Sister's Day Before Mother's Day

I have to add the disclaimer that the one writing this post is not Emily. It is her amazingly handsome husband Josh. Now that the formalities are out of the way I can admit that my sole purpose in writing this blog is to wish my sister Julianne a happy birthday. You might be wondering how old she turned today. I'm sure she would try to convince you that she is 25 but the sad truth is she turned 33. Right Julz? 33? It's hard to keep track sometimes.

I was wondering how in the world I was going to wish this sister of mine the happiest of birthdays. Emily had the idea to just bake her some brownies...which I quickly ate once they left the oven...serves you right Julz, you had it coming. Then I started thinking about all the times I've tormented her children (especially Ella) to the point of making her lose her mind. I thought about all the times I told her older children about when their mom dropped a giant wad of spit on my hand from the balcony above only to hear her say, "I'm sorry, I was trying to make it into your bowl of cereal". Or about all the boys she dated before their dad. Or about the time she helped me with a 6th grade report project which only produced a "D". I thought about all these things and had the idea that I could tell her children that I lied about all those things for her birthday.

But then today I was going through some old files and throwing a lot of papers away when I came across a letter that Julianne had written me in 1998. I was a junior in high school and Julz was married and moved out. I guess at the time I was struggling with the usual teenage hormonal imbalances augmented by a very busy schedule. Julianne had heard (probably from our mother) that I was having a hard time. She filled two pages of handwritten, heart felt encouragement and love. She was busy with a new life and a new baby on the way and did not have to worry herself about her little brother's insignificant problems. But that is who Julianne is. When other people struggle or feel pain, she feels it with them. She feels the greatest happiness when she is able to help her children or her siblings overcome spiritual and emotional trials. I think that everyone in our family would agree that Julianne is the family member that we all would want to become more like. She truly, perfectly lives Alma's creed to "mourn with those that mourn; yea, and comfort those that stand in need of comfort, and to stand as witnesses of God at all times and in all things, and in all places that ye might be in". She doesn't get nearly the appreciation she deserves.

So Julz, for your birthday, I just decided to write this lame blog post and tell you publicly that I love you and that you are a constant reminder of what I should strive to be. Happy Birthday....

Oh I almost forgot, I also found this precious gem along with that letter...

Easter

Isn't he so cute?! I can't believe it's already April and we had our first Easter with Jack. It was such a great weekend. Jack is 7 months old today! CRAZY! He's crawling now and blowing out with his mouth. It sounds like a motorboat and he does it constantly. He'll pull himself up to his knees and loves to play with paper and sometimes eat it. He's got 3 teeth, all on the bottom, and I'm pretty sure one is coming in on the top. Dogs are his favorite! He loves when they jump on his stroller and lick his face. He laughs so much when they jump around and bark. It's amazing to me that it never scares him, he's so brave. He's the funnest kid and we love him so much. It's crazy how much our lives have changed but he's the best thing in our lives. Happy 7 months!

So last week was Josh's birthday. He had drill the next day so we really didn't have anything planned. We went to dinner with his parents and it was delicious. I felt so bad cause I could not think of what to get him and I remembered I saw this cake in a book on my Ipad. I asked Jenna if she would help me make it cause she has always loved to bake. I went to her house on his birthday while he was at work and school. I think I'm really dumb when it comes to cooking or baking; I thought this would be a piece of cake...haha. But it wasn't. We had 3 unhappy kids and 2 adults with marshmallow fondant all over our hands. Britain crawled over Jack's face, literally, and we thought the cake was going to be a total disaster. And by the time we thought that, we'd already been working on it for about 4 hours. So, we called our mom to come help us with the kids. We finally finished and if you don't look too close, it turned out pretty well! Josh can solve a Rubik's Cube, which is why I wanted to make it. But anyways, I think he liked it.

And this day finally came... the day that Jack will play with toys by himself. Not for too long, but it's a start.

We sure love this boy!

I know it's been a while, the kid (above), makes it a little hard for me to do much. I can't seem to get the hang of things. Oh well, so my house is a mess, I don't do my hair, or exercise, or much of anything else, but we have fun hanging out together. I'll try to update as much in as I can.

