Ella's Baptism Day!

We were so excited when Ella decided that she wanted to be baptized. She has always been a very obedient girl who wants to do what is right, so it was no surprise to us what her choice would be. She decided a few months after she turned 6 that she wanted to make a goal to read the whole Book of Mormon before she turned 8 so she was ready for her baptism. We worked together as a family and every night read enough so that we finished The Book of Mormon on her 8th birthday. We are so proud of her for setting a great goal and for working to accomplish it. We took some pictures in the Spring before she was baptized and here are a few and then some pictures from her special day!

Her baptism day was Saturday, May 24, 2014 at 10:00 a.m. She was able to get baptized in the same Atascocita church building that I was baptized in as a child which I thought was neat. Her grandparents from Germany, Oma and Opa Hartzheim were able to come and also her Aunts from Utah, Daphne, and Sandra and her cousin Jonas. We also had her grandparents here Grandma and Grandpa Speers and Aunt Natalie. Some friends who attended were the Childs Family, the Packer Family, the Petersen Family, the Towles Family, Kristen and Mary Elizabeth Zill, Luke and Greg Knight, The Pierce Family, Bishop and Sister Tate, Tina Vennebush, and Brittany and Brad Raiford. It was Memorial Day weekend so many of our friends couldn't make it, but we were glad to have those there that could. Her Grandma Speers did a talk about baptism, her Aunt Daphne did a talk on the Holy Ghost, her cousin Jonas played "He sent His Son" on the piano, and her father baptized and confirmed her a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. Her grandfathers were witnesses. It was a nice day and she felt special. 

 Ella with her father before the baptism.

Our little girl is getting so old!

Ella with her Oma and Opa Hartzheim

Ella with Cavin and Channing

Ella with her Grandma and Grandpa Speers

Aunt Natalie with Ella

Ella with her Aunt Sandra and her cousin Jonas

Aunt Daphne and Ella

Our family!

She did great and got in the water happily and it was a great event!

 She is now a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints.

 A little bit of a picture overload but such a special day! We are so proud of her and so grateful for her family and friends that came to support her and participate in her special day!

The End of Another Gymnastics Season!

Ella did gymnastics again this school year and although she went back and forth from loving it to just enduring it, she was glad she stuck with it. 

Here is what she considers her biggest accomplishment, the splits ;)

Going into her cartwheel

wahoo!

Ready for the awards ceremony!

She did it, she completed another year...and I think her last ;)

Her proud brother and sister who have supported her on the sidelines every Monday afternoon!

Ella and her Coach Kiara

This is her friend Macey who she took the class with, her other friend Emily in her class moved the month before.Yay for gymnastics, but it looks like we are on to trying out dance!

The Stephen's

In May we got the pleasure of having Ragnar's cousin and her family stay with us over the weekend. They moved to Dallas about a year ago and it was so fun to see them again.

Channing was happy to jump on the trampoline with Paige!

Laurie was showing the boys how it was done with all her flips ;)

Sweet little Paige

Here are all the kiddos. We had each of our kids about a month apart and we were both married a month apart (except they added sweet little Paige way before our #4 little guy is arriving). I wish I had more pictures of the splash pad and just playing, but we loved having them and were so glad they took the time to say hi!