Our Ally is 8!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY ALLY! It's unbelievable to me that our Ally is 8 years old. This sweet girl is growing up so fast!

This past year, she's come out of her shell in many different areas. She knows what she wants and is learning to get over many of her sensitivities that have bothered her in the past. One of the most significant changes is her willingness to share her talents. Ally loves to write, play songs on the piano (without reading music) and sing. She is getting confident enough to do these things in crowds. It's fun to hear of Ally's desire to share her writings. She's continually adding more details to her stories and never fails to impress us with her imagination.

Ally, you are an amazing girl and bring us so much joy! You are kind, thoughtful and loving in so many ways. Thank you for being the sweet daughter you are!

PARTY TIME! Ally has many sweet friends. We are lucky they live close by. Most of them ride the bus and live around the corner(s) from us. It was a half day at school, so the kids rode the bus home and had 3-hours of organized fun. Here are the guests, starting at the bottom left (top pic): Taylor, Alexa, Lauren, Ally (of course), Jillian and Jadyn.


The mummy wrap game was a big hit, it was played twice and was very comical. The girls posed great for the picture! What goof-balls!

"Spin the nail-polish bottle" was another hit. It was a long game, but each girl loved it. 8 bottles of polish: one girl chooses a color and spins. Whoever the bottle points to gets to paint 1 fingernail and choose the next color to spin. The girl to get all her fingernails painted first, gets to choose the first color to take home. This continues until each girls nails are painted and has picked their color to take home.

Other fun items were: A guessing game (gumball count), charades (barbie movies were drawn from a bag to act out, grouped in team of 2) and pipecleaner crafts.

I was very impressed with the throughtfulness of Ally's friends. The cards were so personalized and sweet! You can tell each girl put lots of thought into each gift as well. Thanks for coming girls! You all are so special and fun to be around!

Ally's all caked-out. Dessert of choice: Oh Henry Bars, with cupcakes for those who might not like them. Easy for me....I like it!


Tonight's fun: Ally is so simple and easy to please. Originally, she wanted the family to go out for ice cream and that's it. After the busy day, plans changed and she wanted to stay home...that is after going to the store to get ice cream with Dad. We made sundaes and she opened presents. She was thrilled to get her own set of scriptures with her name on them.

It's great to be 8! Ally has made the decision to be baptized, it will take place on the 6th....we are so excited for her special day and are proud of her decision.