A Fun Day with Grandma and Grandpa

Grandma bought Lorilyn an adorable turtle pool so they invited us over to spend some time and try out the new pool. LJ wasn't so sure what she thought of it at first, but she ended up deciding swimming was pretty cool.:)

Anyone who has held my daughter is very quickly taught that she is not completely happy until you are allowing her to jump up and down on your lap. She can jump for hours, it is really your arms that get tired before she ever does:) Here a just a couple shots of her enjoying her time with Grandma.

She says I'm a BIG girl:)

First Full Roll-Over!

Just a fun note that on June 10th Lorilyn rolled over all by herself! She now is rolling all over the place with the greatest of ease, but here are a couple of pictures of the first time:)

Now if she could only pull her knees under her to crawl, but we are in no hurry for that...that just means even more work for mommy:)

Visit to Great Grandma Irene's

In the beginning of June Lorilyn, Laurie and I were able to take day trip to go visit Laurie's grandma Irene. What a wonderful time we had! She is still so full of life and love, even at the age she is. Laurie's mom and dad went with us so we had a wonderful time visiting and ate a delicious lunch that Great Grandma cooked for us!

Lorilyn and her Great Great Grandma Irene

Lorilyn and all 3 grandma's! Aren't they a beautiful set a women?:)

The 5 generations, kind of. It would be correct if it were Ryan sitting there instead of me, but he was working that day so it is me in place of Ryan. Still pretty cool though to have everyone together.

Just Some Thoughs

So in the past I have only used our blog to post pictures with little captions, but today I thought I would write down a few thoughts that have been going through my head the last little while. I definitely need to keep a better journal, but for the time being this blog is mostly what I have so I thought I would share a bit...

I have been mostly thinking a lot about prayer and answers to prayer. It seems that in these troubled times we are faced with challenges left and right. From physical to spiritual, emotional and financial, sometimes it seems that the adversary is lurking around every corner, waiting for the next thing he can use to bring us down. Why I ever even let myself get down at all is just ridiculous because as I look back in my life, especially the last couple years, it is so blatantly obvious the hand the Lord has played in my life. My prayers have been answered in ways better than I ever prayed for or ever hoped for. So why in the middle of trials do we so easily forget how He continues to lead us through it all? The thing is though, I never do loose faith. I know without a doubt that it all will work out, I have even had blessings promising me such, but I still find a way to worry and at times despair as to HOW it will. My thoughts lately have been turned to the stories of healing. Stories from the Savior, but also of when the saints were in Nauvoo, as it was still a swamp, and many were suffering with deathly illness. Before being healed, Joseph would ask if they had the faith that it could be done. It makes me think do I TRULY have the faith to know that these great things that have been promised will happen? I keep praying saying that it is totally ok if they don't and I know it is His will, but I realized I need to have the faith that since they have been promised I need to believe that. I don't know how, or when, but I now know they will. How easy it is to be blinded by our trials and situations during, wondering how it will ever work out. But looking back the Lord ALWAYS has His hand in our lives as we turn our lives over to him and trust that he will lead us to where we need to be.

I don't know if any of you have read the First Presidency Message this month called "Prayer and the Blue Horizon" by President Dieter F. Uchtdorf. The whole article is wonderful, but my favorite paragraph is this...
"The answers to our prayers come in the Lord’s due time. Sometimes we may become frustrated that the Lord has delayed answering our prayers. In such times we need to understand that He knows what we do not know. He sees what we do not see. Trust in Him. He knows what is best for His child, and being a perfect God, He will answer our prayers perfectly and in the perfect time."

I am so grateful for the power of prayer in my life and the knowledge that the Lord will answer all of our prayers "Perfectly and in the perfect time."

Sorry if I have just kind of rambled, but all of this has been playing out in my head over the last couple weeks and I thought I would share it out loud.

The First of Many!

LJ got to go to her first softball game today! We found out Michigan was hosting the college regionals and decided we needed to go see a game, and oh what a game it was! We were down in the bottom of the last inning and won with the combination of a huge home run to start the inning then a winning hit to score the girl from second. The people who know me well reading this know I was in heaven being here. Being at a fastpitch softball game again felt so good! So many memories from growing up at Lynette's games to playing in my own came rushing back to me! I was giddy as I was watching it. Ryan and I had so much fun we decided we are definitely going to the games next Saturday too. We also agreed we would LOVE to be softball parents, so not saying I will ever push our little LJ, but she will definitely have our support and help if she wants to play!:) So she was a little scared as mommy was holding her and jumped up and screamed for the homerun, but she will have to get used to it because this was definitely the first of many for her!

It was pretty cold and windy so she spent a lot of time in her car seat covered up, but she still got the experience.

This was right before I scared her to death yelling after the homerun!

Getting her ready to play someday! Gotta start early:)

Family Pictures

One thing I find interesting is how hard it is now to get pictures of our family. I mean we have TONS of just the baby, some with me and the LJ and some with daddy and LJ, but us 3 together takes planning! So since spring has finally sprung here in Michgan and there are gorgeous views all around us we decided to take advantage of it and take some pictures. After church mother's day we asked Grandpa if he would snap a few shots of us in their beautiful back yard.

With it being just after mother's day, if you would indulge me, I thought I would share my thoughts on some of the amazing mother's in my life.

