What an amazing day!

Yesterday was such a neat and wonderful day. Saturday night when I put Riley in his crib for the night, I explained to him that when he woke up that it would be his big day. I told him lots of people were coming to see him and that we were having a little party for him. When he wakes up in the morning he starts crying, and even after I pick him up he will cry for just a minute. Well when I went to get him out of bed in the morning, the second I touched him, he stopped crying and looked right into my eyes and started smiling so big. He was so happy and excited! What a wonderful way to start the day. I fed him and went to finish getting ready for church. He wasn't making a peep. After I finished getting ready I went to go get him from the couch and he was just laying there, smiling, and happy as can be. I put him in his "special" outfit and gave him a kiss, and we headed off to church. This was his "big" "special" day, his blessing day. He got to church and all of Allen's family was there. They drove up for his blessing. There were also some of Allen's cousins there and Aunts and Uncles. So many people to show their love and support for our family and for Riley. I sat down and showed off Riley to the family. He looked so good in his adorable blessing outfit my mother in law bought for him. Sacrament meeting started and then they announced that there was going to be a baby blessing. Allen walked Riley up there and up walked all the men who participated. The blessing started and I started to get a little teary eyed. I remember Allen blessing him to be strong in healthy in body and in mind. He blessed him that he would go on a mission and then marry a beautiful daughter of God...that he would start a family with her...by this point I was bawling like you can't imagine. Mascara was running down my face. Allen gave him the sweetest blessing. I wish I had it written down word for word to have forever. When the blessing finished Allen raised him up for the ward to see and I got the biggest smile on my face. Riley didn't cry at all during the blessing...I was so pleased. When Allen came down with Riley he told me that the ENTIRE blessing Riley was looking at Marc and smiling so big. SO CUTE! The bishop stood up to open up the testimonies and said that just a minute ago, Riley took his very first step in going on a mission. He said that it doesn't take a month to plan for a mission, that it takes 19 full years, and that Riley just took his first step. He also said that since he had to hold the microphone to Allen's mouth he had to keep his eyes open. He told the whole ward that Riley was such a sweet baby and smiled and laughed through the entire blessing. It was the cutest/sweetest thing that the bishop said. The sacrament meeting was so wonderful. So many people shared such a sweet testimony and the spirit was felt so strong. It was an amazing meeting. After sacrament we drove to Maria's house because we were doing a brunch for those who came to support Riley. We had french toast casseroles, bacon, sausage, fruit salad, cinnamon rolls, juice...so much food. There were so many people there and it was so wonderful. We took some pictures...I will post them when I get them! It was such an amazing morning, and that was just the start of it.

21 years ago yesterday, Allen's grandpa died. He was outside of his house gardening. A girl who had just had her license a few days was driving down the street and lost control of the car. She went up the curb and hit so many things, including a tree and his grandpa. She didn't even realize that she had hit a man. She got out of the car and knocked on their door to see if she could use his grandma's phone to call a tow truck. And then they discovered that he was ran over. He was life lighted to a hospital and on the way he was pronounced dead. What a tragic moment it was in their lives. This all happened in Sandy and he was burried in the Sandy Cemetery. He died on June 7th, and on that same day 21 years later, his great grandson was blessed. So we all got it the car to visit his grave. It was so sweet to all stand around his grave. They all talked about the memories they had of him. We stayed there for awhile and looked at the grave and then we decided to go to the house that they lived in, where he died. Cheryl showed us where he was standing when he was hit by the car, and told us some stories about what it was like for her when he died. I can't even begin to explain how much I loved listening to the stories of Allen's grandpa and getting to know what kind of man he was. It was so amazing.

As we were leaving the cemetery we noticed a head stone and read it. It is amazing how much you can learn about somebody by their head stone. This one had two names on it...a mother and a son. The mother was 21 years old and died during child birth. 10 days later, the child died. I was so devastated. It really hit home that giving birth is such a dangerous thing sometimes. I imagined the husband of the lady. I grieved for him. I can't even imagine what that day was like for him. He and his wife probably spent the whole pregnancy waiting anxiously for that day to come. What a happy and glorious day to bring your child into this world. Yet it went from the happiest moment of their life, to the most tramatic and devastating day of their life. Could you imagine being a man and to go from being so happy to watching your wife die in the blink of an eye? I can't even imagine. Then I started thinking about what it would be like to hold that child. How could you even be happy to hold your child when you are grieving about your wife...and then 10 days later to loose the child too? WOW!

It's amazing how your life can change in the blink of an eye. People die so unexpectedly. Allen's grandpa died because he was hit by a careless driver. This lady died on the happiest day of her life, bringing her son into this world. I started thinking about when I die. I realized that Allen and I never have spoken about what we wanted when we died. If one of us died right now, neither of us would know of the other's wished. I told him that I want to be burried right beside his, and I want our children's names engraved on the headstone. Being a mother is the best calling a woman can ever have. I want to whole world to know that I was a mother of my children. I want to be burried next to Allen, because when we die, I want our children to be able to come visit us together at our graves. That we will be lying next to eachother in the ground. I know it isn't important to some people, but it is to me. I want our spirits to be together in heaven, and our bodies together on the earth. Some of the headstones had the two parents together and a the temple they were married in engraved on the stone. It said that they were sealed for time and eternity. What an amazing thing!

The day was so amazing. I learned so much and it was just amazing!