It has been a busy couple of days spending time with cousins and family, birthday parties, hosting, and preparing for McKenzie's special day.
Sarah finished her beautiful Baptism dress (we went shopping together with Sarah and McKenzie picked out the fabric). Just a small touch of turquoise...Kenzie's favorite color.
Then we hurried to take and develop a few photos for the big day.
She loves her new scriptures.
My sweet brown-eyed girl.
Lovely long hair.
Our little sweetheart.
It was on the verge of raining on us during the photo shoot.
Mckay was being silly and jumped in a picture!
Her dress turned out great.
She has been looking forward to this day for a quite a while.
We are so blessed to have her as a daughter.
Kenzie is beautiful inside and out.
Love all the layers!
She has a great desire to do what is right.
Taking a moment to stop and smell the flowers.
With the help of my sister Michelle, we made her a cupcake dress for some treats to share.
Daddy and daughter all ready for the special moment.
McKenzie adores her father!
And the rest of the clan before the baptism.
We love our Kenzie girl.
Gavin was trying to escape.
We had to take a few to get a decent one...perk of having kids!
Gavin was more interested in the baptismal font behind us though.
HA HA!
I think this is about as good as it was going to get!
What a special day, a birthday and a baptism.
We are a happy family.
Then Kenzie changed into a cute little white dress to be baptized in. There were suits but they were huge on her and the church also had this dress and that is what Kenzie decided on.
After part of the program, it was finally time for McKenzie to be baptized. It was priceless going into the changing room with her and having a short mother daughter moment. We embraced as I told her how much I love her and then she told me something that I already knew, but will never forget, she said, "I am growing up so fast". I believe that I may have giggled behind a few tears. She took the words right out of my mouth! I think she knew that she was about to make a big step in the right direction and that was a huge moment in her life. It was so special.
After her baptism, I snapped another quick picture to capture her all wet and completely spotless.
She told me that she felt so clean at that point.
Our family after the baptism.
Dear sweet Gavin is distracted yet again!
What do ya do?
After the baptism we headed back to our home for some refreshments with friends and family. She helped to choose rootbeer floats, she loved her cupcake dress, and even brownies.
We are proud of her decision to be baptized and her commitment to living up to her covenants.
Along the way my mom was taking pictures too, I grabbed the ones she got:
I just have to say, I LOVE THIS PICTURE! After the program was over, Payton went straight up to his little sis, and congratulated her. I saw it happen and it melted my heart (needless to say I am happy it was caught on camera).
Moments like these make me so happy!
Sweet cousins!
Handsome guy!
Sometimes I am in shock at the thought of already having children even old enough to be baptized. Time flies...sigh.
It was a wonderful occasion and helped make for a beautiful experience for our family.
McKenzie is such a wonderful daughter and one of her daddy's princesses. In fact, he even twirled her before helping her into the water.
It was a very memorable day!
