{ t h r e e } months

My sweet little baby is already three months. It hurts my heart that she is growing so fast! I tell her every night to stop growing, but she isn't listening.

She is so alert, awake, inquisitive, bubbly, smiley, slobbery, strong, happy, hungry, perfectly perfect. While I don't want her to get bigger, I love watching her personality come out. 

She's even cute when she cries. 

Rooney loves to talk and especially loves to sing. She can hold her head up all by herself - she wants to sit up so bad and she is so strong, she will get there soon. The front of her outfit is almost always covered in slobber - she loves to make spit bubbles. Now that mom is out of work, afternoon snuggle naps are a must. Rooney's tongue is regularly popping in and out of her mouth. She kicks her legs like a frog while in her car seat and blow outs have been a daily experience. She still hates tummy times, but is getting better. We all sleeps at least 7 hours a night! She turns towards sounds and has to be held looking out at everyone. She will always smile for attention. 

I love my three month old baby. 

porter's farewell & roo's baby blessing

May 24th was a perfect day.

Not only was it our 2nd wedding anniversary...

just because i love pictures from our wedding

but Rooney was blessed and Porter gave his farewell.

Rooney looked perfect in her beautifully handmade dress. She was an angel baby and Ashton gave her a beautiful blessing.

my beautiful baby girl

Porter's talk was great. It blows my mind how grown up he suddenly became. I remember watching boys give farewells when I was a teen and thinking something along the lines of them needing their mission to help grow and mature. After Porter spoke, I think everyone could tell just how prepared he was. It was moving. I will see if I can get him to send me a copy of it.

I love Sundays, especially ones surrounded by so much family and so many friends.

life with a baby

You know - i used to think, "once i become a mom, i'll have time to...". well, i can tell you now that that is not at all true. take my neglected blog/months and months late thank you cards (they're coming i promise), my hairy legs and greasy hair, backed up laundry, lack of social life, and so much more. Now, I spend my days nursing, changing diapers, and walking around with a baby occupying my arms.

While I am behind on most everything, I would not trade being a mom for anything. I mean, look at that face!

ps. sorry about the capitalization that did not happen in this post. I was nursing Roo at that time, so I was typing with one hand. :)

six years down

Today is my last day teaching.

It doesn't seem real (so I am surprisingly not emotional) and I don't think it will hit me until fall comes around and everyone, but me,  is going back to school. I know I recently did a post about teaching so I will keep this one short.

I have loved teaching. I have met/worked with so many wonderful people. I have loved my students the most, though. Teaching special education is a pasion of mine and I hope that I always get to interact with these special kids, even when I am not in a classroom. I have learned great lessons about love, selflessness,  not judging, serving, and always growing to reach our potential. Each of my students has changed my life. Because of them, I am a better person.

These 6 years have been amazing. BUT...

Tomorrow, I become a fulltime mom!!!

elder thorkelson

I am officially the sister of a missionary!

I It has been a day shy of a week since I gave that brother my last hug for two years. We had been waiting for that to come for a long time, but that didn't make it any easier. I am filled with so much joy, thinking of him out there serving. I am also filled with a little sadness when I come home and he isn't snuggling baby Roo or laughing at silly videos. Initially, I felt a little fear too as having a sibling on a mission isn't something I have experienced before. I am not really afraid for him, I know he will be amazing. I was more worried for me - not having him home. It was selfish. 6 days later, I can say that home isn't the same without him, but we are making it.

Six days down. Seven hundred, twenty something left.

I couldn't be more proud of my baby brother. He has over come so much in the last three years. He has grown and helped those around him grow too!

I have watched him speak in both stake conference and in our ward in the last month and have been blown away at how suddenly grown up he seems. In both of those talks, he mentioned his fight with cancer. Porter doesn't talk much about the experiences he had while he was going through chemo and I loved hearing how close he came to our Heavenly Father and Savior through that battle.

I just keep thinking that so many LDS families have done this before. I keep reminding myself of the blessings of having a missionary. I tell myself over and over again that it is going to be ok and that I can email/write him whenever I want! But it doesn't make my heart miss him any less. I just want to hug him.

Today, I got my first email from him. I have never reacted to opening my email the way I did today. Seeing that email instantly brought tears to my eyes. He didn't write much, but he wrote! Getting emails from him has already become an addiction and I cannot wait for next Tuesday.

In short:

I am the sister of a missionary. I love him. I love this gospel.