Carma's blessing day

This ridiculously sweet girl was (finally...) blessed in church at the end of September:

And in keeping with 'only daughter' tradition, she wore the same blessing dress that I wore in 1985 (pictured on the left) and that my mom wore back in the 50's (no picture - I think they didn't have cameras back then??).

 We gathered my brothers + families for some pre-church pictures with my dad:

 What a bunch of really swell people! Things to note: I love that my two youngest children are looking to the left and Sam's two oldest children are looking to the right. It's possible there were loads of people around to keep an eye on... Also, Will is highly ticklish and Grandpa found juuuust the right spot!

 Two more versions of the picture real quick. Jack's sticking out his tongue in this one, which rarely leads to anything good:

 And I love that in this one, he's checking to make sure I see that his tongue is out. If Jack had his way, our eyes would be locked in a permanently mutual gaze of adoration, a bit of control (on his part), and acquiescence (on my part).

 Right after sacrament meeting, we headed back outside for some more pictures before attending our other meetings. Jack thought it best for his image to stand as far away from the rest of us as possible...

Will thought it best to actually smile for a picture really nicely (for once in his cute six-year-old life!) right at the beginning of the little photo shoot, aka when I was still whippin' my hair.

Of course, Jack coincided his one-and-only-smile of the day with the shot where Will is ... ?? I don't even know - checking Clyde's heartbeat? Preparing to strangle him?

 

 Here you can tell that someone helpfully suggested Will move his hands, leading to this Frankenstein-ian pose and Will surely thinking "Okay! I moved my hands! Suckers!"

 

 At this point there was a mini-mutiny and Clyde and Will both attempted to bail...

 

 only to be called back for one more shot in which Jack and I look like a dummy/ventriloquist duo... so that's not awkward at all.

 Whatever, we got this picture and we're going to roll with it:

Next up was Izatt extended family:

 Don't mind Will's despair, he'd just been told he couldn't go inside to Primary yet. He like, really, loves Primary.

 

 My side with Grandma Pam!

 This was, arguably, our best shot. 

Here's a couple from along the way:

I don't even know who looks sadder in this picture - Will or Isaac. I feel like they both have decent future careers as Newsies on the streets of NYC: 

"(cough, cough) Buy me last pape, mista?"

Fun fact: Carma really owes her existence to peer pressure. Hazel and Jack and Isaac were all born within a five month stretch a couple of years ago, so when my brothers announced their wives' pregnancies within a couple of months of each other, I figured we might as well make it another trio:

 And here are the sweet little girlie cousins! L to R: Eden with Leila Jade (born in December), me with Carma June (born in May), and Terri with Emiko Jane (born in October). They're going to be best friends and call each other by their coincidentally-similiar middle names and it's going to be the cutest thing ever.

 This was such a special, spiritual day for us - Carma is the last baby for our family, and we're so thrilled to end on such a sweet note (someone remind me of this sentiment when she's a teenageer, eh?). The blessing that Chuck gave her was so nice and Chuck and I were both able to bear our testimonies during the meeting and share our thoughts and hearts. Thank you so much to all of the extended family that traveled and sacrificed to be here with us!

 We sure love you cute girl! Thanks for coming to our family!

Clyde's baptism day

This wee handsome gentleman was baptized at the end of September:

(Chuck and Clyde on their way to the baptism)

Clyde started the day with a bang, going on the Circle of Torture ride (possibly not its real name) at Linder Farms, where my dad sponsored a couple of hours of fun for everyone that morning:

Seriously, this looked awful but apparently Chuck and Clyde liked it. Nutters.

The corn mazes were a popular attraction, as always:

 And cousins from both sides came together for a fun barrel ride. Don't ask me why Jack was fine riding solo here but insisted I climb in with him the following week when we went back...

The tower of haphazardly piled tractor tires enticed the climbers amongst us:

The cute Blue kids had a great time trying the zip line and ... racing tractors??  

(Can you tell I'd left by that point and am just stringing this together from the pictures?)

Dad and Sam's fam...ily... checked out the petting area and the pony rides. How cute is Bailey the Cowgirl?

Both grandpas got a chance to try the pumpkin catapult; my dad and Clyde combined their strength with some pretty far-flung results :).

And then it was time for the baptism!

Just Clyde and his friend Deion from our ward were baptized that day, which made it nice and quiet and personal. The boys had lots of support from our ward: Brother Trent Swallow (from the Bishopric), Sister Shelly Swenson (primary president) and the Swenson family, Sister Maria Horsewood (primary presidency) and Brother Cade Horsewood (ward missionary/Cub Scout leader), Sister Lois Beesley (former primary teacher), Brother Rich York (current primary teacher), the Haws family, the Nelson family, Brother Bradley, and Elders Wilson and Lagunza. (Their wonderful Wolf leader Sister Kathy Eckert was so sad that she'd missed it, and gave Clyde and Deion special 'baptism presents' the next week!)

We were grateful that so much family could be there as well: Grandma Pam, Uncle Sam (who spoke about the Holy Ghost after the baptisms), Aunt Terri, Bailey, Hazel, Miko, Grandpa Braden, Grandma and Grandpa Izatt, Aunt Melissa, Mallory, Courtney, George, Lily, Uncle Lee, Aunt Aleesha, Bri, Eli, Aunt Amanda, Uncle Steve, Anna, my Aunt Iris and Uncle Larry, and my cousin Ryan and his two daughters Kara and Rachel.

We took some family pictures afterwards, much to everyone's enthusiasm. Jack was particularly thrilled!

 Izatt side! Everyone but Kevin (had to work that weekend) and baby James (made his debut about three weeks later). The three above shots are what I got, the one below was from Melissa's camera/editing skills :).

  We waited to get pictures with my dad until the next day at Carma's blessing when Quinn and Eden could be in them, but here's my side of the family with my mom:

 And one more, because I like how devious my two middle children suddenly look - Jack is possibly about to snap Chuck's poor neck and Will is rubbing his hands together, thrilled with whatever plot he's about to unleash. I sleep with one eye open, I tell ya... (just kidding, I have a teething baby and a naughty vampire-of-a-preschooler; I don't sleep!!)

And here's just our family. I almost stuck 'little' in there but suddenly that doesn't fit - we have four kids! Multiple genders! (well, I mean, just the two...) A son old enough to be baptized! We're legit, yo!

 

It was a great day to be with our sweet Clyde Monster as he took such an important step. We love you buddy!!