As I mentioned, Evan's birthday was last Tuesday. The day was a pretty normal one. I let him skip homeschool for the day, but other than that, life went on as usual. That evening, he had his very first cub scout activity... the Blue and Gold banquet! Evan is really going to love scouts and he is SO excited about it! It was getting late by the time we got home, but we let him open his presents before bed.
In celebration of his baptism, he got his first set of scriptures, with his name embossed on the cover.
After he had opened all his small things, we made the boys close their eyes, while we brought out the big present. Ben and I decided to do it this way mostly because we didn't want to try to wrap it. ;)
Evan discovered Tony Hawk not too long ago and has been obsessed with skateboarding ever since. He was pretty excited to get a skateboard of his very own.
Even the kitty enjoyed the festivities.
That's all we did on Evan's actual birthday, but I think he had a nice day. We saved the real partying for the weekend when we had a bunch of family come to town!
Evan's baptism was on Saturday and we were super excited that so many people wanted to come up for his special day. By Friday afternoon, everyone had arrived, so we took them over to Alki beach to get a view of Seattle. It was a gorgeous day. It was nice and warm and the sunshine even made an appearance.
Ellie holding uncle Joseph's hand.
There was lots of rock throwing...
Ben was able to tell everyone what all the weird sea creatures were that we found.
Ellie and Clover were two little peas in a pod. They had fun throwing rocks together.
Ellie and Grandma.
Evan was quite the little explorer, climbing all over the rocks and finding cool things.
We were lucky that Uncle Thomas got home from his mission the week before, so he was able to come, too! I loved him and Asher throwing rocks together... both of them matching in their gray basketball shirts and jeans. :)
Joseph found a star fish.
More rock throwing...
Grandpa and Ellie exploring together.
Messy face...
These geese with their little goslings came right up to the beach to bed fed. They were so cute!
On Saturday, we took the family downtown to see Pike's Market and have lunch on the waterfront.
I was standing in line for doughnuts while everyone else went down to see the gum wall, so you're spared pictures of that again. ;)
It was a little windy.
Chasing each other around on the pier.
My parents...
When we'd had our fill of down town, we headed home to get ready for the baptism. I was a little bit worried about the event because this was the first month that our stake has done the organized stake baptisms and I was a little worried that it wouldn't go smoothly, but it was wonderful. The women who spoke did really well and the whole thing went off without a hitch.
I'm so proud of Evan for making this step. He was a little nervous. When I asked him why, he said, "Because all the attention is on me and that makes me uncomfortable." But he did great! Apparently the water in the font was COLD, but Evan said later (in his testimony at church on Sunday) that he still felt a warm feeling inside and new he made the right choice to be baptized.
After dining at Arby's (Evan's choice), we went home for cake and ice cream.
My family went home early Sunday, but Ben's siblings stayed for another day, so after church, we took them on a hike so they could see the pretty pacific northwest scenery.
Cousins! Well, all except little Clover, who wandered out of the camera frame.
Clover wasn't too sure about her piggy back ride from Ben.
What a great weekend!! It was so fun to have family here to celebrate with us. I can't believe my little Evan is eight years old and baptized. Asher is already making plans for his baptism, but I think time needs to slow down just a little bit. ;)
