Ivory Anniversary

We've never given the traditional gifts for our anniversaries - I had Ryan look it up on his Droid last night to see what it should be this year. Ivory. Perhaps we should get a new-to-me piano with ivory keys. Ha ha.
We were married at 7 am. If you look closely at the pictures, you can see the lights still on the temple. It was that early. You really have to be in love in order to get married at 7 am. We were the 4th couple to be married in the Salt Lake Temple that morning. (My friend Liz and sister Shanda were both married in June at 7 am, but there were weddings taking place as early as 6 am then!)

Happy anniversary, love!

Merry Christmas!

Wearing our "Christmas Toto pajamas" (Hyrum named them). We're having a very Merry Christmas, hope you are too!

Gibby Gazette 2010, online awards edition

Most Traveled Award goes to Ryan! 10 camp outs with the boy scouts (including a week at Camp Morrison), 10 days in Ukraine (for the Kyiv Temple dedication), 11 days in Singapore (for work), 5 trips to Utah to visit family. Happily his commute is 3 miles, so he can come home for lunch most days.

Finding Joy in Motherhood Award goes to Malauna! This award has taken the entire year to qualify for: traveling to San Fran with Sabrina; giving birth to Leo; volunteering in Roderic's class; substituting in EACH of the kids' primary classes; teaching Joy School for Hyrum (and 5 others); nursing a child with 6 teeth; hosting a Jam Session for Sabrina & friends who play stringed instruments; a lot of nights with Ryan gone.

Best Babysitter Award goes to Sabrina! She took 'Babysitting 101' at St Alphonsus RMC in February and has since had several well-paying jobs and a bunch of jobs at home. When the boys (or even Ryan) ask who is going to be the babysitter I reply, "I got Sabrina. She's really good!"

Newest Reader Award goes to Roderic! First grade at TrailWind is all about reading and Roderic has discovered that he CAN read! His favorite authors include Dr. Seuss and Bill Peet.


Diaper Free Award goes to Hyrum! Right after Leo was born and Ryan was taking days off of work, he helped Hyrum learn the joy of using the toilet.


All-Around Cutest Award goes to Leo! He got his first tooth at 4 months, now he has 6. He sings along with the Syringa Sound Chorus (and Mom) at their rehearsals. He makes a funny face with the first bite of every food (even if he's eaten it before).

Journals

Sometimes I get frustrated with my ancestors who didn't keep a journal. I really want to know what their lives were like. How they handled struggles. Read their testimonies.

Then I remember that life is full of work. Mouths to feed. Dishes to clean. Laundry to fold. Gardens to plant, harvest, put to rest. Clothes to make. Decorations to get out, enjoy, put away.

This morning while Hyrum was at Joy School (performing the Nativity for a nice grandma in our ward), I got to help in Roderic's reading class. Every student read the same story for 1 minute. Leo came with me. He didn't cry, although the 2 squawks he made did cause the neighboring room to close their door. Roderic reads as well as the rest of them. I'm working on cutting out Christmas pjs. The fabric is really cute this year! You'll see them on Christmas here (hopefully). In an hour I get to take Sabrina to an orthodontist appointment to put the rest of her brackets. I'm performing with Syringa Sound Chorus at a retirement home this evening. I may be the only tenor in attendance. I've re-read President Uchtdorf's talk "Of Things That Matter Most" several times and love the message.

6 year olds say the darnedest things

Mom, don't you think it would be really great for the first time to have our whole house clean?

Roderic just said this to me as he was working on cleaning his room. Yep, it would be really great.

A Forgotten Birthday

There are some guys from China who are in town for training at Micron and they've been asking when they can go out to dinner with Ryan and some of his coworkers. Last week, on 2 separate occasions, Ryan told them that Tuesday would be just fine. He never looked at his calendar. So, Ryan went out to dinner with some guys from work last night. On his birthday.

I guess when you've lived 37 years, you need a lot of reminders hype leading up to your birthday in order to remember it.

When you're a kid and it's your dad's birthday, you get pretty excited. After all, birthdays are exciting! You get to open presents! Everyone sings to you! You get to choose what's for dinner! You get to eat cake! To help keep their excitement during his absence, I took the kids to dinner at McDonald's (half-price Happy Meals on Tuesdays!).


Quite a lot of 'smoke' coming off of that train. (The chocolate train was melted by the time he blew out the candles.)

He arrived home about 9 pm and was surprised by Roderic's idea of a surprise pajama party.

