Blessed.

Yes we are. Emma's blessing day has finally come and I have never anticipated any of the kids blessing days the way I have hers. Then again I still have moments daily of overwhelming gratitude that reduce me to tears. I love her so much. Well I had decided to make her blessing dress which ended up being such a wonderful but trying experience. I had started making the dress with my friend Shannon Nisse (who does beautiful sewing) back in Prescott when we were waiting to adopt. Thank you Shannon you are so wonderful!!! I had orginally thought that it would be Ave's dress but life took a different course and she ended up being to big for it when she was sealed and blessed so we spent a special day finding Avery her very own special first white dress. I kept the dress unfinished hanging in Ave's room wondering why I was keeping it since I didn't even know if I would use it. When we found out that Emma was coming I then understood. Sometimes Heavenly Father works in the most mysterious ways. I hurried to finish the dress, at one point I think I had brought home seven or eight different pieces of lace to sample, each one was pretty but not right for what I wanted. Finally about two weeks before the day I found the right lace and buttons and it all came together. What an accomplishment! I even learned to sew buttonholes which are actually easy once you put the right foot on your machine and actually read the instructions instead of just trying to figure it out yourself. Not to mention when you have your mom there to help guide you who happens to be an excellent seamstress. Anyways I wanted the dress to be simple and elegant and look a little vintage and I think it does. It was a lot of work but that morning as we got her dressed I looked at her and could not believe how beautiful she was. An angel. It is amazing how you look at your beautiful daughter all in white and time flashes before you and you see her at her baptism and then as a gorgeous bride on her wedding day. All that hard work so worth seeing her look so beautiful for her special day. I had been busy all morning and the night before getting everything ready for the luncheon afterwards. We had invited 45 people and I kept worrying about was the house clean enough, would there be enough room, enough chairs, would everyone be comfortable etc. etc. etc. This is the biggest company we have ever had at our house and I was excited but of course like every women wanted everything to be just right. It is interesting however the little details that we stress about when everything always comes together if we just relax and allow it to. That morning when we walked into the chapel and saw all of our family there Deke and I were so touched. We have such an amazing family. The support that they have given Deke and I always but especially during these last few years through losing Ethan and Dylan, through adopting Avery and now through our journey to get Emma here is overwhelming. I don't know if I could have list long enough to write down all the small acts of kindness and service that have been shown to us on a regular basis. Thank you again to our families for all that you do to love and support our family. A special thank you to my mom and sisters. I don't even know how many nights I called my mom crying in pain and frusteration over wondering if we would ever have another child. Every time she would calmly reassure me and give me strength to keep walking. She is so wonderful, I love you mom. Thank you to my sisters, there are no words to describe the way I love these girls. As I write this tears are pouring down my face because I can't even express adequately my gratitude to Heavenly Father for them. They are like bright bursts of light in my life each one bringing different joys to those around them, all beautiful, amazing individuals. When they all come up and put their arms around me I feel a power. The connection we have and love I feel when we are all together is touching. Heavenly Father knew how much we needed each other. I am so glad that Avery and Emma will have each other and who knows maybe another sister somewhere along the way :) :) The blessing was wonderful. I am starting to realize that Emma is a reality a little more each day. She still has felt like an amazing dream and I still can't believe that she is actually finally here. When I kiss her she will give me the cutest little "kisses" right back. I think that she is going to be a Mommy's girl :) I love Deke so much and I am so thankful for him. Everytime I pray the only way to sum up everything I feel for him is to say to Heavenly Father, "Thank you for Deke" and I know he understands everything within that phrase. Emma being the wonderful, easy going baby that she is slept through the whole thing happily. After sacrament we all came back to the house for the luncheon which was so fun. Everyone had helped bring yummy food. Lisa and Lonnie let us borrow tables, chairs, serving dishes and picture stands. GG had bought a gorgeous bouquet of roses and flowers for the table, Nalene had made cupcakes decorated with roses, Kerry and Erin you are awesome for your help in getting all the food set out. Thank you again to everyone for all the help. What a beautiful special day all to celebrate you Emma and your place in our family. Daddy, Hunter, Ethan, Dylan, Avery and I love you so much.

