My daddy came. On another note … we blessed Ray on Sunday. Both were phenomenal events. Daddy flew in on Saturday night and left Monday around noon. It was too short.
We blessed Ray at church on Sunday and I don’t know if I can adequately express the rush of emotion I felt. It came suddenly, all at once right before they blessed him. They announced we would be having a baby blessing and invited all those who were invited to participate in this blessing to come forward. It was right then, as I stood up on the end of the aisle, picked Ray up from his carseat and handed him to Daniel. I sat down and watched Daniel carry our sweet little Ray, all in white, up to the front of the chapel with my daddy following. My eyes filled with tears and a rush of emotion overcame me as I looked on to see Ray surrounded by so many good, priesthood holders. Our friends are good men. My daddy is a good man and my Daniel is the best man. And there was little Ray being craddled in the midst of them. The scene just overwhelmed me.
I hope Ray is influenced by these men. These men who hold the priesthood power – the power of God. My favorite scriptures in the Book of Mormon are in Alma 48:11-18, especially verses 17 and 18. They describe Moroni and what kind of man he was. I believe I married a man like Moroni and I want my boys to be men like this too. I’m glad they have such amazing examples all around them.
As for the Dad visit, we didn’t do a whole lot. We just hung around, ate food and talked. I had gotten homemade pasta and a ton of basil at the Ann Arbor farmer’s market Saturday morning, so I made pesto for Sunday dinner. Our friend, Bobby, came by Sunday night, had some brownies and ice cream with us and we all chatted into the evening. On Monday morning, Dad asked if we could go to Target and get a lego set for Noah and Liam (probably because they had been talking about their favorite lego sets all weekend with Grandpa). So we did. And the boys felt like it was Christmas, in August 
It was a fantastic weekend. I loved every minute. And it makes me feel grateful. It also makes me sad, because I sure miss my dad now. All in all, a great weekend.
As soon as Grandpa walked in the door from the airport Liam ran up and hugged his legs and exclaimed, “Grandpa! I missed you!”
This is one of my favorite pictures. Because it shows daddy laughing.
Sunday morning, before Ray had his white Sunday clothes on.
Here are all the after church photos:
seriously? … how beautiful is this? ah, my little men.
Happy tears reading this.