Shower For Baby Benjamin

For a while now, Jared & Catherine have been calling their unborn infant "baby Benjamin". We all call him that now. 

Since Jared and Catherine were able to come to Utah for Christmas, Cheryl and I decided to throw them a "couples" baby shower. Aunts and uncles were invited to the wedding celebration, so Jared wanted to invite some of his cousins that he hasn't seen in a while to the baby shower.

The shower was well attended. Our own immediate family added up to 15 of us. We also had Michelle, Heather & Randy, Amberly, Ben & Eboni, Michael & Jessica, Nathan & Stephanie, & Kristen in attendance. It made for a pretty full house. Jared, obviously, couldn't invite all of his cousins. 

Cheryl did a great job with the decorations:

She even decorated the mantel and put balloons in the family room tree (not pictured here)

It was fun for Jared (and the rest of us) to catch up with some of his cousins that he hasn't seen in a while.

Everyone seemed to have a great time eating and then we played 3 games and opened gifts. Kessler wanted to get in on the action by helping Catherine open the gifts.

After Jared & Catherine opened their gifts, they had a gift for Cheryl from baby Benjamin. He gave her a sweat shirt and note asking her to be his godmother, which is a big thing in Colombia and the Catholic Church. Cheryl accepted the job and gave Jared & Catherine a big hug.

We are thrilled to be getting a new grandson in early March, and we love the name they have chosen - Benjamin Noah. They wanted names that would work for both the USA and Colombia and those two names fit the bill. 

Jared & Catherine flew back to Arizona this morning. Christmas is over, the baby shower is over, and the house is awfully quiet again.