The Young and the Restless

Thirteen

I have a teenager. But not just any teenager. A beautiful, thoughtful, confident, funny, talented and loving teenager. One who likes to make music videos with her little brothers, gives the best back massages, sends random snapchat videos like eating cereal in slow motion to her friends, likes to take selfies with a double chin and instant message them to her friends, can only sleep in shorts, listens to scriptures while she gets ready in the morning, loves to curl up in a fuzzy blanket, eats cough drops like candy, hates wearing jeans, likes to do makeovers with her friends and give each other uni-brows, hates eating breakfast, loves to pull pranks and tease, says the most thoughtful prayers, likes being the center of attention, could live off hot chocolate and sausages, wishes she was a mermaid, has a witty sense of humor and still loves to snuggle up to me. The older she gets, the more we have in common as we share the same interests in music, movies and clothes. Introducing her to my favorite chick flicks has been fun. The emotions of a teenage girl are a fragile thing not to be tampered with, but the perks of having a teenage daughter far outweigh the tears. Most of the time. So grateful for the wonderful young woman she is becoming, I couldn't be more proud of the choices she has made. Love this girl with all my heart. Happy birthday, Kylie. Birthday photo shoot, per her request....which per usual is always full of laughs, "the struggle is real".

This girl is a crack up. Not only does she like to have contests with her friends to see who can take the best double chin picture, but she likes to embarrass me by randomly pulling this face in public while she looks around in slow motion scanning the crowd. I mean, it takes a lot of confidence to have fun without worrying about what others think of you. Funny girl.

I gave her a choice between a party or going to see the Russian Ballet Co perform Sleeping Beauty. I was so glad she chose the ballet. Her day was made special with her requested birthday breakfast of muffins and smoothies, lunch at the Thai Container with her Dad and then a few friends came over for dinner (BBQ pork sandwiches, her pick), cake and ice cream.

The missionaries stopped by for some cake too and put on a pretty impressive magic show. Glad they provided the birthday party entertainment. These two are some of our favorite Elders, it's been fun getting a chance to really get to know the missionaries serving in our ward. I am also grateful for the wonderful friends Kylie has made, it's going to be so hard to say good bye.

A few weeks later we went to the ballet and I loved having that time with just my girl. The ballet was just beautiful and I love that she knew the names of the different positions and moves. The Issac Theater Royale was absolutely spectacular. It recently re-opened after renovations from the earth quake. They did a wonderful job preserving the details and character of the historic building. But I think my favorite part was sitting in the parked car with the heater blasting while we laughed about different memories (like our girls night watching Ramona in the back of the car at the Sport Chalet parking lot, while eating salt and vinegar chips until our tongues were raw). We talked about all the things we were looking forward to when we move back and scrolled through pinterest planning how she wanted to decorate her room. Any time spent with this girl is time well spent, and I loved every minute of it.