Good and Blessed

Last weekend we had a couple of significant events in the family, kind of at more or less opposite ends of the youth Church milestone spectrum, so I thought I would just post about them together.

First, on Saturday, a bunch of beloved family went to the temple to see oldest nephew Jordan receive his endowments in preparation for leaving to serve a mission for the Lord in El Salvador and Belize.  The Wife stayed at home with The Boy, but Jordan had plenty of support from loved ones, and after the insanity that was us trying to get all of us into the same session due to overcrowding (for reasons) settled down, we worked it all out and it was really nice (and then we ate in the cafeteria which is always delicious).  It was very splendid to share this experience with him, and I can't believe he's already a better part of the year toward 19.  Yikes.  I remember when this boy was born and I ran around junior high shouting "IT'S A BOY!" to my friends so much that it sort of became a Thing.  He will be a super missionary, and he will be missed.

There were more people present than in this picture, but some of them left before dinner to get back to their little ones.
Also, the lesson learned here is that my phone takes less than ideal pictures.

I tried to adjust the colors in Photoshop for a few minutes.

Luckily the subjects are cute anyway.

Second, the following day we at last gave The Boy his baby blessing at church.  We thought it would be good to wait just a few weeks, and it worked out since Julie's dad happened to be in town that weekend.  So many friends and family came to witness the blessed event, and I actually recorded audio of it for posterity (someone recorded and transcribed mine and I always thought it was nice to have years later), but I won't post the whole thing here -- the general gist was that he's a lovely boy and he'll have a really great and inspiring life.  So he is now good and blessed and official (with the Church at least, with the government, almost), and it was a very interesting experience overall.  Afterward we went to a nearby park and had an epic picnic of snacks and cheeses.  This is definitely the first time I've been in charge of throwing this kind of party, so we had a few concerns about whether or not there would be enough food and if I would be able to supervise the making of a satisfactory Nightmare (this caused far more stress for me than it really should have), but it all worked out and everyone brought such delicious sides and such to go along with the standard (delicious) sandwiches.  I tell you, Costco has some pretty nice lunch meats and sliced cheese.

Emily's phone takes much better pictures than mine does.

He didn't make a peep the whole time.

It turned out to be a huge success!  (Julie's Dad was so amazed by the entire concept of this particular family tradition.)  The addition of BCEs was, if I do say so myself, inspired.

We must eat it.

Everyone who stood in the circle.  We missed you Todd, Jonny, KC and Jeff!  And Tyler and Bruce!

Oldest and youngest boy cousins!  The Boy will be so much bigger when Jordan comes home.

This family are we.

Amber loves a baby, so she snatched up The Boy, and then Cami and her newborn Nora came along and then this happened.  Baby smooches all around!

Emily and KC and their three poopsies were heading out after a nice long visit, and I managed to get a great triplets picture.  They have come a long way since their newborn days almost four years ago.

And then, lest he should, erm, mess up his nice white blessing suit, we put him in this other new getup, which is also adorable.

Then the next day we decided we should take some pictures of him IN said getup, so here they be:

ARGYLE (sort of) SWEATER VEST.  Pretty much exactly what I had in mind when I imagined what we should put him in.  Thanks for the blessing present, Ma!

He looks like he might be about to fly.

Black and white feet for ultimate effect.

Squinty smile, hee hee.

This is probably pretty much my favorite picture of him ever.

:D

This boy is so loved.