Adelaide Gives Birth to a Baby Girl


Adelaide, Steven, and Baby 4110

Adelaide, Steven, and Baby 4110

Today at exactly 11am Adelaide gave birth to a 7lb 11oz, 21 inch baby girl. The new arrival hasn’t got a name yet so she is known as Baby 4110 for now, named after the number of the hospital room where Adelaide is recovering. Adelaide delivered very near her due date of Valentines Day. The lovely Marci was by far the closest in predicting the arrival day and hour with a time of 2:15pm. Marci wins a $25 gift certificate to Applebee’s. Now Marci, do you have any predictions for the stock market you want to share? Jill and I are very happy to welcome our second grandchild. 4110 has a beautiful head of black hair and if we held her in a darker part of the room she would try to open her eyes.

Baby Photos

New ArrivalAurora Weighs 7lb 11ozAurora closeupAurora eyes open4110 being heldAdelaide holding 4110Robert holding 4110Jill holding 4110Rick holding 4110Melissa and 4110

Updates

14 Feb 2009 Little 4110 has a real name now: Aurora Jewel Willoughby.
15 Feb 2009 Check out a Hi-Res Aurora (4.7 MB 4288 X 2848 pixels).

Baby Bryson Is Blessed

Derek and Bryson in the church foyer after the blessing

Derek and Bryson in the church foyer after the blessing


Today we headed over to the Kaysville 12th Ward for Bryson’s blessing. Bryson’s relatives were there in large numbers on this happy day. For those unfamiliar with the naming and blessing of children I will explain. Under the direction of the presiding authority (usually the bishop of the ward), brethren who hold the Melchizedek Priesthood may participate in the ordinance of naming and blessing children (see Doctrine & Covenants 20:70). When blessing a baby, brethren gather in a circle and place their hands under the baby. Normally the father follows these steps:

  1. Addresses our Heavenly Father.
  2. States that the ordinance is performed by the authority of the Melchizedek Priesthood.
  3. Gives the child a name.
  4. Adds words of blessing as the Spirit directs.
  5. Closes in the name of Jesus Christ.

Bryson was very alert during the blessing but didn’t cry. There were thirteen brethren in the circle and Derek spoke with a clear voice. The part of the blessing that I remember the clearest is where Bryson was blessed to have a thirst for secular and spiritual knowledge.

The blessing took place today rather than on the usual Fast Sunday because Derek was expected to be out of town next week. After Sacrament Meeting we congregated at Derek and Sarah’s home for a breakfast. Then out came all the cameras and we had a blast taking hundreds of photographs.

Go here for a hi-res (4.1 Mb) photograph of Bryson.

Related Posts

Derek, Sarah, and Bryson
Baby Bryson: Six Days Old
How Many Toys Does It Take To Entertain Bryson?

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Birthday Celebration: Adelaide

Jake, Sarah, Daniel, Derek, and Steven get their food

Jake, Sarah, Daniel, Derek, and Steven get their food


Reed Sprague graciously invited us to join in celebrating Adelaide’s 24th birthday with their extended family. We congregated at the Barnes Park Bowery on Saturday afternoon. Before we ate, the younger elements played an obscure rickety ball game that they seemed to enjoy. They worked up an appetite for the great potluck meal.
Daniel and Kelsey are all wet

Daniel and Kelsey are all wet


The children kinda posing for a picture

The children kinda posing for a picture

After we had eaten, six couples played water balloon volleyball. Watch out, the spectators were in the line of fire! Lots of water-filled balloons were tossed back and forth with some taking extra effort to break. Of course, the object of the game was to catch the balloons with the towel and then be coordinated enough to throw it back.

A new baby was there for everyone to enjoy. Birthday cake for dessert and pleasant afternoon weather. Happy birthday Adelaide!

Back at our home Adelaide opens gifts

Back at our home Adelaide opens gifts


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Grandpa Rickety Twice Over

Adelaide and Steven

This is a family blog so it is appropriate to post once in a while about birthdays, new births, and pregnancies. Speaking of which you may recall that I blogged about Sarah and Derek expecting a boy in October, their first child. Of course some family members decided to fire up their creativity and contribute to naming the baby and came up with mossly good suggestions like:

  • Pete Moss
  • Forrest Moss
  • Chris Moss

I am really looking forward to being a grandpa. To make things even better, on 29th June Adelaide and Steven announced that their first baby is due in February. We do not know the gender yet. Last week they said it was OK to let everybody know. If the photograph is anything to go by this is going to be one beautiful baby.

