A Very Special Baptism Day

In our church, we believe that a person reaches the age of accountability at 8 years old. It is a special time when a young girl or boy is baptized and confirmed a member of the Church and receives the Holy Ghost. Last summer, this wonderful event happened for Samantha.


The announcement. I hadn't originally planned on doing this, but my amazing sister Wendy put this together for me in no time at all and it turned out beautifully.

Wendy also took pictures of Samantha for us in her baptism dress. They turned out better than I'd even hoped for. I guess that's what you get when you combine Wendy's talent and Samantha's beauty. ;o) Here are a few of my favorites:






I saw a baptism book on another mother's blog and knew I wanted to do one for Samantha. It was so important to me that she would be able to understand as much as possible about this sacred ordinance. Just talking to her isn't the way she learns the best and the blessing of this book is beyond description. Ross and I wrote up what we wanted to say to her (striving really hard to keep it in line with church doctrine and not the Gospel according to us) and Aunt Wendy assembled the book online for us. At the time she lived just a few blocks from Temple Square in Salt Lake City and was able to walk down and get some great shots of statues including the Christus and other things we were able to use in the book. These snapshots I took don't do it justice. It turned out so gorgeous and is a true treasure.









We were so very glad that both sets of grandparents could be here for Samantha. They participated in the program and made Samantha feel special and loved.



Samantha and Daddy all dressed in white.

Samantha and her parents on her special day (Oh, and Becky in the background, too!)

Pulling some silly faces!

And now, a nice picture again. This time with no little sisters in the background. I love Samantha's sweet smile here.

The day was amazing for all involved. It started off a little crazy when Ross accidentally flooded the nursery and out into the hallway because we'd been misinformed about how long it takes to fill the baptismal font, but even that wasn't enough to ruin the importance and blessing that the day was. Samantha, we truly love you and we are so happy you wanted to take this step.