Adoption Reunion!

Matt and I made a trip north to visit the birth mom of our little daughter. Miss C had not seen little girl since her birth. It was a great reunion and we felt so welcomed by our birth mom and her amazing family. Miss C's mom and dad had a great big BBQ dinner for us and all the family was there. There was a good feeling in their home. Little O has such an amazing birth family!

We are so grateful for Miss C and her love she has for little O and us. She is one of the most amazing people we know. 

To the left is a picture of little O and her birth mom's father. Who wouldn't want to have three Grandpas and Grandmas? To the right is a photo of Miss C holding her nephew and little O. Aren't cousins so fun?

After we visited Miss C and her family, we continued to drive north to see my sister and one of my younger brothers. Always great to spend time with them.

Can I just take the time to give our little baby O some credit right now? That poor girl was "stuck" in her car seat for many many hours on this trip. I would go crazy locked in that thing. But she was a trooper to say the least. She was fussy for only short bits here and there. The face you see below is what we saw for most of our journey. We couldn't ask for a better little traveler. So thankful for her happy demeanor. 

The beautiful LDS Logan temple. Such a pretty place to stop and rest in the grass. 

My mom stayed in the same hotel as us. It was nice for little O to have Grandma so close. Grandma always gets tearful when we have to part ways. She loves little O so so much. We with Grandpa could have been there too. We missed him.

Although little O displayed a great ability to be a happy traveler, we had to make frequent stops along the way. Below is a picture of one of our stops at Cove Fort, UT. Little O needed a break really badly so we decided to stop and visit this historical place. It was nice to get out and stretch our legs.

 Below: Inside one of the rooms inside Cove Fort. Baby O was extra chatty and happy during this visit. I love the look on her face.

A few days after we got home we celebrated July 4th with some friends. Baby O had fun watching the fireworks. We wanted to protect her ears so our friends let us borrow some ear muffs to weaken the loud booms. She was such a good sport! 

After a long day of pool parties, a big BBQ and continuous fireworks, little girl fell asleep fast fast fast. 

Eight Great Years

Holy Cow. Has it really been eight years since Matt and I got married? 

We were blessed to spend our anniversary in my very favorite place with my very favorite people. In my hometown with my family. It was really fun. We took our little baby up north to visit so she could meet my youngest brother, her uncle Caleb. Baby "O" had not yet met him or her great Grandpa Pete! It was fun to take her on her first real vacation to see family and friends.

Here are two photos that might be fun to look at. One is on our wedding day in 2005. The other is a photo of us on our 8 year anniversary in the very same spot. That photo is extra special to me because we got to take our daughter to that lovely place where we started our family.

My family LOVES to hike, so naturally we took little girl on a big hike with us around the lake by my parent's home. She was so good and even smiled for most of the trip. There's Uncle Caleb making sure I don't trip on anything while carrying little baby!

Loving that lakeside view.

My brother Curtis is pretty good with a camera. He set up his tripod and got this family photo of all of us on one of our hikes. Little girl isn't so good at looking straight at the camera but this picture is still pretty amazing.

Baby "O" loves her Grandma!

Baby girl meeting her Great Grandpa for the very first time! He was so so excited to become a Great Grandpa.  

Four generations of Greeks. I love that we were able to get this picture.

On Memorial Day my parents, Matt and I went to visit the gravesite of Dad's parents. It was nice to go and clean up the stone and place flowers and flags there. So proud to be a member of my family and honor my Grandfather as a WWII vet.

This picture is so precious! This is the first time Baby "O" met her uncle! She loves him. It was interesting to watch her with him because she smiled the biggest when he was around. More than when she was being held by Grandma and Grandpa!

Daddy and Baby "O" hanging out on Grandma's trampoline. She seemed to love the sensation from the bouncing. 

My family and friends held a baby shower for little girl while we were there. It was fun to see old friends again. Below is one of my best friends growing up and her little girl. She loved our little daughter. My kindergarten teacher even came to the shower! There have been so many people excited to welcome Baby "O" into our family. Such a miracle.

Taking little girl to my favorite ice cream parlor. I used to go here as a kid all the time. Fun to share it with her!

