Remembering Our Fifth Family Baptism

What is there to remember about Steven's baptism?

Actually, I don't remember too much about the actual baptism itself, so it's a good thing I wrote at least something about it in my journal that month. I do remember quite a bit about the days surrounding his special day, and that the day of his baptism was not only the same day Weston was ordained an elder, but the same day as Weston's Eagle Court of Honor. Because the grandparents wanted to be there for these special occasions, we also threw in a family reunion. Might as well throw in that Wayne had just accepted a new job and given his 30 days' notice at work, we were interviewing real estate agents so we could list our house, and I had recently been called to serve as the Relief Society President of our ward. Are those enough reasons for why this time is a bit of a blur?

Let's back up to his 8th birthday. We had the family party, complete with a cake with no frosting, because that's his preference. The little circle of whipped cream is there just to make the mom feel better during picture taking. Then a few days later, he had his "friend" party, which included a trip to play miniature golf.

Don't you just love this memory of Greetings Workshop with its up-side-down printing format?

He didn't waste any time getting involved with Cub Scouts, and even went to Cub Scout Day Camp that June.

Then it was time for the special baptism day. For a normally shy and quiet person, Steven thoroughly enjoyed being the center of attention. I guess it helped that there were no strangers celebrating with him, only friends and family who loved him and were excited for him.

By the time Steven turned eight, he had a couple of older brothers with the priesthood authority to baptize him. In some families, one of them may have done so, but in our family, Wayne felt it was a father's duty to baptize his own children, so he did. However, he asked Weston and David to serve as witnesses, and as a newly-ordained elder, Weston was able to stand in the circle for the confirmation.

Ignore the '94 in all the pictures; for some weird reason, the camera setting was incorrect.

Then we switched gears and had an Eagle Court of Honor. Steven enjoyed helping with that as well.

One set of grandparents came early, their visits overlapped for the weekend, then the other set stayed longer, and Wayne's siblings joined us as well for some fun in the Florida sun over the 4th of July holiday.

Beach Day, Pool Day, Everglades Day, relaxing at home and fireworks. What a fun visit.

There was even Picture Day. (Can you tell that it was after Beach Day?) Some great memories!

Finally, I don't have any "List of Favorites" page for Steven at this age, but I did save a little note of what he liked to eat. This is important, because there wasn't a lot on the list. Fortunately, what was on it was mostly healthy, as he grew older and matured a bit, the list got longer.

We're so grateful that Steven is just as excited now as he was then to be a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.