Official Teenager!

As of her birthday in July, Eliza is officially a teenager! She gave Hazel such a hard time when she turned 13 that the other kids decided it was her turn. They didn't hesitate to tease her endlessly with things like, "You'll be boring now that you're a teeeeeenager!" Jokes on them though because Eliza is a pretty great teenager. She's made huge strides this year in so many areas of her life, and we're so proud of her. 

One thing Eliza did this summer is really start setting a new direction for her hobbies. After struggling with various aspects of gymnastics last year, she turned to the Lord in prayer for guidance on what she should do. She received a clear answer in about January that she should finish out the season, but not continue competitive gymnastics. And even though it was hard to step away from something she's loved so much, she did it with courage and determination. 

She quickly decided to wanted to spend more time with music. She's always had an amazing ear for hearing music and has dabbled in playing the piano, ukulele, and fiddle. But this time she's been serious about becoming proficient in an instrument and learning to read music. She decided on violin and has been taking private lessons all summer. She's already made a ton of progress and loves it!

She also auditioned for and was accepted in to Utah Valley Children's Choir (the same choir Hazel sings in) as an Alto. She's loving choir. And I love hearing these two girls sing together. Especially since they sing different parts, it's so lovely when I hear them practicing together at home. 

Eliza still wanted something to keep up her strength and flexibility from gymnastics, so she found a place to begin learning aerial silks. It has been awesome to watch her take to this new hobby! She LOVES it and is quickly mastering skills and becoming more confident. 

But hobbies weren't the only thing Eliza took charge of in her life this year. She also chose to take on a much more intense academic schedule this year. Our new homeschool group allows youth 13 and up in their "Seniors" program which is essentially a rigorous high-school schedule. There's a lot of reading and writing involved, but Eliza wanted to participate. She has dived right in and is doing an incredible job! Her persuasive editorial even won best in her group last week. 

One of the classes Eliza is loving is a photography class. She's taken some amazing pictures already, and I'm sure there will be many, many more to come this year. 

This summer Eliza participated in Heroic Youth as a Youth leader for the first time. She had a lot of fun, pushed herself in many areas, and learned a lot! The challenge at the youth leader only portion was a huge struggle for their team (the theme was resilience and they sure did a good job creating a simulation to test the youth's resilience). I KNOW it pushed Eliza especially. But she made it through. She's grown SO much this year in her emotional resilience and we're so proud of her hard work in this often unseen/unnoticed area of her life. 

One of her new goals in life is to be punctual. It's such a great, worthwhile goal, but man it's keeping me on my toes. I'm not an excessively late person by nature, but 6 kids have made me in to a less than punctual person. Thanks to Eliza constant nagging reminders, we've all been working on arriving on time. I tease, but I truly do admire how much she wants this in her life, and I'm hopeful some of it will rub off on me. 

Despite so many new experiences and so much growth, Eliza is still her fun-loving self. She enjoyed a good romp at the park or catching the occasional toad.

She's an awesome big sister! When the boys struggle to clean up their room, Eliza is the master at motivating them. She invents these "escape room challenges" and suddenly those boys are jumping through hoops to get everything cleaned up within the time limit she's given them. Walter too loves his time with Eliza (and her lizard). 

Eliza is still fearless. When given the opportunity to try something new, she's often the first in line. 

Eliza still loves to create. The one thing she really wanted for her birthday was a pair of Converse. Within hours of opening them, she decided to embellish  them and make them her own. She's always doing this with her clothes, backpacks, decor in her room, etc. She has a great eye for taking ordinary things and making them her own. 

We love, love, love you sweet EE! Have a wonderful 13th year. Keep learning, growing, and pushing yourself. We truly can't wait to see all you'll become. 

 

Hazel

Our beautiful Hazel turned 15 at the beginning of July. She is a light to us and all around her. I always worried about having teenagers, but Hazel has made it wonderful. She's a joy to spend time with and balances fun and silliness with hard work and helpfulness so well. Like a cute friend once said, "You're sure lucky to have Hazel as the 'captain' of your kids," and we couldn't agree more. In no particular order, here are some of the things we love most about Hazel...

Hazel has always been a natural leader in our home. Now as she's serving as the Young Women's class president in our hearing ward, we're seeing her use those skills elsewhere too. She's done such an incredible job. Her leaders and the other youth alike have commented to me how much they adore Hazel. 

Hazel still loves to read. With ever increasing demands on her time, I don't think she reads as much as she once did, but she makes her time reading count. This year she's read some incredible and challenging books. Her favorite was Les Meserable (the unabridged version!)

Hazel was a youth leader for Heroic Youth again this year, this time as a Valkyrie Commander. She even made her incredible arm band from scratch.

Hazel is such an amazing big sister! She is so patient with the younger kids. I know it can't be easy to always be moving at a toddlers pace, but she is always graceful about it. She's also SO much fun, for all the younger kids but especially Walter. 

Hazel has a movie or book quote for almost every situation. She's always had an amazing memory, and she puts it to good use quoting back the best parts at the perfect moments. Some of her most quoted books include Pride and Prejudice and Little Women, while the movies/shows that come up most often are Studio C, Ever After, Cinderella (live action), and of course all animated Disney Princess movies. Love that she's still a princess at heart!  

Hazel has a clear view of some goals she'd like to accomplish in the near future, and she's working hard toward them. One of them is getting her driver's license. She passed her permit test first try and is ready to take on learning to drive. I cannot believe we're in this stage of life!

Hazel has self-proclaimed "skillful skills." These skills allow her to pull off things others might deem impossible - like tripping over air, managing to drop all manner of things, or (a personal favorite true story from the summer) some how hitting a sweet boy from FSY in the face with a metal door requiring him to get stitches on his eyebrow. You know, those kind of crazy skills haha! I can't laugh because I know she inherited them from me. Luckily she has the posie and sense of humor to brush them off gracefully. And don't worry, the boy from FSY is fine and they are still friends. 

Hazel had a summer full of adventures this year, with the highlight being leaving the country with her choir! They traveled to Canada for 10 days and had the best time. 

They gave concerts, stayed with incredible host families, saw sights, filmed a music video, attended the Calgary Stampede, visited Banff, ate poutine and catsup chips, and so much more. It sounds like it was the best time, and we're so glad she had so much fun! 

For Hazel's actually birthday, (the day before she left on tour) we had a pretty low key day. One thing she really wanted was to pick out fabric. I took her, Eliza, and her great friend Annabelle fabric shopping and we got enough fabric for her to make several dresses. The first one is a period Colonial dress and it's amazing! Annabelle is a costuming genius and has helped Hazel make an incredible dress. It's nearly done, and I can't wait to see it! 

Hazel, while part of me wishes I could keep you little forever, the other part of me is loving watching you grow in to yourself. I can't wait to see who you become and where your hard work, brains, and love for others takes you in this life. We love you Hazel!