Jaxton's baby blessing

We had Jaxton's baby blessing this past Sunday, May 23, 2010 in our ward in Cedar City. Kyle and I decided when we first found out I was pregnant that we wanted to wait until my brother returned from his mission to bless our little boy. It was such a great day and we truly appreciate the people who love and support Jaxton enough to come. Kyle did a great job with the blessing, he was definitely in-tune with the Spirit and knew what Jaxton needed. It was an incredibly special day for our family!
Cute side note... I went out looking for Jaxton a tie for his blessing and there are not a lot of options here in Cedar City. We do have a consignment store, so I figured, why not... they usually have a lot of random stuff. The girl pulled out all of the ties that they had and I saw the one Jaxton is wearing and remembered Kyle having the exact same tie, only real size! So I got it. It made Kyle so happy that he could match his little boy! Our little family after the blessing.

Elder LaPratt no more...

My little brother came home from his mission on Monday, May 17, 2010. What an exciting and special experience for my family. Jay was in a brutal motorcycle accident about 3 years ago, leaving him in a position to barely be able to use his his arms and having struggle with the skill of walking, which I think we all take for granted and we all wondered if it would cause him to not go, but ultimately it made him stronger and more determined to go. He would write me so many letters about knowing that the Lord prepared him to come on a mission when he was ready and when the time was right so that he could effectively preach the gospel to the people of Spokane, WA. He was almost 2 years older than most of the other "new" missionaries, but Jay has a determined spirit and he will not be held down. I remember talking to him once and he said he was grateful for his mission because of the blessings it has brought into the lives of him family. But now he is home, and he is still in that awkward, new missionary stage... but time will change that. He already loves Kyle and Jaxton, and that means the world to me. I am so proud of Jay and the choices he has made in life. He has been my best friend since high school and has always stuck up for me, even when I am wrong, he had my back. When I got to hug him in the airport, it took us awhile to let go... he kissed the top of my head and said "I love you sis"... and then Kyle reached out for a handshake and Jay wasn't having that... Brother's don't shake hands, brother's gotta hug, right? So the LaPratt clan is all back together and I am excited to see where our lives take us!

Family Pictures

A few weeks ago, I wanted to do some family pictures so we could give them to our moms for Mothers Day. We have a good friend who is really into photography and he offered to do them for us. I love the way they turned out!

Mother's Day

This was my first mother's day and Kyle is always trying to do things to make everything so special for me. Kyle's class that he is taking is every Saturday, usually all day. The day before Mother's Day, his class was from 8 am until 8 pm... so imagine my surprise when Kyle showed up at 2 pm finished for the day!!! We didn't have anything planned really, so I asked Kyle if he wanted to go down to Vegas. His eye has really been botering him so he said no, and that he wanted to spend my first Mother's Day with just us. So instead, Kyle made reservations down in Mesquite so we could spend the day laying around by the pool or in our underwear and not have to clean up after ourselves. It was the best. The first picture is Jaxton's first time in a hotel room!

My two favorite men of all time.

I woke up on Mother's Day and this was next to my pillow... when I asked Kyle what is was, he responded "Oh, the Mother's Day Fairy must have come by"

Opening the gift from Kyle and Jaxton (the Mother's Day Fairy)

It's a necklace that has Jaxton's birthstone. It was SO thoughtful! I LOVE IT!!! Sorry that I do look like that in the morning!

We went out to breakfast and when we were little we would always take the jelly packets, so I took some in honor of my grandma.

This was Jaxton's first time swimming... actually the water was too cold to put all of him in... so just his feet.

I LOVE this picture... We got this look a few times throughout the swimming experience.

Daddy can always cheer him up!

It was so much fun!

I also got to talk to my little brother who will be coming home a week from today! I am so excited! I can not wait! I got an email from him today and he said he is so excited to come home. He is so excited to meet Kyle and Jaxton. I am so blessed to have such an amazing brother who was willing to serve the Lord and for the blessings his mission has brought our lives in the past 2 years!! Now I know why they let missionaries call on mother's day, and Jay is my brother!

And the gloves come off...

I think it's true what everyone always says... being married is HARD work! In the beginning, it's all about having fun and making sure you don't piss your partner off. But it doesn't stay that way for long, and it shouldn't. This first year has been extremely rough... with lots of tears and a lot of hurt feelings, but when I look back on what kyle and I have been through, I wouldn't change it for the world. Yeah, we have our problems and we are working through them, but I can't even believe how close I feel to him even when we are not getting along. I am learning to rely on him for emotional strength and I am learning to accept his help and his love. He has been my best friend since we started dating but I am starting to see now that he wants that and that I'm his too. There is so much that we don't agree on and I used to think that wasn't ok, but when I really stop and think about it, we don't need to. We are learning to compromise and learning to know each others needs without even having to express them. I have learned so much lately from my brother and my sister in law. Kyle and I had a big fight a few days ago (I will not go into detail because it's not important) but I called Sheena because I needed to cry and my mom wasn't home. She talked me down and the best thing I took out of that conversation is that her and my brother are not on "Team Shannon", but they are on "Team Kyle AND Shannon" and after talking to my mom, I realized she is on that team too. Whenever I am in a lot of pain I email my brother who is coming home from his mission in less than 2 months... Jay has never even met kyle but he knows how good Kyle is for me and he knows how much I love him. He is nothing but supportive to us. They have never once said anything negative about kyle because they know how much I truley do love him and how much I want to be with him. I have spent a lot of time thinking and praying about everything lately and I have come to the realization that for most of our marriage, I was on "Team Kyle" or "Team Shannon". I support Kyle in everything that he does and I love him with everything that I am, but it's time for me to stop being on one side or the other. I need to stop beating myself up for things that I have no control over. School is finally out so we hopefully have more time to do more fun things. I also need to stop beating up Kyle for things he has no control over. So starting today (I actually started a few days ago, but I'm writing the blog today) I am officially on "Team Kyle AND Shannon"!

So thanks mom and Sheena and Alan. What great examples I have to help me be a better me! And I will forever be grateful for Jay and the blessings that his mission has brought into our lives!