Christmas

For Christmas each year, we spend Christmas Eve with my family, and Christmas Day with Dave's family.  We decided to continue that tradition at least for now, with Will.  We always spend the night at my parents house, so in order to keep the amount of things we had to transport to a minimum, we had Will open his Christmas presents from us on Christmas Eve morning before we left to visit my parents.

He loved his slide and was totally excited to open presents since he had just barely had some good practice during his birthday.

For Christmas Eve we went to Crown Burger for dinner with my family and then went and walked around Temple Square.  It was so beautiful but it was completely pouring rain!  Will stayed nice and snuggly in his stroller.  It was so wonderful to spend time with family and to remember the real reason for Christmas, our Savior.

Then we were able to open presents Christmas morning with my parents.  After that we headed over to Dave's Mom's house to get together with his family and have Christmas dinner.  Dave has a large family so it is always a good time when we all get together!

Will's First Haircut

Soon after Will's first birthday we decided it was time for him to get a hair cut.  What had once been cute curls was now getting a little long and unruly.  Will's tummy mommy (as she likes to be referred to) Brooke was working at a hair salon at the time so we took him there so she could be a part of his first haircut.  The picture above is the before picture.

This is his after picture.  He looks so handsome and he did such a good job while he was getting his haircut.  He held still and totally rocked it like the little stud muffin that he is!

Will's First Birthday!!!

We took Will to the aquarium for his first birthday and I can honestly say that day was one of the most memorable and fun days of my life.  Will LOVED the aquarium.  He had just started walking and he insisted on going as fast as he could to look at each exhibit.  The wonder and amazement in his eyes was one of the most sweet things I have ever witnessed.  It is probably one of my favorite parts of being a parent.

He was so interested in the lobster and was trying to get the lobsters legs with his fingers through the glass.

When we walked through the tunnel he was completely enthralled with all of the fish swimming around us.

The penguins were probably his very favorite thing.  He just sat and watched them swim and just loved everything they were doing.

He also enjoyed watching the fish in the big fish tank.

And of course he was able to touch and climb on just about everything which totally made his day!

The day after his birthday we had all of our family over to help us celebrate.  We had an under water theme to go along with our aquarium visit.

My Mom made Will's cakes, she always decorated ours when we were growing up.  One cake had a shark on it, and Will's smash cake was a whale.

I think it is safe to say he really enjoyed it!

My handsome little guy all cleaned up and ready to open presents!

He had so much fun opening his gifts and was just as interested in the wrapping paper as the toys!

Thanksgiving

We spent Thanksgiving with Dave's family this year.  We were very afraid we were not going to make it.  Poor Will had the stomach flu and was sick right up to the day before Thanksgiving.  We were so glad he was better in time to go.  Almost all of Dave's siblings were there and it was so fun to get together and spend time with family.  Of course all of the delicious food was pretty awesome too!  

Halloween

Will's first Halloween and he made the cutest little dinosaur!

I could not believe what a warm day Halloween turned out to be.  Since Will was so young we did not end up taking him trick or treating but we had so much fun having him help us answer the door to pass out treats to the other kids.  We also continued our yearly tradition of eating soup and bread and watching "The Burbs".  That is about as close as I can get to a horror movie!  I just love my little family and it is so wonderful to be able to include Will in our little family traditions!

Corn Maze with Friends

We went to a corn maze with my best friend and her family the weekend before Halloween.  It is so much fun to take Will to do all of these things for the very first time.  He loved hanging out in his stroller and watching all of the other kids running around.  

His little face it the cutest!  After going to the corn maze we went out to dinner and were able to just talk and catch up.  I am so glad we have our little Will.  He really makes everything better!

Pumpkin Patch with Brooke

We were able to have a really enjoyable visit with Brooke right before Halloween.  We took Will to a local pumpkin patch and he loved it.  There was a maze for little kids made from hay bales instead of corn as well as animals to see and wagon rides.  Will was very interested in the goats and had a blast running around the maze.  It was so great to catch up with Brooke and be able to spend a few hours with her.  We really look forward to these visits!

