Ella's Temple Sealing

This temple has come to mean so much to us. We both got our endowments here (a time when you make a deeper committment as a follower of Christ), we were married here, we had Angie, Sunny, and Logan sealed to us here, and now we have had Ella sealed to use here. As we first walked into the temple I just felt such a wonderful Spirit there. We went over to the records office to make sure everything was scheduled correctly and we saw Bishop Crockett there. He is a man in our ward and he is a sealer at the temple, so we had asked him to perform the sealing for us. Right when I shook his hand I felt such an overwhelming testimony that this man was worthy to hold the priesthood and seal this baby to our family forever through Jesus Christ. It was very powerful, and it was real. I am so grateful for this beautiful blessing on the earth today!

Here we are right after the ceremony with our precious baby.
Grandma and Ella having some fun times
Grandma and Grandpa Neilson and Ella--don't you love the look on her face?
Our precious children--the older kids all were able to be there for the ceremony as well--the temple workers provided them all with white clothing and the girls even got to keep their beautiful white bows. Logan told us at first he was pretty scared, but when I saw him in the sealing room he just beamed up at me as if to say, "Mom, this isn't scary at all--it is awesome!!"

Beautiful Ella and Daddy outside the temple

Goofing around--Jacob and Trevor had a bunny ears face off that day.
Aunt Jennie can always get smiles from Ella!
Love it!
A few weeks ago at church I was gathering up all the kiddos and holding Ella and trying to get out to the car. As we are going past our home teacher he said to me, "And I can still remember when you didn't have any kids--Look at you now!" I jokingly said, "Yeah, be careful what you wish for huh?" but really, what more could we wish for? Don't get me wrong, out life is not a bed of roses, and motherhood is a daily learning experience for me, but wow are we blessed or what? When we first thought we couldn't have kids, it was such a heartache, and here we are with four beautiful children! We will always be so grateful to all those who have helped us in our adoption journey, and especially at this time Ella's beautiful birth family. It has truly been a miracle in our lives! Thanks everyone who came for supporting our family in this special day!

Whiting Reunion in Canero Springs

Here's the whole fam--even with our doggie Caspian--of course, I guess Hermione wasn't there , but that probably would have been horrible considering the number of dogs that came. Caspian had a great time running around with all the other dogs--and we were so happy that he stayed close by and always came when we called him--this was his first camping trip so I was bit worried to take him off the leash. These shirts were made by Kari--thanks so much!
Jacob and Bryant enjoying each other's company
The ones who started it all!
Look! Jack and I in a picture together! How exciting! Too bad we don't look a bit more excited about it ourselves.

Here's Ella getting all snug and ready for bed...

And here she is a little later--yeah--it worked!
Okay, this picture is hard to see, but Jack is up there in the tree--his crazy cousins made a zip line from one tree to another--you just had to basically jump out to do it--he did it, but he took his sweet time. Still, he's much braver than me!
Crazy kiddos in Grandpa's trailer!
Look--they must be related--they smile the same! They even both have cute cheeks. By the way, Ella looks all greasy because I had just applied sunblock.

Ella loved meeting her cousin Braden--they took turns lovingly attacking each other.

Angie and Tiffany decided that they could still be beautiful in the wilderness, so they did some facials.
See food Trevor??
Ready to camp Daddy!
Kari and I brought up some simple crafts for the kids to do.

Kari's parents let us use their quad--it was so nice of them--the kids had a great time and I did too! I had never ridden one before so that was fun. I felt like a motor cycle mamma riding off with my burly man or something.

Logan loved the helmets--a little too much though--we had to keep telling him to put them back or he wouldn't get another turn!
Aunt Tiff and Baby Ella enjoying some down time
Uh, didn't we take this same picture last year???? Yeah, getting all wet and muddy is soooo fun, until we have to wash off in the freezing stream! Yet, they still do it--I guess it must be worth it!
Love this pic--it shows how Ella is so on the move now--loving the exploration!

Welp, good job making it through all those--my sis-in-laws also posted from the same reunion on their sites if you are just dying to see more. It was a fun weekend and I am happy to say we had NO RAIN. Of course, the year I come totally prepared with rain boots and jackets and even waterproof pants for everyone, it doesn't rain! Still, I am okay with that. We made some good memories and got to know people better. Yeah for mountains, family, and nice weather!