We picked the worst weekend in Eugene's climatic history to bless Anna (December 8th). Temperatures dropped to near freezing and it snowed six inches the day Nick's mom flew in and the day before my family was supposed to drive down. Plus, people in Eugene are not mentally or emotionally equipped for snow. Everyone was freaking out about how much snow there was (not that much) and since nobody plows the roads were relatively bad, but not as horrible as everyone lamented. That said, everyone made it, our ward's church wasn't canceled and we were able to bless our sweet, perfect Anna.
But first we had to play in the snow a little.
(I don't know about other Eugenians, but we wear our rain boots in the snow)
Luckily Grandma J made it in time to help Ev build her first (and possibly only) Oregon snowman.
Green goldfish eyes, carrot nose, moss mouth.
We went to see Frozen after building our Snowman. Ironically, Grandma J brought a stuffed Olaf with her to give to Ev not knowing it would be snowy and frozen in Eugene.
Snuggle buddies.
Despite the weather, it was a perfect day.
Anna looked beautiful.
8 weeks old.
She definitely got her fair share of love and kisses on her special day.
She wore the same blessing dress as Ev. I love it. Its simple and adorable.
Aunt Chelsea calls this face, "Baby stroke."
Don't take it personally Anna.
My beauty.
So it ended up being a rather crazy morning. Nick had to go early to church to help shovel walks, etc. so we didn't get a family picture before church and after church when we tried (more on this later) it ended up disastrous. Nick joked that we could "stage" the blessing again so a better family pic could be had, but we both looked at each other knowing that was never going to happen.
My Dad adores his grandchildren. Sometimes I feel sort of jealous that my kids get to have him as a Grandpa, but then I realize that I have him for a Dad and I'm overwhelmed with gratitude.
Here is the family photo. I'm gonna be real here and say it was SUPER hot in our church building and I basically had sweat tacos before sacrament was over which is why I'm looking fabulously greasy. Ev, doing her thing. Anna, adorbs. Nick, not wearing pants - well he has pajama pants on. He came home and immediately changed (its why we love each other) out of his church clothes before we could take a photo.
These two played/fought all afternoon.
Sean was able to help bless Anna, which was really special for our family. We adore Sean and Katie and we are so grateful that they were able to be apart of Anna's day.
And a special shout out to the Grandmas for basically cooking an entire meal for 14 people in my tiny kitchen while I was teaching my primary class. It was so wonderful to have everyone there to support Anna. She doesn't know it yet, but she is so loved.
Nick did such an incredible job with her blessing. It was lovely. Nick said that when he spoke Anna's name in the blessing she looked right at him and smiled.
Anna was blessed with a sound mind to excel educationally, the knowledge that Heavenly Father is real, the ability to recognize her talents, spiritual strength to make temple covenants, humility and a gracious heart among some other beautiful things. I was so touched that the wording 'gracious heart' was used because when I was pregnant with her we were told she had a hole in her heart at our 20 week ultrasound. We prayed that the hole would heal before she was born and at our 28 week cardio echo, we were told that the hole was basically gone. She really does have a tender spirit about her. She is such a sweet, content baby and I'm so proud to be her mom. I can't wait to watch her grow and develop into the wonderful girl I know she is.
We love you Anna Shea!
