I Can't Wait til' I Turn 8 For Then I'll Be Baptized You See...

As part of Kirsten's 8th birthday celebration, mom really really really really really wanted to make her a baptism dress. So she enlisted the help of one G. Hunter and set to work. The only thing on the dress mom was able to make herself was the sash in the back and she hand stitched all the flowers on the front.

Her dress is amazing! 

 Then mom put Kirsten's hair up in a princess style with a pretty flowered barrette.

 Then we whisked her off to the Salt Lake Temple where she had her very own photo shoot.

 Hopefully these simple, yet beautiful pictures will stand as a constant reminder for her that she will go inside the temple one day.

 Both Mom and Dad are so proud of this tiny girl.

 She is funny!

 She is amazing!

 She is beautiful!

And the best part, she is Ours!

The late Elder Matthew Cowley, who was a member of the Quarum of the Twelve Apostles, once recounted the Saturday afternoon experience of a grandfather as hand in hand he took his small granddaughter on a birthday visit - not to the zoo or to the movies but to the temple grounds. With permission of the ground keeper, the two walked to the large doors of the temple. He suggested that she place her hand on the sturdy wall and then on the massive door. Tenderly he there said to her, "Remember that this day you touched the temple. One day you will go inside." His gift to the little one was not candy or ice cream but an experience far more significant and everlasting --- an appreciation of the house of the Lord. She had touched the temple, and the temple had touched her.