Blessing Day

We blessed Jonas in our ward here in Henderson on May 3rd, 2009. I think there were 11 priesthood holders in the circle, and Gregg and Jonas both did great. I'm so grateful that Gregg holds and honors the priesthood, and is able to bless our family in that way. Gregg's parents, and his sister and her family were able to come down for a quick visit. It was great to have them here. After our Sacrament meeting, we went down the street to a park and had a nice luncheon with all the family that was able to make it. Here are a few pictures from Jonas' special day:

Sweet Maliya

Two of Mack's great loves - his uncles and basketball.

Daxton getting ready to dunk it over Kourtney's head.

Tough guys - CJ, Jaron, and Ty.

More sweeties - Lily, Avi, and Emma.

My sister-in-law, Jeni, getting her baby fill, and my wonderful Mommy.

My amazing sister. There's just us two girls in our family - it hardly seems fair that she got all the good looks. :)

Papa with just two of his 20 grandchildren (number 20 (Kayden & Stephanie's) was just born on May 23rd!). Number 21 (Kolby & Janine's) is due in October. This is Layla (Kelly & Ashley's), she's about a month and a half older than Jonas.

A few shots from Jonas' photo shoot. That blanket he's laying on was from Gregg's blessing day when he was a baby, and we also used it on Mack's blessing day. I'm pretty sure Gregg's mom made it.

Gregg's parents - I have the best in-laws!

Our little family.

Just a few more things I wanted to document. I started to sew a blessing outfit for Jonas, but it just got too difficult, so I ended up buying him one (I wanted each of the boys to have their own). I thought I could wing this sewing thing, but I definitely need to get some lessons from my mom or take a class.

I also wanted to share, for posterity, the meaning behind Jonas' name, and Mack's also since I didn't have the blog until Mack was about 7 months old.

Mack Joseph - We found the name Mack in a personal history written by Gregg's grandfather, Joseph Oleen Palmer. His youngest brother's name was Evan Mack Palmer, but he went by Mack. I happened to re-read the personal history while I was pregnant, and I said to Gregg, "What do you think of Mack?" We both knew that was the one. Joseph is obviously Gregg's grandfather's name, and it is also my grandfather's middle name (Edward Joseph Gubler, my mother's father). We also like to say it's after Joseph Smith.

Jonas Rockwell - I really like to use family names for our kids because I feel it gives them a connection to their ancestors, and Gregg likes to use names of his personal heroes (like Joseph Smith). I was having a really hard time finding a name I liked for Jonas. So, I got on familysearch.org and started going through the history of both mine and Gregg's families. Finally, I found a name through my Dad's side of the family that we both liked, however, it was from an ancestor, Jonas Gedge, that was born around 1516. So, I don't know if Jonas will have much of a connection in this life with this ancestor that I don't have any history on, but maybe in the eternities, huh? This name also goes through Shadrach Roundy's line of ancestry. Jonas' middle name, Rockwell, isn't a family name, but is after one of Gregg's heroes, Orrin Porter Rockwell. He read his biography a little while back, and really loved it.

A few more fun facts for our boys for when they're older: Mack was almost named Maxwell (after Neal A. Maxwell) and Jonas was almost named Miles or Henry (both family names). I guess there's still a chance that we might use either of those names if we have another boy... in the future - not any time soon.