The Baptism

Well, the day finally arrived for little man to get baptized! It was a day I had thought a lot about leading up to it. I was worried about so many things that could possibly go wrong, or scenarios that would turn the day into a disaster, but to my surprise, everything was just about picture perfect. It was such a special day for my special little boy. 

The baptism was over Labor Day weekend, which was perfect for the Chapmans to drive to UT. Unfortunately, all the Barnhisels missed out since they all had plans for the holiday weekend. Sean was so excited his BCF (best cousins forever) were here, he didn't notice all the people who weren't.

We started the morning by opening a few presents. Sean got a new set of scriptures. He really likes them. He takes them to church every week and "reads" them. I love watching him circle individual letters with his scripture markers as if they are really important letters. When I first saw him write in them, I was about to make him stop and tell him that you only circle something that is important to you, but then I realized how cute it was that he was carefully circling letters and figured he would  have a good laugh later about all the letters in the scriptures that he highlighted as an 8 year old. He mostly likes looking at the pictures of the temple, or "towers" as he calls it. This set of scriptures is actually pretty spectacular. The church stopped making this version of the scriptures the summer before his baptism. However, the new version would not be ready until October. What are the chances that the month your kid is getting baptized, there are no scriptures available unless you want the ugly burgundy color? I searched far and wide to get this set, and ended up downtown to get one of the last 3 sets of black compact quads. I was told the new version does not have colored pictures in it. I am soo glad Sean has an "old school" copy.

This day pretty much would not have happened had it not been for the Chapman family. I will owe them forever…well maybe we can call it even since I watched their dogs and kids for 9 days while they went to Hawaii?? When we were talking to Sean about getting baptized, I gave him all the options of uncles and grandpas that could baptize him and told him it was his choice. Without hesitation, he chose "Grace's Dad." Then I was told that it was our ward's turn to run the baptism, so I was lucky enough to do the program. I asked Michelle if her girls wanted to do anything. I got an immediate, Grace will play the guitar and Harriet wants to do the talk. Seriously? Well, check that off my list. how Both girls were so cute up there in front of a ton of people. Grace played "When I am Baptized" on her guitar, and Harriet gave the cutest talk. I couldn't believe how well she read it, and didn't look nervous at all.  All I know is I'm glad I didn't have to do anything, and just got to enjoy it. Kate gave the closing prayer. I whispered in her ear to talk loud since she didn't have a microphone, and she practically shouted the cutest little prayer. They all did so great.

Uncle David brought his A game and got Sean to do everything he needed to. I was worried Sean would have one of his freak out moments and not get in the water or something, but everything was just  perfectly adorable.

We caught most of the family before they left for a quick photo.

Then we had a nice lunch at our house with the Grandmas…Grandma Curly, Grandma Debbie, Grandma Primmer, Grandma Chris…Sean's a lucky duck to have so many cute Grandmas!  I have to laugh every time I see what he wore after the baptism.  I guess I should have planned that a little better. Grace has been "dressing up" Sean the last few visits. I know she would never dress a doll, but for some reason, she loves going through his clothes and picking out stuff for him to wear. He has never worn this outfit in his life. I think he bought this shirt in Kindergarten when he was going through his big shirt phase. He bought it because it has a "S" on it for Sean. I don't even know what sports team this is…white sox maybe? Anyway, he came down the stairs all proud of what he and Grace picked out. The bermuda shorts are a nice touch too. :)

He has a thing for journals lately, so was so excited when he got a few for his baptism. He went right to work filling them out. I think the first page says something like "I love getting baptized. It is so much fun. I just love getting baptized."

Of course we had to decorate in Martha Stewart fashion. Glad we live in Utah where you can just ask any bakery for a few dozen CTR cookies.

Aunt Em with the cutest kitten in the world. Little did we know then what a monster she would turn into.

What a great day we had!!! Thank you Chapmans!!!!