Kyan's Baptism

Kyan Meril Hiatt chose to be baptized a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints on October 24, 2014. He was baptized and confirmed by his father, Kevin, in Williston, North Dakota. We are so very proud of his good decision and his great example to our family, especially his younger brothers!

Kevin and Kyan

Found an easy-peasy baptism program template on...where else?? Pinterest! It even had the lyrics to the two songs we would be singing. Score! I just changed the names and dates and boom: done.

We snapped a few family photos while we waited for our friends to show up. It took a few tries to get a perfect one, and even then I'm not sure we did, but I love them anyway!

See, I have a family of cheesers! At least we all look happy, right?

My fav photo of the night with my amazing mother!

Kyan was excited and nervous for the baptism.

After Kyan was baptized and confirmed, we had refreshments (of course!) By Kyan's request we had pumpkin bars, brownies that my good friend Emily Merkley made (she also brought cupcakes!), and milk or chocolate milk. He loved it and we didn't have many leftovers, so I guess they were good!

Kyan became very good friends with two brothers who live in our neighborhood. They are not members but happily accepted our invitation to the baptism. Kyan was absolutely thrilled to have them there! They moved back to Idaho a week and a half later, and we miss them a lot!

Austin, Kyan, and Cash

While we waited for Kyan and Kevin to dry off and change, I had our guests write some thoughts and feelings about baptism on cute cards for Kyan to always have and remember. I'm going to put them in a little book for him. Here are a few of my favorites:

From Wyatt LaPierre

From Tucker (Kyan's brother)

From Mercedes Nazer

From Haven Kohn

From Tess McBride

We took Grandma out for dinner at Hardee's after the baptism. I'm sure we were very over-dressed for dinner, but it sure was fun! 

Kyan has a very special relationship with my mom. I went back to school to be a certified nursing assistant three months after he was born, and then continued to nursing school while working as a CNA, and she was his primary caregiver while I was gone. He was so excited Grandma made it for the baptism. We didn't tell the boys she was coming, so when we pulled into the Minot airport to pick her up, they were very surprised, to say the least!

Kyan and my mom

We weren't able to have many family members make it to the baptism, but my mom flew into Minot a few days before and we were thrilled to have her there! We had so many wonderful dear friends come to support us and I can tell you, they are definitely our substitute family up here! Thanks to the Merkleys, the McBrides, the Nazers, the LaPierres, the Dinkelmans, the Coltons, the Kohns, the Niederhausers, the Wileys, Sis Mattson, and Bishop Packer for making this such a wonderful experience for Kyan and our family!