Ammon's Baptism and Simeon Ordination

We have been counting down the days until today for months, maybe even for years. Simeon turned 12 on May 9th and could have gotten the Aaronic Preisthood that day and started passing the sacrament the next Sunday, but he wanted Nani & Papa here for it, so he waited until today to get ordained. So today was a double big day. Simeon got ordained and received the Aaronic Preisthood and Ammon got baptized.

Simeon and the group of Men he asked to stand in when he was ordained.

Spencer Willardson, Matt Black, Ben Randall, Papa, Dad, Grandpa Smith, Jake Smith and Matt Fischer.

The grandparents with Ammon before his baptism. He had such a nice baptismal service.

Dad baptized and confirmed Ammon a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Ammon asked Papa, Grandpa Smith, Jake Smith, Cordell Jeppsen and Bishop Gelder to stand in when he was confirmed and given the Gift of the Holy Ghost.

He asked Simeon to give the opening prayer, Mom to give the Baptism talk, Papa to give the talk on the Holy Ghost, and Grandma Smith to give the closing prayer. He picked out his favorite baptism songs (Baptism and When I am Baptized) to sing during the service too. He asked both Grandpa's to be the witnesses when he was baptized.

If you asked Ammon if he was excited about his baptism he might have quietly said 'yes', then went on his way. The Sunday before his baptism he had an interview with the Bishop after church. As soon as his class got out he went right to the Bishops office and stood against the wall quietly waiting for over 30 mins. This showed us just how excited he was.

After his baptism I asked him to write down his feelings from today. His picture is of him and dad in the baptismal font. As he waited in the font for everyone to come in he was shivering, so I wasn't surprised to see him write that the water in the font was cold!

Today was such a wonderful day. Both boys were so excited and ready for today. 

I on the other hand was so nervous and anxious for  everything to work out right until we got to the church and I had such a calm feeling and I knew that everything would go nicely.

After Ammon's baptism we had a bbq at our house. We had family, friends and the missionaries over. We had lots of fun, food and laughter. It was a perfect end to such a beautiful day!

A Weekend of First's

I wanted to call this blog post "A day of first's", then realized that I'd leave out a very cool 1st from yesterday.

Yesterday's 1st 

Corrine went skiing for the 1st time. She said she really liked it and it was easier then she thought it would be. Corrine & Simeon went to Dubuque for the weekend with The Children's Cancer Connection. This was Simeon's 3rd time going, so he was a pro at it. Corrine knew only one other girl, Mikayla going on the trip. When we got to the bus, Mikayla and her brothers weren't there, which made Corrine nervous. They ended up meeting up with the group at the lodge where they were staying. Both the kids had a great time and are already talking about next years trip!

Corrine is the one by herself in the front of the group at ski lessons.

Today's First's

1. Rebecca went to her 1st full day of Sunbeams Primary class. I get to be her teacher so I get to see the sweetness of those little kids 1st hand! We had some tears from 2 kids and some clinging to mom with Rebecca, but they all warmed up and had a wonderful 1st day. 

I took some pictures of the kids with their crowns on. My mom took a picture of me on my 1st day of Sunbeams and I still have the picture. I need to dig it out. I also need to dig out the pictures of the other kids on their 1st day of Sunbeams. It'd be so cute to see them all side by side.

2. Ammon got to go to his 1st day in the Senior Primary. It's a big deal to him to be in the older group of Primary kids. Now we have 3 kids in the senior primary and one in junior primary.

3. All 4 kids are in primary now. They'll all be in primary until May when Simeon turns 12 and graduates from primary and goes into the Young Men's.

4. We got to go to our 1st Priesthood Preview night with Simeon. He'll be 12 in May and will be getting ordained with the Aaronic Priesthood and will get to pass the sacrament. It was a great night learning about the Priesthood.

5. Simeon is now a 1st class Scout!! He'll get his official pins and badges on Wednesday night. Tonight he had his board of review along with 5 other boys. There are going to be ALOT of advancements at the Court of Honor this Wednesday night.