Numero Uno!!

My baby turned 1 today. Well, technically yesterday. We partied today due to it being a Saturday and, well, let's face it, the only sunny day we'll be seeing for a while. *sigh* How can it be?! Sometimes I want her to stay little forever, but since it cannot be, we might as well eat cake. And oh, what a cake! Here are a few scene's from the happy day.

A few of the party guests.

The Birthday Girl!!

See what I mean! A.MA.ZING. And it tasted great too. Made specially for Isla by the talented and lovely Jenn Bradshaw. Thanks Jenn!!

Cassie came to celebrate and brought Isla the biggest, most ginormous bear she could find. Seriously. It's huge.

I don't think she minds!

What a year!! It went too fast. We fall more in love with this little woman every day. Happy Birthday sweetheart!!

Mother's Day Re-cap

Mother's Day.

I must admit, I have dreaded this day during the past 5 years we've struggled with starting our family. This year I was asked to speak in church and I must have some sort of disorder in which I cannot say no, because I heard myself say, "Sure!" and then I went home and cried. How could I speak to my entire ward about the sensitive feelings I've had towards a day that so clearly marked the thing, that up until now, I was not? I was definitely feeling sorry for myself and letting it get the better of me. Don't get me wrong, I am eternally grateful for the incredible sacrifice and blessing that made me Isla's mom, but our struggle with infertility and recurrent miscarriage has left a few battle scars. Old injuries that sometimes ache. And then an interesting thing happened. Cassie, Isla's birthmom, invited me to attend the annual dinner held at the LDSFS office in Salt Lake City to honor birthmothers day. Birthmother's Day is held the day before Mother's Day. This may be the first time you've heard of it, but the day seems incredibly fitting to me, seeing as Cassie had to be a mom before I could be one. I walked into a room full of women that had all placed a baby through adoption anywhere from 25 years ago to 2 weeks ago. The spirit in the room was so strong as I listened to each of their stories, laughed, cried, and looked at pictures of their sweet babies and the new families they had created. Beautiful women. Loving mothers. One word...humbled. I know my Heavenly Father loves me, but I'm grateful that he chooses to remind me that sometimes, it's not all about me. It was just what I needed to give me the strength and inspiration to speak to the women in our ward. Women who should know that although it is a tremendous blessing to be a wife and mother, the greater blessing is that first and foremost we are

Daughters.

It was a good day.