Luke was blessed on October 12, 2008 in Idaho Falls at my parents house. I went to Idaho Falls for the week previous to spend some time with my family. (Nate couldn't miss school, so he came later.) We had such a good week and weekend.
While in Idaho Falls, Luke and I got to go to one of my brother, Kade's, football games. I am positive that Luke thoroughly enjoyed his time, and made up his mind right then and there to become a professional football player. :)
On Friday, October 10, we went to Yellowstone with Nate's mom, sisters, and neices and nephews. Nate's sister, Jessica, and her family came from Spokane, WA, and her kids had never been to Yellowstone. Nate and I went to Yellowstone last year on our anniversary (in November) and we saw tons of animals, so we thought it would be fun to do with his family. But, typical for Idaho, we had a blizzard. Being the troopers we are, we decided to brave the snow and the cold. We attempted to see Old Faithful, but it was so cold that all we could see was a cloud of steam. Nate's neice, Emma, who is 10, said, "We came all the way here for this?" It was kind of a bummer, but we did see a lot of bison so I think it was still worth it. It was definitely an experience we won't forget.
(I don't think Luke cared too much about the bison or Old Faithful:)) The highlight of the trip was, of course, Luke's blessing. Since most of my family is in Idaho Falls, and Nate's family was going to have to travel no matter where we did it, we decided to bless Luke in Idaho Falls. We blessed him at my parent's house with just family and close friends there. It is such a surreal experience when it is your own child that is getting blessed. What a blessing it is to have the Gospel in our lives, and to have the priesthood in our home. One of the biggest things that attracted me to Nate when I was dating him was his testimony. He is so stong in the church and truly honors his priesthood. I fell even more in love with him as I listened to him bless our son. It was an amazing blessing, and I am so excited for the life that Luke has ahead of him.
This was everyone in the circle. From left to right: Ryan (Nate's bro-in-law), Jason (my bro-in-law), Mike (Nate's dad), Nate, Luke, Dennis (my dad), Mike (my brother), and Bishop Cook (the bishop in my parent's ward). Nate's dad and his wife, Genie, came from California. His mom and sister, Bekah, came from South Jordan, Utah, and then his sister, Jessica and her family came from Spokane, Washington. Val & Garrett, and Matt & Janelle, we missed you. Thank you to everyone that made the trip to support us. We are so blessed to have such a wonderful family.