Benjamin's Blessing (July 29)

In true whirlwind fashion, we blessed Benjamin before moving out to North Carolina on July 29th. Uncle Jacob was giving his homecoming talk that day as well so it was kind of a double-whammy for our family. We blessed Benjamin in the backyard before church and then we hung out at home with my siblings and grandma while everyone else headed to church for sacrament meeting. I would have loved to hear Jacob speak but Benjamin was still under house arrest (it was only later that we realized I could have left him in the care of my mom while I went to church for an hour; we did that the next week but totally didn't think of it this week).

Andrew gave Benjamin a beautiful blessing—I think I even heard him choke up a time or two but he categorically denies this. As unmanly as Andrew may feel to have gotten teary-eyed around Benjamin I can't say I blame him. He really ran us through the emotional ringer the first few weeks of his life. 

Here are my two cute boys together:

At first Benjamin was like, "Whoa! My hands are in my face and all over the place!"

Then he was like, "Hey! Who took my hands away?!"

We had many of our family members come over and they all wanted to admire Benjamin, of course.

His great-aunts, Nicki and Becky were eager to get their baby holding in.

And, in a monumental turn of events, 5/6 of the kids in my family were on the same continent, in the same country, in the same state, in the same city, at the same house, all at the same time! And Josie and I were all matchy-matchy because we do that sometimes. The last time was at my grandpa's viewing. Both times have been purely coincidental.

Aren't we a good looking bunch?

That gap on the right side of the picture represents my sister Abra. She actually seemed rather upset about the gap when we showed her this picture. And I'm sorry about that...but I still like this picture of the five of us (plus my three kids). And I do understand a little bit about what it's like to be far away and left out of family functions. I've been far away before and I'm far away now and we'll most likely be missing Jacob and Shayla's wedding this fall (sorry guys; Andrew has to present a paper at a conference that weekend and he committed to do that before Jacob was even home from his mission...besides, we're out of money). That said, Abra hasn't been down to see my parents in eleven years (I think—the last time was Grandma and Grandpa's 50th wedding anniversary, right?) and that's got to be hard. On the upside, we did just visit her last June! Still, we certainly do miss her and her kids at family gatherings.

Mind the gap

 Here we are without the gap:

And here we are without the children:

And, yes, in case you were wondering I am lactating and (have I mentioned?) I make a lot of milk and it can make certain things go disproportionately wonky.

Here we are with my parents:

And here we are with all the aforementioned people plus my grandma and my Uncle Wally and Aunt Judy:

Here's my grandma getting her snuggles in with this sweet boy:

And here's Josie scowling in the background—we're pretty sure she's jealous that Grandma's holding Benjamin (though we are unsure if that's because Josie wants to hold Benjamin or because Josie wants Grandma to hold her (aren't candid shots awesome?)):

Gathering Andrew's family for pictures was a little more challenging. We took pictures of my family in the morning after Benjamin's blessing because my family wasn't sticking around for Jacob's talk. Andrew's family was so we figured we just catch them all afterward but it was not to be. Everyone was scattered throughout the house and gathering them all up seemed like too much of a chore so instead we snagged them one by one as they were getting ready to leave. We definitely missed some people (and if we missed you, I'm sorry).

Here's Uncle Cory and Auntie Sara:

 

Here's Uncle Jacob with Benjamin:

And here's Uncle Jacob and Benjamin with soon-to-be Auntie Shayla (officially, as of last Saturday):

Funny enough, this picture ended up being the picture that facebook selected to be the picture accompanying their relationship status change when they announced their engagement. I felt obligated to explain to the world that the baby in the picture was my baby, not theirs.

Here we are with Aunt Nicki, Grandpa Frank, Grandma Sharon, Aunt Becky, Tante Marie, Uncle Rod, and Grandma:

And here we are with Grandma Pat and Dave:

It was a happy, special, and exhausting day for everyone! Thanks all for the support!