Nora's 12th Birthday Plant Party!

 Nora Boo is 12 years old! And of course we did a plant birthday party this year. 

First of all on her actual birthday we had ice cream pie and opened gifts. But after dinner she wanted to go to the temple to do baptisms for her birthday. I just love that so much. Of all the things she could have done (or not done) she wanted to be in the Lord's house that day. 

Her birthday party was fun. She invited Lucy Swan, Annabelle Nuss, Ava Reid, Amelia Thomson, Leah (can't remember her last name) and Rachel Bagley (their 5th grade teacher and our good friend). Oh and of course Reese :). 

We had dinner- a pasta bar with everyone and then we painted little succulent pots with paint markers and planted succulents in them. We played the card game "spoons" with plant face cards I had bought and had yummy ice cream pie. It was a super fun night! 

Some things about Nora:

1) She still loves plants, crafting and playing with LEGOS. 

2) Nora likes to help cook and make things in the kitchen. Especially making chocolate chip cookies with Reese on Sunday's. 

3) She made STUCO (Student Government/Council) at Lincoln for next year and is very excited!

4) She LOVES going to the temple as often as she can. She also is great at teaching lessons in Young Women's and is excited to go to girls camp next month for the first time!

WE love you Nora! 

Trip to Cali with the Young's!

 This post makes me a little sad because this very well could be our last vacation to California with the Young's. Maybe we'll go back and visit with them but maybe not. They will be moving back to Arizona this summer. But this trip was epic and I'm grateful for the memories!!!

Of course we did lots of beach time and our family absolutely LOVED it. Benson loved having the waves chase him and also looking for shells. Jane and Lucy loved finding cool shells and rocks and making things in the sand. The older girls loved playing ball game with the older cousins like "keep away". 

We also attempted to do a day trip to Universal Studios. I say attempted because the ENTIRE state of California decided to go the same day as us...AND it poured rain all day long. So not only were the lines 90 minutes + for every ride but we were soaked all day. Not the best but we tried to make fun memories still. 

It rained a lot of the week we were there but snuck in beach time when it wasnt raining. But other times we played lots of games, did crafts, watched movies and did a temple day. That was special. It was the first time Grandpa Close came to the temple with us in over a decade. Pretty neat. 

We had such a great time! We love spending time with the Young's!