The Blackburn's Sealing

Saturday May 8th, 2010

This day will be a day to remember for a very long time, how does Eternity sound? My brother Matt, his wife Anjali and their daughter Madilynn were sealed together as a family on May 8th around 9 o'clock in the morning. I have been so excited ever since they gave me a date that I could hardly contain my excitement! The night before the sealing we went down to the church and helped set up for a little reception to be held after the sealing. While we were there my dad got out the dodge balls and we had a nice friendly game of dodge ball. Later that night my arm was sore from throwing the balls...

Anyway, on Saturday we got up and all of us got dressed to go to the temple. Aunt Anna, Uncle Enrique and Baby Emily volunteered to watch the kids up there so we could get a family picture taken right after the sealing. I made sure to take a picture of the kids before we went up to the temple because they were just so cute....

Katelee is so funny with pictures, she will look at the camera and when you say smile this is what she does.... She also likes to say cheeesssseeee....

When I told Ethan to smile, this is the look I got. I told him he looked like a pirate and he really liked that!

Just so everyone doesn't think he really is a pirate, here is a normal picture of him!

When we got up to the temple we took the kids inside to wait for Anna and Enrique to get there. Chris took Ethan over to the pictures and was explaining the stories behind them all... Ethan is a good kid but he was especially good in the temple. He was quiet and respectful and seemed to just be absorbing everything. Sometimes I look at Ethan and am amazed at how much he already knows and understands....

While we were in the temple the kids got to spend some good quality time with their Aunt and Uncle and play games and run around. Aunt Anna has some really good pictures but these are just a few from our camera. Katelee loves to be outside and loves even more to follow her brother around.

The kids were so cute together, this of course did not last long.....

After the sealing all of the remaining family waited outside the temple doors for the newly sealed family to come out. Ethan and I kept trying to peek inside to see if we could tell when they were coming....

And then they came out. It was the cutest thing I have seen in a while. They were so happy and you could see the excitement radiating off of them.

We only got a few pictures because it's a lot of work to try to keep track of Katelee and Ethan in such an open space....

How cute!

After we had our family picture done it was off to the reception/luncheon!

I love seeing my brother so happy with his little family. He absolutely adores his wife and his daughter. I love this picture because to me it represents this Blackburn family.

I have the opportunity of working in the youth center at the temple quite often and being able to see a lot of children sealed to their families, however I would have to say this has to be my favorite one. To know that you can be with your family FOREVER is such a great blessing in my life... I love this little family so much and am so grateful that they were able to take this step together!