Look what I made!

I came accross this web app and instantly fell in love with it!! I soo hope my teachers will want to use this. A technology expert says that you first use the technology in a personal format and then you will apply it to your work. So, this is my first attempt and some of the pictures will be familiar to you. :) I hope you enjoy this. And really, if your child needs to do a multimedia presentation, think about having them do it with this.

Snow White: Brenna's baptism

Setting the context:  I don't know where I got the idea to have my Temple wedding dress (not as fancy as it sounds) made into Brenna's baptism dress.  But for the last year and a half I had been trying to find a seamstress that I trusted to make this important change.  Finally, I found one who was willing and able to have the dress made into Brenna's dress.  What I liked about this seamstress is that once she realized it was my wedding dress, she told me she would only use the materials (lace, buttons, fabric) from My dress and not add anymore to it.  It turned out simply beautiful and better than I could have ever imagined.

 It snowed all week, schools were closed 5 days in a row.  It's supposed to snow today.  And sandwiched in between was Brenna's baptism, which if you remember was canceled from December due to snow.  Valentine's Day was the perfect day to be baptized.  As a day of love, there was so much love offered yesterday in our chapel as Brenna was baptized. 

We are never one to really follow the traditions of our fathers and did things a little differently during the ceremony.  We had Brenna's grandfather, Al, say the opening prayer.  It was a really beautiful prayer and our bishop loved it; I loved it.  Al's prayer was a little different than our LDS prayers typically are.  He called Brenna the "grandest of granddaughters", quoted scripture during the prayer, and asked Brenna to enter in by accepting the ordinance of baptism.  Someone else said, "That was such a great prayer, we need more like that in our church.  Why don't we do that?"  Thanks so much Al for bringing in the Spirit to our meeting right from the beginning.

Following Al, Brenna and I presented our thoughts of the day.  It was important for me for people to know that Brenna's dress was my wedding dress.  I thought it added something special to the day and made me feel really connected to Brenna's choice.  I shared the story of how it came to be that I didn't wear my actual wedding dress in the temple because that was the compromise with my mother as she couldn't be with me in the temple but would be with me during the ring ceremony we had later that night.  And yet, that compromise turned out to be such a beautiful blessing because on this day, Brenna's baptism, she would now wear that dress.  I thanked my mother for that beautiful gift.  And to help explain this, I found a poem written by one of our General Authorities for his granddaughter on her baptism day to explain the significance of this white dress.

I tweaked it to fit our needs, but here is the version Brenna read:

My mom had made for me this dress of white,
not red or pink or blue.
She said it was a special dress,
like very other few.
There has been just one before,
a dress now put away,
that I wore some time ago,
upon my blessing day.
As a little girl clothed in my first white dress
My dad held me in his arms,
so pure and clean was I just then,
with time to grow and learn.
Now I've reached the age to judge
the wrong road from the right
And I am here to be baptized
in this beautiful dress of white.
The path ahead is clear to me.
I'll grasp the rod and hold on tight.
And if I try my very best,
Then richly blessed I'll be,
Wearing inside God's holy house
White dress number three,
So today I make this pledge:
I'll strive to choose the right,
through this sacred baptismal ordinance
In my second dress of white.

She did a great job reading the poem!

Next Tobin talked on baptism and what it means to us to be baptized.  He always such a great job when he is public speaking.  As I sat there, looking up at him, I just felt so happy.  At that moment, everything I wanted was right in that room. 

Then Brenna was baptized.

This picture is one of my favorites of the whole day!  She looks so happy.  And you can see the details of the dress so much better.

While Brenna and Andy were changing, they sang songs and then we had a slideshow which I titled Live. Laugh. Love.  Click here to see the slideshow.   Brenna's slideshow I think everybody really liked it as it was pictures of the people whom Brenna loves, her friends and her family.  All of Brenna's friends were so excited when they saw themselves in the pictures.  I thought it would be a great touch for the girls would really feel a part of this day and a part of Brenna's big celebration. 

