Abigail's Blessing

One of the things that was the hardest on me during our struggles to have children was whenever someone blessed their baby. That day always seemed to be the hardest Sundays. It was once again a reminder that Jon would not ever get that opportunity. Yes he got to bless McKenzie and Vanessa in the hospital but that was different because he only gave them a name and not a blessing. Baylee was blessed before we even met her so we did not have that opportunity with her either so it was one thing that still hurt a little. Now don't ask me why it was so hard because in the whole picture it is just a little thing that is not really that big of a deal to miss out on but for some reason it was hard for me. So needless to say I was super excited about Abi's blessing. She wore the same dress that she was sealed to us in. She looked beautiful. Danielle who was taking pictures for us at the temple could not come up to the blessing and Abi was done for the day after the temple so we didn't get any pictures of her by herself in her dress. I really wanted some cute pictures and so I asked Danielle when she came up the next weekend for our annual cousin day if she would take some. So in an already crazy weekend we decided to cram in some pictures. We remembered to do this the last night we were together and right before it got dark so I hurried and threw Abi in her dress and we headed out on a chilly night to get a few pictures in the yard. Boy was Abi not happy about this. It is hard to tell from the pictures but she was crying most of the time. The grass was cold but she w didn't seem to mind when we laid her down in it. I have to say that I am very happy with the way they turned out! I am so happy that we were able to get a few great shots to capture this important event.

Greatness of October continues

One of the great joys of adoption is that you get the opportunity to take your children into the temple and be sealed for all time and eternity! It is so wonderful to have your children dressed in white in the temple with you! We looked forward to this date with great anticipation and when it finally arrived we enjoyed it with all of our loved ones. I do have to laugh because during the sealing Abi cried the whole time which I figured she would do because she hates to have her hand held. Oh well it was still so wonderful. Thanks to all those that came and supported us!

All of our loved ones that where with us on this special day

Our Eternal Family(minus our angels)

Me and all of my girls(teddy bears represent McKenzie and Vanessa)

Thanks Danielle for taking such great pictures of our day!

It is official!!!

The next exciting thing that happened to us in October came totally unexpected. In the adoption process there are several milestones that you look forward to because each one means you are closer and closer to being done with the process. One of those milestones is the court date for finalization. We were planning on this taking place sometime in November possible the Beginning of December. For emotional survival purposes you put this stuff out of mind knowing that you have hired a great lawyer to take care of it so you don't have to worry about it. Well my phone rang one afternoon and it was the lawyers office calling to tell me that all the paper work had gone through and they were able to get a court date scheduled for us. At this point I thought wow that was fast! Then my next thought was so when in November is it going to be? Dove(lady from lawyers office) then proceeded to tell me that the date was October 13th! I thought for sure that I heard wrong so I repeated it back to her and she confirmed it. Wow!!! That was fast!!! That was only a week away!!! I ran out to Jon in tears to let him know. We immediately started talking about sealing dates(more to come on that) and calling family to let them know. On October 13th we got our little family dressed up and went before Judge Gary D. DeMeyer where after some questions were asked we signed and he signed that papers that make Abi ours legally! I know some of you are thinking she has always been yours, and yes she has and we have felt that way about her way before she was born but there is something about having in on paper. For those who have not adopted it may be hard to understand but for my many friends out there who have gone through the emotional roller coaster of this process you can understand my excitement of having it final!

With Baylee's adoption when we finalized our lawyer asked the judge if we could have a picture with her so we did, and I wanted that with Abi as well. It is nice to see the people who have been part of the process, anyway our lawyer was not able to be in court with us and sent someone else who has never done and adoption so I knew he would not be asking this for us. The judge was very intimidating at first and I thought "oh no we will not get a picture" but I got brave and at the very end asked and he was more then willing to take one and I am so glad he was! Now we can show Abi who helped make it happen when we tell her her story.

The Big 4!!!

