Mina's blessing and sealing

Geoff blessed Mina in our ward and it was beautiful. He said he actually had an advantage because she was older and he knew her better. She played with the pens in his pocket during the blessing and didn't make a peep :)

Mina was sealed to us in the Mesa, AZ temple and we were so grateful for all those who were able to come and support us.

With our parents

Mina's birthday

We celebrated Mina's birthday all week. On Wednesday we went to court and she became a Willis. On Thursday we opened some presents and had a cupcake. On Saturday we took her to the temple and she was sealed to us for time and eternity. (I'll post about that next.) We then had people over for cupcakes and Mina opened some more presents. Well, we helped her open presents since she didn't quite get the concept, but she sure enjoyed playing with the toys and books afterward! Then on Sunday she was blessed. It was a great week.

The remains of her cake. I have most of this on video and will see if I can post some.

Mina's first birthday cake.

This is a little singing mailbox and it was a hit with Mina from the first time she played with it. I, of course, now have all the songs memorized and would not mind if she fell in love with another toy, but she still isn't tired of this one. Ah well! She loves it and is so cute playing with it. Geoff spends time playing with her every night when he comes home from work. He sure loves his little girl.

It's official!

We didn't get a phone call last night, so I was pretty sure everything was going to go as scheduled for our court date this morning. Sure enough! We met our adoption caseworker Hannah and Geoff's parents at the court and less than an hour later Mina was officially ours. Yay! Happy birthday Mina!

Geoff's parents.

The judge signing the final paperwork. Woohoo!

With Hannah, our caseworker on the left, and our lawyer (that we met this morning!) on the right. In AZ the county attorney's office will take care of all the legal stuff so you don't have to hire a lawyer to finalize the adoption. Pretty nice, even though it did take a lot of extra time!

Thanks honorable judge Thompson!

random pics

We just got a jumperoo for Mina and she loves it. I'll try to upload some video, too, because it's hillarious watching her jump and jump. The little blue shoes she has on squeek, too, so it makes it that much better.

A day at the park.

For Sierra's b-day we went to the splash pad and Mina loved it. She scooted around on her belly in the water, got sprayed in the face and didn't mind at all. Sierra and the other kids had a blast, too.

This is a typical scene around Mina's high chair. As you can see, she doesn't mind sharing :)

Fun with gramps and more

Gramps loves his grandkids and they love him.

These pictures are a little older. I can't believe how much Mina has grown!

This little car is a new favorite toy. Mina and Ethan "take turns" playing on it :) Sierra pushes her around on it and she loves it. It's great having a big sis! I got the cute glasses for a buck and she even keeps them on long enough for me to take pictures. She'll then take them off and try to put them back on again. So cute.

I play the piano every so often and when I do I soon find myslf surrounded by little piano players.

Swimmin!

Mina loves the water. She splashes in it and doesn't mind if it gets in her eyes. This is the most Geoff has been in the water in a long time! He says now that he has his baby girl to play with it's a lot more fun.

D-backs game

We had a lot of fun taking Mina to the baseball game with us. She loves hot dogs and baseball caps as you can see. We had to leave a little early when she started to get tired, but she did really well.