Clara's Blessing Day!

Last Sunday we were able to bless Clara in Sacrament Meeting.  It was certainly a special day for us and we were so thankful that lots of family were able to participate with us.  Clara was blessed by her daddy and he was joined by Grampa Edwards, Uncle Jon, and Uncle Silila.  Of course the cousins were all happy to see each other again.  This picture shows Miss Lillian who is almost two and gets cuter and cuter each day.  Emma adores her little cousin so much!

 Here is Clara with her Uncle Jonathan.  This was his first time meeting her!

Aunt Natalie wanted a turn holding her and Eliza was very intrigued by the new baby.

Jon and Natalie welcomed their special little guy - Hinkley back in June.  He is so big!  We decided to match up Hinkley and Clara to compare their sizes.  You can't really tell from the picture, but Clara was so teeny in comparison. :)

Aunt Stephanie spent lots of time holding her and Clara was very content with her.  Aunt Steph has the magic touch - maybe it's because she has five kids of her own!

Here she is in her blessing dress and pretty bow.  She sure didn't want to cooperate with the camera very well - at least she cooperated during her blessing and slept right through.

Emma and Sam were super excited for their sister!

We missed having Luke and Kate here with us but we are excited to see them next month when they come for a visit!  Karlie and Lillie had to leave for home before we took the cousin picture but they were there with us, too.

We had a really wonderful day with everyone and had so much fun visiting with friends and family!  We were sad to see them all leave and look forward to when we can all be together again!

First Day of School!

This week marked the beginning of the new school year!  Hooray!  I have really enjoyed having my girls home with me this summer and we had lots of fun......but it was definitely time to go back to school and get in a good routine again.  This year Emma is in third grade!  I can't believe how the time has flown by with her.  She is more grown up each day.  Her teacher is Mrs. Boyd and Emma was anxious to be in her class.

Samantha is in first grade now!  I don't know how I feel about having her in school all day - it is going to be very strange for me to not have her here during the day.  But she has been so excited!  It's all we heard about all summer.  First graders in our district begin on a staggard start.  They only go once the first week and for just two and a half hours so they can get used to the classroom and the rules of the school, as well as go through some testing to see what levels the children are at.  Samantha started on Wednesday afternoon and her teacher is Mrs. Cadwell.

Both girls have enjoyed their first week and really like their teachers!  We're keeping our fingers crossed that the excitement continues throughout the next nine months - Hopefully this will be another successful year