After the baptism, Noah gave a wonderful talk (I wrote it for him) on the gift of the Holy Ghost.  What I thought was adorable and saw vicariously through Andy's eyes is that when Noah was coming down from the podium after his talk and Brenna was going up to the podium to be given the gift of the Holy Ghost by priesthood holders was that Brenna spontanenously reached out and hugged Noah.  It was a tender moment and full of love.

After all of this, was the "welcome to the ward" talk.  Our friend and home teacher, Brother Chipman was the one to do this.  What I loved about his welcome was that he talked about wanting to remember this day.  And he used words like:  snow (as that was such a contention about her whole baptism), white (for the purity of Brenna and the color of the dress), family and friends.    Later that night as Brenna and I recapped the day before bedtime, we talked about remembering Snow White about her baptism.  I also think she'll remember that it was on Valentine's Day.  :)  I'll remember the happiness of this day as long I can remember!

And then we had a party at our house and everyone was invited.  :)

Brenna, Daddy and I are so proud of you!  You make the world a happier place for those who know you.  Thanks for being our little girl and for making our hearts full of love.  You are a great caboose for our family.   We love you.

I used this picture frame to put pictures of Brenna in her baptism dress up as a decoration for the party afterwards.  I think it turned out pretty well.  If you look closely you will see a pair of red boots on Brenna's feet.  They were my touch; she didn't quite care for them with the dress, but I think she will in the years to come.  :)

What to do? What to do? Wait...I know

So, we've been pretty lazy with this blizzard. Except for shoveling, cooking, cleaning and catching up on our shows, I would say we've been pretty boring. It's kinda hard when you can't go anywhere. I've been starting to feel that this beautiful, powdery white stuff has turned into a white padded cell. I'm going stir crazy. And my kids HATE it when I take pictures so I have to use caution these days about when I pull the camera out. So, here are a few of the pictures where I risked injury to myself in taking these. But hey, it made for a little excitement in a different ways.

Andy coming back from his many rounds of shoveling.  This time, it's really high though.

Tobin with his cousins Brett and Bradley and their friend Colin.  These boys spent the night and then hung out.  They went trekking through the blizzard snow and jumped off the roof of the portables into the blanket of snow on the ground.

Noah with his friends on their way to build forts with ALL the snow we're getting.

Brenna and her friend Mac are getting ready to jump off our landing onto the soft parachute of snow.  Brenna saw her brothers doing it and wasn't about to be left out!  Mac, her friend seems to be as much of a daredevil as Brenna and wanted in on the whole act.

I love this picture.  She looks like she could be parachuting!  Where does she get her fearlessness from?  Not from me, especially when it comes to heights.

Mac's turn!

I love these pictures!!  Sorry, Katie, but Mac not only survived, she thrived on the thrill of it.  What else are you gonna do in a blizzard like this?  :)

Blizzard of 2010

I took this picture yesterday around 3:00 pm.  It had been snowing for about 3 hours by this point.  Crossing the street are Tobin and his friends.  They played a little basketball and decided they wanted to go and get some food while they could. They were right to do it while they could....

Even though this is taken from a different angle, this is the same place as the picture above where Tobin is walking with his friends.  You can see the sign.  Notice that the cars are completely buried this time.  I took these pictures about 10:00 am Saturday morning.

Our front stoop piled high with snow!

Brenna's Meet last week in West Virginia

She did great!! Brenna got a 2nd place in tumbling, 6th place in the Double Mini Tramp which is what this is. And she didn't place at all for the trampoline! This was her first meet competing on a level 5! I love looking at the pictures to see her concentration.

Brenna on the Double Mini Trampoline

Brenna Tumbling

Brenna on the Trampoline

I love this girl!  My heart bursts everytime I see these pictures!

This Day

I think campaign Obama is back!

What is she doing in a robe and my boots on?  This picture wouldn't be nearly as cute without Noah in the background.

Somedays

A couple of days a week Bre has trampoline team practice.  She is practicing her dismount and getting ready to do a flip.