Welcome!

I have a new nephew! And he is soooo beautiful! His name is Ean (sounds like Ian) Benjamin Howe. He was 9lbs 12 oz. and just so adorable. Congrats to Mom (Krista) and Dad (Ben- Aarons Brother).

Amazing Weekend!!!

Six month pictures of Gabe that Aunt Shanna took. They are amazing! They are taken outside of our apartment 07/19/2009.

Daddy and Gabe!

GABE DRESSED IN WHITE! SO HANDSOME!

Mommy and Gabe!

I love my baby!

Mommy, Daddy, and Gabe. The photo Shoot outside the Temple.

Grandma and Grandpa Riddle

Grandma and Grandpa Howe

Everyone who was at the temple that day!

Wow! What an amazing weekend. To start off with on Thursday the 16th of July at 1:30 P.M. our adoption was finalized. Aaron and I met our attorney Jared Cressillius at the District court. We went into the Judges room. I believe the Judge was Jeffrey Donnell. Anyway we sat down with him and he asked us a few simple questions and then reviewed our paperwork. That was it! He signed the papers and Gabe became our son ----Legally. Yippee! Gabe was all smiles and charmed the Judge. He said he had never seen a happier baby and then joked that it looked like we were starving the kid (we had a polo shirt on that was a little on the snug side so it showed off his belly). We took pictures of us with the judge and then with us and then with Gabe and our attorney. It was a great day! I was perfectly fine -no tears- until we pulled up into the drive-thru at the bank and i just got choked up. Did I ever tell anyone that I hate crying in public places?

On Friday we left with my brother Eric and drove to Denver to stay the night in a hotel before our temple Sealing. For those of you who do not know what I mean by "Sealing" I will explain. In our church we believe that to be together as a family FOREVER even after death, we need to be Sealed together in a Temple. For most members of the church they get sealed together as husband and wife in the temple when they get married. That is why it is so important for us to be married in the temple. When parents are sealed in the temple, the children born to them are born in the covenant of their parents’ sealing and do not need to be sealed to their parents. Children that are adopted are not born in the covenant, but can still be sealed in temple after the adoption is legalized by the state. So that is what we did. Aaron and I had our son sealed to us so that we can be a family forever. The former president of our church, Gordon B. Hinkley has this to share about Sealings: “Was there ever a man who truly loved a woman, or a woman who truly loved a man, who did not pray that their relationship might continue beyond the grave? Has a child ever been buried by parents who did not long for the assurance that their loved one would again be theirs in a world to come? Can anyone believing in eternal life doubt that the God of heaven would grant his sons and daughters that most precious attribute of life, the love that finds its most meaningful expression in family relationships? No, reason demands that the family relationship shall continue after death. The human heart longs for it, and the God of heaven has revealed a way whereby it may be secured. The sacred ordinances of the house of the Lord provide for it”. Perfect thought. Needless to say we know that this one act is so important to us and that is why we did what we did. Anyway...... That night some of my family met up (we all stayed in the same hotel) and ate some dinner and just visited. The next morning we went swimming at the hotel pool. Gabe had fun but the water was a little cold- okay it was freezing! And then Aaron and I got ready to go. We had to be to the temple at noon and at a 20 till noon aaron realized he does not have a dress shirt to go with his suit. After a short freak out, our friend Tim Hancock called to say he was in Denver and to see if we needed anything. What an inspired phone call. Aaron told him what happened and that we needed to go to be at the temple by noon and he didn't know what to do. Tim said that he could be to the hotel in five minutes and he would let Aaron use his shirt and he would go get a shirt somewhere. So Tim literally gave Aaron the shirt off his back. Amazingly, the shirt was a perfect fit! What a blessing great friends are. So we went to the temple and got sealed to Gabe at 1:00 P.M. It was beautiful and everyone was bawling. When they brought Gabe to us all dressed in white, I almost lost it. He was so beautiful and he just smiled up at us like he was excited too. It was one of the most spiritual experiences I have ever had. I felt so good and we had so many amazing people around to celebrate this day with us. The people who joined us were: Grandma and Grandpa Riddle, Grandma and Grandpa Howe, Pat and Ed Pennington (Aarons aunt and uncle), Shanna and Justin Combs, Eric Riddle, Heather and Ben Updike, David and Julie Gough, Mike and Lanae Goates, Tim and Kara Hancock, Kirk and Kris Dory, Drew and Camille Howe, and Jamie and Jeremy Wilkey. Waiting for us outside was my brother Kort and my two nieces. We also had Mike and Lanae's little ones Isabella and Jackson and Tim and Kara's little one R.J. was waiting outside as well. Luckily for us The Hamblins babysat for us.

