Whit's Blessing

In our faith we don't perform infant baptism because we believe babies are born perfect, but we do have a common practice of a Baby Blessing, where the father (or another male who is a righteous priesthood holder) gives him an official name and blessing. My baby's blessing was something I'd been looking forward to for years. The baby usually wears white, the dad holds him in a ring with other friends and family members in the front of the church congregation for the blessing and holds the baby up for everyone to see at the end, then proudly walks back to their seat and the leader of the congregation welcomes the baby as the newest member. It's sort of a right of passage for the parents (and the baby, of course).

Ben's mom stayed with us for the week leading up to Whit's blessing, then his dad, sister-in-law and her two daughters, my grandparents, mom, sister, and her children also came in to town to celebrate with us. We had a BBQ lunch before church started, complete with a special cake I made just for the occasion! 

Our family enjoying lunch before church started... 

My Opa, the man Whit is named after:

And a silly song I wrote for Whit to the tune of KIDS from Bye Bye Birdie... 

The whole group in our church building after his blessing: 

(Take a close look at this picture. Every single kid is doing something funny! I love it.)

The proud parents: 

We love you, Little Man!

And a BIG THANKS to all our family who traveled from far and wide to be here with us :)