SEVENTEEN

This beautiful young lady had a birthday!  We started her day off with opening presents and unfortunately,  we didn't get a picture of everything she got.  She got money from grandparents and a fancy new camera lens from her parents.   

Sarah wanted to go out to Waffle Me Up for breakfast and then we did a bit of looking at the Saturday Market.  She had lunch with friends and then went boating with the Woodard's and more friends.

Seventeen amazing things about Sarah...

she loves being a BRAVE!

she is super good at making videos!

she needs her "down time" to recharge.

she loves to go to the Co-op for lunch with friends.

she surrounds herself with fun friends!

she still works at Page One Power.

she loves to go boating!

she likes to watch Netflix!

she very good at keeping her room clean and clutter free!

she likes to eat yogurt at Menchie's.

she LOVES to travel and hopes to do a lot in the future!

she and Andrew have a really close relationship!

she made a video which was shown at the Overland Theater.

she's very allergic to dogs!

she was a mentor for a family from Syria.

 she's really good at finding great places to eat when we travel!

she knows what she wants and works hard to get it!!

Happiest of birthdays, Sarah!  We love you so much!!!

Sweet Sixteen

Last year, Sarah had her birthday at Girls Camp and this year she had her birthday in Coeur d'Alene, ID. We went to Jimmy's Down the Street for breakfast and had the BIGGEST and yummiest breakfasts of the summer!! We had Sarah open her presents at the restaurant...she got mascara, several things for her car, like a first aid kit, a new key, a remote entry and a new, very cool stereo installed in her car while she was at Girls camp.








After that filling breakfast, we headed on over to Silverwood Theme Park and spent the entire day riding rides, eating yummy food and thoroughly loving our experience!!!

We forced Levi on this ride and after one time, it was his favorite and he must have gone on it 20 times that day. We went on so many rides as the park is full of them and there were very few lines. We would highly recommend this theme park to everyone!!









Sixteen super things about Sarah...

... she is SUPER adventurous!

... she wishes she could be plans on being a world traveler!

... she hopes to make videos for the church one day.

... you never have to wonder what she's thinking...she will definitely tell you!

... she loves gelato!

... she's an amazing piano player!

... she's very kind!

... she is our ward chorister and bulletin person.

... she can't wait to get her drivers license!!!

... she loves the water, especially anything that has to do with boating!

... she can braid her hair beautifully!

... she's very independent!

... she claims to be an introvert.

... she's oober talented!

... her favorite food is mac and cheese!

... she has a super strong testimony of the Gospel!!

Happy, Happy Birthday, sweet Sarah!!!

FIFTEEN

Sarah's birthday fell during her week at Girl's Camp this year. A few days before, she told me that the only thing she wanted on her birthday was a quesadilla. I had no idea how I was going to pull that off but I did bring a few tortillas with me hoping the cooks would share some cheese. I visited with the cooks before Sarah arrived (she was on the over-night 4th year hike) and told them of Sarah's request. The menu that they had created months ago was Mexican for lunch so quesadillas wouldn't be a problem. I then asked them what was on the menu for dinner and they told me it was Italian - pasta with WHITE SAUCE! I couldn't believe it. Had we been home, this would have been exactly what she would have requested for her birthday meals. They were definitely inspired cooks!! Here is a picture of Sarah with her "quesadilla cake" with candles. Everyone sang "Happy Birthday" to her and told her happy birthday ALL day long.





The other request that she told me AFTER we got to camp was that she expected to talk to her dad, brothers and Nonnie ON her birthday. We had no cell service up at Pinetop so that wasn't going to work. I didn't take my car up their either so I couldn't drive to where we would get service. I did find a pay phone that I could make a call but it only took quarters and debit cards...didn't bring either of those either - dang!! I did scrounge up a few dollars from a kind friend so as I was begging anyone if I could trade them a dollar for some quarters. One of the cooks, Mandi asked if we could wait to make a call until her husband called her (on the pay phone). Ding, ding, ding. The light finally went on and I asked Mandi if she would ask her husband (who knows Nathan) to text Nathan the pay phone number and ask him to call us. Since Nonnie was still at our house, Sarah got her wish and was able to talk to her dad, brothers and Nonnie ON her birthday. Wish granted!! Thank goodness!

We decided to celebrate Sarah's birthday Thursday night when we got back into town and Grandma and Grandpa came too. She opened presents from her brothers and grandparents and parents. She got some fabric for her quilt from Spencer, marshmellow cereal from Levi, a hard drive from Andrew, a bell and hand grips for her bike from Benjamin, money from her grandparents and a purse and money from her parents. Sarah's saving to buy a laptop!!







And for her birthday treat, she wanted donuts. YUMMO!!








Fifteen fabulous things about Sarah...

...she has her own youtube channel. Check her out here!

...she's oober organized in everything that she does.

...she's amazingly techy.

...she's a wonderful older sister!

...she loves to wander the aisles of Target!

...she loves to hang out with her family!

...she's beautiful inside and out!

...she loves to make videos!

...she wants to have 19 goats when she grows up.

...she loves quesadillas!!!

...her closet is color coordinated and her hangers are evenly spaced apart.

...she's a pretty good driver.

...she going to be a world traveler someday!

...she has amazing fashion sense!

