8

On Saturday morning we went to a baptism for a couple who have been taking the missionary discussions. It was such a great baptism. After the husband came out of the water, he was so overcome with emotion, he just sobbed. It was really touching. After the baptism, we did stuff at home, then I took Eliza's baptism pictures. I can't believe she will be 8 on Sunday. We had a lot of fun doing the pictures. She had some fun ideas of what she wanted me to do. She is so creative. Here are a few I liked...



(one of Eliza's creative ideas!)




That night we had a sitter and Brian and I went to a wedding reception. Then we did a couple errands. I got to spend my gift card Brian got me for Christmas. It's nice to get a couple new pieces of clothing.

Sunday went well. I am not a fan of later church, but it wasn't horrible. I'd just prefer to get up, get ready and go instead of having time that we have to try to fill. I'm sure we'll get used to it. After church Eliza had her baptism interview, then we went to my parents' for dinner.

Today was back to the regular routine. I went hiking with Terri. It was windy. Ick! Then I got home and started getting everyone going. Eliza and Libby did well getting ready and off to school. I think they were a bit excited to get back and see their teachers and friends. It almost felt like the first day of school for me back home, worrying about my girls and wondering how their day was going.

This evening Libby had gymnastics, so I took her to that. When we got home we had dinner and Family Home Evening. Ellie gave a cute prayer. I had told them before (as we are trying to work on reverence during FHE) that we were ready to start but we weren't going to until everyone was sitting down and quiet. And if someone got up to get a drink or whatnot, we would stop or if someone was talking, we would stop. And if we weren't done at 7:30, we wouldn't get to have our treat. Ellie gave the opening prayer and she said, "Please bless that no one will scream and that no one will get up to get a drink and that we'll be done by 7:30." So specific! I told her it was a great, specific prayer. In my talk last Sunday, that was one idea I gave--to be more specific in our prayers. That was a great example! I gave a mini lesson about our new stake theme this year: "Love One Another." Then Eliza and Libby had prepared a scavenger hunt where we had to find hearts around the house and do what it said on it, such as "give someone a hug" or "give the person closest to you a kiss." It was cute. We finished in time and had ice cream sundaes for dessert.