As Black as Fete

Fete Day is usually mid-August, but with family in town, we decided to celebrate early. The last post was on Friday. Let's back up one day to Thursday. (See...backwards.) Fete Day is always an exciting holiday around our house. We invited the Dargan's, the McLane's (Rubia and Alex), and Vicki. The color was black. We have done black and white before, but this time we settled for just black. I actually want to try stripes next year, but with people visiting from out of town, it seemed better to go with a basic color that most people have in their wardrobe.

Everyone found something that worked. The kids even dressed up Pip.

We never got a full group picture. This is pretty close. Tyler was in charge of the camera because I was running the show. (Thanks Tyler. There would be no pictures without you.)

Our Fete Day activity was Bunco. It was super fun. We had twelve people, so three tables of four. (Grandma and Pearl were one team.) It was fun to switch partners often. I think I got to be with almost everyone once, although I spent much of my time down at the loser's table. We threw around a little football for traveling.

It was a frenzy,  but so fun! At the end, we totaled scores and people came up to choose a prize from our tray. Grandma Dargan got the most Buncos, so she had already taken the Riesen's that were up in the corner when we took this photo.

Then there was the other part of Fete day - gifts! We had everything lined up on the mantle. We even got a photo bomber.

Tyler took plenty of pictures of our exchange, but I just grabbed a few to put on here. It is fun to search for something in a certain color and hope your person can appreciate your creativity.

We didn't forget the ice cream cake. It was very delicious this year, and super easy since it was the cheater method, made with ice cream sandwiches.

I would say it was a very successful Fete day, even if we ended up with black oobleck. (Come on Granny V...I guess I just have to appreciate your creativity.)

Special thanks to Rubia and Alex. We love having new people come celebrate Fete day with us!

It's Unanimous...We All Like to Read

That reminds me of a quote from the quote book. (By the way...it is about time for another post with quotes, isn't it? Just one for today though.)

June: The vote is unanimous, 3 out of 5 people like Welch's more than Mott's!
Mom: I don't think you know what unanimous means.

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I am currently somewhere in Week 10 of the summer, but I'm doing the week backwards. That is just how it goes sometimes. We baptized Daisy on Saturday, so let's go back to Friday night. It was a momentous occasion. We rarely get family together from out of town, and we had all our members from the family book group in one place. No Skype necessary.

We have read some great books together. This month it happened to be Miranda's pick...the Magician's Nephew by C.S. Lewis. Don't be shocked, but the Narnia series is not my favorite. I read/was read them when I was a kid and I never got all the hype. They are okay. But it was fun to reread how it all started. I didn't remember it all from when I was little.

I made a treat to go with the book (on Miranda's suggestion). It didn't turn out how I imagined exactly. Any of you who have read the book, can you guess what this is??

It is supposed to be the wood between worlds. The ponds turned out perfectly. See how I used blue jello circles and put them in the green? But I couldn't get the 'trees' to stay standing. I guess the jello needed to be thicker. Oh well. It was still yummy. Even those weird key lime marshmallows. (By the way, the jello is not spotted. That is just the counter underneath.)

I also got green and yellow M&Ms in honor of the rings which transported the kids back and forth from their world.

It was a very fun evening. I really enjoy reading with my crew of ladies.

Miranda and I should be taking off any minute. She's wearing the yellow ring for transport, but I should get us back with my green ring. (Or is it the other way around?)

It has been so fun to have this family book group. We only have two more books for the year, and I'm already excited to pick a new book. We'll see if we can convince Ivory or Tim to rejoin us.

Baptism: Sweet and Clean

Baptism day is a very special day. Sometimes it can be a bit crazy. There is food to think of, and family to enjoy. There are the small details that can get lost in the hubbub. (I think we forgot some sparkly stick-on earrings for after the baptism, but that is minor.) But it is a glorious day, made wonderful by the fact that a precious daughter of God has chosen to become a member of His church and to dedicate her life to striving to fulfill her covenants and return to her Father. I'm glad this girl is Daisy.

I wish I had spent more time documenting the day. To tell you the truth, it was a such a great day that I forgot the camera most of the time while I was at home. In the morning, we went to work making dozens of those to-die-for pastries. I got everyone started, but Granny V and June finished them all off. I never got a picture and they disappeared after the baptism, so you'll just have to trust me that they looked and tasted fabulous as always.