As for presents, he got a box of strawberry candy canes, chocolate cherries, a sleeping bag for winter camping and a pair of snowshoes.

Toto earns her keep

-- Toto on her first 'field trip' with our family --
Kathryn Alberston Park, October 10, 2010

While Ryan's parents and sister are serving as missionaries in Rochester New York, we are taking care of their West Highland Terrier, Toto. She was really sick about a month ago when Ryan was in Singapore, but now she's healthy again. Thankfully!

Before Toto came to live with us, I did some research on her breed and learned that Westies were bred to seek and dig out badgers and foxes. They're white in order to be distinguished from the animals being hunted.

Well, I didn't take any pictures of the gruesome evidence, but Sunday night when Ryan was getting ready to take Toto for a walk, he discovered a dead mouse or vole. (We were unable to determine the species since the carcass was pretty mangled.) We've been thinking that Toto was similar to the dog 'Trusty' from "Lady and the Tramp", she growls a lot at unseen-by-us things. But, now we're being convinced otherwise.

Snow Day

So, we woke up to 6 inches of fresh snow this morning and learned that school was canceled. Last night I made some Pumpkin French Toast for breakfast (it was really good!), so I was all ready for shoveling the snow off the driveway so Ryan could go off to work and then use all of my extra helpers to get some Christmas decorations up.

And then I remembered the Legos strewn all over the table in Roderic and Hyrum's room and knew that Leo could pull himself up and then eat all of those Legos, so we had a "GREAT LEGO BUILD" day - which lasted all of 20 minutes, when the neighbors called to ask my kids to go play in the snow. Sabrina, Roderic and Hyrum were outside for hours playing in the snow. I nursed Leo and built Legos. The boys got cold and came in (and helped building). Sabrina went to a friend's house. Lunch was late. Piano lessons was later and now the Legos are built and up high in the closet.

Perhaps tomorrow I'll get some decorations out...

Dear Santa

Dear {fun-pretend} Santa,

I am writing this letter to let you know my opinion before you get a letter from my son, Roderic. He has been a pretty good boy this year. He has learned to play (a bit) with his little brother. He only occasionally gets so excited around his baby brother that he pats his head harder than I would like. When I ask him when he's going to learn to ride his bike without training wheels, he replies, "December 11." When I ask him when we're going to practice his violin, he replies, "Tomorrow." When I ask him to do his homework he says, "Later." He has started to read a verse or two from the Book of Mormon with us when we read as a family each night.

I believe Roderic is going to ask you for Legos, Legos and more Legos. Pirates, Star Wars, Toy Story, Atlantis, City any and all.

He loves to create and build and destroy and rebuild them. We have hundreds of pictures on our computer of his creations, so if they get ruined, he can recreate them. (I don't think he has yet asked to see a picture so he can recreate one, though.) He will happily play for hours with them, especially if it is bedtime and he's been sent to put on his pajamas. He goes to violin lessons each week so he can show his teacher how well he plays the violin builds with the Legos she has out for him during Sabrina's lesson.

They have become the bane of my existence. The stress of keeping all of the pieces so he can build the ships and vehicles and such weighs heavily upon me. I am even more stressed about them being left on the carpet for curious, crawling Leo to get his hands and mouth on. And then there is the whole sharing thing.

I can only hope that the letter you get from him is this:

Dear Santa,

All I want for Christmas is my two front teeth.

Sincerely,
Roderic

would you look at that gap!

I'll be prepping for more Legos, though. They're better than Magnetix, right?

Sincerely,
Malauna

Song Writer

Don't you cry Leo,
Don't you cry.
Mom will feed you laterrrrrrrrrrrrr.

(sung to a modified version of Rock-a-bye baby)

Hyrum is a musical child. He reminds me a lot of Sabrina at this age - although she always sang in primary and he only occasionally does. But boy does he sing and make up songs at home! Pitch, rhythm, phrasing to help calm a crying brother.

Missionary Zoo

Hyrum has been singing this primary song for the last week and a half. Finally, tonight, I coaxed him gently enough to get it on film.



If you're reading this in your email, you need to go to my blog malaunagibby.blogspot.com in order to see the video (it's worth it!)

I hope I'm going on a mission, to go to missionary zoo.
I hope I'm going on a mission, to go and go and go to missionary zoo.

Oh, how I love my Hyrum!

