David's baptism

David was baptized last Saturday. We were really lucky and a lot of family came in town to be there with him. It was a short trip for most, but it was quite special.

(Not all of the men who helped with his confirmation, but a lot of them. I think we are missing three...)

Everyone who came from out of town. We were quite the crowd.

Jennifer, Chandler, and I spent all day Friday making pies to serve as treats. That was a hit! Apparently pies are a crowd pleaser.

For his baptism my parents got him a nice scripture set. No more old seminary scriptures! And just in time for Peter to need a set when he starts Primary next year.

(Speaking of scriptures, David finished reading the Book of Mormon last week accomplishing the goal of reading the whole thing before he was baptized. I am proud and impressed, I certainly did not read that book cover to cover at his age.)

As my gift to David I put together a memory book using the pictures we took in Nauvoo back in April.

He's got a few pages where he may record his thoughts and feelings, and a couple of pages for us to glue down some photos from the day. I ordered the book through Shutterfly and bought a memorabilia pocket to go in the back.

It now houses one of his invitations and a beautiful letter from his great-great-aunt Marilyn.

My favorite part was the testimony section, though. 

I asked family members and friends to send in their testimonies, something that could help him as he gets older. Those were the sweetest, and I so appreciated all the messages sent to him. I hope thy help him remember he is loved.

After the baptism we had a merry time at The Burger Joint for dinner and then all said goodnight. After such a stressful couple of weeks it sure was nice to hit the hay that night!

And a big plug for Shutterfly, I ordered David's book two weeks in advance and received the book a whole week before the baptism. Upon closer inspection I realized I had screwed up royally. I'd originally designed a 10x10 book but decided an 8x8 was a more practical size. I scaled it down and didn't check the text from the testimonies. While the pictures scaled, the text did not and it was so badly chopped and overlapped.... Oh I cried. And then I called customer service to see what could be done and they totally gave me credit to get the book reprinted. I so appreciated that because there was no way we could afford to just reprint the book. So with a week to go I reordered the book. It showed up two hours before we left for David's baptism!!! I was so happy! And I officially love Shutterfly. :D