Kai's Baby Blessing

On Sunday, June 7th, was our little Kai's baby blessing. Boyce administered a beautiful blessing, and close friends and family joined us. Thanks to our friend Joe who transcribed for us, below is the blessing Boyce gave:

"Bless him with continued health and strength so he can grow up to be a strong young man spiritually and physically. Bless him so that he will have the gift of discernment between right and wrong and to be an example to siblings, peers, and family members. Ask thee to bless him so he will be drawn toward the light and toward things that are good. Choose good friends and surround himself with lots of people. Bless him with the gift of serving others and reaching out to those around him. Bless him so that at the appropriate time he can make the appropriate covenants: receive the Priesthood, serve a mission, take a young woman to the temple. Bless [him] with the gift of music so he can feel the spirit and touch the hearts of others and himself."

We were blessed to have Aunt Megi and family join us for the special weekend, and that Sunday, Boyce's sweet cousin Camie and her family, and Boyce's other cousin Lynn and her family came, along with our good friends Jenn and Tim Hodnett, and my dear friend and former Ancestry.com colleague Cheryl Gurney came, too. Also our nephew Chase happened to be here that weekend and joined us for our special day. Our cute neighbor Shellee joined us for dinner afterward as well.

After the ward block, we came home to our house and Boyce quickly put hot dogs on the grill. We decided to keep things simple and just do hot dogs. The weather was beautiful and we ate outside. Much to my chagrin, I didn't get any family pictures that day.

We are so grateful to have been blessed with our Kai Joseph. As I write this, he is 4 months old, healthy, happy, and absolutely full of life. He loves to play with us and is as smiley as can be.

Isn't he the handsomest EVER in his blessing attire? Thank goodness Megi snapped these couple of photos!

Lynn might kill me for posting this, but darn it, it's the only picture I have of the food!

Cute Camie and Fam!

Nephew Chase even surprised us being in town that weekend, so he joined us!

Kai-Man, Butterflies, and Superheroes, Oh My!

Here are some cute pictures that simply capture life lately!

Cute littles when Kai was about 2 months old.

Tummy time is a family activity.

So Boyce did the cutest thing with the kids in May. He bought a butterfly kit for them and they got to watch the caterpillars get bigger and bigger, form chrysalis's, and then hatch into monarch butterflies. They had so much fun!

Here are some pictures the evening we released them!

Side note: Grace chose her outfit exclusively. Just had to throw that out there.

This shot was taken at 2 months wearing our favorite newborn outfit. Right after, he graduated to 3-6 months clothing.

2 months and getting more interactive!

As you can clearly see, Grace is nursing her baby. :)

More family tummy time, of course.

For Memorial Day, we went up to Salt Lake and visited Boyce's grandparents' and cousins' graves. It was neat to show the kids the beauty and reverence of a cemetery and also hopefully begin to understand the meaning of that holiday.

Don't mind the nose picker to the left. :)

Some Daddy-Kai time!

Have I ever mentioned lil' Connor is going to be a great musician one day? I am only half joking...this kid is a GREAT singer (he got his daddy's pipes) and loves to sit and play the piano. 

More of little Kai Bird:

And we are going to wrap up with some superheroes!

I am not clever enough to come up with a caption that really suits this picture. Wow. Just wow.

In case you can't tell, this is a Butterfly-winged superhero whose special powers include watering the flowers!

And the final superhero pictures are my personal faves, from a few months back actually. I call them the "Half-Clad Masked Bandits" myself:

Ah, love these kiddos of mine!

Grace's Ballet Recital from May

Wow. Remember how I have three small children and am so exhausted by the end of the day that I can't even fathom blogging? Yup, that's pretty much where I'm at right now. But here's one, anyway...back in May little Gracie performed in her end-of-year ballet recital. It was so darn cute. :) She LOVES dancing, I tell ya'.

Below is some footage from the performance.

Yup, that's my girl with the stuffed animal on her head. :)

Grace and her friend Gabby.

Contemplating the seriousness of 4-year-old ballet. It is serious business, people.

Me and My Girl! Love her!

More of My Kai

Here are some more pictures of my beautiful little Kai Man (or Kai Bird, as I call him sometimes, which Boyce protests). He is my heartiest and heaviest eater. I tell you what, this little guy eats ALL the time. Or so it seems. He is growing like a weed, too. About a week ago, so at 5 weeks, he was 9 lbs. 8 oz. At birth, he was 7 lbs. 15 oz., and had lost 5% of his birth weight out of the hospital, if that gives you any idea of his growth rate. Boyce and I think he may end up being our tallest and chubbiest baby. :)

Grace and Connor love their baby brother, I tell you. But they are definitely taking awhile to adjust to Mommy and Daddy devoting time to Kai. Boyce and I are trying to be as patient as we can and reassuring that we both love them just as much. :) But let me just say, some days have been hard. Whew!

I love this picture of Connor and Kai. My friend Alicia made Kai that cute blanket!

 These pictures below were taken a couple of weeks ago when he was about 1 month old. At first, I thought he was a mirror image of Gracie as a newborn, but he is definitely growing into his own look. And I love that he is keeping that dark hair!

Grace often puts her babies down for tummy time, etc., when Kai is doing the same. She has gotten very good at swaddling her babies and putting them in the bassinet and bouncer as well. :)

Today is Mother's Day. I'm pretty sure I am the luckiest mom in the whole world, with these three sweet babies of mine.