Welcome to Our Life

I am going to try and make this intro short and sweet, but it will be hard. I have been keeping this blog for 3 years now, through deployments and pregnancy's, many moves and happy days.

I welcome you to our lives :) Thank you for taking time to read our story! My name is Jenni, but Mommy is what I go by. I am a 26 year old stay at home mom of two beautiful and wonderful children. The story of my happy home started nearly 6 years ago when I meet and married my prince.
April 9th 2005
We where young, but in love and that was all we needed.

The Army brought us together, but also has torn us apart. By the time we had gotten married our relationship had already seen my husband, Shawn, be deployed to a dangerous area of Iraq for 13 months, and had us living in two different countries for 6 months after our wedding. The generosity of my parents and love of my family was priceless and I know I could not have made through this without them.

Once our lives finally got going we lived together for about 17 months at Fort Lee Virginia, it was not an easy time, as we dealt with the emotional and physical backlash of Shawn's deployment, a family sickness and death and failed to get pregnant, but we survived and found a few happy days for ourselves.

In June of 2007 we where given orders to Fort Riley Kansas. In short we arrived got pregnant and Shawn was off for Iraq again leaving me barely 5 weeks pregnant and very far away away from our families. It all happened so quick! But once again my parents opened their doors to me and became an intrical part in my survival of this second deployment.


My father, Papa, became my birthing couch! And my mother, brother, and sister in law where all in the room when John Robert came into the world.

After 2 days of labor he was born on March 17th 2008 at 12:43 pm.

Grams and Pops by my side!

Daddy got to listen to and experience the birth of his son through this blog, IM and my sister-in-law's cell phone.

My St Patrick's day Monkey boy :) I like to call him my Lucky Little Monkey.

We lived and recovered with Grams and Pops for 6 weeks until Daddy came home!

We were so excited to have Shawn home, but that also meant it was time to move back to Kansas where the Army said we needed to live. So off we went.

Johnny grew very fast! He was twice the size of most other babies his age and developed just as fast! Here Johnny is at 4.5 months stretching to fit into a 6-9 month sleeper. (Have you ever tried to find First Christmas cloths in 18 months? I have, it is hard, but not impossible.)

He was a sweet baby, hungry and happy! I felt lucky and freighted that he was so easy. When he became mobile he couldn't be stopped and was into everything all the time.

After only 6 months in Kansas we where offered a wonderful opportunity to move home. This is a rare occurrence in the military. But Shawn reenlisted for 4 more years and the Army moved us to a Post 20 minutes from my parents house. Johnny was 8 months old and we moved back in with parents to wait for a house of own on Post.

Johnny started walking at 9 months, but still did not have any teeth! He continued to fill our days with happiness and fun and showed us the world through his eyes! He makes everyday more fun and fresh then I ever imagined possible.

By the time John Robert was a year old we had our own home and finally settled into a day to day life that had nothing to do with being separated or moving. It was a happy and peaceful time. But as always the best was yet to come, we knew something was missing.

In September when Johnny was 18 months old we found we where experiencing our second child!
It's a Girl! Lily Jean Branson was due May28th 2010.
We where blessed with another completely healthy and uneventful pregnancy!

After just about 12 hours in labor and no drugs or medical intervention at all,
Lily was born June 3 2010 at 1:46 am. Shawn was there in the room when she was born (NOT at war), as well as my brother and mother.

She is the perfect addition to our family, sweet and loving! She is Mommy's Little Cupcake!!

Johnny loved his little sister right from the start! He has always offered her as much help as we let him and loves to make her smile.

And here we are! Family of four living a simple life and loving it!

Johnny is nearly 3 years old, imaginative and playful. He never stops going. Still as big as a 5 year old with an appetite to match. He loves his family and keeping everyone together.

Lily is getting older everyday. I refer to her as the happiest baby ever! Her smiles can take your heart with one look and she gives them out more freely then I have ever seen.