Last Saturday, we went to the Mount Timpanogos Temple and had Zoe sealed to our family.  Later that day, Kirk blessed her, and we had dinner with our friends and family.  It was an awesome day.

The temple was absolutely wonderful.  We dropped the kids off in the nursery.  Zoe didn’t even cry when we left. (Although later, Robby informed us that she cried 1,000,000%, the whole time.  I guess she cried almost immediately after we left until she finally fell asleep for a few minutes.  Poor girl!  And poor temple workers that had to put up with her screaming!)  

The moment that they brought the kids into the sealing room was awesome.  They looked so beautiful in their white clothes.  Zoe was a little angel for the sealing.  She sat there and put her hand on top of ours and didn’t move.  She just stared at Kirk the whole time, holding perfectly still.  It was so cute!

The blessing and dinner were also wonderful!  Kirk gave a beautiful blessing.  We had lots of family and friends there.  It was nice to just enjoy everyone’s company.  Dinner went well.  Everyone seemed to enjoy it, and despite all my worrying, we didn’t run out of food.  Zoe was great through the whole day.  She didn’t get any time to nap, but I don’t think she cried once all day (except for the whole time in the nursery.)  Robby was awesome all day too.  He was a little overwhelmed but really happy with the temple.  He gave the opening prayer at the blessing, which was everyone’s favorite part.  It was short and sweet, but he said he was thankful that his baby sister could be sealed to our family, which was adorable.  He was also a great help and just a good kid all day.

I can’t even put into words how much the day meant to us.  It is so nice to finally have it over.  As of last Saturday, Zoe is officially ours in the eyes of the law as well as in the eyes of the church.  It is now no different than if she had been born to us.  It was kind of weird in a way.  From the moment I laid eyes on Zoe, I knew she belonged to us.  From the moment we brought her home, she has been a part of our family.  Our family would not be complete without her and I can hardly even remember life before she came.  The adoption finalization and the temple were amazing, beautiful, and wonderful, but they almost seemed  like reaffirmations of what we already knew, that Zoe is ours and belongs to our family.  I cannot express how much she means to me.  She is happy and fun and beautiful.  She brings laughter and joy to our family.  We love her with all of our heart and are so grateful that we can be with her forever.  I am so thankful for temples and for our Heavenly Father’s beautiful plan that allows us to be forever families. 

Here are a couple of pictures of Zoe in her dress.  These weren’t taken that day, but show the dress pretty well.  I was really happy with the way the dress turned out.  It was exactly what I wanted.

Here are just some of my favorite pictures from the day!

Our forever family!

My amazingly handsome little guy.

The cutest two kids in the world.

And Little Miss Zoe herself.

I am one lucky mom!

While we were gone, Kirk and Robby had a bit of a boys day.  They went to a primary activity in the morning to practice for the primary program.  Then they went to lunch and to Home Depot.  When they got back, Kirk spent most of the day installing a humidifier for our house.  He did a great job and I am really excited about it.  Robby thought that it was great that he got to spend the day just with dad.  

We had movie night tonight, but it wasn’t a very exciting one since I didn’t have anytime to get it together.  We watched Star Wars, Episode V, which means we only have one more Star Wars to watch.  I like Star Wars, but I am ready to move on to something else.  I didn’t even take the time to make a cool treat for tonight.  Robby had some cereal straws that he had been wanting to try, so I just gave him one of those and told him it was a light saber.  He wasn’t all that impressed.  Next week I will have to do better.

The doctor also gave us the go ahead to start feeding Zoe solids.  She has always spit up a lot, so he is hoping that starting her on solid foods may help to reduce the spit up.  He also said that the fact that she is always putting something in her mouth shows that she is ready.

So, yesterday morning, Kirk fed Zoe her first taste of solid foods, rice cereal.  It seems that in Zoe’s mind, that was the greatest thing that could possibly have happened to her.  She took to it almost immediately.  She spit out the first few bites while she tried to figure out what to do with her tongue, but by the end, she was just downing it.  This morning, she got so excited the moment she saw the bowl and the spoon.  It is hilarious to watch her; she loves it so much.  As soon as she sees the spoon coming, she starts shaking because she is so excited.  She grabs at the spoon and tries to pull it to her mouth as quickly as possible.  We tried to give her a spoon to hold so she wouldn’t grab the one we are feeding her with, but she will only hold it until she sees the one with food on it, then she throws it aside and grabs for the good one.  She doesn’t spit very much out at all, in fact, the only reason she gets really dirty is because of her grabbing the spoon.  It is so much fun watching her learn something new and enjoying it so much.  Now I can’t wait to watch her discover new tastes; next on the list, sweet potatoes.

