He’s Official!

See this adorable little guy. He’s now official. Our nephew Mason’s adoption was finalized on Valentine’s Day, and Saturday afternoon he was sealed to his mommy and daddy in a beautiful ceremony in the Logan temple. With all of that completed, Lance was then able to give Mason his baby blessing in sacrament meeting on Sunday.

The weekend was all Mason, and all good. He was as cute as could be and seemed to understand that something special was happening in his little world. We just felt lucky that we got to be a part of it all, even despite the lasagna and cinnamon roll hangover we experienced after the dinner at Dani’s mom’s house on Sunday. (Those guys really know how to throw a dinner party)

Mason’s birth great-grandparents were able to attend the temple sealing, and his birth-mother Brittany was able to attend the blessing on Sunday. Lance did a wonderful job with the blessing, emphasizing the deep love and great sacrifice surrounding  Mason’s arrival on this earth. Nothing could be more true. I can’t imagine a more difficult thing than giving up a baby so he could have a better quality of life. Mason is a very lucky little boy; loved by both his birth family and his adopted family.

Mary Kate particularly enjoys Mason and he seems to enjoy her plenty too. The boys even had fun playing with him. When he arrived at grandma and grandpa’s house after church on Sunday, we heard the boys excitedly exclaim, “Hey, we can play house now, and Mason can be the baby!” He was indeed the perfect baby and didn’t seem to mind one bit being pushed around the house in his walker by two six year olds playing house; even when they left him unattended in the corner for quite some time while they gathered toys and baby supplies.

I personally just enjoyed photographing the kid…because seriously…look how stinkin’ cute he is!

A few other benefits to spending the weekend in Cache Valley…..

…seeing some winter snow. We’ve had NOTHING in the snow department since before Christmas. It was a winter wonderland up north, and took me back to the days when I used to live there. Winters in Cache Valley are really something.

….watching these three play Lego Star Wars on the PlayStation…HIGHLY entertaining! They had no idea what they were doing and you should have hear them instructing each other.  “No you’re that guy, not that guy!” “Push X, push X!” “No go that way, not that way!”

….and finally…Jeffrey in a Viking helmet and braids. What could be better than that?

Inspired by this hat, the boys played Vikings all weekend. My brothers should be proud because the boys named their Viking selves Andrew and Eric. Apparently the boys think Uncle Andrew and Uncle Eric are very Viking like. How complimentary!