Wes' Baptism

Wes was baptized a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints on Saturday, January, 25, 2020 in Dublin, Ohio by his father, Brian Monsen.

Sweet Wes had this huge smile on his face all morning! We are all so blessed we got to feel his sweet spirit that morning.

These five people surrounding that sweet boy were so proud to be by his side as he made this decision to follow the Savior.

Mae was the cutest audience member there-

Wes was so excited to finally get started, but waited patiently as we went through the program-

Thad gave such a wonderful talk on baptism and his grandmas were lucky enough to witness this wonderful event.
 I gave a short talk on the Holy Ghost using the song “Let the Holy Spirit Guide” as my outline and encouraged Wes to allow the spirit to take on these roles in his life: guide, teach, testify. I reminded him that the spirit is much more often a feeling than a voice and if he will listen to that feeling, he won’t be led astray. He looked straight at me the whole time and it was just the sweetest!

Afterwards, a group of wonderful men from our ward circled around him as Brian confirmed him and gave him the sweetest blessing. The thing I remember from that is Brian blessing him to use his unique talents to bless his life and the lives of others. Listen to the Spirit, Wes, he will guide you as strive to be a tool in the Lord’s hands.

 Chris Wernli - Derek Von Cannon - Denton Whitney - Mark Slavens

Dad - Bishop Johnson - Eric Robertson

We enjoyed a wonderful brunch at our home following the baptism that I didn’t get nearly enough pictures of —We were too busy celebrating that wonderful boy!

We had so many ward members join us and are so grateful for the wonderful people that surround us here in Dublin, Ohio.

I am so thankful for this boy and his love and willingness to follow the Savior. He is a curious soul and I know it's going to serve him well in his mortal journey.

 This is such an exciting first step on your path to eternal life, Mr. Wes. I hope you exercise the faith and humility you did on this wonderful day throughout your life, it will take you places you could never imagine.

And last, but certainly not least, we are SO THANKFUL for these Grandmas and their undying love and support-

Their visit was short, but so so sweet.

Lots of love and thank yous to these wonderful women in our lives.  

Wes Turns E-I-G-H-T!

Wes got to start his birthday out opening presents first thing and was so darling about every present he opened! I love his excitement!

 

Giving Wes this gift was so exciting for me—it is two binders full of memories and pictures of him over the last eight years. I printed out all my blog posts about him and many other pictures. It was a labor of love and he loved it! I think he will appreciate it even more as time goes on, but it was a good reminder for me to keep on being diligent with memory keeping, it is so worth it!

 

He enjoyed the rest of the morning with his favorite people before heading to school

Wes invited four of his good friends to a birthday party at Dave & Busters. They all met here after school, gave him some great gifts and then piled in the van before heading to D&B for dinner and arcades.

 

 

Filip.Quinn.Wes.Parker.Cohen

Dave & Busters was a little crazy, but exactly what Wes wanted and lived up to all his hopes and dreams. I’m so glad this cute boy got a fun party that he loved!

 

We finished this boy’s night off with some delicious raspberry jello pretzel salad that I surprised him with! He sure made it easy on me!

 

Happy birthday to my red-headed, baby whispering, video gaming, dragon taming, Pokémon training, monster trucking, optimistic, book worming, freckle faced middle child-- You make every day a better one, Wes Monsen, we’re so glad you were born!

6-Month Mae

Month 6 with Mae was certainly a good one, especially because it was the holidays! Babies and children make the holidays so special and this was no exception. 

Here she is in all her 6-month glory!

 She got this walker toy from both grandparents as an early Christmas present and loves spending time in it!

First time with Santa-

We had to bring her out of a nap for the picture, but luckily she doesn't have stranger danger and sat there staring at the camera. No smile, but I won't complain!

She also had her first gift exchange with her siblings and Eve drew her name and gifted her this sweet flamingo stuffy. 

This gal is so lucky to have such awesome siblings!

First road trip-

 And she totally rocked it!

Yeah, there were ups and downs, but for the most part this girl was wonderful!

She had a few struggles sleeping because the hotel didn't have a crib for her, but we made it work...

 She fell asleep on the bed, slept on the closet floor, and ended up in our bed...

 You do what you gotta do!

Baths in the hotel sink were pretty exciting, too!

And everyone was on board to help wind her down after a day in the car.

She got to see so much family in Utah, they all fawned over her and she just let them. She is just such an easy going sweetheart!

Christmas Sunday

Christmas Eve

 She clearly had so much fun joining in all the fun traditions that Christmas brings!

Milk drunk baby girl dreaming of gifts Santa would bring...

First Christmas

She slept through most of the older kids opening their gifts and we woke her so she could check out her stuff before going back and forth a bit between houses.

 

 Lucky enough, she had Grandma Cindy to help her out!

Merry First Christmas, baby girl!

This girl traveled so well, slept well and just let everyone love her. 

She tried solids for the first time while we were there-

And had several major "adjusting to solids blowouts" to follow! Luckily Grandma Teresa was around to help with a lot of those clean ups!

The road trip back to Ohio was not as smooth as the trip to Utah, Mae started off the trip home with stomach bug, threw up the first night and then passed it to me, Dad and Eve.

She didn't sleep this peaceful for very long, but taking her to see everyone for the holidays was worth the torture that drive back was. 

 These two beautiful teeth popped up at some time during the month also--I can't believe that gummy smile is already gone!

 Happy 6-months, Mae baby, thank you for being the perfection of a babe that you are.

Stats:

21 lbs 1 oz (WHOA!!), 97th percentile

29 inches, >99th percentile -- We have a volleyball player on our hands!

Grow, baby, grow!