Cousin Baby Jack's Blessing Day

Our second cousin Jack Blackwell (aka. Jack Black. . .well) was born to Paul and Lisa Blackwell. We had a great day spending time with all sorts of kin folk and attending church together to hear Jack get a blessing from his dad.

This baby has made all my kids "swoon." They love to hold him and talk to him.

Jack is so attentive. He is always wide eyed.

Molly confuses cousin Seth who is 2 1/2 for a baby.

This picture cracks me up!!! Jack is "posing" for the camera!

Molly would hold Jack for hours if he would let her.

Whenever there is family there is a ton of yummy food.

Ben is memorized by Paul's plate.

The Blackwell family

Four generations of Blackwells: Grammi, Paul, Baby Jack, and Uncle Mark

Paul is one of the family favorites. He likes to sled, jump on the tramp and wrestle everyone. He is a 30 year old trapped in a 15 year old's body.

Paul recruited the young teens to have a contest to see who could keep their foot in the bucket of ice water (which held the drinks) the longest. . .

They began dropping like flies.

. . .and then there were two.

Sam missed the contest, and therefore decided to do one of his own. Who could keep their head in the longest. He was the only participant, and therefore won.

What a goof!!!

Paul and Lisa Get Hitched--April 2009

Paul Blackwell, Rusty's first cousin, and Lisa (formerly Jackson) got married in March in the Salt Lake Temple and had a ring ceremony and reception on April 11, 2009. The ring ceremony and reception were held in the Blackwells' barn. This is their cake. Paul has built canoes for the past few years, hence the decor for the top of the cake.

Here Lisa is waiting for the ceremony to begin in the barn loft overlooking where the family was sitting. My favorite part about her "attire" was that she wore her boots with her wedding dress.

Some of the family patiently waiting.

Lisa and her dad.

Sam was the ring bearer. Before the ceremony, Paul gave Sam Lisa's ring to hold. After seeing Sam play "Who's got Lisa's ring" (his version of "Button, Button, Who's Got the Button?") with some of his cousins, I opted to hold it until the moment he needed to walk up and hand it to Paul.

After the ceremony Paul's second cousins all sang "Families Can Be Together Forever." Molly is staring at Lisa, who sat down to watch the program.

All the girl cousins on Rusty's side.

The photographer was great, and I followed him around for a while as he showed me different photography tricks and how to better use my camera.

Paul, Lisa, Uncle Mark and Aunt Valerie

The reception was catered by The Cheddar Box, or more specifically Lisa. She has worked there for years and spent most of the the week before making the food. It was awesome.

The beverages were sodas in these big tubs.

Molly rarely left Lisa's side. This is the romantic first dance shared between the married couple. . .with Molly. Molly was also rarely seen without a bottle of soda in her hand.

Ben, Adam and Sam. . .cousins.

Another cousin pose with Charleton (second cousin) and Molly.

What a surprise, Paul wasn't careful to place the piece of cake in Lisa's mouth.

Ode To Bella

One thing (there are many more) that I LOVE about Rusty's family is the importance they put on extended family, and especially cousins. They have taught me that all plans need to be altered if there is a cousin coming to town or an event to celebrate a cousin. I love this and am learning to follow suit.

Bella is our 8-year-old cousin from St. Louis. She has come a couple of times in the last few months and we were lucky enough to have some sleep-overs with her. I guess by the comments that my kids have made this last week, Bella made quite a GOOD impression at our house. We can't wait for her to come again (and her brother and sister).

Sam made this picture of him and Bella going to the zoo. He asked me to mail it to her so she can hang it in her room (I'm sure that's exactly where she'll put it).

One night when I was putting this pull-up on Molly she said, "Look mom, Molly and Bella are on Molly's pull-up playing."

We went to Kentucky Kingdom with Bella, Solly and Aunt Lori this summer and had a BLAST!!!

Meg and Bella playing.