Sunday was another Provo outing to attend church with my Sister Who Wishes To Remain Nameless, at Bishop Travis’ and Bishopette Collette’s ward. Of course, month-old Gracie was there too.
Since it was Pa’s Day, Bishop Travis held Gracie in his arms as he sat by the podium. Bishopette Collette’s plan was to let that happen for a few minutes and then go fetch the baby when she started to fuss. Neither Gracie nor Bishop Trav fussed one iota, so Gracie lay in her father’s arms the entire Sacrament Meeting. Bishop Travis grinned at Gracie constantly and kissed her tiny hands, while Bishopette Collette kept an eye on Gracie’s behavior from our bench, waiting desperately for a reason to go steal the baby from the Bishop. Though Gracie was positively fine being held by her dad, I think Collette was experiencing some separation anxiety.
My Sister Who Wishes To Remain Nameless and I sat on our bench wondering why the heck we even traveled to attend church with the Blackwelder’s if the baby wasn’t in our pew for us to fight over. Oh, that’s right: We went to church with the Blackwelder’s before Gracie arrived in their family. We’ve always loved the Bishop and Bishopette– with Grace Anne or no Grace Anne. It’s just that Bishop Travis and Bishopette Collette are a little too big for us to hold on our laps, coo at, call dibs on, and fight over.
Here is Grace before she got dressed up in her “church clothes.” I usually carry stick Bow Tie o’ the Day with me for occasions such as this. I wasn’t about to wake the sleeping beauty, Grace Anne, to put a real stunt bow tie on her for a photo. But I had to take a picture anyway. In fact, I snapped so many pix that by the time we left the Blackwelder home to attend church with them, my phone needed to be charged again. That’s a bunch o’ pix.
FYI If you ever want to put a real bow tie on an infant’s neck, I suggest you use a bow tie that’s past its prime. It doesn’t matter if its tag says it’s washable or can be sent to the dry cleaner. Use a bow tie you are never going to wear again, since bambinos have a tendency to produce spit-up, regular vomit, and even projectile vomit. Clearly, a necktie will receive more damage than a bow tie, but neither one is capable of remaining alive after being hit by any kind of vomit. Even plain old slobber can sometimes be deadly for neckwear.