Baptism

The thing about social media is that everyone wants to share their best selves, and as I start to write this I feel the pull to just gloss over all the mishaps that preceded sister's beautiful baptism. But that wouldn't be the honest truth about what occurred over here as us as we prepared for this event. Starting at one week and one day before sister's baptism; I drove 7 hours to AR to visit my mother who is very ill. I arrived midnight Friday night and returned home Sunday at 8pm.

The next day was Monday, the first day of school. The first day of school at three different schools. When I went in to say good morning to Ryan, he greeted me with a cough. Sorry, son. You aren't missing the first day of school! Macey headed off to 3rd grade at Gunstream, Ryan (coughing) headed off to 6th grade at Wester, and Alex headed off to 9th grade at Centennial. (This child did not return home until 7:30pm from school because of marching band practice!)

One hour after the last kid was dropped off, Bob and June arrived at DFW. Bless them for coming to celebrate with us. And bless them for not being judgmental about the state of my house after 3 months of summer vacation and a weekend of me away. As the children trickled home we got to hear about their first days. And Ryan coughed.

Wednesday was Macey's b-day, which I already posted about. I allowed Ryan to stay home, but I was so focused on getting sister's party together, I didn't think to take him to the Dr. He had to wait until Thursday for that.

And this is where little pitfalls began to come our way. Such things as Rx not being complete or ready when we showed up at pharmacy on multiple occasions. Ryan continuing to cough after various treatments (he is still coughing today!) Waiting 1.5 hr at the Cheesecake factory for a table on a Friday night to learn that, actually, they never activated our buzzer. (We got cheesecake to-go and had In-N-Out instead!) The bundt cake, my grandmother's recipe which I wanted to share at our luncheon, sticking to the pan, big time; it was destroyed after it was removed from the pan causing me to pitch the whole thing without tasting it! Dan didn't realize he needed to bring whites for the baptism and had to dash home to get them. The register not working at Raising Cane's when B&J went to pick up our catering order for the luncheon. I failed to show up for a Cub Scout Awards ceremony when I had the awards. All humbling, but mostly just annoying. And compared to the hurricane and flood victims from hurricane Harvey, which occurred the same weekend, these little things are insignificant. And as Dan said, 'Macey got baptized, and that is what really matters.' AMEN

 Macey was baptied and confirmed by her dad. Two other children were baptized from our ward on this day; Brayden and Gibson. Being Primary President I felt like I should speak at this special event. It wasn't my best talk, but I talked about the 4th Article of Faith and what that means to the saints.

Here we all are. A happy Mormon family. (Oh, and Ryan did cough, but not a lot during the service. He says he held it in.)

Us with our out of town guests Uncle Mike and Gma and Gpa Black.

 This is our buddy Judy Curts from Plano 8th ward. We love Judy! We also had the DeLucias, Nguyens, and LuJean Pardoe (Macey's sunbeam teacher!) come from Plano.

 Felicity and Megan! Some of the best friends we have!

 Here we are just before sister went in the water with dad.

 The cake fail happened at 10pm the night before. June and I were thinking of ways we can get a cake on Saturday morning. I said, 'I just can't worry about that right now. I'm calling Felicity!' Truth is, any of my friends would have stepped up, but I can always count on Felicity in my times of need. I called her an hour before the baptism and shared my sob story with her. I asked her to pick up any cake wherever she could easily get one and mentioned that sister would like red velvet, but at this point we are not going to be picky! This dear friend went and picked up this red velvet nothing bundt cake for us. It was an answer to prayer! It was delicious. It was the kindest thing that happened to us that day!

 Ellie, Macey, Megan, Mia and Sophia.

Raising Cane's and pre-made salads from Costco. Perfect!

 I love these ladies. I don't know why I didn't have Stephanie and Marcela get in this picture, but these 4 ladies help me keep my sanity, love my children, encourage me to be a better mother (and sometimes housekeeper!) Moving to Plano brought them in my life and I am so glad for our 4 year sojourn there!

Grandma June's comforter blanket for Macey's baptism. The kids each have one now. We are all members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. We are on our way to Eternal Life together!

Macey Bday party

School started on Monday and Macey's birthday was on Wednesday. She woke up to find a box of Hurts Donuts waiting for her.

She requested the cookie monster donut!

It being the first week of school, the kids weren't allowed lunch visitors in the cafeteria, so we pulled sister out for lunch in the courtyard. A McD's happy meal makes all kids happy on their bday!

Macey didn't have a theme in mind for her birthday so she and Dan went pinata shopping to help with the party planning. Behold! A unicorn. Which lead to a Pinterest search for cupcakes. I can take no credit for the creativity for these cupcakes...

June helped. These are unicorns with rainbow hair, marshmallow ears, golden candle horns, and eyes closed shut. And according to Oliver, the best cupcake he had ever eaten! Ah well, Pillsbury would have to take the credit for the delicious funfetti cake mix. But I did make the frosting from scratch. :)

There are many things to love about this picture: Oliver. Macey and Madison wearing the same color. A unicorn balloon. Alex photo bombing the background. 

This party was on a Wednesday after school. We played a few minute to win it games. Smashed open the pinata. Jumped on the trampoline. And rode on sisters new hoverboard!

OK, it doesn't really hover, but it is cool nonetheless! This was a very fun party. The kids had such a great time. I'm glad we were able to pull it off with very little planning. (And with just one weeks notice, we were glad the guests could all come!)

August update

 Alex's soccer team participated in an indoor tournament. They had enough players to field two teams. Here they are playing against each other. Alex's group came 2nd in the tournament. But they went undefeated for the 2nd regular indoor season in a row. With marching band taking over life as Alex knows it, he may not get back on the field, indoor or out, for a while.

 The annual trip to Medical City for an ultrasound. Scar tissue was found on her left kidney. This makes her at risk for high blood pressure. More monitoring for this youngster I'm afraid.

 Macers loves her some crazy socks!

 'All I want for my birthday is a hover board, a hover board, a hover board!' Technically it is a self-balancing scooter; it doesn't actually hover. But sister isn't bothered by such technicalities!

This is my friend Dani and I. My old Plano ward Relief Society had a girls' night out at a lake house and I was invited to go along. It was so much fun to be with these ladies. I was the youngest person there and had to sleep in the top bunk! We enjoyed yummy food, trips out on the jet ski, Hand and Foot card game, and watching for shooting stars. I'm so glad Dan said 'Go! Have fun!'

 Our beloved Alex has braces! But he isn't exactly excited to share pictures of them! He got a set on the top teeth and in 3 months they will add the bottom set. Once both sets are on, then it is time to force his bottom jaw to grow, grow, grow with rubber bands. Band has been hard on his lips, and I'm afraid that once he gets really great at playing with one set, he'll have to re-learn with the 2nd set. Sorry, but it has to be done now!

 Another trip down to Medical City this time to see Dr Quan. Mace was perhaps going to be finished visiting him since she has had only the 1 infection, but he will be monitoring her for at least one more year. On this trip to M.C. there were new animals on the fake carousel.

 Cruising around with my Uncle Mike in his new red sports car! Despite his age and looks, he is perpetually 15 at heart!

 The first day of school! Dan took all the other pictures, so we'll have to have a second update to get those loaded up. Here is sister with Grandpa Black. He and June arrived just before the solar eclipse

And this was the extent of our solar eclipse experience at our house. It was weird outside though, because although there wasn't a cloud in the sky, it appeared overcast and much cooler during the hour or so that the partial eclipse was happening here.

Macey's baptism photography

All photographs taken by Julianne Winzenz on Temple Square.