Happy Christmas Eve!

Christmas Eve 2009
Christmas Eve 2010!
The girls have grown so much this year, it is so fun seeing the difference of a year for Lilly and Emma.

All the girls in their new P.J.'s for Christmas, don't they look cute :)
I tried getting a cute picture of Emma by the tree and this is the best one, it's still a little blurry, she is such a mover. I just love her smile, it lights up her entire face.

Merry Christmas!

Lilly's Ballet Program

This morning was Lilly's ballet class program. The girls were all very excited because Mike got to come with us! He was on Jury Duty, but luckily the case was dismissed :)
In Lilly's class they do a doll dance and in the dance the doll blows a kiss and Lilly always makes sure to blow the kiss to me :)

Here is Lilly waiting in line for the performance to start. She was so excited :)

Here is a video of Lilly and her class doing the penny whistle song from The Nutcracker, it was so cute!

This is Lilly right after they bowed and the audience was clapping. She enjoyed the applause :) It was a fun program. Lilly was so excited to get to perform. She really is enjoying her ballet class this year.

Emma Turned One Last Month!

I feel bad I haven't posted pictures of Emma's birthday party... it was a fun party and Emma was the star of the show. She was so happy and not shy at all. She is such a fun little chick and so sweet. We love our Emma Boo and I can't believe she is One!
Here's Emma's 1-year old picture :) She is such a little mover and loves to walk with help. She loves to crawl and loves to crawl super-fast :)
We made a mini version of Emma's cake for Emma to enjoy. here is the big cake :) It was fun to design, Mike cut it and frosted it. I just directed him on what I wanted it to look like and it came out so cute!

We also stuck with the theme of a pinata at every party :) Emma had fun hitting it with me :)

Emma really enjoyed the cake and as soon as she was brave enough to try it, her eyes got huge and she dove right in :)

Emma vs Santa

Emma didn't like Santa :) But she did manage to hold it together for a very cute picture for our Christmas card this year!

Worth the Wait - Emma's story

As soon as our first baby girl (Lilly) turned one, we immediately re-applied to adopt again. Mike and I love having siblings and longed for Lilly to experience the joy of having someone to share her life with (besides Mom and Dad). I was confident that our wait would not be long. We lived in a nice neighborhood, owned our own home, I was a full-time Stay at Home Mom and Mike had a pretty solid career. But… life is never constant, it is always progressing and not always where you think, or want it to go. I made the call in January 2007 to LDS Family Services in Seattle, WA to start things up again. Shortly after we received the news from Mike’s employer that he was going to be laid off, sometime in August or September. This news was pretty devastating to us, as I had just recently ‘retired’ from my career and Mike was the sole provider for our family. We began praying, and talking and trying to work through what our plans should be. In some ways this was a total answer to another question we had been praying a lot about. Mike kept feeling strongly that he needed to go back to school… Again with our new dilemma more education kept coming up. We decided we needed to sell our house and go from there. Our house went on the Market in April of 2007, it sold in 2 days! By this point we decided to have Mike go back to school. As crazy as it sounds we flew to UT and looked at over 20 houses in 2 days and made an offer on a little 1930’s home very near the University Mike would start at in the Fall. We made a good profit on our home in Washington and placed a large down payment on our new home to keep our mortgage low.
We made the big move West in May 2007, I called the LDS Family Services Agency to transfer our file to the local one. These two did not communicate well… I was so grateful that I had done the paperwork before and knew what needed to be turned in. Finally in September, after making duplicate copies of forms and hand delivering paperwork we were approved to adopt 9 months after we had started the process. This alone was very disheartening to us, but we kept our hopes up. Mike started school and I started working again. I was able to get a good job working evenings/nights this works really well so I can still be at home during the day and make money at night. Mike also started working for the University in the wee hours of the morning. Talk about a life 360, but so far things were working out great and we began to plan again for our future.
We still weren’t completely sure where our life was taking us and it took another BIG turn in September 2008. Mike has always loved art and is a very talented and creative person. I’ve always encouraged him to do more. He decided to go and talk to the director of the art department at the university to see about majoring in art. Well… to our surprise Mike was invited into the Art Major without even applying! The director of the Art Department was so impressed during their meeting he admitted him into the program. I was so excited and proud of Mike we both are now working hard towards a lifelong dream of ours and it began in such an amazing way. Also, during the month of September 2008 we updated our adoption profile, again. It had been a year since we had been approved. Lilly is so ready to be a big sister, she LOVES babies and always prays for a new brother or sister. I also am ready for a new little one. Lilly was growing up, she's my baby and she's getting so big, I didn’t have a new baby to cuddle and change and spoil yet. Something was missing in my heart and I longed to fill the tiny spaces with love for my children. Lilly does/did add so, so, so much to my life but I really wanted her to have the chance to be a sister and to feel that special connection that siblings have. It's was different this time around. When we were waiting for Lilly to come into our lives I wanted a baby, I wanted to grow our family, I wanted to be a mother. This time around my wants are a lot more complex. I still wanted a baby and to grow our family, but it's not all about my wants anymore it's more about what my family needs. I take pure joy in being a mother and I loved seeing Lilly develop into a beautiful, unique individual, I could hardly wait to see what the personality of our next child would be like and how it would change and add to our family.
In April 2009 I wrote this: It's been two years since we started try to adopt again. We are still waiting to be chosen by birthparents. I want to say that this time adopting has been just as peaceful as the last time, it hasn't been. I have moments of clarity, and peace. Not often enough, we pray for our family to grow, we pray for comfort. We've been sending out letters and cards to our loved ones pleading for their help. We celebrated our ten year wedding anniversary this year and I will also be 30. Life still continues at our home, we love each other and thank Heavenly Father and Lilly's birthmother every day for our Lilly. But something is missing, we long to have another child and Lilly even prays for a baby brother or sister, we are missing someone. It seems harder this time too Lilly is feeling the loss of not having a sibling, this breaks my heart. It's harder than knowing I will never conceive. Because it's something I cannot give her. I can only hope and pray that something big will happen soon.
5 months later we received an e-mail, it was from the LDS Family Services website. An expectant mother wanted to get to know us better. She explained to us that she had looked at many adoptive parent profiles, but kept coming back to ours. We responded and started building a relationship with M. October 3, 2009 we were called into our caseworkers office and was presented with the amazing news that M. had chosen us! I began to feel hope again. I feel so blessed, so lucky to be able to experience a modern day miracle again. We were anxiously awaiting the arrival of our new baby girl.

