What a little ray of sunshine my Anna Paige Marston is. She is truly the most beautiful girl- inside and out and makes my life so full and so fun. She is spunky, smart, easy going, fun to be with, talented, creative, musical and friendly. She is so socially aware and so interested in people. She loves everything and is always up for an adventure. Love her with all of my heart and can't even imagine how I got so lucky to have such a doll for my little girl. Happy Birthday Anna! Here is an excerpt from Anna's journal:
Anna- you’ve grown so incredibly much this year…. In so many ways. 2020-2021 has been the year of COVID-19 and so you faced many interesting challenges. School closed down, we celebrated your 8th birthday by watching your friends drive by in a car parade rather than an actual birthday party because we were in quarantine! Parks, stores, amusement parks, zoos, movies shut down; we had to keep our distance from grandma and grandpa and grammy and papa! It was hard in many ways. But it was also wonderful and full of tremendous learning experiences. A few things you learned to do while spending so much time at home: Ride a bike! Rollerblade! Play pickle ball! Ski! Hike! You became a pro at all of these outdoor activities and really impressed your entire family with your adventuring skills. You enjoyed many camping trips- to Joshua Tree (with your buddies the Douds) to Yosemite, Big Bear, Carlsbad State Beach! You enjoyed boating at Lake Mead and St George! You learned how to wake surf with Dad and are a little boating expert. You met loads of new friends on our boating trips with old BYU dorm mates. You loved visiting our extended family in WA and spending time with all of the cousins- traveling to the Olympic National Forest whilst there! So you see? Quarantine wasn’t really so bad! And you enjoyed home school quite a bit. In fact, you made leaps and bounds of academic progress thanks to Charlotte your high school tutor whom you adore! And Jasmine your reading tutor who has helped you increase your decoding and comprehension skills! You always have a good attitude about school work and are never afraid to ask questions and try your best at all you do!
Anna- you are a dancer and a music lover! One of your favorite things to do is dance- hip hop style. You love to learn tiktok dances and to create your own dances based on your favorite songs. You love to make playlists of your favorite music and then go swing on the swings for hours at a time listening to your songs and having “mindfulness” time as you like to call it. You love being outside and playing with our two cats: Ruby and Louie. You love scootering, biking, swinging, and jumping on the trampoline. You love to spend time with your big sis and she adores you. You are everyone’s favorite little person and you brighten up our home and lives with your fun loving spirit. Your favorite foods are: fruit, grilled cheese sandwiches, smoothies, and pasta. Your favorite songs are by Abigail Barlow, Ariana Grande, and Shawn Mendes. You love I-Carly, Sam and Cat and Full House. Your hobbies include: shopping, dancing, and playing with friends. Your best friends are Nora and Millie Doud and Kate Judd. You love your teacher: Mrs. Ramirez and all of your friends at school. You love people! Your social intelligence is off the charts— you are so incredibly social and you love to take care everybody. Yet you are also not a pushover and hold your ground when you feel something is important. Everyone enjoys your company because you are funny and easy going. You almost always choose playing with friends over any other activity but you are great at playing alone in your room as well— you have a vivid imagination and enjoy playing babies, barbies, school, and “homeless people”- a game where you live in the backyard and fend for yourself creating food from plants and bushes! You love to swim and to play in the hot tub— one of your very favorite activities all year round. Anna- you LOVE to talk! You are a talker through and through and you love to tell stories to everyone around you- especially Daddy when he comes home from work. It’s so cute to listen to you explain the entirety of your day!
You have an amazing personality, Anna! You are a hard worker, you love to learn. You are a people pleaser and very flexible. You are NOT neat and tidy. You are happy and content. You are kind and sensitive to others. You are helpful and hopeful in all that you do. You love music, pets, people, nature. You are brave and like to try new things- with some convincing. You did an amazing job learning how to ski this past winter and you are SO good at it! Age 8 and you are already a pro- blasting down the hills at top speed. You are friendly and talkative and think deeply about everything in your world. You are spontaneous, funny and fun to be with! Anna- you are a ray of sunshine and you make our lives so much fun. As your mother, I feel especially blessed because you are so kind and good to me. You always look out for my feelings and you make me laugh every day. I truly could not love you more or be more grateful for the opportunity to spend my life with you . Heavenly Father sure gave me a gift when he allowed me to be your Mom. You teach me every day and I adore everything about you!
