Lily Turns 8!

My wee, baby girl has turned 8.  She is the most amazing, smart, sweet and kind kid that ever existed on the face of the planet.  She helps me so much all the time and rarely complains about it.  She's also funny and kooky. 

Lily, while still a picky eater (still no mashed potatoes, argh!) but loves Franks Hot Sauce.  She puts Franks on eggs, grilled cheese, chicken nuggets, and just about everything.  She looooves bacon and even eats the maple bars with bacon on them.  This is when Dad took them to opening day of the new Daylight Donuts.

One day during dinner Jared made Jack smell the Sriracha (hot sauce). He squeezed the bottle and a little dollop flew up and went right in Jack's mouth. Poor kid. To top it off, Jared thought it went in his nose and said to me "I was worried about the topical" and lily said "the what-ical?"  It was pretty cute.

Lily spells stuff in pretty crazy ways.  One time she spelled the word "few" as "Fyou".

Lily is still going to her weekly BYU dance class.  She loves it and does a great job.  Her end of the year Sharing Showcase is coming up, I can't wait to see her dance, she won't ever dance at home.

She's become a fantastic reader.  She loves her chapter books.  We love to hear her quietly reading and then suddenly laugh.  It's great to know she's enjoying reading.

She also loves science.  Her teacher has told me how impressed she is with Lily's knowledge of science and animals and that Lily is always the first to raise her hand when discussing them.  The second grade talent show is coming up and she decided she wants to do a science demonstration.  We have a giant dry ice bubble planned.  I hope it works.

Lily wanted a dolphin party this year.  The plan was to go to the Springville pool for awhile, but when we got there it was closed (I checked the website and everything because I KNEW that it would happen).  We went to the new Provo Rec center instead, which on a Saturday afternoon was insanely overcrowded, and since we had 9 kids, it was way more than I was prepared to pay.  Oh well, the kids had fun.  I made a fantastically messed up dolphin cake, which was, as always, glued together with lots of frosting.  Lily said she loved it because it had so much frosting.  Also, it's tail hung off the tray.

 We decorated the room to look like we were in the ocean, it was pretty cute. 

Here is her Birthday Survey:

What's your favorite color?  Red
Favorite animal? Humming birds
Favorite TV Show? Wild Kratts
Favorite Movie? Frozen
Favorite Music?  Roar, Katy Perry
Favorite Food?  Pizza
Favorite Hobby? Dance
Favorite Dessert?  Mint ice cream
What do you want to be when you grow up? A Horseback rider

Of course, the biggest part of turning 8 was Lily's baptism.  I did my best to prepare her and teach her about what everything meant and what was going to happen.  When it came time though, I was nervous.  She was nervous.  I don't think Jared was.  I didn't know what I was supposed to do and there is a lot of little details to remember (underwear, etc).  I had such a hard time concentrating on what was happening because there was so much stress and I'm not good in those situations.  Hannah gave a wonderful talk on prayer and the Holy Ghost.  Stoney did the confirmation blessing.  Grandma gave the closing prayer.  I made a salad.

I bought her a new, fancy dress.  She looked like an angel.

That evening we went to Women's Conference with Hannah.  It was the first time that they had invited all girls and women starting at 8 years old (it was 12 previously).  They even had the 8 year old girls all stand up and sing a primary song.  They spoke about baptism and sisterhood and we sang "I am a Child of God".  I felt like the whole meeting was just specifically for Lily and I.  Everyone smiled at Lily and complimented her on her beautiful baptism dress and she got to tell everyone that she was just baptized that day.  There are no words to describe how wonderful it was and I hope with all my heart that Lily is able to remember it. 

Lily was the start of the best thing that ever happened to me.  She is still is teaching me new things every day and shoving me in the directions that I need to go.  Thanks Lily, keep up the good work and forgive me for being a little slow on the uptake.