Easter Fun!

I love Easter. It's one of my favorite times of year. I love that the gardens are blooming, and the grass is getting green and that my tree's are getting their buds for leaves. It's beautiful!

We colored eggs on Thursday night and the kids loved it! We kept Blake happy with a plastic cup. He loved how it crinkled and made noise. Austin and Karlee were very creative with their egg dying too!

Look at those fancy eggs! I like to eat them too!

And here they are in their Easter clothes. They are some of the best looking kids I've ever seen!

I Love to See the Temple

 Saturday April 16th 2011 we were sealed to Blake. What an amazing day it was. The weather was beautiful. The kids were excited. We were excited. Blake was an angel. I trouble in finding the words that can even express my love and gratitude I have to my Heavenly Father for the 3 best gifts He has ever given me. I want to remember just a few things about this day and since I've been using this blog as my journal so you are going to  have to either skim over this or bear with me as I write this down. As we were sitting in the sealing room waiting for the kids to come in I was filled with excitement. I simply couldn't wait to see my kids. I must say it was magical when they came in. Karlee is loud like me and we could hear them before we even saw them. As they came in the smiles on their faces were ear to ear. (It matched mine and Jason's smiles!) Blake was so quiet and he couldn't take his eyes off of the chandelier in the room. It's amazing how strong the spirit is during a family sealing. I don't want to detract from a couple sealing because those are special too but there is just something different about young children being sealed to their parents. Especially an infant. I cried my happy tears I was filled with so much joy and motherly pride. To think that the Lord entrusted me with this sweet little boy still amazes me. I never would have guessed that Jason and I would be able to experience parenthood with a newborn. It has filled a hole in my heart that I thought wasn't there anymore. (I'm crying as I'm typing this.) What an amazing spirit of peace Blake has brought into our home. To see my kids light up whenever they see him and help in any way they can is just amazing. Austin has taken the BIG brother role to heart as well. And Karlee LOVES to play with her baby brother. It's also brought smiles to Jason's face that make my day. The bond these two share is unmatched. Blake searches out his daddy whenever he his home. He simply adores Jason and I love it!

My boy's!

Aren't they precious?!

So handsome!

Logan, Audrey and Brinley love Blake to pieces!

Me and my baby :)

We truly are a happy family.

I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE this picture. This is Grandpa Alan with Blake Alan.

I love that you can see Blake's head peeking between mine and Jason's.

I have a family here on earth. They are so good to me. I want to share my life with them through all eternity.

Adoption

Tuesday April 12th was our hearing to adopt our sweet little baby! It was such a great day. I kept the kids home from school so that we could go celebrate together. Back in 2006 when we adopted Austin and Karlee we took them both to Build A Bear to buy a very special teddy to commemorate the big day and to also have a keepsake. Of course we had to do the same for Blake so off to the store we went! The kids had fun picking out an animal that best resembled Blake. 

Karlee helping fill the monkey with stuffing.

Austin was making sure it was squeezable enough!

This is the part where they pick out a heart and do some special preparation before putting it inside of the monkey. It's really cute to watch the kids follow the instructions.

This is the kids getting ready to give the monkey his first bath.

Rub a dub dub!

My sweet boy.

Here's Blake with his new toy! We got a monkey to match his chimpanzee hair!
(I'm sure you'll appreciate this one B!)

Getting monkey dressed.

Karlee's turn.

After we made the monkey for Blake it was time to pack things up and head to the court house. I don't know why but even typing this I get butterflies! While waiting for our turn the caseworker was filling us in on the details of the paperwork and noticed that Blake's birth mother had showed up. WHAT?!?! That really threw me off. I had no intentions of meeting or ever seeing her in person. Mostly because of her background and why Blake ended up with us. Luckily she just sat on the bench in the hallway and didn't cause a scene. AND, we didn't try to call attention to ourselves either. We just walked by her into the courtroom as if we had no idea who she was or who anyone else was for that matter. So after all of that mumbo jumbo, we made it to the hearing. During the hearing our lawyer asks us some questions about how we've bonded with Blake and so forth. As we were answering the question's Jason was holding Blake. He was being his cute self until........he started passing gas! Ha ha ha! Then came the poop! It was so funny. He was grunting through the hearing so loud that the judge even started to chuckle and said "Sounds like he's making a gift for you!". It was great that the judge had a sense of humor about it all. We finally made it through the hearing and Judge Nolan signed the papers and made it official!! YES! I love how the judges take pictures with the newly adoptive family. What a great photo for the archives!

Our attorney and my parents and niece deserve a big thanks for coming and supporting us!
(Of course with out the attorney nothing would have been finalized! LOL)

It's almost here!!!!

Baseball started Saturday which is the highlight of the year for me. I love to watch Austin play. It's even more enjoyable when the weather cooperates! Luckily this last Saturday was bearable compared to years past. Austin is really doing well already this year. He seems more motivated which is nice to see. Austin hit a single, a double AND a triple during the game! Way to go buddy!!

As for the "almost here" part of this posting, I can't believe in a week Blake will officially be ours! It's so amazing how the Lord answers prayers. I'm so grateful that this little guy is going to be a part of our family. It's come so fast for us this time. I guess when you listen to the promptings of the Spirit you receive blessings that you don't expect. I love this baby with all my heart and I'm so glad that he is mine!