~Jolene~

~Jolene~

loves the color purple

loves clothes

loves to read

American girls books and Ramona and Beezus

is on the highest level of mad minutes in her class

loves family pizza movie night

loves to text her aunts and uncles

loves her sister

loves Max

gives the best hugs and kisses

favorite animal is a monkey

loves the family pets

her favorite dinner is smoked sausage primavera

loves to challenge anyone to a wii game

loves to be outside~no matter the weather

loves to have picnics

loves to jump on the trampoline

loves to go camping

loves to cook and bake

loves to ride her bike and scooter

loves to swim

loves to sing

Jolene has been a gift to our family. Like most gifts she has brought

us so much joy. She can't enter or leave a room without

telling those there she loves them. She will give hugs and

kisses to us just because. It is not uncommon to find

sweet notes left on our beds. She loves to laugh and smile.

Jolene and Raychel are the very best of friends, they love

spending their time together.

She has a smile that will melt your heart. I thank my

Heavenly Father daily for her. She completes our

family. She is the sunshine of my life. I love to

see who she is, I love to watch her discover and learn

about herself and everything around her.

~Birthday Girl~

When the girls were little I use to get them an appointment to get their pictures taken on their birthdays, they would wear their favorite clothes, we would drive the hour to the photo studio and hope they still looked put together for their pictures. As my love for photography increased and I realized I too could take some pretty good photos, so I started doing them myself. I started noticing some really beautiful places around town to take their pictures. So for the past several years that is what we have done. Poor Jolene with her birthday in the winter she gets some pretty cool pictures!! She looked so beautiful today, we headed out to find some great picture taking places, but realized it was -5!! She was such a good sport, she let me take a few without her big coat and never complained when we would stop at another great location. Overall I think we got some REALLY great photos of our 8 year old!!! Raychel was looking so pretty in her new clothes from Christmas I had to get a few of her as well!

~Birthday Traditions~

Let the birthday fun begin!!
For the past several years Jolene has request to

get a little manicure for her birthday. Usually both

girls invite a friend but this year Raychel wanted me to be

her friend. Ward was able to have the day off and went

hunting in the morning and finished in time to have lunch with

us and the Manera girls at KFC. He was pretty excited from his

hunt because one of his birds had two bands around its feet. He

loved telling us the story over lunch. Jolene has picked to eat

at KFC the past couple of years because she loves the drumsticks,

every year she says one of her birthday wishes is to have Pop Pop

here with her to eat at their favorite place. All the girls

seemed to have a good time eating and enjoying themselves, then

after lunch all the girls ended up at our home to play and enjoy the snow!!

.

~Family Party~

What a great day!!

I love our little intimate family parties for the girls birthdays. I love having their friends around to help celebrate their day, but there is something special about just having the family there. I love the look on her face with each gift. I really love how excited she was when she opened her own set of scriptures and the new bag to put them in along with her baptism book!! She couldn't wait to get a pen and start writing all about herself inside.

What a wonderful day!!

It is hard to believe our baby girl turned 8 today. This is a milestone birthday, the day she turns 8, the year she gets baptized a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, and attends achievement days for the girls at church. She has grown so much this past year with her testimony, her faith, and her excitement to be a member of the church. I must admit, I have struggled with her turning 8. With her independence, her wanting to be and do more on her own. She is our baby, yet she is growing up into such a sweet, independent young lady, who no longer is a baby.