Cole's Baptism

Cole's baptism was on Saturday and it went so very well! I couldn't have been more pleased. Unfortunately, that day was super busy with birthday parties, stake primary activities, and some craziness in the ward (which meant both Lance and the bishop were pretty stressed out), but everything turned out fine and it was a good evening.

A few weeks before the baptism I sent out this invitation/announcement. Good thing we had family and individual portraits taken recently, because Cole is not one to hold still for pictures lately.

Here is what the program looked like. We had to change it several times, and even print it twice. Even after all my careful editing, I still made one mistake - Lance didn't have to do the closing remarks. (Although I'm pretty sure the bishop would have gladly handed that responsibility over to him!)

Cole texted Dad and Susie to ask them to give the talks. (There was no way I was gonna get him to call them!) He also chose the rest of the people to help with the baptism. Since his brothers were giving the prayers, we had Tess hand out the programs. She was hard core about it and FORCED people to take them! (This was pretty cute!)

We took all of the usual baptism pictures and poses, per the request of my Grandma Roper. (I would have done this anyway, but her email was a great reminder of some of the groupings!)

Cole was pretty excited. However, I realized/remembered during the evening that he does NOT like to be the center of attention! (Pretty sure I was like that as a kid, too.)

Look at this cute brood of mine! They make a momma proud.

Lance is becoming an old pro at this! (Three down, one to go!)

I don't know what it is, but someone is always making an odd face or not smiling in our pictures lately. More often than not it's Tess. Oh well! For the rest of time her goofy faces will be on the interwebs! (And in Great Grandma Reva's family photo albums!)

We were so happy to have Grandpa ElRay and Grandma Susie with us! I really appreciate the time and effort it takes them to come out for things like this. I know Indiana is not exactly a vacation destination...

Their third grandson. (Or, as we like to call them, The Heir, The Spare, and Cole. Poor Cole.)

The baptism went really well, and Lance's confirmation was beautiful. After the baptism service we had lots of homemade cookies and milk. And I completely forgot to take any pictures of any of it! I was too busy chatting with my friends! But I did remember to snap a picture of the polar bear cookies I had made the day before.

Remember how I made shrimp-shaped cookies for Josh's baptism? Cole decided he needed personalized cookies as well, and polar bear cookies were the natural choice since my favorite nickname for Cole is Coler Bear.

I'm so pleased and happy and proud that Cole chose to be baptized. The bishop mentioned that when Cole had his interview he was really excited about it and ready to get things done. This doesn't surprise me. Cole has his moods, of course, but when he's ready and into it, he's all about getting stuff done and doing what's right. He is a really good kid and I love him so much!