7 Months Old

Oh my goodness, I am behind! Lilly is days away from being 8-months-old, so I thought I had better get her 7 month post up while she's still considered a 7-month-old.  We absolutely cannot get enough of our little princess. Her cheeks, her smile, her chubby thighs, her cute little laugh--all of it! How can you not love that face.

Lilly is now sitting up all on her own and sits like a champ. She has also started to scoot herself around the room using her arms and has started getting into things she shouldn't. She is so eager to explore and grabs anything she can get her hands on. She especially loves to play with paper and with jewelry.

She is a great little eater and loves all of the veggies and fruits we feed her except green beans. They are the only veggie she absolutely refuses to eat. She is at such an adorable age and we love her to pieces!!!

6 Years Old

Our little man turned six a month ago (on March 24th). I know I'm very behind in posting about his birthday and everything else going on in his life, so this post is going to be flooded with all things Bryson. First of all, I absolutely love the age he is at right now. He soaks up the world like a sponge and is so eager to learn about everything around him. There is something truly special about Bryson and we feel so beyond blessed to have him in our lives.

For Bryson's birthday this year he asked us for a globe and a liahona. I'm not sure where he plans on going, but at least he'll have a way to find his way there now...haha. The globe is illuminated and looks so pretty when it's lit up at night. In the weeks leading up to his birthday when family members asked him what he wanted for his birthday, he was very strategic in his planning and made sure to tell each person a different item from his wish list in order to be sure he got everything he wanted. His strategy worked and he really did walk away with everything on his list. Pretty smart thinking for a 6-year-old!

We had a small family birthday party this year and Mommy Kim got to come to his party for the very first time since he was born. She's always lived outside of Utah up until now, so it was great to have her here to celebrate his big day with us. She is so amazing and we love her so much.

Bryson recently finished playing indoor soccer again with his cousin Naish. Bryson LOVES soccer and decided to play outdoor soccer instead of baseball this year. He is becoming quite the player and is a pretty fast little runner.

For some reason Bryson decided to start copying The Book of Mormon into his new little notebook from school. I have no idea what inspired him to start doing this but he's been doing it pretty consistently over the last few weeks and spends a few minutes before bed most nights copying down a few lines of text. He's such a cutie.

Bryson absolutely LOVES school! He has an amazing teacher and has made some really great friends. He has been in all-day kindergarten and it has been fun to watch him progress and learn. He got chosen to be the student of the month and they gave him this cute little framed certificate to take home. What his teacher said about him was so cute and made me tear up a little when I read it. He is such a good kid and we are so proud of him.

I try to do a video each year of Bryson telling about his life and this is this years video. He was quite the little talker so I had to edit it a little so it wasn't so long. Enjoy!

We can't get enough of our little man and love him so much!

Lilly's Sealing & Blessing

Yes, we are still alive! I think this is probably the longest lapse I've had in blogging ever but I have a good excuse--we've been very busy celebrating some very important events in our lives! First and foremost we had the opportunity to have Lilly sealed to our family on March 16th. It was such a special day.

A big thank you to our friend Jared Fadel (check out his amazing portfolio here) for capturing this special day on video for us.

Our adoption journey to Lilly was a very difficult one, but seeing Bryson and Lilly walk into the sealing room in Salt Lake Temple all dressed in white made every heartbreak and tear worth it and I can honestly say that I would go through it all over again just for that moment. It was incredible. Throughout the sealing Lilly was so calm and looked the sealer right in the eyes as if her little spirit understood exactly what was taking place. What a blessing eternal families are!


Our family and friends have been such an incredible support to us throughout this journey. Lilly is beyond blessed to have so many people in her life that love her so much.

Yesterday was Lilly's blessing. The beautiful dress she wore to the sealing and to the blessing was made by Mike's mom and has Lilly's name and her sealing and blessing dates stitched on the back. Mike gave Lilly a beautiful blessing and I had the chance to share my testimony and shared the words of the below song from Lamb of God by Rob Gardner because they perfectly reflect the testimony I've gained through this journey.

I believe these words to be true with all of my heart. I know God hears and answers our prayers and that there is purpose in every heart brake, pain, and tear we shed as we wait for our answers to come--and that when our answers do finally come, they will be far more amazing than anything we could have ever hoped for. Lilly is evidence of that. We love her beyond words and are so grateful to have her in our family.

Finalization

This past Friday morning we took a trip to the Matheson Courthouse in downtown Salt Lake to finalize Lilly's adoption. We've been waiting six months for this special day and are so excited to announce that Lilly is now legally a member of our family!

The hearing was extremely formal, but the judge was kind enough to let us take some pictures afterward (he was totally wearing jeans under that robe). My sister Rachel, sister-in-law Amy and my parents all came to watch. Our attorney went through a series of questions that Mike and I both had to answer individually before the judge verifying that we would love, care for, and support Lilly throughout her life even when she's a hormonal teenager (they really said that). We must have given the right answers because at the end the judge declared her ours.

