Saturday, September 24, 2011

Kayla's Blessing

We had Kayla's blessing day picked out for a couple months before she was born.  The first Fast Sunday after her due date was 4th of July weekend and we knew she'd be here by then, for sure!  I found out my friend Janell and her family were going to be in Washington that weekend as well and it made for the perfect time to meet up.  I was even able to convince another friend of ours to come up and visit from Oregon.  The plans were in the works well before Kayla herself arrived.  It ended up surprising us all that she was only 2 weeks (well, 13 days) old when she was blessed, but she was still older than my sister who was 6 days old when she was blessed!

Kayla wore the same dress that me, my sister and Jilly wore for our blessings.  My mom made it when she was pregnant with me and it is gorgeous.  Because we waited until (chubby) Jilly was 2 1/2 months old to bless her, the dress didn't really fit and we could only do up the top button in the back.  She had a big open square of her back hanging out.  We figured Kayla being so little would fit perfectly in it.  I hadn't changed her into the dress until we got to church because it's too fluffy for the car seat (and I wanted to minimize her chances of blowing out all over it too).  We got to church right before Sacrament Meeting started, later than I had planned, so I was sitting there trying to get her in it, but it wasn't working right.  I couldn't get the back snapped up, other than the top snap, just like Jilly.  It was so weird, because it seemed like there was enough fabric, but one of the under layers was too tight.  My mom took her out to the Mother's Room to try and fix it, but time ran out and she came back so the baby would be there for her blessing. ;-)  So Kayla was also blessed with her dress open in the back.  Cracked me up.  (When we got home, I took the dress off of her to figure it out and realized on the the under layers had gotten pulled inside another layer and that's why it couldn't snap up.)

That morning, my friends had come over to my house to meet up before church.  It was so fun to see them!  Because we were all having such a fun time chatting, I lost track of time and we made it out the door just in the time to get to church right before the meeting started.  I had wanted to be there early, but oh well.  Janell, her husband Ira, and her two little boys, Anthony and Drew were staying with family in Poulsbo and came over on the ferry that morning.  Cammie and her husband Ethan decided to turn it into a long weekend vacation.  My cousins Bailey and Elise drove up from Seattle for the blessing and my mom and step-dad Paul came too.  It was awesome having so many people there, because they love Kayla and us.  It was also way fun because during the meeting itself, my kids got to sit with everyone else and I got to pay attention!  Kayla was held by Bailey and Granny, Jason and Jilly went back and forth between Granny, Grampa, Daddy and Bailey and Elise.  It was kind of weird to sit all by myself, but definitely nice.  :-)  After the meeting, we decided to head back to my house to hang out and eat and visit, since Janell, Cammie and I only had that day to spend together.  

We, of course, had to take pictures to commemorate the day.  We'd forgotten our camera before church, so we just took them at home.  

Kayla and Mama on the balcony.  Such a pretty girl. 


Mama and her sweet girls.  (Jilly wasn't that in to pictures, she wanted to play with the boys.)

Our cute little family of 5.  It is crazy how much more difficult it gets to take pictures with each kid you have!  To get all of us looking even remotely towards the camera seems like an impossible feat.

Cammie, Janell, and me (and Kayla, gotta love a yawning baby).  Such awesome friends!  I love you guys!

 I wish I had gotten some pictures with the kids playing or the husbands, but I didn't.  Janell and Cammie put together an awesome meal, Cafe Rio pork with yummy rice (was it the cilantro lime rice?).  They made the meal and cleaned it up!  These are good friends to have come visit you.  ;-)  We got to spend so much time talking and enjoying each other.  The kids got along really well, Janell's boys are about the same ages as my kids.  The husbands had a ton of fun talking and goofing around too.  Janell & her guys had to leave to catch the ferry back, but Cammie and Ethan stayed later.  It was awesome.

It was a wonderful day to share with our friends and family.  Steve gave Kayla a beautiful blessing.  We felt so honored that so many people wanted to be there with us and celebrate our sweet Ducky.  :-)

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