Tucker's Baptism

A couple weeks ago Tucker turned 8 (more on that later) and that is a really big deal for us because it means he gets to be baptized!  Go here to read more about a mormon baptism.  I wanted Tucker to be prepared and know what he was doing so a few months before we talked a lot about baptism and the church.  To make sure he really understood we read Seven Years Old and Preparing for Baptism by George Durrant and Baptized and Confirmed: Your lifeline to Heaven by Elaine Cannon.  Then on several different occasions I encouraged Tucker to pray alone about it and see if he really believes in the church and wants to get baptized.  I don't want him to say that I forced him when he is a teenager and complaining about church (hopefully that won't happen).  I'm pretty sure Tucker would have wanted to get baptized without all this just because we've always talked about how when you are eight you get to be baptized but after lots of reading and prayer Tucker made an informed decision to get baptized.

He had a short interview with the bishop for which he was nervous.  He even said he was too scared to ask for a piece of candy.  Which is surprising because he has no problem asking for candy when I'm around.  I think he was scared because he has never gone in there alone before.  Right after the interview we walked outside and took pictures and then I made these invitations.

When the actual baptism day came, I think I was more nervous then Tucker or Bob and I didn't even have anything to do but show up.  Tucker was pretty excited and not nervous at all.

Tucker was the only one to get baptized on that day and we had a lot of family and friends from church come to support him.  It was so nice that everyone came and made us both feel loved!  Because he was the only one we got to pick out who gave the talks and help with the program.  Tucker had his Uncles Ben and Isaac speak and his cousin James to give the closing prayer.  After the baptism I was going to play a short video while Tucker got dressed into dry clothes but we couldn't get the usb to work with the tv and instead just listened to piano music.  It worked out ok because Tucker and Bob changed very quickly.  Even the Bishop said it must have been some sort of record.  Everyone did a great job and the spirit was very strong.  

Then afterwards we all ate the cookies I made.  They were pretty time consuming but I really wanted to make them anyway.  They have CTR cookie cutters but I didn't want to buy one, so instead I cut the top and bottom off a tunafish can and had bob use pliers to shape it into the shield.

Next we headed home and all the family that was in town came over to our house for a bbq birthday party.  It was hot out but luckily we had some shade in the back yard to hang out in.  We ate then did presents, cake and ice cream.  We even played corn hole and rode tri-bikes down the street, it was lots of fun.  Here is a picture of the birthday cake.

It was a lemon cake with lime frosting.  I used regular buttercream frosting but died it green and flavored it using jello powder.  I once again didn't want to buy a CTR shield cake pan so I made the cake pan using tin foil, cardboard, and this tutorial.