)

 

Johnny loves the outdoors. He would live out there if we let him. It's really nice now though because he's finally big enough that he can climb up the jungle gym and go down the slides at the park on his own.

He is still a very picky eater. He does not eat very many solid foods. But he sure does love his V8 Fusion juice which is where he gets most of his fruit and vegetable nutrients. The foods that he is most likely to eat are: spaghetti, soups, cheese, cereal, PB&J sandwiches, rice, french fries, hash-browns, and soft pretzels. But he'll only eat those things if the stars align and he's in the right mood. Most of the time he'll reject all of those things (except the last 3 which he'll eat pretty much anytime they're offered- figures they have absolutely no nutritional value) and just beg for juice. I feel like the two things I fight him on- eating and sleeping- are a vicious cycle. He doesn't eat well so he doesn't sleep well so he just wants to comfort himself with a sippy cup of juice and so on. Thankfully, he really is a happy kid so I'm grateful our fight with him eating doesn't make him grumpy.

 

 

Johnny is such a good older brother. While there are times that he asks me to "move Claire" or "Daddy hold Claire", he does care about her already. When she's crying in the car, he'll try comforting her by telling her, "We're going home, baby." When he sees her blanket, he'll cover her with it and say, "Here you go, Claire." And he has to give her a kiss goodnight before he'll go to bed. It's super sweet and I'm excited to see how their relationship develops.

Baby Claire is perfect and an absolute joy. She is such a good baby. She eats really well and sleeps well, too.

Daddy and Claire on Easter

She recently had her two week appointment. Here are her stats:

8 pounds 1/2 ounce

20.5 inches

 

 Today- Johnny is 23 months old and Claire is 4 weeks old.

I love my kids!