Baptism, Blessings and Boo-boo's....

Ahhh, 2 of the loves of my life!! Look at the face on that boy - how precious and happy is he on his very special day. Jensen was baptized on Saturday and he was excited, nervous, anxious and all that comes along with that big day for an 8 year old.
Along with Jensen being baptized we decided that it would be a good idea to bless little Jiles at the same time. Only having to gather the family together once, instead of on a Saturday then a Sunday. Plus it was neat for the brothers to share their day. Jensen loved it, and, well, Jiles didn't know any different. We were lucky because Jensen was the only boy in our ward that was being baptized this month, so the whole program consisted of our family. Morgan played the music while Brenna conducted, Drew said the opening prayer and I said the closing prayer. All of the cousins sang "I am a child of God" - it was a day just for the Barnes.

I was telling some friends last night that I never think that my family is that big until I see us all in a picture together. We are quite a group. They are all my pride and joy, they each bring such different qualities to our family. We all have our special characteristics. Morgan is such an amazing leader, setting the tone to our day. Brenna is a great sister, always including her little brothers and sisters and wanting to play with them. Drew is the strong and silent type. He is becoming a man and it is fun to watch him mature and grow, (almost at tall as me!!) Jensen is the entertainer of the group, he loves to make us all laugh and he is really good at it. Ella is the princess, and she knows it. She is a girly girl, but now really loves to be a BIG sister. Jiles brings peace to the bunch, he is such a good natured baby. There is something remarkably special about each and every one of them and I am so blessed to call them my own.

Jensen and Jiles
Two peas in a pod - everyone says that Jiles looks just like his big brother....

I feel so blessed to have had this day to share with my kids. So grateful to have a husband worthy to baptize and bless my boys. This was a special day for all of us. One that I will not forget any time soon.

This is a picture of my sweet Grandparents. My moms mom and dad. They are amazing. They get around so well and are a huge part of our life. They come to nearly every family function they can, only missing if they are spending time at their home in St. George. They even come to our annual Halloween parties dressed up and everything. It is so fun to have them around and my kids also adore them, I am so glad that we can all enjoy them!!

To top off the morning before the baptism Drew and Jensen were outside doing the lawn and some yard work. Drew had pulled a tree that had sprouted in one of our flower beds and was pushing it into the garbage can when it sortof bounced out at him. The back end of the branch hit him in the eyebrow leaving him with quite a gash. He was NOT happy with himself because we all knew that he was going to need stitches. He felt bad because he knew that we had a big day ahead of us and going to the Instacare was not really a part of the plan. He ended up with 3 stitches in his left eyebrow, the doctor did a great job - it will be healed probably before we know it. He is our accident kid...don't know why, but he always has been and most likely always will be. The last time he ended up getting his other eye stitched up was the day that Jiles had come home from the hospital. He has great timing...not. Oh well, we just told him that he is lucky that his big, bushy eyebrows get in the way otherwise he would have for sure lost one of his eyes by now. I don't know if he thought that was funny or not.