A Blessing and a Baptism in Wisconsin

Ken and I got home just before Thanksgiving from a wonderful trip to Wintery, windy Wisconsin.  We went to celebrate the baptism of Brielle and the blessing of baby Audrey.  We flew in on Monday afternoon and Kristen picked us up at the airport.  There in the car, Ken met baby Audrey.  She is so dang cute. 

We hit the ground running as we planned to do a pre-Thanksgiving dinner on Tuesday evening.  So that evening, I made apple pie with Nathan and Key Lime Pie with  Brielle.

We learned about being thankful from Tom the Turkey at Family Home Evening.

Tuesday, we made more pies and lots of other delicious Thanksgiving foods and . . .

went to the school to read to Brielle's 2nd grade class.

Grandpa read to Jakie in the pre-game show.

I read "Ira Sleeps Over" (one of the best read-alouds ever) to the 2nd graders.

Jared met us at the school and then he and Ken and Nathan went for a hike.

They got home in time for our Thanksgiving feast.

Audrey really likes her siblings and they can really make her smile.

The pies.

One day, we let the kids stay home from school, and Grandpa and the boys went on a hike while the girls went shopping at a fun Christmas shop that was going out of business.  

On Friday, we were back at the school.  Grandpa helped make Cranberry Trail Mix and I served cranberry juice (cranberry  day) and read a story to the 1st graders in Nathan's class.  He felt like king of the hill having us there.  We enjoyed taking the kids to school each day and picking them up most days.  They go to a great school.  We were so impressed with the staff and their teachers.

In the evenings, we had rousing games of All.  It was really fun.

Jakie loves Mickey Mouse road rally.  I personally don't see the charm.

Saturday morning started with the kids scrubbing bathrooms.  I was impressed how diligently and well Brielle cleaned this bathroom.  Reminds me of her mother.
That evening, Carolyn and Mitch flew in from Denver.  We tended while Kristen and Jared attended the Saturday evening session of their stake conference.

Sunday afternoon was the big event.  Before we left for the church, we snapped a few pictures.  Good thing, because I completely forgot to take any pictures once we got to the church.

The baptism girl, Brielle.  Kristen and I made her dress when she was here last summer.  I found the pattern I had used to make Kristen's baptism dress on ebay and ordered it.  We found eyelet lace that was identical to that that I used on her baptism dress.  So Brielle's dress looks just like her mom's did.  Kristen got more material and Carolyn made a matching blessing dress for baby Audrey.  It turned out so beautiful.  

The girls with Grandpa and Grandma Mackrory.

Baby Audrey Elizabeth was blessed by her father at 3:30 at the church.  It was a special small meeting with just the bishop and his wife (his wife, Whitney, is Kristen's best friend), the grandparents and the family.
The baptismal was held at the church 1/2 hour later.  The family had invited many friends that are not members of our church.  I think most of the ward was there, too.  It was a beautiful program.  Ken gave a prayer and Grandpa Mackrory and Jared spoke.  Kristen and I sang a duet "I Know That My Savior Loves Me" and the Primary president and bishop also spoke.  There was a very special spirit there.  After, they served sundaes to remind us of how important "Sundays" are as we renew our baptismal covenants.  It truly was a celebration.

We had to leave on Monday afternoon.  Kristen prepared a nice brunch for us and the Mackrorys,  and then took us to the airport to fly home.  We noted as drove in our driveway that evening that from Kristen's door to our door was just 8 1/2 hours.  That is just amazing that we can go to Wisconsin to Vegas to home that quickly.  What a blessing!   Thank you Mackrorys for a wonderful, wintery week in Wisconsin.