Baptism of a Beautiful Girl

On Saturday April 10, 2010 Marie was baptized.  Leading up to this day, she was so excited, she had a hard time getting to sleep. When we first got to the church I made Marie and Dale pose for a "pre" baptism picture. They were so beautiful in their white clothes.  I love those pictures I have of my other kids.  They just seem to be glowing.  We then met in the chapel at the Ben Lomond Stake center and Marie sat next to her dad on the front row.  I wished I was able to take a picture of the kids as they were introduced.  Marie towered above the other kids,  I knew she was tall, but not that tall.  It would have made for a cute picture.  The Stake Primary president then gave them a cute talk about what it means to be baptized. (She is a preschool teacher and she dripped with over-the-top sweetness, but she was cute with the kids nonetheless).  Then the big moment had finally arrived. The air was thick with anticipation.  We all went to the baptismal font and Marie walked down the steps into the water.  She kept slipping on the floor because of her tights (I think she was a little nervous and unsure of what to do and when to do it, but it was all good), Dale was there to help her out. He baptized her a member of the church.  Everything went well the first time, so it was done quickly.  Marie said the water was really warm,  but the room wasn't really warm and she came out shivering.  We quickly got her dressed quickly and then off to the next room for the confirmation.  The room was filled to capacity as Dale gave her a beautiful blessing and Marie received the Holy Ghost.  It was finished... My youngest child, my baby, was baptized.  On the one hand it seems like Marie has been with us forever, on the other hand it seems like she is growing up so fast.  This is one of those occasions where I think it is the later.  I remember feeling sad when she was no longer in the nursery.  It was sad to know that we no longer had any kids in the nursery.  Now her baptism, next stop primary graduation. It's all good though. 

   Just after her 8th birthday and before the big day, Grandma Sorenson took us shopping for a dress for the big day.  After trying on most of the dresses in the store, we finally settled on the first dress she had tried on.  She loved it from the get go.  Grandma Sorenson found a beautiful headband to go with it and I picked out some shoes with a lot of bling that I knew she would love.  A few days later Grandma Higley took Marie shopping for her new CTR ring.  Without any coaching from her Mom, Marie picked out the same ring that both Jessican and Valerie had gotten when they were both baptized (Jordan didn't want the flowered ring).  Bishop Jenkins had given Marie a white towel with Marie's name on it, and Brother Thornock (Marie's primary teacher) gave Marie a necklace.  All in all she looked like a million dollars.

After the confirmation, we all had to have the traditional picture taken with the whole gang.  We lost Chad's family who left without knowing we were going to take pictures, but we met back up with them at the house where we quickly got the tables and chairs set up for dinner outside in the back yard.  We hadn't gotten thing ready before hand, because we didn't know how the weather would turn out.  The past few days have been cold and rainy, and today was suppose to be nice, but windy.  Luckily the weather was warm enough to eat outside (with a jacket or blanket on), because my house doesn't fit that many people easily.  We ate lasagna, salad, breadsticks, and cake.  Marie doesn't like lasagna, so she opted for ramen noodles.  I offered to make maccaroni and cheese, but she wanted ramen noodles.  It's okay though, because most of the little kids preferred it that way anyway.  Kaleb is the exception.  He is a good little eater and ate a piece of lasagna.  I wish my kids would eat "big people" food, but I won't get into that right now.  We ate and talked and the kids had a great time on the trampoline, where with the help of Jessica they played for over an hour.  When it was time to go home Phoenix was distraught.  It makes me feel good when I know the neices and nephews are having fun at my house, that's always a good sign. I love spending time with my family, especially when everything is going well.  Congratualtions Marie!  I'm very proud of you.