Joey and Nicole: 2011

10/24/11

Quinn's Baby Blessing Oct. 9, 2011

Quinn got the special chance to be blessed with his cousin, Rylie, at their grandma Kathy's ward building.

The baby blessing was so neat to hear and wonderful to experience. This experience, just like the temple sealing experience, was one that we've been waiting a long time for. The blessing was very emotional. The one thing I loved in Quinn's blessing was that he was told that his parents made sacrifices for him and love him very much. I knew when those words were spoken, it was Heavenly Father talking about Quinn's birth parents. What makes these last two days so special are Quinn's birth parents. None of this would've happened with Joey and I if they didn't choose to place him for adoption with us. We love them very much and are very grateful for them.

Quinn in his beautiful blessing outfit.

Family photo

Us with Marianne and Kevin

Us with Joey's brother Jon, Pauline, and Rylie, and
Grandma Kathy and Grandpa Bobby.

Parents with their blessed baby's.

First friends, then sister's in-law, then bless their baby's together.
Such a neat experience.

Temple Sealing Oct. 8, 2011

We were very fortunate to schedule the sealing of Quinn to Joey and I the Saturday following the court finalization. We had many members of Joey's family, some of my family, some friends from out of state, and friends from in town. It was so great to see this group of friends and family that were there at the temple to support me and Joey.

The sealing was so amazing and special. We cried the entire time, but that's alright, it's what we've been looking forward to for a long time. Quinn was so beautiful and peaceful in the temple room that day. We could feel the Holy Spirit so strongly. How special it was for us to experience this sealing!

Here are some pictures on temple grounds, after the sealing:

Beautiful picture of the temple and the clouds.

Family that was in the temple, back row left to right: Stephen, Jonathan, Bobby, Leonard, Jeremy
Front row, left to right: Janell, Pauline, Kathy, Nicole, Joey, Quinn, Glenna

Quinn and Joey playing in the water.

Behind the gate.

Joey playing with Quinn

Walking to the temple

"Turn around and look." Even Quinn looked.

Joey picked Quinn up and his bum crack was showing. I went to pull his pants
up and this is the shot our friends took.

Quinn sitting by himself on the ramp.

Family picture at the temple

Family photo

With our friends, Kevin and Marianne, who were taking pictures the
majority of the time.

Court Date-Adoption Finalization

Oct. 3, 2011

      We got to go to court and finalize the adoption. All our paperwork is in and complete. Our lawyer asked us questions such as, "What is your birthday?" "Are you at least 10 yrs older than this child?" "When were you married?" "Do you plan on staying married?" "Do you love your husband/wife?" "Is anyone forcing you to make this choice?" "Do you understand that once this adoption is finalized, Quinn will be yours, as if he were born to you?"

      We were asked many questions, but yet, it was all so fast (only 15 min.). The court hearing was closed, meaning that only Joey and I, our lawyer, Justin Wayment, our case worker, Jared Reese, and the judge were in the room(minus the bailiff and recorder).

    When we were all done, we went out to breakfast to celebrate. The feeling was so great after it was all done. We definitely did not have much stress at all with this adoption(just the paperwork through LDS Social Services), but once we were done with court, it felt like our family is for sure and won't be broken up.

9/29/11

Our New Adventure

After a lot of prayers Joey has decided to take another route with his employment. He will be able to go to school (college) full time while helping the government out. Quinn's picture will share what he did in August 2011. We are very excited and feel really good about this choice that has been made.

Yes, he joined the Army as Active Duty. He will leave for Basic Training on March 5, 2012 and will be gone for 16 weeks. He'll return home for only 2 weeks to 1 month, then we'll be stationed somewhere at a heavy artillery base, either in the United States or we could end up going overseas. Like I said, we feel like this was a good choice to make and Heavenly Father has helped us make this choice 100%.

Quinn at 5 months

I've decided that since Quinn came along, the majority of the pictures taken are of him. I'm not able to find any others of all of us as a family, so here's some lovely pictures of our beautiful son.

Quinn, Kiza, and my sister hanging out. Aug. 2011

Quinn enjoying his jumper. Aug. 14, 2011

Quinn at the babysitters. Her camera makes him look so grown up. Doesn't he look like he between 9 months and 1 year? Aug. 24, 2011

Quinn about to roll over, but not quite. He was rolling only this far for the last 2 weeks of August. Aug. 30, 2011

8/3/11

Visit to see Kaylee and Daemeon

On July 20, 2011 I was able to go see Kaylee and Daemeon. It had been a month since they left us, so I decided to see how they were doing and enjoy some time with them.

Kaylee with Quinn. She looks so big.

Daemeon with Quinn. He's growing and growing.

All three kids together.

Kaylee and Daemeon

Fun times with Quinn

Here are some fun pictures that I took of Quinn the month of July and the very first of August.

Quinn holding his hands together while I was holding him. July 13, 2011

Quinn holding his hands again.

Quinn wearing size 4 Nike shoes-way too big, but fun to see on him. 7-21-11

Quinn wanting to help hold his bottle. 7-30-11 (4 months old)

It is time to introduce solids into Quinn's life. Here is his first tasting of rice cereal. He didn't give many funny looks, but he did try to spit it out with his tongue. 8-1-11

Quinn's messy face after he's done eating.

These are some addition odds and end pictures:

Quinn sitting long enough for me to snap a picture. This is on a nursery chair at church. 7-31-11

Quinn enjoying the outside. July 2011

Quinn grabbing his feet. He likes to do this all the time now. 7-29-11

Lowe Family Reunion - July 9, 2011

We were able to go to a little bitty town in Utah to a family reunion, for my mom's family. The turn out was very, very small, which I'm sure it is because it was in a teeny-tiny town. Out of my mom's 11 siblings, only 4 of them showed up with very few of their own children. It wasn't the biggest reunion I've been too, but it was still fun and enjoyable seeing those family members I haven't seen for awhile, or even those I don't remember.