Hannah’s Blessing Day

Hannah’s Blessing Day was beautiful and lovely. This is what I wrote on Instagram about the day.

“It was a beautiful and special day for this little princess.  Hannah was blessed today and I cried through the entire thing.  The spirit was strong as she was blessed by her father and I could feel God’s love completely surround me.  Hannah looked like an angle in her dress that was made from my wedding dress.  It meant so much to me to have that done and see her in it.  Thank you to al the family and friends that came.  My heart was bursting with so much joy to see how loved our little family is.”

I remeber the day not being very stressful at all.  Everyone got ready for church early so we weren’t rushing with that.  My mother and father came over to help us finalize everything at home and take pictures and help save seats at the church.   Since we gave extra ourselves lots of extra time we were able to take some family pictures.  I remember not letting Hannah wear the dress in the car (didn’t want spit up on it!) and I changed her in the mother’s lounge and Emily came with me.  There were 3 other babies that were also blessed that day and they all seemed to be in the small room as well.  We had plenty of seating and everyone still made it on time despite a few friends going to the wrong building.  (You pass/see 3 other churches before coming to our current building). I remember Andrew saying he had to go to the bathroom as Sacrament meeting was starting.  I told my mom to hurry and take him.  They then annouced the order of the blessings and we were second up.  We had to stall a bit (maybe like 45 seconds) for my son and mother to come back.  Whew! 

Hannah was given a blessing by Brian.  The men in the circle were: Steve Murray, Ray Carlsen, Michael Murray, Leny Grill, Weston Grill, Dave Carlsen, Aaron Carlsen, John Carlsen, Joseph Hansen, Stephen Burton, Dave Finalyson, and Scott McCage.  I remember Brian blessed her to be an example and inspiration to everyone. He blessed her to find a worth man one day and told her how she is surrounded by thosue who love her and to always remember that.  It was wonderful.  After the blessing I was so happy and felt my love increase for all my boys as well.

Everyone brought something to share for food after the blessing and it was wonderful to have everyone be so willing to step in and help set up, set out the food, etc.  I honestly didn’t even have to lift my finger.  Once most of the family left, I insisted on taking even more pictures of Hannah.  I couldn’t resist.  She just looked SO beautiful!

We are so blessed to have this sweet little girl in our family and we are truly grateful for her.  She has completed this family, no doubt.

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I quickly took pictures of everyone eating at different angles so I wouldn’t forget anyone that was there!

Sledding, End of December and My Birthday

The day after Christmas Dave, Maddie and Adri came to our house to go sledding, hang out and talk about the upcoming trip to Germany in the summer (which at that moment I decided I was going to go!) Adri and Maddie went sledding once or twice and then tried to stay warm in the car with Hannah.  We had tons of fun even though it was so, so cold!  The boys loved it and Tyson was able to go down by himself a few times. 

I love these pictures of the boys, Brian and Dave included, playing army guys with the giant skeleton dinosaur.  They created a battle and had so much fun!

 

The rest of the pictures are random but document the slower days after Christmas.  Hannah asleep on the changing table wasn’t typically common but that day someone else needed me for a few minutes so I left her buckled in.  She was crying so when I checked on her a few minutes later she was asleep.  I guess that’s what happens when you are the fourth child.  The picture with Hannah on the floor ‘watching’ Star Wars makes me laugh.  Little does she know how much she will actually have to watch that show as she grows. 

My house always looks so barren once I’ve taken down the Christmas deocrations!

 

Andy lined up his army guys by the window and asked me take a picture.

Hannah looking adorable on my birthday!  Grandma and Grandpa Murray came over to watch the kids so that Brian and I could go on a dinner date with our friends, Joe and Heather.  That was one of my birthday requests.  We had a great time.  When we got home we had cake with my family and then my parents stayed and played some board games.  They stayed much later than I thought they would so that was awesome.

Christmas with the Murrays

Christmas afternoon/evening with my family has been a fun tradition the last few years since my parents (dad) have been able to fly in to Utah!  We open presents and then eat Christmas dinner together. 

The first photo is fun because you can see all the presents before they were opened.  My mother wrapped the presents so that she knew who the presents went to and when the kids needed to open them together.

Hannah in her adorable 1st Christmas shirt! 

Our family photo—Christmas 2015

After dinner and after Mike’s family left we drove over to a super cool light show at a house by my parents.  It was amazing and we pulled into a church parking lot to watch.  The snow hadn’t been plowed yet and the snow was deep so I got a little nervous about getting stuck.  We didn’t but the drive home was slippery. 

And to top of Christmas 2015, we let the kids stay up late and watch one of their Christmas presents:  Star Wars!