Emily turns 12 . . . finally

I don't think I've ever seen a kid more eager to turn 12 than Emily. The injustice of being lumped in with all those babies in Primary has been almost more than she could bear the last few months. It also doesn't help that as a 6th grader she still has to attend the elementary school here instead of going to middle school like everyone else in the world. (Her words--not mine)

We planned a big party to celebrate Emily's arrival into Young Womanhood. It literally went on for days. On her actual birthday, after a trip to the doctor for her annual check-up where she ended up getting a shot (Happy Birthday!), she had three of her closest friends go with her to her first Young Women's activity (which just happened to be a surprise welcoming party for her) and spend the night. The next day the kids were out of school for Veteran's Day so she had invited several more friends to join her for a fashion-themed party. Then the following evening, I took her and two friends to the mall to spend all of her birthday cash.

At the fashion-party, the girls divided up into teams and created a runway look from garbage bags and duct tape. Then they did hair and make-up and had the models walk the runway. Emily, of course, got to be one of the models. The girls were actually very creative and all of the models looked great. One of the funniest parts was cutting the girls out of their dresses after the fashion show was over. One of the girls was taped up so tight she could hardly breathe. Not too comfortable, but very slimming. (Forget the Spanx, wrap yourself in duct tape!)

On top of the multiple days of partying and all the gifts from her friends, Emily got her very own harp for her birthday. She has been saying she wants to learn to play the harp (the harp?!) for a while, and just a few weeks ago we actually found a nice lady in our Stake who is a harpist and was willing to give Emily lessons. Talk about one lucky girl--excuse me, I mean, young lady.