1 birthday, 1 baptism, 1 baby blessing, 1 bum

the birthday!

scarlett turned 8 and we lived it up for weeks!

scarlett's twin cousin came to visit and we hit up the american girl doll story. i wish i could say the cost was worth the smiles, but i'd really like a child who smiles about cheap stuff too. 

scarlett also gave a talk the week before her birthday, complete with purple hair.

then we went back to the american girl doll story for another go round. scarlett still thinks it okay to match her mom. 

scarlett's butterfly, darth vader, red velvet with brownie layer and fudge frosting birthday cake:

baptism food prep crew:

they were utterly unhelpful, especially the pirate on the end.

first shot of the bum next to our new refrigerator! hurray for being old!

the night of scarlett's baptism was the typical chaos that i've come expect from anything that i've put a lot of time and effort into planning. first, i set up all of the food tables next to the serving area in relief society room. after i was nearly done, the couple that heads up the addiction recovery group said that had just started using the relief society room THAT NIGHT for their group and that i needed to move all my stuff. i had a split second to decide how i wanted to react. the regular heidi wanted to say, "tough tacos, you guys move. there are two other large rooms in this chapel that have outside entrances including the one you used up until this week. i've been signed up for this room for MONTHS." and the heidi that is trying to be a better person all the time even if i am in the right said, "okay, i'll just move all my stuff to the gym. we'll make this work." and in that moment is should have been translated because that's way better than i've ever been before. 

second, grandma and uncle steve's flights were delayed and so instead of having them miss everything we ate all the refreshments first and by then grandma and steve had arrived. 

one of the biggest surprises was the arrival of my dear friend, julie and her family, from simpsonville! it was especially great because julie is a worker and she jumped right in and helped me move all my stuff from the relief society room!

i'm so proud of scarlett and her choice to be baptized. scarlett chooses the right and i'm thankful for that.

the third drama of the night was this little girl that couldn't keep her dress on all night. athena blythe hated the dress choice that i made for her and she spent most of the evening disrobed or trying to disrobe. she did meet a major potty training milestone that night at the church so i guess all the public nudity was worth it.

in other news, we went swimming the next day. 

and that night were fireworks,

finally, the baby blessing on sunday. i couldn't ask for a better weekend.

i was hoping at least one of these pictures would work for a christmas card photo, but we are consistently ridiculous.

 typical athena blythe

finally, my dear sister. she's my wingman. she helped me get everything done.

sisters are great!