Rachel is 7 months old

Our dear friend Lucy Yorgansen passed away and was buried on her 95th birthday which also marked Rachel's 7 month birthday.

I am in disbelieve about both - Lucy and that Rachel is now 7 months old.

The Court!

On Dec 8, 2010 Rachel Beth German became our daughter legally!!! We were so excited that everything went well. Our judge's name was Marvin Bagley, social worker Jared Rees and our lawyers name was Reed Adams.

We felt so blessed!!! Our friends Steve and Lorraine came to support us and the court room was full of others that were not at court for as happy news as we were.

The hearing went something like this:

The judge and lawyer talked for sometime time with legal talk. Then they swear Jared Reese, Gus and I in. The lawyer then talked to Jared about what he saw in our home and how he thought we are as parents. He gave us higher compliments then we thought we desire but felt great that the judge was hearing the best of the best about us. Then the judge stopped the lawyer and asked him to explain what," non identifying information" meant because there were a group of HS students there on a field trip and may not know what he was talking about. To be honest, I learned as well. It all had to do with keeping the privacy of our dear birth mother. They never did mention her name but they did talked about her rights and how she signed the papers, etc. Then the lawyer asked us several questions - like - "Are you financially stable to take care of this child?" and "Do you feel like you are mentally stable to take care of Rachel?"

Then the judge did something else that was a little surprising. Because of the HS students being there, he asked if we could share our story. Gus did a great job. He talked about the love that our birth mother and we share. How kind our Birth mother is and what a wonderful experience it was during placement. After Gus was done telling the story, the Judge read the decree of adoption. Chills just ran through my body as I heard the words,"Rachel Beth German is now the parents of Gus R German and Tamra A German, etc." The whole court room started clapping and the excitement just filled the room. We then took some pictures and Rachel just was perfect the whole time. She smiled and bounced as the whole thing was going on. I really believe that she knew what was happening. She got a mom and a dad that day!

She is my daughter now in the sight of man. In a couple of weeks, we will take Rachel and have her sealed to us in the eyes of the Lord. Then she will be our for more than just this life. What a blessing!

I don't think that we will ever forget that day - we invited the Jensen's, Tuttle's, and Klair over for dinner to celebrate. Also, we felt blessed that Pop could join us as well. What a great Christmas present!

Rachel's first Christmas Tree

This year for Rachel's First Christmas Tree - we wanted to give her a "real" experience by going on the mountain and chopping down a tree. Then dragging it out of the mountain to have it in our home.

So one of the first lessons that we learned is that - first you must hike up the mountain so when you need to get the tree to the truck you are hiking down the mountain. We learned this because we did the opposite - we hiked down the mountain and hauled the tree UP the mountain. Even with all the stops I had to make carrying Rachel back to the car, Gus carrying the tree had to take just as many (Maybe he was trying to make me feel good.) The next lesson that we learned was mountain trees are mountain trees and if you see one at the first that you like, cut that one, instead of hiking forever to go back to the first one you liked.

We had a great time and Rachel LOVES going on hikes. It is one time that I wonder if she is OK because she is so quiet looking at everything and enjoying the Lord's beauty. We took a picture of Rachel out in the middle of everything and right after the picture she reached out to touch the snow and did a face plant. She was quick to forgive her mother that comes up with these picture ideas.

We definitely made a memory!!! Oh Christmas Tree, Oh Christmas Tree, how lovely are your branches!!!!!

Thanksgiving in LA

We went to Las Angelos for Thanksgiving to visit Gus's sister Laura and her husband Trent. had a great time hanging out with them and visiting about their upcoming baby. One of our favorite memories is going to the fruit market. They had tasties and a lot of different fruit. We loved it! Rachel had her first orange and may never be able to eat Utah oranges again because of the love the the CA oranges.

We also enjoy a couple of movies, we watch Princess and the frog and one more (That in the early morning I can't remember)

Laura and Trent also introduced us to one of their favorite Italian restaurants. We have decided that it is one of our favorites also. Ever since Lance and Megan moved from UT I have craved a good Italian meal. So this was perfect for us!

On Thanksgiving morning, we went to the beach and introduced Rachel to the ocean for the first time. She loved the sand and being by the water. She liked looking at the water but was not fond of how cold the water was. After putting her feet into the ocean she was done with being at the beach.

Thanksgiving dinner was delicious! Laura really did a nice job putting everything together. We had turkey, stuffing, squash with cinnamon and nutmeg, rolls, cranberry sauce, strawberry / rhubarb pie and a sparkling pomegranate drink. Everything was delicious and the only problem was that are stomachs got full faster then the food was gone. We also feel in love with Mochi - which is a Japanese ice cream treat. We tried Mango, Strawberry, Chocolate, and Vanilla and to be honest, I am still not sure which one is my favorite!

It was so fun to have a warm CA Thanksgiving! We are definitely going to have to do it again.

Rachel is 6 months

I know that Rachel is now almost 7 months so I thought that I better get her 6 month pictures up. She is growing so fast. Her favorite things right now are: tags on anything (even her taggie doll the original tag is her favorite) ribbons, and any kind of paper (The louder the better)

The bunny has grown!

When Rachel was only 2 days old. Her birth aunt and uncle dressed her up as a little bunny and gave her birth mom (Britney) a stuffed bunny to hold in place of Rachel.

Grandma sent us several Halloween costumes as well as some neighbors. One of them was a bunny and to honor Britney and her family that is the one that we used. We took her around to close neighbors for trick or treating and they all had to take pictures of her. (It was raining and walked with the umbrella - Daddy was at the temple so it was just Mommy that took her around)

After a little trick or treating, Rachel went and hung out with Jonathan and Sheryl Bodrero. I went to the temple to support Gus in a new part that he had learned. When we went to pick Rachel up she was all smiles and sunshine. She really had a great time. (and Jonathan at age 36 finally got to change a diaper for the first time) We just love our friends - We need an army of people to help raise little Rachel!

Rachel's first rainbow

I think that it was last Tuesday and we had a really big rain storm. Rachel saw her first rainbow!

Carving the Pumpkin

For Rachel's first Halloween we had to have a carving the pumpkin experience. So, I went to the store got the best looking pumpkin and we loved for a couple of weeks and then picked a night to cut into it. Gus did the cutting and Rachel helped pull the guts out. Then I couldn't help myself but to see if Rachel fit in the pumpkin. Before long we got the first half of her body in but we couldn't get her to bend her knees. Gus realized that if we had her start jumping she would do it - that is what we did. It was not long after that and half her body was all the way in. We had a great time and I think Rachel did as well. (The little pumpkin hat came from Cindy Alder's costume) Also, we carved the pumpkin with one tooth because Rachel has one tooth. (She is getting the second one but at the time she only had one)

Fall leaves

I get these crazy ideas and Gus just plays along. I love walking in the Fall leaves. This year we have taken Rachel on several hikes to get picture of her and the leaves. Here are some of our second hike when Uncle Brad was here.