Oops!

Sorry, we forgot to tell you that Jasmine is officially a crawler as of Tuesday! She cruizes! Our house is now fully equipt with baby gates...on to the next phase.

Grandparents 50th anniversary...and one fabulous trip to Montana!

The Little Sellers'

So here's a little update on our wee ones...(let's be honest, that's what this whole blog thing is really designed for) Mason is having a killer summer. He has spent nearly every moment that he's awake outside in the sprinkler, or in Rachel's sprinkler, or at Dom and Amy's pool. Even though he hates to get his head wet, there isn't anything he likes better than playing in the water. His little sis is another story...where there is water, you'll find Izzy splashing water in her face, laughing, or trying to drown herself. Doesn't matter if it's ice cold, she's in it! And who can resist a beautiful little "chubba wubba" in a two piece with pigtails?

Mason has decided that he hates to have his picture taken. Although who can blame the poor kid, I am his mother. So, the focus of most the shots lately have been baby Bella Blue...who happens to still be too little to tell me "no".

Josh and I laugh everyday about how different our kids are. Anyone who knows Mason knows that there has never been a more anal, organized, hilarious kid with a ridiculous memory. Easy in some ways, so tough in others. When he was a baby he would've never dreamed of picking anything dirty up off the floor to put in his mouth! Jasmine looks for things, anything, that will fit into her mouth. She's always finding trouble. Lord help me, I am NOT used to this...but it does make for an interesting day. Watching Mason follow her around and try to keep her clean and out of trouble is so funny...keep tryin' hunny. She is going to be our "dive into the deep end-rollercoaster riding-stick stuff up her nose-rough and tumble-raging mess. Everyone should have one!!!

Parents...who are they?

I've always believed that parents teach their children how TO be and how NOT to be. Sometimes their methods lean more in one direction than the other...But as the child we don't get to choose our upbringing. It's not up to us how we are parented. The only thing that is up to us is how we choose to learn the lesson they are trying to teach...or not trying to teach.

My dad spent this last week in the hospital. He was finally released and is now at home. He had a perferated bowl. Clearly painful! He will be having surgery on it after he completely heals from this terrible ordeal. I know that it would be cliche to sit here and explain how seeing him in that hospital bed made me think about the fact that none of us are guaranteed tomorrow. For that matter we aren't guaranteed the end of this day...Time with family is extremely important. I could go on and on about how much I love him and saw him as vulnerable for the first time ever and it scared me. But I'm going to assume that all of that is already known. Instead, his hospital experience was paired in my mind with the thought that we all just spent a 10 day vacation in Montana together. My mom's parents celebrated their 50th wedding anniversary. All of the family got together to celebrate their commitment to each other, their family and friends. We also got to spend some much needed time with Josh's family. All around it was a fabulous trip. My dad was rushed to the emergency room the day after we got back...welcome home!

The word "reflection" comes to mind when Josh and I think about our trip to Montana. I was also blessed by getting to spend time with my uncle David who motivates me toward perspective everytime I'm with him. The compilation of all these events led me to think about my own life. I AM A PARENT! You know, one of those frustrating people that are always telling you "No". They say they know what's best...ground you for a month and then claim to love you. -?- I am the person that my children will spend some portion of their lives NOT understanding. I am the one that will make huge sacrifices on their behalf that they will never know about, level anyone who tries to hurt them and when I tell them they cannot go on a date when they are 14, they will most likely want to trade me in. There is only one guarantee for my life as a parent...I have only just begun to make mistakes. There are no perfect parents, and eventhough my kids are just 5 and 8 months, I already have some regrets. They will spend time wishing I had done things differently and trying to figure out why I am the way I am...But here's the kicker, they will never understand why I am the way I am, no matter how hard they try. It's because they didn't know Josh and I before they came along. They didn't know the life experiences we had or the way we were raised. They won't understand that just like every human on this planet, I am the way I am now, whether good or bad, because of my experiences. Life happened. They don't know how being with Josh has made me a better, stronger person. They won't know all that we've been through in our married life, or the lessons that we've taken away. They won't completely understand how our weak spots have been made stronger by the other one, or that a lot had to change on both of our parts to learn to be the best "us" that we could be. They won't know what I was like in highschool or the fact the every day God is making a bigger impression than He did yesterday. They will know, but not fully grasp the circumstances regarding their arrival. They will only know a portion of who we are because of the fact that they haven't always been on the scene...So if this is true for me, then it must be true for all parents...which means it's true for mine. In turn, my grace level for my parents and the way I was raised has just grown immensely...maybe my kids can do the same for me.

The other day, after spending the morning wrestling with my 5 year old, lunch time having a backyard picnic, the afternoon coloring and watching cartoons followed by our favorite evening walk, I told him I was only going to read one bedtime story, not two. This was quickly followed by big tears, a quivering bottom lip and, "You never do what I want to do!" ...really? How many times did I get upset with my parents without knowing the whole story, or seeing it from their point of view? How many times have I judged them for choices they've made without knowing how they got to that place? But I guess it's the infamous circle of life...I just wish I hadn't spent so much time in the past being irritated with situations I don't understand. That's not to say that they are perfect...but why are they supposed to be?

Obviously

Everything changes...I hate it, but it's true. Obviously the only thing you can do is adjust. Changing, restructuring, growing...all necessary. Apparenly when you haven't talked to your friends living all around the world for months at a time, their lives change. Go figure. Families change too. We want to make it as easy as possible to keep up with the people that mean the most to us.

Speaking of families changing...Josh's family is in the middle of a big transition. We all used to live in Montana. After Josh and I left, (following the firefighting path that was set in front of him) we could still go back and see everyone. Kind of a one-stop-shop kind of deal. One by one everyone's lives have led down a different path, which unfortunatley is typically the case. It's becoming clear that we will all be spread about the country. His sister, Laura, and her family will be heading off on a big adventure to Missouri. Her husband has accepted the job of his dreams and they will be starting the next chapter of their lives. We are all very excited for them. Although, if change were an easy thing there would be less tears and more laughter on their behalf. Not possible when we're going to miss them like crazy! Matthew, Josh's brother is in law school with his family in Florida...and quite honestly, they could end up anywhere. In case they haven't fully considered it, we'd like them to know we happen to enjoy the Salt Lake area. It really seems like a perfect place for a lawyer to settle down with his beautiful little family...no pressure ; ) Josh's parents and two grandmas are living in Montana. His Mom and Dad live at the house Josh considers home. But, with all of the kids growing up and moving on, they too are contemplating relocation. So, you can most likely see the "transition".

Hopefully this will be a place where we can keep up, catch up and hear about all the exciting things going on in our friends lives...And obviously a place where Josh's family can give each other hell. You never know, maybe this can become the cyber version of the living room floor that we're all used to sitting on together while these little battles wage on and on...we love you so much.

If you've been invited here, then you're someone special to us. Thanks for visiting. We look forward to your comments and love hearing from you. For those of you who don't have a blog yet...get on it! Enjoy!

Thanks All

Thank you everyone for your lovely comments. We really enjoyed the comments about the music selection and the petty bickering that followed. We, the members of the Sellers' Family Utah Chapter enjoy a wide variety of music from all genres. Might I add I have also made some poor decisions about automobile purchases. It must be something our parents taught to their two wonderful sons. By the way sorry about the delay with more photo's and such we've been extremely busy and should be updating it soon.

Our New Blog

Hey everyone this is our first Blog! I'm just trying to figure this out so stand by for more to come.