When we arrived on Thursday Grandpa Guttery and cousin Stratton were at the airport, anxious to meet little Liam. After Grandpa snuggled him a little we put his car seat next to Strattons and started towards home. Stratton looked at the car seat and tried to move the cover to see his face.
Stratton:"Let me take a look at em!"
Me: "haha ok" (opened the car seat cover)
Stratton: "Whoa...awe!"
Me: "So Stratton, what do you think of him! Do you like him?"
Stratton: "Well...i like his hair cut......i need a hair cut"
How cute is that?! I love that little boy. We went straight from the airport to watch my sister play Tennis. I had no idea how amazing Tessa was at Tennis, she moped the floors with those other kids.
That sounds bad but when your little sister's that good, there's no tip toeing around it. She's fantastic! And the weather was gorgeous, me and Liam basked in the beautiful 74 degree weather, Chad chased Stratton around the volleyball courts and we all watched Tessa's mean back hand. After that, her and Shayna got to meet Liam and we went home, where Brennon was waiting for us with our favorite food... OREGANOS! Delish! It's no an Arizona Trip without it.
I just loved visiting around the dinner table and catching up with my beautiful family, but one person was missing. Kenner was at Basha. That gorgeous girl had been selected to be in the regional choir so she was singing her solo at the school. We all finished up dinner and ran over to Basha to hear her audition piece.
Get this, I made regionals my sophomore year with the Same piece that she made regionals with this year! Sisterly awesomeness! She sounded amazing and I lip-synced the whole Italian song with her as I bounced Liam to sleep in the back of the auditorium.
She came home and we spent the evening chatting and snuggling on Liam. It was good to be home.
We woke up on Friday morning in shock....Liam had slept through the night. Thats right folks, Little Liam, at 6 weeks old that day had slept 8 hours! We were thrilled and RESTED for the first time in over a month.
We stopped by Walgreens and picked up some photos to take to Grandma Merrells and took Liam to visit her at the Library. Then we met Dani, Mom and Dad, Breea and Stratton at the mall.
Side note: I love malls, I love window shopping and going into stores and talking about how fun it would be to buy crazy things.. thank you Arizona for allowing me that pleasure this weekend.
We then went home and got ready for the baby blessing. We invited a lot of friends and family, knowing that 1/2 of them would be unable to attend (it was on a Friday night after all) but we were so happy with the turn out.. Our closet family and friends were able to make it and meet our little guy.
Danica let us use Strattons blessing outfit that was just a hair too big but it looked great! As we all gathered in the family room, we sang I am child of God. As we sang together i looked around at our amazingly supportive extended family and thought to myself "it's my job to teach Liam that he's a special son of God who has divine purpose and potential. It's a big responsibility but look at all the cousins, 2nd cousins, aunt and uncles, loving grandparents and great grandparents and close friends he has to look to as well. ' I was completely overwhelmed with gratitude for the spectacular spirits the Lord has allowed my family to be influenced by and in association with.
Chad asked the priesthood holders to come be apart of the circle and he gave our little Liam a name and a blessing.
It was beautiful. I'm so grateful for my mom and her insight to write down those special blessings the Liam received. She knows how much that means to me and I couldn't very well grab a pen and paper while listening so I'm so glad she jot down those special words. We'll cherish those forever.
Here are some of his blessings:
On February 28th 2014 at 6:20pm at Grandma and Grandpa Gutterys house the following preisthood holders gathers in a circle to bless William James Merrell and give him a name in the church.
Paul Hatch(Great-Grandpa)
WIlliam Guttery(Grandpa)
Ray Daniel(Grandpa)
Brennon Fish(Uncle)
Clynn Christensen(mom and dads singles ward Bishop)
Don Hatch(Great Uncle)
Sam Bolwinkle(Great Uncle)
Jason Mulder (Great Uncle)
Hudson Rogers(Dads Best friend) and of course, Chad James Merrell
Stong influence and force for good
Make friends easily and be an example
Come to know the Savior
Develop a strong testimony
Health and strength to be able to enjoy your childhood
The ability to enjoy becoming a man
Companionship of angels to guide and direct you
Love and respect for your mother
It was beautiful to see Chad blessing our boy and really becoming a father to this little man.
The rest of the evening we ate a delicious ham dinner that my family all helped to put together and we visited, took plenty of pictures, ooo'ed and aaah'ed over Liams tiny features and faces and debated who he looked more like.
I loved watching my grandparents with the little man. They love him so much and there's nothing like have a few generations in the same room.
I guess it's hard work being blessed because Liam slept 8 hours. yes, 8 full hours. We could hardly enjoy it because we kept waking up to make sure he was ok...turns out he was just tired! 6 weeks old and 8 hours of sleep...he is blessed!
On Saturday we got busy! it was the day of the
Gilbert temple cultural celebration that my family was HEAVILY involved in. Breea did photography (that i REALLY hope she sends into the Ensign!) My dad helped rally the troops, set up covers and take down everything and my sisters were all involved in the celebration as well. Since we didn't have role in the celebration I as able to relax a little more and watch as my family excitedly raced in and out of the house all day. My mom, Dani and Breea and I started our morning getting donuts at bosa for the family and picking out fun headbands and Danis house. After that, Breea took us out to get more amazing photos of little bug. When we got home the craziness set in and everyone left for the celebration. Mallory came over to meet Liam and we visited for a few hours while she fixed my hair. Always so good to see her. As soon as we finished, a few friend came over to say hi and we headed over to Gails house for the evening. We were so excited to watch the event.
All day our family prayed for the celebration to go off without a hitch despite the rainy forecast and I was so anxious to see it all unfold.
Chad and I and Ray and Gail Watch the celebration as we ate dinner and loved every minute
(seperate post for the celebration...it's too amazing to not have it's own post)
As it wrapped up Chad and I picked up Madi to take her back to the house to meet Liam.
They're instant best buds.
The next morning Gail made up breakfast burittos and we played with Liam until we had to leave for the airport.
We had tickets to the dedication...in the temple....with the prophet. But because of the horribly timed Allegiant flight we couldn't attend the 9am or the 12pm session.
I don't wanna talk about it. I was so distraught about this for the longest time.
I'm so grateful that my family was able to attend though and just as I always do up here in Idaho, I will live vicariously through them.
So grateful for an amazingly beautiful weekend.
Too short as always but always well worth it.
So glad you wrote all this - it WAS a great weekend to remember, including the dedication. Along with those memories, I loved when Chad was pushing the stroller, looking at his phone and ran into the pot - haha, visiting with you and Mallory and your two cute babies while getting your hair done and just sitting around as a family talking and playing with Liam and Stratton - you should throw those pictures with the Great Grandparents on, they were priceless <3
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