A Special Day

We had Jillian's baptism on Saturday, 6 December while my parents were here. Really, this was the reason they had come; it is their goal to see all their grandchildren be baptized. It really made the day special to have them there.

Jillian and Daddy before the baptism. When I was baptized I had my picture taken with my dad just like this one. (Only my dad was smiling --gotta love my Brad!!)

We shared the service with another girl in our stake. Lots of friends came from our ward and that made Jillian feel special also. Brad baptized and confirmed her, Grandma played the piano and gave a prayer, Grandpa gave the talk on the Holy Ghost, and I did the welcome into the primary. Had I not had a cold at the time we would have done a song together but that just wasn't to be. All in all, it was a wonderful experience.

Family pictures after the baptism.

Jillian with her CTR 8 teacher, Sister Sharon Shull. Sis. Shull was a wonderful teacher!

We have wonderful friends here! Jillian invited two school friends to come and she was so excited that they came! The two moms are good friends of mine as well. On the left is Amy Mulkey, our neighbor, and on the right is Mary Leigh Chaney. The kids, left to right: Joseph Mulkey, Kaylee Mulkey, Jillian, Adeline Chaney, and Mae Chaney.

Great Minds...

My mom and I always seem to dress the same. So many times we have opened up the door to each other's houses and found a mirror in front of us. It just cracks us up.

We were rushing to get ready for Jillian's baptism and I came downstairs and Mom laughed and said,"Oh Brenda! We're wearing the same thing!" I told her, "Well I'm not changing because I think that is just too funny." So, we wore the same thing. The next day I came out wearing a purple shirt with my black skirt and it wasn't until we arrived at church that I realized that she was wearing purple also!! We just laughed!

More Church History

The last time my parents came to visit we went to some of the church history sites nearby but didn't get to finish. This time we did the ones we didn't see. We took Jillian out of school that day so that she could come along with us. They had a great time helping the sister missionary hold the pictures that help tell the story of the Liberty Jail.

After Liberty we went to Independence to see the visitor's center as well as the RLDS visitor's center. This time we went on a tour of the RLDS visitor's center and I found it quite interesting. In the collage below, top left, Jillian, Logan and Jorja are standing in front of a replica of the Tree of Life that is made completely of metal. Top right: my kiddos in front of one of the many Chreche displays we saw. Bottom left, the RLDS organ. Bottom center, looking up "the upside-down ice cream cone" -- the tour guide actually turned on the lights for me just so I could take this picture. Bottom right, Jillian got to ring their Peace Bell. Every day at 1pm they have a prayer for peace and ring this bell. I found it interesting that the whole purpose of the religion is only world peace. Our tour guide was a really nice man, who said he'd given a tour to Elder Uchdorf! That would have been really neat.

The Gingerbread House!

I don't think the Christmas season would be complete without making a gingerbread house. We started doing this in Arizona, only with homemade gingerbread made by Brad's mom. We would all get together and make them. It was a lot of fun! This year our good friends, Heather and Graigg gave us a kit, which I have to say made the whole process so much easier! I made the kids wait to put it together until Grandma and Grandpa came. Let's just say they had a great time! When it was all done of course they didn't want to just look at it! But alas, they have a mean mom. I told them not to touch it until after Christmas day. Um, what was I thinking? If I were a kid with a cracker-house covered in candy would I leave it alone? I don't think so. Neither did my kids. The house was so ugly within a week that I finally told them to have at it just so that I didn't have to look at it anymore. Ah, good times!

Ward Christmas Party

Here are a few pictures from our ward Christmas Party. The kids had a great time doing their crafts and meeting with Santa (except Jorja, who was afraid of him).

Sunday Funny

I know I need to finish blogging about Jillian's baptism, my parents' visit, Christmas, etc. but I had to interrupt that and tell what happened after church today because I have laughed about it all day long. Now I realize that part of it being funny is knowing the personalities of my kiddos so to those who don't know them I apologize, but at the same time I feel sorry for you!

I was leaving the church building with Jillian, Logan, and Jorja and it was really cold so we all ran to get into the car. Jillian got in on Logan's side and instead of moving over to the other side of the car just stood there in front of him. I'm not sure why. Well, Logan got tired of that so he punched her hard on the back. She started wailing, and honestly I don't blame her because he has a hard punch. I asked him why he did it and he said, "Because she wouldn't move!" I told them to both be nice to each other and had Jillian move over to her seat. Almost immediately Jorja turned to Jillian and sing-song said, "I got a CTR ring and you didn't!" (Jillian didn't get one because she is in Sr. Primary now and this was Jorja's first time getting one since she is a Sunbeam so she was really excited.) Jillian was already mad about not getting one and Jorja's comment was salt on an open wound. So, Jillian started yelling at Jorja to "shut up". Then she started in on Logan again saying that "when we get home I'm going to fight you!" To which Logan very calmly replied, "Yeah, but I'm gonna win." Jillian and I both lost it --her yelling and me laughing. I probably should not have laughed but I just couldn't help it! Even their arguing sometimes cracks me up.