Mariah's Baby Blessing

The day after Johnny and Ashley were married, we finally did Mariah's baby blessing. She's now almost 8 months old and quite a chub, so she definitely didn't fit into her original newborn blessing dress. My mom was kind enough to buy her a new one. We did the blessing at my parents home, with most of my family still there, which was nice. I told a few stories about Mariah's namesake, Ann Mariah Bowen Call, her 4th great grandmother, who was a strong pioneer woman. It was really wonderful to have my grandmother there, who is Ann Mariah's great granddaughter. Anyhow, Rob gave her a beautiful blessing, although she squirmed the whole way through. We couldn't even get a decent picture (as you will see below) because Mariah was so squirmy. Now I know why people do baby blessings when babies are newborns -- they can't squirm so much.

Forget the pretty photos, just put me down Daddy!

Smile for the camera girls!

Yeah, sure, mom.

Alright, we got this one. Four generations together!

Ha ha! That was great fun!

John's and Ashley's Wedding

I made the long trip back to the U.S. again (alone with the girls) for the wedding of my youngest brother, John. The plane trip was about a 24 hour ordeal -- I took a 2 1/2 hour train to Zurich, then hopped on a plane to Atlanta and another to Salt Lake. Needless to say, the girls hardly slep a wink until the very last leg of the flight and I could feel myself getting progressively sicker and sicker with a cold going without sleep. Pretty exhausting, but worth it! Rob arrived the next day (I had to come earlier because I couldn't risk missing the wedding dinner.) John's fiancee (now wife) Ashley is a wonderful person. She did a beautiful job planning the wedding (in less than two months!) and even put thought into little details for the nieces and nephews. Johnny is a lucky guy and she's a lucky girl -- I love my little brother and I'm excited to have Ashley in the family.

Rachel, Margaret and I sang together at the wedding dinner. Actually, Rachel, who has a gorgeous voice, was not going to sing, but I was so sick that I almost completely lost my voice and I needed her to provide some volume. I can't remember when all three of us sang together before. Although I sounded like a frog (and felt so too), it was wonderful to sing with my two sisters.


Here we are, the entire family (except kids) just after their marriage ceremony.



Me with all my siblings -- Ken, Rachel, CK, John, me, Jane, Margaret.

COUSINS! Both girls were thrilled to have cousins around. Here are all 10 of them together.

Olivia was a great friend to Anna Claire.

Anna Claire and Peter quickly renewed their friendship -- and their mischief making together.

Come on, Peter, let's' go!

The three flower girls: Anna with Gretel and Gracie.

The four babies (all within 6 months of age): Mariah, Eleanor, William, Noah.

August 2007 - Summer fun!

We live in a fabulous community -- especially in the summer time. We go for walks along the lake where we admire the sailboats and feed the ducks and swans. (The swans can be nasty and aggressive -- one attacked Mariah during a picnic on the lakeshores.) There is also a wonderful community pool just down the road. It has two shallow pools for Anna to swim in. We bought her a little life jacket so that she can splash around to her heart's content when I'm dealing with Mariah. Mariah likes to sit on the shallow steps and splash around too!

Mariah also tends to grab anything and everything nearby. She will NOT sit still for diaper changes, not even for a second, which can be quite dangerous. Poor Anna Claire -- whether it's her helmet (on bike rides) or her life jacket -- Mariah never lets her alone. Then again, Anna does her share of tugging at Mariah.

Mariah has really developed quite the personality. Now that she can sit, crawl and pull everything down, she is showing her wild side. She loves to get into splash fights with Anna in the tub. She splashes and laughs almost continuously throughout her entire bath. I have to be the spoilsport when I take her out.

Watch this Mommy!

Big splash!

Ha ha ha! Wasn't that great!

Rob has been traveling a lot this summer, but when he's home, the girls go crazy over him. Daddy is the greatest!

When Daddy is not home, I try to do fun activities with the girls, like swimming or picnics along the lake. We usually do a long walk along the lake and then picnic at a grassy beach spot.

Anna Claire with her trusty bucket and sunglasses.The view of our little town of Morges from our picnic spot.