May 7, 2017

May 7th was a special day for our little family. James was blessed at church by Andrew. I'm so grateful I'm married to a man who is worthy to hold the priesthood and was able to do the blessing. It was such a neat day and we were thrilled to be surrounded by those we love.

Andrew's Mom was able to come and stayed with us for the weekend. She was a big help with food preparation. We had a big meal after sacrament meeting and fed about 30 people. I was overwhelmed, and it was great to have an extra set of hands.

Andrew's sister, Blayre, and her family happened to be in town for a wedding and we were glad they were able to attend the blessing as well. We got to spend some time with Owen and Carter on Friday night. It was fun to go to the park around the corner from our house with excited kids!

Andrew's other sister, Tavia, and her family also made the trip to Utah. It was so nice of them to come with their 6 kids! They weren't here for long, but we sure did appreciate them coming all the way from Boise for less than a 24 hour period.

It also happened to be women's conference at BYU, and we found out that our sister-n-law, Annie, came for that as well. She was able to stop by on Saturday to meet James, but had to leave early Sunday morning to make it back home.

Andrew's Mom and our sister-n- law, Annie

We live by lots of Ditto's and we were happy to see lots of them this past weekend. Ben, Becca, and Olivia came. Dan, Laura, Mary, Sam, and his fiancé, Natalie, all attended as well. The bishop talked to Andrew before about not having too many people in the circle, so he didn't ask his cousins/uncle to join. There were still 9 in the circle I believe. (I don't know if wanting smaller circles is a church-wide thing or just our ward.)

All of my siblings attended the blessing and it was a fun treat to have Jill in town from Malibu. All 4 of my grandparents were able to be there too. Sam Spice, my cousin, also joined the celebration.

Grandma & Grandpa Denning. Grandpa hadn't met James before this because he was sick.

Grandma & Grandpa Langlois (+ my Mom) 

Grandpa bore his testimony

I should have taken more pictures of this special day, but to be honest I was worried about the food and several other things. My sister-n-law, Lindsey, was so kind to take some amazing photos of James in his adorable baby outfit. He sure was a trooper and didn't really make a peep all day. He was wide awake during the blessing which nobody ever would have guessed.

Watch out ladies

His outfit had the cutest little white bow-tie

He gets plenty of food

We now need to talk about the food... A big thanks to my mom who helped me figure out what would be best. She made the meat for roast beef sandwiches and brought a huge potato salad. I made a spinach salad, 48 funfetti cupcakes (way too many), and I purchased 36 Costco mini cinnamon rolls. I also bought rolls from Costco for the sandwiches and Andrew did a wonderful job cutting them. Lindsey brought a tray of cookies from Costco (a big hit), and 2 pasta salads. Grandma Lynda made her famous brownies and brought a huge bowl of fruit. I should have taken a picture of all of the food because there was a ton! My parents brought 2 tables and lots of folding chairs which worked out well. Lots of people were able to eat outside and I'm glad the weather cooperated. I could not have done this without help. James is loved by lots of people and that is one thing I will remember from his blessing. Andrew said something like, "You have lots of aunts and uncles who love you."

This day was so special and EXHAUSTING! After everyone left, I took a two hour nap and the next day I slept in until 10:00am (with baby feeding interruptions of course.) We love you baby James! You have brought so much joy into our house.