Ava got baptized the first Saturday in December of 2015 which was the 5th of December. We practiced quite a bit back at the house beforehand in preparation of the big day. She was so cute and wanted to get some practice in. One thing she was a little nervous about was going to be the water temperature of the font. Well, the water was pretty warm, so she didn't have to worry about that. One thing that was cold though was having to take pictures before the service. Ava was in her white baptismal tunic and had to go outside with people from the Stake taking pictures. She had to go outside without any shoes. Well, it was only like 20-30 degress, so her feet got pretty cold. But, she was quickly able to warm up after going back inside. Although being cold, the day was beautiful. There wasn't a cloud in the sky and on top of that was crystal clear air. We couldn't even smell the mink farm which was right across the street
Another thing she was worried about was her hair going all the way under and staying completely immersed. Well, even that was a non-issue. She really did awesome. She was so calm. If she was nervous, you couldn't tell. She really looked beautiful in her baptism dress. It was a neat experience for me because I had been able to baptize her 3 older brothers before, but this would be first and only time being able to baptize a daughter. So, it was a little more tender in the emotional category. The other 3 baptisms were sweet, but this was just different. As I had previously done for Ethan, Brad and Jake, I performed both ordinances of baptism and confirmation for Ava. We had a good number of family there to support Ava which made it a little more special
Ava got baptized with another girl from our ward and 8 total were baptized in the stake. So, she was 1 of 8 getting baptized. But, it still felt personalized and special for Ava. We were able to have the confirmation afterwards with just Ava and Sydney Smith, the other girl from our ward. Mike Gray, the First Counselor in the Bishopric conducted the confirmation part of the service. He had asked Nichole to give her testimony at the conclusion, but we ran out of time. So, he asked her to give her testimony in church the following Sunday. And, she actually did follow through with that. She hates public speaking
After the baptism, we went to The Olive Garden for lunch. When Ava was initially asked where she wanted to go, she suggested Chuck-a-Rama. But, Nichole convinced her that not everyone likes Chuck-a-Rama like we do. So, she settled with Olive Garden.
