Crystal's Baptism Day

Last Saturday, on January 18th, my precious beautiful little girl made the decision to get baptized into the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints.  She promised to obey Heavenly Fathers commandments and to choose the right in all the situations she found herself in.  She promised to repent if she made mistakes, and she promised to always remember Jesus Christ.
I am so proud of her.

This was the picture on the cover of her program:

Here she is on the big day trying on the dress for the first time.  When my sister saw her she started to tear up at what a big girl she is and how beautiful she looked.  Then I pointed at her and told her that she's not allowed to do that because I had to keep it together for the whole service so that I wouldn't be a weeping mess.  My mother made the dress.  Both of my parents and my sister flew out to come and see her, help, and celebrate her baptism.

My perfect princess

The Sister Missionaries in the ward helped with so much.  They were rock stars at getting the keys to the font for me, filling up the water and coming up with an emergency plug when there was nothing to keep the water from draining once it started filling.  They also helped set up chairs and welcome people, and brought an investigator who was curious to see a baptism.  These girls were fabulous.

Grandma Margie, Uncle Brian and Crystal.

Uncle Kyle and Crystal

 Getting things set up and ready

 Here of course is the proud daddy, Scott and his little girl.  Scott is the one who Baptized her, and so it was a very special day for him too, to baptize his first child.  

Aunt Denise helped watch my boys while I was running around making sure everything was where it was supposed to be.

Crystal with Grandpa Jose and Grandma Marlene.  (My parents.)

 Group shot of all the Itri's. We take up a lot of seats.

And now I will be annoying and shamelessly post a lot of pictures of my daughter in her baptism dress because I love her so much and am so proud of her.  

I don't care, this is my blog and I do what I want.

It was a wonderful day.  It all happened so fast, but the spirit was there and people who were there felt it.  We also felt her Grandpa Nick watching close by as well.  It was a beautiful feeling, and I even kept it together and made it through the whole service without crying.

I also made sort of a slideshow/montage to play while she was getting dressed after the baptism which I am pasting here below.  The first five minutes is pictures and videos of her.  Unlike the baptism I sobbed the whole time I was making the slideshow.  The last five minutes were just some Mormon messages I added at the end to help fill time and to help feel the spirit.  One talking about what the Holy Ghost feels like, since she was going to be confirmed and then given the gift of the Holy Ghost herself, and the other was just about finding peace during times of stress and chaos in life through prayer. Both are things that are a big deal when you become a member of this church.

Here it is:




Does it ever get easier watching your kid grow up?  I'm not so sure.  I am so so proud of her, yet there is a mixture of emotion at the fact that I still have such clear memories of that beautiful little baby girl in my arms looking up at my face for the first time.  It makes me sad that it's all happening so fast.  I feel like the best moments of my life are just too fast.

Special thanks to my Parents who flew out here and immediately went to work helping out.  Crystal wanted Bolivian empanadas that my mom knows how to make after the service, so my mom made them all by hand.  They got up at seven am (which is 5am their time) to start cooking, even though the service didn't start until eleven.  My mom is so awesome.

These things are filled with the most amazing melted cheese ever.  

This was one of my most favorite days ever.  I loved seeing my little girl all dressed in white with her father.  I loved seeing my husband baptize our oldest child.  I loved the talks that were given, my Dad spoke about baptism and my Sister in Law Kelsey spoke on the Holy Ghost.
A lot more people than I expected showed up as well.  Since I don't really know anyone here I was expecting it to be a small amount of people but I was surprised at the turnout.

I'm so grateful for the opportunity I had to see my daughter make that promise to God that she would make him her first priority.  I'm so grateful for the blessings she is going to receive in her life because of it, including having his spirit to help her as she makes decisions and moves on through life.  As her mother, it makes me feel good to know that when I'm not there to help her or protect her, that Heavenly Father will, because he has promised her that in return for the decision she has made to follow him.

I love my little girl so so much.