Big Week for our Little Man

We had a special week with family and friends at the beginning of July. Waaay too much happened for me to detail it all so here are the highlights:

Grandma Tina and Grandpa Pat arrived and quickly became Clark's favorite friends. Later that week, Aunt Sarah and her car load of Woodburys showed up to say hi. We picked raspberries at the Perishios and may have fed one or two to their dogs.

Because it was insanely hot, we spent a lot of time indoors or the Woodburys played in the sprinkler. Our barstools came in very handy. 

 Isla was super stoked to find her own lifesized real baby to hold. She was always trying to pick up her 'baye'

But most of the time, Grandma Tina got dibs. She held him at the park after a long hot walk on the greeway.

Grandpa Pat chipped in too, carting Clark around and making sure he got to eat at the big boy table. We offered them cereal and Clark perked right up. Doesn't he just look like he's hunting for a big bowl of ice cream;)

Needless to say, he was VERY happy for visitors. Sometimes he was very happy when they spent the day floating the river and he got to stay home with Mom and work in peace a quite.

But mostly, he liked to be on the go. On Wednesday, Aunt Kristina and Anderson showed up. With the arrival of so much family, we had to bump Grandma and Grandpa to a different house and Clark ended up sleeping in our closest. He didn't seem to mind.

We thought Isla was excited about one baby but TWO adorable babies was almost too much.

 

Thursday we hiked to Boulder caves near Naches. Clark was not suffocating, I promise, but it was windy so he got wrapped up and pretty much enjoyed the hike until he fell asleep--five minutes into the hike. Everyone else loved the cool dark cave and splashing in the freezing cold water...err, not so much. 

 

Uncle Taylor came in Thursday night and Dana picked him up in Tri-Cities. On the way back they got ripped off--I mean, bought fireworks in Toppenish. While they were golfing on the Fourth of July, the rest of the fam went to the Moxee flag pancake breakfast at Bishop's house and then had quite the adventure at Bill's Berry Farm playing on the playground, going on a hayride, picking blueberries and cherries, and generally screaming our heads off at the hat someone put on our heads. We do not like hats in the Gailan household. Seriously.

 

Per usual, the rest of the fourth was spent gawking at our neighbors insane firework displays and the live band down the street with the port-a-potty.

 We took everyone out for a bike ride to cool off before the big event.

And even though it was 100 degrees, Grandma Tina had promised s'mores and so Dana tried out our new fire pit, almost sending Carla's fence up in flames but producing some really sweet s'more flames.

 Then there was nothing left to do but sit back, relax, and wait for the show.

You may notice Dana with a drill in the corner of this photo. After our neighbors across the way had a firework spin out of control and come straight at us (but not before lighting another neighbors grass on fire just a bit) Taylor and Dana got serious about firework safety...and awesomeness.

Saturday the 6th was a special day and the reason everyone came up (no, it wasn't just for the fireworks). At 12:00PM we took Clark through a sealing session at the Columbia River Temple to be sealed to us for time and all eternity. I can't go into the whole ceremony here on our blog because of it's sacred nature but it was honestly the most spiritual experience I've ever had in my life and I think Dana would agree. From Dana's family we were joined by his parents, his cousins Alice and David, and his brother Brian and sister-in-law Tami. It was a huge sacrifice for their families to come and we appreciate it so much. There is nothing in the world like walking out of the temple holding your baby and knowing he's yours forever.

 

Blessing out fit was my brother, Jim's. Clark's cousin, Spencer, wore it for his blessing a few weeks earlier.

And if all that happiness wasn't enough, the next day, Sunday the 7th we took Clark to church and Dana performed his baby blessing in sacrament. He's excited about it...I promise.

 Afterwards, he was done. So many activities in one week.

We feel so blessed to know that families are forever. And now ours is too.

 One by one the family took off but not without one or two parties with families and friends. Sadly, the now funny but then not so funny parts of the week was our air conditioner going out with 100 degree heat. So the one big party Sunday night for all our friends was rescheduled but we still had to cut the cake to fit it in the freezer. It was a golf cake, naturally.