Busy Weekend

In costume and with pumpkins

Joy School Party

Leo gets another tooth (6!)

Sabrina receives her medal

Joy School Party. Field Trip to the Farmstead (pumpkin patch) 4 soccer games (1 tie, 2 wins, 1 loss - in that order) 2nd place medals around the neck. Monster Mash at the school. Carve pumpkins. Trunk or Treat (boys went with neighbors). Sick dog visit to the vet. She still won't eat - not even hot dogs, which I've heard is close to doggie nirvana. Activity Days trip to the Boise Philharmonsters concert. Little boy not feeling well (2 naps this afternoon). Crawling baby (see video below). Stake Conference - not sure if I'm going due to little boy not feeling well. End of Season pizza party. New tooth.

We're missing you, love!

Worse than puke

If you've ever wondered what is worse than cleaning up your child's puke, I have discovered it.

Dog vomit. All over the dog bed in the crate. Nasty stuff. And oh the smell. It was raining, so I couldn't hose it off and hang it up to dry, so I used our washing machine (I ran an empty cycle with bleach before using it on our clothes again) and then dried them in the garage.

Good news: Toto is now clean - thanks to the nice people at Petco. Bad news: she's still sick.

Happy Birthday Hyrum!

Low-key party to celebrate Hyrum's birthday. They played hide-n-seek, Wii bowling, ate lunch, opened presents and played with the remote-control cars he received. Such fun.

Four things I love about Hyrum:
1. He has a big, cheesy smile that he likes to share a lot.
2. He likes to sing all. the. time. Except for during the primary Sacrament meeting program, when he yawned a lot. But, he did stand and sit at the right times...
3. He 'reads' the Book of Mormon with us each night. My favorite part was when the Lamanites took their chickens with them to church to learn about Jesus. (3 Nephi 10:4-6)
4. He has an amazing imagination and he uses it.

Hyrum: "I want to be Commander Cody when I grow up. I'm a good clone trooper. I'm Commander Cody."
Dad: "Are you from Wyoming?"
Hyrum: "Well he's an actor. I don't want to be an actor. I want to be an actor, but I don't because I want to stay a Gibby. If I'm an actor, I can't be a Gibby...so...I'll be a construction worker."
Dad: "A construction worker?"
Hyrum: "Yeah, Construction workers can still be a Gibby!"

piles, piles, piles and more piles

I have piles All. Over. My. House.

On the kitchen table. On the kitchen counters. On the nightstands. On the bathroom counters. On the music room floor. On Leo's dresser. On the dryer. On the filing cabinet. On the family room floor. In the hall outside the mud room. On the printer. On the computer desk. On the floor next to my recliner. On the ironing board. (I'm not even going to mention the piles in the garage.) I don't want any of them! And yet, they're here...

When my mom was visiting over Memorial Day weekend, we tackled a few of them, however now more have taken root. Some people have told me that I shouldn't worry about them (or cleaning too much, in general) because I have a baby (and 3 other kids) to occupy my time. However, there is a "Dust Collector's" meeting on Thursday, November 4 and I resolve to have less stuff in my house by then!

Six months

Height: 27.5 inches (90th percentile)
Weight: 17 pounds (50th percentile)
Head circumference 18 inches (90th percentile)
Teeth: 4 (are you kidding me?)

Accomplishments: rolls from front to back and back to front; while on his belly, he will scoot a bit to get to toys; he can move toys from one hand to the other; he laughs when tickled or when Hyrum does silly things; he is curious about lights (flashlights, lamps, overhead lighting, etc.)

To celebrate his half birthday, Sabrina and I made him a "Summer Cake" -- he didn't get to sample any, but I'll just say it was delicious. Bake a yellow cake according to package directions, poke holes throughout the cake with the handle of a wooden spoon. Mix one cup hot water in a small package of jello until completely dissolved. Pour the liquid over the cake and refrigerate for a couple hours. Frost if desired.

why children's clothing shouldn't have pockets

This week I have washed (and dried):

10 green army guys
1 penny
1 smarties wrapper
1 dinosaur
1 twig (it was shaped like a gun)


And for the record, Leo's second tooth has cut through his gums. Perhaps he will start being a little happier again. (And his cold will go away.)

Hyrum City

Ryan's sister, Heather, planned the awesome Gibby trip this August to Hyrum Lake State Park in scenic Hyrum, Utah. We kept trying to convince Hyrum that the lake was his or perhaps his shape during the weeks leading up to the trip. We were unsuccessful.


