Molly's 12th birthday

Molly turned 12 on Saturday, September 15th.  She was a lucky girl because we started celebrating her birthday the weekend before.  My mom had planned a surprise for the three Moyes cousins that all turn 12 within a few months of each other-Chloe (already 12 on June 15), Molly, and Abby (will turn 12 on Feb. 27).  I didn't breathe a word of the surprise to Molly so I sent her off to school on Friday morning, September 7th, like it was any normal day.  Then I picked her up around 9 and checked her out for the day.  She had no idea what was going on and her first thought was that she had a doctor's appointment.  I kept her in suspense the entire drive down the canyon (she asked a million questions too) and to the park and ride on 800 N in Orem.  We waited there for a bit before seeing Grandma's car and in it was Grandma, Erin W., Chloe, Erin M., and Abby.  My mom gave each of the girls an envelope that they opened with a piece of paper on it that said they were getting a girls weekend in St. George for their 12th birthdays.  It was such a fun surprise and they were super excited!

Molly, Abby, Chloe

Molly, Abby, Chloe

We stayed two nights at a condo in St. George.  My mom had tickets on Friday night for Matilda the Musical at Tuacahn.  We did a lot of shopping on Friday and Saturday and got pedicures on Saturday.  The girls got manicures too.  It was a hot weekend, pushing 100 degrees, so the girls wanted to swim on Saturday afternoon.  We got Swig cookies and drinks and we had a scavenger hunt around downtown St. George.  We walked around the temple on Saturday evening.  The girls tried to pull an all-nighter and were almost successful.  I think Molly made it until 5 in the morning!  We found a local chapel and went to sacrament meeting on Sunday morning and then drove home.  It really was a great weekend and I'm so glad my mom made it happen!

Megan, Molly, Grandma Kay, Abby, Chloe, Erin W., Erin M.

Abby, Molly, Grandma, Chloe

Abby, Molly, Chloe

Erin W., Erin M., Megan

Chloe, Abby, Molly-lunch at Culver's. They picked all the food!

Chloe, Molly, Abby @ Swig

Abby, Chloe, Molly

Abby, Molly, Chloe

Molly and Chloe

Chloe, Molly, Abby

Molly woke up on her birthday to freshly baked (well, the day before) cinnamon rolls, as per her request.  She also wanted orange julius and I made that fresh that morning.  The cinnamon rolls turned out huge!  We were able to wrap a whole bunch of them up and put them in the freezer.

We hadn't planned anything for the day of her birthday because she was supposed to have two soccer games but because of the horrible smoke from the fires in Spanish Fork (it was bad even in Heber!), all the games were canceled.  I tried to talk her into doing something fun but she kept saying that it was okay and she wanted to relax at home.  So we did.  We opened her presents as soon as Justin and the other kids got the scavenger hunt ready...which took much too long if you were to ask Molly.  From us she got her favorite treats (Dove milk chocolates, Australian mango licorice, and cow tails), a Harry Potter hoodie, a Savvy Curls headwrap, and a ukulele.  She also got two tickets to that night's RSL game but that doesn't really count since Justin got the tickets free through work.

My mom and dad had planned on coming up for her games so came for lunch and to give her presents instead.  They gave her lots of clothes (she had picked out a few things in St. George), shoes, a soccer bag, and a new ball.  They stayed for a couple of hours and then we had a couple of hours to kill until Justin and Molly left for the RSL game.  Molly and Justin spent a while upstairs looking up ukelele music.  Justin uses the uke almost as much as Molly does!

She was so excited to find a NASA shirt

Finally it was time for them to go to the RSL game.  They had a blast and these are the pictures they took.  I was relieved there was this so that her birthday wasn't a total bust.

While they were off having fun, I was trying to stay in control at home.  Stockton and Brynn made a gigantic mess of the garage and when I sent them out to clean it up, they only made it worse.  It was time to come in and shower for Sunday so I made them sign this contract.  They were not allowed any treats (including birthday cake) or screen time until the garage was cleaned to my standards.

Sunday was a much anticipated one for Molly-her first time in Young Women's.  They had invited her to attend the weekday activity a few days earlier but it was her first Sunday with them instead of in Primary.  She wore a new dress that she had picked out and my mom gave her.  She looked beautiful and so grown-up and it's hard to believe that this is our Molly.  She went up in sacrament and then went to Young Women's.  She has loved being a Beehive!

Gene and April and Brett came up after church for dinner.  They gave Molly a charm bracelet with several charms representing the things that she loves.  She also got her 12-year-old doll and a necklace.

For her birthday dinner, she requested sloppy joes and fries.  This is funny because I have actually never made sloppy joes.  But they were delicious and all the kids gobbled them up and I have put them in our dinner rotation.  April made a salad and brought some watermelon.  For her cake she requested a mint chocolate chip ice cream cake.  I've never made that either but I looked up a few recipes and let her decide how she wanted it.  She wanted three layers of devil's food cake alternated with mint chocolate chip ice cream with chocolate ganache and chopped Andes mints on top.  It was yummy!  I love that the last two birthday cakes we've had here have not needed decorating.  It makes my job much easier!

We ended up our night playing Scrabble at the kitchen table.

You would think that Molly's birthday was over but there was one more thing we wanted to do in honor of her turning 12...take her to the temple to do baptisms.  She had to wait a couple of weeks because we had seminar but on September 28th, we were able to find a baby-sitter for the other kids and take her to the Provo City Center temple to do baptisms for the dead.  We had family names from Gene and April so that Justin and I could also participate.  Justin was able to baptize Molly and me.  It was exciting and special and when we got into the actual font, I felt the Spirit so strong that I teared up a little bit.  It is pretty neat to be able to share special spiritual experiences with your kids like that.  I know Molly was maybe overwhelmed because it was her first time and she wasn't quite sure of what to do, but hopefully she also felt the Spirit and will continue to feel at peace in the temple.  She was able to go a couple weeks later with the Beehives and I know she'll love it even more the more she goes.  

We had a gift card to PF Changs so we treated her to dinner after.  We even ordered dessert and it was a perfect ending to a few weeks of birthday!