Graduation and Liam's blessing

Wow! What a weekend!

We had two very important things happen for our family in the space of two days! Well I guess more than that because Wednesday was Richards last final and day at BYU-Idaho! He called me as he was walking out of the testing center and was so excited to be done!! Don't get me wrong; we have loved our experience and education here! But this has been a pretty busy 3 years of school!

So my family came into town Tuesday from WA and it was so fun to watch my siblings meet my little boy!

My little 4 year old sister meeting her first nephew! At first she wasn't sure about not being the center of attention but once she warmed up they were "buddies"!

My sister was taking pictures of us after I fed him and she got some cute ones! Everytime she would put the camera down he would give a HUGE, open mouth smile and then it would leave once she brought it up! haha little stinker!

He LOVES to lay on his boppy facing me after nursing, smiling and cooing like crazy! It's adorable and has to be one of my favorite times of day! :)

We had a lot of fun with my family while they were here! Liam had so much attention I think at times it was a little overwhelming for him! But he loved how much people held him and loved him!

Saturday was our graduation day! We planned to go to the commencement ceremony but when 7:00am came around we decided that was just too early for us! So we skipped out on commencement and headed to our convocation early to get seats! Richard and I are in different colleges and so originally the convocations for our colleges were at the same time but in a different buildings. I pulled some strings and they let me attend convocation in Richard's college so we could walk together! I am so glad I did that. Here are some pictures of us waiting to walk:

So funny story: we give a card with our full name and the degree that we got to 1 of 2 people who read your name and degree outloud. I was ahead of Richard and I gave it to the girl closest to me. As she was reading my name, Richard went ahead of me and gave his card to the other reader and started to walk across the stage as MY name was being read! Luckily I grabbed him to let me go so that he didn't walk as McKenna rather than Richard! :) We heard a couple snickers from the people behind us and I couldn't help but giggle as I was walking across the stage. It was so fun to be able to walk with my best friend and we still laugh about him walking for me!

And official BYU-Idaho graduates!! It's so nice to be officially graduated! Even though I finished my degree a year ago, I waited to walk with Richard and I really think it was worth it (p.s. aren't those shoes awesome??).

My parents (and my little sister who has to be in the center of attention) with us!

After graduation, we all went to the church building below the temple and ate Subway while we gave advice and thoughts to my brother who is leaving on a mission in less than a month. It was a very spiritual experience and I am really glad we were able to all be together one last time. After we ate, we went out and took some pictures with Liam (my sister was watching him during graduation).

After we finished eating, the 3 of us headed over to Idaho Falls where most of Richard's family was staying in a hotel. We were able to get a room in the hotel and stayed there over night to spend as much time with them as we could. They were all leaving right after the blessing the next day and some of Richard's siblings we hadn't seen for over a year!

Then we came home Sunday morning and got all ready for Liams blessing!

My brother helping me dress our little guy!

This picture is so funny! It looks like his head is being squished out like tooth paste! I guess you need a neck for the outfit to look right rather than 3 chins! ;)

I can't get over how much I adore and love this little man!!

He fell asleep on my mom like this during Sunday school and I am so glad I got a picture of it! When ever he sleeps un-swaddled (which is only for nap time during the day) he almost always sleeps with his hands spread out like that!

The blessing was so amazing. I prayed all day that Liam wouldn't cry during his blessing and I even planned his feedings so that I could nurse him right before sacrament meeting. I knew a full Liam=a happy Liam. But I was only able to nurse for about half of the time I normally do before sacrament meeting starts and so I wasn't sure how it was going to turn out. But apparently Richard said that Liam had this HUGE big mouthed grin the entire time he was being blessed. It was adorable and apparently everyone who saw it said they couldn't help but laugh! We had, my Dad, Richards Dad, my brother, my grandpa, my sisters husband, Our friend Trevor, Richards brother, brother-in-law and his uncle all in the circle. It was a big group, but it was so enduring to see our family and friends take part in such a special occasion. After the blessing we all got together in the gym of the building and had a big potluck dinner! It was so yummy!

All the family who came for Liams blessing! :)

my big family...

and our little family!

The blanket that I have Liam wrapped in is actually a blanket that my great-grandma crocheted for me. I was wrapped in it for my blessing so I wanted to start a tradition and wrapped Liam in the same blanket. I wish you could see a close-up of the blanket; it's GORGEOUS!

It was such a nice weekend! We were able to visit with a lot of family, have a lot of fun with them and celebrate 2 important landmarks for our little family with them! Liam was such a good boy despite hardly taking naps because he was being held all the time, having his schedule messed up, and being carted around with us. Needless to say there were a lot of late nights and so yesterday after all the family were gone all 3 of us crashed and slept until about 1! But it was so worth it!

What a fun and memorable weekend!!