We ate good food. Ryan taught our kids the "Panda Bear Skit" and we performed it - with props! Sabrina and I played some Scandinavian fiddle tunes. We enjoyed riding on the Biddulph's jet skis. We played at the beach. We went bowling. We ate a 36" pizza at Firehouse Pizzeria. We saw some shooting stars (the Perseids Meteor shower). We played card games after dark. We slept in our Gigatent. We ate lunch at the Hyrum McDonald's - let me tell you how conspicuous it felt to keep calling Hyrum's name in the play land. We played Gibby Family Fear Factor, where Ryan actually ate 'bear guts', 'beef dinner', and 'bloody worms'. All in all, it was great to spend time with family!

Insolent Chocolate

Knowing how much I like European chocolates, Ryan brought me home a box:
of Ukrainian Luxury Handmade Chocolates. I don't even have to share...

Upon opening the box, I'm greeted with the usual "Our chocolates are the best" statement. And an interesting word usage pops out at me.


It probably works in Ukrainian, but somehow, I don't think they really meant to describe their superior chocolate making process as insolence.

from dictionary.com :

insolence [in-suh-luhns] -noun

1. contemptuously rude or impertinent behavior or speech.
2. the quality or condition of being insolent.

Ukraine

One Sunday when Leo was too young to go to church, I sent Ryan this email:

On Apr 25, 2010 12:57 PM, "Malauna Gibby" wrote:

Dedication and Open House Dates Announced for the Kyiv Ukraine Temple

The First Presidency of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints has announced dates for the public open house and dedication of the nearly completed Kyiv Ukraine Temple. The public will be invited to visit the Kyiv Ukraine Temple during an open house that will run from Saturday, August 7, 2010, through Saturday, August 21, 2010. The temple will be formally dedicated on Sunday, August 29, 2010.

Do YOU want to go?

Love, Malauna

Ryan sent this reply:
Date: Sun, 25 Apr 2010 15:32
Subject: Re: UKRAINE!!!

I believe that I do, but I will need to study and pray.

And I sent this one back to him:

From:	Malauna Gibby
Sent:	Sun 4/25/10 3:45 PM

What are you doing sending email during church? I Love YOU!

And that set the ball rolling...he contacted former mission companions and members that he worked with as a missionary in 1993-94. He bought a plane ticket, train tickets, reserved an apartment, and reserved a driver to meet them at the airport.

Returning to the bus stop after the temple dedication.

Now he has returned, so I can blog about his trip with pictures (and his help)!

School Days

Hyrum is attending Joy School this year, today was his first day! With 6 children in the class, I'll be teaching every 6 weeks. I'm excited for him to have his own school to attend. He is even more excited than me. Last night it was all he could talk about. He even made up a song called "I Love Joy School".

Hyrum's goal for this school year: Learn to play the drums (said as he's playing air drums)
My goal for Hyrum: Learn to write his name


Roderic is one happy kid, ready to start First Grade! He has become much happier over the summer. He still has some issues about respecting the personal space of others. During the last few weeks, he has decided that he CAN read with the family out of the Book of Mormon, although he only wants Mom's help on the big words.

Roderic's goal for this school year: Wants to be a really good listener
My goals for Roderic: Learn to tie his shoes [and swim trunks]; learn to ride a 2 wheeler


It is hard to come to terms with the fact that my baby is now in 6th Grade! And what a great girl she is. A month ago she decided that she should play her violin for 20 hours before the school year started, which was an hour a day, 5 days a week. She met her goal, so now we're in the planning stages for a party!

Sabrina's goal for this school year: Run a 9 minute mile
My goals for her: Keep a tidier room/desk; budget for school clothes

First day of School August 25, 2010

5 months

Leo is now 5 months old. He sleeps fairly regularly throughout the night. He has one tooth and a second one coming soon. He weighs about 16 lbs. He is an agreeable baby - puts up with a lot of rough love from his older siblings. His eyes are blue. His hair is flesh colored. He likes to smile. He will laugh if you tickle his belly and laugh at the same time. He holds toys in his hands. He is wearing the onesie that my visiting teacher made for him (although his second middle name is misspelled, it should say Ryker).

The View from Sunday

Sabrina and 2 of her friends played "Faith of Our Fathers" in Sacrament Meeting today - a violin piano trio. It sounded great, although a little soft. They were more used to the acoustics in my music room compared with the chapel.

