Several weeks ago our family had a very special weekend. I can’t believe writing about it has gotten so far away from me.

In our religion there’s a tradition to bless our newborn babies. We can pray for our children anytime, but a blessing is kind of a special way to give your child a name and present him/her. My husband blessed Lee Lee Sunday August 19th. The day before he baptized her big sister.

It’s also tradition in our religion for children to be baptized when they turn 8. For a while we had all debated if we wanted to follow that tradition, or if we thought eight was too young to decide what religion you want to claim, but ultimately Lil’ J, her dad and I felt you can’t go wrong following Christ’s example in getting baptized. She can cross other bridges if or when she gets there.

The ceremony was absolutely beautiful. Lil’ J was surrounded by family, and the entire program involved all of her relatives who came out to celebrate. Her aunts, grandparents and parents.

Lil’ J wore a baptism dress my little sister Kimberly wore when she was baptised. She had several offers to get a new one of her own but she LOVED this one.

Lee Lee wore Lil’ J’s blessing dress that my mother in law sewed. Again, I toyed with the idea of getting her a new one, but we saved it this long and figured it would be special to share. I doubt either of them will fight over it, but just in case I’ll hang onto it to lend out some day.

The weekend was full of so much light and joy. It was another powerful reminder of how much I love my family.

I took so many pictures and I’m just going to dump them a bunch now and caption them… Old school blogging style.

Our new little family of 5 posing for a picture after Lee Lee’s baby blessing.

My in-laws came to visit for a few days, and Big T and grandpa managed to watch all 5 Jurassic Park/World movies together (in reverse order). Notice the baby asleep in his arm too.

Grandma was showing the kids some pictures from Hawaii on her iPad. They got to see some of the spots where Jurassic Park was filmed.

My grandparents visited from Las Vegas. Here my grandpa was having a discussion about “critters” with my kids. A critter is any kind of animal.

Baby snuggles with grandma Nan.

Grandma Nan has the touch, and Lee Lee fell asleep while she was rocking her. She was explaining some of grandpa’s silly ways to the kids.