Anna's EIGHT!

HAPPIEST BIRTHDAY to my little angel of a girl!  We had so much fun celebrating little Anna's birthday this year.  Of course, it was different.... very different in fact.  In quarantine, we couldn't invite friends over to celebrate so we enjoyed a "drive-by" birthday party instead.  Friends drove over with decorated cars, music, gifts and signs.  They drove through and attempted to find 50 beanie babies that Grant and I had hidden in the trees.  On their way out- we gave them a donut and a party favor.  It was quite easy and so much fun for our little girl to see all of her friends and to feel so celebrated.  Anna  requested spaghetti for dinner and red velvet cake from Nothing Bundt cake for dessert.  She asked for a scooter, LOL dolls, OMG dolls (I'm not sure I know the difference between the two-ha!), and a microphone.  It was a very special day. And then to add frosting to the cake, two days later... Grandma, Grandpa, Stacy and Troy surprised Anna by coming down to see her and spend a couple hours with her on her special day.  Grandma and Grandpa dressed up so adorably for quarantine times and we had a blast playing the game of things, eating a steak dinner and spending time together as it had been a while since our last visit. Anna made sure to blow out her candles with a hair dryer  to limit germs.  And we hardly hugged at all.  We are eagerly awaiting news on when we will be able to baptize Anna!
An excerpt from her journal:

Anna, you are such a wonderful little person.  From the moment you entered our family, you’ve brought so much happiness and joy and sunshine into our lives.  One of the coolest things about you is your sense of humor.  You absolutely love to laugh.  You find humor in so many things and your laugh is adorable.  You love to tell jokes or remind all of us of funny things that recently happened.  You are just a happy person in general and you make everything more fun because of your funny little personality.  Another important quality you bring to our family is your gentle kindness and consideration of everyone.  You are the little mother… always looking out for hurt feelings or physical hurts, which you immediately take care of.  When any of us are sick, you are our caretaker!  I could name so many examples of this, but one in particular… a few weeks ago at Disneyland, I was carrying a few coats in my arms because well, I’m the mom!  But you saw me with too many coats and asked if you could carry a couple.  I told you no a few times but you absolutely insisted— saying that you hated to see me with so much in my hands.  You make sure everyone has food and everyone feels good.  You are an incredibly sensitive little girl and care so much about the people in your life.  

I find that you are a go with the flow kind of kid for the most part. You are flexible, you are a peacemaker. You are fine to watch whatever movie the other kids want to watch as long as we are all together.  You are fine to eat where everyone else wants to eat. You like to keep the peace and it is such a blessing in our family of many opinionated persons.  At times you might throw a small fit, but it resolves always quickly and quietly and never does it escalate too much.  

Anna- you LOVE to shop.  LOVE is an understatement.  You adore little figurines, dolls, shoes, clothes, books, markers, crafts, lotions, soaps, perfumes, hair supplies… I could go on and on. Maybe all of those years tagging along on errands with me and just being allowed to grab a treat or a small toy as a consolation prize- created a little material girl.  I blame myself.  Heaven help your poor future husband~!  

You love swinging on the swings and playing on the bars.  You enjoy gymnastics quite a bit.  Cheerleading and dance is your favorite.  You are in two dance classes this year- Hip hop and jazz. You love learning routines and dancing with your friends.  You also love to sing!  You are such a great little singer and always on key.  You don’t love to perform and choose not to sing much in front of others- but you do love to sing in choirs and at home for your family.  You are in the school choir and the church choirs.  Your favorite class at school is music.  You are such a sweet little singer and always learn the words really quickly.  You love to play outside and swim.  You love to play in your room with your dolls and figurines.  You love to read and play school.  You love to watch youtube!  You love love love our two cats- Eddie and Louie.  They are your best little friends and you play for hours with them each day.  You take care of them and pet them and cuddle them and walk around with them everywhere.  It’s pretty cute.  You love animals and babies.  Your favorite food is spaghetti, macaroni and cheese, and cheeseburgers with fries.  You love milky way and brownie chunk ice cream.  You love playing with friends;  you are an incredibly social person and you love your friends so much.  Best friends:  Nora and Millie Doud and Kate Judd. You are a talker and will come home and tell us every single solitary detail of your day- which we all love to hear.  You describe the events of the day with so much expression and joy- it is so much fun to listen to! You love your 2nd grade teacher- Mrs. Ramirez and she loves you.  You never complain about school and you are always excited to go places— anywhere our family goes, you are eager to be there! 

You are going to be baptized soon and you are very excited for this day.  It’s so much fun to watch you sing primary songs and you love attending church most of the time.  This year we’ve enjoyed so many fun adventures!  You learned to ski in Brianhead, UT we hiked at Zion’s National Park, we traveled to Hawaii with Grandma, Grandpa and Stacy and visited our WA family in Seattle for 2 weeks.  We went to Disneyland a bunch where you tried all the scary rides- such a good sport!  We visited Scottsdale and Pismo Beach, went beach camping in Carlsbad for a week.  You love adventures and you are always an amazing sport wherever we go.

Anna- you are kind, thoughtful, considerate, sensitive, hilarious, good natured, flexible, smart, musical, creative, inventive, fun to be with, social, loving, and spiritual.  You are my best little friend on earth and I adore everything about you.  I love spending time with you and feel so incredibly blessed that you are my daughter.  I can’t imagine a more wonderful little girl.  Love you Anna! Happy Birthday!