blessing day.

 Funny story (I think).  When I started thinking about blessing my baby GIRL, I talked to my aunt and asked if it would be possible for her to make me one of the beautiful blessing dresses she is famous for in the family.  She had a lot going on with school and said she could get it done if it was after school was out.  Well, we had a family reunion in June, where all of the Hubby's family would be gathered in one setting.  I decided that would be the perfect time to bless her.  I am kind of partial to having family around for these kinds of things. As soon as  school gets out, my aunt and my mom put together a plan to get the dress done in time for the family reunion.  My aunt does the smocking and patterned embroidery (which I think is so amazing and I wish I had the talent to do it myself).  Then she MAILS it to my mother who then starts piecing it together with the rest of the dress that she is making.  If you look closely at the dress, you can see my aunt did the front piece attached to the arms, with more around the wrist, and a pattern around the very bottom as well.  So my mom begins to sew the rest of the dress and attach these pieces.  The dress (and bonnet, which my mother also made) is almost complete when we go to church the Sunday before we are planning to bless her.  Well, the bishop of my ward (who has been out of town--we have only talked to his counselors about blessing the baby somewhere else) basically tells us that he strongly suggests that we bless her in our home ward.  Then he says the stake president feels the same way.  The Hubby and I just looked at each other, but without talking, decided that we would just have to follow our bishops counsel and do it in our home ward.  But I felt terrible about the work that had been put into the dress already, and that they had rushed to get it done so quickly.  So we decided to do a 'fake blessing' at the family reunion. I know, I'm a genius.  My mom sent me the dress, and when we were at the family reunion, we dressed her up in her blessing dress and took pictures with the family!  That way it would almost feel like we had family there for the actual blessing day, because I would have pictures.  Of course when my mom called to see how the blessing went, boy did I have a story to tell her!

We actually blessed baby SJ the first Sunday in July.  And the icing on the cake was that my dad and family decided to take a road trip down here to be here for the blessing.  They haven't seen baby SJ yet and haven't had the opportunity to visit us since we moved down here, so this was the perfect reason for them to finally make the drive.  Of course, if I had known this, I could have made life a little easier for my mom and my aunt.  But how many babies get a fake blessing and a real blessing?  And I got a good story out it!

Her blessing was beautiful, and I am so grateful that the Hubby is a worthy priesthood holder.  Thanks to my dad and family for making the LONG drive.  Thanks to my mom and my aunt for racing to get her dress done.  I couldn't ask for a better family!

Here is the 'fake' blessing day!

And the real blessing day!