Paul's Baptism

June 12th was Paul's baptism day.  Of course we did not want to miss this very important and special day so we travelled up to Salt Lake to be there with the Stewart's.  The baptism was at 10 so we had to leave St. George at 4 am to get there in time but it was worth the drive to witness this special ordinance.

Jen and Rick and their ward put on a great program for Paul's baptism.  Tyler and Traci gave great talks on the importance of Baptism and the Holy Ghost.  Rick also sang a beautiful rendition of "When I Am Baptized."  I had no idea he was such a great singer.  The baptism and confirmation were amazing too.  You could really tell that Paul was excited and that he knew this was the right thing to do.  When the bishopric member excused us to go to the baptismal font, little Annalynn got really excited too and said, "You're going to get baptized!!!"  It was so cute.  A few weeks ago Paul broke his arm doing whatever it is boys do and had to get a cast.  We all wondered if they would have to move the baptismal date or just what because he could not get the cast wet.  Well they didn't move the date but Tyler and Rick wrapped Paul's arm in a plastic bag and duct taped it all up so that water could not get in.  Because of this, Paul was able to get properly baptized, by immersion, cast and all!

After the baptism, we all headed back to the Stewart's house for a luncheon and visiting and playing with cousins:

It was so nice to get together and see this part of the family that we don't see often enough.  The kids had so much fun playing on the swings with Paul, Alex, and Annalynn and the Gardner cousins all day.  Emily and Traci also practiced their singing abilities on Frozen songs.  Logan loved spending time with Grandpa getting his nose.  Colby just had a blast running around playing with all the boys.

At around 2:00, we decided to take a picnic up to Bridal Veil Falls and play in the water.  However, on the way, there was a really bad wreck of a jackknifed camp trailer and truck so we were stuck in traffic for an hour or more.  When we finally passed the wreck, we were all like "Oh man..." and had a little moment of silence for that poor family.  I hope everyone was all right.  By this time there was no way we could make it to Bridal Veil Falls and then home at a decent hour so we all stopped at Thanksgiving Point instead to have our picnic.

While there, LeeAnn announced that all of our family was there together so we took this rare moment to snap a family picture. (Despite the grumbling from Keith...).  Aren't we a good looking bunch!

It was then time for us to head home.  The rest of the group was staying another night so they, along with the Gardner's, went up to the Bridal Veil Falls and had a good time.  This was a really quick up and back trip but totally worth the driving.  We had a great time and we love supporting our family in important events like this.  Congratulations Paul for deciding to be baptized and becoming a member of the true church.