Harrison loves to help out with anything that makes him feel big!  He will “help” me with all kinds of chores, which most of the time make the chore take longer…but is a lot more fun!  This morning, when I was changing the loads of laundry, I ran an armload of clothes into the Living Room, and when I returned my son was IN the dryer!  What a BIG HELPER!!

We are grooming the next big thing to hit the worship band scene!  Hillsong United better watch out.  In this song Nathaniel and Hannah are singing lead, and Harrison is “playing” the guitar with a little, off tune, help from his dad!  Soon, Harrison will learn to speak and will be able to sing along, ha ha!

On May 19th, in my Grandma’s apartment in New Castle, PA, Harrison took his first four steps to me!  He has been gradually gaining confidence and balance since then and has begun to take a few steps on his own accord (without being coerced by his father or me!)  Luckily, I was able to take a video of his longest walk to date…ENJOY!!

On Saturday, June 6 we celebrated Harrison’s “Gotcha Day”.  One year ago on this day, Michael and I drove to the Midvale Courthouse in Salt Lake City Utah, with an empty car seat between us, and left with the seat filled and our hearts overwhelmed with emotions!  I was not prepared for the flood of emotions that I felt at that moment…of course, I was elated and overjoyed, but I was also grateful, overwhelmed, sympathetic for Harrison’s biological family, nervous, anxious, and the list goes on and on.  I have got to say, that driving back to the Gray house with Harrison officially ours, I was amazed at how my God works!  He took me on the biggest roller coaster ride of my life.  If it would have been up to me, I would have gotten off a million times if I could have, but the ride continued with my fingers digging in and holding on for my life.  If God has you on a roller coaster, hold on, because you can’t see it now, but the ending is going to be more than you could have ever dreamed of!

In typcial Simmons fashion, we had a party (with homemade pasta) this past Saturday!  Here are a few pictures from our fun day!

Another yummy cake!!

Licking the icing off his fingers already!

Happy Gotcha Day to you, Happy Gotcha Day to you, Happy Gotcha Day Dear Harrison, Happy Gotcha Day to you!

Just getting started!

Oh yeah!!

The flowers that were in Chruch on Sunday for Harrison's B-day/Gotcha Day!

Harrison had his 12 month Well Child Check-Up today…here are the stats!

Weight: 26.2 pounds – 75-90 percentile

Height: 30.5 inches – 75-90 percentile

Head: 19 inches – 90 percentile

He has definitely slowed down in the weight category (which my back appreciates!), but is getting so big in so many other ways.  The Dr. wants us to work with him and get him to say some more words (right now we just have Mama and Dada), so if you run into us and we are sounding like a Dr. Seuss book, you’ll understand why!  In all other areas he is doing great, growing and developing perfectly!  We’re so grateful and thank God each day for such a perfect little miracle!

I don’t know if you’ve ever begged for something, and I’m not talking about just asking “with a cherry on top”.  I’m talking about years and years of begging and asking and hoping and dreaming.  I was giving that opportunity, because for 5 years I begged God for a child.  I’m talking about serious, on my knees, tears in my eyes begging…

When you’re in the midst of the begging, thoughts go through your head like “For God, giving me a child would take the flick of His little finger, why does he keep rejecting me?” or “God blesses families over and over with children, but He continues to say ‘no’ to me, why?”  But when God actually reaches down and touches your life with his mighty hand, you feel completely and totally undeserving and amazed…the very thing I begged for was heard by the creator of the universe, and He cared enough about me to give me a son!  It is incomprehensible and overwhelming humbling!

God has given me a gift.  God.  The Great I Am.  Gave me.  A gift!

365 Days ago Harrison was born, and 360 days ago I became a mom!  We began our WEEK of Harrison’s birthday extravaganza with a party on Sunday, and will finish the week on Saturday with a “Gotcha” party (June 6 is the date we actually received custody of him).  Here are a few pictures of his party!

I have so much gratitude in my heart for each one of you that prayed for my family one year ago…it is because of you I have my baby boy.  I thank God for each of you, you have no idea how much those prayers mean to me still!  Thank you!

