Eight is Great

Well she did it. We told her not to, but she didn't listen to us. Brigham has ordered Lydia to stop growing and getting older, but it seems that both she and nature are against us. And a couple weeks ago, she turned eight. 

We started her birthday celebrations the weekend before her birthday with a girls night. Kayleen came along and the two girls got a manicure while I got my first facial. And probably my last.

After we left the spa, we headed to the mall. When a girl turns eight in my family, they can choose to have their ears pierced. Lydia has been anticipating this event for weeks - "ALL my friends already have their ears pierced." So off to the mall we went to get those shiny studs placed perfectly in her ears.

I could tell that when the lady pierced Lydia's first ear, it shocked Lydia. She jumped, her face turned red, and she looked at me with a, "this is uncomfortable, and I'm not sure I really like this" look. But she was brave and endured in the name of beauty. With no tears, it didn't take long for her to absolutely fall in love with the look of pierced ears. Not to mention, with an ear piercing you got to pick out a beenie-boo for cheap. Sweet!

Freshly pierced ears + purple-panda beenie-boo = birthday dreams come true.

We then went next door to Sam's club (because we're SUPER fancy like that) to get some frozen yogurt and churros.

Lydia wanted to make sure we got a picture with her newly pierced ears and nails.

The next day we celebrated her birthday with family a day early. She opened presents and had her birthday dessert.

Lydia does not like many desserts, so it's tradition to make her a cookie cake every year. This year was the peanut butter chocolate chip cookie cake (with some m&m's thrown in, because I'm crazy like that).

Lydia loved her cake, and I was SUPER glad we had done plenty of birthday festivities before her actual birthday the next day. Because....

The second I got home, I knew. Stomach flu. And we dropped like flies.

It was a vicious, but quick bug. It hit you suddenly, like a brick wall, ravaged you, and then left when there was nothing more to take. Ammon threw up in his bed at 5 am and I turned to Brigham moaning, "I can't. I just can't." Luckily, Brigham never got it and he worked from home to take care of all the sickies, since I was incapacitated myself.

I thought Lydia had escaped it as well. She went to school, happy as a clam. She came home with no signs of pallor. Then, when Brigham was in the middle of cooking her birthday dinner for just her and him, she was suddenly puking her guts out. Poor, poor thing. On her birthday. 

Luckily, it was about a 24 hour bug, and though our appetites weren't quite back, we were able to carry on as normal. I was grateful, because the following weekend was another huge event for Lydia: her baptism.

In the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, when you turn eight you can choose to be baptized a member of the church. Lydia had decided this is something she wanted to do, so we flew up her other two grandmas and had a weekend together with family and friends for this special event.

Lydia chose Brigham to baptize her on March 11th, 2017. Grandpa Nils gave a talk on baptism and confirmed her a member of the church, and Grandma Becky gave a talk on the Holy Ghost. I led the music, Grandma Sue played the piano, Grandma Nonie gave a beautiful closing prayer, and Lydia, Ammon, and Kayleen sang a musical number, Gethsemane.

The program and the baptism were beautiful, and I think it really meant a lot to Lydia. She sure looked beautiful in her white dress. Young and beautiful, and yet, grown up and clean.

Unfortunately, I didn't get very many pictures of her in her dress on that day, or the people that came to celebrate with us, but I do have pictures of her with her grandparents. And I have plenty of baptism pictures we took of her ahead of time.

I love these ones. Probably my favorite. I just love her showing off her Book of Mormon in her white baptism dress. Touches my heart.

Lydia in front of the Maple Valley Stake Center, the church she was baptized in.

Baptism dress.

I kept trying to get an artsy picture of Lydia looking in a mirror she made in nursery years ago that says "Lydia is a Child of God". I thought it would be pretty to see her gazing at herself in a mirror telling her of her divine heritage. But my vision was a bit too hard to capture. Though, I still kind of love these pictures anyway. Lydia was a good sport while the photographer and I tried various ways to capture the elusive shot.

I'm going to the temple some day. Now that Lydia is baptized, she is well on her way to being able to go the temple some day. And that's exciting! 

You might not be able to tell, but it had just snowed that week and it was FREEZING outside. Poor Lydia was dying throughout the whole hour we were taking pictures. But you would never know, because she did so awesome every time I asked her to take her coat off. She was shaking and shivering, turning purple, and yet smiling for each frame.

 I mean she looks so studious here. Not like she's turning into a popsicle.

We tried a couple jumping shots, or "jump in the air like you just don't care" as the photographer put it. With the lighting, we couldn't get the timing just right so they didn't turn out, but I'm still including these because I love the memories they bring.

Lydia, I can't believe you turned eight. I can't believe that you are such a smart, beautiful, happy, sensitive, thoughtful, talented, and just GOOD young lady. If you keep it up, you'll continue to be the most amazing person ever. Someone that makes your momma proud. I'm so pleased that you chose to be baptized. You now have so many blessing offered to you as you keep the commandments and remember Jesus Christ. As you always look to Him, you will be happy and strong and blessed. That is my greatest hope for you. Babe, I love you. Always. No matter what. Happy Birthday!!

Lydia's Eighth Year Birthday Interview

1. What's your favorite song? 7 Years Old by Lukas Graham
2. What's your favorite thing to do with Mom? Go on walks together
3. What's your favorite thing to do with Dad? Play the Wii together
4. What's your favorite day of the week? Sunday 
5. How old are you? Eight
6. Who is your best friend? Hailey
7. What's your favorite thing to do?  Spend time with my family
8. What's your favorite color? Teal and Violet
9. What's your favorite food? macaroni and cheese
10. What do you like to do with your family? Play games
11. What's your favorite toy? My hopper ball
12. What do you want to be when you grow up? An actress
13. What makes you happy? My family
14. What makes you sad? When someone is hurt
15. What's your favorite show to watch? Spongebob
16. What's your favorite book? Junie B Jones
17. What do you like to learn about? Animals
18. Where do you like to go? Utah
19. What's the best part of your birthday? Spending time with my family
20. What's your favorite treat? Cookie cake
21. If you could meet someone famous who would it be? Lukas Graham
22. What's your favorite movie? Bambi
23. What's your favorite game to play? Green Ghost
24. What sports do you like? Swimming, dancing
25. What do you like to wear? Dresses
26. Who's your favorite princess? Cinderella