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.

A summer visit from some really cute grandparents

Sometimes there's just nothing better than a little spoiling from Grandma and Grandpa! It was a blast for all of us when Ross's parents made the long drive up from California to see us at the end of June 2010. They came for Samantha's baptism and we loved having them here for two weeks!(Minus a short trip they took up to the beauty that is Glacier Park, that is.) I love that despite the time between seeing them and distance between us, all of my kids, even the little ones, are so excited when they see G & G Wilkins!

And double your pleasure, double your fun -- one night we went out to my parents' house for dinner and the kids had all four grandparents kissing on them!


Samantha with Grandma Ruth Ann and Grandma JeNae


Rebecca with Papa Lay and Papa Wilkins

The four Wilkins kids with their four grandparents (in a slightly blurry picture because we were still getting used to the new camera we'd just bought...) :o)

This was a funny scene one afternoon when Rebecca decided to play beauty shop with Grandpa. From what I hear, she's not the first granddaughter to do this! What a nice guy.

Ernie and Ruth Ann were here for the 4th of July and I was so excited to take them to the fireworks display put on by a member of the church up at his ranch. We went in 2009 and it was such an amazing setting to see the colors bursting over the mountains in. Living in Montana though, we should have expected the weather to be crazy! There was a little programs beforehand and them moment that the fireworks were about to start, so did the rain! It was goofy, but the whole audience was too stubborn to get up and go and we all just laughed and got wet.

Drenched Samantha and Logan

Soaked Luke who couldn't seem to do anything but blink when the flash went off. :o)

Fireworks and rain droplets!

A very wet but smiling Grandpa and a yellow blanket (a.k.a. Grandma)

Drenched Daddy and Becky

Samantha climbed onto my lap towards the end. My sweatshirt was sopped!

There is not a lot to do in Helena and there's no denying that fact. But we can always depend on a good time going to the Carousel! Grandma and Grandpa aren't actually in these pics but I think they loved seeing their happy grandchildren having so much fun. See?













Luke also lived it up running around outside!

One Sunday afternoon we enjoyed the summer weather and let the kids bike and play in the front yard. This is not a frequent occurence because of the busy street we live on, so the kids were in heaven!

You can see Grandma and Grandpa's trailer in our driveway. The kids loved going to "visit" them there.







And here's evidence of how big I get when I am pregnant. I'm still 4 MONTHS away from having my baby here! (And thanks to Ross for taking this picture with such an attractive look on my face.)

We played in our backyard with the grandparents too. I love this video because Rebecca and Grandpa and saying "Yee-haw!" (I don't so much love Samantha's sassy, bossy voice at the end, but oh well.)



Someday we're going to get down to California again to visit Ross's parents there, but we're oh-so-grateful that they come all the way to Montana to visit us. We love them a lot!

Birthday #8 for Samantha

It's been months and months since this happy event, but that doesn't make it any less important.
Our Samantha Anne turned 8! She was very excited for this special birthday. She and I decided to do a costume party because it's always fun to dress up, right? We found her a cute butterfly fairy outfit and had her friends party on her 8th b-day in June.

If only I'd gotten her reaction to this present on video. It's a Brittany (from Alvin and the Chipmunks) beanie baby and she was beyond excited. She screamed! The look on her face gives a hint of how thrilled she was.

Here's the party guests lined up and looking cute.

I found this cupcake holder and we went with the pink and brown look that seems to be so popular. I thought it turned out very cute!

The loot

Samantha and her friend Ashlynd

We took the family to Applebee's for dinner that night. Our kids love it when the waiters sing to them. Not to mention their own ice cream treat!



We gave Samantha a few more gifts that night. This is one of my favorites. It's eight episodes of the TV show "Punky Brewster". I L-O-V-E-D that show when I was eight years old and would wait every Sunday for it to come on, even enduring my big brothers giving me a hard time about it. It's been a kick to hear my kids talking about it and saying "Punky-isms" like "grossaroo". The best was when Samantha wasn't going to sleep one night when Grandma and Grandpa Wilkins were visiting. I told her to count sheep. She came back out a few minutes later and said, "Mom, sheep #9 just crashed into the fence!!!" I laughed and laughed while she told me that's what Punky said. :o)

Because her next b-day is only a few short months away, instead of a picture of her from every year of her life, I'm going to post some of my favorite baby pictures of her.


Brand new family


Blessing day. She's wearing my blessing dress. So sweet, isn't she?


Seriously. How cute is this picture?! She's about 3 months old here.


Fresh out of the bath. This is the only time my babies look like they have curly hair.


This pictures is not posed. She put her hands behind her head all the time! When she slept or relaxed or whatever. I guess it was comfy!


If you look closely you can see milk dribbling out of her mouth. Why do I find that so adorable?


How expressive is this face?


At least all was right with the world shortly thereafter. :o)
(This was about how old she was when people -- even strangers -- started telling me she looked like Boo from Monsters Inc.)


My baby is ONE!


Taking a bath in Grandma Lay's sink. I have a picture of myself at about the same age taking a bath in my Grandma Lay's kitchen sink.


Sweet girl on a summer day

Samantha is 10 months old and had been walking for about a week in this video. (Yes, Ross growls at me because I run into him. Silly man.)


See? I told you she slept with her little hands behind her head! Kids are so sweet when they wake up happy like this.


This is Samantha and her daddy on the day Ross graduated from BYU. He's playing the piano that was in my Grandma and Grandpa Lay's house for years.


She'll be nine in just a few months from now, so obviously it's taken me a long time to post all about these festivities. But more than a report on the fun, I have to write down a few things about my beautiful daughter.
She's gorgeous. I know I'm the mommy, but she just is. Even as a tiny baby she had these amazing long eyelashes that curl up perfectly.
She's got a good imagination and is constantly "doing stories" as she puts it.
She loves to read. That makes me happy because so do I. Some of her teachers have told me she reminds them of Belle from "Beauty and the Beast" because she's always walking around "with her nose stuck in a book".
She's very helpful when I need a "go-fer" kid. I love that she's so willing to get things for me when I ask. It helps to have the extra hands!

She is VIBRANT. Enough said.

It's February again and despite the long interval between my last post and now and the need I have to post all about the past 7 or 8 months, I'm going to celebrate this month of love with more of my random thoughts on all things romantic. Who out there will care besides me? Not many, but oh well!

So to start things off, a favorite song of mine. The Andrew Lloyd Webber song "Love Changes Everything" sung by Michael Ball really hits the nail on the head. Love makes us different people than we were before. I think that's true for all forms of love, but in romantic love it can send you reeling from what you knew. I think when you fall in love it can flip like a switch or be something that you just grow into comfortably, but when you realize it, your world is never the same. Everything is intensified and richer and and crazier and more beautiful that you'd ever imagined.

My favorite things about this song?
1) The line "Now I tremble at your name". Woo! How mushy is that? And the way he sings it? Forget about it!
2)The "list" of what love can do to you.
3)The storyline it seems to have of not only how you change when you fall in love, but as "off into the world we go" love still touches every part of life, good or bad.
4)The building crescendo and the big finish. Michael Ball's final note is so good! That voice is AMAZING!

I saw this video for the first time in about 1997. On a VHS tape. I love that I can watch it on YouTube now. It's sappy and over-dramatized and all that good stuff. The girl is beautiful and the costumes are gorgeous and I even love the car at the beginning. Enjoy!