Lily's Baptism

Our beautiful Lily was baptized on Sunday, February 28th.

How did we get to be parents of such a big girl? All day I kept marveling at her grown-up smile and how beautiful she looked all in white.

Lily was baptized by her Daddy, which seems normal to most people, but because I did not have that privilege as an 8-year-old child, it is especially important and precious to me to have a husband worthy to administer priesthood ordinances to his family.

Just before taking this picture I said to Dan, "It's been awhile since you've taken one of these photos, huh?" 17 years since the mission days. Wow.

We were blessed to have lots of family and friends at Lily's baptism.

Liesel Wynn, Lily's best friend from Utah came up with my Mom. She was such a big help with Mack the whole time she was here, always holding him and playing with him. Amelia was thrilled with her new-to-her purple dress given to her by her cousin Avelyn Larsen. Avy was decked out in a froofy pink dress that she was all too happy to pose for a picture in!

In addition to Liesel, some of Lily's friends from Cokeville came to her baptism, Kendra Cook and Emma Teichert. Kamille and all of the Nate cousins also came.

The service was simple and brief (much to Dan's liking) with talks by Lily's cousin Dani Allred and Grammie Lois Ann Garlitz. It was such a thrill for me as a mother to stand over the font and watch my husband baptize my child. Amelia was tickled by the whole thing and talked excitedly about how she's going to get baptized when she's older. In fact, she nearly dove into the font when the ward mission leader said the little kids could come right up front to watch. Bishop Dayton made a nice save! Lily's confirmation blessing was beautiful, blessing her to find her place in the gospel and increase her testimony.

As you can see, once the service was over, reverence and decorum prevailed in the foyer:

The girls had lots of fun spinning in their twirly dresses.

Avy's dress was definitely the most spectacular for twirling.

Cousins Avy Larsen and Connor Allred. I think this is the only picture Connor stood still for.

There's that toothless grin! I'm noticing Lily's rosy cheeks; it looks like she was wearing blush. But really, she was just happy (and probably a little flushed from spinning).

Cousin Sedona Donnell and Grammie. Remember this gorgeous baby? Well, she's almost 2 now and even more beautiful. She was a little overwhelmed by the number of people, especially spazzy kids, and more than once she was found kind of standing off to the side just taking things in.

I love this picture of Lily and her Grammie. In Mom's talk she pointed out how many people came to see Lily be baptized and how she can always know there are people who love her.

This is Keith and Lynette Nate, Lily's Wyoming grandparents. We love them so much and they treat us just like their own.

Several of my clan made the trip to Cokeville (photo taken by Liesel- way to go!):
(back) my Aunt Elizabeth Cox, Lily's cousins Gilean Allred & Dani Allred, my sister Becky Allred with baby Emma (and baby #5 set to arrive April 6th), my Mom Lois Ann Garlitz, Dan and Mack Richardson.
(front): 2nd cousin Avy Larsen, my cousin Chris Donnell & Sedona, my cousin Katy Larsen, Lily (looking thrilled to pose for another picture), Amelia and me.

Our little crew with an always wiggly Amelia.

Can you believe how tall this girl is (and I'm cheating and wearing chunky heeled boots)? She's going to be taller than me by the time she's 14.

Liesel and Lily. If you click to enlarge, you will see the girls are wearing matching horse necklaces. Liesel sent one to Lily for Valentine's Day and she has the matching BFF necklace.

I found this great scripture bag for Lily online. I ended up calling the manufacturer, Cedar Fort, and ordering directly from them because for some reason they were back-ordered at several of the distributors. The bag, with shipping, was only $10 and got here in 3 days. Nice! Inside the bag is a brand-new quad set of scriptures embossed with Lily's name. She has been waiting for her own set of scriptures for a long time and was thrilled to get them. Now I want a cool bag like hers, only I have the large print scriptures and the bag only fits the regular size. Bummer!

We are so proud of the kind and happy girl Lily is. She has a great desire to show love to other people and she's never met a person who wasn't a friend. We're thankful she had the desire, in her own words, "To follow the example of Jesus Christ and to live with Heavenly Father and Jesus again."