Happy 11th Birthday Kambriella!

Kambriella's 11th birthday party was such a happy time for this little sweetie!

Surrounded by good friends and family, Kambriella celebrated this special birthday in a BIG way!

We drove to the Provo CLAS Ropes Course early Tuesday morning and had so much fun with our group.

There were 13 of us all together working on fun things like team building and communication games like these...

Balancing on the cable that was suspended a foot above the ground, and trying to help get every person in our group around the cables WITHOUT falling into the "hot lava!"  :)

Anytime anyone fell into the hot lava they would have to go back to the beginning and start over!

(Which quite a few people had to do quite a few times. ;)

You could help each other, and hold onto the trees and use the ropes around you, but if you fell off, you started over.

It was a lot of fun, and eventually we all made it to the end! Which I think is a fun way to look at life. We all may fall down at times, but we continue to help each other until we ALL make it to the end!

We also used a large rope and learned more about the power of teamwork and good communication. In doing so, we learned to do a few things together that alone would have been impossible.

We all put on helmets and harnesses and worked our way through a 3 story high C clamp ropes course!

Everyone had a chance to ride the zip line across the property...

...and I was SO impressed with Kambriella's excitement to try these new and hard things! 

Kambriella took off and amazed me in everything she tried!

She whizzed through all of the obstacles on the lower levels and began trying the hardest ones before some of us (me) had even made it up the ladder!

I loved having the friends AND the family there because it made it fun for everyone and brought fun in lots of  different ways.

I learned that Kambriella is NOT afraid of heights like her mother. ;)

...and I really couldn't help but admire these kids as they tried things that were new and "hard" for them. I think these kinds of experiences are not only fun for them, but also teach them a few things about life.

Seriously...

...just look at that girl go!!!

The weather was perfect and we actually had the entire place to ourselves that day! Our guide Joey was fun to have around and I really think everyone had a great time. Especially the birthday girl! :)

Here is a cute picture of all the cute friends...

Mya, Alexa, Emery, Kambriella, Jaydan, and Mia. :)

One of the FAVORITE activities of everyone was the GIANT SWING!

This swing required everyone from the group to pull the person up by a rope, and then after they reached the top of the 40 foot drop, the person on the swing would "let go" and enjoy the free fall going back and forth.

The kids even got so good at it that they began doing front flips and back flips on the swing too!

After the activities were done, we all sat down to our picnic lunches that everyone packed, and the food tasted so good! When you play hard outside, the food is always a nice reward!

After lunch we all decided that a ride in the canoes down the river was necessary, and so we headed out!

The girls were cute playing "down by the banks," a hand clapping game, to determine who would ride with who in the canoes! :)

Mia and Emery went together.

Kambriella and Alexa went together.

Mya and Jaydan went together.

And they all had a good time. :)

The boys headed off in pairs too...Gavin and Drake...

Carew and Blaze...

...and Dallin and Cohen.

Everyone took a ride about an hour down the river to Utah Lake and back, then slowly they all started showing up back at the dock.

Kambriella and Alexa were the first ones back...

...and some of the others took a bit longer to get back .;)

But lucky for those girls, Carew was there with a rope to connect their canoes and tow them back. :)

All in all this was probably the funnest day everyone has had in a long long time.

I also told the girls it was kind of like a day of girls camp since that still won't be happening this summer because of the pandemic.

And like I said before, having the boys there was a good thing too. They brought a different level of fun, and helped out so much with all of the different activities we did.

And of course by the end we had to take some fun pictures to remember such a fun day!

What a good bunch of kids and what a FUN birthday for Kambriella!

As soon as we got home the fun didn't stop! Our ward Primary Presidency came driving up in their "Ice~Cream Truck" handing out fun Popsicles to everyone!

They didn't even know it was Kambriella's birthday either! It was just a sweet bonus to our already amazing day. :)

We went in the house and had birthday cake and opened presents and Kambriella ended up getting spoiled by all of her friends!

Later that night after Clint got home from work, we took Kambriella out to dinner at Nielsen's Frozen Custard, opened up her family gifts, and she got to tell her dad all about her amazing birthday!

She received lots of fun gifts, and one very special one that I had been saving for her for about 5 years!

Her temple mirror that says, "See Yourself In the Temple."

I wanted to give this special present to Kambriella at this birthday on purpose because soon she will be able to go to the temple herself! I know she is excited and already can't wit for that day. I also gave her a temple passport book to record all of the different temples that she will visit, and a temple recommend holder. (Along with all of the other fun things she got.;)

Kambriella, I love you so much and am so grateful to have you in our family! You bring so much energy and spunk to the fun that we have here! I hope that you will forever remember your 11th birthday and look forward with excitement to the time when YOU will get to go to the temple!

