Fourteen

Our baby is now fourteen years old. Fourteen! 

I'm not sure I'm ready for fourteen. Fourteen means Hazel's staring High School. Fourteen means that in two short years she'll be driving, and in four short years she graduates. I'm not ready for her to be grown in just four years, and yet, I love watching the amazing person she is becoming! 

Hazel is such a joy! She's helpful around the house, works hard at everything she sets her mind to, and is genuinely so much fun to be around. 

Hazel is organized and observant. When she sees needs around her, she truly tries her best to fill them. She's learning day by day to be gentle and kind. I've noticed more and more that she's able to redirect her younger siblings in kind, fun ways that make them want to listen and follow-through. 

Hazel has the most beautiful hair! Her two-year-old self would be so happy to have such long, elegant princess hair. 

Hazel also has really lovely handwriting. She's worked hard over the years and learned to write in elegant cursive script. She's slowly learning more "fonts" and each is beautiful. As the perfect birthday gift, Jamie gave her a stamp and sealing wax. Now she can send Regency era letters (and nothing makes her heart happier than anything and everything from the Regency era). 

For her birthday, Hazel made the perfect apple pie. It came out of the pan and everything! The way she decorated it feels like an excellent representation of who she is - elegant, classy, and uncomplicated. 

Hazel has had an extremely busy, wonderful summer. This has been our view of her far too many times as she's headed off to various camps and events. Each one has brought her wonderful experiences, chances to grow her testimony, new friends, and tons of fun! 

While we've heard highlights from each trip, we're now at a point in life where Hazel will have to start recording her own stories. Here's the recap version: 

Provo South Stake Youth Conference

Journey with Jesus

Utah Valley Children's Choir Tour 2023

Colorado, Kansas, Missouri, Illinois, Iowa, Nebraska, and Wyoming

Hazel rode so many hours on tour buses with her friends, performed, stayed with a host family one night, sang in a beautiful cathedral, ate tons of off-brand Cheese-Its, visited church history sites, and had the time of her life!

Girl's Camp 2023

Tent Camping near Heber, Utah

ASL FSY

BYU Campus 

Hazel had the opportunity to attend the ASL session of FSY. While the session was geared toward Deaf youth, they opened registration to CODAs. Hazel roomed with her good friend Brynn and said it was amazing! She also appreciated that their session had 60 youth instead of the 1,300 in the other BYU sessions that week. One of the most memorable moments was her first Deaf dance. She said they had four huge speakers cranked all the way up. All the hearing people wore earplugs and the whole floor was shaking! 

Whew! She said she loved every one of these camps. We sure missed her while she was gone. 

One last bit of fun... while in Colorado, we were able to visit Tiny Town very briefly. Hazel had the great idea of recreating some pictures, and they are golden! I think Hazel was about 2 in the original photos. 

From barely to the porch roof to towering over Soapy Smith's

We used to fit on the benches quite well, now not so much

And my personal favorite, Hazel in the little Dutch house...

I'm SO glad we made these happen! Seriously, priceless!

Hazel, we love you to pieces. Keep being such an amazing young woman. We can't wait to see where this next year takes you! 

 

A Dozen Years

Eliza is now a full dozen years old! She's equal parts creative, fun, opinioned, and fiesty with a dash of sass thrown in for good measure. I've had this post sitting in my drafts for a bit and noticed Eliza had added a few more pictures haha. A very Eliza thing to do in order to make sure it's just right - love that girly! 

One of the predominant traits of Eliza right now is her love for creating. She's constantly making little things for friends, changing up things in her room to make it more functional, planning things, or crafting. She has been learning to make sourdough bread and has nailed the recipe. Her bread is SO yummy!

Eliza also started a little business - Caboodle Crocheting. She makes chapstick holders and little animals and has started selling them. I'm amazing by her work ethic when she lands on something that's important to her. 

 

Eliza has designed and made her own birthday cake for several years now. This year she saw an idea for a campfire cake. She baked her favorite chocolate cake then topped it with Life Saver candies melted to look like fire, pretzel logs, cereal "coals," and a marshmellow ready to roast. Isn't it incredible?!? 

Eliza also continues to be a fast and loyal friend. Other adults frequently come up and tell me how sweet she is with the girls around her. She has a way of making others feel comfortable and included (a talent she inherited from Daddy for sure). 

Eliza's love for animals continues to grow. This spring she helped care for a duckling from our friends' farm. Something had invaded the coop and killed all but one duckling. Eliza offered to bring it home and raise it until it was large enough to return to the farm. She named him Splatter. The poor little guy was so lonely we ended up adopting two more ducks so he could have a friend. 

In addition to Splatter and this cute alpaca Eliza met in Colorado and named Mrs. Mustacheio, there is no shortage of Eliza-with-chicken selfies on my phone. 

Eliza's loving care extends beyond friends and animals to include Walter as well. She is such a good big sister to him. More than any of the other kids, she's happy to step up and change him, rock him, and just love on him. Eliza-with-Walter selfies also abound on my phone, but each one is precious. 

Did I mention how much Eliza likes to be cozy? Eliza LIVES to be cozy and warm. Her ideal weather is 90 degrees and sunny. I'm thinking she might enjoy living in Arizona or somewhere in the south. 

This summer Eliza was old enough to attend Girl's camp. And, she got to go not once, but twice. She joined our "hearing" ward for a few nights of cabin Girl's camp, then camped for a week for our Stake's Girl's Camp. She had a blast both times! 

Before Girl's camp with our ward, Eliza decided to let me braid her hair in tiny braids. It turned out amazing. She loved it so much she left it in for a few weeks. It was epic once she took all the braids out! And of course she had to take full advantage of the moment and have an impromptu 80's style photo shoot.

Gymnastics is still life for Little E. She moved up to Gold for this fall. It's a BIG jump in requirements from Silver to Gold, so she's been working hard this summer to get ready. But, she did have a minor setback when she badly sprained her finger. It kept her from being able to grip and tumble for the last half of summer gym. Thankfully it's now bending well again and nearly healed up. 

To celebrate their birthdays, Michael took the girls on a date before he had to leave for Colorado. He took Eliza to pick out her very own set of nice scriptures. She was so excited! She diligently reads the Book of Mormon every night before bed and is growing to love the scriptures. 

She and I also got to enjoy a great date to a delicious ice cream shop and the bookstore to pick out new books. During our date we had some great conversations. I even learned something new about Eliza - that she'd like to be an ASL interpreter when she grows up. 

On her birthday, Eliza invited Brenna to do the ropes course at Thanksgiving Point, enjoyed her chosen meal of stroganoff, and served up her amazing fire cake. 

Eliza, we love your spunk, your hard work, your ability to create beauty around you, and your loyalty. Here's a salute to another great year! Keep shining little one!