The Happiest Place on Earth

I know, Walt Disney has the market on this catch phrase, but I have to disagree with the location he elected to call, "The Happiest Place on Earth."  For us, the Seattle Temple (or any temple, for that matter) is "The Happiest Place on Earth!" 

Why?  Well, because the temple is the only place on Earth where an Earthly Family can be transformed into an Eternal Family.



As Samantha's adoption had just been finalized on April 13th, we chose Saturday, April 23rd to attend the temple and be sealed for time and all eternity.

 Samantha was so beautiful.  Amazingly enough, she still fit into her blessing dress so that's what she wore for the sealing.  The entire time, she was focused on the Sealer, quietly listening as he spoke to us and performed the ordinance.  When he was done, she looked at both me and Eddie and just had the biggest smile on her face!  It was perfect!

Afterward, we went outside onto the temple grounds for pictures.  What a wonderful way to start our Easter weekend!  I am so grateful for my family, for the temple and for the blessings that come from the gospel of Jesus Christ!

Finalized

We are so blessed!  Words cannot express our joy, our gratitude, and our love for this little girl! 

April 13, 2011 - Seven months to the day after our first custody hearing for Samantha, our attorneys went to court and finalized our adoption of Samantha Grace!

Portion of the adoption decree

Adoption is a beautiful, emotion-laden process, riddled with anxiety and uncertainty.  We count ourselves lucky in that we had a very positive experience.  Make no mistake though, until we received that phone call from our attorney on April 13th, regardless the positive experience with Samantha's birth mom, anxiety levels in our home were high...for seven months!  Can you imagine having that constant fear in the back of your mind? 

Again, we wish to express our gratitude to Samantha's birth mom. I called Samantha's birth mom the day the adoption was finalized. I didn't want her to find out about the finalization from receiving an emotionless piece of mail from the state. I wanted her to hear it from me. She is a wonderful woman and we are so grateful for her decision to place Samantha with us. Thank you!

April 13, 2011 - We celebrated Samantha's finalization with a family dinner at a local Mexican restaurant :)

 It's official, baby girl, you are stuck with us! 

We love you!!

Seattle Mariners...for better or worse

The M's have been called many things over the years.  Some good, some...not-so-kind.  I tend to think of them as unreliable.  Regardless your thoughts on the Seattle Mariners, attending a game in-person at Safeco Field is a good time!!  A beautiful field, state-of-the-art facility, and awesome garlic fries!! 

Hmmm, reminds me of a time my sister and I went to a game, pigged out on some garlic fries, and then made a friend suffer the consequences the next morning at aerobics when all of the garlic smell came oozing out of our skin as we sweated our way through class on either side of her (Sarah!).  But I digress...

Batting Practice

Back to the Mariners - Eddie won some tickets from work so we go to have a date night on April 12th to watch the M's battle the Blue Jays.  They were great seats - right up the first base line, Section 118, Row 18!  At this point in the season, the M's had just broken a 7-game losing streak the night before with a come-back win, so we were prepare for the M's, in true M's-style, to lose that night's game.  I mean really, how many games in a row can we expect them to win? :)


It was a great game!  With Pineda on the mound, the M's took a 3-0 lead in the bottom of the 3rd inning, thanks to a home run from Ryan Langerhans.  We almost lost hope when the Blue Jays came back for 2 in the top of the 8th, but when all was said and done, the M's triumphed with a 3-2 win!!

The view from our seats

A beautiful, rainless, night in the Emerald City, a win from the Mariners, and we came away with a little souvenir for Samantha! :)

The "Mom" Haircut

I've noticed, when women become moms, magically, their hair shrinks.  I've discovered that there are many reasons for this, but let me explain mine.  As Samantha is getting older, she is learning she can use her hands for many things: reaching for toys, picking up pieces of food, holding others' hands, and wrapping them up in mom's hair and pulling...really hard! 

My solution, the "mom" haircut.  Why not just pull my hair back into a ponytail?  Well, that's how I started, but when I'm having to resort to that everyday...not so flattering.  Instead, I decided that with one action, I could do some great things:

1. Eliminate the wrap/pull motion that Samantha had learned so well :)
2. Get a low maintenance hairstyle
3. Get ready for Spring and Summer by losing the long hair
4. Do something good for someone else by donating the cut hair (minimum 10") to Locks of Love so they can use it to make hairpieces for kids who have lost their hair due to various medical conditions.

Donated hair

So, here is the end result...

What do you think? :)

Ode to a Harry Potter Weekend

Every couple months or so, ABC Family has their "Harry Potter Weekend."  It just means they show all of the HP movies they've bought viewing rights for, this time, #1-5, back-to-back all weekend long.  Now, we own all of the HP movies that have been released, #1-6, but there's something more exciting when it's on television.  We like having background noise in our house anyway, whether it's television or music, and what I like about the HP movies is that I don't have to worry about content.

Yep - so guess what was playing in my house ALL weekend - Harry Potter!  I don't think I saw any one of the movies all the way through but it doesn't matter - just having Harry Potter on was magical.  :)  Thank you, ABC Family!





By the way, Harry Potter #7 part 1 comes out on Blu-Ray / DVD in less than a month...and part 2 comes out in theaters in July. 

So excited - I don't know what it is, I just love the Harry Potter movies!

March 10th - 6 Months Old!

It's gone by so fast, I can hardly believe that Samantha Grace is 6 MONTHS OLD!  She has brought joy and laughter beyond measure into our lives.

Because a "half" birthday is a big deal, we decided to celebrate...with cupcakes! 

I know what you're thinking, "she's only 6-months-old and you're giving her a cupcake??  She doesn't even have teeth yet!!"  I know, but don't underestimate this little girl! 

The intention was only "half" a cupcake, with "half" of a candle...because it's only her "half" birthday :)  But the candle would just look silly in only half a cupcake.  So we just put the half of a candle in the small cupcake...and she got to eat half of her cupcake (which is about her limit anyway, so it was just perfect!). 

We sang, "Happy half-Birthday" to her (notice Daddy is holding her hands because we did indeed light the candle) and then, with a little help and hopefully a good wish, she blew out her candle!

Happy half-Birthday, little Princess!