Clark is one

Dearest Clark,

I know it’s cliche to say but this year really did fly by fast! We blinked and you turned one. The first few months of your life was really hard on us but whenever we looked at you dear sweet boy, it was sunshine on a very cloudy day. You have added so much joy to our family. 

You started walking about 6 weeks ago and since then, you have been one busy boy. We can hardly keep up with you. Not only are you everywhere, you are into everything! You no longer want me to hold you because you’ve decided you need down to explore. 

You are not a fan of other people, you will smile at them but if they try to hold you, you cry. But that smile quickly melts people. 

You love your blankie and carry it everywhere. You look so cute with it. You love to wear it like a scarf. 

You think daddy is the best person in the entire universe! You are such a daddy’s boy. You’ll even refuse to come to me if he is around. 

We are so happy to have you as our littlest person. Being a parent is hard, but you bring so much sunshine! We daydream of what/who are kids will be, be kind! That is the most important thing you can be. Be courageous, humble, a leader ( and follower if needed), determined, and gracious. When life throws hard things at you, you get to choose how to respond. Remember to always find the sunshine. And remember how much your earthy parents love you and even more importantly how much your heavenly parents do. 

Love you Clark Michael Adamson! Let your light shine. 

Happy Birthday love Mimi and Grandpa

Happy 4^th Birthday

to you, Nolan!

It’s hard to believe that you are only 4 because you keep up so well with the “big” kids. It’s easy to think of you as 6 or 7 which you often claim you are, silly boy! We love the pure joy and happiness you add to our family.

This past year has been a wonderful one and we were excited to get to come to visit all of you in Tennessee for Christmas and Clark’s baby blessing.  Suddenly, you were the BIG brother!  We had a great time at Christmas playing games, reading books, doing puzzles, opening presents, singing songs, and celebrating the birth of our Savior together.  You and Elijah slept in Maddie’s room while we visited and Grandpa and I were just next door.  Sometimes, you three had a hard time going to sleep…you giggled too much!  One night we kept yelling down the stairs, “Go to sleep or we will come down there!”  You three kept goofing around so I came down the stairs stomping my feet a bit so you would be warned.  You three immediately quieted down and pretended to be asleep.  So, I just sat quietly in the family room.  After a few minutes of quiet I heard you say, “Wow, that was a close call!”

I started to laugh!  You can be so funny that it’s hard to stay mad at you!  You have a great sense of humor.  And you are so smart, you know just when to make a joke!

We didn’t expect to see you until summer time but our dear Grandma Adamson passed away in March 2018.  Your whole family decided to come out for the funeral.  We were so glad that you did so you could say good bye to our sweet Grandma.  You, along with all the other members of our family, sang, “Love Is Spoken Here” at the funeral.  It was a good description of the kind of home Grandma and Grandpa Adamson had which was a blessing to all of us.  We all spent some time at Grandma’s home visiting with the family before and after the funeral.  We decided we needed to pick some lemons one last time and make lemonade in honor of Grandma Adamson. You may not have many memories of her as you grow up but she loved you a lot and enjoyed every visit you and your family made to see her and Grandpa.  She was proud of all of her children, grandchildren, and GREAT grandchildren and especially YOU!

Summer is our favorite time of year because you and your family come to California to visit us.  We look forward to having so much fun.  This past month you arrived.  We had fun swimming at our neighbor’s pool and going to the Ward Barbecue where you rode horses, jumped in a bounce house, went down the water slides, and ate lots of yummy food.  We also watched Paw Patrol and Wild Kratts, played Candy Land and Guess Who, read books, did puzzles, took walks, made treasure boxes, and had campfires where we made s’mores.  But our favorite thing was going to the beach.  You were so brave this year and spent most of the time boogie boarding with Elijah. Grandpa and Bryant helped you boys and you caught a lot of waves.  After a big wave caused you to wipe out, you got up and said, “Now I am a real surfer dude!  We always have wipeouts!” 

So, a very Happy Birthday

 to our Surfer Dude!

We love you so much, Nolan LeGrand Adamson.  You are one of a kind!                                                   

                          Love, Mimi and Grandpa   August 18, 2018    

Nolan turns 4

It's hard to believe you are 4 years old today and not 14 years old! You are trying to grow up too fast! You are upset you don't go to school everyday! And on the days you do go, you want to walk yourself to your classroom even though we have to sign you in. I had to let you go down and get in class and walk down after to sign you in.  You feel left out a lot when Elijah and Madelynn get to participate in things and you don't. We let you play spring soccer but you would only play for a few minutes before you were "too tired" and needed a break. We decided not to sign you up this spring and you've been pretty disappointed in us. But we did put you in gymnastics and you are loving it! I love how you look over at me when you are doing your thing and you give me the cutest smile!

