dressed in white

March was a pretty important month for Lara: it was the month in which she was baptized! We waited a while to try and make sure most of the family could be there for the event, but she was getting really impatient. Sorry opa! Luckily uncle Mike was able to be there, and record the confirmation on his iPhone - lucky because thanks to all the bustle I completely forgot to bring pens and paper to the church. Baptisms in our stake are a totally different experience to the ones in Den Haag. Because there are so much more children being baptized each month, and to keep costs and hassle to a minimum, all the children who have a Birthday in the entire stake all share a baptismal date on a set Saturday once a month. There were 7 other children being baptized in March, and let me tell you, the chapel gets extra crazy when you try to fit in the families and friends of 7 children. The service also didn't start until 5pm, and celebrating was not allowed at the church building, so we had to do ours beforehand. I personally thought it greatly took away from the experience and would advocate going through the extra trouble to have each child have a more personal and spiritual experience. That said, Lara remembers her baptism well, and beamed all day long! Lots of sweet folks came to share the experience and show her they love her, and she felt pretty proud. Just check out these smiles, courtesy of my amazing sister in law and her snazzy camera.

Oma Diane made that gorgeous baptism dress completely by hand. Thank you so much for going through all that trouble mom, it really made the experience that much sweeter to us to have Lara wear a dress so personal and beautiful. You are one talented lady.

This is Lara and Brendan. As you may be able to tell from the body language, these two are nuts about each other. When Lara came home after her first day of school we asked her if she met anyone she liked, and she told us all about Brendan. We then asked her if he liked her too, to which she matter-of-factly replied: 'Yes, he just doesn't know it yet.'... Can I just skip her teenage years please?

Thanks so much to everyone who came and shared this day with us, and helped make it special for Lara. And to Lara: congratulations sweetheart, may you always remember how you felt on this important day. I am so proud of you!