McKinzley's Baptism Day

McKinzley's baptism day couldn't have turned out any better! I am still having a hard time thinking that I have an 8-year old! I didn't think that I would be to the point in my life where I could say "It seems like just yesterday that I was preparing for her arrival" so soon. But, here it is! She has grown into such a beautiful young lady! She is thoughtful, smart, genuine, helpful, a good friend, amazing sister, and one of the best daughters that anyone could ask for!

Her day started out EARLY (5:30am), so that she could drive up to Primary Children's to have her stitches taken out (such a blessing how all of that worked out perfectly!). Then when she got home it was off to our neighbors house to have her hair done up so that after she was baptized it would still look pretty and not require any maintenance. It looked SO pretty! I should have gotten a close up picture of it. But, it worked like a dream! After she was baptized her hair still looked perfect :) Then, after she got her hair done we headed down to the church to get hers and Chad's baptism clothes fitted, and then we took some pictures beforehand. I was super smart (insert sarcasm) and forgot to take ANY pictures of her in her baptism dress!! I was going to have some taken a little while after her baptism so that she didn't have her cut on her face, so I guess I just spaced it......oh well. After pictures we headed in to the chapel to wait for the baptism program to start. It was short and sweet! My girls sang the baptism song, and it was SO cute!! Taylin lifted Pemberlynn up to the microphone so that you could hear her singing, and she sang every word perfectly, even the word immersion :) After that we headed in to the R.S. room for the actual baptism, and I will have to admit that I got a little teary-eyed watching Chad baptize McKinzley. The Spirit was so strong, and it was just such an amazing experience! The Gospel has blessed our lives so much, and I am so proud that 1) my husband holds the priesthood, 2) he is able to baptize our children, and 3) that McKinzley chose to be baptized. After she came out of the water and I went in to help her change I asked her how she felt, and she said "I feel SO clean mom, but I am FREEZING!!!" :) After she got dressed we went to the priesthood room so that she could be confirmed. Again, the Spirit was so strong! So many of our family and friends came to support McKinzley, and it mean't so much to her and Chad and I.

We had a lunch at my parents house after the baptism was over. I had so much help with the food! Between my mom, Paige, my sister Maria, and my sis-in-law Kirstin, all I had to do was buy the rolls :) And, afterwards David and Paige took the three younger girls to their house so that we could have a little bit of a break after the baptism. It was SO nice!! The older two girls were playing with some friends, so Chad and I were able to sit and just talk and catch up on our crazy life :) And, boy did those little ones have a great time! All three of them were sacked out by the time they came back home :) Thank you SO much to everyone that helped! Here are a bunch of the pictures that we took. I will put the ones of McKinzley in her dress on here when I get them done :) Enjoy!