Wyatt's birthday

I've wanted to post and talk about Wyatt's birthday for a while now. It's taken a moment here and there to complete this post. I'm mainly writing all of this down so I can know what we did so I have some reference for next year. I'm so glad I did that last year to help with this year.

We went to his grave early that morning and had a breakfast picnic. We always start out with a prayer that instantly brings the spirit. Derek always does such a beautiful job of that. I then had the kids open their gift. The one I found on e-bay...the one for me more than anyone. It was Wyatt's little security blanket that I had bought for my mom to give Wyatt for Christmas the year Wyatt was with us. It was the item I placed next to his face before they closed his casket. I have looked every time since his death at Walmart hoping that they might get that little blanket in but I never saw one. I've wanted one for myself to remember him by. Well, after searching online I found it on e-bay and started to cry the instant I saw it. The last time I saw that blanket was when I placed it next to Wyatt. He loved to play with all the different textures on the blanket. I was going to have it be his little security item that would comfort him as he grew up. Now it comforts me. The sweet lady I bought the blanket from priority mailed it so that it would get there in time. Again, there are good people in this world.

After opening the present we light two candles on the breakfast muffins and sang happy birthday to Wyatt. That was a hard thing for me. I'm not sure if that will ever get easy. I then opened up the gift my niece gave me...the one I've already written about. Tears were flowing after that. Then a small yellow butterfly flew by us. This time Derek was the one that pointed it out. Usually it's me. What a tender mercy to have a butterfly that early in the morning flying by us.

After that the kids went to school and Derek and I got to go to the temple and do some sealing. Tyler had found some family names to do from the new ancestral website. That made it that much more special for us. I love the temple and the peace that I feel there. It puts everything into perspective.

After the temple and when the kids got home we went to all a dollar and let the kids pick out something to put on Wyatt's grave. We then blew up his balloons and went to his grave and wrote on them. The balloon release didn't turn out all that well. We ended up having only 2 balloons to release instead of the 6 we blew up. Lets just say some of them popped and one escaped too soon. It was very emotional for Tyler. He had a hard day more than the other kids. He prayed for Wyatt...he wanted a little brother to spend time with and teach stuff to and now that little brother is gone. It's such a hard thing to have to deal with. It was a very emotional and hard day for me as well. More than I had thought it would be. After the balloons, we came home, had dinner and had our Family Home Evening lesson. Derek did a great job and talked about the gifts Wyatt has given us...namely the testimony we have of the plan of salvation. We then watched Wyatt's video that my brother made. Tears were instant...it's hard to see those memories right now. Maybe someday they will be more sweet instead of bitter. I love watching his video but in the same sense it's really hard knowing that memories with Wyatt are gone now. Does that even make sense? Anyway, lets just say it's hard sometimes. After the video we had a Wii tournament. Then we had cupcakes and sang happy birthday again. After that we did our "No empty Chairs" box and wrote down new things we were going to improve on and give to Wyatt. All in all it was a peaceful day but an emotional one as well. I don't know how these birthdays and milestones will get any easier but it sure helped to have so many wonderful people showing support to us. Thank you everyone. Words can't say how much that means to us. Here are the pictures I took that day.

Opening the present...Wyatt's blankie.

Derek's parents made this darling angel post for Wyatt's grave. So sweet!! Thank you!

Butterfly from my sweet visiting teacher.

Balloon release.
Thanks again to my sister to making these balloons for us.

The toys the kids picked out for Wyatt's grave.

The necklaces Hayley and Emily received from our wonderful friends and neighbors.

No Empty Chairs box.

That night I found Hayley asleep with Wyatt's blankie...maybe I wasn't the only one that needed it.