After the Ceremony we took lots of pictures and then ate at Dickies BBQ. Yummy! We all got really full and then some of my family went to the aquarium in Denver before we left for home. Gabe really enjoyed looking at the fish and would get upset when I moved to the next room. It was fun to seem him enjoy it. It had been a long day so he started to get tired and cranky and he slept on the way home. The next day we blessed Gabriel in our church and enjoyed lunch with family and friends at Aarons Parents house.

So it was a great weekend, but very busy. I am tired this week! Enjoy the pictures from this weekend that my sister took! I loved them.

July 4th Fun!

Aaron reading to Gabe. Gabe loves this book. He coos and laughs and cries when we take it away.

Sweatsuits are so cute on him. He looks so chubby. This is one layer of clothing for our fireworks outing.

Gabe can barely move in this outfit. He stayed warm though. It was pretty cold in Laramie on the 4th.

Our 4th of July was great! I think that this holiday has to be one of the best because it is pretty relaxed. Gabe let Aaron and I sleep in till past nine (well aaron got up earlier to play ultimate frisbee, but not too much earlier) and we lazed around the house for most of the morning. At about 2 we met up with the family at the park. We took Gabe in the stroller and just walked around for awhile. It was nice. Later that evening we got together for a BBQ with Aaron's family. About an hour or so before the fireworks, Laramie got hit with a lot of rain and flash flooding. Luckily our apartment did not flood this time. The rain stopped long enough for us to go out to watch the fireworks. It was freezing, so Gabriel was bundled up to stay warm. He looked like a little state puff marshmallow. He was cute. He loved the fireworks. He stared and never made a peep except for one Awe noise after a big firework went off. He was entranced. The fireworks were okay, but the day was a blast.

This next tidbit I want to share is a article written on the families supporting adoption blog. I just thought it was perfect to share with my friends and family. In a little over a week Gabe will be legally our child as if he was born to us (that is was the court documents says- cool). The process has not been easy and it is hard to explain my feelings about the whole process. I read this article to Aaron and we both felt it was a perfect way to describe our feelings. I would encourage everyone to visit this blog. There are a lot of wonderful article thay might give some insight to how people with infertility feel as well as great articles about adoption. I think it would be helpful if you needed some insight or are just curious. The blog is http://familiessupportingadoption.blogspot.com/. Please visit it. Here is the article:

Deciding to have a baby is like planning a trip to Australia. You've heard it's a wonderful place, you've read many guidebooks and feel certain you're ready to go. Everyone you know has traveled there by plane. They say it can be a turbulent flight with occasional rough landings, but you can look forward to being pampered on the trip.

So you go to the airport and ask the ticket agent for a ticket to Australia. All around you, excited people are boarding planes for Australia. It seems there is no seat for you; you'll have to wait for the next flight. Impatient, but anticipating a wonderful trip, you wait--and wait--and wait.
Flights to Australia continue to come and go. People say silly things like, "Relax. You'll get on a flight soon." Other people actually get on a plane and then cancel their trip, to which you cry, "It's not fair!"

After a long time the ticket agent tells you, "I'm sorry, we're not going to be able to get you on a plane to Australia. Perhaps you should think about going by boat."
"By BOAT!" you say. "Going by boat will take a very long time and it costs a great deal of money. I really had my heart set on going by plane." So you go home and think about not going to Australia at all. You wonder if Australia will be as beautiful if you approach it by sea rather than air. But you have long dreamed of this wonderful place, and finally you decide to travel by boat.

It is a long trip, many months over many rough seas. No one pampers you. You wonder if you will ever see Australia. Meanwhile, your friends have flown back and forth to Australia two or three more times, marveling about each trip.

Then one glorious day, the boat docks in Australia. It is more exquisite than you ever imagined, and the beauty is magnified by your long days at sea. You have made many wonderful friends during your voyage, and you find yourself comparing stories with other who also traveled by sea rather then by air.

