Blessed

This weekend was Patrick's Blessing. The weekend started Thursday afternoon when George's parents arrived from Utah. It was the first time we'd seen them since we visited them for Thanksgiving back in 2007! The kids took to them right away, and Patrick didn't mind being held by them. We went out to dinner at Red Lobster and the kids did great. They loved the biscuits (as did I!) and Errol ate almost all of his popcorn shrimp.

Friday was a gorgeous, sunny, breezy day. We went for a walk around the lake and took the kids to the park in the afternoon (Raia stayed home from school due to a runny nose). When we got there we realized that nobody had brought their cameras, so I walked the two blocks between the park and George's work, picked up the car, and made a quick trip back home to get the camera. I got a lot of cute pictures!





Errol ran himself out, and actually *asked* to go home. Completely unheard of! He LOVES the park and running around; he was so tired though. He fell asleep as soon as we got home, even though he'd been willing to walk home with his grandma and grandpa before he saw that I was going home in the car. Raia was too tired to walk home too, although she didn't fall asleep.

That evening George's parents watched the kids while George and I went on a date. We saw Monsters Vs. Aliens, and it was pretty cute! I regretted eating dinner beforehand though, because George insisted on getting the huge tub of popcorn, plus two "medium" drinks (more like LARGE! those things were huge!), and we'd also picked up some candy at Safeway beforehand. Too much junk food!

Patrick did amazingly well while we were gone, hardly fussing at all, and both Raia and Errol looked like they'd had some fun when we got home.

On Saturday morning my parents arrived, and so did the rain. We stayed inside and chatted and watched the kids goof off and take advantage of all the extra attention. My MIL and I took the kids to check out the brand new Big Lots that just opened up in my town (didn't look like it was fully stocked yet, which was a bummer), and for dinner I made a big ham dinner, since the grocery store had spiral sliced whole hams on sale for 99cents a pound! I got a nice big 20lb. one that provided lots of leftovers. :)



Sunday was church and the Blessing, and someone dropped the ball and didn't bring out a microphone for George to use during the Blessing. I didn't hear a word of it. :( But George told me afterwards that he'd asked Father in Heaven to Bless Patrick with the "strength of his convictions" and that his faith would not be shaken by those who would wish to cause him to doubt; also that he would have the health and strength to fulfill his mission here on earth. In the circle for the Blessing were George, his dad, my dad, two members of the Bishopric, and Thi, my friend Jamie's husband. They used to live here, but moved away two years ago. Thi stood in the circle for Raia and Errol's Blessings, and I was so happy that he was able to stand in this one as well, and it was so great seeing Jamie again! We hadn't seen them in over a year. We're going to look into visiting them sometime this summer. I really miss having them in town. :(

After church we went home for lunch (ham sandwhiches ;) ) then it was time for everyone to go their seperate ways. Monday morning Raia asked when her grandmas and grandpas would be coming back over, but I had to tell her it wouldn't be for a while. :( That's always the hard part about family visits. My kids LOVE their extended family and don't quiet understand why they can't come over at any time, or why we can't go there. Maybe someday we'll be able to live closer to family.