Always Look for Rainbows

In our church, some of the major milestones in life include baby blessings and baptisms. Baby blessings happen early in infancy, and baptisms happen sometime after age eight. Since we got a new nephew and our niece turned eight last month, we got to witness both a baby blessing and a baptism in the same weekend. During the drive to Utah, Ramona and Mika helped make a card for Cousin Aubrey to celebrate her baptism:

For some reason, they decided Paca should be depicted with green skin.

The cousins were happy to see each other.

It was Paula's first time meeting her Utah cousins, Aunts, and Uncle.

To my delight, Aubrey asked me and Forest to do a musical number as part of the baptismal services. She requested a children's song called "When I am Baptized," which starts out with the words: "I like to look for rainbows whenever there is rain . . . " It is one of my favorites.

We had a great experience arranging and practicing the music together. Apparently, Forest has not played the piano in public since he was about 17 years old, so it was like a second debut for him.

Here we are at the church building:

 

Congratulations, Aubrey!

 

After the baptism, Crissy hosted a luncheon at her house. All the cousins had plenty of time to play.

Cousin Caleb felt like a power ranger with Aubrey's pink Lala Loopsy helmet.

Paca and Teresa caught a moment to nap.

 

Later in the afternoon, some of us went down the road to visit my Aunt June and Uncle Merrill in Riverton. We had a lovely visit in their backyard.

Aunt June set up a handmade teepee just for the girls to play in.

While we were there, my cousin Janette and her family dropped by to see us. Paula had lots of smiles for them.

In the evening, Forest and I snuck away to do some sealings at the Oquirrh Mountain Temple. There were some pretty big storm clouds gathered above the spire as we left.

The next morning was Cousin Maxwell's baby blessing. It was the first baby blessing I've been to that was performed at home.

Congrats to the Lichty Family!

Having the baby blessing in a home has the added benefit of extra socializing . . . 

. . . and cinnamon rolls immediately following.

After sacrament at Crissy's church, it was time for us to hit the road. (For the girls, it was also time to hit the hay).

The drive back would have been one of our more successful trips . . . except that Mika left her beloved blankie on the floor of a gas station in Wyoming. We didn't realize this until we had traveled another 70 miles away. With little hesitation, however, Forest turned the car around and headed back toward that gas station, even though he knew it would add an extra two hours to our driving time. At least the blankie was still there . . .

. . . and at least we got to look for rainbows while we were in Wyoming, too:

When I Am Baptized
by Nita Dale Milner

I like to look for rainbows whenever there is rain
And ponder on the beauty of an earth made clean again.
I want my life to be as clean as earth right after rain.
I want to be the best I can and live with God again.

Mika: Little Big Sister

 

Mika went through a bit of an identity crisis after baby Paula joined our family. She knew she was no longer the littlest, but she still wasn't all that big, either. It seemed like she would alternate between saying she was "little" and "big." One day, she declared with satisfaction that she was the "little big sister"--a title which provided her with a more conclusive sense of where she fit into the family.

Another time when someone asked if she was big or little, she replied, thoughtfully, "Well, I'm little. Because I'm still two, I think." It was about this time that she started associating all things "little" with age two, and all things "big" with age three. Sometimes she would ask, "When am I going to be big?" (Which really meant: "When is it going to be my birthday?"

 Well, last week it was finally time for little Mika to turn big. We tried making some cupcakes to celebrate, but ran into a cupcake calamity due to some temperature issues with our oven.

After three batches of cupcakes, these were the most acceptable ones I could come up with:

It's a good thing frosting can be so forgiving (and concealing).

The birthday girl was sweet as could be on her special day. One of the things I love most about her is that she appreciates the small things and is so easy to please.

 

 

 

 

 

She's also very generous, and readily promised to share her new gifts with her big sister.

Once Ramona was finished with school, we did a little bit more celebrating with a couple of friends at the pool. Daddy met us there and brought Mika a balloon.

I brought along some of the catastrophic cupcakes to share.

 

 

 

Since birthdays warrant extra sugar, the girls got to suck on some princess ring pops after swimming.

Once pool time was over, Mika got to do one of her favorite things: curl up on the floor with her blankie and fall asleep in front of the TV.

While she slept, Ramona colored this picture for her:

She wanted to put a sticker on it to make it extra special.
Eventually, our little sleeping beauty woke up from her nap and I gave her one of her birthday presents I had forgotten about.

Of course, the birthday would not have been complete without a "Frozen" family movie night. So that is how we finished out Mika's special day.

The next day, Mika was still the birthday girl. We dressed her up as a cowgirl and all went to Martinez Farm for popsicles and pony rides with Natalie and Lauren.

Not surprisingly, Mika fell asleep on the way there. It took a raspberry popsicle and about twenty minutes to bring her back into party mode.

Amy held the baby for me while I mopped up Mika's popsicle mess and got her ready for a pony ride.

 

She looked so wobbly on the saddle, we were worried she would slide right off. Thankfully, Daddy was right there to keep her safe.

Natalie and Ramona took turns feeding Paula . . .

. . . and all the girls took turns feeding oats to the farm animals.

 

 

They also took turns "driving" the red tractor.

No tractor ride for Paula, but she loved the little bouncy horse on the playground.

Party bags had stickers, suckers, and most importantly: pink sparkly cowgirl hats.

 

 It was a small but lively party . . . thanks for coming, Natalie and Lauren!

 

 

 

Happy Birthday, Little Miss Big Girl! We love you SO much.