The month of October has been a very exciting and busy month. It started out with a bang! Baylee turned 4 on the first of the month! I can't believe she is 4 already, she has grown so much. I was watching some video of when we first got her and can't believe how little she was. She is a little girl filled with personality. I love it even though at times it can be very difficult to deal with. Right now she is always busy dancing and playing with whatever friend her mind can come up with. You never know what little friend will be joining us that day because it is constantly changing. She likes to change her name as well and makes Jon and I call her by the name she chooses. Most of the time it is Genivive(hope I spelled that right but don't think so) off of the 12 dancing princesses. She loves her little sister and can't get enough of her so she is constantly waking Abi up from her naps to play with her. She is really into ice cream cones lately so we decided to give her an ice cream party. I made an ice cream pinata, and we had ice cream sundaes with lots of different toppings to choose from. It turned out great. I think she loved that fact that she got stuff for her birthday so now I hear "I get that for my birthday mom" everytime we go to the store. If she wants something she tells me to get it for her birthday.




The pinata broke off the string so we played pinata baseball. Clara was the one to break open the pinata! She is a great little baseball player.

I am so thankful for this sweet very opinionated child. She has been a real challenge but so worth it. Yes we go head to head about almost everything but there is nothing better then when she crawls up next to me and wants to cuddle or wants to help me in the kitchen or read her a book. She knows what she wants and knows how to get it yet she loves to give and gets excited when others are happy. I love how excited she gets when her daddy comes home and how she asks him for a strawberry lemonade every night even though she never drinks them. I love to listen to her sing "I love to see the temple" and get every word right. I love everything about her and am so thankful that I get to be her mom. Not a day goes by that I don't look and her and am amazed at how much I love her. I never knew that you could love someone so stinking much! I am excited to see what new adventures come our way this next year with Baylee!!

Camping!!!!

This past weekend we went on a camp out with my family. I was a bit nervous to take a one month old out camping but Abi did great! It was not as bad as I anticipated and we were all able to enjoy time with family. As Jon and I were loading up the truck for our adventure Baylee decided Abi needed some help on looking cute and put her hair band on her. Abi was a great sport and didn't even fuss about the fact that she couldn't see out of one eye.

We had to get a picture of Abi wearing the outfit that her Uncle Kortney had picked out for her. The onsie says "my mom doesn't want your advice". I think she looks super cute in the hat that Grandma Karen made. If you look closely you will see Uncle Kortney sticking his tongue out, he and Abi both seem to like to stick those tongues out.




Baylee enjoyed running around playing with her bigger cousins. She had a blast swimming in the pool and was all for the water balloons that Grandma Karen brought for the kids. They grouped up into teams and played a balloon toss. It was fun to watch the kids just enjoy being cousins. I am very glad that Baylee and Abi have lots of cousins to spend time with on both sides of the family.








It was chilly at night so we had to bundle Abi up nice and warm and she was not a fan. She did not like having the hat on at all, but boy did she look cute! I loved how she looked all bundled. She fits in great with our family she was a great little camper! She loved the fire and loved to be outside looking around. She even did well at night. Mama on the other had did not do so well at night and ended up spilling formula at night and not realizing it had gotten all over the tent until the next night when the tent stunk!! Baylee did great camping and was so worn out at night the she would fall right to sleep. I knew that Baylee was a sleep talker but boy does she talk and move at night. She would end up yelling out for Jon or I at random times during the night and when we would try to find out what was wrong she would be snoring away. I also woke several times to find her in the strangest positions and still moving and talking away. I am so glad that she sleeps in her own room so that I don't have to listen to all the talking at night. We had a blast and can't wait for our next camping trip!

Cute Outfit!

At one point in my life I decided that I did not like knitted or crochet outfits for babies. I told my mom I didn't want her to make me any. Well I was at my mom's house one day and sitting on the side table next to her chair was the cutest little dress I had ever seen. I fell in love and said "I want this". My mom being the wonderful person she is made me not only the dress but the whole outfit which includes: a dress, a jacket, booties, hat, and a blanket. I love it!! Abi looked so cute in her outfit. It was too hot for the jacket so I can't wait for the cooler weather so I can put it on her and see how she looks in it. Thanks Mom for making this outfit even when I had told you I did not want any crochet outfits.