...she also wants to make videos for the Church when she grows up.

Love you SO much, Sarah! Happiest of Birthdays!!

She did it!

When we signed Sarah up for Drivers Ed I had no idea how complicated and intense our lives would feel for the two and a half weeks of the class. She had class seven nights for four hours and she had eight drives where she would drive for 45 minutes (but there were usually two other kids in the car who also needed to drive for 45 minutes). Luckily we signed her up with James Allen and his mom and I could carpool for the classes and some of the drives. A couple of days she was picked up from her school to do the drives which really helped. Everywhere she went she carried around that clipboard which had her class schedule, homework and the sign that showed the drivers that she was part of the class. I have to say that Sarah was pretty amazing! She was up late most nights but still made it to Seminary every day. She kept up on her homework and still got great grades despite all that was required of her. She was often complimented on her driving from her instructors. She got to drive a Camaro, a VW Bug and a Hummer. Now all she has to do is drive for 60 hours (50 in the day and 10 at night) with her parents and wait six months and then she can get her license. WOWZA!! You go, girl!!!












On her last night of class, we all met for a parent meeting at Fast Lanes. Then we got to watch the kids drive. Here is a picture of Sarah's class. She said it was a pretty eclectic group - very diverse. I wish you could see the rainbow tail that one of the girls wore the entire class time. I'm not making this up - she wore a rainbow tail.

FOURTEEN

Sarah turned 14 this year...she celebrated by eating a breakfast of her choosing - waffles, whip cream and eggs and opening presents with her family. She got a super-duper fancy (and expensive) hair straightener, iTunes gift card, Red perfume, clothes and a gift card to Mac (makeup at Macy's).






Here is Sarah after her makeover at Mac. She wanted to get some really good makeup and learn how to apply it so I had made an appointment to have it done at Mac. I loved how they brought out her natural beauty!



After picking up the boys from BYU Lacrosse camp, we went to the new Monte L. Bean Life Science Museum at BYU. It's so much bigger and it was really fun to see all of the big animals.










After looking at animals we headed over to the BYU bookstore and found our game shirts and of course had to have some Creamery ice cream.



Sarah wanted Chicken Alfredo and Caesar salad for dinner and of course, PINK confetti cake for dessert.



Later that night, Sarah and Nathan went to see the movie, Divergent and the boys and I watched Rio 2. What a fun, filled day!

14 things about Sarah.

She is extremely tidy and organized.

She loves to listen to music. She is like her dad in that they always have a song in their head.

She works hard to get good grades. It's important to her to do well at school.

She enjoys playing the piano.

When she tells a story or tells us about a book she's reading, she is VERY detailed in her description and often takes a LONG time to describe it.

She's a great swimmer and loves to be in the water!

She is a Netflix junkie when her mom lets her.

She has really creative handwriting.

She earned her Young Women medallion BEFORE she turned 14.

She loves to go to plays and musicals.

She loves a clean room and closet. She will even help her brothers clean and organize their rooms.

Pink is still her favorite color.

She is a voracious reader and dystopia is her favorite genre.

She is OFTEN on Pinterest.


We love you so much Sarah!! Happy, Happy Birthday to a beautiful girl!!

THIRTEEN

We have a TEENAGER in our family now! I can hardly believe Sarah is 13!! She is beautiful inside and out and is such an amazing young women. Oh, how her family loves her!!
She got completely spoiled on her birthday. She got a new Pottery Barn comforter and sheets, gift card to Home Depot for paint and an IOU from her dad that he will paint her room when she's at girls camp, Bath and Body smelly stuff, earrings and lots of new clothes.


She had a pretty amazing pool party with her friends at the Whitings.

Look at that cake!! That was Sarah's idea and her dad did a beautiful job creating it!

She got so many nice presents from her friends!


Her dad organized plenty of fun pool games.


They were such a fun group of kids! Sarah is ONE lucky girl to be surrounded by such fun friends!


Happy Birthday, Sarah! We love you so much!!!

I couldn't resist. Doesn't he have the cutest legs!!!

Oh, Happy Day!

I thought that I might just include this in our post about our busy month of May, but then I decided it deserved it's own post. May 15th was a very happy day in the life of Sarah as she got her braces off! Here is a picture of her before...

Yep, she was pretty excited! Here she is with her braces off. What a beautiful young lady - inside and out!!

She got a bag full of candy she wasn't supposed to eat while she had her braces on and a jar of sparkling cider to celebrate with. (Sorry it's so blurry.)

Oh, happy day!!

TWELVE

Even though we keep telling our kids they can't grow up...they just keep doing it. Sarah turned TWELVE on Sunday, July 1 and in her own words, "It was the BEST day ever!!" It began early with the opening of presents and having french toast for breakfast. She got an iTunes card from Andrew, makeup from Spencer, a pink shirt and scarf from Levi, a gift card to get her ears pierced from Benj, a jean skirt, belt, white shirt and an iPhone from mom and dad. She went to church early for an interview with our Bishop since she graduated from Primary and earned her Faith in God. She got to go to Young Womens for the first time and be spotlighted. She invited Grandma and Grandpa and the Ramey and Burket families over for a pasta bar, salad and her dad's dutch-oven bread. She finished the day blowing out TWELVE candles and eating a delicious layered white and pink lemonade cake.