Great to be 8

Nathanael turned 8 February 2017 and he was greeted in the morning with a balloon avalanche, which scared him to death. 

Claire and I ate lunch with him at school and brought fruity pebble krispy treats for his class.

Thanks to the mild winter, the day of his birthday party was very spring-like, which was absolutely perfect and very lucky for his outdoor Nerf party. We took advantage of our 2 acre lot and let the boys (and girls) battle it out. In attendance we had church friends- Myah and Grayson, Dallin, Benjamin; school friends- Joshua and Jacob; neighborhood friends- Jackson, Coleman and Gabi; and of course cousins- Max and Tessa.

Nathanael was baptized days after his birthday. That morning, just before we pulled out of our driveway, he was very determined that he wanted his neighbor friends, Gabi and Coleman, to come to his baptism. He had mentioned it to them days before, but hadn't gotten a firm commitment. So, as we were all loading up to leave, he ran down to their house to give them a slip of paper with the church address. Sure enough, just before we began, they showed up. His first missionary experience.
We had many friends and family in attendance. I gave the only talk and Paul, of course, baptized and confirmed him. Afterwards, everyone enjoyed fruity pebble treats, chocolate chip cookies, oatmeal cream pies, white chocolate peppermint popcorn, and pineapple ginger ale punch. Not a crumb remained.