July 22, 2019

Layla’s birthday and baptism

Layla is 8!


She woke up and put on the birthday crown that she’s been saving since she brought it home from school. 


We were leaving Utah and driving back to Las Vegas that day. We stopped at the Sweet Tooth Fairy for cupcakes before leaving South Jordan and then found a park along the way to stop at to sing happy birthday to our sweet girl and eat those yummy treats.


Layla is creative, compassionate, imaginative, a planner and organizer, and loves being a big sister more than anything. I love this girl with all my heart.




We did give her a new purse/bag with a few things in it, but we saved the rest of her celebration until we could be reunited with Kyler and Kacin and we got back home. We ended up waiting until her baptism day to eat cake, sing happy birthday, give her our gifts, and then party in the swimming pool.












Layla’s baptism day was so special. She was genuinely beaming all day and it made me so happy to see her shining like that.


I would like to remind everyone that for every decent picture I take and post there are ten pictures like this:




It was the most amazing thing to see Kyler, a priest, baptize Layla. 


She had a choice to pick who she wanted to baptize her and I think it was so special that she chose her big brother. She loves him dearly. 


Let’s ignore that little bang curl in the middle of my forehead. Curly hair does what it wants to do, ha! But I love my sweet girl.


Eric was a proud father that day. And even though a part of him was sad not to baptize his oldest daughter, he was so happy that Kyler could do it and that he was still able to give Layla the gift of the Holy Ghost.


Speaking of, Layla told primary the next day that the best part of her baptism was receiving the gift of the Holy Ghost.


There is such a strong bond between these sisters.




Layla was so happy to have family and friends come to support her. 


It is rarity to get my dad in any pictures so this is a treasure. 


These two. Cute as can be together. 


These pictures and those smiles are another treasure. I love seeing the relationship grow between younger and older siblings.










It is our family tradition to present a set of scriptures to the child after he or she is baptized. Layla picked out her scriptures and case and then before church on Sunday we sat down as a family and had a scripture ceremony of sorts. This time I had the honor to say a few words about the importance of the scriptures and then present Layla with her very own set.











We love this girl so much and we are so proud of her and her decision to follow Jesus Christ and be baptized.