What a whirlwind of a weekend!!

Justin's 8th birthday was Sunday and we had quite the packed weekend to celebrate!

On Friday (ok, technically Saturday...but we'll get to that part of the story in a minute), Grandma Pam flew in to Omaha to be with our family for quite a special weekend. She was supposed to get in around 3pm....but after her flight from Fresno to DFW ended up landing in El Paso, because of thunderstorms and low fuel, she ended up not getting into DFW until 10pm. We were on the phone with her and she got in this MASSIVE line of people, all trying to rearrange their flights and she decided to call on the phone at the same time, to see if maybe the 45 minute phone wait would be faster. We saw online a 10pm flight that was delayed to leave until 11:30pm and we figured it would be a long shot to get her here that night; we figured it would be noon the next day to get her in. But sure enough, the phone WAS faster, terrible for all those who were waiting in line, and then those trying to go to Omaha got put on standby--there were I think almost 30 people on standby, what a joke! She apparently got the last seat. WHEW! So she got to our house at 2am. We were glad so we were able to spend time with her the next day though!

On Saturday, my family came (Mom and Dad, Kara, and Matthew) and we were able to hang out. We decided to take them to Omaha activities that they hadn't yet tried out, so we did the drive-through safari. We were able to hike up (and it WAS a hike!) to "try" to see the wolves (we never found them, but DID get some good exercise). All I have to say is that this area of the great plains is certainly NOT all flat, and when we did the mini hike (those of us who braved it) we were huffing and puffing. (note to self, wanting to run a 5K this year? ha!)

Anyway, we visited Red Robin for dinner and Justin was sung to, which is always funny to watch him get put on the spot. The waitress was sweet and brought all the kids at the table ice cream. Justin used the handle of the spoon to get every last bit of fudge out of the bottom of the glass!

Sunday was Justin's 8th birthday! We did our traditional donuts the day before since his birthday was on a Sunday, but there were plenty left over for Sunday morning too. Justin was up and helping me (well, more like watching me prepare for the afternoon dinner). I wanted him to go upstairs though so I could do our birthday tradition of hiding pennies under his breakfast plate...and he didn't want to go upstairs and was starting to have a mini tantrum. I told him that he had to go upstairs and while he threw a fit and went upstairs, I quickly hid the 8 pennies. During breakfast when he found them, the look on his face was priceless (I wish I had a picture). I told him, "You see why I wanted you to go upstairs now???" Sheepishly he said, "Oh yeah, I forgot about pennies. Ooops!" Still I had to laugh.

Sunday morning we had Carson's baby blessing in sacrament meeting. In addition to my dad, it was nice to have those in our ward who have become like family to us over these 8 years in the circle. It's given me a lot to reflect on, the idea of blooming where we're planted and what a ward family really means to those who move away from family.

We went home and had an early dinner of chicken/rice casserole, green salad, rolls, and fruit. Yum. Adam gobbled his up and then ran back to the church to fill up the font, which we were told takes 2 to 2 1/2 hours to fill. We discovered that the reason it takes so long is that the hot water comes out really slow, but if one wanted to have an icy baptism, it would probably fill in less than an half hour! Yikes. So Adam set things up and we came back before it started.

The baptism was nice. Every member of my family there participated in some way. Both grandmas gave great talks that Justin I think will remember. And Adam confirmed Justin. We had many sweet people there from our ward. It was a great day for our family. It's hard to believe that I have an 8 year old already. As Carson wore the little blessing outfit that all 3 boys wore for their blessings, I looked at it and thought of Justin. It really does seem like yesterday that he was Carson's size and wearing that little outfit. I guess it makes me appreciate the time I have with my kids. I love my boys. I'm proud of my Justin for being brave and being baptized, even though he is quite afraid of water right now. Because I know how strongly he feels about this fear right now, I know it took a lot of courage for him to trust his daddy to put him under the water. He had lots of little ones watching him and I know he was being a good example. (Note: Spencer slept the entire baptism. I had mixed feelings about this. Of course I wanted him to watch his brother be baptized, but I think he really needed that sleep so that we could have a peaceful, quiet baptism. So in the end, I think it was a blessing. There will be plenty of other baptisms to attend. It's ok. Justin is an example to him in so many other ways.)

I love these little boys. I'm glad that Justin didn't mind sharing the day with his brother for Carson's blessing. Justin is a sweet young man who is turning into one very smart kid who knows his scriptures. It truly amazes me how thoroughly he knows the Book of Mormon. We love you Justin and are glad Heavenly Father sent you to be in our family!

Pictures to come in the next post....