Absolutely Awesome Eight: Party On!

We are just getting started around here.

Such is the case every December.

Thinking back to Anna's arrival brings a flood of memories. Aaron and I received the impression to put our West Jordan, UT house up for sale on December 1 even though Anna was due to arrive mid-month. I remember my parents coming over and spending the day helping me stage the house prior to our first (and only) showing. We sold the house just hours later for the full asking price. We moved into my parent's Murray rental house on December 31 when Anna was 2 weeks old.

Twelve years later...she has blossomed into a beautiful young woman full of love and laughter!

It was pajama day at school on December 17th.

After eating her breakfast omelet, Anna was off for a fun-filled day at school with her friends.

Collin, Quinn (being silly), Aiden

And I was off to the elementary school to cook pancakes for a special holiday breakfast for Quinn's 1st grade class.

Reindeer pancake breakfast

I wasn't in charge of the Christmas party - just a helper-bee assigned to flip pancakes.

Later that afternoon, all of the children participated in their classroom presentations for parents/grandparents/guests.

Elsie's 3rd grade class shared what they have been learning about Hawaii from a student's mother, Mrs. Kimball (friends with Jared & Stephanie in Hawaii and moved here last summer).

They also performed a traditional dance for the audience and offered a feast of luau foods.

Danna, Elsie, McKenzie

Eliza, Shaylee, Elsie, Brekkah, Paisley

At the other end of the hallway, Quinn's class taught us all about Italy.

Classic.

This photo shows the slight irritation on Quinn's face as the girl in red jumped right in front of him prior to their singing "Silent Night" in Italian.

A fan of the Italian cookies.

Oh, and his eye is healing well after a scary collision with an icicle earlier this week.

With snow falling, we made the 30 mile drive (again) for Anna's ultimate birthday dinner destination.
Chuck-A-Rama was at the top of her list.

Ironically, it was "Mexican" night which put a smile on her face. She said Costa Vida was her second choice but the rolls at Chuck-A-Rama were the driving force behind her decision. Good to know...next time I will simply buy her a bag of yummy rolls.

We had awesome conversations with Anna.
We had to laugh when she requested Aaron not do anything awkward at the restaurant!?
After our meal together, we cruised home knowing Brinley was waiting for us to take her to the high school for a concert. That's when we learned of the power outage.

When our neighbor's daughter (and boyfriend) demolished a power line due to icy roads, the power was out for hours on Thursday evening. Fortunately, nobody was hurt but the truck was totaled and a lot of people were without heat/light all night.

We are always grateful for our generator.

Anna could hardly wait to open her other gifts even though we didn't have much time.

We sang and she blew out the candles.

(though we skipped out on cake & ice cream until another day)

What a lovely surprise!

Flowers from her new Young Women's leader - Sis. Cox.

Anna has been wanting a pair of Converse hi-tops (ridiculously overpriced) so we were both super excited to find this deeply discounted pair in just her size at Ross. Along with the outfit she's wearing in the picture, Anna received money from her grandparents and a gift card to the local big store here in town. Then it was on to the concert!

Aubrey, Madison, Symphony, Brinley

Typically, the high school Christmas concert is lengthy because three choirs, two orchestras and the band all combine for an inspiring evening of music. While I would have enjoyed listening to all of it (and it's super tacky to leave early), we left after Brinley's portion of the show. It had been a full day already and it wasn't over yet. Brinley and her friends secured tickets (ages ago) for the opening night of the new "Star Wars" movie. Never mind that it was the 10pm showing and somebody had to drive back into town to pick her up afterwards. Thanks for taking one for the team, Aaron!

It was a late night but on Friday - the parties continued.

Reindeer day for Quinn.

White elephant gift exchanges...never seem to end around here.

Neither do the parties!

pizza (and fruits & veggies) for dinner

Anna has been planning her 12th birthday party for weeks now. The hardest part was narrowing down the list of friends she wanted to invite. Everyone loves Anna and she is friends with everyone. Being the holiday season, we figured not everybody would be able to come so we generously capped it at 15. In the end, only one girl was not able to come so we had a full house of giggling girls!

Anna organized a number of games and kept everybody laughing and having fun for 3 hours...

Sitting on couch: Kennedy, Lillian, Ashlyn, Aimeree, Laci, Kenli

Elsie, Alexa, Anna T., Peyton, Brooklyn, Aubrey, Malia

In front: Ali, Anna, Whitney

She contracted a serious case of the giggles while opening presents that had everyone in stitches.

It's not an easy task to manage such a large group of girls with different personalities but Anna did an amazing job of including and involving everyone.