Sadie and Santa 2009

our sealing

aj and i had an exciting and eventful weekend last week. the highlight of our weekend was taking sadie to the temple to be sealed to us on november, 7 2009 and her baby blessing the following day. i can't go into details, but our sealing was a beautiful spiritual experience. sadie is a very special little girl, and i am humbly grateful and honored that a.j. and i were chosen to love, teach, and help sadie live up to her life's full potential.

sadie looked like a little angle in her temple/blessing dress.

Our adoption experience has been like a fairy tale with a perfect ending. our father in heaven loves my little family so much. i have felt his love and the comforting spirit countless times during our adoption process. we have been blessed with much. we have experienced miracles that have made it clear that our journey was heavenly father's way and plan for us. i am amazed when i look at my family and think, "look at what the Lord put together, it's perfect and exactly what each of us need to be the best that we can be in this life and the next." this year has been a great one!

we look forward to bring more children into our family by way of adoption.

my family, those who were able to come, along with jackie.

grandma barb and lincoln, came all the way from utah.

Jacket is a perfect addition to our family. She is like the long lost little sister that we always wished for, and the bond that Sadie and Jackie shared left me speechless.

it was sadie's day and she knew it.

lunch at red robin with family

"ladies night": shopping, dessert, and a movie with my sisters, jackie, and friends.

THE END

jackie just called and she is at the airport, and hubby is on his way to pick her up.

my sisters will arrive tomorrow evening.

i am so excited!

this weekend is going to be a blast.

i'm happy jackie, sadie, and i will have a day with just the three of us girls before family arrives. my sisters are so excited to meet jackie. i'm sure maxine will cry when she meets her.

something new

a.j gave me my birthday gift early this year. it's kinda funny how it happened because i didn't ask for it. i didn't even know he had a gift for me this early. he must have been feeling sorry for me because after a long trying week, and an emotional discussion. he told me he had my b-day gift and he wanted to give it to me. i asked him to hold on to it until my birthday because i wasn't in the mood to receive a gift. but he couldn't stand keeping this awesome gift that he knew i would love all to himself. sooooo....he was right! i could have waited but i do LOVE my gift.

here are some pictures of what it looks like inside of echo canyon (the mountain i climb on the weekend). it takes me an hour to get to the tip top when i don't take any breaks. i would like to climb to the top in 30 mins. it will take sometime and practice for me to get to that level but i am working on it. my brother-in-law is going to go hiking with me this weekend, and i am excited to see how fast he can get to the top. he is crazy athletic so we will see!

halloween 2009

yesterday, sadie and i got a lot done.

first, we went to the mall to look for some stockings and shoes for her white dress (blessing/sealing dress). her dress is so beautiful and perfect...exactly what i imagined! i found some cute shoes that would match perfectly with her dress, but they were one size too small. i will find something this weekend. while i was driving, i was thinking about sadie and an idea came to my mind. i thought to myself, sadie will have three white dresses. all three dresses will be for special events in her life but the last dress will be the most special. prayerfully, her last white dress will be when she will enter the temple with her eternal companion to be married in this life and the next life to come. this idea excited me, and i kinda saw it happening in my mind, which was interesting.

we also got some Christmas shopping done while we were out. i love the Christmas holiday, it's my favorite time of the year. i really love the spirit that Christmas brings, the colors, lights, music, decorations, etc. i plan on taking my little family to all the free Christmas shows this year. (well, not all of them but as many as we can attend.)

before we went home sadie and i went to the visitor center at temple square. i thought it would be a good idea to visit the temple grounds every day, counting down the days that lead to our sealing. not that sadie needs to be around the temple everyday to know were she came from, and how special our sealing will be but it would be a nice habit to create so that she remembers (at least once a week as she grows older). maybe visiting the temple grounds as a family once a week will help A.J. and i remember for ourselves and teach our children the true meaning of life: that families are eternal, and Christ, the temple and our families should be at the center of our lives. i am so excited to create new and lasting traditions for my family. while we were at the visitor center we watched some of the video clips from the prophet, and the children's testimonies about Christ. we talked to some of the sister missionaries, then listened to the Christus narrative.

we had a productive day.

10 more days

sadie turned nine months today, and we have only ten days left until it's time for a.j. and i to take her to the temple. sadie and i were hanging out around the temple grounds today, and my heart was so full with excitement as i thought about the details surrounding Nov 7th . Heavenly Fathers plan is so great, and i am grateful that i get to teach sadie all about it. i am the luckiest woman alive. i have a beautiful husband and daughter ( two amazing, smart, loving, and strong individuals) to spend all of eternity with. i love my little family.

blueberries, bananas, cheese, and chicken

over the hump

i have been hiking camelback mountain for almost two months now. when i started hiking camelback it was such an intense workout that i could do it only once a week. although the hike is still a great workout for me i have gotten a little better and faster at climbing. i've accomplished some fitness goals i set for myself, and i am still working on others but most importantly...i am enjoying myself. I hike the mountain twice a week, and i get up at the butt crack of dawn (5 a.m.) so that i'm done by 8 a.m.

as much as i love the trail at camelback i think i am ready for a different view. so, this is my plan. i will hike camelback one day out of the week and squaw peak a different day. i wish i could go hiking three days a week but I don't have that much free time on my hands.

i hear that squaw peak is a longer hike and a little different from camelback but it's still a great workout. so, i'm excited. i hope my hiking buddy will be as excited as i am about our new route! here is a map of what the squaw peak trail looks like.

creating new things

here is a blanket i made for sadie. i made two so i can sell one on sadie's closet. (something i'm still working on putting together.)

love this girl

pictures of the day

Sadie is starting to look like a toddler...so cute.

delish

i took hubby to a fine dining restaurant (AVALON) for his 34th birthday late night, and we ate like kings and queens. i ordered duck and aj had a chicken dish. it must have been our lucky night because there was a mistake made on our order, and instead of having duck the chef made lamb. we were happy they made the mistake because the lamb was delish.

i must have been really hungry because aj said i ate my meal in five minutes. i didn't realize i was pigging out but i must have been because our server even made a comment...funny! we got to take the duck i ordered home with us, and i trust that will a good meal also.

the duck dish... yum yum

picture of the day

it's final

yesterday, october 1, 2009 was a wonderful day. aj, sadie and i went to court for our final adoption hearing, and it's all over. we were pronounced "fit to be parents", and sadie is legally sadie lynn k. i was a little emotional but all i had to do was look into hubby's supportive eyes, and i felt a lot better. we are so happy and grateful that our sweet angel has come into our lives.

friends and family who were able to come to our hearing.

aj, sadie, gus and vickie (grandparents)

sadie and her cousin ian....so cute!!!

sadie on her special day, we love you baby girl!

happy anniversary...4 beautiful years!

we have had a wonderful life together.

we are truly a match made in heaven.

i love you a.j.

i'm looking forward to growing old and gray with you.

ok, we just got jackie a roundtrip ticket to come visit us the weekend of sadie's blessing. we are SO excited to see her. we are working on getting damien out here too. it's going to be an exciting weekend.

October 1, 2009: Final court appearance

Nov 7, 2009: Sealing at the Mesa, AZ Temple at 1:30 p.m.

Nov 8, 2009: Sadie's Blessing at the Superstition Ward Building at 1:00 p.m.

pictures of the day....

pics of the day

aug 28, 2009...just landed in montana hubbies home town.

sadie was soooo sleepy...our poor baby

hubby being awesome