Harrison and I just got back from a trip to my home-state of PA.  We visited family and attended the wedding of my cousin Ashely!  The wedding was FABULOUS, everything was perfect – and went beautifully!  We had such a great time, and enjoyed the cool weather (even when it got down to 32 degrees, brrr!).  It was so wonderful to see my family and to show off Harrison!  He loved every minute of our trip and is now playing catch-up on all the sleep he missed out on!

Harrison, Poppy, and Christian at the wedding (all in blue pinstripe).

Dancing the Electric Slide with DeeDee...boogie, woogie, woogie!

He saved his slow dance for his Grammy!

WORN OUT!

Harrison dancing with my cousin Hailey

Mom and Dad "cuttin' a rug"

Taking a swim in Gram's tub!

Nine years ago today I married the love of my life, and I’m more in love with him today than I ever have been!

It only took two days for me to meet Michael after moving onto campus at Grand Canyon University.  It took about two months for me to fall head-over-heels in love with him, and it took only two years for our engagement to be official (although we both knew we would marry each other shortly after we started dating).  On May 13, 2000 our fathers married us in a small church in Scottsdale, AZ – and our life together has been as close to a ‘fairy tale’ ending as they get!  Of course we’ve had bumps along the way, but God continues to bless us as we travel through this life together.  Michael often says to me, I can’t believe how much God takes care of us, even when we totally blow it or mess things up, He’s there to guide us through.  The blessings we’ve received from God are overwhelming and undeserved, and everyday I’m so thankful I’m a christian and one of God’s children!

Here are a few pictures I found (the quality is not great because I had to scan them in because we dated before digital cameras existed – I can’t possibly be that old!)

One of the first pictures of Michael and me as a "couple" Sept 1997

Our engagement photo...no laughing at the butterflies in my hair, that was so cute back in the day! August 1999

Our Wedding Day (one of the only pictures not glued into an album) May 13, 2000

I’m thinking Mother’s Day may be my new favorite holiday…and I milked it for pretty much all it was worth!  I used phrases like “Michael, could you get him, it’s Mother’s Day” or “Babe, he’s hungry, could you feed him…it’s Mother’s Day” or – my personal favorite “Bay, Harrison’s awake, could you get up with him…it’s Mother’s Day”.  And Michael was a champ, he brought me breakfast, while feeding Harrison breakfast, played with Harrison in the pool (while I got to sit and dangle my feet in the edge!), and did everything he could to show me I was appreciated!  It was a very fun day.  Here are a few pictures of my new favorite holiday!

Playing the ‘pot and pan’ drumset

Rock out

fixing his set

A new big boy haircut

I think it is extremely rare to find friends in your life that challenge you and make you a better person, but also are a BLAST to be around…I consider myself unmitigatedly lucky to have found friends just like that!  My friends push me to be better and live a godly-life, all the while cracking me up, and making me have the best time.

One of my favorite things about my friends is that we celebrate random holidays that others would just coast by without noticing.  Nikki often makes Corn-beef and Cabbage for St. Patrick’s day, we picnic for Labor Day, and we eat Mexican food for Cinco De Mayo.  Now, I have to be honest when I say, I don’t even know what Cinco De Mayo is (Mexico won a battle!?!?!?) but I love celebrating it.  This year everyone came to our house, except Justin and Bethany who are now in Texas (boo!) and we had fajitas, rice, beans, queso, Mexican soda, and flan for dessert!  It was so fun, and I loved every minute of it!  It used to be easy to fit everyone in my little living room, but between 8 adults, 5 boys, one dog, and two Nerf Guns we were on our toes most of the night–so much fun!

I’m sure as the boys grow up they might begin to understand these random holiday celebrations, but it’s fine with me that Mason thinks we all got together to celebrate “Cinco De Mommy”!

"The boys" minus Noah

“The boys” minus Noah

The trouble-makers with the Nerf Guns!

Mase and Jess

And yes, I only got three pictures of the whole night…I told you we were busy!