Busy Week: Saroya's Baptism Edition (part 3 of 3)

(continued...)
When we woke up Saturday morning and hit the road it was SLOW going. Plenty of snow and slippery roads. We ended up getting to the Avery's ward building at 3:00 pm, a half hour before the baptism started. I called ahead to Holly to bring her iron to the Church. I ironed clothes on the floor of the mother's room and we rushed to get dressed in time.

Saroya planned her baptism. She had her grandma's doing the music (my mom directing and Grandma Avery playing the piano.) Prayers were said by Aunt Sunny and Grandpa Avery. For her talks though she chose her brother Ethan (10) and Jillie (12) to speak. They both did a great job. Ethan even forgot his talk at home, so he gave it from memory. Most importantly Saroya was baptized and confirmed a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. She seemed very happy about her decision. :) What a great girl she is!

I was lucky enough to be able to make a little slide show of her life. It was a nice walk down memory lane for me. I am so glad that Greg got me my MacBook a while ago so that I not only have the technology to make this, but also that I could take it on the road with me during this busy week! I finished it up and burned it to a DVD on our drive that day across Michigan. I'm glad it turned out fine because there was no spare time to fix any problems! :) Holly posted it on her blog.

I got to see blogging friend Beth there- so you know we had to have a quick SP!
It was fun to spend time with my family, even if it was a pretty brief visit. Jack Jack decided that Mitch was going to be his friend and playmate during the after-baptism-family-dinner. He found a book in the nursery, found a table, and got Mitch to sit down and read to him. So cute! Mitch is great.

I took a SP with my Grandma.
It's not a great picture of either of us, but hey, it's documented anyway. :) Grandma was so glad to be with so much of her family today. She really misses have the grand kids around. They make her happy!

The big surprise (well, not a big surprise to me since I kind of ruined it for her by snooping around) was that Sunny and Hyrum were there all the way from Utah! They actually came out for Thanksgiving with Derek too. (He went back to UT for work and will return to Michigan for Christmas.) The kids were especially happy to have Hyrum around. He is just too cute for words!!
We attempted to get some pictures taken for my parents since all of the grand kids were together. Originally we should have been at Holly's around noon and have a couple of hours to get these done. As it turned out we had about 20 minutes at the church to try to get something decent. It proved to be an impossible feat- but the kids had fun with it.


After this we went to the bowling alley to celebrate Saroya's birthday together. Having fun together comes pretty easily to this group!
The traumatic part was saying goodbye to the Avery's after only a few hours. It seemed to strange to come so far, to only be with them for a while, and not even go to Holly's house to see her newly decorated bedroom!! Holly you'd better post pictures SOON. I'm dying. The kids were in tears and tried every bargaining tool they could think of to get to stay a little longer. Sadly we needed to be back on our way home in the morning so no sleepovers could happen. And sadly we will not be going back for Christmas this year. We're holding out hope that some family may visit us around New Years, but we understand it's not an easy trip to make in the winter especially. At least we know in February the Avery's and us will be at Disney World together.

We went back to my parents house for the night, stayed up late talking and playing- even our kids and Hyrum. Before we left in the morning, as is the case anytime we stay at my parents house, dad was up early to make us all a big breakfast. I hardly knew what day it was, let alone realize that it was Fast Sunday. (In our church we fast every first Sunday of the month, not eating 2 meals and donating their cost to the needy.) Here's dad making all this food with my family chowing down... and he and mom and Sunny fasting! Honestly, isn't it understandable that we forgot considering our week?! :)

So, we were off to do it all again- back across Michigan, across Canada, and into New York.

We were loaded up with presents from my folks and Sunny for Christmas. Kind of nice to have some presents under the tree since I never get around to wrapping anything until Christmas Eve! Jackson thought it was pretty exciting and wanted to open them right away. We thought he understood that we have to wait until Christmas. Look what I found when I came downstairs Monday morning after leaving Jackson alone while I got ready for the day...

And guess who was so proud...
What a way to end a crazy week! Presents are re-wrapped. Thanks Mom and Dad for the Wii fit. I'll act surprised when I open it on Christmas! :)