#1 - Most obvious being my mother. I couldn't be more grateful to have such a wonderful mother. She has always been the most amazing example of what true Christlike love is all about and I try every day to emulate her and all she does. I don't know if I will ever be able to accomplish the goal of truly being like her, but I am thankful for her constant example and friendship. Now as I am a mom I love knowing I was raised by such a wonderful woman that as long as I can do as I was shown, I might be able to be a good mom, that is the goal anyway. Thank you mom for your constant kindness, love, and support. Now that I am older I am so glad to call you one of my best friends!

#2 - My sister Lynette and sister in law Kori. I only about 14 when they got married then started having children so I got to just sit and observe as they began their journey's of motherhood. I couldn't have two better leaders of what being a good mother and wife is all about. Thank you for the wonderful examples you have set me in my life. I hope to be able to raise my family with such strength and love you two are raising yours with. I LOVE YOU!

#3 - The last mother I would like to talk about today is my mother-in-law Laurie (aka Mamma Jigs). Not many women get to say that their mother-in-law is also one of their best friends, but I honestly can. From the moment I met her she has been such a wonderful sunshine in my life that I don't know what I would do without. Thank you Mamma Jigs for raising such an amazing son and now accepting me as one of your own children and more important friends! I LOVE YOU!

And a big thanks goes to my special hubby for making it a wonderful first mother's day for me. People asked me what my husband did, and he did all of the normal mother's day things like breakfast, taking care of LJ, complimenting me continuously, doing work around the house, and any other nice thing they tend to do on mother's day. The difference though is that it truly wasn't much different from any other day of the year, and for that I couldn't be more grateful. I realized Sunday that am married to someone who truly treats me like it is mother's day every day! What more could anyone ask for?! I love you hubby!

Fun Pics of the Little One:)

We haven't been up to anything too exciting, but truthfully everyday life is more than exciting while you are watching a little one grow and develop!:) So I just thought I would share a couple updated pics of our growing girl!

LJ has decided she is a big girl now and is not so happy to be laying down, but LOVES to be sitting up with us! As you can see, she is pretty proud of herself that she can sit up:)

She also loves to play flying games on mommy's legs:)

LJ decided that waiting for mom to be ready for church can be pretty exhausting!

She has also decided that going for walks in her stroller is so much fun! She is not content though to be in her car seat that fits in the stroller, but wants to be strapped in the big girl seat so she can see out. But to give you perspective on how little she still is for it here is the broader view...thank goodness for the blankets to prop her up!

Easter Trip to Baltimore

Well we had another wonderful trip to Baltimore to visit Uncle Scott for Easter. I wish I had more pictures but unfortunately our camera battery died and we didn't have the charger, so I will add what we were able to take the first day. It was a wonderful weekend full of lots of good food, laughs and of course the awesome Guitar Hero! We all had a blast trading off on the different instruments and challenging each other to get better scores. It was so much fun to see how much Baron loved his little cousin LJ! Every time she would make any noise he would run over to make sure she was ok and lick her face...so cute! Anyways, thanks Uncle Scott for another great visit!

Baron and LJ

What a talented family!:)

Grandpa's little girl...

Grandma's little ballerina!

For LJ's Grandma Bird

So this post is for Grandma Bird because she has been wanting to see a picture of the adorable smile we keep talking about, but it has been hard to capture because I either don't have my camera, or when I go to take the picture she just blankly stares at the camera like, what is that thing mom? But she ALWAYS gives daddy big smiles when he comes home so I tried to capture a couple then. Even then though the camera would go off one split second too late so you get the end of the smile, but non the less, here is a glimpse.:)

This last one is here because I had to show off her cute outfit. Let me just say that I LOVE the store Once Upon a Child! I got these jeans for like 3 bucks and they are just adorable! I had them on her for 3 days strait, today made 4, but lets just say the blow out she managed to do this morning was definite cause for a good washing for them! This is also the blank face of wonder I talked about when she sees the camera:)

Just a fun update!

I just thought I would give a little update on what has been goin on around these parts. Nothing too exciting, but we are truly enjoying life as we settle in to this new family. I absolutely LOVE being a stay at home mom and count my blessings every day that I have a wonderful husband who works so hard to allow me to do that. LJ is growing and learning so much every day and I am so glad I don't have to miss any of it! So in no particular order here are some pictures of what we have been up to in the last few weeks.

We were really excited that Michigan made it to the NCAA tournament so this is the outfit we wore to watch them play! Too bad they didn't make it as far as we would have liked, but there is always next year! Oh and we also cheered BYU on too, they definitely should have made it out of the first round:(

This is LJ visiting her new friend Jackson. Jackson is the son of a friend of ours down the street. He was born St Patty's day so LJ and him are 6 weeks apart. Jackson here is a pound bigger than LJ was when she was born, but look at her now! It is a lot of fun to have a stoller buddy to hang out with, especially for mommy!

LJ has decided that she really likes sitting up like a big girl in her bumbo!

She has also decided that Baby Einstien is REALLY cool!

She also thinks this star thing above her on the mat is very exciting to stare at, especially since it lights up and plays music!

Mommy and I read books every day and I LOVE to look at the pictures!

She is very fond of bathtime, but I took this picture to show that her eyebrows and new hair that is growing in is still very dark, looks like she might have hair like mommy! Oh and how bout that double chin she's working on!:)

This was today during our playtime together. She was having fun kicking and talking to mommy!

So sorry if this post was boring, but this is our life now...and we couldn't be more happy and blessed!