How can it be 18 years since this little soul entered our world- and what would we have been without her? Lynn and I feel blessed to be her mom and dad. I treasure the little girl she was and the woman she is becoming. These are the days I take all the moments I get with her and try to enjoy them... when we cook together and make a mess, when we laugh just looking at each other, or when she needs use of my shoulder. These are days when she still asks me sit on her bed and she tells me some of her secrets. These are the days that pass all too swiftly. I will treasure all these times.
It seems the older our children get, the less time we get with them! Elise celebrated her 18th with lots of fun gatherings. Her friends took her out for dinner and the student body officers surprised her with breakfast out after a fun sleepover. Her room was decorated as a surprise and filled with candy to Jacob's delight- and ours!
I was happy to get a few pictures at least- Her birthday is over conference weekend. -always a great time to be together. We managed to get her away for a quick dinner after the priesthood session with Grandma C and aunt Pam, Grandma and Grandpa T, cousin Alli from BYU who came up for the weekend, and the Gillan family. We also had a fun October b-day celebration with uncle Chad and cousin Eric. Noticed the gorgeous cupcakes I slaved over.... ok, not...thanks to Costco. What would we do without Costco?? They are actually really yummy- especially the orange ones! :) But.. between traditional conference cinnamon rolls, pumpkin muffins, birthday cake and birthday cupcakes we were all "sugared out" It was a great weekend, a much needed break, fantastic conference addresses and good time spent with lots of family and friends!
I slaved over these "brownies 3 ways..." Caramel swirl macadamia nut, chocolate ganache, and cranberry orange with cream cheese icing.... I don't think we saved any calories, not having cake... :)
Elise's last "New Beginnings" for YW's. It was such a beautiful night. The theme was D.O.T.S. "Depend on the Savior." I'm thinking we should steal it for our stake primary leadership! Each girl was given an attribute with a rose and amazing Ari (new president) talked about "pointalism" and how we are all part of a bigger "picture." Elise gave a beautiful talk and made a video with stills and video of Christ in the Americas with music, then pictures of girls and more and more pictures scanning farther away until they were just dots (she downloaded like 6000 pictures), then all the dots formed a picture of Christ. She had great scripture quotes with it as well. It was very touching. I want her to make one for our primary leadership about children... I may need a box of kleenex though... What a great ending to 6 years of New Beginnings.
