A Most Special Day

Brace yourself, it's a long one.  There were so many cute pictures, I had to include them all!

Last Saturday, July 14th 2012, we were able to take our precious little boy to the temple to be sealed to us for time and all eternity!  What a marvelous experience.  It was so special to see our little baby, all dressed in white, be brought into the sealing room in the temple.  We were surrounded my much of our family and a few friends.  We are so blessed to have supportive families and we love them very much.  Most of all, we love this little boy with all our hearts.  My eyes tear up every time I look at these pictures.

 Here's a picture with most of my family.  We missed Marc, who is in Kentucky and Andy and Jessica who were about to welcome baby Andelyn into their family.  Jared forgot to tell his family to stay for pictures at the temple, but we've got some randoms of them later.

 My friend Taya came down from New Haven to be there.  We don't see each other much anymore, but I'm grateful for her support too.

 Precious boy!

 Charlie and Daddy!

 Charlie and Mommy!

 Our eternal family!

 These are two of the most important people... Ralynn is Charlie's birth mom and Toby is her son and Charlie's big brother.  We love them very much.  Notice that Charlie is tugging on Toby's ear!

Most of Jared's family came for the occasion and stayed the night for Charlie's blessing at church the next day.  We don't have a lot of room, so some of them camped out in the backyard.  

We didn't get a picture with the whole group (I wish we had),but here are some randoms that Jared took.

Great Grandma Carol (Jared's grandma)

We love our little family.

Order in the Court!

 Today was a  very special day.  We had the court hearing to make Charlie's adoption final.  Here is a picture with the judge and our great case worker, Shannon.  Charlie voiced his opinion on the matter during the hearing by growling his approval loudly while the lawyer was presenting the case!

 Some of my family was able to come as well.  It's great to have such support!

Charlie and the judge shook hands after the whole thing was complete.  What a polite little boy!

 We had to get a closeup of the outfit.  Our case worker said she thinks he was the first baby to show up for a finalization in a shirt and tie!  (Thanks Donilyn for the awesome tie!)  He was so stylin!

 And... here's just a random goofy picture of Dad on our court day.  What a ham! We went to La Dulce in Provo after for lunch... our favorite "hole-in-the-wall"  Italian restaurant.

Baby Food, Anyone?

So, my inner domestic goddess is feeling very proud today.  I actually made homemade baby food from apricots picked from the tree in my parents' backyard less than 24 hours ago!  I didn't have very many (about 1/2 of a 2 gal. bucket), but it was the perfect amount for the time I had to spend on it today.  It all took less than one hour.  

  I put them in the "Ninja".  This is the blender that Jared pushed and pushed for us to buy (I was resistant because of the cost).  But now, I have to admit, I'm in love with the Ninja and use it way more than he does. I know, monumental moment, me admitting I was wrong, Jared's gonna love this!

 Next I poured the puree into ice cube trays and covered them with foil in the freezer.

 I also had a few baby food containers that I've started saving which also worked well.

What's the verdict from my little food critic?...

It's too sour!  I tasted a little and it seemed fine, so I thought he was just not used to it, but after he'd eaten a whole serving, pulling sour faces the whole time, I tried a bigger taste and it was pretty sour.  He's such a good little boy, he just ate it anyway.  I felt bad... next time I'll sweeten it up a bit with some apple juice.

We had to get a video of the sour faces for daddy and it's so cute, I had to share.  Don't know why it loaded sideways and I don't know how to fix it!

 I know I say this every post, but oh, man I love this face!

Six Months!

My sweet boy is six months old today.  This is how I usually find him in the mornings, sideways in his crib.  Today he was making noise so I went in to get him up and had fallen back asleep.  He's the best little sleeper. He sleeps all night until usually 6:30 or 7:00 (and has for months) and then takes several naps throughout the day. Hopefully that lasts when he starts teething.  He usually puts his feet up and rolls onto his side and goes right to sleep when I put him in his crib. He likes to have something soft to snuggle and his binky.

 Here he is at the Dr.'s office for his 6 month checkup.  He's healthy and happy and growing like crazy.  He is now 75% for weight and 86% for height.  He'll fit right into this family!

He's starting to eat solids.  Here he is with rice cereal all over his cute little face. Oh, and he's finally get enough hair to do a fohawk and it is so cute!

 I took him to 7 Peaks this week with my sister and her kids and Charlie loved it.  I was worried he'd get fussy, but he was so happy the whole time and loved to kick and play in the water.

My Grandma Brown was here for a visit from Arizona for a few days, so Charlie got to meet his Great-Grandma Brown.  I think he likes her!  I thought this picture was so precious!

We love our cute boy and can't wait to see what he'll do next!

Top 10 Reasons I love My Dad (By Charlie)

(This post is a week late, but we started it on Father's Day.  It just took some time to finish!)

He's my best snuggle buddy!

He is dashingly handsome, like me!

He's my best snuggle buddy!

He's teaching me how to drive a car!

He's not afraid to get messy!

He gives me piggy back rides!

 He's my best snuggle buddy (did I mention that one already?!)

Happy Father's day to my very best daddy.  I want to be just like you!

I also love my two best grandpas... Grandpa Hadfield...

and Grandpa Rowland.  They're pretty awesome too!

Charlie's Professional Career

Jared loves any opportunity to take Charlie to his work and show him off.  He's even teaching him the ropes around the office.  Here he is taking a few calls.  I guess he can go to work and start earning his keep!

Well, maybe not... his chubby cheeks are the only thing holding the headphones up! Oh man, we love this boy!

My First Mother's Day

My first Mother's Day as a new mommy was super special.  I love being this boy's mommy.  I felt emotional all day as I thought about how grateful I am to have this little Charlie in our lives.  

 We love our Charlie/Mommy time... naps after church...

 Story time...

 Walks in the stroller...
I'm so excited for school to be out so I can hang out with this guy all day, every day!

We decided we'd start including Charlie in our family prayer... he's so reverent! :)

For my Mother's day gift, Jared gave me a locket. Jared knows that that is not something I'd normally wear, so I was a little surprised. My first thought was, "Oh, that's so sweet, but will I have to wear it?" His first words were... "Don't worry, you don't have to wear it!"  

He said he got it because he wanted me to put it in my jewelry box and when I run across it every few years I will remember my very first Mother's Day.  I cried and cried.  It was the perfect gift.  I love these two boys! (I tried and tried to get a better picture, but this is the best I could do.  It wouldn't focus!) 

I couldn't help but think about our sweet birth mother throughout the day.  I am overwhelmed with gratitude when I think about her choice to place Charlie with us.  I can't imagine the task of choosing your baby's eternal family.  What a difficult decision.  I think how she could have chosen anybody, and she chose us.  I know the Lord brought us together and that Charlie is supposed to be our little boy.  He fits in our family so well and we love him so much.  I am eternally grateful for her.