It's Great to be Eight!!!

Evan had been anticipating his eighth birthday for a long time!! He was so excited to be baptized and we had lots of fun as a family helping him to prepare for this special and important step in his life!! Evan turned eight back in September and decided to wait to be baptized a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of latter-day Saints until December so that more of our family could be here and more importantly by that time his cousin Claire who lives in California would be eight years old also and here for the holidays which meant

that they could share their baptism day... Saturday December 29th!!

For several months leading up to the baptism Evan and Claire spent lots of time on the phone making plans for the big day! It was fun to see their exitement and love for each other! My sister Sara (Claire's mom) and I decide it would be neat to put together a keep sake for the kids from all of the people who love them. We asked our family members to send us stories of times in their lives when they had felt the influence of the Holy Ghost, or to share their testimony of a gospel principle, or the memories of their baptism day. We got more and more excited about it as the stories started coming in- we realized this would be a great way to help build Evan and Claire's budding testimonies. So neat to have a collection of real stories and thoughts from their extended family! We compiled the stories into a book and presented them to Evan and Claire at the baptism. The kids decide that they wanted to speak before the baptism... we weren't too sure about that but then realized that they would probably learn more from preparing a talk than from listening to someone else speak. So Evan gave a great talk about the Holy Ghost followed by all the children there singing a few primary songs. Then Claire spoke about Baptism and then the two of them sang "When I am baptized."

We dismissed for the baptisms after a few comments from Sara and I. It was so wonderful to watch these two special kids be baptized by their Dads. Evan was glowing and had the sweetest grin on his face that just melted my heart as he emerged from the water. later he told me that the water was very cold but inside he felt warm all over! As the kids were drying off and getting dressed after the ordinance we all watched a DVD that my sister Julie (who was unable to be there) put together of pictures of Claire and Evan from newborn babies to 8 years old! It had background music of primary songs. It made me cry! It was the cutest thing and brought back so many memories of Evan's little life. My first baby is eight!!! Then they each were confirmed and given the gift of the Holy Ghost by their dads. Glen gave Evan such a sincere and heartfelt blessing! It was such a perfect day, one of those days that is a milestone not only for Evan but for me... the emotions I felt throughout the day were amazing and overwhelming...shock that Evan is an eight year old, love for such supportive family, those who attended and those who were thinking of us from far away, pride for the innocense and faith so apparent in my little boy! Happiness for the blessing of the gospel and the peace it brings. The spirit was strong all day- it was perfect- My heart was so full!! and I know that Evan felt the importance of the covenants he was making. After the ordinances we gathered in the cultural hall at the church for lunch. We had rainbow colored balloons tied to scriptures on the center of each table since the kids Favorite baptism primary song is about rainbows. (it's the one that they sang together at the meeting) . We also had framed pictures of Claire and Evan on the tables along with packs of rainbow skittles for everyone to take home. Attatched to the skittles were the words to the song. We had deli meat sandwiches, chips, salads, fruit etc... for lunch. When everyone was finished eating we set up an ice cream sundae bar -Evan and Clarie's choice!!We had every topping you can imagine spread out in glass candy jars with long handle spoons for serving yourself- It was every kids dream come true! Like I said before... A Perfect day!!

Evan with great grandma Evans

We had lots of our family there for this special occasion...many of them traveled through a blizzard in Sardine Canyon to be there! Thank you for your love and support!

Our 8 year old!!

We love you Evan!!!