Hope

 I honestly couldn't even start to describe the changes in Hope over the last year!  She is one incredible little person.  She is intense, and determined, and bright, and happy, and, and, and! 

Loves to dance with her Prince!

 Her smile makes me smile, and her big blue eyes makes me melt!

Loves, Loves, Loves her family!  Tells us all each day, we are her best friends!

Dances her way through life!

This is one of my all time favorite pictures.  She was beyond excited to get roller skates for her birthday, but the pads, and helmet were really what she loved the most.

She went to a Young Womans activity with me.  As we were waiting for parents to pick up the girls, Hope asked the kids to play ring around the rosie.  Then they move on to duck duck goose.  The YM weren't going to be left out.

Loves to read her scriptures in the car.

Playing and dancing at the Children's museum.  We love it there. 

Gage

There is really no way that I am going to be able to go back and update everything from the last year and a half!  However, there are things that I just have to write here to remember.  Sorry, for a ton of pictures!

For the first year of Gages life, he was almost never heard from.  He still is a sweet, precious little guy, but he is no longer going to go unheard!  He is developing his own little way in this life and in this family!

 

From very early on, eye contact was so important to him.  Before he was mobile, he would just watch me as I was cooking dinner, for that moment I would make eye contact with him. Then the biggest smile would spread across his face. 





Hope, always goes for things (like walking, playing etc) then figures it out as she goes.  Gage waits and practices and once he has mastered a skill, then he will just take off like he's done it all his life!  I remember following after Hope, ready to catch her as she tumbled, over and over.  The moment Gage started walking, he could cruse on the hardwood floors with socks on. 
I will always remember the way Gage crawled, fists balled up crawling on his knuckles!  A little reminiscent of an Ape, BUT also very manly!

Gage LOVES Hope, ALMOST as much as Hope loves Gage.  They already are very close, and watch out for each other.   For a very long time, every time we left my parents house, Hope would say, "I'm sorry Grandma, we have to take Gage with us!" 

 The following picture was a day, that Gage was just really fussy.  I was in the kitchen doing something.  Hope told me not to worry, she would help him be happy.  Ten minutes later I realized it was totally silent other than the noise I was making.  I walked into the dining room, to find Hope eating lunch silently, and Gage totally asleep in his high chair.  When I asked her how she got him to sleep, she said she just rubbed his head and sang "quiet" songs to him.  Melts my heart just thinking about it!

Gage has been one great cuddler.  He is almost always ready for a little cuddle time.  

My heart is so full with the very thought of this sweet and happy boy.  Everyday I thank my Father in Heaven for sending him to me.  He knew exactly what I needed!

Perfected

This may be one of those posts that just disappears in a few hours.  I seem to like to do those lately.  I guess I am crazy but I did that a lot around Gunners 2nd birthday.  Just had thoughts to get written down, then once they are written, don't really feel a need to share.  Note to myself (the lone visitor of this little blog)  I am going to get this thing updated one way or another!

I go through times where I seem to have constant "themes" in my mind.  Right now it is about being, or at least portraying myself as perfect, in the sense as having life figured out, on top of everything etc etc.  This is my decision: I am NOT anywhere close to being perfect, and that is exactly where I want to be! 

I am not the perfect mom(this one makes me a wee bit sad), wife, sister, daughter, YW leader, neighbor, or whatever else I should be perfect at.  

I don't have the perfect body (never have, and lets face it, never will!!!)

I don't always keep a perfectly clean home, serve perfectly prepared meals, or have crisp folded laundry.

I sometimes make choices, like, baking my kids treats, instead of folding my 3 load high stack of laundry (ahem, I may be talking about today ;) )

Sometimes, I let Hope go to church with black shoes when really the white shoes would look "perfect."

What I have come to accept though, is that it is only once I let go of the facade, I am actually perfectly happy with imperfection!  I have learned to love more readily, serve more willingly and accept the guidance of the spirit with all that I am.  I have found the spirit to be more of a part of my every day life.  I strive every day to put my pride aside, so that I can actually do the things that fulfill me and the work that I believe I was sent here to do.  I wish I could say laundry fulfills me, but for some reason, it just doesn't!

I found that trying to be something on the outside that I wasn't feeling on the inside was actually keeping me in a constant state of unrest.  So, for now, I am working to find my internal peace and acceptance of my flaws.  I am finding that I need to accept those as opportunities to actually welcome the changes that are ever needed.   

For now:

 I am perfectly,

 blissfully,

 imperfect! 

THIS is what fulfills me!

Not the "cutest" pic of Gage.  so here's another:

This makes me...

Happy and sad at the same time.

I think this is one of my all time favorites.

And this is the other.

And there was Hope. She is still one of my bright spots.

Random

I know I need to update the blog but, I just haven't sat down to download photos from the 2 different places I have pics. So, just a quick picture of our big boy. I wish I had a recent one of Hope too, but I will soon.

Just this week, I thought of something that I wanted to write down so I don't forget it. Our sweet Hope is a girl that loves to follow routines. Every morning that it is just us eating, like when Eric is at work, we have this little routine we have to follow it goes like this:

1. Hope pulls out my chair for me. Once I sit down, she pushes me in.
2. I pull her chair out and push it in for her.
3. She raises her right hand and with my left hand we give each other a high five. (It is not acceptable for either of us to attempt to high five with the other hand, trust me I have tried!)

I love it! She NEVER does it if anyone else is around.

By the way I am so in love with this boy too. He is always smiling, unless you get your camera out. Then the smiles magically disappear.

Smile

This picture just makes me smile.

New Gage Pictures

I thought it was time to post some new pictures. This boy is such a sweet and special guy. There are 2 other people in this house that love him just as much as I do. You can tell Gage is just as crazy about Hope as she is about him. The only difference is that she shows it by smothering him and he just smiles and tries to talk to her.



This Sunday was our first time back to church, so I had to take a picture of the big event.

My favorite picture yet...

Just a random Hope pic. She loves to make faces at herself in the mirror. A couple caught on Sunday. The growling and gurgling sounds really round out the experience, sorry you have to miss that part!

Our 3 Year Old

I can't believe Hope is 3! We had such a blast for her birthday. We started out at the Aquarium. Eric has been wanting to take Hope there since she was born! So I wondered if this was really an early birthday present for him??? Regardless we ALL had a blast. I will always remember when we were walking back to the car, I came to the realization that most likely, this was the last "fun" thing we would do as a family of 3. I had mixed emotions at the time.


Other fun pictures!



This is the last part where you can buy food to feed the rays. Hope did it once and then she was DONE. The first time Eric and I ever went to the aquarium, was with my office Christmas dinner. Eric was wet up to his shoulders and would have been swimming with the rays if he had half a chance.

Hope ate lunch outside then she was showing off her moves...



After nap we had a small Cinderella birthday party. Let me be perfectly clear, I know NOTHING about making cute cakes. I was glad I did it despite the flaws and intimidation. It was even kind of fun.



Happy birthday my sweet girl.