Dean's Blessing and Tennessee Skies

Our main reason for driving up to Tennessee last weekend was because Dean was blessed last Sunday! It was so nice to be able to be there (and for Andrew to participate in the blessing circle). 

We unfortunately missed our opportunity to get a lovely little family picture, arriving too late to manage to get one before church, and then...well...Dean "decorated" his blessing outfit shortly after the event, sending lovely newborn-yellow poop right up his back in the middle of the sacrament.

Rosie took him out to change him and—to her dismay—discovered that she'd left his emergency onesie at home on the kitchen counter...so he went through the rest of the services wearing only his diaper. 

But it was still lovely to get to be there with Rosie's family. We filled every possible inch on a row, fitting rather snuggly with Halee and Jeffery, Rosie and her three kids, and us with our six kids (Austin was up on the stand). 

Here's Andrew and Rachel having some contemplative time after church:

And, I'm not sure why but all these pictures seemed to go together... The sky outside Rosie's front door is always so beautiful!

Below you can see Phoebe and Oaklyn on scooters (we got smart and brought Phoebe's scooter with us for this visit), Alexander running along with Flynn, and Zoë and Ireland on the motorized scooter:

Here's the sky before we left for the church party the night before:

And here's a picture I snapped of the stormy skies we had as we passed through...the Cumberland Plateau?...maybe...? There was so much construction going on and then it started pouring... All the possible drivers in the car (me, Rachel, Miriam) were all very glad that Andrew was driving!

And here's a view of all six of my kids piled into the back of the van:

It was a good, quick trip!