The Baby Blessing

Here are some photos from the eventful day. Actually, it's kind of wierd, but Ruston and I aren't really into the whole big deal of it all. My wonderful friend Katie mailed us the blessing outfits her boys used, and so we put our boys in them, took them to church and blessed them.

Ruston did do a wonderful job with the blessings. . . but then it's a blessing, and doesn't that really mean that Heavenly Father has good things in store, not Ruston? Anyway, he did a good job, the blessings were fabulous, and it was nice to have Grandma and Grandpa Pack here (but mostly it was nice to have them here because Grandpa took Josh on his first fishing trip where the caught the usual . . . nothin'.)

Bring them up in the way they should go . . .

I think the scripture says something to the extent of, "Bring them up in the way they should go and when they are grown they won't depart from it". It's certainly not word for word, but boys, were banking on it. GO COUGARS!

As an FYI, they had their two month check up and Luke (on the left) weighs 13 lbs. 4 oz. and Zach weighs 12 lbs. 4 oz. They are just chunkin' it up, and I couldn't be a prouder mama.

My Other Hero

Okay, so the accommodations were terrible (a mattress in the living room), the work load overwhelming, and the food . . . actually that might have been the only redeeming aspect of this job. However, the memoreies instilled in those she served will never be forgotten. Thanks to a wonderful mother-in-law who cooked, cleaned, did laundry, and tended to all of our needs . . .

THANKS!!!

She was a life saver and we certainly couldn't have made it through the month of June without all of her efforts.

??? The Mystery Photo ???

What is Josh doing? Any guesses?

My Baby Brother's a Missionary!

Okay, not to steal the thunder from Andrew, but I have to mention that my sister's hair looks so cute! I haven't seen it since she cut it, and I LOVE IT! I hope she keeps it that way for a while. Also as you scroll down to the last picture you'll see her son Carter, and wow, he is so big. I'm always so amazed at how much everyone else's kids change.

Now to the real reason for this post.

It finally happened, my baby brother is headed on his mission. He got his call back in May and is headed to the Columbia, South Carolina mission. I wish he was going foreign, but don't most people hope to go somewhere exotic? Then again, I've never been to Columbia and I'm sure there are parts of Columbia that will be as foreign as anywhere outside of the US. I'm also jealous of my brother Jeff and his wife Andrea, who will be only hours away!

What a sharp looking guy! I like the suit, like the tie, like it all. You'll have to remind the girls in South Carolina to back off, your servin' the Lord.

Good luck baby brother! We'll send you cookies, pictures from the kids and keep you in our prayers. We hope these next two years are some of the best of your life. We love you and can't wait to see you when you get home.

Josh's Birthday

On June 30, our little Joshua turned 3 years old. In the last couple of months he's been to several birthday parties, so when his turn came, he was so excited. He loved the streamers we had up downstairs, and the balloons, and everyone who ever asked him what he wanted for his birthday all got the same answer, a water gun. If you asked him what he was going to do with it, he also gave the same answer, spray BROOKE! Because he was so insistent on the water gun, we did finally gave in. Brooke gave him two water guns for his birthday. One for him to use and one for her to defend herself. To my utter amazement, there have been no fights, no crying and no arguing about them.

Josh was also set on having a monster truck cake, and this is what we came up with. The basis for the idea came out of a book we have for cut-up cakes, and then we added a few things. Needless to say, Josh thought it was the coolest thing ever, and when it was all said and done, I was pretty impressed with my craftiness.