these Lines across my Face: Emiline's Blessing

Looks like we will be working backwards a bit. I had wanted to doctor up these pictures a bit before posting them, but if I wait to do that, it'll be too long...

Emiline Rhys Ludlow was given a name and a blessing on July 11 at the congregation I grew up in, Springdale Idaho. Eric teased me about how big the circle of brethren would end up being. With Jane, it was very, very small and at my sister's house which while not a disappointment exactly, but definitely anti-climatic after all the work on the dress and the waiting. It was definitely fun to have so many friends and mentors there for Emiline's. My remaining grandparent, my mom's dad was there,

my surrogate Grandpa-our neighbor across the street, my old bishop, the current bishop, my dad, and all but one of my brothers stood in the circle. It was a really sweet blessing, even though she wailed through the whole thing. After it was over, the brother conducting the meeting made a joke about her really being a Monroe because she was trying to sing.

The reason we had such a great turn out was that we piggy-backed on the return and report of this guy:

My little bro returned from the Merida, Mexico mission (the Yucatan peninsula) a few weeks before. He's a pretty awesome kid and everyone is in love with him, so of course pretty much everyone was there.

For her dress, we actually "refashioned" (since that's all the rage now) the dress I was blessed in that my mom made.

I just picked off the lace and added a ruffle and some trim leftover from my wedding dress. I didn't sew the base for Jane's dress either, mom did. It would seem that I don't really sew, just embellish...even just doing that much was monumental for me (in both cases) because I'm dumb and don't think about making the dress til after the baby comes. Both times I was up late and early to work on them and I was exhausted both times (see below).