Emma's Birthday

After volleyball Emma said she didn't know what to wear. I told her I knew and threw her this package. 

Emma was freshly showered and had gotten dressed when Paul surprised her with another little something. Her phone had been having some problems. He told her he looked at it the night before and when he took the sim card out it just happened to slip into this. An Iphone. (My dad had an older Iphone that no one was using so my mom suggested we let her use it.) Boy was she thrilled! Thanks mom and dad. I think that was one of her most favorite gifts. 

She sat in her room looking at the fun things her friends had given her until it was time for lunch.

She loves her headband from Kayla and make-up from Katie. 

An-Bo the clown made a brief appearance. 

My teenager, Gasp!

Emma had wanted a burger from Fuddruckers for her birthday lunch with her grandparents. We drove to Orem only to find they had gone out of business. Boo! She decided Chili's would work.

She got sliders and baked potato soup.

Grandma Nancy and Grandpa David gave her some "cash"ews and some really nice canvases for her to paint on. She was thrilled! 

After lunch we headed home for "cake" and candles. Emma only wanted pumpkin bread from Kneaders so that's what we did.

My parents got her a mirror and a daybed from Ikea. She was so excited to turn her room into a more teenage appropriate space.

We also got her a little desk and a super cute pink chair from Ikea. She has loved doing her homework in her room. She is really happy with all the little changes. 

On Sunday we asked David and Nancy if we could come over to their house for cake and ice cream with the cousins. They agreed to host us (Thank you so much!!!) for a very brief visit. Emma had a fireside that she wanted to go to that night so we had to cut our visit short. 

We had enough time to eat this Snicker's cake and to take some silly pictures. 

I can't believe I have a teenager. Emma is amazing. She has matured so much over the last couple of years. I really love the young woman she is becoming. She is a wonderful example to all of us. She has helped all of us become better people by challenging us to give up bad habits and by starting new good habits. She has been working hard on her Personal Progress and through her example she has helped us all to be more spiritual. 

I had parent teacher conference with her this week. She is an exceptional student, her teachers love her, she's excited to learn and she's fun to be around. Her teachers couldn't say enough good things about her. I left that school very proud of my daughter.  

It is my prayer and hope that she stays on this path that she is on. I know that there is still a lot time for her to be tempted but we are doing everything we can as her parents to see that that doesn't happen. I hope that she keeps her good friends. They come from great strong families and they had been wonderful examples to her. I pray that she continues to grow closer to her Heavenly Father and that her testimony continues to grow. 

I love Emma so much. I am thrilled that she is part of our family. I wouldn't trade her for anything. 

Emma Turns 13 and Gets Kidnapped!!!

Friday night we kept getting emails alerts from our home phone letting us know that someone was calling and hanging up without leaving a message on our voice mail. It was an odd number we didn't recognize. After several alerts we were starting to get really curious about it.

We went home for a few minutes after the carnival and before the game to gather some stuff up. While we were home we got a phone call. The number on the caller ID was the same one from the email/text alerts.

When I answered it someone addressed me by Sister G. (Okay so it's someone from church) is a quiet, oddly sneaky, voice. It was weird! Right at the same time  they were speaking Emma picked up. The line went silent. I asked Emma to hang up and then demanded "Who is this?" They asked me, "Is Emma still on the line?" I said no and asked again who I was talking to. (We've had problems with a certain girl at Emma's school and at this point I was getting really worried that she was saying stuff or telling lies about Emma.) I felt my face flush thinking the worst.

Thankfully after she was sure Emma wasn't on the line she identified herself. It was Emma's friend Katie!
She informed me that she and four other girls wanted to kidnap Emma the next morning. I was so relieved and excited for Emma. I told them they were welcome to come and kidnap her!

The next morning right before 8:00 am I hear them knock quietly on the front door. I let them in so they could sneak into Emma's room. She was sound asleep but it didn't take long before the giggles woke her up. She sat up dazed and confused. Shae started to blindfold her while the others watched and helped. Emma was grinning the entire time.

After they got her blindfolded they took her to the "getaway car" where they drove her to Shea's house. 

They left me some streamers and asked me to put them all over her room while they were gone. I had no idea when they would come back so I had to hurry. 

They returned her just in time for her volleyball game looking like this! That right there is one happy girl.

They had made a huge banner for her, gave her sweet and thoughtful gifts, balloons and had a Shea's family had made a crepe breakfast for her. It was perfect! I can't thank them all enough. 

She was so excited by it all. She felt very loved by her wonderful friends. They are an amazing bunch and I feel so lucky to have them in her life. I hope they remain friends forever. She had a giant grin on her face all morning.  

Friday Night Lights

Last Friday was so much stinkin' fun! First Paul and I went and checked Emma out of school for a special birthday lunch. She wanted to go to Zupa's so that's where we went. It was sooo incredibly crowded. We got our meal and fortunately a place to sit. (I had my doubts we would find a table) Everything was delicious.

After that we headed home for a while and waited for the elementary school carnival. When it was close to time we went to Andrew's school and tried to check him out. When he came to the office he said he wanted to stay in class. We said that was fine just DON'T GET ON THE BUS! He didn't.

We went out and helped set up the Bake Sale booth. Emma was a great helper. Once the carnival got started the kids played for about an hour.

I loved Kyle's colored hair. 

The kids decided to use the last of their tickets to get their hair sprayed blue and the faces painted. 

We hurried out of the carnival so we could make it to the BYU game. Here we are walking into the stadium with 65,000 of our best friends. 

The kids were pretty excited. It had been a while since they had been to a game. 

WE HAD SO MUCH FUN!!!

My number one priority? COUGAR TAIL! 

We sat next to some really fun people. We were near the band. The weather was perfection. It was the perfect night. The kids did so well. I wish every Friday could be so great. It was just fun. Good clean, family memories, awesome fun.

 It was a really fun game to watch and it didn't hurt that BYU came away with the win. 

We killed as much time as we could after the game in the stadium waiting for the traffic to thin. Finally it was time to leave but there were still a ton of cars trying to get out of the lot we were parked in. We heard some drummers from the band and decided to kill more time with them. This kid was SO nice. I wanted to take him home. He was an amazing drummer. He asked Andrew if he'd like to try his drums. Andrew got to go to town on his set. He has some rhythm. I was really impressed. I can't wait until he starts drums in a couple of years. I think he could be really good. They jammed together for a little while and it actually sounded great. 

Of course Emma wanted a chance. She was much more timid than her brother. She doesn't have the same musical drive that he has and that's okay. She still had fun. 

It was getting late, we knew we had to leave but we didn't want to. There's always time for one more picture. 

THE VICTORY POSE!