This is her day...

You are invited to a recap of Kaydree's baptism day...

Here's my K outside of the church on the morning of her big day.  I was crazy enough to plan the primary program for the same day, so we were there bright and early setting up chairs.  Since my parents and Ry's parents were both in town, I figured I might as well do both in one day since I would have lots of helpers.  

 The baptism took place at 5pm after church.  It was a little crazy and hectic throwing everything together, and I was so grateful for my friend Melissa for stopping me and taking a few pictures for us.  Otherwise, I would've just rushed through it without taking any.  That same friend had a dress that her girls have all been baptized in and she let us borrow it.  Well, to clarify - me, K, and my mom went "dress shopping" (haha - sounds like a wedding) last Christmas when we were back in the US.  K picked out her fancy white baptism dress, but I was happy to have a different one to borrow that could get wet.  Here's my little girl with her daddy...

 And the 3 of us...

 And the whole crew, complete with naughty Ava.  Ava has had such a hard time lately, so I think some prayers were answered when she fell asleep partway through the baptism service and was out for the rest of the night.

 I had a cake made to match the tulip announcements, a fun memory that we lived in Holland for this occasion...

 Kaydree wanted her grandmothers to say the opening and closing prayers.  Papa gave the talk on baptism, and Grandpa gave the talk about the Holy Ghost.  Kaydree and I sang the same Janice Kapp Perry song, "My Baptism Day" that I sang with my family on my baptism day.  It was really special.  Everyone did such a great job!  I really tried to shake off the stress of putting an event together and stop and ponder what a momentous occasion this was for our oldest daughter.  Here are some thoughts on baptism.
I am so grateful that K has chosen to follow in the footsteps of our Savior and be baptized.  I really felt the spirit as I pondered the significance of that.  She's just a little girl and she has so much to learn, but choosing to be baptized and have the Holy Ghost to guide her throughout all that learning and all of the mistakes and progress that she'll make throughout her life makes me so happy.  It felt like she was making her first steps toward independence in a way.  Luckily, we will still be here to support that independence for at least 10 more years.  After that, she'll really be independent and I just can't think about that yet.
Here's a video that we played while K was changing.  The first part is a baptism video I found on youtube that makes a really great baptism FHE for younger kids.  At the end is a slideshow of K pictures.  My brother recorded the cover of "When I am Baptized," the song playing during that portion of the slideshow.  He did a great job, it was so neat to feel like he was there and was a part of it all.  I got a little twitchy playing the video in the chapel, nervous that it might be a little over-the-top since it's guitar music and all, but I just held my breath till the end and it was over soon enough.  If we were in the states we maybe would've done things differently, but hey - we're in the mission field - we took some liberties.  Kaydree's school teacher from last year AND her school teacher from this year were there, and I know they loved the video so I was happy about that.

The next day as we were all walking through the park in the rain, the rain stopped and we saw this HUGE rainbow.  It was so awesome.  The entire time we've lived here, through all the rainy days, I have never seen a rainbow.  It felt like it was there just for Kaydree.

 In May when we went to Keukenhof, I brought K's baptism dress and took some pics of her in the tulips.  I wanted her to remember living here during this time of her life.  I think years from now I will look through these pictures and they will always make my heart ache for Holland and for my little girl.  I just love every last one...