You are the funniest kid we know. You say the darnest things and make us laugh at least once a day.....and many days much more than that. You have great comedic timing. I hope you never lose your silliness or your wit!
You also are very adventurous. This summer we went jet skiing with our Idaho cousins and you were loving it. At one point Michael and James were trying to convince you not to go, the big kids were gonna go on the tube, so they started saying how fast they were gonna go and how whoever was on the tube would definitely fly off. Instead of deterring you, it made you want to go even more. You proclaimed, you love to go fast! While I love you being adventurous, I also hope you are wise.This summer you also got to boogie board at the beach while we visited Mimi and Grandpa.
You currently love Paw Patrol, playing Star Wars, building magnets, reading, and playing outside. You could stay outdoors all day! Elijah has convinced you to be an animal activist just like him. You loved going to Junior Ranger camp this summer and seeing/touching the snakes and birds. You were actually too young to go but you HAD to participate so we asked and they let you as long as we paid and mommy stayed. I was a little miserable but you were loving it so it made it easier for me.
Nolan, I love seeing the person you are becoming. You are super sweet, a little stubborn, a great little brother, a great big brother, and just overall one of our favorite people. And not just ours, lots of people think you are the greatest. Thank you for 4 years of joy and laughs. I can't wait to see the person (or dragon since that is what you currently want to be when you grow up) you become.
Always remember how much mommy and daddy love you and want the best for you. I know you'll get mad at us, you already do, but know you can always count on us. And even more than us, your Heavenly Parents. I've learned I can always pray to my Heavenly Father. He is always there for you! ALWAYS! And because of our Savior, Jesus Christ, we can return to live with our Heavenly Father again. Never lose sight of the end goal. We plan to be together for forever! I couldn't imagine anything less. We are an eternal family.
Make sure you work as hard as you play but love the work that you do. That's really important in life. I wish I had some great wisdom to tell you right now. But the truth of the matter is, I'm still learning too. And while I try to be patient with you, please try to be patient with me. You would think I would have it all figured out by kid 3, but I'm constantly learning. Not to mention you aren't Elijah or Madelynn, you are you. You need things different from them.
I wish words could express how much I love you. They can't! You stole a piece of my heart 4 years ago. And I couldn't be happier to have you as part of my everyday. When I say I love you, you respond with I love you Saturday and I say I love you Sunday. And we both just know that is big. I LOVE YOU SUNDAY! I LOVE YOU MONDAY! I LOVE YOU TUESDAY! I LOVE YOU WEDNESDAY! I LOVE YOU THURSDAY! I LOVE YOU FRIDAY. I LOVE YOU SATURDAY!

Happy Birthday Madelynn love mimi and grandpa

We can’t believe you are already 5 years old!  You bring so much joy and happiness to our family and we thank Heavenly Father every day for sending you to our family.

We always look forward to visiting with you each week on Facetime.  You give us hugs and kisses and sweet and sometimes silly smiles as we talk to you.  We love to see pictures and videos of you as you take your dance lessons or play soccer.  We were surprised at how much you loved playing soccer and you are so awesome at it.  It reminded us of Aunt Julie who loved soccer, too!  We wish we lived closer so we could see you dance and play sports.  We hope to come see you this fall and do that with you.  We are excited that you are doing so well in school too!  You are almost finished with pre-school and are ready to go to kinder.  We know you will continue to learn and grow your brain!  You are such a smart girl but sweet and kind, too.

Last summer (2017) we were so excited to have you come visit California again.  We love that time together.  Grandpa was really glad you were brave and spent the night with Elijah and him as you camped out in the backyard.  We had fun making s’mores and watching the stars around our campfire.  Mimi loved playing Candy Land with you and reading books to you and watching fireworks with you, too.

But the best part was going to the beach with your whole family.  You loved playing in the waves and digging in the sand.  You even are starting to learn how to boogie board a little as we played in the waves.  Each year you enjoy the beach a little bit more.  That makes us happy because we love the beach, too!

Great Grandma and Grandpa Adamson were so happy we all went up to Auburn to visit them.  They loved doing puzzles with you and watching you run up and down their hills or helping them to pick lemons. I am always happy that you are visiting in July so you can help me celebrate my birthday.  Your family bought me a delicious ice cream cake this year. So yummy!