So, I always try to get a picture of Jack smiling, but it is really hard! I'll get him to smile so cute and then the red light on the camera comes on and his face turns to this

and yes, this is a different picture



This is the closest one to a smile. He's a funny kid



He sure loves his dad. Josh can get him to laugh like no one else.



So, there's this new Carter's store that's amazing! They actually have boy clothes! I've had a hard time finding things for Jack I like. They have a good clearance section. But anyway, I found these sunglasses there and I love them! I think it's just so cute!



We got to go to Disneyland! I love that place, although I'll admit, it was a little hard to do much with a baby. One that needs constant entertainment, that is. He got upset when we were on a ride that stopped for a minute. It had to be constantly moving.

Here we are waiting to get off Pirates of the Caribbean.

The lights on the camera make him take such goofy looking pictures

He loved Pluto! He's really the only character we met but he wanted Pluto's nose so bad!

And that is how we all ended our Disneyland trip, exhausted! But we had fun :)

Thanksgiving

Hey, I'm posting about Thanksgiving before Christmas happens! That's a little bit of an improvement. We had a nice Thanksgiving because no one did homework, work, and we got to be together for an entire day! It was so nice. I helped my grandma and mom in the morning for a little bit and then we ate a delicious meal! My uncle brought bbq ribs and Josh decided that that should replace turkey. :) After we ate we went to the Johnson's and visited with them for a while. Jenna and Todd stayed for a while so we watched a movie with them and hung out. It was fun to just be with family for a day. We don't do that nearly enough!

Our tired boys (Jack and Britain) took a nap while we ate.

Jack with Grandma and Grandpa Freeman

Mac and Britain with Grandma and Grandpa

The whole family

I am so grateful for family and really appreciate all that they do for me. I am so blessed to have been born into such a loving family, to have married into such a wonderful family, and now to have a little family of my own. Thanksgiving was fantastic and now we have our first Christmas with Jack to look forward to!

What a Blessing!

Jack was blessed on November 6, 2011 and it was such a fun day! We had so many of our family and friends there. Jack's blessing was so nice and a lady in our ward wrote down notes so that we could remember what was said. It was so nice of her because now I will be able to remember all the nice things that were said. He was such a handsome boy and didn't cry or whine once through the whole blessing. Good boy!






My handsome boys!

































We're still not the best picture takers but I have taken more pictures in the last 2 1/2 months than I have in my entire life! This kid is seriously the funnest person to hang out with and I get to all day every day.

Isn't that the cutest face? I love it!

It's hard to see but he can get a really good mohawk goin!

Grandpa Bryn and Jack. I love this picture

We sure love our Grandpa Freeman!

We got a good shot of him and Dad before we went to our 6th Marine Ball. We were gone for 5 hours and I really missed my Jack.

So here's our update on Jack. He is now 10 1/2 weeks old. He can still wear newborn pants but fits into some 3-6 month outfits. He was 11 lb 9 oz at his 2 month check up (50th percentile), 22 1/4 in long (25th percentile), and his head was 14 3/4 in (8th percentile). So pretty much he's chubbier than he is long with a small head. He got 4 shots, two in each thigh and it might have been harder on me! It was so sad to see those needles go in and then see him cry. I felt so bad for my little guy but he took it like a champ! He cried for a little, and then slept all the way home. He was a little fussy but not too bad. He has started to talk soo much! It is the cutest thing ever! When I sing to him, he gets this huge smile and then, I'm pretty sure, he sings with me. He seems to like popcorn popping and the muffin man song. He has started to suck on his hand and sometimes he gets one finger in his mouth. He hates riding in the car, but it might be getting better. I don't think he likes to be alone and I think facing backwards in the car makes him feel that way. He has started to sleep up to 3 to 4 hours at a time at night and in his own bed, not the swing. I can tell that he is getting happier and smiles so much more than he used to. Oh, and he loves to be complimented. I don't know how he knows, but he gets a big smile when I call him "cute boy".