Mikayla's brothers behaved surprisingly well considering that on Saturday all of the attention was on their sister. Mikayla's eighth birthday was on Tuesday.

Mikayla was excited for her baptism last Saturday. Some friends of ours lent us the dress she is wearing here and it worked perfectly. Mikayla had asked my mother to play piano and my mother-in-law to direct the music, and had asked me, my sister Anne, and Krystin to give talks on the first principles and ordinances of the gospel.

During the baptism I was immersing her in the water and noticed that the pleats of the dress weren't quite under water yet. So I waited a couple of seconds so they could go under, and then remembered that I better lift her out of the water so she could breathe again. Fortunately she had been completely submersed and her swimming lessons this summer helped her hold her breath.

I was a little worried when she came out of the water and didn't say anything, so I asked if she was ok and she said yes. Krystin thinks that Mikayla's silence after emerging out of water wasn't a sign that she was low on oxygen (like I was worried), but that she was trying to fight back tears because she was so happy. I like that version!

My sister Anne took this photo of us. (Click the photo to see a larger version).