Penny is blessed.

Sunday was one of the most beautiful days of my life. In the LDS Church, we bless our babies in infancy. It is an opportunity to give the child blessings and advice with love and inspiration. The baby is typically blessed in Church by the father and is assisted by family and friends. So Sunday we blessed little Penny and we were surrounded by dear family and friends. It was one of those days where I felt a tremendous amount of love from all around, especially Above.

I have kind of weird ideas about things sometimes, and for some reason I wanted to bless all my children at home. I felt like a baby blessing was a really intimate and special moment, and I felt awkward sharing that with so many people. So Mae was blessed at home and it was lovely. But after many conversations and considerations, we decided that we really should bless Penny at church. I'm so glad we did.

I also didn't understand why you would spend $$$$ on a dress or outfit for a blessing that they'd wear for one hour. Mae was blessed in a dress I found for $20, and I really didn't like it very much, but it was inexpensive so it worked (I had the same ideas about my wedding dress).

Awhile ago my mom let me borrow a beautiful tatted bonnet she wore as a baby. I've loved it immediately, and I really wanted my girls to wear it. Mae never wore it, but I was determined to have Penny wear it. I really wanted her to wear it when she was blessed, but I could never find an outfit that fit the style or color of the bonnet. I figured if I really wanted Penny to wear it, I'd have to make something. But I'm not really a seamstress, so I knew it would be a struggle.

My mom stepped in and offered to help me make a blessing dress. So we searched high and low for a pattern and fabric that we liked and would work. My mom was so patient with me being wishy-washy and indecisive. In the end, we found lovely dotted swiss fabric and a pattern that would work. My mom worked hard all week to sew Penny her lovely blessing dress. We embleshed it with lace from her wedding dress. We found the shoes that matched the bonnet that, as it turns out, were the shoes I was blessed in. And she had the bonnet. Her outfit was extremely lovely and very sentimental and special.

Here my mom and I are getting Penny dressed and ready for her special day:





With Jayson before the blessing:

We had lots of family in town--Jayson's parents came from Portland, his sisters from Provo, and his brother and his family from Lehi. Also, my parents came from Provo, my sister and her family from Long Beach California, my brother and his family from Ruby Valley Nevada, and my other brother and his family from Heber. We hosted them at our house for a breakfast before church. It was a pretty full house.


The blessing was beautiful. It's an incredible thing to see your infant taken in the arms of people who love her, and to hear the individualized and special blessings given to your sweet child. I feel, and I'm sure others do too, that it's a moment when you feel like you get a glimpse into the future of your child. You can see more closely who they will become.

Because of the nature of the blessing, I don't feel like I should share much of what was said. But Jayson did talk a little bit about her name--Penelope Kay and since I haven't shared why we named her that, I feel like I can now. Kay is Jayson's mother's middle name. We love and admire her tremendously, and hope that Penny will learn from her humility, kindess and thoughtfulness. Penelope is the wife of Odysseus in Homer's Odyssey and stays faithful to him (and fights off 108 suitors) for 20 years while he is off fighting the Trojan War. We hope she will develope the same fidelity.

After the blessing, we came back to the house and Penny had a photoshoot with her Pappa (J's dad). She was in an extremely good mood and Pappa took incredible pictures.





Here are the shoes (I love the peep toes!). Also, you can see some of the lace from my mom's wedding dress on the left.










Of course, Mae had to get in on the action. She really is a sweet older sister and she loves Penny.




and lastly, one of my favorite picture of the day...my girls.