Idaho: A Homecoming & A Blessing

This last Friday, the 16th, we headed up to Idaho for my borther's homecoming and Liam's baby blessing. I didn't take near as many pictures during our little visit as I should have, but we did get family pictures taken (which I will post after we get them), and we got to see all sorts of family!

Friday Grandpa West, Uncle Michael, and Uncle Joseph were hurting. We were suprised when Grandma got a phone call saying they were headed back because Grandpa got a deer 20 minutes into the hunt! Uncle Michael helped spot it, and apparently he was the good luck charm! 

It was so fun to see family and for my brother to meet Liam!

Liam shares his middle name, so I was pretty excited for them to meet. 

Saturday morning I went to a Super Saturday with my mom and aunt, and Liam joined me. When we got home I saw that he had a huge diaper blowout, so I had to change him before going to a birthday party. Daddy enjoyed picking on this little guy while we were on our visit. He's just too cute to resist, I guess. 

We were going to go to the corn maze that night, but rain interfered with our plans and we ended up playing games with all my siblings instead, which was SO MUCH fun! Then the night was ended with Jessica, Todd, Mitchell, Michael, and Caleb all going out to see a movie. Melinda and I stayed with the kids and I cut Melinda's hair. 

 Sunday morning began with family pictures for my entire family. My mom hasn't had an updated family picture in nearly four years, so this was a big deal for us! I can't wait to see how they turned out!

Next we had tons of family and friends come over, because my dad blessed Liam. I made sure to snap a picture of our family together, as well as a couple of how cute he looked in his blessing outfit!

It was so nice to have so many family members there to support Liam.

Shortly after the blessing it was time for Michael's homecoming talk. I gave an awesome talk, and it's awesome to see how much he's grown! Sure love that little brother of mine!

 We had to head back home that night and drove in pouring rain pretty much the whole way. 

The next day Connor woke up with a fever. Eva had had one on our trip, so it wasn't too much of a suprise to see him come down with one as well. I had to keep him home from school and he laid on the floor or couch all day, harldy talking or even eating. Poor kid! Thankfully he's feeling much better today. 

I took Eva and Liam out to get the mail, and it started pouring rain on us and hailing. Evelynn was fascinated by it and got drenched!

Today was another chilly one, and attempted to explain to Liam that I would need to dress him warm and will need to put him in 3-6 month clothes soon, and he raised his eyebrows at me and gave me the cutest look! I guess he thinks I'm a weirdo or something and full of it. Haha!

And this little girl wasn't so thrilled with me tryig to take a picture of her. Mean mommy, I am. Oops! 

Beginning October/Funeral

As I mentioned in my last post, we have been really busy since October started. Caleb's grandpa had not been doing well the last few days of September, but on the 1st Caleb's mom called and said he really, really wasn't doing well and they were going to come down and see him and say goodbye. We, of course, said they could stay with us. 

One the 2nd we had some cool weather and needed to take the kids to pick up some pumpkins at their great-grandparent's house. They were so excited! 

We sent Connor off to school that day and Liam was so cold and shivering in the breeze. 

The next day we spent some time at the hospital visiting Caleb's grandpa. Later that evening my parents drove through Ogden on their way to attend a Conference session and they took us to an awesome place called the Prairie Schooner. 

It was packed that evening and we almost didn't get to sit in a schooner. Connor was so disappointed. We took some pictures of them in the cool "outdoors" area before sitting down.

 Just as we started looking at the menu, the hostess said they had a cancellation and a spot opened up if we wanted it. Yay for good luck!

The next morning Caleb's grandfather passed away. Everyone headed home but had plans to return the following weekend for the funeral. 

 We had a bit of an exhausting week as we tried to prep for having everyone in town again, and we ended up spending all sorts of time in pajamas, which my kids look adorable in. (Look below and see for yourself!)

 Friday the 9th was a family viewing for Caleb's grandpa. The kids were pretty worn out by it. 

 Saturday was the funeral. grandma got some cute pictures taken with these kiddos. 

 I tried to get some cute pic of my kids to go with it, but I think that some were more enthusiastic about it than others. 

 After everything was completed Grandma Anderson wanted a couple pictures of everyone together. 

 The kids and I were super worn out the next day at church, so I spent some quiet time in the mother's room at church rocking little Liam after a feeding that gave me the peace and quiet I needed!

Monday we were able to go to Connor's parent-teacher conference for preschool, and then we got to meet up with my Grandma Linda for lunch, which was so much fun!

On the 14th Connor asked me to take a picture of him holding his baby brother. It was so cute that he requested it, that of course I had to oblige!  Evelynn wanted to hold him as well, since Connor had gotten a turn. (Liam might have been a little less fond of being passed around). It sure was cute!