Anisten's Baptism Day

On January 31, 2015, this sweet 8 year old of mine was baptized.  It was such a special day for her and for our family.  She was beyond excited.  Before her birthday, she said she was more excited to be baptized than for her birthday to come!  Sweet girl

Here they are in their baptismal clothes before heading over to the church

Anisten was baptized with two of her friends from church.  Owen Hadley and Amanda West so there was A LOT of people there.  It was held in the chapel and it was pretty full.  Our family alone takes up a lot of space.

For the program, our cute little Aivree said the opening prayer and so many people said how impressed they were by her.  She did such a great job and mentioned "we're grateful that these kids made the decision to be baptized."  So cute and so brave. 

After that, Amanda's brother spoke on Baptism and then my Anisten got up in front of everyone and sang "When I am Baptized" with Grandma Rollins playing the piano.  She did so good!  Ani got a microphone for Christmas, so I've heard her sing many times and think that she has a great voice that I can see developing into a beautiful voice.  She also sang many times with her singing group Choral Collection.  So when she said she was willing to sing at her baptism, I was willing to give her the experience because I knew she'd do well.  And she did.  She brought many to tears.  She was super nervous, but she did awesome!  After she started to cry and she said that she could feel the spirit when she sang.  And the tears didn't stop after that...she couldn't stop crying!!  It was so sweet and we were all so touched by her sensitivity to the Spirit.

After her song, the kids were baptized.  Anisten went second.

Here she is going into the font. 

 Anisten and Rob in the font

 Rob said the prayer and she went all the way under the first time.  She said the water was warm like her bath water. :)  After I helped her change and I told her how proud I was of her and to remember to write down everything that she felt that day in her journal.  We both cried some more together and really, she just couldn't stop.

We got her into her beautiful dress then went back into the room where Cody gave a wonderful talk on the Holy Ghost.  We were so glad he was willing to speak.  We honestly didn't really know who to ask since Anisten doesn't have any older siblings, but he was willing and he did great.  Then another musical number by Owen's brother and sister and then the confirmations.  Anisten went first because Grandpa Rollins had to leave early.  It was beautiful and she continued to cry.

After the confirmations everyone congratulated her and then we went home for awhile to get changed before heading to Pizza Pie Café for dinner.

Here she is in her beautiful dress.

 Grandma Rollins gave her the necklace she is wearing.  She loves it 

 And Grandma Stevenson gave her these fun jewels to go in her hair.  So pretty

  Rob and I gave Anisten her very own set of Scriptures with her name printed on them.

 After changing clothes, we headed over to Pizza Pie Café to meet the family for dinner.  The Rollins clan was already there and so they left shortly after we got there with the Stevenson clan.  It all worked out that way so there was plenty of room for all of us. 

It was an eventful day for our whole family and such a special day for a special girl.