Baptism Day for Ella Grace

Our baby girl, our little Ella Grace was baptized today!

Here she is with her Dad shortly before getting baptized.

Here was the table that greeted attendees.  Maricarmen, if you're reading this, you will recognize the table runner 😉 - the blanket you made Ella (which she named Holey) was also at the baptism and was a key part of my talk!

The program

Here she is standing in front of the baptismal font wearing her baptism dress - the same dress that I was baptized in and the same dress that both of her sisters were baptized in.

Big sister talking little sister through the upcoming moment.

Due to Covid, we were asked to keep the baptism to family only.  This was hard for me.  I so badly wanted Ella to be able to invite her close friends and I so badly wanted to include my close friends.  But alas, it was what it was, so we decided to stream the baptism via zoom to any family/friends that wanted to join.  

For Ella's records, here who joined her baptism via zoom:

Uncle Kevin and Aunt Lindsay

Aunt Maret and Uncle Peter (Mitchell, Warren, Grayson)

Uncle Ricky and Aunt Heather (Manny, Ashland)

Uncle Ryan and Aunt Carrie (Jace, Eli, Sophie)

Great Uncle Richard (my mom's brother)

Cousin Becky

Cousin Jordan

Crosby Family

Bob and Karen Harper

Christy DiStasio

Jeanene Waite

Marsha Hambrick

Guenther Family

Ella, for your records: Aunt Heidi said the Opening Prayer, Nana Strom conducted the music, Aunt Lindsay accompanied on the piano (via zoom!), your sister Riley gave the talk on Baptism (and did a great job 💕), your dad baptized you while Lacey and Tanner served as witnesses,  there was a video montage of your life and then I gave a talk on the Holy Ghost/Confirmation (I spoke of choosing your name Ella Grace and how "Grace" means Divine Assistance and how the Holy Ghost can provide Divine Assistance throughout our lives and provide comfort just like your blanket, which coincidentally is named Holey.  As I held Holey and talked about this, you got tears in your eyes.  After my talk, you came up and we (you, me and Holey) hugged). 

Then Daddy confirmed you and both of your Grandpa's were in the confirmation circle too.

After your baptism.

In addition to the six of us in our family, both sets of grandparents were there along with Aunt Heidi, Uncle Mike and Aunt Anne. 

Mommy and Daughter 

Our last baptism - our sweet little caboose.

The Four Grandparents

So grateful for the influence these four people have had on her young life. And especially grateful that my Dad could be here today given the fact that he was in the hospital with a blood clot/DVT less than three weeks ago.

Side note from the baptism - Riley had a lacrosse game today.  I tried to talk her into skipping it due to having family in town, hosting a post-baptism luncheon, the baptism, etc., but she was begging to go! So, as soon as the baptism was over, my Dad, Riley and I B-lined it into Baltimore and got Riley there in time for her game and watched her score four goals!

We got back to the house by 2:00, right when guests were scheduled to arrive.  We set out the front table like this.

I made Cafe Rio Sweet Pork and Hawaiian haystack toppings.

The four grandparents were there, along with Aunt Heidi, the Guenther family and the Procaccini (our dear neighbors from across the street) family.

The kid table.

Mitch is my cousin (Seth)'s wife's brother, if you can follow that 😉 They lived here several years ago, then moved to Thailand (Seth, Cari, Dave and I flew out to visit them a couple years ago) and now they are back in Maryland.

There is a Baptism song that says, "I like to look for rainbows whenever there is rain...." so I had rainbow cupcakes for dessert. 

After dinner, Ella opened a few gifts including this one with a framed picture of the Savior and a little girl given to her by the Primary Presidency.

Opening a gift from Hammy and Grandpa Mitchell - a necklace of the temple.

Speaking of necklaces, I was given this gold opal necklace as a High School graduation gift from my parents.  They bought the gold chain new for me, but the opal pendant belonged to my Grandma Eleanor, my Mom's mom.  I decided to wear it today since nostalgia and sentimentality seemed to be in order.  My mom's eyes got misty as she saw it and remembered her mother wearing it. 

Happy Baptism Day, Ella Grace.  So proud of you sweet girl!

 

The Babe was Born in Baltimore!

 

My parents arrived on Wednesday night!  We haven't seen them in 7 months and don't take for granted for a second that they are here.  My mom had shoulder replacement surgery last month and my Dad had DVT with a blood clot in his leg, multiple pulmonary emboli and and a pulmonary infarct and was hospitalized less than three weeks ago.  In dealing with their health issues and recovery (my dad's in particular), I honestly didn't know for sure that they would come up until they boarded the plane!  But alas, they are here and they are both fully vaccinated, so it is so wonderful to see them and hug them!

Speaking of health.... my mom had a headache today, so she stayed home, but my Dad, Riley, Ella and I ventured to the Birthplace of Babe Ruth!

We had a hard time finding the perfect outing - since we were leaving mom behind and since Dad's clots are still resolving, we didn't want to go on a long drive.  But so many of the places we looked into going that are closer are still closed due to COVID.  But the Babe Ruth birthplace and museum fit the bill! I've been here once before - November 2014 when Ricky and Heather came to visit.  But since it's been six years since I've been here and my dad has never been (and it's just 20 minutes from my house),  it was a great little outing!   He remembers growing up and reading a book about Babe Ruth and had pictures where he was born and lived from what the book described, so he was excited to see it first hand.  And.... it was open!  Yay!

