It's Official!

Blake is ours!

This morning we went to court for our adoption finalization.  We are so grateful to Julie Walker, our case worker, who has been so sweet and helpful every step of the way, to Ray Goodwin, our lawyer, who is AMAZING and selfless and great at his job, and to the kind judge who treated us so kindly and gave my kids stuffed animals as keepsakes.

The court proceedings were very official, and yet fun, too.  We each had to testify and answer certain questions regarding Blake.  It was easy to explain that we love him and want him in our lives . . . and YES, we do understand that this is permanent.  :)  Hallelujah! 

Blake and daddy, waiting to go into the court.

 Afterwards the judge invited us for pictures.  Katelee got to sit in the judge's chair.  ;)

 A very happy family!

 I forgot to mention that during the proceedings, while Gerald and I were testifying, Blake was laughing.  It was pretty cute.  It was probably because Katelee kept pulling silly faces at him and/or making little noises at him.  I kept trying to shush them, but only half halfheartedly.  His giggles were pretty sweet.  And we like to think that maybe he was just feeling really happy to be legally joining our family as well!  ;)

 One happy boy!

Now we just can't wait for June 16th!

Easter

Happy Easter, everyone!

We have had a fun few days celebrating this special day. It all started a few nights ago when we had some friends over to dye eggs! The kids were very creative and made some beautiful eggs!

Saturday morning, we held our 3rd annual Easter egg hunt! We had to move to a new location this year, but it turned out beautifully and we really liked the new park. We had 42 kids join the hunt, and we estimate that we put out 1018 eggs - FUN!

Blake all bundled up watching us hide the eggs. :)
Beautiful blue eyes!

Katelee scoping out the park; she was an exceptional egg-hider this year!

Some of the kids lining up before the event.

And they're off!

There's Katelee picking one up . . .

My friend, Michelle, was so sweet to hold Blake for me during the hunt!

My sweet nephew, Elijah, found an egg!

Cute Ashlyn!

After the hunt, we gathered at a pavilion next to the pond and enjoyed a potluck breakfast. Katelee LOVED the pond, and insisted on sitting right next to it the entire time.

We were so lucky that our dear, dear friends the Hansens happened to be in town this weekend and joined us for our hunt. Katelee and Gracie are BEST friends, and were so cute spending that time together.

The Easter bunny also found our house this year! The Easter bunny always hides the baskets, but being that it was Blake's very first Easter he went easy on him and left his near the front door.
I think he likes it!So sweet!

Katelee had to search harder for hers, but finally found it on top of the washing machine!

Today has been a lovely day, made especially sweet and full because of the focus on our Savior and His resurrection. Unfortunately, the kids and I all woke up sick this morning, and had to miss church as a result. :( However, we had we watched short videos about Easter, read the account from the scriptures, and shared our testimonies.

Gerald's testimony of Jesus Christ: Jesus, the Christ is my savior. He atoned for my sins and shortcomings. Because of his sacrifice, I can be forgiven and not have to be burdened with guilt in my life--and I can learn from His example to forgive others. I'm grateful for His life, His teachings, His example, and His love. I know that because he overcame death when he was resurrected, that everyone who has or will live on this earth will be resurrected. Because of His selfless and infinite sacrifice, families can be together forever. I'm grateful to remember with reverence His atoning sacrifice, His death, and His resurrection this Easter weekend.

Jennifer's testimony of Jesus Christ: I am so grateful for my Savior and for this Easter weekend we have to remember His life and resurrection. Because of Jesus Christ, I know that I can be with my family forever. As a result of his resurrection and sacrifice, I will see my dad (who passed away last year) again someday. Because of His atonement and example, I can be forgiven of my many mistakes and continue to improve and grow and become a better person. I have personally felt the Savior lift my burdens in times when the load seemed to heavy. I know He loves me, that He loves each one of us, and that he truly can bring peace and joy to our hearts, even in the midst of this troubled world. I am so grateful for His love and the way it blesses my life.

Spring Break

Today Katelee went back to school after a 10-day spring break! It was wonderful to have her home and I am honestly super sad to send her back to school. :( While on spring break we did some fun things, such as:

• birthday party at Pump It Up!
• swimming at the rec center

Katelee LOVES the water slide!

• LOTS of time at the park or outside riding bikes!
• Enjoyed a picnic - the weather has been AMAZING - shorts and t-shirts and flip flops, oh my!
• Movie night in the princess tent.
• Buying a new car - yuck. But at least it's done! Hooray!
• Lots and lots of playing and reading and crafting and more!
  

Now we're just counting down the days until summer break! I think I'm personally more excited than Katelee. I love having my girl home and with me all the time.

General Conference & April Fool's!

We have enjoyed a wonderful weekend.