Hyrum learned a very important lesson in church today:

He can be a friend to both his Dad AND Darth Vader!

After taking Toto on a long walk around our neighborhood, Roderic grabs an apple, climbs up into a stack of 4 chairs, puts his feet up on the table and says, "Ah, this is the life!"

Indeed, it is the life!

And in case you're wondering, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints now has 134 operating temples in the world. The newest is in Kyiv Ukraine!

Ryan Gibby and Gordon Roylance: at the Kyiv Temple to attend the Cornerstone Ceremony.

It's going to fall over

In July when we were all out of town (Ryan at Scout Camp and Malauna & kids in Utah), we had our floors redone. To prep for that, we had to take ALL of our pictures/decorations off of the walls in the entry, kitchen, dining, hall and music rooms. I decided it would be a great time to change things up in the main room. I don't have a recent before picture (you can see one from 2008 here), but here is the after:

The first thing Ryan said when he saw it (after more than a week of absolutely nothing on the wall), "It looks like it's going to fall over." Moments later, Hyrum copied and said, "Mom, it looks like it's going to fall over." Ryan laughed. Later that evening, Sabrina said, "Mom, it really does look like the wall is going to fall over."

They haven't said it in a while, so I guess they are used to it. Oh, and by the way, I love the look of my newly refinished floors (and the pictures on my wall)!

OUCH!

Leo has been slobbering quite a lot. I thought it was much to early for him to get teeth. I was wrong. His first tooth cut through on Thursday (8-26). 4 months, 26 days old. I am currently rethinking my stance on nursing him until he's 18 months old.

It's a good thing he is cute.

Sesame Street

Leo with his new Grover plush.

I have been a fan of Sesame Street for the last 30 years. I've encouraged each of my children to be a fan as well. I don't like all of the Muppets they've added over the years, or all of the sketches (Elmo's World, Baby Bear's Super Guy, Abby's Flying Fairy School, for example). I do like it when they have celebrity parodies (Norah Jones with Don't Know Y, Mel Gibson and Danny Glover with Lethal Weapon 3, for example.) This is a new one that cracks me up EVERY time I see it. I'd love to have it on my mp3 player. So far I've only found it as a video.

4 Months, and Growing

Leo is now 4 months old. He smiles on demand. Puts his hands in his mouth. Babbles and coos.

This morning was his check-up at the doctor's. He got two shots. He cried for the pain of the needle prick, but as soon as I picked him up, he was just fine. (Unlike all of my other children.)

Weight: 14 lbs 8.6 oz
Height: 26.5"
Head Circumference: 16"

Praying for Missionaries

For the past 2 years, my children have been praying, "And bless Uncle Colter on his mission." Every. Single. Prayer. That has been a hard habit for Hyrum and Roderic to break since my brother returned from his mission to Milwaukee, Wisconsin on July 9. They are still praying for him daily! (Although now it is "And bless Uncle Colter that he can drive home safe" because he recently went on a road trip with my parents.)


They will soon be praying for Grandma and Grandpa Gibby and Aunt Meggan who will be serving a mission in Rochester, New York. They enter the MTC on August 30. They're really excited about praying for them because we get to take care of their dog, Toto!

picture from May 2007 - Roderic loves Toto

Snack Time

I have it in my head that if I know how to make a delicious snack from scratch, I should do that instead of buy it in a package at the store. Now that I can make these Granola Bars, I have a hard time buying any. We eat them fast, before any pictures can be taken. I even allow them to be made in the summertime and heat up the house with my oven. Yes, they are that good.

Granola Bars

1 c. melted butter	1 t. salt
1/2 c. honey	1/2 c. coconut
1 t. vanilla	1 c. crisp rice cereal
2 T. dry powdered milk	5 c. quick oats
1 c. brown sugar	1/2 c. mini chocolate chips, peanut butter chips, mini M&Ms or dried fruit (raisins, craisins, blueberries, etc.)

Mix all ingredients, in a large bowl, until all of the oats are coated in the honey and butter. (Batter should be sticky.)

Spray a 9x13 or 11x14 pan and put mixture into the bottom of the pan. Spread the oat mixture into the bottom of the pan until flattened.

Bake at 350 for 20 minutes. Let cool for 10 minutes and cut into desired shape (rectangle). A pizza cutter works best. Store in sandwich baggies for a portable snack.

