Baptism Day, Hooray!

K turned 8 earlier this month and in our church eight is the age when you are baptized. K has been looking forward to this day for some time and was excited it was finally here.

Earlier this month I took her shopping in Portland to find the perfect (yet affordable) white dress. Auntie and Mikaelas went with us. I was very proud of how conscious K was of the modesty of each dress she tried on. If it wasn't quite long enough she would discard it immediately. She finally decided this one with the roses all over it was the one for her. There was a matching shrug to go with it which covered her shoulders. She looked absolutely beautiful on the day of her baptism.

We got to the church a little before 10am where we met our family and friends. K and her dad got into their jumpsuits and received instruction. The rest of us sat in the chapel and listened to beautiful music played by Uncle Mark on the piano.

The program was really good, all the families participated in some way. There were five children being baptized that day, one who a friend of ours.  My cousin, Mikaelas, gave a wonderful talk on Baptism, it made me cry. After her talk the children went one by one to be baptized by their fathers in the font.
Once M baptized K, I got her into the bathroom, dried off, and back in her white dress. Then we headed back to the chapel where a grandfather from another family gave a talk on the Holy Ghost. After that we sang a song and had a closing prayer.

Since my family wasn't staying until Sunday, we headed to a different room to confirm and bless K. Our close family friend, Randy, did a wonderful job blessing her. Once done, we headed back to our house for some cupcakes and to visit with our friends and family.

K received a lot of nice gifts. We gave her a set of scriptures engraved with her name and a CTR ring (stands for choose the right). She also got a nice journal, three bracelets, and a pretty plaque to hang in her room with a picture of the temple.

We got to see some friends we haven't seen in a long time.

After the open house the family headed to Red Robin for lunch. It was a beautiful day, warm and sunny. We took a few pictures on the grass outside of the restaurant basking in the sun. It was a fabulous day!

Eight is Great!!

My oldest daughter turned eight years old yesterday. I can hardly believe it's been that long since I held her in my arms. She has grown up so much and amazes me everyday.

We started her celebration by taking her to dinner Friday night at Road House, one of her favorite places to eat (and I had a coupon). After dinner they brought her a hot fudge sundae and dressed her up to sing to her.

On Saturday I took the girls to our favorite donut shop for breakfast. K had a strawberry iced donut, L had an apple fritter and I had a chocolate long john because they were all out of glazed twists. When her dad got home from work we took her to Red Robin for her free birthday lunch.

She got pizza and strawberry lemonade. After eating, she opened her gift from her sister. It was a purse to go with the wallet L gave her at Christmas. The purse also had a gift card and a birthday coupon for Build-a-Bear. After eating another free ice cream sundae, we headed to the mall.

There was a huge crowd of people at Build-a-Bear, possibly due to the fact that they are closing the store in less than a week. K wandered around the store looking for some clothes to buy but finally decided to get a cute pink cat. The gift card and coupon covered the cost. Her dad generously gave her some money for a new outfit for her cat as well. She named her Heart and loves it.

In the evening there was a youth fundraiser auction at church for girls' camp this summer. K wanted to go and find the perfect dessert to bid on for her birthday cake. She found what she wanted and when it came up on the auction block she started bidding. Unfortunately, the price went steeper than I was willing to spend. She was very sad when she lost out on the perfect cake. However, the purchasers generously gave us half of the cake and wouldn't let us pay for any of it. They told her it was a birthday gift from them. So, so sweet.

When we got home, K wanted to open her gifts before eating the cake. She had some from us and from her grandma's. Her favorite gift of all was the Kindle she got from her Bahmah. She loves to read and now she can read in the dark because her Kindle is back lit.

After opening her gifts we sang Happy Birthday to her 

and she blew out her candles.

 

The special cake.

All in all I think she had a wonderful birthday. And in a couple of weeks she gets to be baptized which she is super excited about.

FIGHT! K WINS!

K went to Portland last weekend with her dad to attend the National Taekwondo Tournament. On Friday night she and many others got to train with Grand Songahm Grand Master Lee. K said Grand Master Lee was very short and very funny. She had a wonderful time.

K with Grand Master Lee.

Doing one steps and training together.

There was a huge group of people that went to the training.

K and her dad stayed in a hotel near the Convention Center and got to eat out at Red Robin, Fudruckers, and Burgerville. That's a lot of burger places! Fudruckers was their favorite.
On Saturday the tournament started at 8am but K didn't have her competition until 10:30 so they walked around and watched others doing theirs. K really wants to learn to use weapons now.

There were about 8 other kids competing with her. They did their forms first and K tied this girl for 3rd place. They had to do them again and the girl was slightly better the second time, so K came in 4th place. Here is a picture of the judges making their call. M took the picture right before the last guy judged in K's opponents favor.

Then the kids did their sparring. K won with no problem against her first opponent. Then she went up against the girl above. Here are videos of the sparring.

 The first round went to the girl.

The second round went to K.

The third round went to K and she went on to defeat another competitor. She walked away with first place in sparring. 

Shaking hands with the judges after winning 1st Place.

Outside with her medal.

Close up of her medal and chips she received.

The back of the medal.

We are so proud of K! She is doing an amazing job in this sport and seems committed to doing it long-term. We feel this is an excellent thing for her to be doing. Not only does it teach her self-defense but it gives her confidence and self-discipline.

Orange Belt Upgrade

The last day of February, K tested for her orange belt in Taekwondo. She performed well and was so excited to move up from her white belt to the orange belt.

Here she is posing in her white belt.

Receiving her orange belt from Mr. Meyers.

All of the students who tested for a new belt and the judges.

Goofy faces. The bald man is her teacher and the owner of the school.

He is really good with the kids.

February illness, brings March wellness

Other than short-lived colds and runny noses, we don't generally get sick, but February was awful. I threw my back out and a week later was so ill I was barely conscious. I had a fever of 103 degrees for five days and slept almost the entire time. By the time my fever broke I was so weak it took almost two weeks to recover.
Both of my girls had multiple fevers, headaches, and coughs throughout the month. K even had to come home from school one day because her head hurt so bad it was making her throw up. We were all so miserable. Some how M never got any of it but took care of all of us like a well trained nurse.
Here are some highlights from this month that I never got around to posting:
 
1. L has been taking swimming lessons since November. Here are two short videos of her progress.

2. K's class at school was asked to provide their own Valentine's Day card receptacle. Her dad made an awesome box out of fiber board and she painted it. I think they did an great job and it can be used over and over again.

3. K had her school musical this month too. It was entitled Kids on Broadway. The second and third graders learned songs from ten different musicals and performed them. I wasn't able to make it to the show but her dad took videos and pictures. She did very well.

 K and some other kids got to sing the last song together.

4. M made an awesome card for Valentine's Day and gave me some truffles from Euphoria Chocolate. And my sweet Young Women from church heart attacked my door.

5. M took the girls up to Spencer's Butte one Saturday. It was very cold and foggy but a lot of fun for the girls. I got to stay home where it was warm and work on scrapbooks.