Westin's Baby Blessing

It was an exciting weekend in the Rich household. We had lots going on this weekend, with the most important being Westin's baby blessing on Sunday. Church was at 9:30 a.m., so we were up early making sure we both had ample time to get ready and to feed Westin before we left (the only way we could ensure a peaceful baby during the blessing).

Westin was one of three babies being blessed on Sunday (we have a huge baby boom in our ward right now). Our ward was packed with families, but I think Westin had the biggest crowd. The guest list included:

My mom and Torsten
My dad and Loni
Ryan's mom and dad
Ryan's brother, Trevor
My brothers, Chris and Trevor and my sister, Kenzie
My aunt Kathy (Carlston) and her husband, Jarel
My cousins Corbin, Zack and Jeremy (Kathy's sons), along with Zack's wife April and their daughter Taryn, and Jeremy's wife, Chandra and their daughters Shayla and Josie
My aunt Sue (Carlston) and her daughter Jenna
My uncle Greg (Carlston) and his wife Mary
My cousin Camber (Greg's daughter) and her four kids
Our friends BreAnne and Trevor
and of course, Westin's other aunt, Mandy

Yes, quite the fan club. And before I go on, a quick thank you to everyone who flew in from out of state for the occasion. We so appreciate your love and support. We are beyond blessed to have such amazing family and friends.

Ryan gave Westin a truly inspired blessing. I think I was in tears before he even got through blessing Westin with a name. Thank you bebe for being such an amazing father. Westin is so lucky to have you as an example. My mom was totally on top of things and took notes for me, so I'll have some record of exactly what Ryan said to include in Westin's baby book.

The proud parents

The Carlston kids
Loni and my dad with Ryan and Westin

Three generations

After sacrament meeting, we had our parents and siblings over for a light lunch. I wish I could have had the entire group to our place, but we are so limited in space, it just wasn't possible. (Instead, my awesome cousin Camber hosted a lunch on Saturday so I could spend some time with my extended family - this is posted below the blessing pics).

The spread

The man of the hour

The grandpas (I love this picture!)

Connie and Loni

The Rich men

I have so many more pictures from the blessing, but thought I better save those for the scrapbook.

So as I mentioned above, because I couldn't have everyone over on Sunday after the blessing, my sweet cousin Camber was generous enough to invite everyone down to her beach house in San Clemente for lunch on Saturday. Westin and I headed down Saturday mid-morning. It's about an hour drive to her place and Westin slept the whole way (yay!). It was really fun to spend some time with my aunts, uncles and cousins.

My cousin Zack, Westin, Zack's daughter Taryn, my cousin Jeremy and his daughter Shayla

My cousin Camber and her daughter Kelsi

My cousin Corbin, my aunt Kathy and my aunt Mary

Thanks again Camber for putting this together. I really appreciated it.

I also just have to note how great Westin was through all the commotion of the weekend. He was such a trooper. He was so good as everyone passed him around on Saturday and Sunday, and then the second everyone left on Sunday, he totally passed out (he slept for two hours, ate, and then slept for another four hours).