Here are some pictures from her first experience at eating.

Holding the spoon.  It is so hard to get it in her mouth when she is trying to be in control.

How could anyone resist this face.

Eating makes her so happy!

At 4 months, Zoe is…

very loud.  She is always making noises and they are never quiet.  Her noise of choice sounds almost exactly like an incredibly angry cat, but it is a happy noise when Zoe makes it.

the queen of spit up.  Zoe has been a spitter upper her whole life and it doesn’t look like that is going to change soon.  We go through many, many burp rags in our house.

incredibly happy.  She is a genuinely happy child.  She is always grinning and giggling.  She loves when anyone pays attention to her and will almost always reward them with a smile.

opinionated.  She knows what she wants and does not hesitate to let you know.  It is amazing how clear she can make herself without using words.

beautiful.  She is one of the most gorgeous kids I have ever seen.  

stubborn.  She does not easily give in.  She has recently discovered that she hates going to sleep.  No matter how tired she is, she will scream if she thinks there is any chance you are putting her to sleep.  Her screams just keep getting quieter and quieter until she finally becomes so exhausted that her screams are just sighs.  It doesn’t take long to get her to go to sleep, but she fights her hardest every second of it.

getting very strong.  She is starting to support herself sitting up (although she has no sense of balance yet) and standing. 

loving her hands.  She always seems to either have her hands in her mouth or is using them to figure out how to get a toy to her mouth.

miserable when she is in her car seat.  She hates her car seat and screams the second she gets in it, until we get her out.  Road trips are great fun with Zoe.

the absolute joy and love of our lives.  After just 4 months she has become an indispensable part of our family.  I cannot imagine life without her.

[Show as slideshow]

I have been taking these pictures every month, as close to the 11th as I can. It is really fun to see how much she has grown. (You can click on any of the pictures to see it bigger and cycle through them.)

Robby had been feeling a little bit better all Halloween afternoon and had a hard time deciding if he wanted to go trick or treating or not.  Finally, about five minutes before the start of the ward trunk-or-treat he decided he felt good enough to go out.  So, I had 5 minutes to get them both ready.

The last couple of years, Robby has insisted on wearing something “Halloweeny” for his costume.  Last year he was a skeleton, this year he decided to be a ghost, and he is already talking about possibly Frankenstein for next Halloween.  I decided to just keep it simple and dress Zoe up as a ghost too.

Last weekend, when we went trick-or-treating downtown, Robby had his face painted white and his costume looked pretty cool.  We just didn’t have time to paint his face this time, not to mention that since he was sick, he did not have the patience to sit still and let me do it.  So, his costume didn’t look quite as cool, but I still think we had two pretty good looking ghosts.

Robby walked around the church parking lot, got a little candy, and then was ready to come home.  That totally did him in.  I think the fresh air did him good though and he has been feeling much better ever since.  We are all just glad he got to celebrate Halloween a little bit.

Robby has been sick for the last couple of days. Yesterday he stayed home from school. He missed a field trip. Today he missed his school Halloween party. We had all sorts of fun plans for today, but instead, we are just staying home in our pajamas and watching a movie. Poor thing. I feel so sorry for him; what a terrible time to be sick. He has stayed pretty positive through it all though and I do think he is starting to feel better.

Robby has never been a napper, but being sick his poor body definitely needs the sleep.  Even being sick, he still couldn’t manage to fall asleep on the couch.  I left the room for a while and when I came back, I found him here, asleep on the floor, sprawled over the pillow, with his head resting on the tile.  It couldn’t have been comfortable, but at least he got some sleep.

Luckily, last weekend, the city had trick or treating downtown, so Robby and Zoe got to wear their costumes and do a little Halloweening.  Of course, I didn’t take any pictures because I thought I would do them all today.  Oh well, they are both going to have to get in their costumes one day next week so I can at least get some cute pictures.

Here is a picture of Zoe on Halloween.

I didn’t put her costume on her since we aren’t going anywhere, but I at least had to put a spider in her hair to make her somewhat festive.