A Season of Joy!

There is so much to talk about, I don't know where to begin. Our Christmas was fantastic! We had fondue, ham, presents, grandparents, the favorite "young" aunt, stockings, a big tree, and more fun that a person should be allowed!

The day after Christmas we were ecstatic to be able to bless Shaylee in our home ward. She was so dang cute in her white dress with red shoes and a big red flower on her head. She didn't cry a bit.

On Monday, we traveled to Manti. I love that town. Just the feelings I get when we roll into town make me never want to leave. We stayed at the Manti House Inn (the same place I stayed the night before Kal and I married and where we had our wedding luncheon). I love that old house. Our host was kind and had adoption stories of his own as he and his wife had adopted 3 kids.

That evening we took the time to show the kids the Manti Temple from the window of our rooms all dressed in snow. As with most trips that mean so much we forgot just about everything we needed from Kaleb's church clothes and my church shoes to an air mattress for the kids to sleep on. Fortunately there's a Walmart in Ephraim and my sister has the same size feet, so we survived. As expected, we arrive at the temple about 10 - 15 minutes late. But after we got inside we were greeted by kind, understanding and patient temple workers. Our kids were right at home in the youth center. The only hiccup was when Karter didn't like the white jump suit the temple workers asked him to wear.

Our sealing room was only 2 doors down from where I was sealed to my parents just off the celestial room. It never ceases to amaze me how peaceful I feel in the temple even if I felt chaotic and rushed to get there. The Manti temple feels particularly comfortable to me. I dreamed my entire childhood of marrying there. As you know, I did. Now we were returning with 4 children to seal our fourth adopted one to our family. It was such a surreal and wonderful experience. The highlight was when they marched our precious children into the sealing room all dressed in white. Shaylee was so happy and stole her own show. The feelings I felt looking around at my children, parents, sister,Kal's Dad, Kal's siblings, and our friends will forever be ingrained in my heart. I bawled like a baby. There's nothing on earth like it.

After the sealing we took a few pictures and headed back to the B&B for some social time and our dinner. Again the food was fantastic and it was so wonderful to spend time with our family members whom we see so seldom. Thank you to everyone who traveled to be with us for these wonderful events.

The day after the sealing we woke up to 6 inches of new snow. My kids were so thrilled and headed outside to build their a snowman. We had to take a few minutes to photograph the Manti Temple with a fresh blanket of snow. On our way out of town we took a fun little trip down Main Street to an adorable little candy store with fantastic caramels! Our trip home was full of snow and slick roads, even a few accidents. But we made it safely home to celebrate the New Year.

As is customary in January, I'm regularly asked how my Christmas was. For the first time, I don't know how to respond. We did so much in so little time from the finalization on the 21st to Shaylee's sealing on the 28th and New Years. There just isn't a way to communicate how spectacular it all was. We feel so blessed. My prayer is that this new year will bring more miracles and blessings to our family members and friends.