Blessings

Everett Ray Faust-- What an amazing name-- To be BLESSED to have been named after both great grandpa's. I was so honored to attend Everett's baby blessing. Val & I love our niece Alyssa & her husband Stuart, we are grateful to have some of the "Hoffman" family here-- all of my other siblings have moved away.

I have often found myself in tears at baby blessings, it reminds me of my own children's blessings & how lucky we are to have the priesthood in our lives. I love my Dad & I love the fact that my mother & father traveled over 10 hours to come to baby Everett's blessing because it was so important for them to be here. That is how my parents are. They love their children and grandchildren so much that they would travel far to be with them on special occasions.

What a "blessing" to not only be named after such an amazing man, but to have him there standing in the circle as you are blessed with such an amazing blessing that was given that day. You could truly feel the spirit this day. Stuart's uncle LeSueur is a member of the Quorum of the Seventy and he was also able to stand in the circle that day. So it was pretty awesome.
I love this picture of C.J. holding baby Everett, look how peaceful he is. Just resting after his beautiful blessing that his father just gave him.
The Faust Family: Everett, Alyssa, Stuart & Rivers-- I love my niece Alyssa and her hubby Stu. I think that she has the "sweetest" personality & she is the best mom. She truly loves her boys. I am so honored to be her aunt & I love it when she calls me or includes me in anything, because I truly feel loved by her. She is so amazing & she is very creative!
The Hoffman Family
I just love our little family-- of course our missionary isn't here-- but look how cute we are? I am so proud of my girls & I think they are so beautiful!!!!
Awwe, look how special this picture is? I just love my parents!! I hope that my kids are lucky enough to have them around when they have kids, because Alyssa is so lucky for them to be here at Everett's blessing. Truly a "blessing" for her and baby Everett & Stu for them to be here. They traveled so far to come for this day and I know that someday Everett will look back on this day and be grateful that his great grandparents were here.
Grandpa Hoffman, Ryan Hoffman, Heath Hoffman, Russ Hoffman w/Everett Ray Faust, Stuart Faust & Val Galvan, Jr. --- Priesthood in the circle of the baby blessing of baby Everett.
Ryan, Alex & Owen Hoffman--- What a cute family. I love how Owen sucks his middle fingers just like C.J. used too. Isn't he so cute? He looks just like his Grandpa Russ.
Kenz took this picture of Carinna at Everett's blessing. Isn't she beautiful? It is amazing how fast she is growing.

This post is a little late coming. Everett was actually blessed the end of May, (i think). I am so bad. I am really going to get better. :)

Our missionary is 20 TODAY!!!!!!!

These are a few of my favorite photos that Val has sent to me from his mission. I love his smile in these photos! I know that he is where he needs to be. I know the work he is doing is important and it NEEDS to be done. But, I have to say---- today has been a VERY hard day for me. I think, probably the hardest. I knew his birthday would be hard, but I really didn't think it would be this hard. I hope that someone remembered to bake him a cake...

I hope that someone remembered to say Happy Birthday...

I hope that he knows how much we love him!!!!

So, I thought that today, in honor of his birthday--- I would go to the temple & do some service. I know that he doesn't get to go to the temple, so I figured I can-- so I will go for him-- on his birthday!

So, here are some fun pictures for you to enjoy!
Elders with Val from Managua
Here is Val with some of the Elders from the MTC that were in his zone.
I love this picture of Val, he looks so happy. Pizza was something we ate a lot of in our home--- i am sure he was happy to get something that was familiar to him.
Val's love of baseball makes me smile, especially since the Dbacks are doing so awesome right now & one of my favorite things to do is watch baseball with my sweetheart in our chair together. This jersey Val had made in one of his area's by an actual professional baseball scout. He was pretty excited to meet him.
"happy birthday to you--cha cha cha! happy birthday to you---cha cha cha! happy birthday dear ELDER GALVAN-- happy birthday to you-- CHA CHA CHA!!!!!

so, this is Val- with a cell phone that he was given a few months ago when he was made a district leader-- he is now a zone leader & has been transferred again. I just found this photo & it made me laugh- because one thing that is always a given on my kid's birthdays is that for sure we know that mema & grandpa are going to call & sing Happy Birthday-- so, even though I know we can't get him that phone call-- I picture him answering the phone on this funny cell phone & hearing my mom & dad sing to him.

There are many things to celebrate in life... i know today i am celebrating my son! I just can't believe he is 20. No longer a teenager, no longer my baby boy, he is a man now--- changing lives!!!