Skylar's super great 8th!

In my opinion, your 8th birthday is the most important one you ever have. In our church, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, it is the age that you reach accountability and are old enough to be baptized. Skylar has finally reached this most special of all birthdays and we had an amazing time celebrating that!
When I was a kid we went to the Lion House for my birthday. The Lion House was one of our prophet, Brigham Young's houses back when the pioneers first settled in Utah. It is now basically a party house, along with a restaurant. Having a party there is something that my sisters both did as well and the tradition has followed down through my nieces. Of course, I wanted Skylar to get to follow this tradition as well. So, over a year ago, I booked a party at the Lion House in SLC. The time that I wanted was already booked. It's pretty popular! Anyway, Skylar has been looking forward to this forever. The hardest thing for her was coming up with a guest list. This was her first all girl party so that helped a bit but we could only invite 7 girls and this was such a difficult decision for her.
The big day, last Saturday, came and the girls arrived. We piled in the car and headed up, making a quick stop to pick up my mom. The car was sooooo loud with 6 little girls singing, screaming, and giggling. When we got there my sister met us with my niece and our family friend, Ame, who live up north of SLC. It was great to have everyone there! The girls were so cute as they linked arms and headed into the party.

The party was a lot of fun! Skylar was treated like a princess, complete with a tiara. The rest of the girls got to wear cute bonnets. We were able to tour the Lion House and hear some really cool stories about the history. We got to see these cool chairs that Brigham Young made for each of his wives that were specifically made to fit the wives' hineys just perfectly. The girls got to play a kind of musical chairs game to feel the difference in each chair. They also played a few pioneer games like hiding the thimble and who's got the button?
















Later the kids got to pull hot taffy, eat a light lunch, and of course have some delicious cake and ice cream.
















When it came time to open presents, we were able to go outside to the beautiful garden there. The kids had to use funny voices and Skylar had to guess who the present was from. This was fun. She got spoiled with all sorts of fun things!


To add onto the fun of all the presents, Skylar was presented with a special gift from the Lion House, a beautiful porcelain doll. They have definitely upped the quality since I was a kid. It is so pretty! The Lion House was definitely so much fun to have her party at! Skylar said it was the best birthday party ever. It was so easy for me too-I didn't have to do anything. It was also fun to remember my birthday party there so many years ago. I'm so glad she will have the memory of such a special day just for her.
Skylar is super lucky to have some of the best grandparents in the world. For every grandkid's 8th birthday they give them their very first set of personalized scriptures. Skylar has been so excited with anticipation of getting this special gift. She has already read the entire illustrated Book of Mormon by herself in preparation to being baptized. She is so glad to have her very own set now so she can begin on the real thing. Thanks Grandma Diane & Grandpa Bruce!!!
Today was Skylar's real birthday. She had the best day! After Ben got home we began the real celebrating. We opened presents first. Skylar got a porcelain Jasmine doll, some books, and some Legos from Mom & Dad. Her present from her brothers and sister was the best-a Rainbow Build-a-Bear! Skylar was so excited!! She had been aching for this all summer long and was so sad when the store sold out of this limited edition. Luckily, the siblings were able to deliver (with a little help from me, of course).
We went to Sizzler for Skylar's dinner and then headed to the mall for some more fun. Skylar has been waiting all her life to get her ears pierced and the time was finally here. She has had the earrings picked out forever-some white daisies with a blue Sapphire, her birthstone, in the middle. She said she was so excited and not the least bit scared. Of course, right before it happened she got a little teary-eyed. Nick totally prepared for screaming but she was a trooper and didn't even flinch when they did it. Way to go Skylar! She was instantly all grown up.








We then headed over to stuff Skylar's new Rainbow bear. She has been wanting make her own Build-a-Bear forever and was so excited! Of course she got plenty of help from her brothers. She said this was the best birthday ever which was exactly how it was supposed to be!