Justin x2

you guys - I'm so bad! I can't believe I have taken such a long blogging hiatus. man oh man, I have missed a lot and have quite the list to catch up on. anywayz, I started this post a while ago and now revisiting it and looking at the pictures, JD looks so so tiny! oh time flies. he is so big now! but, the baldness is still there. when oh when will this poor boy get some hair?! 

- on to the purpose of this post -

when jd was born, it was very apparent that he was the spitting image of his dad. seriously. put their baby pictures next to each other and I DARE you to tell me who is who. and i wasn't sad or anything... but i was dang excited when jd's eyes decided to be brown :) i needed some credit!

 i sure do love my boys. J and JD are the sweetest little buds. it's so much fun watching them interact - jd gets super excited and kicks his legs like a madman whenever j looks his way. and j is such a good daddy. he takes care of us perfectly ON TOP of rocking his graduate classes. AND nailing a fantastic summer internship. so yes, maybe i'm bragging now.. but sometimes you just gotta kick back and smell the roses, ya know? i am feeling incredibly grateful and blessed, and full of purpose. these boys are my world, and i seriously am the happiest i've ever been. there's nothing quite as fulfilling as  seeing your cute crush, the man your head over heels in love with, become a strong father. i love marriage, and the growth we get experience together through this journey. and seriously, i had no idea my heart could just keep growing, but it does! i remember thinking after justin and i were married that i was the happiest i'd ever been - i didn't know that level of happiness was possible! and that was saying something, because i'm a pretty happy person. but now i have two justin's and i my happiness keeps shooting through even higher rooftops. can life get any better? I submit that it cannot (until we get ourselves another Stewart little)! their love is my drug.

seriously though... jd's head is like a reflector!

Toe Touch

JD = fascinated by his toes. He loves reaching, grabbing, bending, and eating them. 

Me = fascinated with how bendy JD is - seriously he is so flexible and just folds himself right in half!

Last Christmas

whew! I feel like I have been playing catch-up for a while! I promised myself that I would be better at blogging this year... and, well you can see how that turned out :)

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anyway - here are some highlights of JD's first Christmas Eve and Christmas!

On Christmas Eve, a few of us went up to Sun Mountain Lodge to see Santa! Wes and Leatham were so cute, they wrote Santa little letters and then hand-delivered them. It was really fun, and I was especially happy that JD was all smiles for the pictures :)

I don't have pictures of any of our Christmas Eve traditions - but they are magical, let me tell ya! We bring all the mattresses into the living room for one big giant family sleepover. Then my mama reads The Polar Express and rings the bell, my papa reads Luke 2, we watch a cute little movie called 'Small One', put out a platter of milk and cookies, and fall asleep under the tree lights on.

Christmas morning the magic continues. Charley, Wes, and Leath just loved running into the piano room to see the loot that Santa brought them! I'm still sorting through pictures, so I'll post more soon.

For now, here are some of my favorites from Christmas morning:

Hands down, I won the best gift to my dad! Better luck next year, sistas :)

I got J and JD some Bronco gear, and I just love these pictures of my Bronco boys! Nothing makes J happier, obvi!

Another one of our traditions is that after all the presents have been opened my dad makes everyone a delicious gourmet omelet. Sadly, this year my dad caught the flu/pnemonia - but that didn't stop us from keeping the tradition alive :) After we gobbled down our breakfast, we spent the rest of the day shmoozing on the many mattresses in the living room, and playing many a board game.

Oh and of course, a pic of the Brooks Brother traditional gift from the one and only Mumzy:

If you want to check out some more of the amazing things we did while we were in Winthrop for Christmas vacation, have a looksie at these posts:

• 
  snow hike
  
• 
  saddle up...
  
• 
  Ice Skating
  
• 
  Sleigh Ride
  
• 
  Sledding
  

I'm so happy that we were able to go home to Washington this year. We had a blast with my parents, Dani, the Petersons, Ellingsons, and Meg!

I loved introducing JD to some of his boy cousins! Wes and Leath were so cute with JD! They loved to hold 'the baby' and asked me every chance they could get!

Haha it was so funny, one time when Leatham was holding JD, JD had quite a loud pants filler. Leath immediately said 'Bailey, come get JD. I have a rule." Haha it was hilarious, he wouldn't hold JD if his diaper was poopy!

JD and Koen's interactions were so cute - They are only 2 months apart and overtime they came close to each other they would have stare offs and grab each other. I loved it!

I truly feel so blessed and fortunate to have grown up in Winthrop, and I love every chance we get to go back. I love introducing my family to my favorite place in the entire world, and of course I love being with the ones that I just love so much.