Abound in
Hope
through the Power
of the Holy Ghost
- Romans 15:13

When we adopted Lilly we didn’t have time to prepare for her arrival, with this new little girl we were given time. She wasn’t due until January 1, 2010. I added my name to the expecting list at church and started to unpack baby things and took my time to nest. I was really enjoying this time and felt blessed every moment. M. was having some complications with the pregnancy we prayed for her every day that everything would be o.k. and that she would start feeling better. We kept in contact with M. and went out to dinner together in November. Then as our life seems to go, the unexpected happened. My cell phone rang at 5:00 AM on November 13, 2009. It was M.’s mom, she wanted us to come to the hospital. M. was having more complications and they needed to perform a c-section. I told M’s Mom that we would be there as soon as we could. I called my Mom and asked her to meet me at the hospital and take Lilly for the day. I called Mike at work and told him the news. I packed a bag and made a PB&J for Lilly and we headed to Salt Lake City to meet my Mom and possibly our new bundle of pink.
As things go in a hospital (and life) it was a hurry up get there then wait. We had the opportunity to visit with M. and her Mom and meet her Dad. I was grateful for their support of M.’s decision to place her baby for adoption.
M. was wheeled to the O.R. and Mike and I waited. We received a phone call from our caseworker who wasn’t very supportive of us being at the hospital. But it was M.’s decision to have us there, so we stayed for her.
Little, tiny, itty bitty Emma Rose was born on November, Friday the 13th 2009 almost 7 weeks early. She was born at 9:07 AM. Emma weighed 3lbs 7ozs and was 16.5 inches long.

She was so small, but made such a huge impact in so many of our lives. Emma stayed in the NICU for almost a month and we drove an hour one way almost every day to visit her in the NICU. M. visited her every day in the NICU and I am so thankful that she did. It made my heart hurt to know I couldn’t be there every day, but calmed my soul knowing someone that loved her would be there.
On December 9, 2009 we brought Emma home! It was such a crazy, amazing day. Lilly finally was able to hold her baby sister, (they don’t allow children in the NICU) and my miracle became real.
We were now a family of four plus one dog. The hopes and prayers that I had been sending to heaven had been answered in my own individual way. We got to spend Christmas with our two girl angels and my heart was finally at peace. I am thrilled beyond words with how lucky I feel to have my family. It's been quite the emotional journey for Mike and I to build our family and it was all totally worth it. We’ve moved 1000 miles from where our journey began to bring Emma home, literally. We’ve endured and learned from what life throws at us. I think we are stronger and our love for Heavenly Father and his eternal perspective is deeper. I am thankful for adoption, I am thankful for a loving God and my trials that make me a better person, that make me a Mommy.
The name Emma means whole or complete and right now our family really feels complete because of little Emma Rose. She is amazing and she is such a special part of our family. I have struggled for many years with a hole in my heart and now it is full of joy.

Our eternal family, May 2010

A Fun Fall Day!

I just love the look on Lilly's face. She is a natural Big Sister :) The look on Emma's face in the background is priceless, though she knows what's coming and is embracing it.

