Elliot's Baptism

We are proud of Elliot for choosing to be baptized into the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints! Elliot is an awesome kid with so much potential to do good in the world. 

Elliot in his baptism jumpsuit!

 

The baptizer and the baptizee

The whole crew! We were by default scheduled to baptize him in early January after his December birthday, but we held off a month so that Mimi and Grumpa could be there. We thought about doing it in December in McLean, but then his cousins and friends couldn't be there. This worked out perfectly- his grandparents, the other Bloods, the Andersons, and the Mills were there. It was a small group and perfect for him. 

Some moments to remember: 

I made resurrection rolls for refreshments and worked them into my talk. I showed them how the inside of the roll is empty, representing Christ's empty tomb. Baptism is symbolic of us spiritually dying and being reborn. Isaac ran up to the front and grabbed the sticky marshmallow roll and spent the rest of my talk eating it while hanging onto my leg. 

Mimi conducted the music and had an absolute allergy attack where she couldn't stop coughing while she was trying to sing "I'm trying to be like Jesus."

It was special having Aaron be in the bishopric to welcome Elliot into the ward. He asked his buddy Kelton who is just a bit older and actually capable of being solemn to give the closing prayer. 

I attempted to have a photoshoot of my handsome boy afterwards.

We gave him a set of scriptures and a journal as baptism gifts. A very large portion of his first journal entry was about these skittles that the primary presidency gave him. 

This was the only serious shot I got.

Naturally, he turned it into this. 

Mimi & Grumpa at the Gem Show

Mimi and Grumpa planned their visit so that they would be in town when the gem and mineral show was going on! It really is the perfect activity for all of us. Mimi loves all things beautiful, and Grumpa loves fossils and geology. 

 

The gem and mineral show! All of us were having a great time, except perhaps Isaac who was upset to be in the stroller but also flops on the ground whenever we try to get him to walk.

Tiger eyes!

Elliot brought the Rock & Gem reference guide that cousin Aaron gave him for his birthday. He would excitedly look up the minerals on display in his book. "Malachite! That's on page 67!" He scored a lot of awesome free rocks by impressing the vendors with his earnestness. 

He was feeling the crystal energy.

We actually went on two days to two of the many events all over Tucson. We spent a couple of hours at each and weren't able to see everything. These events are HUGE. My favorite thing was a guy who made knife handles out of petrified dinosaur bone. 

Annie: "Mom, take a picture of me! I'm going to look SO impressed!"

Back to the house! Mimi was all over the science experiments. Annie was her most enthusiastic participant this time around. Here's their volcano. They also made rock candy.

Book snuggles

More book snuggles

We went to Ace hardware to buy staples for reupholstering our kitchen chairs. A kind guy at the checkout counter bought the kids popsicles from the cooler for being well behaved! There are so many good people in the world. Also, our chairs look great with black vinyl on the seats once more. Our foray into supposedly waterproof/spillproof fabric chair seats was an utter failure. 

Isaac's Truck Obsession

It all started when Breezy showed Issac some YouTube videos of construction vehicles over Christmas break.

It hasn't ended yet.

The lad is completely obsessed with all forms of trucks and tractors. It sure makes driving around more fun- he is THRILLED whenever we encounter road construction. 

 

Studying up on backhoes

There was a period of time where maybe 50% of his vocabulary was names of trucks. 

Two books and some monster trucks all lined up for a perfect afternoon. Those crossed ankles are just too cute. 

Imagine his pleasure when he got invited to a construction vehicle birthday party! The Nelsons had built this cool wrecking ball to go over the kids and knock down box towers. And there were dump trucks. It was perfect. 

There is a mine that has a little museum about 5 minutes away from our house. Somehow we haven't been to see it since Elliot was a baby. We had forgotten that there were retired mining vehicles outside of the museum! The tour costs money but it is free to see the museum and walk around the mining vehicles. There's even picnic tables there. Dump truck picnics have become an Isaac favorite activity. 

SO BIG. 

Isaac driving the old bulldozer. Dreams really do come true

Other Isaac updates: He was briefly on a soccer team. I laughed out loud when my friend asked if he wanted to participate- he could hardly talk, let alone be expected to participate in organized activities! It turns out that he was in good company. The Nelsons invited all the 2-3 year olds in the ward (of which there are MANY) to come to a weekly evening soccer practice. It was pure chaos, but quite amusing for all of us parents hanging out on the sidelines. "Baby soccer practice" was a great excuse to get outside if nothing else. 

He learned how to ride his strider bike! Kind of. He is excruciatingly slow and gives up after short distances. We are working on it. He's got the "motorcycle sound effect" portion down!

Brother buddies

Isaac DEFINITELY likes hanging out with the big kids. Luckily, most of Annie's friends are fine with him tagging along. 

A little super guy hugging a neighborhood cat. 

Isaac is the snuggliest of our children. He is so good at curling his whole body up against me. It's delightful.