Brenna's Baptized

Pin It There was no rest for the weary in January.  Back in December, it dawned on me that Gran (my Mom) would be coming for Brenna's baptism, but that it would also be her 60th birthday.  I thought I would try to see if my siblings could surprise her by meeting at our house during this time.  It's quite the sacrifice for all of them, especially when weather is always scary and risky in the winter, making it hard to even get in or out of here.  The financial sacrifice for my older brother especially would be great, flying his family from California wasn't even something I thought would be a possibility, I thought maybe he could swing something on his own.  It was a wild thought, but I called each of them to put the bug in their ear.  All the driving folks were able to commit, and then I got a call from my brother letting me know he had purchased tickets for his family to come!!  I almost started to cry.  We were all so excited and looking forward to this surprise of a lifetime, that our Mom would never think of in a million years.  We don't live in the most tropical of places, or easiest place to get to!

Anyway, long story short, I knew I needed to have everything ready and prepared for the baptism before all of my family arrived, along with all the prep it takes to host over 20 people for a week.  Somehow I managed to pull it off, each day leading up to it was crucial.  The hardest part was making hundreds of baptism treats while at the same time doing another round of Whole 30 for the month.  haha

We sent her baptism announcements out a few weeks before.  Doesn't she look like a snow princess?  Truth be told, it was freezing and she it took a lot of coercion to get her to smile through her chattering teeth.  I told her it would be worth it when she saw the end result, but that wasn't very convincing.  

Here are a few more of my favorites:

Even with all the planning and preparation, the day leading up to her baptism was pretty hectic.  Luckily my sis in law pulled us aside to at least capture some pictures.  I am so thankful!

Brenna's baptism was beautiful.  Auntie Sondra and Uncle Shawn spoke, the kids sang a special musical number with Gran accompanying, and Daddy gave her the Holy Ghost with a thoughtful blessing.  We felt the Spirit and felt the love from friends and family.  Brenna glowed, and felt the love of our Savior on her very special day.