Anna had her heart set on being baptized a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. It required a lot from her, but she was determined, and earlier this month her dream came true. Anna was radiant.
We were privileged to be a part of her big day. She asked Mark to perform the ordinance. She asked me to give a short talk on baptism. Katie gave a talk on the Holy Ghost, and afterwards people commented that we had similar tendencies in our teaching and speaking styles.
Aubree and Bryce were able to perform "Gethsemane" on violin and piano. This was Bryce's first performance since his upsetting recital. He was nervous, but they both performed almost flawlessly.
Even better, my mom was able to fly up for the occasion. She arrived on Friday while Katie was at work. We picked her up from the airport and headed out play at the park to enjoy the beautiful weather. First though, we took a quick detour to Walmart where she bought a t-shirt (she'd expected it to be cold and rainy - surprise!), and she treated us to ice cream cones.
Messy, messy ice cream cones.
Not long after we got to the park, Katie arrived with her kids. We enjoyed a perfect afternoon in the sun.
The kids spun themselves silly.
Later we took a walk through the woods and popped out at the Seattle temple.
Bellevue is fun like that.
Corralling children for pictures is always an adventure.
The statues were fun.
Most of the kids were willing to cooperate for a final picture in front of the temple before the rain started.
A certain three-year old, however, insisted she did NOT want to be in the picture.
As a bonus, my mom flew back up the following weekend. She watched Katie's kids while Katie was out of town. Mom brought Katie's kids down Saturday evening, and we had a big sleepover. Then they joined us at church on Sunday. Trying to keep nine kids semi-reverent during Sacrament meeting is an exercise in futility, but we still loved having the cousins and Gigi with us. And what are the chances that Nellie had a dress that matched the one Mom brought down for Jordyn?! They loved twinning. These two are hilarious together!
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