Baptisms, Blessings, and Black Eyes...

We had a very exciting and eventful weekend last week.  After Great-Grandma Stewart's funeral on Friday, Lydia was baptized and Emma was blessed on Saturday.  It was so nice to be able to combine them so I only had to plan one party!

Most of the day I was running around like a chicken with it's head cut off (Why do I always use that gruesome analogy?), but there were a few wonderful, semi-calm moments.  Jackie and Jenny gave excellent talks on Baptism and the Holy Ghost, and Lydia joined Jana, Rachel, and Laura in singing "Lord, I Will Follow Thee."  Lydia was a little freaked out about going all the way under the water, so she held her breath, plugged her nose, and tightly closed her eyes during the entire Baptism prayer.  It was pretty funny.  Emma was a little  fussy during the baptism, but I nursed her for a couple of minutes after I got done changing Lydia and she was great for her blessing.  She actually fell asleep all bundled up in her carseat and slept throughout the entire luncheon.  I'm pretty sure that she was the only one there that was actually warm!  More about that later...

Randall's second cousin's little boy was also baptized that day.  He was going to be baptized in St. George, but they came up for Grandma Stewart's funeral and joined Lydia's baptism instead.  He's an adorable little boy, and it was fun to have extra family there to celebrate with us. 

As I was saying, the weather was a little less than perfect.  It was cloudy all morning, but since it was still nice and warm we decided not to set up the church I had reserved, and went to the park instead.  BAD idea.  As we arrived at the park there were some pretty icy winds that only increased in intensity as the day went on.  By the end of the luncheon we were chasing down flying paper plates and napkins, and all the kids were sitting in the cars to stay warm.  Not ideal, but we still had fun anyway.  At least I THINK we did... 

A few days before the baptism Lydia fell and hit her face on a table.  She was SO sad that she was going to have a black eye at her baptism!  Luckily, it was pretty much gone by Saturday.

Little did we know that less than a week after the baptism she would look like this -

Apparently face-planting it into a table is MUCH better than face-planting it into the sidewalk.  When Lydia saw it, she said "S is for Stewart!"  Let's just hope that she doesn't have a backwards "S for Stewart" forever.  Actually hoping it heals up before dance pictures on Friday...

Huge thanks go out to Taryn and my Mom for taking pictures for me, since I didn't take a single one.  Also thanks to my Mom for sewing sleeves onto the girls' dresses so that I could have them match!

My little red-head!  Don't ask me why she's squinting because there wasn't a single ray of sunshine ALL DAY.  The day before was gorgeous, and the day after as well. Why that makes me even more annoyed, I don't know...but it DOES!

My beautiful girls, freshly blessed and baptised!

Taryn took pictures in December with Lydia, Shelby, and Olivia.  I can't believe our baby girls are EIGHT already!

It seems like just yesterday that they looked like this -



I'm so happy that my sweet Lydia decided to be baptized (despite her fear of going all the way under water!), and I'm so grateful that Randall uses the power of the priesthood to bless my children.  Even though I've been somewhat whiny about the weather/how crazy the week was... I LIVE for these moments.  My family is EVERYTHING to me, and there's nothing better than being together with all of them. We are so blessed to have so much love and support, and I hope they know how much I love and appreciate each and every one of them.