P.S. I am not sure that I spelt crochet right so please forgive me if it is wrong

Welcome Abigail Brynlee

Well I finally have gotten some time to sit down and blog about Abi's birth. So here is the story:
We had been waiting to hear that Cindy was in labor for almost a week but she was not having any painful contractions. Every night I would sit at home holding my phone so I would not miss that phone call saying she was in the hospital and Abi was on her way. I had about given up on her coming before her due date. Friday July 29th I had a horrible headache all day long and just wanted to go to bed. I kept thinking I sure hope Cindy doesn't go into labor tonight because all I want to do is crawl into bed and sleep for a really long time. The headache eased up but never really went away. I was watching tv and thought I will just lay down for a minute here on the couch then head to bed after this show is over. With in about 10 mins of laying down I get a text message saying that Cindy was at the hospital and they were admitting her. So the adrenaline started pumping and I called Jon and told him he needed to head home. I then got together Baylee's stuff so we could drop her off at grandma's for the night. I was going nuts waiting for Jon. I just kept pacing the floor thinking "Come on Jon you can drive faster then this!!!" Finally Jon got home changed his clothes and grabbed Baylee from bed and we headed to grandma's . Baylee was super confused when we first got in the truck. She couldn't figure out where we were headed but as soon as we said that mommy and daddy were going to see Cindy because she was having baby sister she was wide awake and super excited.

Jon and I got to the hospital and for me it seemed to go fast from there. Before I knew it she was at a 10 and pushing. Jon went and tried to sleep in the truck while I was with Cindy and Isaac and their mom's. It was an amazing experience to be apart of Abi's birth and I am so thankful that Cindy let me have that opportunity. I was in tears before Abi even was born and couldn't believe how much love I had for her. Her first cry sent my heart soaring!


After Abi was born Jon and I went home to get some sleep and to let Cindy and Isaac have some time with Abi alone. We wanted them to have the chance to be a family without us around. Later that day after a wonderful nap we picked up Baylee so she could meet her baby sister. Baylee was so happy and full of smiles the minute we walked into Cindy's room. She climbed right up on the bed with Cindy and Abi and didn't want to leave her sister's side. On the way home from the hospital I asked Baylee "Do you think Abi is so cute" she said "no" I then asked "do you think she is ugly?" she said "yes". I found this to be funny because it was honesty but yet the next day she said she was very cute.

Monday Aug 1st was a very eventful day for our family. We got everything ready here at home for Abi to come to then headed out to the hospital to pick her up. Baylee was very sad when we got to the hospital and didn't go see Cindy. Baylee loves Cindy and gets so excited when we would go see her so it was hard for her to understand that we were not going to see Cindy but going to pick up sister. In her mind they go hand and hand. Baylee did not want Abi to be out of her sight so when I handed Abi to the nurse Baylee burst into tears and got scared that we were not going to get to take Abi home. It broke my heart to think that Baylee was this worried about it. I kept reasurring her that Abi was ours and we would get to take her to our house. Once we were in the truck headed home, Baylee said "We got her, she is ours!" It was so cute to hear how excited she was to have her sister. She still asks to see Cindy and is excited when we go visit. I am glad that we have a great relationship with Isaac and Cindy and their families so that Abi will be surrounded by lots of love.

My mom stayed with us that first week we had Abi and that was great. It was nice to know that I didn't have to figure this mother of two thing out all by myself. Jon helped a ton by making sure Baylee got the attention she needed. I think that I am finally getting the hang of things and everyday feels a little bit easier. You would think that it would be easy since Abi sleeps so much but Baylee doesn't want to leave her alone even for a min. so I use all my energy trying to stop Baylee from smothering her sister. This last week has been a ton easier. Abi is starting to really fill out and has changed so much in looks. We just love her. I love to just cuddle her and listen to her grunt! She grunts most of the night which at times makes it hard to sleep but then other times it is the cutest thing ever.

Sorry this post is so long, I figured I might as well just do it all in one. Also sorry the pictures are not in any kind of order. I was in a hurry to get this post done before Abi woke up wanting her bottle. I will be better about my future posts and will most more pictures of my girls next time.