Happy Birthday Skylar Lou!!

Nine years ago today my sweet baby girl was born and made my dream of being a mom finally come true. We waited for that little girl to make us parents for quite some time and were so excited when she was born. I can't believe it's actually been 9 years...only 9 more and she'll be an adult! Crazy!!We didn't have much planned for Skylar's birthday this year since it was an odd year and she wasn't having a friend party-thank heavens since I'm still not up for that kind of thing. After Ben got home we celebrated Skylar's birthday by going out to eat at California Pizza Kitchen and then going home to open presents. Skylar got a few simple things from the kiddos and was totally content and ready to eat some cake. We went to the freezer in the garage to get the ice cream cake that I made for her and she obliviously stood talking to Ben and I with this right in her path:She didn't even see it! But when she did, she was pretty darn excited. Skylar has been begging to get a bike all summer since she's totally grown out of the Princess bike she got when she was 4, both physically and socially (ha ha). She is so excited to have a big kid's bike now!Right after she took a try on her bike, the Tongs pulled up and we had an impromptu party to celebrate Skylar's and Amy's (yesterday) birthdays. We had some yummy ice cream cake and just had fun playing around. We were having so much fun, that they didn't even leave until after 10...and it's a school night! But we needed some Tong time and it was really fun...and worth the grumpiness we'll have in the morning. Happy Birthday to Amy & Skylar!!Skylar is such a sweet girl and we are so glad that she is part of our family. She is the perfect big sister, who takes great care of and is very considerate of her brothers and sister. She is such a smart cookie and is always coming up with some exciting adventure or project to keep everyone entertained. Skylar has such a passion for reading and takes a book everywhere we go. She is also a little social butterfly and really gets along well with all of her many friends. She has so many "best friends"!

The other day Skylar taught our FHE lesson and bore her testimony of the gospel for the first time to our family. It was amazing! What a great thing it is to watch from a parent's point of view as those testimonies really begin to grow. Skylar is an amazing girl with so much potential and will just continue to amaze us as the years go on. I wish we could just stop her from growing but since we can't, I'm glad that she is growing into such an incredible person. I love you so, so much Skylar!! I hope that all of your dreams come true just like you've made my dream of being a mom come true, teaching me what true joy in this life really means.