Grandpa took lots of naps with little girl. (Below)

Great Grandma Kim loves loves LOVES to hold Baby "O". She said she wishes she could come and hug her everyday. Grandpa's wife is so sweet. Glad she's in our family.

When Uncle Caleb was a little boy, Mom bought a jogging stroller to take him around in. Luckily she saved it and we used it everyday we were home. It was so nice to have on our many walks/hikes. (Below) I think it's funny that Caleb is now pushing the stroller he used to sit in himself.

An Easter Miracle

Meet "Miss C". She is one of the most amazing people you will ever meet. Isn't she just bEaUtIfUl?!?! She is the birth mom of our dear daughter that we were blessed with on Easter Sunday of this year. Just two weeks ago. 

Miss C contacted us several months ago to try to get to know us. She said she was thinking about adoption and wanted to talk with us. We felt blessed and amazed at how brave she was in taking that step. Several months later, she gave us the most precious gift anyone in this world could give us. She gave us the blessing of becoming parents through the miracle of adoption.

Miss C has a big heart. She is kind, witty, beautiful, smart, loving, generous, fun, and incredible. We love her more than words can describe. 

Below is a photo of Miss C and our little miracle. This is one of my favorite photos of that special day. Miss C was so amazing during the delivery of baby girl! 

She texted us on the day she went to the hospital. She lives several hundred miles away. Matt and I were getting ready for church the day we got the phone call from her.She was letting us know that she was going into labor. We took a quick twenty minutes to pack, load the truck, and head up north to where the big event was happening. It all happened so quickly and didn't seem like we could drive fast enough to get there.

Below is a photo of the very first time we ever saw that precious little baby girl! She was only two hours old! We were smiling from ear to ear. Miss C was there too and we gave her a big hug! It was so amazing to see her after being so strong through her labor.

After a few hours, a nurse invited Miss C and I to the nursery to give baby girl her first bath! (Below) Miss C wanted me to do it and was excited to be there with me. I could feel the love Miss C had for baby girl so strongly that day. I can't say enough how incredible she is. 

After baby girl was all cleaned up and had a pretty bow in her hair, she opened her eyes to see all the people who already loved her so much!!

The night baby girl was born, my little brother drove down to see his niece and welcome her into the world. My Mom flew down the next morning to greet her as well. I like the photo of Mom below. She is in between crying and smiling. She's already such a good GRAMMA!

Baby and Uncle Curt.

Two days after little baby was born, we asked Miss C to have the honor of dressing little one before we all left the hospital. Miss C is so gentle and loving with that little baby. You could feel it so strongly all day. We are so grateful for our birth mom! She is so courageous, firm, loving and selfless. It was an emotional day when Miss C gently handed little girl in our arms. I felt so much love for her and gratitude for her gift of love to us and to her little girl. We think of and pray for Miss C everyday. She will always be a part of our family. 

Baby girl and Daddy leaving the hospital. She is so tiny in that car seat. 

After we left the hospital, so many people drove from all over to see our little peanut while we were at our hotel. We had to stay in that state until we were approved to leave to come back home. But it was fun because so many people were already excited to meet little girl. My Aunt Martha and cousin Haley came to visit her. Our good friends Cami and Andrew also were excited to see our little one. Not even three days old and she was a popular gal.

(Below) Matt and I met at SNOW college and wanted to make a pit stop to take little peanut to the place where her Mommy and Daddy met. It was pretty fun to do that. Matt's little brother is going to school there now so we also visited with him for a bit. It was his first time meeting his new niece. 

Matt's parents drove up as well to see her. 

My Mom and Dad stayed with us for several days to help take care of our new little one. It was so nice of my Mom to be there and help me out with this new phase in our life. Everything is so foreign and she has a lot of experience that I appreciated so much.

 Baby's first time in her new house! (Below)

 A few days after we got home, baby girl's cousins came over to the house to meet her. 

                             

Matt, his brother, and baby cousin.

We are so excited to be parents and our gratitude grows each day for Miss C. We are also grateful for our Heavenly Father blessing us to get to know Miss C. He was guiding us all through this journey. He truly does answer prayers and blesses his children. His love is perfect and unconditional. We are so grateful to Him.