Skylar's Special Day

The day that we've been waiting for 8 years finally arrived-Skylar's baptism day!!! It is a day we will not forget. It was absolutely wonderful. We had a little glitch when we arrived because the font wasn't completely full. It was a little delay, which was fine because we had a chance to greet all our family and friends that came to support Skylar. Another boy in our ward, Ethan, was being baptized the same day, so we got to share in the program. Skylar's Grandma Diane gave the talk on baptism, her cousin, Dylan, played the piano, all of the Primary kids went up to sing I am a Child of God, and her Grandma Cammi said the closing prayer. It was a really nice program. When it came time to be baptized her Grandpa Bruce and Grandpa Bill were the witnesses so it was nice to have all her grandparents involved.
Watching Skylar enter into the waters of baptism was amazing. She was dressed in a beautiful white dress that all of her Coleman cousins have also been baptized in. That was really special for Skylar to get to wear that dress. Ben and Skylar have been practicing for months on making sure the dress was tucked in and that she would be completely immersed. As she got baptized, I couldn't help but cry. This is new for me. I'm not normally such a cry baby but lately the tears have just come over everything. I was glad I could duck through the door to go help Skylar get dressed. When we walked to the dressing room, there was a white towel waiting from the Primary presidency with Skylar's name on it. That was just such a great surprise! I wrapped Skylar in the towel and asked her how she felt. Even though she was shivering she said that she felt warm and good. She then changed into her new white dress and just looked so magnificently beautiful! Skylar was later confirmed and given the gift of the Holy Ghost by her dad. I wish I had a chance to write down the things that Ben said in the blessing but I had Alexis and Kade fighting for my lap and no paper, but what I did hear was beautiful.
After the baptism, we headed to our church to have a luncheon with our friends and family. Skylar was a really good sport for being baptized on Halloween so we promised her we'd make it special with a sort of Halloween party, minus the costumes. There were so many people there to celebrate with us. Thank you everyone for coming to support Skylar and her most special of all days! She truly felt loved and we had a great time!


































Okay, I had to include this next picture. Skylar mentioned that she was wearing her 2nd white dress and only had one more to wear. Then she said shyly how Donovan had been there for both her times wearing a white dress (blessing & baptism). I asked her if she wondered if he would be there for number 3 (wedding) and she just blushed like crazy. If their parents have any say (and we totally do, right?) these two will be together forever! I love these two!
I am so thankful that I have been blessed with being Skylar's mom. What an amazing responsibility I have to raise such a valiant daughter of God. She is truly such a wonderful girl with such a love for life. She has such great faith and a desire to learn all she can about the gospel. She is a great example to me every day. I am so pleased that she has made the decision to be baptized and confirmed a member the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints! I love you Skylar!!

Our Fall Frolics

I love the fall! It is just beautiful, and the weather is usually just perfect. Here are some of the things we've been busy doing to enjoy the season:

The kids had a day off of school and we had big plans to spend the day at the Ogden Nature Center enjoying well, the nature. Well nature obviously was dissing us since it decided to drop down to almost freezing that day. We did some rearranging in the plans and headed to the Living Planet Aquarium instead. I love aquariums-seriously love them-and although this one is just teensy, I totally dig it and my boys do too. Skylar is not as convinced. She thinks we do too many nature things. I am so mean, huh? After a bit though, she began to enjoy herself right along with us.























So they have upped the aquarium since we've been there last by adding a South American exhibit, which is cool and all with its cool fish, giant anaconda, and even some caymans. However, this exhibit includes the one thing in this world that I am so very, very, very terrified of-piranhas! My kids think that this phobia I have is really funny but it is real. Seriously, they freak me out and always have. So I faced my fears for my kids and I even took a couple of pictures-very scary, terrifying pictures! I survived without having a panic attack and we had a great day!
This year for Joy School we have some fun field trips planned. For the Joy of the Earth and learning about animals, we headed to the farm at Thanksgiving Point. Since there are six kids in Joy school -one was sick this day :( -these kind of excursions have to definitely be a team effort so Alexis and I went along to enjoy the day. The day turned out to be quite drizzly but we still had a great time.

















The kids all got a chance to pet the animals and go on a pony ride. Kade loved his pony, which he named Peanut Butter. I love getting to be with my sweet boy and I love Joy school!








Fall Break hit and so did some beautiful weather! The kids had been begging for Ben to come with us to Cornbelly's and he was able to take half of the day off to join us. We had such a great time! They added a ton of things this year and we were fully entertained for many hours.
























I wish I had these stocks at home for when my kids act up:










There were hay rides, cow bucket rides, and lots of slides!

















The kids were so excited to head into the "Monster". They have not stopped talking about the last time we went a few years back and just had to show their dad. Kade was less than enthused after he realized it was pretty scary inside! It took some major convincing for him to go into the 3-D fun house afterward. I'm glad we got him to go because it was super fun! As the sun began to set and the temp began to drop, we got in a few minutes of jumping on the giant pillow on our way out. We had such a great day together!























We also got in a quick trip around the Alpine Loop to check out the beautiful leaves. We were pretty late and missed most of the colorful stuff but it was still so very beautiful!!