Emma's Baptism Weekend

My sweet Emma lou was baptized to become a member of The Church of the Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.  We're so proud and happy for her!  It was a wonderful day spent with family.  Grandma and Grandpa Szymanski drove all day from Utah to get here.  The kids (and Ben and I!) were very happy to see them and excited to have them stay at our home for the weekend.  

On baptism day, Emma got to open up a couple of gifts - new scriptures, a case, and a pink CTR ring.  :)  She was SO happy!

While Emma was busy looking over her baptism gifts, Claire was busy eating a cookie the size of her head (literally).  My mom and dad brought us delicious Jacob Lake cookies!  It took a little while, but Claire ate the whole thing.  

Emma was quick to remind me that her baptism day was also Dr. Seuss's birthday.  Jake came home with this get-up from preschool the day before...

Ben made us all delicious green eggs and ham for breakfast!

Notice the remains of the giant cookie on Claire's plate... it was quickly eaten up...

We got ourselves all ready after breakfast and drove to our stake center building.  A great opportunity for a family photo...

All dressed in white...

Emma's baptism was wonderful.  It was awesome to watch my oldest take this important step!  In addition to our family, we had some wonderful friends help with the baptism and confirmation program.  Emma was very happy to also have a couple of her sweet friends come to share in her special day.  Sarah and Clara are getting baptized at the end of the month...

Afterwards we had all of our family come to our home.  We've had a new tradition going lately, where the cousins are given a fun checklist of things to do to stay busy and entertained.  Since it was Dr. Seuss' birthday, many of the items on the checklist were Seuss themed - such as reading Seuss books to the little kids...

I was so thankful to our family for being so helpful and fun on Emma's baptism day!  I didn't have to do any cooking, because everyone brought stuff to help out - and Ben was a master on the grill as always.  :)

Aunt Emily made one of her famously delicious chocolate cakes... in the shape of an 8!  8 is great!

The holes in the eight were stacked into a personal (and generously) sized cake- Emma was happy to have this be her very own piece.  :)

Towards the end of the day, the kids worked on creating their own Seuss poetry.  Once completed, they recited their poems to the family.  We have some talented writers in the family!  :)

My parents stayed through the weekend and left for home on Tuesday morning.  It was so wonderful to have them here for a few days.  The kids LOVE their grandparents!  

Sunday afternoon reading...

Bedtime reading...

Building castles with Grandpa...

On Monday morning while the kids were in school, we took Claire to the Deer Valley airport.  She loved watching the planes - she kept saying "wo!"

Me and my mom :)

Later that afternoon we went to the Desert Botanical Gardens...

We enjoyed the spring butterfly exhibit...

Even after living here for 8 years, the cactus are still so interesting to look at...

My dad and I :)

You can't really tell, but the kids were being nutso trying to take a group photo... bribing took place...

Mom and Dad took us out to a yummy dinner that evening.  So wonderful not to have to cook or clean!  Thank you mom and dad for coming to visit!

Happy baptism weekend Emma!  We love to see you make great choices and be a good example to others. You are sweet, kind, loving, and fun.  :)