Bentley's Baptism

Whew-- I never go three weeks without blogging!  Sorry about the hiatus, things have been nuts around here.  First, my brother-in-law, Ian, came to stay with us.  And Rachael, my sister and his wife, has been coming down from New York on the weekends to see him (and presumably, us, too).  And then, most of the rest of my family also came for Bentley's baptism on the 11th.  Even if you don't count Ian (who is gone approximately 20 hours a day, so we barely know he's here), we have had two weeks straight of having company in our home!  It's been really fun, but as I always manage to do when my family is in town, I've been talking too much, not getting nearly enough done, and eating like a pig.  All my favorite things, actually, but I'm starting to feel like I'm drowning in stuff I should be doing.  Like vacuuming.  And grocery shopping.

And blogging, of course.


Anyway, Rachael left Wednesday afternoon (she comes back on Saturday, though!), so we're back to just having Ian for a couple days nights.  So I guess I better get some blog posts up of all the excitement before Rachael is back and I return to my doing nothing but talking & eating lifestyle!



So, most important of all, Bentley got baptized!  In the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, you have to be at least 8 years old to be baptized (this is the age where we figure you start to really understand the difference between right and wrong, and therefore can be held accountable for your actions; you can read more about it here if you like), so this is a day that's widely anticipated for kids and parents alike!  We'd been trying to prepare Bentley for months now and talking about what this means and if he's ready for this important step.  He even had to be interviewed by our bishop.  I got to sit in on the whole thing (about a half hour, which is a long time for a little kid to answer tough questions posed by a grown-up!), and was quite impressed by Bentley's answers and understanding.  This kid was ready!

What was also thrilling was how much family was able to come for the occasion-- on my side of things, the only people missing were Leah and her family.  She had given birth to her second son the week before, so that seemed like a pretty good reason to not be traveling.  Natalie's husband, Cameron, also had to be working, but other than that we had a full house (so to speak)! 

So here's the whole crew (sorry these are all slightly blurry-- I think one of the kids managed to get a fingerprint on Craig's camera lens or something):

And just our little (but growing!) family

Father and son

Proud Mama

And a cousin shot!  I have to point out Natalie's little baby Nicole and her adorable beret-- so cute!!!

Anyway, the actual baptism itself went beautifully.  The only hitch was that I couldn't get through my talk without crying.  A lot.  Blame it on the pregnancy, the lack of sleep, or the fact that this was a very important, emotional time for me...  But it was an incredibly sweet moment to watch my wonderful husband baptize my sweet little son.  And even more special to have so much family and friends gathered around in support.  (I was pleasantly surprised by how many of my friends got their kids up and dressed early on a Saturday morning to attend.)

What a wonderful day it was!

After the baptism, my mother-in-law provided doughnuts for everyone who had come, so we got to stand around with all our friends chatting and munching.  Then all the family went back to the house for brunch and naps.  And then we went to an early dinner at Maggiano's (thanks, Dad!).

This is kind of a terrible picture of everyone, but you get the idea-- 17 people all sitting at one table! 

So yes, eating and talking.  It's what I do best!