Lilly and I had a grand time having a leaf fight. My favorite part of fall is the leaves, a lot of them turn my favorite color (orange) and they are so fun to through at eachother. Emma was very proud that she sat in a pile of leaves and even got to taste a few of them.I am so grateful that I have these two little ladies in my life, I am so lucky! Just look how funny and adorable they both are.
This picture of Emma really shows a lot of her personality. She is very thoughtful and loves to explore and be outside. Although, lately she has started to be a little more silly. I think we might be rubbing off on her :) Emma is so much happier now that she can move and follow us around the house. I can't believe Emma is almost 1 year old!

Halloween

We had a really fun Halloween this year. Lilly was a Princess Witch and Emma was a Princess Kitty :)
Emma's new favorite thing is balls, she also loves to touch people's (and dogs) noses. :)

Here are my girls are dressed up at Grandma Y's Halloween party. It was a really fun party!
We carved pumpkins on Friday, the best part was we got to use the pumpkins from our very own pumpkin patch. This year we were able to grow 5 pumpkins! :)

Emma really thought it was cool she had a pumpkin on her tray :) She kept kissing and hugging it :)

Lilly made an adorable Princess witch :) It was a fun costume to make.

Fun Stuff!

I need to blog more so I can show off my cute girls and Man :) Here are a few fun pictures from this month.
Now that Emma has mastered crawling she is trying to climb.... Mike screwed the toy shelf into the wall on Saturday just in time.
Emma wants to do EVERYTHING Lilly does, it's so cute. Lilly doesn't mind too much either.
Mike gave Lilly a manicure and pedicure..... Don't you love the purple smiley faces :) To make it a little manly Mike used a BBQ wood stick thingy.and Lilly gave Mike a pedicure the other day :) He is such a fun Daddio :) Lilly really likes to help feed Emma, so when she asks I usually let her. She is an amazing big sister and Emma is a very fun little chick :)

Emma Started Crawling Today!!!

Lilly and Mike caught Emma crawling on video just a few minutes ago...Now Lilly is leading her around the living room, and Emma is following. Time to really baby proof our home.

Emma is 11 months old!

Wow, I really can't believe how fast this year has gone by... Emma is a mama's girl and I love it :) She has a funny quirky sense of humor. She is a pretty serious soul and loves to watch other children play. Her favorite is still Lilly and will always have a smile for Lilly even when she really, really doesn't want to smile.
I just love her tiny feet :)

Emma has mastered waving hello and goodbye. She sounds like she is saying hello when she waves too, it's very cute :)
It's hard to believe when we brought her home she didn't have ANY eye lashes, now look at those beauties... so pretty. These pumpkins are from our garden, we have three more too! Emma thinks they are pretty cool too. Emma gives kisses, even to pumpkins.

Hiking To Timpanogos Cave

Since I don't work on Fridays and Mike had the day off we decided to head up to Timpanogos Cave. The weather wasn't looking very good, but we decided to take a chance anyways and I am so glad that we did. It was PERFECT hiking weather, it made Mike and I really miss hiking in the PNW... Lilly hiked pretty much the entire trail up, which is pretty good since it's 1.5 miles of switch backs with an incline of over 1000 feet. Lilly was totally in her element of science at the cave, the ranger that gave us a tour LOVED Lilly and deemed her as her Junior Ranger and even let Lilly hold her flashlight a few times. Lilly got to lead the entire tour group, which consisted of our family and 3 other 'older' couples. The 'older couples' were charmed by Lilly as well. She was the star Junior Ranger of Timpanogos :) Mike carried Emma up the Mountain, and Lilly at times. He is such a hiker rock star dad :)
We kept Lilly on her leash, mainly because I have an extreme irrational fear of heights and falling from cliffs. I carried Emma down the mountain because Mike ended up having to give Lilly a piggy back on the way down, she was pooped.
Emma slept through half of the cave tour. Unfortunately, you can't bring framed backpacks into the cave due to some narrow passageways, so we had to leave the pack outside and Mike had to carry a sleepy, wiggly baby through narrow low passages in the cave. Again, rock star dad :)
Emma LOVES hiking and being outside, so does Lilly and the rest of us. We are going to get a season pass to the National Parks next year and hopefully use it like crazy.

Here's a video of Mike carrying Lilly and Emma down the mountain before I started packing Emma. I had to rescue Mike from going deaf and also having a heart attack :)

M&M

I called Emma M&M one day about two weeks ago and Lilly and I have been calling her that ever since :) I like having little nicknames for my girls, Lilly has always been bug and I've been trying out all sorts of nicknames for Emma and finally I think M&M is it :) Although, I do call her Mimi and boo too. :) Lilly likes M&M the best, though.
Emma totally learned this smile from Lilly :) Haha :) Lilly will tuck in her lip like this sometimes and 'smile' at Emma and it cracks the both of them up for some reason.

M&M has totally been into blowing raspberries, she'll even give them to herself.
M&M has really pretty features, I like this picture it shows a nice profile of her lips. She also has very tiny feet. I still can't find shoes that will fit her... the newborns are too small and the ones are too big. So she wears her slipper socks a lot or just goes barefoot.