Ma and Pa's Pumpkin Patch

Every year my parent's grow a whole bunch of pumpkins in their garden so the grand kids can pick them once it gets close to Halloween.  I went up to visit my parent's for a few days during the month of October while Dave was out of town on a business trip, so I brought up Will's Halloween costume and we went and picked a pumpkin.  He had so much fun with Ma and Pa and really enjoyed having his very own pumpkin!

Meeting Great Grandma and Grandpa

My grandparent's live in Idaho, so I do not often have the chance to see them.  I really wanted to make sure that they would have to the chance to meet Will, they were so happy when we were able to adopt him.  So on Labor Day weekend we went up with my family to visit.

I absolutely adore this picture of Will with his great Grandpa.  It is so sweet and I will always treasure it.

We had to get a four generation picture while we were there.  This included my grandparent's, my Mom, myself, and Will.  I have a lot of family that live near my grandparent's, so we were able to see them as well.  They all came over for lunch and I was so glad that they were able to spend some time with Will since we do not see them that often.  I am so grateful for my wonderful family and all of the love they give us!

Sawyer's Birthday Party

We were so happy we received an invitation to Will's brother, Sawyer's birthday party.  It was the first time Will was able to meet him and they totally acted like brothers, not to mention they definitely look like brothers.  We were able to see a lot of Will's extended birth family as well.  It is so fun to be a part of their lives and allow Will the chance to get to know them.  We had cake and ice cream and watched Sawyer open presents, it was a great experience.  I'm so glad we could see Brooke and spend time together.  Open adoption rocks!

Will's First Official Play Date

One of my friends also had a baby the same month Will was born, and one of her friends did as well, so we decided to have a play date with all three December babies.  It was adorable!

The dinosaur toy was a big hit.  It was so funny to watch them sitting around it putting the balls inside.  Because they were so young there was not a lot of interacting going on, but occasionally one of them would push the other one over or hit them ha ha.  Little boys... that's all I can say. 

The boys were all so cute together.  Will is such a social little kid, he loved it as you can see from his giant smile.   I can't believe I finally was able to have a play date, that is something I have looked forward to doing for years!  

Bear Lake

Each year we get together with my family so spend a day at Bear Lake.  It is such a fun tradition and it was made even better by the fact that we were able to have Will with us this time.

Will loved the water and the sand.  He was just having the time of his life riding on Aunt Jessie's turtle and playing with family.  He just wanted to be everywhere and experiencing everything.

But after a hard day of play he was ready for a nap, and since holding a sleeping baby is one of my most favorite things, I was glad to oblige.  Lots of family members offered to hold him while he slept so I could go play, but I was happy right where I was :)

Will's Blessing

The day after we had Will sealed to us we were able to have his baby blessing.  We were so lucky because Brooke was able to be there.  I guess it goes to show how much we love Brooke and were excited to see her.  We took a picture of her with Will, but none of us or our family!  At least we have one very special picture of his blessing day.  Dave was able to give Will a beautiful blessing and we enjoyed having family and friends there to celebrate.  

The most special day

Although going to court to make Will our son legally was exciting, it really could not hold a candle to taking him to the temple to make him ours forever.  We are so grateful that we could have him sealed to us and for the knowledge that families are forever.

Because we are not able to have children biologically, there are some things I will never experience.  I will never know what it feels like to be pregnant or what it is like to give birth, but because we were able to grow our family in this very special way, we were able to experience having him sealed to us, and it makes me sad that other families don't get that experience because it was one of the most beautiful and sweet experiences of my life.  Dave and I could not be happier to have our Will and would not change one single thing because of the amazing experiences we have had.

A few of my family members were out of town, but we were so grateful for those who could make it to share this special day with us.

Dave's family also came to be a part of this wonderful experience.  We are lucky to have so much love and support.  Can you spot his twin?

My best friend and her husband also came, I was so happy to have her there.  She pretty much is family so it would not be the same without her!

Our adorable nieces and nephews who wanted to have a picture with Will.  They are just the cutest!