America's Pastime

I was reminded last night that I really enjoy watching live pro-baseball*. We took our family to see the Boise Hawks play the Spokane Indians using the tickets the kids earned by reading lots and lots of books this summer. We got to sit on the second to the top row on the 3rd base side. (I didn't have my fear of heights make itself manifest, but Ryan sure did watching Roderic and Hyrum sit close to the end of the row -- a puny chain link fence was the only thing between them and a drop of 100+ feet.) Roderic is showing off the popcorn we got and amazingly enough, you can see the runner approaching homeplate in the background. I don't know how I lucked out with the camera! We sang, "Take Me Out to the Ballgame"...my kids don't know what Cracker Jacks are. The Hawks won 3-0. What a great night.

*During the summers of 1994, 1995 and 1996, I worked as an usher at Franklin Quest field in Salt Lake City and got paid to watch the Salt Lake Buzz play. Usually I worked in the elevator lobby and heard the play-by-play on the speakers (except for the day when OJ was being chased down the freeway in SoCal), and I'd give breaks to the other ushers and watch the game from all over the field. Rained out games were fun and double-headers were brutal. I even got to sing the National Anthem with my sisters once (we sang it so slowly because we weren't used to hearing ourselves in the speakers) and once with Keturah and 2 friends. I first used a cell phone at this job - the phone was gigantic - the ushers were given them as a promotion for guests to be able to use while at the game. I used it a couple of times to call Ryan at BYU in 1996, but I don't remember ever being asked by a patron to use it. It was while working the ball games that I learned to love to put pickles and tomatoes on Polish dogs. YUM!

What would you do?

What would you do if you were teaching the Sunbeam class (3 & 4 year olds) and one of them had to use the toilet, really, really bad?

A Would you send the 4 year old to the bathroom by himself (not thinking about the ultra heavy doors he would have to open in order to get in and out of the bathroom)?

B Would you wander the halls of the church with the 4 Sunbeams looking for the dad (the mom teaches a different class), hoping that you'd find the dad with plenty of time for them to make it to the bathroom?

C Would you take the whole class to the bathroom (with another child saying that they also needed to use the toilet on the way there) while carrying your 2.5 month-old sleeping baby in a sling? And then when they enter the cavernous room and start shrieking, because it is an echo chamber (and what 3 or 4 year old doesn't like the sound of their own voice), would you start laughing as you try to quiet them and hurry them along on their business, knowing full well that this bathroom is separated by a thin accordion wall and a baptismal font from the Relief Society room and a lesson about Jesus Christ?

I went with option C yesterday as I substituted in Hyrum's class. When I was talking it over with Ryan, I told him that I had always pictured the scene in the new testament (Mark 10:13-16) when his disciples turned away the little children, that the children were walking quietly, with their arms folded towards the Savior. After my experience yesterday, I think they may have been running, boisterous, shrieking (because their voices sound cool bouncing off the walls), laughing children and the Savior wanted to enjoy their enthusiasm. (And remind us that it is OK to be like them.)

Enjoy a picture of my smiling baby!

Notice anything different?

Yep. My girl has braces. Most likely for the next 2 years. Right now she only has 6 brackets on her top teeth, but at the end of the summer, she'll get the full set. The orthodontist has said that her case is a 9 on a 10 point scale. Apparently, she has inherited teeth issues from both of her parents. What a lucky girl!

Overheard in the Dining Room

While coloring pictures/writing letters for Uncle Colter:

Hyrum: "Sabrina, I'm using your favorite color."
Sabrina: "That's not my favorite color."
Hyrum: "But it's PINK!"

Leo's Blessing

We had family in town last weekend for Leo's baby blessing. We got to see both sets of grandparents, my sister Shanda, my brother Carson, Ryan's sister Genette and 4 of her children, Melissa, Brad, Cameron, Matt, and Ryan's sister Meggan. Leo didn't fuss at all during the blessing and slept through the rest of sacrament meeting in Aunt Shanda's arms. Our kids were the quietest I've seen them in quite a while. Roderic fell asleep on Grandma Gibby's lap, Sabrina sat between Cameron and Matt, and Hyrum sat on Cameron's lap (he really liked it when Cameron helped him lead the closing hymn).

Before church, after he got in his blessing outfit, he did cry, though. He was really hungry. His blessing outfit (that I made in February) fit him much better at 9 weeks than it did at 1 week.

My mom wrote down the blessing for us. We had some disagreements on the order of what was said. It is cool to have it written down for us.