A Forever Family

On Friday December 17th we had the privilege of sealing Madison to us in the Oquirrh Mountain Temple. That day was a culmination of everything we had waited for, for so long. We had a marvelous day and will never forget the great happiness that we felt that day. It definitely was a little bit of heaven on earth. As sweet sleeping Madison was brought in the room by my sister, they both reminded me of beautiful angels in white. It was so precious to witness this. Madison woke up and starting crying right after, but as soon as the sealer started Madison stopped crying. It was just perfect and special and many tears of joy were shed. We love Madison so much and are so grateful to have her in our family forever. We are so blessed. After the temple we came back to our house and blessed Madison. It was a busy day and Madison was such a good baby for it. Enjoy the pictures from our special day. 

A forever family.

Here is some of our friends and fam there to support us on this great day.

All in white. Madison was really tired by now, but did a good job with all the photo's we took.

Outside the Oquirrh Mountain temple with my some of my family.

The three of us outside the temple. It was really cold, but at least it did not snow or rain on us.

This is us outside the temple with some of Mat's family.

Madison trying to stay warm inside her daddy's suit coat jacket.

A picture of all of the gang outside the beautiful Oquirrh Temple.

Us and the beautiful mountains in the background.

After the sealing we went back to our house to bless Madison, but first we had to feed her. Madison was SO tired, but still so cute.

 

Look at her eyes.

Duke (my cousins little boy) looking very adorable. He is a few months older than Madison.

My brother Steve, my brother Ryan, and his wife Lindsey waiting for the blessing.

My sister Kami, my Mom, and cousin Mindy.

Mat's brother Bob, his son Drew, and wife Chantal.

Cute photo of my sister and my cousin.

So, so, so tired Madison while we were singing Families Can Be Together before she was blessed by her daddy.

Our precious baby.

Our little fam on Madison's blessing day.

Madison's big day was just perfect. We will always remember this glorious day.

We are so grateful to have the gospel of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints in our lives.

Half A Year

Madison turned six months old on December 11th. We can't believe that Madison is that old. It is so amazing and wonderful to watch and observe Madison's growth and development. We love our happy baby and here are some pictures of what Madison has been up to, along with her six month stats.

Madison is doing really well at sitting up all by herself these days. Madison sometimes even can catch herself with her arm instead of toppling over.

Madison is just starting to eat some solids. We started Madison out with some rice cereal. The first time we feed her she did not know what to think and did not like it, but now she LOVES eating solids. She opens her mouth wide and is ever waiting for us to put the food into her mouth. It is so cute.

Madison tried some sweet tender carrots the other day and she loves them. Madison is a good little eater.

I love that she is folding her arms.

Madison weighs 13 pounds 6 ounces and is in the 7th percentile for weight. Madison is growing, but still small for her age.

Madison is 25 inches long and is in the 22 percentile for length.

Six month comparison to Mat's hand.

Six month teddy bear comparison.

Here are a few of her six month pictures in a cute little dress.

So cute.

Standing with a little help from mom.

Our precious adorable little one.

A Simply Special Day

Today we had a great day!!! Today was a special day for our family. We went to court today to finalize the adoption of our cute baby Madison. We headed downtown early this morning to meet with our lawyer and then go before the judge at our hearing. Madison is officially ours today. Hurray!!!

Here is Madison and I with my Mom and sister they came with us for the hearing.

Here is a picture of us with our lawyer and the judge. We had our court hearing in the judges chambers today. It was a great experience and so wonderful. We are so grateful that the judge decided that is was in Madison's best interest to be adopted by us. We are so lucky to have Madison in our lives.

Our fam in the judges chambers. We are so happy to have Madison  in our lives. Each day we grow to love Madison more and more. Madison is such a delight and has brought us so much happiness.

After our hearing we had to go and get some certified copies of the decree of adoption and Madison was very tired and I was able to finally get her to fall asleep as we waited for the clerk to get these done for us. Madison is so sweet.

A special day for our family. We are so grateful for adoption and for our birth mom for making it possible for us to have Madison in our lives. We are thrilled to be Madison's parents and feel honored. Madison has brought us great joy, happiness, and love into our home. As Madison continues to grow each new stage has been better. Madison is talking/babbling so much these days. It makes our hearts melt. Madison we love you and are so glad and grateful that you are part of our family.

St. Nikolaus

St. Nikolaus came to our home this year and we must have been good because he left us some goodies in our shoes. St. Nikolaus is a German tradition that we did growing up and I am trying to continue the tradition with my little family. On the night of December 5th you are suppose to put out your best polished Sunday shoe and if you have been good then when you wake up the next morning St. Nikolaus will have put something fun in your shoe. Here are a few pics of cute Madison looking at her stuff.

Adorable baby!!!

Sweet Shower

I helped host a shower for my soon to be sister-in-law Ruth who is marrying my brother Eric on the 18th of December. We had lot's of good food and good company.

Here is Madison hanging out before everyone came over.

Ruth is in the gray sweater.

We did a cheese and a chocolate fondue with lot's of different foods to dip into them.

Gift opening time. Ruth got some good stuff.

Lights

Last Monday for family home evening we went and saw the lights downtown at Temple Square. Tami (Mat's step-mom) made a scavenger hunt this year to mix things up a little bit. Each family got a list of things we had to do or find and we had 20 minutes to do as many as we could. This year we invited my sister and little bro and girlfriend to join us. Some of the things we had to do were, sing a Christmas carol to a family, help a child not related to us, give a Christmas book to someone and commit them to reading it this year, find a palm tree, take a picture of a star, have an older person tell you a story, and take a picture of an original piece of art. Those were just a few of the things we had to do. We had a good time.

The car ride down with Kaylee (my brother Steve's girlfriend), my sister Kami, and Madison, but you can only see her car seat.

 Some of the gang waiting for the others to show up.

Madison with her Aunt Kami.

This was the palm tree that we found.

Madison on the car ride home.

My sister took this picture of herself. Sometimes she likes to take random pictures on my camera that I don't know about and this is one of them.

We had a great family night!