Baby Will's Blessing

We spent this past weekend in St. George with my brother, sister in law, and nephew.  Sunday was my nephews blessing day.  (I think most of my readers are non-Mormon, so just FYI, a baby blessing in the Mormon church is the equivalent of a baby dedication.)

I guess the weekend wasn't just with my brother's family, our whole family was there all together for the first time since William was born.  It was so great to be together.

Every single picture I took was with my phone.  I've pretty much given into the battle I've been fighting over phone pictures and camera pictures.  If I want quick, in the moment pictures, they only happen with my phone.

Paul got off work early on Friday and we hit the road.  The drive there was much easier than the drive home.  

 Her nap didn't last long before she was awake and dancing to the music.

 Sleeping boys.  Awake girls.

Taylor and Samira just bought a house so we met up with everyone there before we went to our hotel.

Addie fell asleep while Paul was checking us in to our hotel.  And apparently that 2 minute power nap was enough.

She was awake until 2AM playing in the hotel.  Fortunately, Garrett stayed with Mimi at Taylor's, so at least one of the four of us slept.

Saturday we spent the morning with the family.  That afternoon, the boys all went golfing while the girls and kids went to the park, wandered main street, and went out to lunch.

 Addie picked dandelions for everyone. 

 Addie and G think Uncle Scott is so cool.  Scott was teaching them to do running leaps across the lawn.

 My sweet little nephew.  He's not supposed to be around kids until the official end of flu season (the end of this month), so he was in his parents room most of the time and us adults would take turns hanging out with him when he was awake. 

 Addie LOVES him.  She perfected the word 'baby' on this trip.  Here she is, trying to push my legs out of the way and reaching up trying to get close to him.

Any time she saw him, she'd drop what she was doing and run to him.

The guys on the golf course.

Us girls took the kids to the splash pad, but this is what Addie did, and I sat with her in the van while the rest of them played.

More of Addie lovin' on her cousin.  She was DETERMINED to push his stroller, even though her toes barely touched the ground when her hands were on the handle.

 A little pole dancing at lunch.  There weren't a lot of people at the restaurant, but the ones that were there, were very entertained.

 She was so happy to see daddy when he got home from golf.

Pizza for dinner!

 I couldn't get enough of this little guy.  He's fighting a hard fight and has a long road ahead of him, but he's so content and happy.  He works hard for every breath he takes and I'm so proud of him and his parents.  He's spent more time in the hospital and has had/will have more surgeries in the first few months of his life than most people have in a lifetime.  I wish I could spend more time with him on a regular basis, but I'm so grateful for the time I get.

 Garrett was so sweet around his cousin.  Always so quiet and careful.  He loved looking through my phone pictures when we got home and he'd describe them as best he could.  When he came to this picture he turned the phone towards me and said, "Mom hold Baby Will."  Then he carefully touched the oxygen tube and said, "Baby Will sick.  Baby Will sleep good." He pulled the phone back to himself and just looked at the picture for a couple more seconds.  Such sweet boys.

Diving for ice cream.

 She usually won't let people feed her, and she's not a fan of really cold stuff so this must have been good!

Trying to get some family pictures.

 Garrett's done holding still!

 Samira, Taylor, and William on his blessing day.

 Happy Half-birthday, Baby Will!

Saying good-bye.

The first two hours of the drive home were great.

The next seven, of what should have just been a six hour drive total, were hell.  I'll spare you the details.  Just think: wind, dust storm, Vegas traffic, being stuck being a freeway-closing accident, screaming kids, (Have I told you that if Addie gets screaming hard enough she usually chokes and throws up?), throw-up smell for 6 of the 9 hours, fog, more traffic, rain...and we all climbed in bed around 2AM Monday morning.

Samira had a friend come over and take some pictures of all 12 of us, so when I get those, I'll post them.