Good Bye Summer!

It is over in less than 12 hours.

Summer Trip to Natalie and James' Wedding

We had a great time visiting family and sharing time in the car on our trip down to Provo, Utah. Two and a half hours on the road, and Eliza was saying, "Go me home. Walk," but all in all, she was a good little rider. She handled sun shining right in her eyes and sweating for hours like it was nothing, and was very cheerful and giggly, in fact, in her car seat. Josiah slept the whole time, aside from feedings and burpings. It took thirteen hours to get there, and on our way back we started in Idaho Falls, ID, and it took us twelve hours from there.

We stayed with Aunt Amy and Uncle Jim, Marc and Michael. They set up a room with a crib, double bed, and basinette for us, and we had so much fun there.

Thursday, Aug. 14, 2008 - Dinner with the Pace and Jackson siblings and spouses, parents of the bride and groom, and my grandparents Wagstaff. It was beautiful. James' mother served chicken courdon bleu and flan (James' request) and had three elegant tables set up and a nice view of the park out their window. It was real nice to know who these people were before being bridesmaids and groomsmen all together. They had speeches on James and Natalie and opened it up to all of us to tell funny stories or what we admire in these two precious people.

Friday, Aug. 15, 2008 Sealing by James' grandpa Wells in the Mount Timpanogas temple. Most everyone that'd want to be there was there, except Aunt Dorothy and most of her children, cousins Brandon and Collette Yost, and Elder Brent Wagstaff. Laura and Cody were also at his family reunion.

The reception was held at White Willow reception center that night in Provo, and there was lots of delicious cakes and candies. James' sister and brother-in-law wrote a special song just for them and sang it to them with guitar, and we sang "my little buttercup." They opened it up to dancing, and Adam was very sweet to dance the night away with Eliza. We sent the honeymooners off with sparklers outside in the dark.

Saturday, Aug. 16, 2008 Catch up on sleep and Eliza and Ben enjoyed the barbeque that night at Karl and Debbie's.

Sunday, Aug. 17, 2008 Daniel spoke in church and his grandparents and cousins came down to hear him. He's off to the MTC on Tuesday! Karl and Debbie hosted a picnic for the 50-or-so crowd.

We also went to go see Temple Square, which was beautiful! The flowers were a dream.

Monday, Aug. 18, 2008 Visit Grandma and Grandpa Wilmot, see the final product of the barn, Uncle Owen and Aunt Linda, Uncle Gerald and his step-daughter, and Uncle Randy and his family.

We made surprise visits to our old high school friends Vicky and Robert Tripp and Alistair and Lessie Brown. They both showed us the new houses they're building (in Logan, UT, and Idaho Falls, ID, respectively), that they both plan on moving into in one month. They're both doing beautiful work.

Tuesday, Aug. 19, 2008 Visit the Egyptian exhibit in Idaho Falls and drove 12 hours. It rained, thank goodness.

Q. What's your favorite baby gift?

We would like to thank everyone for all of the fabulous gifts to welcome Josiah Benjamin Wilmot into the world.

Baby gifts are so fun. We recieved lots of cute gizmos and clothes for Josiah. Is the main reason baby gifts are so adorable is just that they are little, cute, and have animals all over? When a dress is teeny tiny, it is just so sweet; otherwise, it'd just be a dress. Please comment on what your favorite baby gifts have been, whether received, given, or seen given.

Some of the favorites I remember recieving myself are:

Bunny bowl, cup and spoon
Flopsy, Mopsy, and cottontail bunny books
Panties with "Erin" embroidered on the back side in Pink
A green teddy blanket stitched by Grandma Wagstaff
Old MacDonald's farm blanket with animal noises stitched by Nan Fontaneau
Grandbaby bootie pin grandmum wore
Yellow basinette that dad, me, Eliza, and many other babies have used
Numerous interest bearing savings bonds
Homemade knitted stuff, like Eliza's peach sweater and the hat bracelet and footprints from the hospital
Block board books from aunt Felicia
cute brag book scrapbooked by Talia J.
I thought it was very relevant when someone gave Shout as part of their gift.
swings, jogging strollers, pumps

So, what has been your favorite baby gift given to you or your kids? I'm sure we all hope to make memorable items for those we know...

Mom replies:

"Everything I got I liked. You can use everything. The Old MacDonald blanket was made by Nan Fontaneau, we recieved lots of little dresses, got a swing with Erin, Madeline Barlow CD of lullabies I really liked for Adam. Diapers, clothes, you can use everything. Except baby powder and lotion- there's a max on that. Everything at showers were great. A variety of things is nice. I was always happy."

Words

banana, broken, canteloupe, Daddy, dirty, doctor, drink, hold him, hold on, home, ice, jar, kite, lights, mess, milk (this has taken forever and still sounds funny), nap, open, out, pants, picture, smiling, time, tired, where are you going?, yellow

Josiah's blessing

We had Ben's parents visit us early Saturday at the park and also Sunday, and Brian, Scott, Trent, Adam, and Elizabeth went swimming with us late Saturday evening in Moscow.