Happy Birthday, Elizabeth!

We had another big birthday around here.  Elizabeth turned 12!  It's still hard to believe that she is a Young Woman now.  She jumped right in with New Beginnings, a fireside, and other YW activities.  She seems to be really enjoying the activities so even though she was nervous, I think she is loving it.

Elizabeth's birthday was on a Monday this year.  We had her birthday dinner of roast chicken, mashed potatoes and gravy first.  Then she opened her presents.  She got the roller blades she'd been wanting, along with some books and a bunch of gift cards.  She's been rolling in money ever since.  That girl just doesn't spend money. She is definitely a saver.  

Opening some of her presents:

I love the smiles in these:

Here's her cake:

She did it all herself!  I was impressed with the book.  It looked great.

The Saturday after her birthday, she had a little birthday party at the local ice skating rink with Natalie and a couple of girls from the ward.  They were all about at the same skill level so it worked out well and they seemed to have a lot of fun:

Enjoying some dippin' dots as a treat:

Right after that, we got changed and then Elizabeth, Joe and I drove to the temple for her very first time inside.  I had helped her find some family names to do baptisms for and that made it even more special.  Elizabeth was in awe and enjoyed taking in all the surroundings.  I loved being back in the baptistry.  I hadn't been back since before we were married.  It was surreal sitting in the same spot that I sat in when I was praying to know whether I should marry Joe, but this time I was watching Joe baptize Elizabeth on behalf of our ancestors.  Where has the time gone?  I am so thankful for that decision, though, and for our beautiful kids that have come from that.

I posted this comparison on social media:

I can still remember her so well when she was just a tiny peanut and now she's over 5 feet tall!  

Lizzy and Dad:

After that, we grabbed some dinner and then headed home. It was really fun having that time with just Elizabeth and we hope to continue the tradition with our other kids.

Elizabeth is learning and growing a lot this year.  Sixth grade at her new school has been challenging in a lot of ways but she is doing great, as always.  It has been tricky for her as she's been learning to handle the heavier workload and there have been some forgotten assignments, but she is a hard worker and always makes up for it.  She still loves her books and has gotten into some new series.  She still loves reading poetry and even reads Shakespeare for fun.  We moved the bookshelf into our room and that has helped her focus more on getting her jobs done, and get better sleep, too.  

For being the book-lover that she is, she is also really math and science-minded.  She always does well in those subjects and seems to really enjoy science.  She has been taking an after-school computer science class and has been learning basic coding and web design.

She took a couple of months of tennis lessons in the Fall and is now getting ready for swimming coming in May. I'm excited to see how she does.  She'll have some friends doing it, too, so I hope that helps both of the girls enjoy it more.  She got to go rock climbing with the YW a few weeks ago and loved it.  I think she would really enjoy regular climbing sessions so that might be something we do in the future.  

Elizabeth has really improved a ton in the past few months in her musical abilities.  She has made a lot of progress on the piano and is playing much more difficult music.  She has had the chance to play some simplified hymns in church, too.  She and Natalie have been going to ward choir with Joe and they are loving it! Elizabeth has a beautiful voice and is getting better all the time.  I love listening to them sing with more confidence.

She is still just as contemplative and loves discussing complex topics.  She was very interested in all of the political talk going on around the election and even wanted to take an in-depth online test to see who her political views lined up with.  I loved it when she'd write out her own view instead of going with the choices given. :)

We are so blessed to have Elizabeth in our lives and in our family.  She is a huge help to us, especially as she's been babysitting more and more.  There have been challenges but she does a great job for the most part and is making my life much easier that way! She even made dinner for us one Sunday recently:

It was a potato bisque.  It was delicious!

We sure love our Lizzy and it is a joy to see the person she is becoming.