Wedding, Blessing, Sealing, and Christmas!

We went to Utah for about 9 days for Christmas and it was the most action-packed week we have ever had there! Shad and I got there on Tuesday evening. On Wednesday we went shopping in Farmington with my mom and Alex and got outfits for my brother Andrew's wedding and then had lunch at Zuppas. Yum! Thursday we went shopping at Target with my sister Holly and her sweet Olivia, and we met my mom there for lunch. Shad and Olivia loved riding in the cool cart.

Friday was my little brother Andrew's wedding in Brigham City and we added a new member of the Grose family: Megan! She is a darling girl and hopefully one day she can teach me how to have such cute style!

That night was their wedding dinner in Ogden, it was quite the party! Shad definitely busted out some sweet dance moves:

Shad and me

They had a photo booth instead of a signature book to show that you came to their wedding. Cute idea! Here is our little family of 3:

Afterwards, while we were waiting for the happy couple outside, we lit sparklers and floating lanterns. 

Shad and I also started getting sick that day with really bad coughs and sore throats, and I lost my voice completely for about a week after that. But that didn't stop us from having an amazing vacation!

The next day on Saturday we had the opportunity to be sealed to Shad in the Bountiful temple. The drive there was crazy in a blizzard and we passed 5 car accidents on the way, witnessing two of them, and Shad was really sick and did not look well. We were really worried that it might not be a good day. But we made it safely and when he entered the sealing room all dressed in white with his hair combed he looked absolutely perfect and angelic. It was the most spiritual experience I have ever had. The happiness and joy I felt is beyond words and I am so so grateful that Heavenly Father placed him in our family forever.

It was too cold to take pictures in front of the temple, so we had to settle for taking some pictures inside the rotunda area. My best friend Sierra came to his sealing and took these beautiful pictures for us. 

Is this not the most angelic face you have ever seen?! And those eyes!

 My sisters and parents, and Jared's parents

 My parents

 Jared's parents

Sweet Grandpa Grose

 The Masons

 The beautiful and talented Sierra (click on her name to see some of her amazing work!)

It was an absolutely perfect day and we wouldn't have had it any other way.

The next day was Sunday and we blessed Shad at his parents' church. Sierra came again and took a few more pictures for us. She really is the best!

Besties

The next day, Monday, was Christmas Eve Eve, my mom's annual Christmas party complete with the nativity. Shad was a shepherd and left the thing on his head for all of 1.5 seconds (if that). I love that my mom does this every year so we can always have all the siblings there at the same time. 

Tuesday was Christmas Eve, and we spent it between my Grandma's and Jared's Grandma's house, but we only stayed at each for a few minutes because Shad had a fever of 104 at this point. Unfortunately I don't have any pictures of this day. Shad and I were both feeling pretty awful still so we went home and slept for almost 12 hours.

Christmas day was nice, we spent most of the day just chilling at my parents' house. This was our first Christmas together as a family of 3 (Shad joined our family on December 27th last year!)

Shad opened some presents and then went back to sleep for another few hours. He got his very first train set. It was so much fun even though he's still a little young to realize what was going on.

The next morning we left early in the morning to go back to Michigan. It was probably the most exhausting yet the best Christmas vacation we have ever had (well I guess you could say it's tied with last year's Christmas vacation when we came home unexpectedly with a baby!) 

Utah!

Shad took his first airplane ride and we flew to Utah last week. It was so nice to be able to see family, but definitely too short as always. Shad did relatively well on all four flights, considering our first two were during the time he is normally asleep for the night. (Note to self: no more scheduling flights during the night time, they don't sleep nearly as much as you would think/hope, even after drugging them with Benadryl).

Our first two flights (Detroit to Denver and then Denver to SLC) were both delayed by an hour and a half, so we ended up getting in the Utah around 12:30 am (it should have come in just after 10 pm). Here is Jared and Shad waiting in Denver for our next flight:

 (Jared had to miss an important hockey game and Shad was trying desperately to sleep)

Here is Shad on his very first plane ride: 

(He looks a little annoyed to be awake when he should be sleeping- sorry dude!)

The first full day we were there, we spend most of the day in Salt Lake with my parents. They took Shad for a walk around temple square later that day while Jared took a nap and I finished my last two papers for school.

Me and Shad at Grandma and Grandpa's house (I'm pretty sure he had just woken up. He looks a little drunk)

That night we hung out at my sister Holly's house in the backyard and had a BBQ and cake to celebrate my birthday

Daddy and Shad

Holly made an amazing Banana Poke Cake (soooo good!)

Shad was so adorable in his Tiger's jacket and backwards hat. He looks way too old {and cute} for his own good!

Shad had a lot of cousin time this past week, and we loved it!

Shad and baby cousin Brigham

(Brigham's face cracks me up in this one-it looks like Shad is torturing him!)

Shad and cute cousin Lily

Shad with the Mason boys (Brigham, James and Logan)

Logan (3) wanted to hold Shad too

(After I took the picture Logan said, "Ok, I'm done with him. Take him away." Haha I just love this kid's personality!)

Cute cousins waiting to go shopping and eat at the food court in Salt Lake

Shad is ready in his new outfit Grandma Grose bought him (What a little stud!)

Shad got to see his "brousin" (brother/cousin) Bentley. They hugged, it was so cute!

Shad with his adorable birth mom Sasha (He definitely got her gorgeous eyes!)

Shad and Brigham with Grandma and Grandpa Grose

(Sorry Mom, I didn't realize your eyes were squinty until after I got it on the computer from my phone. Still a cute pic though!)

We went to lunch at Zupa's one of the days with a lot of my mom's side of the family (I stole this collage from her blog)


Jared and I also went to lunch at Golden Corral with my Grandpa Grose one of the days and I am kicking myself for not taking a picture of him with Shad!

I also don't know why I don't really have any pictures of Jared's side of the family (Sorry Cathy!)
It wasn't on purpose, I think my family just takes more pictures and someone (usually my mom or dad) is usually just asking to take pictures whenever we are hanging out. Most of these pictures were taken by my mom and I stole them from her blog.

I did get a picture of the ice cream cake Cathy got for George and me when we celebrated our birthdays on Friday- it was delicious!

When we got home it was 8:30 pm on Saturday night, which is usually past Shad's bedtime. He was acting so tired, but when I tried putting him to bed he became super wired and didn't want to sleep. So I brought him downstairs where Jared was watching the Red Wings game and put him in the jumper until he wore himself out. Here is a silly video of him:

Seriously, he was so wired like this until about 10:30 when he finally crashed. Then he slept until10:30 the next morning. I hope he can get back on his regular schedule soon!