Little Purple Dress

My friend Julie gave Rachel this adorable purple dress when she was born. She looked so cute in it that I had to take some photos.

Halloween Dance

Brandon went to the Halloween Dance last night with one of his good friends from marching band. She actually asked him three weeks ago, but he thought it would be funny not to tell us until the day before. So yesterday in addition to making food for the SEP dinner at the Elementary school, attending SEP's, baking 40 muffins and 3 dozen brownies for the marching band trip, hosting a football party at our house, and going visiting teaching, I had to come up with a last minute Halloween costume. Yikes!

They ended up going as a painter and a painting. He got home after midnight and had to be at the high school at 4:00 A.M. to leave for a marching band competition in St. George. Sure wish I had the energy of a teenager. I'm pooped today!

She Loves Her Brothers!

I was snapping some photos of Rachel today and trying to get a good smile. Spencer came up behind me to make faces at her. She immediately started laughing at him and I got this shot. So stinkin' cute!

It's Official!!

We went to court today to finalize Rachel's adoption. Our attorney is awesome, and we ended up with an amazing judge too. I had to answer most of the questions, and I totally cried when he asked me to share how I feel about our little Rachel girl. Our attorney told me that makes him look good though. LOL!
The judge asked each of the boys how they feel about Rachel. I thought it was very cool that he included them in the process.
After we were done Judge Davis had us come up and take pictures. He let each of the boys take turns wearing his robe. It was an awesome afternoon! We don't feel any differently than we did yesterday, but it is nice to know that she is now legally ours. We are so, so grateful for our little girl and for her birth mother who made the greatest sacrifice any mother can make. We are so blessed.





We went to court today to finalize Rachel's adoption. Our attorney is awesome, and we ended up with an amazing judge too. I had to answer most of the questions, and I totally cried when he asked me to share how I feel about our little Rachel girl. Our attorney told me that makes him look good though. LOL!
After we were done Judge Davis had us come up and take pictures. He let each of the boys take turns wearing his robe. It was an awesome afternoon! We are so, so grateful for our little girl and for her birth mother who made the greatest sacrifice any mother can make. We are so blessed. Adoption rocks!

Picking Pumpkins

We went to the Santaquin Barn this year to get our pumpkins. We went on the hay ride out to the pumpkin patch. The boys had a great time picking out the very perfect pumpkin. And of course the best part is getting an ice cream cone afterwards. They have the yummiest ice cream!

Decorating Cookies

Spencer is taking a Foods Class at Jr. High, and needed to make some food and take a sample to his teacher. He let Justin help him pick a treat. He's been wanting to make some snowman cookies he found in one of my cookbooks for ages, so he choose those. Spencer made the dough and frosting, and the rest of us got in on the decorating action.

Justin had the most fun; he decorated almost half of them by himself:
Tyler got in on the action.
He told me his cookie is frowning because someone took a bite out of it. LOL!

Even Wes had fun:
Brandon and Spencer did some decorating too, but due to the fact that they are teenagers, they refused to have their pictures taken.

Cutie Patootie!

I did a photo shoot of Rachel this morning. She was in such a happy mood that I got some great shots. I picked my favorite and did a bit of photo editing. Dang she is a cute girl!

Worth It

One of my friends gave us this cute onesie when Rachel was born. The wait was loooong. But she is totally worth it!!! We love our cutie girl!

Look Who's Joining Us For Dinner

We had to bust out the high chair this week. Rachel was starting to get a little bored during meal times, so we figured she would like it better if she was up where she could see all of us. She is eating baby food now and seems to love it so far. She can eat little pieces of bread too, but she can't quite put them in her own mouth yet. So we take turns feeding her like a little bird. :)


It sure is fun looking at this cute little face while we eat.
She looks so tiny in there! But dang she is growing up fast. Too fast for this mama.

Another Milestone

Rachel is so close to being able to sit up by herself. She can sit for a few seconds, but then she topples over, so we have to stay really close. What a stinkin' cutie she is!

We spent some time up at my parents' house for conference weekend. Of course during free time, the boys headed to the back yard to play a little football with Wes and Uncle Matt. The weather has been gorgeous, so of course they are taking every opportunity to head outside! :)