Colby's Blessing Weekend

 This was an amazing weekend! It started out as a birthday gift to Colby. When he turned 16 we told him we'd fly him down to Phoenix to get his Patriarchal Blessing from Uncle Gary. I was just going to have one of his Aunts/Uncles bring him, but Gary said he wanted at least one parent to be there. So, I got to go too! And here's the icing on the cake...Chrysta wanted to bring baby Fiona down to the Valley to meet everyone, so she decided to come too! It just got better and better. We were all on the same flights, so Colby and I could help with the baby (even though she didn't need it at all - Fiona was a perfect angel). There was some kind of catastrophe happening at the car rental place when we arrived in Phoenix, though I still don't know what it was. All the lines for all the different companies were hours long and we were just out of luck. We hurried and switched our reservation to the company with the shortest line and hoped for the best. It still took a couple of hours but we got one of their last cars and were able to finally leave the airport. Thank heaven for that blessing because we used that car a lot. We zoomed all over the Valley seeing everyone we could (Eastmans, Saul's, Levanders, and all kinds of Wellmans). Colby and I stayed at Jeff's house Saturday night. We went to church with Melanie on Sunday morning and went to Litchfield (Gary and Ara's house) for Colby's blessing Sunday afternoon. It was a sweet experience. I'm so grateful we could have it with people that know us and love us. Sunday evening all the Wellmans came to dinner and Jeff was so kind and generous to host (he also let Colby drive his Tesla - best uncle!). His beautiful backyard was the perfect setting for all of us to mingle and visit - Gary and Ara came too, and Julie was there of course. It has been fun getting to know her. I really like her a lot (especially because she seems to make Jeff so happy). I made a lack-luster dinner of Hawaiian Haystacks but at least we were fed. Sunday night we stayed with Chrysta and Fiona at Lori's new house. It was nice having lots of time for sister talk! We had lunch at Kaitlyn's in Mesa before Lori dropped us off at the airport and we found ourselves back on a plane again. So many fun family interactions. I hope Colby loved his birthday present as much as I did!