Baptism and Trek

Okay, hopefully after this one I'll be all caught up. Also hopefully Carter will continue to nap through this post so I can finish it!

After all the birthday parties we moved on to our next big adventure which was Tyler's baptism. I CAN'T BELIEVE HE'S 8! Anyway, both sides of the family came out/up which is always exciting and a bit stressful for me. I love when they're all here but I get a little neurotic a few days before hand. I'm a closet worrier what can I say?!

Wednesday my parents arrived (they had been at Suzanne and Waf's for a few days before - see her blog) and were able to catch one of Tyler's baseball games. Now they're not baseball fans so this was a true grandparent moment of sacrifice and love. Ellie also loved it because Grandpa frequented the snack bar as many times as she wanted to go!

That night Andy, Dennis, Lee, Bert and Revis came up to spend the night before they headed out. Our house is slightly small (no basements here) so they were lucky enough to sleep on the couches and trampoline before they headed out camping. This would have been okay except Carter had done something painful to his leg and wasn't able to sleep more than 3 hours (and mind-you with a houseful of people I felt terrible we were keeping them awake so I ended up in the van a lot of the night. Sorry guys!)

Thursday the guys headed up camping and the gals were gathering in Sacramento. McKenna had a performance Thursday night so we stayed until Thursday to head down.

We got to Sacramento and were able to enjoy great company and good food. Kristi, Pat, Heather, Amber, Tressie, Jordyn, mom and my girls (and Carter). We took it easy and laughed a lot. It is always so much fun to be around extended family and I am so thankful to have the family we do. It was also fun to be able to hang out with my soon-to-be niece Amber and get to know her a little better. McKenna wanted nothing more than to hang out with the teenagers. I CAN'T BELIEVE SHE'S 10!

Saturday we all headed back up and my two sisters and family came up. The guys came off the mountain (which I won't go into much you'll have to ask them. They weren't able to backpack this year and except the poison oak and cooooolllldddd water it sounds like they had a great time.) Then we prepared for the baptism.

Tyler has been working up to this. He is also a closet worrier and generally doesn't like attention put on him. We talked quite a bit about what it means to be baptized and it was him who decided to do it. I am so proud of him and loved watching Dee walk him into the water and baptize our boy. It was one of the most tender moments for me. Dee being worthy to do that is such a blessing for all of us. What a wonderful man/husband/father I married! Tyler has grown into such an amazing kid. His sense of humor has really come out as well as his ability to understand others. He has grown so much both physically and mentally this year it blows me away. I am so proud of him!

Unfortunately the time flew and everyone but Marybeth had to leave (she was able to stay until Tuesday). I am looking forward to next year when it won't be at my house and I'll get to hang out a lot more. It felt way too fast this time and not enough visiting time. Some had a 12 hour drive ahead of them and I am so grateful for everyone who came up to support Tyler. Quite a few people mentioned to Tyler how lucky he was to have such a supportive family and look them as examples. How blessed we are!

I wish I had some pictures and hopefully some of you reading this will send me copies or disks of yours!