This is our amazing case worker Shantel, who has been through the thick and thin of our adoption journey with us, and our attorney Drew Gilliland, who helped us with the finalization.

Lilly with her Granny Goose and Grandpa Hink.

Lilly with mommy and daddy outside the courthouse.

We stopped by Mike's work afterward to show Lilly off to his co-workers.
They gave her the adorable outfit (from The Gap) that she wore to the finalization.

I have to end with this cute little gem that we took of Bryson in his "Best Big Bro" shirt and Lilly in her "Baby Sis" shirt. Words cannot even begin to express how grateful we feel to have these two in our family. Thank you Mommy Amber and Mommy Kim for entrusting us with their care. We love them so stinkin' much!

P.S. We also had the sacred opportunity to have Lilly sealed to us this past weekend, but I will share the details of that in a future post.

Life rules.

6 Months Old!

I've been so excited for Lilly to hit the 6 month mark because I remember that being my favorite baby stage with Bryson and it has been equally as fun with Lilly. She is such a joy to have in our home. She has the most easy-going demeanor and hardly ever makes a fuss about anything. She had her 6 month well-baby check up the other day and she now weighs 15 pounds 8 ounces and is still at the 50 %tile for head, weight and height. The doctor says if she continues on the 50 %tile curve that she'll probably end up being around 5'8" tall.

She is rolling over both ways and is so close to sitting without support.

She chews on anything she can get her hands on but hasn't sprouted any teeth yet.

She love, love, loves to stand.

She likes to look at herself in the mirror and always gets the biggest smile on her face when she sees herself.

She also loves to be tickled by her daddy.

Mike and I were watching old videos of Bryson the other day and realized we've hardly posted any videos of Lilly on here so far, so I'm going to try to do a better job of capturing and posting precious simple moments like the one below so we can remember and cherish them forever. This is a little moment I caught on video today of Bryson making Lilly giggle. He can make her laugh (& snort) like no one else.

Having these two in our home is truly like tasting a glimpse of Heaven. We love them both so much!

Mommy Amber's Wedding

This past Saturday we had the special opportunity to attend Lilly's birth mother's wedding. Amber says the video The Gift, which she made to document her decision to place Lilly for adoption, is what led her to find her now husband Jeff, so we all feel that Lilly and Amber's courageous decision played a very special role in helping them find each other. We are so grateful that Amber has found such an amazing man to spend her life with and we couldn't be more happy for them.

The beautiful bride with beautiful Lilly.

Lilly with her birth sister Olivia and her birth brother Cole.

Cute Lilly in the pretty dress and headband (from Sassy Babies) Amber gave her to wear to the wedding.

Congrats Amber & Jeff! We love you guys and couldn't be more happy for you!

5 Months Old

Our sweet Lilly is 5 months old! We are loving every moment of having her in our family. For those that don't know, Lilly was named by her birth mother. We loved the name, which is why we agreed to go with it, but it wasn't until Lilly was about a month old that I took the time to look up the meaning of her name...

As soon as I read the meaning, I fell in love with the name Lilly all the more! I hope our little Lills will always represent her name well and truly stand as a symbol of beauty (we already know she's a little beauty, but more importantly that she will remember the greater importance of having inner beauty), that she will always keep herself pure and carry with her a sense of innocence throughout her life.

Lilly is growing and developing wonderfully. She doesn't have a doctor's appointment this month, but I would estimate she's around 15 pounds now. She loves to practice standing and her legs are getting really strong. She's started drooling like crazy and loves to suck on her bottom lip and hands. She loves her daddy and is becoming quite the little daddy's girl. She's our little princess and we feel so blessed to have her in our family!

Missions & Motherhood

Thirteen years ago I served as a missionary for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. I served for 18 months in the beautiful Ohio Cleveland Mission.

My mission was incredible.
It meant everything to me.
It stretched me in every direction.
It humbled me to tears.
It filled my heart with a joy I never thought possible.
I got to witness first hand the gospel touching and changing people's lives.
I learned to live outside myself as I served God and others 24/7.

I was able to bear witness of the Savior and His love on a daily basis. 

I got to be used as an instrument in God's hands in bringing others to Christ.
It taught me what love truly is.

My mission was easily the most amazing and fulfilling experience of my life

(helping Bryson with his homework--one of my favorite times of the day)

...until I became a mother.

I LOVE BEING A MOTHER!

Since screaming that from my rooftop would make me look insane, I'll just scream it from my blog.

I LOVE IT!

Motherhood is incredible.
It means everything to me.
It stretches me in every direction.
It often humbles me to tears.
It fills my heart with a joy I never thought possible.
I get to witness first hand the gospel touching and changing my children's lives.
I get to live outside myself as I serve God and my children 24/7.

I get to bear witness of the Savior and His love to my children on a daily basis. 

I get to be used as an instrument in God's hands in bringing my children to Christ.

It has taught me what love truly is.

Only recently have I come to realize that motherhood is one of the purest forms of missionary service there is.
That is why it is so fulfilling.
That is why it's so amazing.
That is why I love it so much!

There is no greater calling to me than that of a mother.