If I had to classify Meredith’s blessing day as a movie genre, it would be a mix between a drama, comedy, and horror show.  Let’s just say I was almost in tears by the end of church… and not with spiritual tears!

Since her blessing was at 1 p.m., we had the morning and lunch to kill, which is usually fine, but trying to keep the twins occupied, food prepared, house cleaned, and not forgetting the baby in the mix made for a hectic morning. Thankfully, Grandma Celestia had been staying with us for a few days and helped with the girls before we all packed up and headed to church.

An hour before go-time, the original family that had lived in our house prior to us were randomly in town, had stopped by to visit with other neighbors, and wanted to meet us as well. If it were me, I would have loved to see my old house, so we let them in for a tour, which was fun for us seeing their reactions to all the updates, but also took up the time we should have been getting ready for the blessing.

The last fifteen minutes of throwing random items in the diaper bag and squeezing the girls and Meredith into their dresses was an exercise in emergency evacuations, but we made it! We ran into church just in the nick of time (everyone seemed visibly relieved when we ran through the door).

Sacrament Meeting is never the most peaceful hour of my week due to the twins’ squirminess and need to talk about all of the random thoughts that pop into their heads (“Who made rainbows?”) at about 10 decibels above their normal already loud voices, but this Sunday of all Sundays was absolutely the worst in recent memory. The twins were overtired, squirmy, and obnoxious, (they are also THREE, which I tend to forget), which was all compounded by the fact that they don’t get a nap on Sundays because of the timing. We were squeezed into a pew near the front, when we are usually in the back where they can roam about a little more.

When Jake got up with Meredith to do the blessing, Amelia kept crying over and over, “Where’s Daddy?!” even though we had prepped the girls on what would happen on blessing day the entire week prior. I didn’t catch most of the blessing dealing with them and even though Jake recorded it while he was up there, most of what can be heard in the background of the recording is what sounds like banshees screaming. The little I did hear was about Meredith being kind and a light to the world, but I have yet to sit down and transcribe it because it will take a lot of effort to actually hear what was said!

The saving grace of the situation was, of course, Meredith. She stayed asleep the entire blessing and looked like a little angel up there. She got lots of “oooohs” from the audience after Jake was finished with the blessing and held her up. Jake’s sister-in-law and sister, who were sitting behind us, took turns cuddling Meredith for the remainder of church and she was happy as a clam.

The twins, on the other hand, continued to be holy terrors. There are so many hordes of squirmy and loud little kids in church that no one cares, but when you are sitting up front and it’s your own kids, the noise seems like it’s magnified by a hundred.I found it very fitting that the twins screamed during their own blessings three years ago, and during church the day Meredith was blessed. Times have not changed!

The funny part is, as much as I roll my eyes and grit my teeth every Sunday, it’s inexplicably their favorite day, hands down. As soon as we tell them it’s time to get ready for church, the twins dress themselves and get out the door quicker than it takes them to get anywhere else during the week. My theory is they think of it as a special form of torture for me and are excited to get started!

After futile attempts to quiet the girls down, Grandma Celestia offered to take them out and walk around with them outside. Bliss! The best thirty minutes of church I have had in years!

Afterwards, we took pictures outside and planned to go straight home to eat, but the girls started loudly protesting because they wanted to go to nursery. Grandma Celestia again saved the day by offering to stay at church the rest of the afternoon so that the girls could go to nursery while we all went back and had lunch.

We ate in peace and had a fun time catching up with Jake’s family until it was time to go grab the twins and Jake’s mom. The girls ate a few bites at home and promptly cried overtired tears as they conked out for an early bedtime, while we hung out with everyone. Even with all the chaos, Meredith was an absolute star!

Meredith had been eyeing this dress in her closet all month wondering what it was for, and on her blessing day, she sure was happy it would be the only time she would wear it… those things may be cute, but comfortable they are not.

The twins’ dresses three years ago. I was tempted to reuse one of them, but would really like each of them to have her own dress as a keepsake, even though part of me cringes at the fact that they are a one-trick pony.

All dolled up!

Amelia, May 2013:

Samantha, May 2013: 

Amelia and Samantha:

Meredith, May 2016:

She didn’t end up wearing the bonnet during her actual blessing because she was sleeping and I didn’t want to wake her up to put it on, but we did get a few pictures of her in it afterwards.

Meredith is such a thumb sucker!

Another pointless, but adorable “waste”: baby shoes.

The star baby.

Ready for my close-up.

She is the happiest girl, truly.

Fifty different angles.

Her name also means “noble leader,” but I chose to have the other meaning done for her name canvas because people are always remarking that her eyes are the color of the ocean. Her name is fitting!

All three with their name canvases.

Cute sisters.

I don’t know about this…

WAAAAAAAAAHHHH! (Samantha always has the best expressions in these situations).

Trying to comfort sister.

I survived one hour of church with these hooligans and all I got was this lousy picture!

2013: Two was a lot easier to deal with back then. I love how Samantha’s neck is totally not being supported in this photo!

Despite the two crazies being obnoxious from the pews, Jake did an admirable job ignoring them completely and gave a thoughtful blessing (at least from what I could hear). He received lots of compliments afterwards!

Trying not to let Meredith slip out of my arms… her dress was deceivingly slippery.

Crazy girls.

Attempting to get a sweet close-up photo of mom and baby, but Meredith was mostly annoyed.

And then angry.

Last time with the twins, we had a huge group and a fun Mother’s Day brunch with tons of family, but this time around we kept it low key and had some family over who hadn’t yet met Meredith. Jake’s sister, Gigi, and brother-in-law, Kip from Washington; his brother, Jarom, and sister-in-law, Jen from Idaho, and mom, Celestia from Utah.

Fun to catch up with family we haven’t seen in a while. I pretty much didn’t have to change diapers or carry a baby all day with this crew around as they couldn’t get enough of her. It’s too bad Meredith isn’t a little bit older, or we would be joining them this week on a family reunion Alaskan cruise. We were happy they could come out to see us before their trip since we can’t be there.

Meredith giggling at Uncle Jarom.

Check out this baby!

Uncle Kip on baby holding duty while keeping the twins entertained. Jake tells the girls stories about spending his summers working on Kip’s farm in Washington all the time, one such story being about how Jake did something stupid with a tractor and Kip called him a piece of poo (that’s not the real world he called him, but the girls don’t know that!) The girls dubbed it the “Uncle Kip Poo Story” and are constantly asking me when we can go visit Uncle Kip’s farm.

Tuckered out after a day in the spotlight.

Thanks for being a blessing to us all, Meredith!

Lots of love,