Emma is a Teenager!!

The long awaited day finally arrived!!  Emma officially turned into a teeanger this summer, and a perfectly adorable one at that. 

Her birthday came the day after High Adventure ended, and she was confindent that she would be absolutely too exhausted to celebrate much that day. 

Still, we managed to do breakfast in bed and, loaded with gift cards, we hit the mall! What a perfectly teenager thing to do. 

Emma picked out books, a necklace, and all kinds of lotions and potions (as Grandpa Mark would say). We definitely shopped until we dropped, and then we were off for our birthdate at The Chicken! 

We took pictures the next day- 

So much love!!

What a cutie!

Hee hee. 

And a few days after that it was finally party time! 

Emma had big plans for partying with her besties from school and church. 

All of the Taylor Swift eras in snack form!

t-shirt decorating- 

she even decorated her own cake! 

Emma didn't really want to party outside, but it ended up being such a beautiful night and these girls had a blast jumping and giggling on the trampoline. 

Ahh, sweet teenage Emma!  You are growing up to be such a lovely young lady!  Emma took the bot-lious teenager oath from Leah and Adam, which says something like, "I promise not to be a moody, grumpy, emo teenager." She's off to a great start!

13 things we love about Emma- 

1. Emma is spunky!  We know this, strangers tell her this, she embodies this.  Life is more fun with Emma around. 

2. Emma is friendly to everyone- she makes friends fast and doesn't exclude anyone. 

3. Emma is stylish! She loves to shop and has a great sense of style. She loves thrifting and oversized sweatshirts most of all. 

4. Emma thinks good and deep about things, from her testimony to life after death to what life is all about. 

5. Emma loves fair.  Her sense of fair runs very deep, and it makes us all laugh when she declares that "the Fair Fairy is coming out!" when she recognizes that she is demanding fair. 

6. Emma is brave- she auditions for plays and honor choirs and leads the music in sacrament meeting and bears her testimony and teaches lessons in Young Women- she isn't afraid to share her talents. 

7. Emma is always looking forward to the good things that are coming her way. She tries really hard not to wish away today, but she knows a lot of good life is coming!

8. Emma handles not having a phone really well.  She is mostly likely the only person in her entire middle school who doesn't have one, and I know that she gets left out of some social things that happen on phones, but she also dodges some of the not so great things that happen on phones, and she recognizes that as a very good thing. 

9. Emma smells nice and looks beautiful!  Her early teen hygiene habits are leaps and bounds above what I experienced, and we all thank her for that! 

10. Emma is the best sister her siblings could ask for!  She still asks, "Where's my baby at?" when she can't find Noah, has a huge crush on Adam, and would rather spend her time with Leah than do anything else in the world. 

11. Emma is musical!  I love hearing her sing in her room, play the piano, and (occasionally) practice her cello. 

12. Emma is a voracious reader.  She loves to zip through thick and good books and devours the stories. 

13. Emma is delightful!  She brings joy to our family and laughter in so many ways, and our family would be decidedly more boring without her in it.  

Happy 13th birthday sweet Emma Grace! We love you!