It's always a great weekend when we get to listen to the prophet and apostles speak at General Conference. Katelee is getting better and better at listening to conference, and took in quite a bit of what was said this time. I loved all the talks, and had a few special ones that really touched my heart. I love the sweet spirit that fills our home during conference and this special bonding time we have as a family. It was Blake's first general conference! Six months ago during general conference I was listening to the talks with a heart full of worry about whether Aurianna and Jake might choose us as the parents for their baby and how to feel about the whole situation; and here we are 6 months later, and we can hardly remember life without Blake. He is such a priceless part of our family, and we love him so much!
The two charming men of my life.
Look at Blake trying to help hold his bottle - he loves that!Since today was April Fool's Day, we had a few tricks up our sleeve as well. ;) I told Katelee I threw away all her underwear (and she believed me for a few minutes). And last night, Gerald and I taped all the light switches down and then asked Katelee to turn on the lights this morning - ha ha ha! That was pretty funny. Anyway, I can never pull off anything too elaborate, as I am horrible at lying, so little pranks like taping the light switches down are more up my alley. When my sister called me tonight, I tried to convince her I was pregnant, but I could only last for like 10 seconds (probably less!) before I was saying just kidding, it's just a joke! I just can't pull off a lie, I just can't. :) Katelee is better at that than I am. While we were visiting at a friend's home this evening, Katelee and her friend Kassandra came in the room to tell us that they had broken Kassandra's glass hippo. Katelee kept grinning, which I interpreted to mean that she was somehow responsible for breaking the toy. When Michelle walked into the room, however, the girls yelled "April Fools" together. Ah, they totally got us!My tricky little princess...this picture was actually taken on St. Patrick's Day evening as we enjoyed our homemade 'Shamrock' shakes.
My little cook - whipping up some pudding for her FHE treat last week. :)

Why I Haven't Blogged a Lot This Week

I've been dealing with THIS.

On Saturday, we were in a car accident. We were all in the car, but everyone is just fine. Thanks goodness for car seats. I was driving. :( I did rear end someone, but the police officer was super nice and told me he probably would have done the exact same thing in this situation. I didn't get a ticket. (Sigh of relief.) We are grateful that it wasn't any worse than it was.

But I am sad for my little car. This car has the worst paint job ever, and the car door handle was broken so you couldn't get out if you were sitting in the passenger seat, and the interior lights didn't work, and so on and so forth, but this car was also TRUSTY. We felt like it was going to run forever. We've never had to do anything other than routine maintenance on this car, and it was rather abused, but it just kept going and going and going... It's taken us on some very long road trips, and around town for years, and we planned to have this little car get us through grad school and them some. We even told Katelee this is the car she could drive when she was a teenager. :) So, I'm sad that it has been totaled. I've been wanting a larger and newer vehicle, but I wanted it when I could afford it. Now we'll just be getting another little old car to get us by for now. Good-bye to our loyal little Corolla. They are going to tow you away today, and we will miss you!

Tender Moments

Lately I've experienced few tender moments I would like to record before I forget.
Tonight, Katelee taught our Family Home Evening lesson. She chose to teach about our living prophet, President Monson. She taught it directly to Blake. Speaking in her 'baby' voice she showed Blake a picture of President Monson and gave a lesson and shared her testimony about prophets. Blake watched mesmerized and wide-eyed. The spirit was strong. Is there anything sweeter than watching your children teach each other truth?A couple of mornings ago, Blake was hanging out in his saucer with Gerald in the bathroom while Gerald was getting ready for the day. I could hear them talking. Gerald was explaining shaving to Blake. It was super sweet, he was showing him his razor and explaining how to shave. Blake was loving every second of the attention, and babbling back to Gerald in his baby voice. I love that my children have such a wonderful father.

Almost a month ago now, I was holding Blake while sitting on Katelee's bed. Blake was fussy. He wasn't interested in the toys or books I was trying to entertain him with. On a whim, I picked up the framed picture of my dad that sits on Katelee's headboard and held it in front of Blake's face. Blake's mood changed instantly; he went from fussing and crying to literally laughing out loud! He began laughing and cooing and babbling at the picture. I was so shocked at the sudden transformation, I called to Gerald to come and see and then I sat there and held Blake and cried. I have no doubt that Blake knew exactly who his Grandma Thurston was, and he loved him and was excited to see his face. We do have angels around us, and the veil is thinner for these sweet little babies than we sometimes realize.

I am so blessed.

St. Patrick's Day!

Happy St. Patrick's Day, everyone!

For me, one of the big perks of being a parent are the little things we get to do to make holidays exciting. :) Just like last year, we decided to try and catch a leprechaun this year. Katelee, with a little help, devised a trap.

Here's how it works:
The piano bench lid is propped up with a wooden spoon, and laying on the wooden spoon is Katelee's golden glove. Leprechauns cannot resist anything thing gold, so when a leprechaun sees the shiny gold, he'll jump in the bench and try to take the glove. But when that wooden spoon is bumped, it will move and the whole lid will come crashing down - trapping the leprechaun! Unfortunately, we did NOT catch the leprechaun again this year. So, no pot of gold for us!

However, the leprechaun did leave us with a few green snacks:And LOTS of tricks. This year that tricky leprechaun:

• turned our kitchen table upside down!
• dyed the milk green!
• painted one of Katelee's fingernails green in the night! (And one of mom's fingernails, and one of dad's toenails - ha ha ha!)
• dyed the toilet water green
  
• turned one of our paintings upside down!
  

• And when Katelee went to pour her usual cereal for breakfast, she was ecstatic when Lucky Charms came out of the box!

Oh, fun! Here's a picture of Katelee's 3-leaf clover hair that we did, as well. :) We found the tutorial for it here.Happy St. Patrick's Day to you all!