He's a member!

Eric was baptized yesterday!  We are so proud of him for making the decision to be baptized.  It went really well.  Eric got to be the first one baptized (his friend Logan was also baptized yesterday).  After he was baptized we went into the Primary room for the program.  Aubrey really wanted to sing at Eric's baptism, so she chose to sing "I am a Child of God."  As we were walking into the Primary room Aubrey turns to me and said, "Oh no Mom!  I forgot the words."  She has been struggling with the phrase "Teach me all that I can do" she sings it as "Teach me all that I can know."  We have been working all week on having her say the right word.  When she would get it wrong she would stop singing and say, "Dang it!"  Or if she got it right she would stop singing and say "Yes!"  Secretly I was hoping for a little Aubrey outburst during her solo.  Anyways, when I told her she would be fine, she said, "No Mom!  I forgot ALL the words!"  She was really nervous.  She was in line to sing after the talk.  During the entire talk she was singing the song quietly to herself over and over again. 

Finally it was Aubrey's turn to sing.  She got right up to the microphone, and before I could sit down at the piano she started singing.  We had to stop her and wait for me to play the piano.  She did a wonderful job!  She got all the lyrics right, and no outbursts.  I loved hearing her sweet voice sing into the microphone.  I am so proud of her for not getting stage fright.  I had a back-up planned if she ended up refusing to sing, and luckily I didn't have to use it. 

I took Eric to get his baptism pictures done in his suit.  We got them back yesterday. He looks like a little missionary in this picture.  We compared it to Devin's mission picture.  Same background and everything.

Eric got to be confirmed first too.  Zac gave Eric a beautiful blessing.  I am so blessed that he is a worthy priesthood holder.  After the confirmation took place Eric told me that he feels different.  That he feels really warm and really, really happy.  We had such a great turn out at the baptism.  All of my intermediate family and step family were there.  Zac's sister Barb came, and my Aunt Sharon, Uncle Steve and cousin Stephanie also showed up.  Eric had invited some friends too and their families came as well.  Thank you to everyone for your support in this special day for Eric.  I only have one regret, and that is I didn't take a picture of just Eric in his baptism suit.  I had every intention to do it, but it was hectic in the morning and I forgot.

The entire baptism/confirmation only took 40 minutes.  We had a good hour before the restaurant opened.  Everyone went home and changed clothes then headed over to Emmett's and Ethel's burger restaurant to eat.  We got there right when they were unlocking their doors.

Lily was great and slept almost the entire time.  We all ate burgers (except for Madison who ordered chili) and got ice cream.

We conveniently had all the kids sit at a separate table.  It worked great.

Jennifer loves her ice cream.

The kids started to get a little rowdy and we noticed they were putting ice cream and sauce on their faces.

Yep, right after this picture the ice cream ended up in her nostril.

Yesterday we went to Lagoon.  Dad took Eric and Aubrey to Lagoon in the morning and Zac brought Jennifer to me at work after my meetings.  (He stayed home with Lily.) It was a lot of fun, but it wears the kids out.  As soon as we got back from the restaurant after the baptism, Jennifer went and grabbed all her sleeping stuff and fell asleep within 10 minutes of watching Sponge bob.

That night we had a ward BBQ.  Zac was in charge of teaching couponing while we were there.  It was suppose to go from 5-7, and Zac didn't get home until 9 pm with Eric.  My kids bedtime is 7:30 pm.  So when they came home I told Eric to get his pajamas on and go to bed.  He got dressed and came back to me and asked me if he could read his scriptures in his room since we didn't have family scripture study tonight.  I told him that it was late and he could read them tomorrow.  He replies, "I made a promise today Mom to keep all of Heavenly Father's commandments.  I am not breaking that promise."  He can be such a good example.

Lily is growing up so fast.  She crawls really fast now, climbs UP the stairs (not down) and pulls herself up to standing.   She hasn't figured out how to SIT down after she stands up, so she will scream.  But she is cruising around everywhere as long as there is an edge she can hold while she is standing.  We got back her 9 month pictures yesterday.

Eric had basketball camp this week at the high school.  I told Zac to make sure Eric didn't wear a shirt under his jersey because he would be really hot.  So Zac told Eric, and Eric goes, "But then everyone will see my under arms."  I thought he was being so cute.  He really wanted to be modest.  Nope.  Apparently he had put some of Aubrey's rub-on butterfly tattoos under his arms so that I wouldn't find out.  Now, everyone at basketball camp would see them.