Elizabeth's 10th Birthday
My sweet Elizabeth is 10! Her birthday fell on a wintry school day, but we tried to make it not-so-ordinary for her. She is really growing up so fast! She is already getting into clothes, friends, and wanting to get her ears pierced. I have to keep telling myself to enjoy every moment! Elizabeth is such a sweet, responsible, talented girl. She is a great friend to everyone and wants to do what is right.
She was so excited to wear her new sweater to school!
Sorry I don't have pictures, but these were taken after returning from an evening at Jump On It, an indoor trampoline place. It was way fun! I totally felt like a little kid there! We left when Elizabeth started feeling some asthma to go home, get her inhaler, and finish the evening having cake with cousins.
Sibling presents are some of the very best kind. Above: Emma made a melty bead turtle and hung it on yarn for her.
Matthew even made her a wrapping paper snowflake.
With her new ladybug pillow pet. Those make great mommy pillows when I read to them in bed.
The Sweetest Surprise
During January and February, Brent and I took the illustrious "Strengthening Marriage" class at church. Wow, what an experience! I don't know which was better, the fun we had with the other couples (an amazing sanity booster for an adult-interaction-starved mom), or the relationship booster it was for my sweetheart and me, but of course I would have to say the latter. We started and ended the class with two pretty epic dinners at the bishop's house (his wife taught the class, and he sort of co-taught whenever he could join us). During the last dinner, both spouses were secretly assigned to do some special things for each other, including writing a very special letter. Brent's was so amazing that I was almost embarrassed by my typed, printed on scrapbook paper note tossed in an envelope. What you see above is no ordinary red blob. The camera simply doesn't do it justice, so let's see if words can.
Let me take you back to our dating days in 1997. As part of BYU Preference, we had dinner at this darling restaurant above an antique shop called Kristy & Jo's. As we went to pay for dinner at the register, we noticed a dish full of antique keys for something like a dollar, and we immediately bought two "keys to each other's hearts". I know, cheesy but so sweet. Brent remembered those keys 15 years later, and searched craft stores far and wide for a wax seal for his letter. He ended up finding a rubber stamp that very much resembled our keys, then used a lighter to melt a dark red crayon as the wax to create the seal. This was all his own creativity! I can't (and won't) begin to describe the letter contained within such a beautiful, thoughtful opening. Let's just say that he loves me.
Other Goings-On
Rachel's--and all of our kids'-- first experience with stitches not of the dental kind. She fell off the neighbor's tree swing onto I don't know what. It seemed so little at first, that I simply treated it and let her be. But during dinner, it kept opening and gushing. So we asked a neighbor who happens to be knowledgeable in this area for an opinion, and he took care of it right then and there. On his kitchen table. With three other adults holding her down. Sounds traumatic? Afterward, she happily reported, "I got to get donuts from the gas station with Daddy!" She had no idea that she'd had a shot to numb the area. 7 months of Mederma scar cream later...it's barely noticeable.
Elizabeth & Emma then.... (2009)
and now (2013)
Same library book, same chair, same sisters...totally unscripted. I grabbed the camera.
Matthew's first science fair project. Here he is a sixth grader at a private school he attended for a little over a year. 30 hours of fun, but he did it!
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