Baby Blessing + Reunion

I just noticed that I didn't post anything for the month of March. I kind of made a New Year resolution that I'd post something on this blog at least once a week. But that just doesn't seem very possible right now. With a full-time job and doing photography part-time, I've never been this busy in my whole life. My 2 days off from work really isn't enough. They just go towards cleaning and organizing, and doing groceries and running errands.

Anyways, Brandon and I were in Parowan, Utah 2 weeks ago for the naming and blessing of my nephew, Gavin. In LDS Church, we have the ordinance of blessing and naming the babies that are born in our Church. It's like the baby officially becomes a member of the Church and is officially named. But this is different from baptism. Children are not baptized in our Church until they have reached the age of 8. Usually families gather together for the baby's blessing. So when Gavin was blessed, it was a reunion. It was sad that my family in the Philippines couldn't come. They missed out on so many other important events already. :(

First day in good ol' Parowan.

First thing I wanted to do was take pictures of Gavin. I missed him a lot. Last time I'd seen him was when he was only a week old.

At 3 months, he's now so much more fun. He giggles when I play with him, and oh, he smiles and laughs a lot.


First night.

We had ourselves a good dose of Wii workout

I love Kristine's in-laws. Aside from being really nice people, they're also a lot of fun to be around.

That's me in stripes, getting my groove on.My poor husband was having a hard time focusing the camera on me.

Meet Kiers, probably the most hyper little girl I've met. She reminds me so much of my youngest sister, Roxanne, when she was her age.


Uhmm...don't try this at home, k?

I could post 20 pictures of her doing her tricks.

Who dat?! :P


Second night was Gavin's blessing. But before the ceremony we had a meet-and-greet party at the LDS chapel.

The Bartons. Gavin wasn't in a happy mood for family pictures.

If I were five years old, he'd be my boyfriend :) Ha! Seriously, this boy is really cute.

Shianne. I have more pictures of her here.

My favorite part at any event.


After the big dinner, we proceeded to the blessing and naming of the child ceremony. It's not that I'd be hung upside down if I took pictures of the ceremony, but I chose not to. I just felt like it would be rude for me to be clicking my camera and distracting everyone else who were very reverent. So fast forward to about an hour later, the ceremony was over and we took more pictures.

Kristine's family and her parents-in-law


I'm no expert at child photography but I've learned that if you tell kids to smile or say "cheese", they're more likely gonna give you this:

or this:

But if you tell them a joke, (even the corniest one), it becomes more natural :)

Gavin in his cute blessing outfit. It's the same blessing outfit that his dad wore for his own blessing. Sweet huh!

Such an angel! :)