But the most special part of this past year was getting to spend Christmas with you!  We came to watch your new baby brother Clark get blessed but we also loved watching you hold him and take such sweet care of him.  It was so fun to see your elves Lucy and Elvis bring so much fun to our Christmas celebration.  We all got cool T-shirts and jammies to wear declaring our grandkids are AWESOME!  That is so true!  We loved sharing the excitement of Christmas morning with you.  Santa brought you a beautiful bed for Sadie and you seemed to love the new doll we got you.  You named her Mary Sandra Adamson.

We hope you will continue to grow your testimony of the gospel too.  You already love Jesus and try hard to choose the right.  We love to hear you sing Primary songs or say sweet prayers or be a kind sister to your brothers.  We are happy when you listen to your Daddy and Mommy and try your best to be quick to obey them.  They are helping you grow up to be like Jesus.  Grandpa and I love you so much and want you to have a wonderful life.  We are grateful to be your grandparents!

All of our love!

Mimi & Grandpa

February 27, 2018

Happy Birthday My Sweet Madelynn

Today you turn 5 years old. Wow how time flies. I say that now but really the days are long! But the years are truly short. I love being your mom for so many reasons. You are an amazing young lady. I often wonder, am I a good mom. Am I teaching them all they need to know. I can only hope and keep trying each day. 

I love having a daughter but more so, I love having you as my daughter. You love dresses and bows. And ask to wear lipstick every day. You love playing barbies and with your dolls. You also like to get muddy and play hard. You are just as comfortable playing with dinosaurs. I find you playing outside in your prettiest dress digging in the dirt. And in the moment I think, ugh, that’s gonna stink to clean but I love this about you. I’m not sure if you will be out only daughter, but if you are, you are everything I wanted in a little girl. 

You have big emotions. Sometimes bigger than I like. 

I worry every time I send you to school. Is it safe there? Are you strong enough. As I mentioned your emotions are big and what if your teacher doesn’t understand. You are so sensitive. You are not always strong. I worry so much. I remind myself, you are still so little with so much to learn. 

Madelynn, I love your heart. Another mom at school sent this letter to me about you, “Hi, I see you are Madelynn's mom! I'm Eliza's mom. They are in Mrs. Amanda's class together. I was scrolling through Facebook and I saw you commented on Amanda's wall and I knew I needed to message you after finding you. Amanda sent me a picture of our girls in class the other day. She said Madelynn was such a great helper with Eliza, even without asking. Eliza has autism and is nonverbal. She isn't too big on interacting with anyone, but I've seen on several papers that during free time that Eliza and Madelynn played together. It warms my heart so much. Eliza has a big attachment to Amanda. They are trying to teach her to use her peers for help too, so they paired Eliza with Madelynn to hold her hand and help her walk down the hall since they have bonded. And that is HUGE for Eliza. Sorry I'm writing a novel, but I just wanted to let you know how much your sweet girl is helping my girl and she probably doesn't know it. It honestly brings tears to my eyes just thinking about it.” Madelynn I cried when I read this. You’ll meet lots of people similar to you and even more who are different. Always be kind! Love everyone you meet. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it a hundred more times, you don’t have to be best friends with everyone but you do have to be kind. 

You will never, ever get in trouble for being kind. I will never be upset with you for loving another, no matter who they are.

I want to safeguard you from all the bad in the world. I even have/am considering homeschooling just so I don’t have to send you out to the mean world. And when I do send you to school I want to stay all day and hold your hand. I want to make sure your teachers are loving you the way you need them to. I want to keep you safe. But I know in order for you to learn I can’t always hold your hand through life. I have to let you learn things for yourself. That’s really hard for a mom!

But I don’t want you to fear life! Most people are good though I’m constantly warning you about the bad. Most people just want to be loved. And I know you know how to love because you have loved me through all my imperfections.  I know what it is to be changed by you, to have my insides reconfigure because of your kindness. Because of you, I’m a better person, a better mom. 

I’m so proud of who you are and who you are becoming. Continue to learn. Continue to strong. Continue to be kind. There will be many mountains placed in front of you but o know you can do all things with the help of our Savior. 

Current best friends are: Izzy Dilgard, sister Sulcer, AnnaJ Jackson, and Carlie Dowdy. Favorite color is: pink and purple

Favorite food: chips and cheese

Favorite song: let it go

Favorite activity: dance, soccer, and playing downstairs 

Favorite movie: any Barbie movie

When you grow up you want to me a: Mommy/Doctor