Ava's Baptism

Oh my oh my.  My baby girl is all grown up.  After a lot of reading and talking and praying, Ava decided that she wanted to get baptized as a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints.  I didn't want her to feel pressured or that we would be disappointed if she wasn't ready.  But she decided that she wanted to do it.  In all honesty, I feel like Ava knows more, feels more and has a closer relationship with her Heavenly Father, than I ever did at her age.  She is so sweet and so tender-hearted.

 We held the baptism yesterday at our stake center.  We were lucky enough to get permission from our stake president to have the baptism on our own and not with the stake.  That way we were able to have Nana & Pop and Grandma Baum be there.

 Daddy and his little princess, all dressed in white.

I love this picture of all our kiddos.  The boys were so excited about her getting baptized.  They kept asking her questions like,  "how did it feel?"  She is such a good example to them.  They all left that night talking about when they get baptized.

 Nana and Pop came all the way from Washington for her special day.  Pop gave the talk on baptism and Nana said a prayer.

Here we are all together.  It's a miracle we are  all looking.

Nana and Pop got Ava her own set of scriptures.  She was so excited about it and has had her nosed glued to them ever since.  She's been carting them around everywhere she goes.  She also got a beautiful necklace from Grandma Baum.

 We made these adorable programs too.  I don't know why I get so excited about stuff like that, but I do.  I also put the 3 white dresses poem along with a picture with her baby dress together.

 We had treats afterwards in the cultural hall.  We had a few tables and so we put a few centerpieces out.

 We ran with the song, "When I am Baptized" which talks about looking for rainbows after rain and thinking about the beauty of an earth made clean again.  And how we want our lives to be as clean as earth right after rain.  So hence our rainbow theme.

 We had so many delicious goodies.  A shout out to my Mom and Daniel who helped me put them all together, the day of.  We made Kool-Aid popcorn which ended up looking amazing.

 We did rainbow chocolate covered pretzels which were a huge hit.  It was delicious.

 We made 'banilla wafers' which were mini-Nilla wafers, buttered with nutella, having a banana slice sandwiched between, rolled in sprinkles.  We did rainbow fruit trays with 'bang-a-rang' fruit dip (as my friend Erica taught me years ago:-)

 We made Jello Rainbow cookies.  Which are fruity and really tasty.

 We had rainbow, mallow belts.  

 And the most adorable rainbow cupcakes that my sister put together.  Thanks Sarah!!

 The rainbow and clouds didn't turn out exactly as I had hoped, but it did the job and I didn't want to re-do it.  The clouds just look a little wonky to me.

Afterwards, we snapped a few pictures with Grandma and Great Grandma and Grandpa Gurney.

 Grandma Baum came all the way from Texas for the baptism.  She gave a great talk on the Holy Ghost.  Great Grandma and Grandpa Baum came too.  It was so cool having all her grandpas be in the circle again!  They were all able to be in her circle when she was blessed as a baby too.

We are SO SO proud of Ava.  I can't even say how pleased we are with her.  She is such an amazing little girl!  I am so lucky to have her as my daughter.  She is my buddy, my pal, and my partner in crime.  It's just me and her in a sea of boys at home.  I am blessed.