Best Part of My Day....

TUMMY TIME!!!!

Porter LOVES his tummy time! Although we've had to limit his tummy time to five minutes many times a day because he loves it so much he tends to fall asleep after a little while (totally defeating the point of tummy time). The other day though he just sat there with his head up for a good 5 minutes, just talking away! It was too cute so I had to take a few pics of it.

Swimmin' Time!

This year for our office party we rented out the Scera Pool for the night! It was so much fun! Porter LOVED spending some good quality time with Aunt Shelly (who was nice enough to watch him so Dustin and I could go down the slides a few times).




Then we got to go swimming with Aunt Jen at her pool- Porter was in HEAVEN! I just held him and walked around so he was up to his belly button and he was loving life! Thanks Aunt Jen

....Bath Time...

Since Porter was a newborn, he has LOVED his baths!

These are for you Gram! Enjoy!

Porter's Best Friend

The other day I set Porter down in his rocking chair to go grab something, and when I came back in I found him like this:

He is staring up at the picture of Jesus on his wall and was just chatting away at him.... It was so cute! He loves this painting that Gramma and Bop bought him. Every time I rock him, he stares up at the painting and smiles.

Snip Snip Buzz Buzz

Today Porter got his first REAL haircut! About a week ago his faux-hawk was getting far too tall, so I trimmed it down. But the sides and back of his hair were ridiculously long, so my amazing hubby busted out the hair trimmer and gave him a nice short cut!

Daddy figuring out which size to use...


Here we go!!!... I love the look he's giving me like, "Mom are you sure about this?"

"haha- yeah this is kinda cool!"


"OOOH I like this!"

And.... the finished product!

The First Goodbye...

Mom & Dad went into the MTC on June 22, 2011. Of course we were all at the house that morning to see them off.... there were more than a few tears shed... I think at that point in time is when we realized that it was real. We were really gonna have to go 3 years without seeing our parents. Even though we knew we'd be seeing them on Sunday, it was still so hard to say goodbye, because it was the first step. It was like ripping the band-aid 3/4 of the way off.

Jen & I saying "goodbye" to our hero


Mom decided it was a good idea to tell us to smile.... yeah.... that wasn't easy! Good thing we both have hats and sunglasses on to cover our red, swollen eyes.


The night before they left, we all hung out in Dad's office in his house dividing up miscellaneous gift certificates, etc. that he had collected and never used. It was thoroughly entertaining! I couldn't resist putting these up, it just shows our family dynamic so well!

Just remember Jen & Mikey, I'm the "responsible one" :)

Welcome Baby Benson

Michael and Chelsy had their sweet baby boy!

Benson Alan Gilbert
June 21, 2011
8 lbs 14 oz
21 inches long

He was induced a week early and was still such a big dude!!!

We were so grateful that Chelsy's Doctor's agreed to induce her exactly one week early, the night before Mom & Dad went into the MTC. It was sure a sweet experience! Mom and Dad were so grateful for the opportunity they had to meet this little guy!













Michael, Benson, Porter, & I





















Sweet Baby Benson!






















Grandma getting to meet Benson for the first time!























Bop getting to meet Benson





















4 Generations of Gilberts: Sidney Swainston, Lynn Alan, Michael Alan, and Benson Alan.



We were lucky enough to go back to the hospital again the following night, and Mom & Dad were allowed to leave the MTC for a bit since Chels & Benson were in the hospital. It was such a fun excuse to get to spend more time with them! (Sorry for invading your hospital room Chel!)























Austin's new thing that night was giving Gram HUGE kisses- he kept doing it OVER and OVER



















Bop & Porter- Porter loves his Bop so much!



















Jen & Austin! Such a sweet baby! I just love those cheeks!



















Bop & Benson getting some good bonding time in.... enough to last three years!



















Gram & Porter- check out that belly! He's clearly not starving!



















Bop & Gram with their "Three Little Missionaries"













I love this picture of Dad playing with Porter-













And I love that Porter just kept smiling! He loves his Bop! The whole time we were there he wouldn't stop staring at Bop! It was pretty sweet!






















Benson's awesome big sister, Mya! Don't judge the outfit... I had just gotten her ready for bed when we got the call that we could go down- and she wanted to wear her boots.... and I'm the favorite aunt so of course I gave in! :)



















Bop & Benson.


I am seriously so grateful for that awesome night we got to spend together! I feel so bad that we were all at the hospital at the same time, but Chels was a sport and let us all hang out for a while so we could spend every second we could together!

Welcome sweet Baby Benson!!!!!

Buh Bye Boat

Well... since Mom & Dad are officially gone.... I guess I should finally update my blog a bit!

Here are some photos of the last boating trip we took.







As you can see, my husband is clearly not the expert tuber that I am... :)