Flash Back Friday...

I am a big fan of Instagram and if there is one thing I see today, it's the number of people posting #FBF (Flash back Friday) photos.  So I decided to jump on the bandwagon and join in.

Here are a few flashback photos, that bring up a lot of memories for me.

The photo above is one of the last "family" pictures Jarrett and I have before we became parents.  This was taken on Jarrett's 30th birthday at Disneyland.  If this picture doesn't show just what kind of a dad he was going to be, I'm not sure what would show.  He's such a wonderful man who gives everything he can do his family, works so hard to provide for us and who always reminds us to make time for fun.  Hard to believe it's been  more than 5 years already.

And here's one of our first family pictures with the boys.  It was the first time the boys met their awesome Uncle Nolan and they were completely thrilled.  I hardly recognize Gabriel and Michael and honestly don't remember them being this little.  Thank goodness for pictures to help remind me, they indeed were little once.

They had endless energy from day one and thats one thing that hasn't changed.  Don't they look like babies in this picture?  Michael was, in this picture, about the same age Isabelle is now.  And Gabriel still looks like a toddler almost.  I remember he changed looks right away, so we only have a few pictures of him when he still looked like he had his baby cheeks and hands.  This picture was taken only a few days after the boys came home.  They are still wearing the same clothes and shoes they brought with them from their life before us.

Fast forward a few years...

Here are the boys thrilled to be big brothers.  They were so excited to have a baby in our house and finally their sister.  Here Isabelle is just over a week old.  

This is one of the first times I got to feed her.  I remember thinking her bottle (I believe it was 2 ounces total) was so tiny and that my hand was bigger than her head.  How quickly she grew as she's now almost 30 pounds.  Holding Isabelle and getting to meet her when she was only hours old was truly a gift I thought I'd never get to experience as a mom.  I will always feel blessed we were with her from the beginning.

Such a precious baby girl... Oh how I miss those days.

Jarrett and I were talking this morning about our lives and how much things have changed in 6 years.  Back then we would have longed for the chaos, the stress of trying to balance it all, and even the fighting among the kids.  While our lives are busier than we could have ever imagined and sometimes more stressful than I'd like to admit, the truth is, we've never been happier, felt more blessed, and found more joy in life.  Oh for flash back Friday, a great reminder of how wonderful life has been.

Until next time,
Angie