Max's baby blessing

July 31 we blessed our sweet baby Max (at just 5 weeks old). We planned to do the blessing while in town for my brother's mission homecoming so that family could participate in the special event (nobody would have been able to have been there in Arizona otherwise, especially since both of our moms had just spend time there helping after Max was born). The irony of course was that Mark ended up accepting a job in Utah while we were there on vacation and the boys and I didn't even return to Arizona (Mark flew back and had a moving company pack us).

Anyway! It was a really special day. I am so grateful to have been able to have all of my brothers, Mark's dad and my dad, and both of my grandfathers stand in the circle as Mark gave our sweet Maxwell Grant his name and blessing. Max cried through most of the blessing (which was pretty normal for him at that age), but that didn't make it any less special for me. Plus, I loved being able to hear my "baby" brother speak during the meeting too.

So, I'll start out the pictures with a seemingly odd side-view of the cake we had!  I came up with the design for a two sided cake (instead of having both a baby blessing cake and a welcome home Elder cake)...and I took it to Jen Vesper (who I've used for several other parties) with Layers of Love and she pulled it off perfectly!

Our little family of five.

Mark & I with our sweet little Max in his blessing outfit.

Mark's parents with Max.

My parents with Max.

 Refreshments.

 Although I had been nervous how the black fondant would end up looking on the baby side of the cake, it was important to the continuity with the other side...and I think it turned out nicely!

Interesting side-note...the tie on the cake is even a replica of one of Josh's favorites (that I believe my dad gave to him):

Mark's brother Matt with Max.

Max's cousins: Ava, Jake, Spencer & Zach

Max's cousin Ezra and my uncle Brent

Great-grandpa Bennion & great-grandma Dorothy with Max:

 Great grandma Shirlene & great-grandpa Paul (my mom's parents) with Max:

We're so grateful that Josh welcomed baby Max sharing his special day with him, and we enjoyed being able to introduce him to so many family and friends that day.

For the sake of my record-keeping (since I didn't do a "1 month post", and this wasn't much after Max turned one month) here are what Max's one-month stats were: 12 lbs 3 oz (95th %), 23 " (91st %), head 15.65 " (82nd %).