Saturday, April 9, 2011

Lindsay's Baptism Day!!!!

Her school teacher Mrs. Richards and friend Lexi

Her friends

Her "good' friend Nolan


Jenny, Ben and Carter were here just a few days before the baptism. I have a picture with Matt, Lauren, Mattison and Clark but I cannot find it!!! They were here visiting too just a few days before. Her friend Maizy



The Miller's

What a special day we have had today! Our oldest, Lindsay, made the decision to be baptized a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. She has been planning this day for a LONG time and I'm not joking. About a year ago she wanted to start looking at baptism dresses and started planning everything. This little girl KNOWS what she wants. Her favorite color is purple so we tried to incorporate that with a lot of things. We bought her dress at White Elegance a couple months ago and decided to take out the white ribbon and replace it with a purple one. It looks beautiful! We decided to serve ice cream for a refreshment afterwards instead of a full meal which ended up working out great! She also asked her Uncle Trevor and Aunt Liz if they would make their delicious homemade ice cream months ago. For her baptism pictures she asked if we could have them taken at Gardner Village. Like I said, she knows what she wants. We first took a few pictures in our neighborhood park to put on her invitations, then luckily last week my brother Matt and cute SIL, Lauren, happened to be in town for a few days, so we had her take the "real" pictures at Gardner Village. THEY LOOK AMAZING! Thank you Lauren! I loved so many of them it was hard to choose which ones we wanted. So today was the big day. We woke up to 30 something degree weather and snow!!!!! Not my idea of a spring day, but it did look pretty. Lindsay woke up very early (6:20 am), it was like Christmas morning for her because she was so excited! Dan's mom and dad came over early because Lindsay had asked Grandma Tracey to french braid her hair (something I have yet to figure out how to do!). We got to the Stake Center early for her and Dan to change into their baptism clothing and Lindsay was just glowing. I was so excited for her I kept feeling butterflies. After a couple of great talks in the chapel, we headed back to the baptismal font with another girl in our ward, Lexi Brock, who was also getting baptized. We actually had 2 others in our ward getting baptized, one being her good friend, Maizy, but they split them in two groups to fit everyone in the room! I was overcome with the spirit as soon as Dan said her name in the baptism prayer, then the tears started as soon has he immersed her into the water. She is clean and whole! What an amazing feeling as a parent! When I went to help her change she was FREEZING! I tried to warm her up the best I could and even used the hairdryer to warm her. We dressed her into her beautiful dress and put some little purple flowers throughout her hair. We went into the cultural hall where all our family and friends were waiting to have Lindsay confirmed a member of the church and to receive the the gift of the Holy Ghost. We feel very blessed to have so many family who were able to come and so many worthy Priesthood holders to be in the circle. (We missed you Sis & Zach, Jenny & Ben and Matt & Lauren). Even Lindsay's Great-Grandpa Ted was able to come and be part of the circle. Dan gave a very sweet blessing and was emotional as was I when I gave the closing prayer. We took pictures and headed back to our ward building for all the ice cream and cookies you could eat! I had decorated the room with purple tablecloths, with a picture of Lindsay and a vase of flowers on each table. I'm not very good at planning parties or decorating but I think it looked pretty good. Dan and I put together a video of Lindsay to show at the church. It took a lot of hours but I do have to say I have VERY talented and patient husband! He is a master at Photoshop and also made my vision of her video come true! Thanks honey! So below you can see pictures and her video. It's kind of long but my amazing mom taught me how important it is to take pictures so I had a lot to pick from and it was hard. Believe it or not, I did cut out about 100 pictures so it wouldn't be as long! Hahaha! We are so grateful for all of the love and support from our families and friends. I am so grateful to a loving Heavenly Father and Savior, Jesus Christ. I have been so humbled with this whole experience in helping prepare Lindsay to be baptized. Sometimes we need to be reminded of just the basics of the gospel and just how important the basics are. We love you Lindsay and we are so proud of you!