I want to see Jesus Christ...

A couple of weeks ago we had the opportunity to take our family to the Gila Valley temple. We were so excited and the kids had somewhat of an idea of what a temple is like from Avery's sealing last year. On the way down we read the conference talks aloud in the car. I love the talk about Mother's and Daughter's it was so good. We asked Hunter what he really wanted to see at the temple. He told us he was excited to see the baptismal font. He has been asking a lot of questions about baptism lately. When we asked Ave what she wanted to see she said, "Ummmm, I would like to see Jesus Christ." Nothing like high expectations :)Deke and I tried to contain ourselves as we explained to her that she would probably see pictures of Jesus and would feel his spirit but that she probably wouldn't actually get to see him in the temple. It was so cute and it made us smile. I love how simple life is in the mind of a child. The temple was of course beautiful. I have never seen such beautiful light fixtures, they were gorgeous. The kids were so reverent and it was such a neat experience. Hunter quietly observed everything with a content little smile on his face. Avery asked questions every five seconds and continued to be intrigued by the fact that they had put slippers over her shoes. Emma of course slept the whole time and we ended up burning her little face. Duh mom and dad for not covering her with a blanket as we waited out in the sun. Thank goodness it turned or she would have looked like a perfectly round faced cherry tomato for her blessing day. Not only was seeing the temple neat but the discussions that it provoked were also neat. As we drove away from the temple we asked the kids if they had any questions. Hunter asked, "Why is it important that we get married at the temple and no where else?" This question led to a great gospel discussion with him. They had many other questions and it was a special parenting time for Deke and I to get to discuss these things with our children in more detail. By the way I love this picture of Deke and the girls it is just so candid and cute. He is so awesome with Emma it never ceases to amaze me how great he is with the kids always, especially though when they are so tiny and brand new. Our babies have all been pretty little and yet he always knows just how to care for them. I am not exactly a huge fan of car trips but I have to admit I love the quiet time in the car without TV or telephones or other distractors to sit and visit or sing or play road games. I also love the scenery you get to see as you drive. I look forward to taking the kids to the Phoenix and Gilbert temples as well.

So beautiful Miss E.

I have to start off by apologizing for the amount of pictures I included in this post but it was too hard to choose just a few to show. I promise that eventually I will post about something else besides this little bunch of sweetness so bear with me. A few weeks ago we took Emma over and Holly did a photo shoot with her. Holly is so talented and the photos turned out adorable. Not to mention we had fun doing it :) Okay look at those cute little ruffle diaper covers and her little bum up in the air. I love when they sleep in that position they always look so content. Isn't that background and flooring cool? Then we put her in the little scale, I love the feather heabands!! We also took some cute pictures of the kids and our family, I found Ave's headband at Forever 21 for $1.00...gotta love that especially when it is a stinkin cute one. I love this picture of Emma with Hunter. He is getting so big I just can't believe it and he is such a good big brother for his sisters. Everyone always says he looks like me but has Deke's personality and it is true. Ave is a great big sister. Since she is only three sometimes she can be overly helpful but she loves Emma and is always right there whenever she makes even a little squak. I think that this is such a cute picture of their little sisterhood. When we went outside to take some shots I couldn't believe how cool the sun was shining through the trees. It looked so cool in some of the shots. I absolutely love this vintage babay carriage. I love vintage things, the pictures with it are so sweet. Miss E was so amazing, I couldn't believe how relaxed she was being totally in the buff. She let us put all kinds of different hats and bows on her and put her in and on all sorts of different props. I had so much fun watching her during the shoot. Holly does such beautiful photography and has such fun backgrounds, props, and heabands. I love how chubby Emma's little cheeks are. I love that Holly was able to capture her pucker lips. She does the cutest little puckered up lips all the time that look like she is just waiting for a great big kiss. It was really special for me to get these photographs of her, she is so beautiful. Holly made this headband it had such a cute vintage look to it. Those litttle fabric flowers are getting so popular I am sure they are easy I need to learn how to make them. Cute little highchair, so fun, so precious. Thank you Holly for the beautiful pictures we appreciate it so much.