announcing & blessing callum

let's do a little imagery exercise...

imagine you're walking out your front door.

via

you head toward your mailbox, open it's door to find an envelope, you tear it open to see this:

was that fulfilling for everyone? good. i got as far as designing these, but printing/mailing them fell to the wayside. 

now that everyone has successfully received their announcements, onto the blessing!

these types of days are already incredibly emotional for me (read Hayes' blessing day for proof), but after the car accident saturday, i was feeling especially grateful for this little guy's health and safety. 

he (and i) was 100% protected by angels that day, and to see 12 of our friends & family circled around him, rocking him gently while Russ gave him a name & a blessing was really good for my heart.

some highlights of the blessing were:

• hearing that Cal laid sprawled out hands over his head - just relaxing while the blessing was offered.
• Russ blessing Cal with "a soul that can't be tampered with"
• Russ talking about fatherhood and what a privilege it is and how he'll teach him everything he knows.
• the want & ability to serve a mission.
• marrying a choice woman in the temple.

afterward we headed to our house for breakfast!

bagels & schmear 

(i special ordered the bagels from Macey's, i reccomend. delicious, and less expensive than other local alternatives.)

build your own parfait station

my mom lovingly made a pan of ham & brie strata

and stuffed french toast with ham & cheddar. delicious.

we all need the stuffed french toast recipe. 

 a couple that i ruined turning black & white. will someone share their tricks with me?

i tried to get one of all the guests, but if you were missed i apologize, we love you still!

my sister Bethany, who is invaluable. 

she is known to just show up to watch the boys so i can shower.

or start unloading my dishwasher while we're supposed to be watching food network.

or just text and say, i have a couple hours can i get some groceries for you?

she set up everything for the blessing so i could enjoy it & let me borrow her awesome cardigan.

loves my boys like her own.

knows that i don't often ask for help, so she just helps anyway.

see? invaluable.

 sweet, walking!, Lola her little chiclet teeth kill me.

my firstborn Hayes. he ran around like a wild man pretty much unsupervised for 6 hours.

i see why parents buy those backpack/leashes.

our family & Pip & Pop who drove down from Idaho.

a sweet little candid i caught of Russ and Cal.

it's days like these that make me fall even more in love with my husband.

and finally, just because i was curious, here are Hayes and Cal on their respective blessing days.

pretty twinnish, right?