Milestone Birthdays

In the past eight days, Nathan turned 12, Owen turned 2 and Kathryn turned 13. Because normal life is thrown in too- it's been a fun, full and exhausting week. Three different milestones this year. Nathan received the priesthood, Owen is officially a toddler (a busy one!) and Kathryn is a teenager. I can't believe it, our first priesthood holder and our first teenager. Life is moving at quite the pace.

First post of many from this week- Nathan receives the priesthood (read more about that here).

2 months/12 years

I've thought about the first few years of Nathan's life a lot this past week. I have this feeling tug at my heart when I look back and a nervous excitement when I look ahead. Thankfully he still loves to snuggle and hug so I don't long for the baby days too often. Though most of the time it's to test his strength and see how tight of a 'squeeze hug' he can give me. He's strong!

 Nathan has been looking forward to this birthday for months as he anticipated receiving the Aaronic Priesthood. He has grown so much in the past 18 months both physically and spiritually. When my cousin gave him this suit in May 2012, it was huge. You could barely see his little hands poking out of the sleeves. Now it fits him perfectly with little to no growing room. My friend hemmed the pants for me with the smallest hem she could make and they hit right at the top of his shoes. I've been warned this is just the beginning of his growth. Spiritually he has grown too. This last year + has not been easy for him but he has worked to stay positive. I've been proud of his willingness to keep going and moving forward. He's a good boy.

 He chose to have my brother Kyle ordain him to the office of a deacon. More than ever I am grateful to have such a good, strong brother. He and Heidi traveled here for the day with their four young kids to meet the needs of one of mine. Humbling to say the least. It meant a lot to me and to Nathan as well.

I love this boy.