Caleb's Baptism

Caleb turned 8 years old on May 29th!  He was so excited, not just for his birthday, but also that he was going to be baptized in just a few days.  He wanted a Lego cake, so I decided to try fondant for the first time.  I got a recipe off of Allrecipes.com that was called butter cream fondant, it said that it tasted better than regular fondant....but it kind of melted so I had to shlop (that might not be a word, but it's what it felt like) it on and pat it in place.  Anyone have a recipe that works better? 

He still liked it (even all shloppy), and the kids loved the marshmallow nubs on the top. 

We gave him a Lego City police boat set, he loved that it actually could float and after it was all together we had to try it out in the kitchen sink.

We managed to catch the perfect expression with this present from grandma Child--a light saber.  Now he can give up on using sticks or forks or...socks...and actually have something respectable.  He also got a Moon Phase light from G-ma and G-pa Newey which he has really been excited about.  He knows he wants to be a scientist, he just keeps bouncing from space or marine or insect, I think he just likes learning about things. 

 On June 2nd, he was baptized.  What a blessing!  We had much of our family there (we missed those of you who couldn't come!) Caleb really enjoyed having so much support and love.  After all the preparation the actual baptism happens so fast, but the Spirit was strong and Caleb has been writing about it in his journal so I hope that moment is what he will remember the most.

 This is all the Newey cousins (minus Tanner who is still on his mission), I love this shot because of Rachel doing some kind of crazy Chicken Dance.  SHE IS HILARIOUS!  Of course, Seth wasn't being an angel at the moment either, as you can see he's in take off mode.  And Blake wasn't really sure why we handed the baby to him. 

 The picture with the adults was a little more sedate.  I think we threatened them with something, but I can't remember what it was...we're just missing my brother Robert and Tanner, of course.

 And here's the Child family, we're missing Geri and Cody and family, Desi and Nick and family, and Sam and Kolleen and (I guess we can count Audi the dog) family.  We have another baptism on this side coming up soon, so I hope we'll get to see them there. 

 For our traditional Baptism Present, we give the kids their own set of hardback scriptures and a journal with their names engraved on it.  He's been asking for a set, and a bigger scripture bag (which is in the works) for awhile so he was pretty happy with it.

And I don't have any pictures, but we've been enjoying summer break.  We've stuck to the schedule of chores, reading time, then free time so far.  Hmmm, I hope we make it all summer! It's been a hot summer so our garden is kind of fried, but my sis brought a new plant for us to try.  It's called Stivia (I'm not sure I'm spelling it right) but it's sort of a sugar plant.  The leaves can be steeped or ground and then put in whatever you want sweetened, so there is less processing than with white sugar, sooo it's supposed to be better for you and since it is sweeter than white sugar you use less of it.  It should be an adventure, anyway, and I'm excited!  Also growing at our house now is an ivy plant my aunt brought to us.  It's an ivy plant with history!  It's from a start from the ivy we had at our wedding receptions.  I'm not the best at keeping house plants alive (yeah, my degree is for OUTSIDE plants.  Heh) and managed to kill off the two we kept, so it's sweet to have a little bit of our history back.  But if anyone managed to keep one of those goldfish alive that we had a the receptions, that's ok, you can keep it.  I am very sure a fish wouldn't last too long in this curious household.

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And now I just have to share some cute pictures...

 

I'm still trying to get a "stinky face" picture.  She just doesn't want it captured for posterity, I think.  We'll try to sneak it out of her.