Katie's Baptism

Last Saturday Katie turned eight and was baptized. It was a beautiful day. Almost all of our family was there and we really missed the few that weren't. The whole program was family members and I know that really meant a lot to Katie as well as to us. The Spirit was so close to our hearts and it was really hard not to cry through everything but I had to try and keep it together because Katie kept asking me why I was crying. We're so proud of our little Katie for all of the decisions she's made in her life to bring her to this point. She is such a great example to her sisters as well as us. We love her so much and are so grateful she's a part of our family.

A few weeks before her baptism we took her up to the temple to take her pictures in her dress. It was so fun! These are a few of our favorites.







And these were taken on Saturday.

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Starting mid-November last year our life got really busy! We started by having Thanksgiving dinner at our house for 12 adults, 16 children, and for part of the time 2 missionaries. It was a wonderful dinner not only for the food but because we were all together for the first time in a long time (my brother-in-law Dan had just come home a few days earlier from the Army - we are all so proud of him).







A few days later we celebrated the love of life's birthday. We made him his favorite dinner and had a fun time with him. As you can see Maddie was really scared of Brandon's crown.



Our next big event was Christmas. And it was wonderful! And magical! We even were surprised by a visit from SANTA! It was by far the most magical moment of my entire life. Santa came in and talked about the true meaning of Christmas and our home was filled with the true meaning of Christmas.





And then the fun really started. We took our very first trip with the girls to Disneyland. We loved every single minute. Mom and Dad Aldridge came with us and it was awesome to have so much time with them. We started our road trip at the famous Golden Doughnuts, then traveled down to have lunch at Tommy's and last but so not nearly least we were there at the most magical place on Earth. We had three days to ride every ride and attraction we could squeeze in. The girls were so brave. Katie rode every ride. She loves California Screaming and Emily was even brave enough to ride Tower of Terror. Livy loved lots of it too. Her highlight was meeting Pooh Bear. She was so cute when she saw him she told him. "Pooh, I sleep with you every night." It was so cute.










And finally we went on the vacation of a lifetime with Brandon's entire family to a Southern Caribbean cruise. We had so much fun and made amazing memories that we will cherish forever.





So, that was our very busy, super fun end of 2008 beginning of 2009.