In the afternoon, the 'K' Cazier's arrived. We already had Dargan's visiting (who stayed with us for the week) and Granny V had come down earlier. The 'J' Cazier's had a conflict with a family reunion, so they sent very cute cards they had made for Daisy,  but we missed them in person. That rounds out our crew. Not too many of us, but I love all our family. Daisy was very excited about wearing her jumpsuit. I had a countdown for when she could get into it, since I didn't want her wearing it all day. But eventually, she was in it and it was time to go.

Pictures in front of the church are a must.

I tried to take a few candid shots before we began. I love how in each picture there is one person who spotted me. Is it just me, or are they all making the same face?

Daisy chose her program. June and Robyn did a musical number together. It was really beautiful. June played violin and Robyn did a piano accompaniment. I'm so proud they  have been able to take their musical abilities to this level. Vicki give a scripture and Kaysen gave the first talk. Instead of being on baptism (which is traditional), he spoke about 'The Next Big Thing'. I liked his analogy of a dot-to-dot puzzle, and how we sometimes get caught up going from dot to dot that we miss the big picture. It was a great talk. That boy is going to be a stellar missionary.

Then Daisy was baptized. I took a picture of her dress in the changing room. It was a very quiet day for baptisms. I'm not sure if there were any others scheduled that day. But I didn't mind a day focused all on my Daisy Cakes. (Special thanks to Drew Pierce who stood as a witness for us.)

Grandma Dargan gave a lovely lesson on the Holy Ghost. She is very talented at talking right to you. It is great to think that so many of my kids now have the constant companionship of the spirit as they make good choices.

The confirmation was a little emotional. Tyler traditionally only invites family members to the circle. Grandpa Dargan and J.R. were unable to attend, and with Barry watching from the other side, it was a 'circle' of two, with Tyler and Kolby. It was a tough moment for Vicki and many of us, as Barry's absence was felt. But I know he is proud of Daisy and understands better than any of us the promises made to her.

Afterward, I wanted to get a few pictures of Daisy with friends and family who attended. It turns out that I followed her around as she gave out hugs and these ended up being perfect. Daisy is such a loving child. And it was great to see the people who came to support her. What a wonderful day!

We sure love Rubia. And we had to get a picture of her with Ivory, because they practically wore the same dress.

Sadly, I didn't get a lot of family photos. I figured I would take more back at the house, but instead I just enjoyed all the food, family, and friends. It wasn't until much later that I remembered to take even a couple pictures of decorations. But that doesn't make the day less sweet. Daisy is a beautiful girl! We are blessed to have her in our family. Four kids down, one to go. And Pearl's baptism will be here before you know it.

Daisy's 8 Year Gallery

The 8 year gallery is a special one. This photo shoot is always done early (although you can't always tell by when it appears on the blog). There is a special shopping trip that is done before to make sure we have just the right dress for the occasion. Each little girl I have taken out is getting ready to make sacred covenants when she is baptized soon after. It is great to be eight. Look at these previous fun photo shoots: June, Robyn, and Ivory. Each dress and girl is unique in her own wonderful way. And so we come to Daisy. It was her turn.

Daisy knew just what she wanted at each turn. She picked the dress promptly, and chose a fun necklace to go with it. She knew she wanted pictures at the City Center Temple. The only tricky thing with her was the glasses. Her glasses had been damaged earlier and they didn't sit on her face correctly. It was close, but they were a tad crooked. Also, glasses bring glare. I'm fine taking pictures with glasses...I've been doing it for ages, but when you combine the two problems it gets ridiculous.

I would put Daisy in a pose. Then I would adjust her glasses so they weren't crooked. Next, I would step back to take a shot. I would tell her to tilt her head a certain way to minimize glare and then her glasses would slip back into their skewed stance. It was looking to be a very long photo shoot. So I took her glasses off. Photo shoots are supposed to be fun. All the tedious adjustments would have been...well...tedious. Instead, we had a great time. Daisy looks beautiful with or without her extra eyes.

Enjoy her lovely white dress gallery.

I grabbed a photo of the two of us as we left, but I obviously missed the temple in the background. Most likely, we had moved to the parking lot. You can't tell from the pictures, but it was crazy crowded the day we went there. I saw at least three brides walking around taking pictures.

We went out for a treat, as per tradition, although I was nervous since she was still in her dress. Here she is being walrus girl as we wait for our ice cream.

Yum. Lovely treat, lovely girl, lovely day!