People continue to fly to Australia as often as they like, but you are about to travel only once, perhaps twice. Some say things like, "Oh, be glad you didn't fly. My flight was horrible; traveling by sea is so easy."

You will always wonder what it would have been like to fly to Australia. Still, you know God blessed you with a special appreciation of Australia, and the beauty of Australia is not in the way you get there, but in the place itself.

I love my Gabriel so much!

Busy Month

The best picture EVER! LOL. I think he wanted me to stop taking pictures.

Loving all the attention from Grandma and Grandpa Pickett.

Hey, I am cute. Look at me!!!

I have the best Daddy in the World! You can see the love.

My Niece Evelyn who is two days younger than Gabriel. She is so Gorgeous.

Well it has been a very busy month for us. The month of June was fun and frustrating. I finished up work for the summer and I am not looking forward to going back so soon. Aaron is working longer hours at work, playing softball, and trying to keep sane. We had a weekend visit from my dad and step-mom. It was sooooo good to visit with them. It was the second time they have seen Gabe and he was a lot more interactive this time around. It was a lot of fun and Gabe just loves all of his Grandparents. After that visit was when the frustrations kicked in. We hired a lawyer several months ago (we went through a firm in cheyenne). We thought they understood that we wanted finalization to happen on July 9th (six month after relinquishment). Well as of the second week of June, we had not heard anything from the lawyers. We called the lawyer that we were told would be handling our case (lance something) and left messages after messages with no return phone call. I finally called up the office and asked for him and his secretary said he was not in the office. I think she could tell I was frustrated because she asked if there was anything she could help me with, so I explained (calmly) what was happening with our adoption case. She then tells me that Lance does not handle adoption cases and she will find my paperwork and give it to the right guy. Now, Jared, our new lawyer calls us up and says that he just got our paperwork and he gets on the ball with the paperwork right away. He said that the paperwork was just floating around the office and no one had touched our case. Very frustrating. So Jared starts working hard right away, but calls and tells me that we have less then a forty percent chance of getting into the court to finalize before the 18th of July. Now the 18th is a very important date because we planned to go to the temple as a family and also recieve his blessing in our church on the 19th. Both of these ceremonies require the adoption to be finalized beforehand. So to simply put it, I was freaking out. I have friends and family who were taking time off of work and making hotel reservations to come that weekend and I might have to cancel the whole ordeal. I had a small mental breakdown. Any way to sum it up we have finalization on July 16th or 17th. We barely squeezed that one in. I have to give props to my lawyer who worked really hard to get this taken care of so fast.

Okay so inbetween this giant mess, we did manage to have some fun. We took Gabe to the movie theatre for the first time and we watched Monsters vs. Aliens. Gabe stared at the screen, not making a peep, for the first half of the movie and then fell asleep. How cool is that! We also went down to Utah to visit my sister and her hubby. Okay so it was not so much visiting for aaron. He helped scrape, calk, stain, and prime the out side of my sisters home. Aaron really worked his tail off. He did manage to have some fun while we were there. Gabe really enjoy spending time with his cousins and I loved visiting with my sister. It was a good long weekend. I did do some work while were there. I was supposed to teach a workshop for the state of wyoming. I had it all planned out and I stayed up late typing up an outline and emailing it to the cordinator (like I was instructed to in an email). Anyway the next day they send me an email saying that they gave my workshop to someone else. But..... they assigned me another workshop and i would be presenting about condom use. LOL! Ummmmm......first of all they didnt ask if I wanted to do that and since they told about the second workshop several days later, I had already made other plans. In Short I called up and said I would not be doing the presentation, mainly because I was mad, but also because the activity that they wanted me to present was pretty graphic (i would have to explain things in great detail) and I also had other plans. I mean it is pretty comical if you think about it. Can you image me trying to explain to a group of teens how to step by step use a condom---- I don't think so. LOL!

Well a little update on Gabe. He is getting big. Growing way to fast. He is rolling from front to back but not the other way around yet. He is really close though, he rolls most of the way and then cannot quite figure out how to get his head pulled over. He has been trying to crawl a little. he moves his little feet and gets his butt in the air and scoots forward, but has not made the connection to move his arms too. He is talking a lot more and can say Mama, but i dont think he knows what it means. It still makes me feel good. Again sorry for the grammar and long run on sentences, but you will just have to live with it.