So much to be grateful for...

This month has been a month of many ups and downs. I'll start with the downs. I know, doesn't sound like much to inspire thankfulness, but here goes...

*My knees have given out

*My back gave out last weekend (so far it sounds like I'm just getting really old)

*My refridgerator went dead right after I went grocery shopping and spoiled half of what I bought and that was after I made a really good budget. Not only that, it cost A LOT to replace the motherboard that controls the heating/cooling in our fridge

*We realized we have to replace the tires on our van ASAP. They're pretty bald. That once again shoots our budget out of the water for another month.

It seemed to start out as a "poor me/us" month, but as I then weighed the good things against the bad and put things in perspective, things started to look up.

*Little man takes a pacifier. We got him from his thumb to a pacifier. It took a week and a lot of struggles, but he's actually happier with his pacie. Mom is happier that he has a pacie. Dad is too and so are the kids. Yes, this is one way of getting him to suck on the pacifier. he was not happy having socks on his hands. Let me tell ya, those socks were soaking wet with slobber after a few minutes.

*Te'alani had her 11th birthday on the 21st. Wow, one more year and she is in YW's. Crazy. Here she is at Red Robin with her dad. That seems to be the new "birthday lunch" spot.

I made that beautiful cake last year with the fondant, but the kids have kindly and respectfully asked that I NOT make those cakes again. I was a little bummed that I could not showcase my talents once again, but if they are happy with that then the less time I spend on cake the better. Happy Birthday baby!

*On the 22nd Jason Kekoa became ours legally. We took Wyatt out of school (the rest had half day) and all went down to court. They swore us in and in a matter of minutes it was final. Kekoa was smiling like he knew it was something special...and it was. It doesn't feel a lot different but it's one step closer to feeling like he is all ours.

 *I set up our sealing date for the 23rd of December in the Salt Lake Temple. I am ecstatic! The kids will be able to experience something so few get to. It will be WONDERFUL!!!

We were waiting for our lawyer to come so we could head up to the courtroom.

In the courtroom waiting to go into the judges chambers.

Judge Swisher. The courtroom employees and judges say that this is the best part of their day...adoptions. They gave him a little teddy bear afterwards and as you can see he went to chewing on it right away.

A huge thanks to our WONDERFUL lawyer Jeff Kreutz. You are the best!

*Kekoa recognizes me. I mean he already has separation anxiety. If anyone is holding him and I walk out of the room or into the room he starts crying for me. Even John starts laughing because he seems so young to be doing that. It makes me feel so special. Although, when I am trying to cook dinner it's not so special.


*It snowed...still snowing today on Thanksgiving. It reminds me so much of growing up in Colorado with beautiful winters. Tubing down the hill with my brothers, snowmobiling with my dad, and just playing until we froze then coming in and sitting by the fire 'til we warmed up. Those were the good old days. Now I see my kids loving the snow with their friends and coming in and warming up with hot chocolate and sitting by our firplace. So awesome.

A Special Thank you to our birth mom Jessica and for what she has done for our family. We love her and will ALWAYS be forever grateful!

Happy Thanksgiving everyone!