Josie is Blessed

Mother's day 2016 dawned cold and wet. The flowers and grass all seemed more colorful in spite of the dismal weather. We attended church with my parents. Their ward is largely comprised of empty nesters so the reverence was amazing. Our kids caught on to the quietness and had a really reverent Sacrament meeting. Justin was really tired after church so he took the van back to take a 4 hour nap. Happy Mother's Day to me. We got to ride in Grandpa's big red truck. Jamming 5 kids plus me in the backseat brought back memories of my parents somehow fitting 5 kids into the old silver Renault they drove in the 1980's.

Around 4 pm lots of friends and family came to celebrate our little Josie. Seems like the house somehow fit 65+ people that day. Miss Josie looked like an angel in her cute blessing dress, she sort of resembled a daisy with the bonnet she wore! The Bishop came over to preside over the blessing. Justin, Lane, Kenny, Shawn, Kenny, Jeremy, and Dave Baerwaldt ....... stood in a circle to bless our sweet baby. She was wide-eyed and alert during the blessing. Once again I missed most of the prayer due to Evelyn licking my face. She was so loud it was hard to hear. Still the spirit was quite calm and infectious. Dad got a bee in his bonnet so had the blessing before James, John, and the grandparents could arrive.

We had quite the spread of Mexican food laid out in the garage entertaining space. Evelyn loves the sparkly floors in the garage. Somehow everyone took care of themselves food wise and entertainment wise. Jared was king of the night with all the kids. He had an elaborate game going with all the kids involved. Even Grandma Jean had to come see what all the fuss was about.

Sarah had the same surgery Amelia will have several times while she grew up. Sarah gave her a very thoughtful gift of a "hip hip hooray diary," a rainbow cheetah, some silly putty, and a cute card. My girl was smiling with joy. She has a hip buddy now! Hip, Hip, Hooray! Amelia ate up the cheesy hip references. She was so excited that her new furry stuffed animal matches her crutches.

Once most everyone left Dad gave some vitamin L to us siblings still lingering. He sagely advised the parents to come up with a plan to help our kids deal with the effects of technology. Kids are handed technology before their first year is over, it messes with the brain. He was most concerned about the teenagers he worked with who had no idea how to deal socially with each other, the lack of motivation to work, and etc. He advised to detach and do real things. Totally agree with that logic! Then he talked a bit about emergency preparedness and the Heartland theory (that the BoM was actually set around the Kirkland area). Good times!