More Pictures of AJ's special day!

Pictures Teresa took on AJ's special day. He's so dang cute!

He's OURS!

AJ is now officially ours according to the laws on earth and in Heaven! We had a glorious day! The day before we went to Kiddie Kandids and got AJ's pictures taken in his blessing outfit. My best girlfriend's Mom (Linnea's) made it out of my wedding dress. I was VERY pleased how it turned out. Then that night the Malmstrom family helped us set up tables and chairs and decorate for the next day. The stage was set for the next day.

The morning of the 31st Kurt, Jill, AJ and Opa left for the courthouse about 8:20. We were the first ones there, our lawyer came just a few minutes later. The guards at the door commented on AJ's attire, they were quite impressed with his shiny shoes! We had a great support group for the proceedings, the Judge even commented on how many were there to support us! Grandma and Grandpa Hislop, Teresa and Grace, Aunt Linda and Uncle Don, Barry and Joey, Jim and of course our Social Worker Cristina and our Lawyer Travis. Everything went pretty smooth. AJ jibber jabbered throughout the whole thing. It was pretty dang cute! Afterwards our attorney asked the judge if we could take pictures. So we did! Even though I knew AJ was ours from the moment the birth mother signed the papers, it was a RELIEF to have everything finalized.

We then had enough time to come home for a few minutes and eat and then we went to the temple. We had MANY more friends and family come with us to the temple. It is hard to express the feeling I had there. I feel so blessed.

After the temple we met back at the church and Kurt gave AJ a wonderful blessing. We then had lunch which consisted of soup, bread bowls, veggies and cookies. It was a GREAT day! AJ is now ours in every way!

Family

We spent Christmas Eve with Derek and Opa we had a great meal and watched Christmas Story... I get a kick out of the tongue on the pole scene; every year we have a child try that at school. (Side note... down by Grandma & Grandpa Hislop's someone has one of those leg lamps in their window! Kurt and I got quite a kick out of that!) On Christmas Day we made the rounds to all of the Utah cousins and also visited Oma and Grandma and Grandpa Hislop.

We had a great Christmas!

Rice Cereal...mmm mmm good!

AJ ate from a bowl with a spoon today. His face looked as though we were poisoning him, but then he would open his mouth for more!

Kurt video taped and took pictures while I fed him! Oh, what fun!

A few more Chrstmas Pictures

Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas to one and all! AJ must have been a VERY GOOD boy because he got A LOT of presents! The thing he liked the most was the wrapping paper! Babies are so much fun! Here are pictures of him with all of his gifts from this morning (gifts from others on different days before Christmas didn't make it in the photo...Mom & Dad were just a bit excited too!) Notice he did get baby food...he ate with a spoon for the first time today! That will be the next blog entry! :)

Reason for the Season

I love to put out our nativity sets, it helps me keep in mind the real reason for the season!