So now I will soon be a grandpa twice over. Awesome!

Bear Lake Trip

Rick riding a Jet Ski on Bear Lake

On this trip we had Rick (me), Jill, Paul, Daniel, Derek, and Sarah in our van. In the Excursion hauling the jet skis were Kent, Susan, Byron, Shauna, Melissa, and Miguel. Connie and Mark will arrive tomorrow after work as will Scott, Conner, and Ashley. From Kaysville we slipped onto northbound I-15 to Brigham City to pick up the keys to the cabin. We then headed through Sardine Canyon to Logan. Then Logan Canyon took us to Bear Lake. The forecast for tomorrow is 100 degrees in the valley so this is a perfect time to go to higher elevations.
Working with Google Docs on my Eee PC
While Jill drives I am putting my new Eee PC to the test, typing this report as I ride. Before leaving I synced my Google Docs using Google Gears so I can work off-line. Then when I get home I will sync back to my online Google Docs. The keyboard is surprisingly easy to type with and the screen is easy to see. There are four modes to help with battery life. Power Saving, High Performance, and Super Performance which I surmise will really crank up the CPU speed. For laggards just slip into Auto. On a trip there is always some dead time so I purchased this little Eee to write my blogs. The battery looks like it will last at least six hours. After an hour of driving we stopped at a Wendys to eat. One can get a little peckish after an hour on the freeway. Bear Lake is two hours away so why not break at the half-way point? Let’s not overdo it. At the cabin the light was beginning to fade so we hung around playing games like Rumba Cube and I gave Frozen Bubbles and Crack Attack a spin on the Eee. Paul and Daniel always beat me at Frozen Bubbles. Jill and I shared a room with Derek and Sarah and once she stopped giggling we were all able to get to sleep.

About Bear Lake

Bear Lake is a natural freshwater lake with a unique turquoise-blue color, the result of suspended limestone deposits in the water. It is the second largest natural freshwater lake in Utah and has been called the “Caribbean of the Rockies”. Bear Lake was formed at least 150,000 years ago by fault subsidence that continues today, slowly deepening the lake along the eastern side. The lake was discovered in 1819 by Donald Mackenzie, an explorer for the North West Fur Company who discovered the lake in 1819, and named it Black Bear Lake.

On Bear Lake

Susan and Kent Ward tubing on Bear LakeAfter a pleasant night’s sleep Shauna took off at 7:30am to the beach to throw down some blankets to reserve a spot. We launched the jet skis and each of us took a turn riding them. I decided to have Derek drive a jet ski and I be a passenger and take some pictures. As I was climbing on Daniel wanted me to leave the camera. I kept it, but being my usual rickety self, could not keep my balance. As I fell off backwards into the water I stuck my hand in the air holding the camera. As I went under Daniel grabbed the camera out of my hand.

We had lunch at the beach and when Scott arrived with the boat we went tubing. This was the first time I had rode a tube. I just had to hang on. I tried leaning to each side as the boat turned and I leaned the wrong way and fell off. I got back on and Daniel drove the boat faster. I was doing very well until Jill told Daniel, “Sharp turns! Sharp turns!” She caught me on video rolling over — it looked quite spectacular. I will mention here that it is advisable to let go once you are in the water. It is a little hard to hold on and to breath. After a few seconds I figured this out and let go. The water was warm and clear blue. Byron, Daniel, and Miguel made sand castles and Ashley threw buckets of water at a dog for it to catch. The dumb dog thought the water was a ball. It chased the waves that were breaking and tried to catch them. In the afternoon the beach got busier. It is a private beach so that we didn’t have to mix with the peasantry. However, it didn’t seem that private with all the people arriving. Derek had to wrestle the beach umbrella back to land when a breeze blew it away. Scott also had to chase after his boat when his it lost its moorings and was floating away.

Return From Bear Lake

Derek had to run after the beach umbrella when a breeze blew it into the lake.
The next day five of us left for home after a breakfast of eggs, bacon, and pancakes. Scott is a very good host, letting us use his cabin and boat. He let us use his bedroom while he slept in his truck. In the morning he asked if I had slept well and when I was leaving he told me to get a bottle of cold water from the fridge for the ride home. We enjoyed our time here and will be returning soon to eat our bear lake raspberry shakes which we missed out on this time around.
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