SIX DAY COUNTDOWN!

We're on the final stretch and couldn't be more excited.  We talk about our upcoming trip to the temple everyday. 

 The Bishop told Gracie that she was the only Primary child in our ward with a temple recommend!  She is thrilled to have such an honor.

 McKinley loves her Daddy.  I think she's already a Daddy's girl.  He gets the biggest smiles out of her. 

I am truly so excited to enter the temple with these precious kiddos. 

Almost 10 years ago, I stared into my Ryan's eyes and imagined the things that our future held as we made sacred covenants and promises to each other forever.  At that moment, I had NO IDEA that I would get to be in that very same spot with my sweetheart ten years later as our beautiful baby girl is sealed to our family.  What a blessing.

Official

April 4th, at 1:30 pm, our littlest one was officially declared our daughter.  Gracie, Braden, and Tanner were asked by our attorney what they thought of our little bubble blower.  They said that they loved her and Tanner burst out with "she's our sister."

 It was a pretty neat experience even though it only lasted about 5 minutes or less.  My favorite part of the whole day was when the Judge said she "was happy to make official what was already in our hearts."  Those words really summarized my feelings.  We didn't need anyone to tell us McKinley was part of the family.  She has been part of the family since her birth mom told us she was selecting our family for the adoption and endured that bittersweet placement day.  But there is something that feels so wonderful about having it be official. 

 My sweet Sister in law and her two girls came along to support our family on our big day.  Calley videoed our whole interactions with the judge.  I'm so grateful that we have that. 

 Oh and she took a lot of pictures for us in the court room.

 We waited in the halls outside the court room for our attorney to bring us the adoption decree.

 Then we snapped a picture with our lawyer Albert Lirhus.  He was fantastic.

 Not knowing what the court atmosphere was going to be like, we bribed the kids with Red Robin for good behavior.  Truth be told, we would have gone there anyway to celebrate, but the kids decided that Red Robin was a good incentive and shared their thoughts on the topic with the attorney and the judge!  It was such a happy day.

I'm so thrilled to be declared McKinley's mommy.  It's a dream come true.  We love that girl so much.

Sisters

It's been the topic of discussion at least once a day for a while now. Next Monday, these girls will legally be what Heaven and our family calls them; SISTERS.

We can't wait.  (And yes, we plan on matching then too!)

Building homes

I've been reading through things to explain our upcoming temple trip to our kids.  Once McKinley's adoption is final, we will be ready to enter the temple and have her sealed to us, her mom and dad, brothers and sisters, for forever.  (I love talking about that.)

President Thomas S. Monsen has said:
A home is much more than a house built of lumber, brick, or stone. A home is made of love, sacrifice, and respect. We are responsible for the homes we build. We must build wisely, for eternity is not a short voyage.

Such great wisdom. 

More about temples below.

3 months

We love this girl to bits.  We are so grateful she is part of our family and have been talking quite a bit about our upcoming finalization and temple trip.  We're all pretty excited.

At 3 months, McKinley has discovered how fascinating her hands are, and loves to suck on that fist.  She gives huge smiles freely to strangers and is starting to show signs of being tickelish.  She likes the book "Peek a Who" and grins ear to ear on the last page when she see's her self in the mirror.  When I change her diaper on the changing table she loves to look at her baby footprints that are framed and hanging over the table.  McKinley is a GREAT sleeper (only gets up once a night if at all).

Sisters at the cabin this week

Serious bubble talent.  Can you smile and blow bubbles at the same time?

Gracie helped me to get McKinley to smile while I snapped photos.  Thank goodness for a funny sister who knows how to blow bubbles back to her baby sister!

Smiles

The first one was on facebook, but I thought I would also post this one.  We can't get enough of this grin.

Christmas

Christmas was laid back at our house in 2010. 

Christmas jammies and Christmas Booty

Ryan and McKinley visiting.  McKinley snoozed through the early morning presents.

The kids and I got some super hero undies for Ryan.  I'm sure these will make him super fast at church basketball.

We stayed in our pjs ALL DAY (well, Ryan added his new flash underoos at some point) and required any visitors to do the same.  PJs- that is.

McKinley and our Kayla

Fun day.  And wonderful having time together to relax.

We had a big ham dinner with our new family members.  It was a great time.  We feel so blessed.

How Life Changes

We are so far behind on updating.  We have been doing all we can to just enjoy this time with little McKinley.   One thing I have realized in 8 years as a mom, is that my babies grow WAY too fast.  I really want to enjoy every part of little McKinley.  I have tried to relax and am learning to let things go so I can enjoy hours of snuggling.

So this won't be narrated much.  Just of pictures of the latest.

SMOOCH.  She has such kissable cheeks.

Sisters

Bubble Bath drawn by Dad





I call this one Christmas Love.  McKinley with her birth mom on Christmas day.

Christmas

All bundled for Christmas in the Family Cabins a few days before the big day.  McKinley was a trooper.

First Family Snapshot

Final day of Adoption Month

And what a sweet way to spend it.  The final day of this month, we were blessed to have our courageous birth mom place little McKinley with our family!

McKinley holding her birth momma's hand after she was dressed in her I {heart} my birth mother onesie.

It's been an emotional journey and we are sad for the hurt that our birth mom is feeling.

But the experience has taught and changed us so much.

I thought I knew the love of a mother. 

When you see a mother place the dreams for her child before the wants of her hearts it's pretty incredible.

And life-changing.

And then my Dad started laughing tonight about how our sleep patterns were going to change.

And I honestly was excited about getting up in the middle of the night.

This is what we have hoped for and Ryan wondered if it would realistically ever happen.

Everywhere in nature we are taught the lessons of patience and waiting. We want things a long time before we get them, and the fact that we want them a long time makes them all the more precious when they come.

~Joseph F. Smith

Life is pretty precious.

The most beautiful miracle

She's here.  And she's perfect.

Just as I was getting to hold her for the first time, the kids were oohing and aahhing over her.  Then Tanner pipes up with, "I think we should have TWO babies."

 And as much as we love this tiny little girl, we love her birth parents just as much.

We are so thankful for this little miracle.