Cooper's Blessing Day

 We blessed Cooper Memorial Day weekend.  We were blessed to have both sets of grandparents here to join in this special day!  I managed to finish his blessing outfit the night before.  It didn't turn out quite like I hoped it would.  Before Clayton was born, I made him a nice little outfit.  He arrived weighing 9 lbs. 9 oz. and barely fit into it when we brought him home, so I had to make him a new one before we blessed him 6 weeks later.  Connor was smaller and because of family scheduling, we blessed him when he was 2 weeks old, so he got to wear the Clayton original. Since they each have their own, I thought Cooper needed his very own too.

 After church, I had to put Cooper's tie on him that I made to match the other boys' Easter ties.  He wasn't thrilled.  But they all looked so cute!





 Jacob Robert Butler holding Cooper Robert Butler; Karl Douglas Butler Jr. holding Connor Douglas Butler; Lemuel Hardison Redd IV holding Clayton Hardison Butler



I come from a family of seven girls, no brothers.  When I was expecting Caroline, we didn't find out the gender and I was CONVINCED that we were having a boy.  I desperately wanted a boy for my Dad.  I called my belly Clayton for the last 2 weeks of my pregnancy, even though we also had the name Caroline picked out for a girl.  I was seriously surprised when she arrived, but tickled to have a little girl.  We still loved the name Clayton.  Jake was a big fan of Clayton Moore, the actor who played "The Lone Ranger".  He was brave, noble and true and stood for good and right. So when we found out the gender of Baby Butler #2, we knew exactly what to name him.  And in honor of him being my dad's first grandson, we gave him his Papa's middle name (and also the name Papa goes by):  Hardison.  It is a name that has been passed down for many generations.  The men who have borne this name are noble, brave, courageous men who stood for what was right and who had strong testimonies of Jesus Christ and His restored gospel. We wanted our son to have that name. Hence, Clayton Hardison.





Shortly after we found out we were expecting Butler Baby #3, we watched a movie that had a little boy named Connor in it.  The boy wasn't a main character, but somehow it made an impression on Jake.  It took a little while for me to warm up to it, but the closer we got to delivering what we knew would be another little boy, the more it grew on me.  Connor means "wise" - a characteristic we hope he develops!  "Douglas", his Grandpa Butler's middle name (and also the name he goes by) seemed a natural fit with Connor.  Both Grandpa Butler and his father who had the same name are men of wisdom who have been strong in the gospel and have taught their children well.  We knew these qualities were ones we wanted our 2nd son to develop, and so we named him accordingly:  Connor Douglas.



When I was a little girl, the Stake President (a church leader with stewardship over a group of church members that might be compared to a Catholic diocese) I grew up listening to was a dear man named          F. Cooper Jones.  I don't remember much about the speakers at the semi-annual Stake Conferences that were held, and I don't remember what President Jones talked about each time.  But I do remember that any time he talked about his lovely wife, he never called her his wife.  In the most tender tone, that I still vividly remember, he referred to her as his "Sweetheart."  Even as a small child, I was profoundly impacted by the way he showed so much reverence and respect for his "Sweetheart", and I knew that someday, I wanted a man who spoke of me and treated me that same way.  15ish years later, when I met my "Sweetheart" and he asked me to be his forever, we got to choose which man would seal us for all eternity in the Holy Temple.  (In The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, we believe that we can be married not just for our time on this earth, but for all eternity by the proper authority in the temple.  A temple had been built in my hometown of Monticello, Utah just a couple of years before we met and became engaged!)  There were two "sealers" at the Monticello Temple at that time - both men who had influenced my life growing up.  It was a tough choice, but ultimately an easy one at the same time, because the sealer named F. Cooper Jones had helped me to know that I would not settle for just anyone, and because of his example, I found the man who would (and does EVERYDAY) treat me with that same reverence and respect that I admired in President Jones.  We were married for time and all eternity on December 28, 2002.  For that reason, the name Cooper has great meaning to us.  And obviously, because of that great meaning, we gave our sweet Butler Baby #4 his Daddy's middle name:  Robert.  So Cooper Robert was named for the great love his parents have for one another and that we hope he will one day have and demonstrate for his own eternal "Sweetheart."