Towels Are Very Important

Yesterday was a pretty good day.  Riley and his best friend E, got baptized.  They are now officially members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints.  Pretty cool.  Zachary and E's brother C sang I'm Trying to be Like Jesus, I was the chorister, my dad gave a talk on the Gift of the Holy Ghost, and Emily said the opening prayer.  Everything else was done by members of E's family.  His mom and I planned this together.  Zach and his friend did a pretty great job considering they never got the chance to practice together.  Zach could have sung out more, but I could hear him.  He did really awesome, and I really appreciate those two doing their part to make their brothers' baptism special.
After, we used this occasion as a great excuse to throw a party!  My mom, dad, Emily, Rodney, Jeremy, Kristie, Bonnie, Kayden, Jackson, Ryan D., Taylor, Grandma Day, Melinda and her friend all came to help us celebrate this special ordinance.  Michael and Michele and her family are not living near us any more, so they couldn't make it, but Michael is moving back, and Michele is coming for Thanksgiving!  Woo hoo!  So excited!  We had chicken tortilla soup, and I cried because Joel didn't come.  I told Emily to tell him I was so offended, and really, really extremely hurt, but I couldn't contain myself, and burst into laughter.  Then I cried because I was laughing so much.  It was a great day.  Riley's so awesome.

 Apparently, the party was so awesome and hard core, cups ended up in the trees.

 This is the awesome marble cake I made.  I can be crafty sometimes! :)

 Riley and his dad on his big day.

 Riley

 E.

 We sang happy birthday to Riley because we didn't have birthday party for him.

 Kurtis, Ryan, Kaleb, blurry Melinda.

 Melinda and her friend.

 Riley, Grandma Day, and Jeremy (trying to hide).

 Dad, Emily, and Rodney.  Silly Emily.

 My mom.

 

My parents gave Riley a small Book of Mormon for his baptism.

These are the invitations I made for the baptism.  Then I got kinda lazy, and just took a picture of it and emailed it to everyone in my family.  Except Grandma Day.  She doesn't have email, so she got a real one.  Isn't she the luckiest?!

I didn't take as many pictures as I intended to.  I almost forgot to take any at all, and some how, Kristie and Bonnie avoided the camera all together.  Sigh.  I was too busy being the hostess.  Sorry, Michele, I am not a photo shop artist.  Although, I do think that would be a really cool skill to learn.  So I was unable to photo shop you guys in the pictures.  There was plenty of room for some of you between Kurtis and Ryan, though.  Alas.  I am kicking myself for not getting a picture of Riley and E together, too.  That would have been awesome.  Oh, well.  Sometimes my brain works, and sometimes it doesn't.  I also think we needed to get started.  Our pianist was a little bit late.  Like one minute, but enough to make me wonder if we were going to have to break into the library and get a tape player.  Life is never dull around here.  I totally would have used my awesome lock-picking skills and gotten it, too.  Oh, and Kurtis forgot to pack himself and Riley a towel, so that was interesting.  According to Kurtis, poor Riley, was shivering after the baptism!  E's dad lent them one of theirs, though.  It was a great day.  And no, this time, I am not being sarcastic. ;)