Friday, August 31, 2018

Eden's Baptism

Our sweet Eden chose to be baptized on March 30, 2018 on a Friday afternoon.
It was BEAUTIFUL.
Her Daddy was able to baptize and confirm her.
She had her Aunt Julie give the talk on baptism and Aunt Juli gave the talk on the Holy Ghost.
It was a sweet moment for our family to all be together. It was a little sad for us because Grandpa and Uncle Rick couldn't be there in person, but we knew they were still there.

It has truly been an amazing experience having so many family members and friends here to support our family. The Pinkston's ALL came and my brother Joshua and his wife Emily came with their baby Gwendolyn and my Mom was able to come.
It was so special for Eden and our whole family.



 Sweet baby Gwennie.

 She was spoiled rotten and recieved some special gifts to help her remember about her baptism day.

 We had a feast at Bay Seas and then birthday cake at the house after the baptism. Eden chose a CHICKEN cake.




 The Heaton's coming out to support us! We love them so much!










It truly was a special couple of days!

Dearest Eden,

Mom and Dad want you to know how special you are. We are so grateful you chose to come to our family on earth. We love seeing you grow into the beautiful young lady you are becoming. You make us VERY proud. We know you try so hard to make good choices and to be a good daughter and that makes us happy and we know it will make you happy too. You are so full of light and joy and you share it with others and we hope you will always try to share who you are with others. You connect us in so many ways. You love everyone and are such a good friend. You love your family. You love animals and you care so deeply. You are an example of who we should be like.

We love you Eden. Your Aunts and Uncles and Grandma's and Grandpa's and cousins and your brothers and sisters. We ALL love you!
Remember that. All these people came to support YOU!

We love you ALWAYS!
Love,
Mom and Dad

Easter and April Fool's

Easter was so much fun because we had family here for Eden's baptism. We got to do a ward party. Have an egg hunt at home and go up to the Pinkston's.
The young women arranged to host the party for the ward.
It was so much fun! They did an Easter egg hunt, painted faces, blew bubbles and we had a blast.
Here's a picture of my young women.
Elara got a butterfly on her cheek.
Connor got a clover.





Lots and LOTS of candy!
And Kael became a man with a beard...




 Easter also fell on General Conference AND April Fool's Day...
Derek did his best to fool us all. Especially his poor Mama.
He put up these Nicolas Cage pictures everywhere and when I say everywhere well you use your imagination...
Then, he bought a HUGE fake remote control cockroach and scared the crap out of her....
Literally because he put fake dog poop all over the floor and I tried cleaning that up...
It was HILARIOUS!
Then, Eden had to try a few pranks on us as well and stuck her horse and Olaf in our shower.

 You try peeing when Nicolas Cage is staring at you!
 Elara prank is Moosen on the toilet...

Girl's Camp

 Girl's Camp March 2018
While Derek worked a week straight of night shifts the kids went up to stay with Heidi and the other Pinkston's while I went on a mini vacation to girls camp!
It was by far one of the most exhausting weeks of my life, BUT one of the most rich and fulfilling spiritual times as well. Girls camp is the best. That is it. I'm not one of many words. I can't express myself in great detail, but when I say the best it's true. 
We pulled pranks, had some pranks pulled on us. We bonded. We swam. We bunked. We played games. We bore testimonies. We grew. Here are a few pictures of our adventures.
Our ward theme.
The Stake theme was "Peace in Christ".
The kids getting spoiled rotten by Heidi, Haley, and Jamie.
Me about to drop from SO HIGH. I did NOT love this, but the girls really wanted to see me try and puke... It was close...
We "decorated" the stake leaders cabin.
Some first years tried to "decorate" our cabin. They were actually hiding in the cabin when we took this picture.
We made some undies for the stake leaders who wore them so nicely.
 The girls destroyed Pikachoo.
Me and my girls!
We were looking pretty good still on the last day.
Testimony night all bundled together.
First day when I still had beautiful locks I made last all day.