Jensen's Blessing 2-3-13

I love squishy newborn babies that smell like heaven

And

I love spending time with family (specifically when family comes ALL the way to your house... such a treat!)

 

So I really enjoyed Jensen's blessing day because I got to do both of my favorite things

 

oh... and there were left over Christmas presents to be opened (since we didn't go to UT for Christmas they brought the presents in February) and really yummy food there too so it was a perfect day.  :)

McKay did a wonderful job with the blessing.  He blessed him to be a peacemaker (something we feel he is already doing a REALLY good job at) and to make friends and be an example to them.  Jensen only made one little peep during the blessing so he got a gold star for good behavior.  Adalyn on the other hand still had a nice rash all over her body and was still slightly sick with a cold from the week before so her day was a little rough.  But she loved all of the attention that she got from everyone and had a MAJOR meltdown when they all left that night.  So she only got a silver star. :)

This was my first large family gathering that we have hosted at our house and it went well even if there was not a lot of room to spread out.  So lets go over some of the details from the event...

Food:  Menu is always a hard thing to come up with.  Because lets be honest, lots of people come for the food.  I needed it to be something that didn't need a lot of last minute prep work because we would be at the church until right before the meal and it needed to be fairly inexpensive because we are on a budget (had to throw out my idea of this delicious smoked ham because it would have been like $80).  So I finally came up with the traditional soup and rolls that we all see a lot in the winter (especially here in Idaho).  The only problem with that plan was I am not so great at making rolls and I am scared of making soups.  Thankfully when I told my mom of my idea she kindly offered to make the rolls and pinterest helped me find a few soup recipes that seemed like they could get the job done.  In the end Michelle my SIL and my mom made rolls; Liz, my mom, and I made soups;and everyone else made desserts.  Everything turned out great (seriously everything went so smooth and tasted really good, but maybe that is just because it was fast Sunday...).  It was even my very first time making one of the soups but luckily it was a huge success.  It was gone in about 15 minutes and everyone said that it was delicious (I just had to take their word for it, because I wasn't quite fast enough to be able to try any) 

Click here if you want the recipe for the yummy Cream Cheese Chicken Chili that was a crowd favorite.

Blessing outfit: So here is little Jensen in his blessing outfit...

I looked ALL over Idaho Falls for a blessing outfit and only found only one at Dillards that was a little suit.  So not a lot of selection in our neck of the woods and it was only a few weeks before the big day so there wasn't really time to order one online.  But while I was looking around the mall for a blessing outfit I found this white/cream outfit at Childrens Place in their clearance section for $6.  It seemed like it would work and would be much more comfortable for him to wear than the suit.  I decided to buy it and it turned out to be perfect on him!  They also had these darling little shoes that matched it (my favorite part).  So in the end I think we got a pretty good outfit for a great price.  He was sure a cutie! 

Family: We had a great turn out and lots of support from our families.  My parents and all my sisters were able to make it...

From McKay's family we had all of his parents.  Two of his brothers and their families, his sister and her husband, and his other two sisters and brother. 

 

Also McKay's aunt and uncle and his two cousins that live in town here came. 

 

The day turned out really nice.  Unfortunately the night of his blessing Jensen finally came down with the cold that Adalyn had so lovingly passed on to him and he spent the next week coughing and is now just getting over it.  Luckily it never turned into anything serious! 

 

And it is like my mom said... the blessing is kind of the grand finale of all things newborn/ having a new baby.  So now that it is over it is on to normal life as a family of four.  We are excited to watch our new little man grow up and learn all about this life.  Have a great day!