Gearing up for Christmas

We had a wonderful Christmas. Almost the entire family was in town at the same time, which is not an easy thing to accomplish! Maysie had tons of fun playing with her cousins and hanging out with Granna and Papa who were visiting from Montana. We did some Christmas shopping in down town Placerville, did some baking, and just waited for Santa to come like Maysie is doing in the top picture.

Together Forever

On December 19th 2009 we were blessed with the opportunity to take our Maysie to the Sacramento Temple. It was the most amazing day. Maysie was just a doll in her beautiful white gown; she was very sweet and happy for the sealing and all of the pictures that followed. Sarah was once again our super photographer and captured the joy and sweet spirit that was there with us on that special day. The picture of Maysie looking up at the Temple holding her little purple balloon is just priceless!

P.S. I am delinquent in posting all of these pictures. In my defense it's been a very busy couple of months. We were much too busy while my parents were in town to even worry about blogs, they headed back home after almost a month and a half of visiting thanks to the storms that passed through, (yay, for foul weather!) When the holidays finally ended we decided that waiting for life to settle down before resubmitting our adoption papers for baby number two just wasn't realistic, so we jumped back into that pool of paperwork again and things have been hoppin' ever since.

Snow Day!!

The weather surprised us with three inches of snow yesterday morning!! It was so beautiful. I thought I'd grown out of my excitement about snow but when I woke up at four in the morning and saw it I was so excited I woke Mark up and we snuggled in our cozy bed and talked and just watched it swirl out of the sky. Maysie and Scout were very excited when we showed them what was outside. Maysie just smiled at it in awe, but Scout knew what it was and got super hyped up, running from the kitchen to look out the window then up on the bed in our room and then into Maysie's room on the couch! We let him outside quick before he could tear the whole house down! We bundled Maysie up good and took her out to see what she thought. She could barely walk in her pink stay-puff marshmallow suit:) You can see her "just ate snow face" in the second picture. She really wanted to touch it without her mittens on but she's trying to get over a cold and we didn't need any finger-sicles. Our power flickered on and off til noon when it went out for good. Lucky for us it came back on at six so we didn't have to worry about cooking over a camp stove or freezing to death. I was supposed to go into work but ended up getting the day off:) Mark got to stay home long enough to play with Maysie and his Jeep truck in the snow, have a yummy french toast breakfast, and then head to work:) What a fun day.

Maysie's Baby Blessing

Now that the adoption is final, Mark was able to give Maysie her official baby blessing. She was very good and didn't cry when all the guys circled around her to lay their hands on her head. She sat on my lap and daddy made sure to keep it short and sweet as she was a little squirmy. She looked like a little angel in her white dress, it was a beautiful day!

Adoption Day Quilt and Bear

I really wanted to get some cute pictures of Maysie with her beautiful quilt from Adoption Day and her bear, "Addie". Taking pictures of Miss Maysie since she's become so mobile is quite a challenge but I got a few good ones. Mark says she look like me in the last one:) Partly the fact that she's wearing my dress I think, but that smile too. She refused to hold Addie for the pictures, which is funny because she carries her around all day, but she let her sit next to her while she read her book.

Happy Thanksgiving!

We celebrated four wonderful Thanksgivings this year. Unfortunately I only got pictures at the last two because my camera was in the shop being repaired.
The first big feast was the Sunday before Thanksgiving at my brothers house. We had fun visiting and enjoying our mexican food. My sister in law made mexican manicotti and boy was it delicious!!
Our second Thanksgiving was at my cousin Ben's house on the actual day. We had the traditional dinner with all kinds of delicious sides. Maysie had fun playing with her cousins.
The third one was held at Wally and Sandy's, the kids had fun playing outside until it got dark. There were almost as many puppy cousins at the party as there were children! They had a blast running a muck! I made a cute pumpkin bundt cake, it turned out rather well. The boys and Maysie Started a little Red Neck band in the kitchen after dinner with a banjo, a ukulele, a washboard, a strange instrument made out of a shovel handle a string and a galvanized wash tub( played very well by Mark) and Maysie with her wooden spoon:)
Our last Thanksgiving was again at Wally and Sandy's with Grandad and GoGo. We enjoyed visiting with them and eating lots of food again! After all that eating it's a wonder I still fit into my jeans, good thing they're stretch jeans:)

Adoption Day!

Tuesday November 17th, 2009 was a very special day! We went to the Placerville Court House to finalize the adoption of our Maysie. As much as we had wanted to finalize sooner, it was really neat for Maysie to be able to enjoy the day and participate with us. Though she still wont remember this day when she's older, it was still fun to see her joy and happiness along with our own. This was a special day to have her adoption finalized because it was National Adoption Day. The court room was decorated with balloons and banners, there was a photographer, beautiful quilts made by the Gold Bug Quilters Society for all the babies, gift baskets from Abel's Acres, and an adorable teddy bear we now call Addie (for adoption day). It was wonderful to be able to share this unforgettable day with some of our family members including, Oma and Papa Jukes, Aunt Marie, Uncle Carl, Aunt Pam, and my cousin Megan who was adopted by my Aunt Pam 25 years previously on the same day. Megan's little boy Michael, who is 3 months older than Maysie was there to help us celebrate as well. Sending a big THANK YOU to all of our friends and family who have been so supportive of Mark and I during this long process. We love you all!