Kelly Dressed in White

Kelly's big day, June 4th 2011, was a really special day!  We spent the morning getting things all ready. I tried really hard not to be stressy or let Kelly feel any stress.  I hate the thought of them remembering their big day as Mom being totally stressed out.  So anyway.  We got to the church a little before 3:30 and took our pictures and got all situated.  When we went into the dressing room to put our stuff in there, Kelly accidentally stepped her barefoot into the font!  We got a good laugh about her trying to get baptized early.  She loved that she had done that :)  It was cute.

There were some problems with Jocelyn's clothes, so we got to sit there for quite a while, just waiting.  I LOVED the time to relax and take a few deep breaths so that I could just enjoy the baptism.  I was really grateful for the blessing in disguise.  All the moms with little kids to entertain probably didn't like it that much.  All the Grandpa Hatches with little Erikas on their laps too for that matter!!  Which I might add was REALLY nice!  I got to sit by Kelly and Nate and enjoy the whole program from the front row with very little distraction.  Grandma Ruthie gave a talk about Baptism, then we moved into the baptismal font room, Jocely went first because she is older.  Then Kelly!!!  The Spirit is SO strong when someone gets baptized, but even more so when it is your own daughter.  She was so cute and sweet the whole time.  And she really just seemed so innocent.  It's hard to believe she is at the age of accountability.  She will do so good with her new responsibiliity though.  She has taken it very seriously and I love that.  It was fun that Jocely and Kelly got to get baptized the same day.  They're good friends.  I really loved our few little moments that we had, just Kelly and me, after she got baptized and was getting dressed.  I was worried that we wouldn't get that alone time, but it worked out.  She was so cute and giddy.  She was so excited about her pretty dress.  After she got dressed, we beat Daddy (by a long shot) into the Relief Society room for the confirmations.  So once again, we got to just sit and think for a little while again.  It was nice.  There was a talk by Jocelyn's Grandma about the Holy Ghost.  I think it was perfect that she talked about a stuffed kitty of Jocelyn's.... that had to really grab Kelly's attention I'm sure.  Then they were both confirmed.  I love listening to my kids receive blessings through the priesthood.  I tried to pay really close attention because I've always felt like it can gvie me some insight into my children.  I love the Spirit that is there during a confirmation especially.  The words are so powerful.   I think Kelly is going to take this seriously.  Hopefully we've taught her all that she needs to know and gotten through to her :)  She seems to get it.  What a neat experience it all is for Kelly and for our whole family.  She's setting the example for her little brothers and sister, that's for sure!

Kelly and Jocelyn Summers the baptism candidates

After the baptism everyone came over for food.  It was a lot of fun.  And such a relief to be able to have it at our own house, in our own HUGE backyard!  We're gonna be too spoiled by this backyard I'm afraid.  I think things went really well!  Here are

pictures of some of the guests.

Noah and Jarom entertained Becky and Darren.... makes me laugh just looking at this picture!  Funny little boys.

Erika's headband got turned around in this crazy position, and then she just pranced around looking like a little loon the whole time.  She made some hilarious faces while I was taking her picture.... those will be in the next edits post.

I'm hoping to have Kelly write about how her baptism day was for her.  She's asleep right now, but we'll get to that soon.  I want to have memories of her day from her perspective.