Kayley's Blessing

Kayley's blessing day, November 2nd, turned out to be a wonderful day and we were so grateful for all of the support and help we received from family and friends. Thank you all so much for everything! We had so many people there to support us. It really meant so much to us!

Kayley started getting sick on the Wednesday before the blessing and then Thursday was the worst. She was really congested and kept coughing and sneezing. Every time that she sneezed tons of snot would come out, so I was constantly wiping her nose. I felt so bad for the poor little thing. She definitely wasn't her self. She would let out these sad little pathetic whimpers every now and then to let me know that she wasn't feeling good. It is no fun when babies are sick. The only thing that I like about it is that she wants to cuddle all the time, which I love. My first thought was that maybe it wasn't a good idea to still bless her that weekend and that we should wait for next month. But then I started thinking about all of the time my mom spent making her beautiful dress and paying the money to overnight it to us so that it would be here in time, and all of the people that were planning on coming and all those who had so willingly volunteered to help with the breakfast that we were going to have afterwards and I decided that we would just have to pray really hard that she would be able to get better by that weekend. Nate gave her a blessing on Thursday night and I know that that helped her a lot. I'm so grateful for the priesthood and especially to have such a wonderful, worthy husband in our home who can give my daughter and me blessings whenever we need them! She still isn't completely better but Heavenly Father blessed her the day of the blessing so that she didn't have a runny nose and she wasn't congested at all. It was such a blessing!!

She did so well during the actual blessing as well. It was during her nap time and she hadn't been able to fall asleep yet and so I was worried that she was going to be fussy, but she was a perfect little angel. She didn't even make a peep. For record keeping purposes, since I don't keep a journal, those that were in the circle were: Nathan, Michael, Erich, Robb, Jonathan, Trevor, Grandpa Hall, Dustin, Tyler, Uncle Ed Isaacson, Uncle Tom Dixon, Bishop Wayne Shelley, Derek Borsky and Ty Black. Nathan gave Kayley a beautiful blessing. He blessed her that she would have a keen desire to study the scriptures and share them with others. Also, that she would get sealed in the temple and if it was her desire, that she would serve a mission and spread the gospel to Heavenly Father's children. He blessed her that she would be an example to others and especially to her younger siblings. He also blessed her with health and strength throughout her life and that she will continue to develop and grow properly. Lastly, he blessed her to be a mother like the one she has, full of charity and love for others. (I told him that if he said that then I would give him a nice, long massage! JK!:) No, but in all seriousness, hearing him say that really made me want to be that kind of a mother and person and try to show more love and patience for those around me. I have soo much to learn and change, but one step at a time, right?! I'm sure that there were a few more things said, but that was all that I had time to write down during the blessing. Nathan and I also got the opportunity to share our testimonies that day. I wish that I could be like Nate and not get nervous and be able to express myself eloquently and say the things that I planned on saying before I went up to the stand, but that never happens. Even though I always get so nervous to share my testimony, I am so grateful after I am done because I truly believe that our testimony is strengthened when we share it. I am so grateful for the gospel and I know that it is true with all of my heart. I don't know how I could ever get through with being a mom without it.

We had a tasty breakfast at Robb's house after the blessing, muffins, biscuits, coffee cake, breakfast pizza, fruit and fruit dip, juice and milk. Thank you so much Robb for letting us use your house. And thank you all for helping with the breakfast. Here are a few pictures of Kayley's blessing day.

Kayley with her Uncle Johnny- Jonathan seems to have a knack for getting little babies to go to sleep. Kayley hadn't had a good nap all morning and she fell fast asleep on her Uncle Jonathan's shoulder. As you can see, she isn't wearing her blessing dress in this picture. Due to past experience, we decided that it would be best to change her so that her dress can be worn again by her sister. (No, I'm not pregnant, but I'm just assuming that hopefully, at some point, we will have another girl. :)
This was after our little photo shoot when we were changing her clothes. I love her big, blue eyes!

Kayley's sweet Grandma Hall bought her these cute little socks and booties and a beautiful white blanket. Thank you so much!! She always does so much for us.

My wonderful mother, Grandma Seal, made Kayley's blessing dress. It was beautiful!! These pictures don't do it justice. Her life is so busy with all of her responsibilities and so it made that much more to us that she would take time out of her crazy schedule to do this for us. Thank you Mom! We love you!

None of these pictures turned out as well as I would have liked, especially the ones that we took with all three of us. Either Nate and I look good and Kayley doesn't or vice versa. After a long morning, Kayley doesn't look super happy, but she looked beautiful. I wish that we would have been smart and taken them before we even went to church. Another lesson learned for next time!