It's great to be 8!

Welp, it's true, this sweet little thing turned eight! How in the world did that happen so fast?

 When she was a wee little thing all she did was cry. I truly mean that, she cried all of the time. That means that I cried all of the time. I was totally pooped and had no clue what to do with this tiny person that cried around the clock. I felt like her tears were never going to stop. That there was no way that she was going to get bigger. I was going to have a baby that screamed her whole life and that was never going to get big enough to understand me as I walked in circles around the island in our kitchen, crying and asking her what was wrong and why she wouldn't stop crying. Well, as we all know, she stopped crying one night and actually learned to sleep through the night as the ripe old age of almost five months! She now loves to put on Pandora and dance around the living room. She loves all things that smell good. For her birthday she wanted the smelly things you plug into the wall so that her room can smell good. She also wanted lotions and smelly hand sanitizer from Bath and Body. Thankfully her birthday is so close after Christmas that all those things were on sale, so we scored some pretty sweet deals! She loves to do her own hair. She loves to paint her toenails and to my dismay, her fingernails. That's a battle I chose not to fight. I really don't like fingernails when they're painted. My parents had a really good friend that was a smoker. Her fingernails were always painted. So when I see painted fingernails I think of Rita's paint coverd smokers nails and I just don't like it. I digress, so sorry! Anyway she is all girl and sometimes I don't know what I am going to do with her because I don't feel like I'm girly enough to know what to do with a girly girl. Anyway, she's eight and beautiful and we love her! As we all know, when one turns eight, baptism follows close behind in our family! She said that she wasn't nervous, but we knew that that was a big fat lie! For some reason the poor thing was truly terrified. When we had the family home evening to talk about what being baptized means and to practice the big dunking moment, she wouldn't do it unless K did it first. Once she did do it, she felt like once was for sure enough and that she was a professional. 

As you can tell by the smile, she was feeling more nervous than excited. What's not to love about this picture? I got the defective gene from my mom that I seem to cry when I feel the spirit. It truly is awful and for me totally embarrassing. I feel stupid crying in front of B and we've been together for almost 15 years. So to cry in public is excruciating for me. Anyway, I was real nervous that I was going to turn into a big ball of blubberingness, thankfully I was able to hold it together for the most part. Grandma B, Grandma and Grandpa K, my younger brother, B and two of his kids, N and M and our A-mazing sister-in-law S and her little D were all here for this special day. We felt so loved that so many people were able to come. Wouldn't it have been so awesome if I had remembered to take a picture of all of those that were there? I think so too and I get so irritated with myself every time I think about how I totally suck that I forgot.I did remember to get a family picture of just us. That's something right?!

Anyway, Grandma B made me cry when she told M that she felt really prompted to tell M that she has a grandpa that was there and was really proud of her. Grandpa B passed away when M was 6 months old. So that was really neat to hear and to feel. The actual dunking went off without a hitch! No toes floated to the top or anything. I could tell that I had a cheesy mom smile on my face. You know the ones I'm talking about. The ones that cover your face when you are so proud of your kids and can't help but smile a big cheesy smile. When I was helping her change back into her clothes once she was done she told me that the water was really cold. That made me feel bad, but I still couldn't wipe the cheesy smile off my face. She probably thought I was so mean as I was saying I was sorry through this goofy smile. I really was sorry, it just didn't look like it. 
We took her picture in her baptism dress... yesterday. Talk about putting things off! Her baptism was almost a month ago. We went to the park by our house after church and snapped a couple pictures.

This one is her favorite. I honestly didn't think that we would get her a white dress. I thought it was so funny that people would get a white dress for their little girls when they got baptized. I remember that I wore a maroon velvet dress the day I was baptized and I still have a testimony. But as her baptism was getting closer I kept looking at white dresses and thinking about the poem, My Three White Dresses. Or whatever it's called. I got sucked in and got her a white dress! I just couldn't seem to help myself. Especially when we found this one on sale. I'm a sucker for a good clearance rack. She loves it, I love it, we all love it!

 K was feeling a little left out because we weren't taking his picture. 

We didn't want that to happen, so he found a nice log and with his trusty stick in his hand he sat down and said he was ready to have his picture taken. Let me explain the outfit. We took him to Lowe's on Saturday morning so that he could do their free little workshop thing. They gave him this apron and he has gone few places without wearing it. He loves being able to put a few cars in the front pockets and he really hopes that people will think that he is in fact an employee at Lowe's. The rain boots came from a friend in the ward. They are at least two sizes too big. He likes to tuck his pants into them. They remind me of my dad's milking boots and if K had a chance to milk a cow, I am sure that he would wear these boots! After we finished the photo shoot, M found a stick to drag behind her. When I say stick I mean a branch really. K didn't want to be shown up by her, so he found a trunk to drag along.

At least it makes for a pretty funny picture. I was a little worried that her dress would get totally ruined, but we had the pictures we needed so I just left it alone. We are all so happy that M is part of our family and that she made the decision to get baptized. Happy birthday baby girl!