Hailey's Baptism

Our sweet miss Hailey was baptized on Saturday, February 5. She still seems like such a little girl to me, I can hardly believe she's 8. It seems like McKenzie was so much older when she was baptized, but then she's always been a little adult trapped in a kid's body. But Ha's Ha, she's all cheese and grins. She came out of the water grinning, just like how she swims (think of a baleen whale). I think I freaked her out a little beforehand. We'd been talking about accountability before and after you're baptized. I think the idea that there was now this responsibility for her actions was a little unnerving. Not to worry though, after a day she seemed to have forgotten all about that concern.

Dave's mom, Katherine, and two of his sisters, Amy and Cheryl flew out for the baptism. My parents and our friend Celeste came too. We had invited more people, but the week before the baptism, we got hit with the plague. It started with Connor getting a cold, then kindly passing it along. Friday night, it was clear that Greg had something different, and we were told he had influenza. The kid was just miserable. And Connor and I were just fountains of grossness. So I swung by the ER and stole some masks for the boys to wear to the baptism and muscled through. Greg hacked his way through the baptism and Connor was his usual wild self. The other kid getting baptism was unfortunately named Cooper. Nothing wrong with the name, but it gave Connor the opportunity to yell "pooper!" every time the kid's name was said. That's my boy. Needless to say no one wanted to sit near us, and I have a lot of leftover food.
Greg with his missionary Little People we found at the church bookstore. You can tell he's really enjoying the face mask. He was pretty good about it despite his annoyance with us.
As you can see from our family picture, it went delightfully smooth. There was 3 different cameras taking pictures, so we are all looking in different directions. Connor really wanted to continue destroying the church, rather than take a picture. Greg really just wanted to go home. It's not a pretty picture, and the only one we got. Of the entire baptism. I felt bad, because Kenzie's was such a big deal. But things just fell apart this time. I guess that's life when you're one of the middle kids, lost in the foray of madness. We love our Hailey and are very proud of her choice. And we are grateful for our families that came to share this day with us.