Summer Birthdays

13 and 11 ... a late birthday post for my girls.

A little late to be posting about summer birthdays, especially since it's just about Fall. But o'well it gives me a good reason to document some thoughts on these sweet daughters of ours!
Starting with Tays, our newly-turned TEENAGER! I can't believe our Tayler girl is 13 years old! What?!? Yes, we have ourselves a teenager, and a very sweet one at that! Tays turned 13 while we were on vacation this summer, so her birthday was spent on Newport beach with friends and family, not bad! I feel so grateful to have Tayler as our oldest child, she is an absolute joy to have in our family and such an example to all of us. She is so full of life and excited about everything that comes her way! When I think of Tays words that come to mind are: positive, grateful, thoughtful, obedient, and driven. She works hard in all that she does. Every school project is done 110 percent, even if that means staying up till wee hours of the night and being the last one to go to bed. She participates in the school choir which means that she has to wake up an hour earlier every morning, but she is all for it! She loves it... of course she does, because I'm serious, this girl loves everything right now and is excited to be involved in as many things as possible-especially when it involves friends! She also was part of the choir last year and it was always so much fun to watch the quarterly choir performances- Tayler may not have been the best singer, but she was no doubt the most animated and theatrical, must have been all those years of musical theater in Arizona! This year Tayler ran for co- student body president with her friend and neighbor Trenton. They worked so hard on posters, stickers,  and worked hard to write their speech, etc. Again many late nights for Tays, but she didn't mind, she had her mind set to have her speech just right! All their hard work paid off, they won!!! The election was held at the end of school year last year so Tayler is so excited about everything that that will entail for this coming school year. She is a wonderful leader and kind to everyone. Tayler had the opportunity to speak at Rex's baptism in March and bore her sweet testimony! She also spoke in sacrament meeting for the first time a couple months ago, she really loves that sort of thing, which doesn't come from me.  This summer Tayler attended her second year of girls camp. She loved it, although it took her nearly two days to recoup from the lack of sleep she got during the week. I loved hearing all about her week at camp, including the testimony meeting and special experiences she had with the girls. Tayler has also taken a love to volleyball! She played with the club team during the year, but did not participate in the tournaments because they were all on Sundays. She was sad about that, but excited that the club coach let her be a practice player. School District try-outs were held at the end of the school year and Tayler made the team! She is looking forward to the season which starts later this Fall.
I continue to remind Tayler to stay as sweet as she is now! She is so loved and I am forever grateful and honored to be her mother! She really is a ray of sunshine in our home!
On to KK, who turned 11 in May. The Sunday after her birthday the Primary President announced that Kinley was going to be missed in Primary because she was now graduated and off to Young Womens. Kinley was invited up to the front of the room to cut a ribbon to represent her moving up...at that point Kinley had to say something, and let them know that she was actually only turning 11 and that she did in fact have a whole other ENTIRE year in Primary. ( I'm sure she would have been thrilled to sneak down to Young Womens!) KK has always been a bit on the mature side : ) The Primary leaders were completely surprised and had just assumed that she must had been turning 12 : )
Kinley continues to be filled with spunk, she was born that way and I have no doubt that will ever change! We love her for it! She is extremely strong willed, she will always tell you what she thinks! More times than I can count, Kinley has stood up for her siblings when they're in trouble. At different times when Rex or Ben have been in "time out" (and deservingly so) Kinley can hardly stand it! I mean how dare we put her little brothers in time out! The outcome usually ends up with her getting into trouble as well for trying to sneak them out, or just putting up a big fight about why she thinks otherwise. Getting into trouble herself never seems to be a good enough reason to not defend her brothers! She is loyal and has her siblings backs, like no ones business! Words that come to mind when I think of Kinley are : passionate, strong willed, driven, perfectionist, artistic, nurturer, and opinionated. Kinley loves to dance! She spends close to 10 hours at the dance studio each week, and once January begins, she will add another 9 hours on the weekends with her dance team. She would take more hours if she could! She absolutely loves it and is absolutely in her element in her pointe shoes! She tried basketball out last year ( 5th grade) and was really quite the natural. She was very competitive and was out there to win, no matter what. It was fun to see her try out something new, although I think there won't be much more basketball playing in the future, since it takes away from time she could be dancing. Kinley has always worked hard in her school work and has really developed a love for reading over these past couple years. Kinley has always had a creative mind and I love to see that come through in her school work. Last year she worked hard for straight A's and enjoyed school and learning. One thing I also love about KK is that she loves for me to sing to her at night. Every. Single. Night. as I scratch her back as she lays in bed.  If I am in the middle of something and ask if I can just give her a hug goodnight and see her in the morning, she acts completely appalled! She has been known to scream from her room, until I come down to sing to her.... and I love to do it.  I sure am glad it's important to her because it seems in those moments is when I have had some of the best conversations with her!  I have sang her the same song for years " Love you Forever" by the Beatles. ( I think that's what it's called.)  Kinley is so fun and nurturing, our family would not be the same without her! I love to see her play with her brothers! Sometimes it's playing house with Drew, or sometimes its making up plays for the boys, but whatever it is, I love to see her take pride in being a big sister and using her imagination with those three little brothers of hers! Kinley brings lots of pizazz to our house! We love her to pieces and love who she is! I am so grateful for Kinley and love her so much!
I really love just how different these girls are, but just how close they are! I'm so grateful they have each other as sisters and that I'm lucky enough to be their mother! It's brings more joy and is more rewarding than I can even express! I love these girls with my whole heart and thank Heavenly Father everyday that he has blessed me to love them and raise them in Gospel!