Eight is Great!

This past weekend, our beautiful daughter was baptized. She has now entered in through the gate and is on her way to following the straight and narrow path back to her Heavenly Father. The program was wonderful - great talks & insight, and a gorgeous musical number by my dear friend Heather and fantastic sister-in-law Heidi. The baptism itself was emotional and full of the spirit, as was the confirmation. Brett gave an inspired blessing. I'm incredibly grateful for the Priesthood he lives worthy to hold and to use.We shared our baptism day with five other children in the stake, one of which was from our own ward. His name is Christian. He and Halle are quite fond of each other and often break into the sillies and giggles!

We had overwhelming support from family and friends. A HUGE Thank You to everyone who came!Halle is very blessed to have the grandparents that she does. They love her, they are expressive of that love, and have a desire to play a strong role in her life.
Grandparents Kremin and Taft went in together to get Halle her first set of "real" scriptures. They are a beautiful blue and Halle has rarely put them down since. She's fascinated with the idea that these "grown-up" scriptures are hers, and it's spark a blessed interest in them! My mom sewed a very-girly pink paisley scripture cover with all sorts of "secret" pockets, etc! I believe Mom has done this for all the grandkids--I can't tell you how pleased I was she continued the tradition! I caught Halle showing it off more than once to her friends the following Sunday.
Dixie embroidered a fine pink pillow for Halle to decorate her bed. It has scriptures, her baptism date, etc. Truly something Halle will love having in her room! John and Dix also got her the most beautiful little white trunk for her to put her "treasures" in for safe-keeping. It was the neatest idea and so fun!

Brett and I bought Halle a nice ring, to remind her of her baptismal covenants. It's a unique CTR ring, with the butterfly wings holding the reminder. Now that we know it fits, we will take it and have color put into the butterfly (so dirt won't get in) and also have the inside engraved with her baptism date.

Halle had a wonderful surprise: a hand-written letter that came all the way from Brazil! Uncle Tanner was extremely thoughtful and his letter arrived on exactly her baptism day! As you can see, she was thrilled and had a blast reading it.
The celebrations actually began the day before, on her birthday. We opened gifts (Wyatt loved showing Halle the High School Musical stickers he picked out for her) and ate dinner at IHOP with Grandpa & Grandma K.

Bill & Laurie gave her a pretty little bracelet
to remind her to CHOOSE THE RIGHT.

Mom got her this adorable striped shirt.
Rose-pink has always been one of my
all-time colors on my baby girl.

25-Cent slippers from Wal-Mart's clearance rack.
Couldn't pass them up!

Halle and Wyatt cracked us up by the way they
were making the syrups "talk" to each other!

The Monday after the baptism, we completed her eighth birthday with a High School Musical Party. Five of her little girlfriends came and they were so funny together. We started with a get-to-know you game, asking questions about their favorite High School Musical stuff.

Then we played B-O-L-T-O-N
(a.k.a. in the basketball world as H-O-R-S-E)
thanks, Heather & Will, for loaning us your hoop & ball

After a couple more games (HSM Bingo, HSM Trivia, and HSM Who-Am-I?),

all the girls were anxious for Halle to open gifts.

Her friends picked out fun gifts--it was a hoot to hear them get so excited as she opened their packaging. Each friend had made a homemade card, too. More than one said "Happy Brithday". Second-graders are so cute!

I. Am. Not. A. Cake. Decorator.
So I was pretty pleased with my basketball cake.
So was Halle.
She said it was her favorite part,
which warmed her mama's heart!

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The above website has a some wonderful videos made to explain The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints in simple, easy-to-understand ways.

A Very "Incredible" High-Five Birthday!

Wyatt had a killer birthday this year! It all started off when Grandma K. sent him a $15 check in the mail. Wyatt thought just the paper it was printed on was awesome, but when we actually went to the bank and I handed a ten and a five in his greedy little hands, he was beside himself! We wondered the aisles of Wal-Mart for all of ten seconds before Wy figured out what he wanted: "The Incredibles" on DVD. (He's on a real Incredibles-kick lately...hence, the "i" cupcakes below...in fact, he wants to be Dash for Halloween.)

The kids have been bugging us since February to go to Lagoon. Personally, as parents who don't enjoy keeping track of our brood in a crowd and also as cheapskates, it's not our favorite place. Sure, it's fun and all, but you pay an arm and a leg and the other leg to get in! After a while, though, "keeping up with the Joneses" kind of made us feel like maybe we were schmucky parents to never take our children to the local themepark. So we caved and told Wyatt the fate of Lagoon rested upon his bony shoulders: he could choose between a friend-birthday party or the family going to Lagoon. After some serious thought, he chose to go "where fun is". In the end, we had an awesome day! The only regret we had was doing Lagoon-A-Beach, where on an overcast day the UNheated pools weren't exactly super-enticing. Other than that, we thoroughly enjoyed ourselves, especially the fact that our kids were worn out and ready for bed by 6 p.m. We invited any family around that could/wanted to go, so it was even more fun to share it with Grandma Dixie, Grandpa John, Aunt Heidi, Aunt Ashlee (with baby girl in utero...no fun rides for Ash...sorry...), Uncle Bret, and Cousin Jace. Here are some pictures of our INCREDIBLE day:
When it comes to rides, Halle is the polar opposite of me, which is good (to a point). She's a major thrill-seeker just like her dad. I'm glad she is brave, but as her protective, (ok, paranoid) mama, I wish she wasn't so fearless. This girl will ride ANYTHING!

Ahhhh...the Music Express. How I'd missed you!
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By 6:00, the kids were spent and finally asking to go home so Wyatt could open presents. I'm not trying to sound braggy, but I have to say that we got him the coolest gift this year. You know how sometimes you get your kids something and you know they'll like it but you feel a bit mediocre about it? Well, 2009 proved to be the year HE and WE loved his bday gift. It's a Tag Reader...somehow you feel so much more pleased with yourself when their "toy" is something that can teach them... Wyatt also knows how to read this year, so it was fun to hear him read every. single. word. on his birthday cards. Halle picked out a giant Rice Krispie Treat for his birthday gift. I don't know anyone who gives better reactions to presents than Wyatt. He thought that block of sugar was the best gift he'd ever received (proof is in the hug at the end of the post).