Ellie's Baptism

We had the special experience of having Ellie get baptized yesterday. It was a neat day. Ellie has been preparing for this for months. We have had family home evenings many times talking about the covenants she would be making and she has been praying she would be ready for this day. We had one special Family Home Evening a couple of weeks ago. Usually they are so crazy and we can't get the kids to settle down. I don't know that we feel the spirit much. But we invited Ellie to share her testimony with us because we knew she would be having an interview with the Bishop and he would ask her about her testimony. I told the kids that if they were really quiet and listened for a minute then we might feel the spirit. So the kids were completely still and Ellie gave a sweet testimony and we really did feel the spirit for a minute.

Anyway, yesterday we got ready for the baptism and then headed over to the stake center. Her cousin Kayla got baptized with her and so her family was there along with Aunt Cheryl, and Tom and Kerry (who missed the baptism because of a miscommunication, but they were there when they were confirmed). From my family, Grandma Shirley and Aunt Linda were there along with David and Kelley and kids, and Suzette. We had some other neighbors come and support Ellie also.





It was neat to have Ellie get baptized. I have been teaching primary and keep telling the kids that baptism is the first step on the path back to our Heavenly Father. It is the gate that gets us on that path. I am glad Ellie is on that path and that she did it with some thought and preparation. She was confirmed a member of the church and received the gift of the Holy Ghost afterwards. I am glad she has that gift with her now. It has been such a blessing in my own life.





It was cute to watch Ellie all day yesterday. She was so good and wanted to be super obedient. She did whatever we asked her to do without a single complaint. She is a sweet girl and we are proud of her.

Camping

We decided to go on a long camping trip and see how our little family would handle it. And we had a great time. It all started on Monday when we were preparing to go camping. That wasn't such a good day. We planned on packing all day long, but I had to get Ellie's birthday presents, Terry had to finish painting a bedroom, and then we had a crisis. While I was shopping, Terry called me and told me we had a big water leak from our kitchen down into Ellie's bedroom. By the time I got home, men were in the home tearing it apart. They cut out a big hole in Ellie's ceiling and tore out a part under our kitchen sink. They said it was a good thing we were leaving because they needed a few days to dry things out and dry out our wood floor in our kitchen.

By the time we got that crisis a little under control it was 9 PM. Then I had to make 3 batches of strawberry jam because I didn't want the berries to go bad while we were gone. So I started making it while Terry started pakcing. Then the power went out. It was out for a few hours. The girls refused to stay in their beds because they were scared the lights were off. So they helped me make strawberry jam by flashlight and lantern.

I finally go them to sleep by singing to them for a while. Then I went out to the garage to try and help Terry. He wasn't getting much done. We finally just decided to go to bed. By this time it was almost midnight. So we closed our garage doors and started up to bed, and then the power came on. So I went to bed and Terry stayed up and went shopping for our food and did some more packing.

The next morning we finally were ready to go around 9 AM (we were supposed to be gone around 7:30 because men were back at our house and needed us out of the way). But we got on our way but had to stop in Idaho Falls, and then Rexburg. We finally made it to Island Park around 4:00 PM. We were not in very happy moods while we were trying to get set up. The kids were hungry and we were all tired.



We are almost on our way


By Macks Inn


The next morning was much better. We were all fed and happy and the rest of our trip was fun. We stayed at Buttermilk Campground which is right by Island Park Resivoir. We hiked and biked and Terry and the girls floated down Big Springs with Jodi's canoe. That night some of Terry's family came.


Terry and girls before the float



Terry and the girls leaving





Feeding the fish at Big Springs--a lady told Terry that the year before people weren't seeing any fish and they finally figured out a bear had camped out by the river and was swiping the fish out with his claw and right into his mouth. They had to move the bear out of the area.

The next day we rented a couple of sea doos (is that how you spell it?) and that was a blast. I told Terry I would support him in getting one. We rode those all day and I took Sam out on it and he fell asleep riding around. It was so cute. The kids loved swimming around in life jackets evening though the water was pretty cold. I know because Terry threw me in. But he suffered the consequences.


I thought this was funny. Joel--my brother in law and Vincent my nephew wanted to fish but they didn't want to row across the lake so they had Terry tow them on the jet ski.






The girls with their Aunt Cheryl









Anyway, the next day we packed up and left. That was the 4th of July. I was tired and we weren't too festive. Ellie was getting baptized the next day and Terry's family stayed at our house so I just wanted to get cleaned up and organized for the next day. We stopped at David's house on the way home and had a barbecue with them and Suzette, Aunt Linda, and Grandma and Grandpa Shirley. We had pizza at our house that night and set off some fireworks in our front yard. That was the extent of our festivities.