Called to Serve

Ian, 3rd brother in the family, received his mission call last night.  I have never been in the room when someone opened their call and it was quite special.  Ian is the first in our family to go -- and I couldn't be more proud of him.

 (this is how big Jace is the day he got his call!)

 He started to get a little choked up as he read his call!  It was very tender ... and of course, I was "misty" too!!

(This is how big Elsie is the day he received his call!)

P.S. Ian had to lose roughly 45 lbs or so (if I'm right ... it was at least that much!) to get his call -- and I think he's looking pretty darn good!!

Her First Special Dress

Sunday was Elsie's baby blessing.  It started with finding the perfect dress -- so the four of us headed down to White Elegance to pick it out.  Now this dress is the first of three major special dresses she will have in her life, and there were a lot of pretty dresses to choose from ... but I fell in love with this one!  My favorite part about it is the flowing outer layer of the dress (which is tough to see in this picture) ... I knew she'd look like an angel in it!  

I then started on her hair bow -- It was the first bow that I've really made for her!  I found some inspiration from a bow shop online, and went to town.  I love how it turned out!  It's big and frilly, but perfect at the same time.   

The last step was to get a mommy and baby bracelet made.  I saw them at White Elegance and I WANTED ONE!  BUT ... I couldn't pay $35 for two bracelets!  When relaying my wishes to my sweet friend, she offered to make one for me!  I was ecstatic -- and loved loved how they turned out!  Look at that little picture -- isn't she just simply perfect?  Oh I love that face!

Finally, it's the morning of the blessing.  There is just a neat spirit in your home when someone is celebrating a special day and this was my Elsie's special day.  We waited until the last minute to get her dressed, quickly snapped some photos of her on our couch -- and were off to church!  There were three babies being blessed that day ... so we knew we had to be early.  We had so many family members there to support us, and I am so grateful for all of them ... 35 people were there to support our family.

During the meeting, Joe got up to bear his testimony.  It's not something that he does frequently -- surprisingly enough, I think he's shy!  I am grateful for his priesthood and his love of the gospel.  When he sat down, Jace asked if he had fun.  Personally, FUN is not how I describe getting in front of 400 ish people ... but I gave it a go anyway.  

I bore testimony of the plan of salvation.  I am so grateful for the knowledge that we lived before we were born.  I am sure that all of my other babies were there rooting their big sister on!  I'm grateful for the opportunity that God has given us to return to live with our family again some day.  There has been many members of my family that have passed so young -- I would not know what to do if I thought that death was the end.  I have felt the presence of my sweet mom so close lately as there has been many BIG changes in the Stohel household.  With Elsie being born and being named after 2 of her fantastic grandmothers ... I know that they are especially watching out for her too.

After sacrament meeting we headed on over to my parent's house and had a nice yummy lunch.  It was a perfect day!

It's Done!

Today was the last day of my professional career.  I get to graduate and do something way way better -- stay home with my beautiful kiddos.  I'll blog about my thoughts about Bingham and my experience there .... but for now can I hear a ...........

WHOOP WHOOP!!