The Blessing

We finally blessed Claire on June 20. It was a wonderful day and Claire looked absolutely beautiful, as usual. We waited so long because we were waiting for my little brother, Case, to become an elder so he could stand in the circle.

I'm so thankful the the wonderful family and friends we have and for everyone that came. It meant a lot to have everyone there. But I will say that I missed my grandma and grandpa Spanos way too much. They are on a mission in Malaysia and will be home in two weeks and one day, according to my ever vigilant mother. Neil did a wonderful job and his blessing was beautiful.

I'm so happy to have Claire in my life. After waiting so long for her and after wanting her so badly it's an amazing feeling to hold her in my arms and know she's all mine. The greatest thing in the world is the opportunity to be a mother. You never really realize how much having children will change your life until you have a child of your own, and it's so life altering that is throws me for loop after loop. You can never imagine how much love one person could have until your children come into this world. Love isn't a good enough word for how you feel, actually there's no word in the English dictionary that can describe the feeling a mother has for her children. I don't just love my girls, I adore them, I look up to them, I worry for them, I'm marveled by them, their pain is my pain. I love my girly girls.

Her dress was absolutely beautiful.

Oh, and FYI Utah stores that sell blessing dresses...this isn't 1980, please update your styles and get some decent dresses. I got this dress online and am so grateful I did.

Second Child Syndrome

I swear that the second child gets the short end of the stick, I feel bad for children beyond this point. Little Miss Claire doesn't get as much undivided attention as Emma got when she was a baby, that's for sure. But she sure is wonderful by letting me do everything I need to do throughout the day, which mostly consists of chasing Emma around and cleaning the house. Claire's getting to the really fun part of infancy, she loves just staring at toys, of course she doesn't grab them and play with them, but she will lay there and just stare at toys while giggling and talking to them, it's so cute and so wonderful all at the same time.

She sure does love her big sister though. Whenever she hears Emma's voice she stops whatever she's doing and searches for Emma. Emma of course loves this and will lay by Claire and tell her the most wonderful stories, they are the best of friends. Claire sure is lucky to have a sister as wonderful as Emma.

I still can't believe that Claire Bear is three months old! She's way too old! I look at her baby baby pictures and can't believe that she's changed so much in such a short amount of time. Every

time I pick Claire up I swear she has gained weight, she's becoming more and more solid and her head is becoming less and less wobbly. I love my smiley Claire B.

That face gets me every time.

And then it turns into this face....Ahhhh...heaven.

And stretch!

The typical sister picture. Emma always has to get in on the pictures.

Fours years down, an eternity to go

Neil and I celebrated our four year anniversary on June 2. I know I say this every year, but I can't believe that it's been four years already. I love Neil more and more every day. We've been through so much together. The birth of two wonderful girls, the death of my wonderfully amazing great grandma, the death of Neil's favorite grandma, buying our first home together, four years of college, buying two cars, moving three times, figuring out each other's likes and dislikes, and so much more. You would think that after four years of marriage that I would know everything there is to know about Neil by know, but the truth is that I'm still learning new things each and every day. There's so much to learn about one person.

For our anniversary we actually didn't do anything at all, there's just been way too much going on, but I really didn't matter. Neil got me a Nook for our anniversary and for my birthday, and I got him some stuff for grilling, he was thrilled about it. I love you Neil Dawg and I can't wait to spend eternity with you. Pepper.

Summer Lovin' Had Me a Blast

Summer has finally decided to rear its lovely head and we are all enjoying every minute of it that we can. The first thing Emma says when she wakes up is, "Can I go outside, please?" I unfortunately have to inform her that we have to get ready and eat breakfast first. I'm sure it's the longest 2 hours of her life, but she's a survivor.

We live in the best little neighborhood. All around us are kids that are Emma's age, it's perfect, there are two boys and two girls and they are all the best of friends. There are also tons of other neighborhood kids so whenever we go outside we are sure to have at least one playmate for Emma Love. The newest friend is McCoy, and he is totally in love with Emma and Emma is totally in love with him, they will play and play and play until the practically fall over from exhaustion. Emma's best friend is Jade and they are so cute together. They will sit there and play for hours without fighting, and for two three year olds, that is a miracle. It was so funny, Jade got a new outfit and was wearing it outside, well the next day we were at Target and Emma saw the outfit Jade was wearing and just HAD to have it. I tried to get her to get a different colored of shirt, but she wouldn't have it. It had to be exactly like Jade's! Now when one of them sees the other one wearing the blessed outfit, they are sure to run inside and change so they match, it cracks us up. It's so fun to play outside. It's good cheap fun for Emma and it is sure to wear her out.

Emma and Jade in their matching outfits.

Emma and Jade outside eating lunch. I'm not sure what Emma is doing here...

Emma and Jade playing Barbies. Yes we take them outside so the kids stay out there.

One of the neighbors had their pool out so Emma was getting ready to go swimming. Claire wanted to join so I snapped a picture of the two most beautiful girls in the swimsuits. Unfortunately, the water was too cold for Miss Claire.

Emma on her bike. She LOVES to ride her bike all around.

I really need to get a picture of Emma and McCoy. We will for sure get one though because those two are inseparable. We always joke that Emma and McCoy just have to get married, even if we have to arrange it.