My dad reading everything and soaking it all in.

Ella finding out some exciting stats!

The room where it happened.

This is where the most famous baseball player of all time was born.

Long after the girls ran off, my dad stayed and read everything and enjoyed being in the room by himself for awhile.  Just him and Babe. 

Three generations of baseball lovers!

Six Stroms on the Slopes!

Dave, Lace, Tanner and I haven't been skiing for three years - it was 2018 the last time we hit the slopes and Riley and Ella have never been.  So, since we got a legitimate Winter this year, we decided it was time to go skiing as a family of six for the very first time!

We headed to Liberty Ski Resort in Fairfield, PA.

And we enrolled Riley and Ella into Ski School.  Off they go!

Once we got Riley and Ella squared away, the rest of us headed out.  Dave and Lacey ready to go!

Lacey and Tanner on the chair in front of us.

Chairlift partners behind Lacey and Tanner.

Three years ago, Tanner decided to trade in his skis for a snowboard.  He loved it so much, that we gave him this snowboard for Christmas that year (2018).  But it didn't include the bindings or the boots because he needed to be fitted for those.  Dave took him snowboarding a few weeks later intending to rent the boots and bindings, but they said it doesn't work that way - you bring your board/bindings/boots or you rent your board/bindings/boots - no ala carte options 🤣  So..... they made the long walk back to the car to leave the snowboard in the car and rent one.  Then, it didn't really snow in 2019 or 2020, so here we are in 2021 using it for the very first time (after Dave took him to a ski warehouse a couple weeks ago to purchase boots and get fitted with bindings for his board).

Tanner and Dave heading up for another run.

After a few runs on our own, we made our way back to the small hill to check in on Riley and Ella (shown here). 

Riley in the green coat.

Riley on the left and Ella on the right getting some words of wisdom from their instructor.

Their instructor taking them on the lift for the very first time!

There they go! (Ella with the instructor and Riley in the green coat in the background)

Tanner and I doing a run together. 

Once Ella was done with her lessons, she and I headed up together.

Ski selfie

Dave with his bookend babies.

Ella's had enough!

Some neighbor friends met us up there and the kids had a lot of fun doing some runs with their friends.

Riley and Gianna (in the background) have been besties since they were one.

Ella recovered from her earlier meltdown to go up on the lift with her two buddies, Dom and Marco.

My turn with Lacey and Ella!

Ready for one last run!

Hmmm..... Should I do green or black diamond? 🤷

Lacey is calling it a day!

They survived!

A pic of all the Liberty runs.

First family ski pic!

We were out the door by 7:35am, arrived at the resort at 9:15am and went strong until 5:15pm, so we had 8 full hours of skiing/snowboarding together.  Great memories!

We were all exhausted.... This was Ella about 10 minutes into the ride home.

But Tanner decided he wasn't too tired to do his and Dave's traditional post-ski SushiQ dinner.  So, Dave dropped off me and the girls at home and then took Tanner out for a father/son sushi date.

🍣🍣🍣

A few thoughts on skiing..... Dave and I literally get such sticker shock every time we go skiing (which admittedly isn't often, due in part to how expensive it is)!  They have this awesome "Learn to Ski" deal here for 4th ad 5th graders where for you can register your 4th or 5th grader for a season pass that includes ski lessons, rentals and a lift ticket the first time they go and then covers their lift ticket for the entire rest of the season.  All you have to pay for is a $30 or $40 administrative fee.  So we did this for Lacey in 4th and 5th grade and Tanner as well (which is why they've been skiing).  Well...... Riley is now in 4th grade so she wanted to do it too.  But..... because of COVID, they aren't offering the deal.  However, Riley still wanted to go just like she had seen her older brother and sister do when they were in 4th grade.  And Tanner was begging to use his snowboard that he got for Christmas years ago and had yet to be able to use and Lacey anxious to go again since it had been a few years, so we told the kids we would find a day and take them.  And then just about choked when we saw the prices:

Lift ticket: $80/person

Rentals: $56/person (not including helmet)

Helmet: $15/person

Ski lessons: $120/person

In other words, it was going to cost us $1,146 for the 6 of us to go skiing for one day including lessons for Riley and Ella.  😳

So.... we cut corners where we could.  We took Tanner to buy used boots/bindings (which was $170 but at least now he has them and in the future, we won't have to pay for rentals), I busted out the kids bike helmets and had them use those (except for Lacey whose bike helmet wouldn't fit over her hat, so we rented one for her) and Dave and I just did without.  I called around and found a friend willing to lend me her skis so that I didn't have to rent mine.  And I purchased a "learn to ski" package for two (which included lessons, rentals and lift tickets) at a school/fundraiser auction for far less than the amount of what it would have cost to purchase them through the resort.  So, while it thankfully cost us less than the $1,146 price tag we originally thought, it was still an expensive day and Dave made the comment, "The cost of doing this takes the joy right out of it for me!"  And I had to agree.  BUT...... once we were there and watching our two littles learn to ski and going down the slopes with our bigger two and seeing the smile on Tan's face using his very own snowboard for the first time and having us all out on the mountain together for the first time making memories..... it was all worth it and we are so glad we went!!! ⛷🎿