Happy happy birthday Kambriella!

A Special Birthday Tradition for Kambriella

Today my baby girl Kambriella turned 11!

We had a wonderful day celebrating Kambriella, but before I write about today, I want to share what we did last week to celebrate Kambriella. :)

This is a tradition that I have done for each of my children as they have turned the age of being able to go to young mens or young womens, and most importantly, the age they turn when they can enter the temple.

And although it is different now, and Kambriella will only be 11 when she enters the temple for the first time, she still has to wait until January for that to happen. (The year of her 12th birthday. :)

I planned a surprise party over zoom and had previously planned and prepared for some of the most important and influential women in her life to be there. I told each of them to think about a gift (around $10) that they would give to Kambriella that bests represents what they love most about being a girl, and then be prepared to share why they chose that gift, and what they loved or remembered most about going into young womens.

I wrapped all the gifts and set up the surprise in the basement, Clint blind folded Kambriella, and led her to the basement when it was time for the surprised...and BOY was she surprised!!!

And although this is not how I would have chosen to have this party (virtually), because of social distancing and the COVID-19 pandemic, it was my only option, and I was willing to do whatever was needed to make it happen, and I'm SO glad I did.

There was such a special spirit present that I had not quite anticipated (because people couldn't actually be there), and as each person shared their thoughts with Kambriella, my love for her deepened, her gratitude grew, and the bond between the women in our family grew too.

Everyone had wonderful thoughts to share, they built Kambriella up, and I literally felt a present "turning of the hearts from the children to their fathers (mothers.)"

I was blown away as the first gift Kambriella opened was from my mom, and she had chosen to give Kambriella a "heart." A heart fanny pack, and a heart locket.

My mom began telling Kambriella that she picked the heart for many reasons...because Kambriella has a kind and loving heart, because one day she would give her heart to someone in marriage, and then share her heart with a family one day too. She also mentioned the special bond that Kambriella and my dad had - they both had open heart surgery, they shared the same scars, and she was the only one of the grand-kids with that special connection to her grandpa. I almost started to cry...happy tears. ;)

I could go on and on about all of the good things that were shared, but it would almost be writing a book, so I'm going to give a short account, and hopefully these key words will remind us later on of the feelings that came that night through the spirit.

(*Grandma Panter gave the heart as shared above.)

*Grandma Trickett gave books and bookmarks encouraging her to be well rounded.

*Aunt Tammy gave her facial peel masks encouraging her to spend time taking care of herself and having fun with ME. :)

*Aunt Ginger gave her make up and reminded her that beauty is important both on the inside and out.

*Aunt Laura gave her a book about young women and their values, signed by the author, and shared insights of loving to read to her children, and that Kambriella too would love doing that one day.

*Aunt Cherie gave her a board game, "Harry Potter and the Labrynth" to remind her that life is a journey, and although obstacles will come, you never give up, but endure to the end and "win the prize."

*Aunt Tiffany gave her bright and sparkly finger nail polish that would "stand out" and encouraged her to do the same. Even if peers might choose poorly, she can "stand out" and do what is right.

*Aunt Sara gave her hair accessories encouraging her to create something beautiful - in your hair, in your home, in your family, in life.

*Aunt Laura T. gave her a unicorn bath bomb encouraging her to take time for herself sometimes. :)

*Big Sissy Kierra gave her a weaving loom also encouraging her to enjoy creating beautiful things, but most importantly one day, being a loving mother and creating life.

*I gave Kambriella shoes and told her I was so excited for her and the places she will go! The temple, young womens activities and girls camps, and also learning to serve and love others, "walking" in their shoes.

This is just a glimpse of the good that was there that night, but oh how Kambriella loved every minute of it!

She listened so intently to everything that was said, almost as if she was letting it "imprint" on her soul.

She is a sweet girl with a special mission on earth, I know.

After the zoom meeting had ended, Kesslyn could not wait to give Kambriella a gift too, so she ran up to her and said, "Kambriella, I have a present for you too! The BEST one of all...a HUG!"

It was so sweet. I think she was really feelin' the love! :)

Then, Kambriella immediately asked me to help her find a picture of her and Grandpa Panter to put in her locket.

These are the ones that I found.

My dad holding Kambriella as a baby before her open heart surgery, and my dad with her having an ice cream cone at Arctic Circle after open heart surgery.

So many special memories and things that mean so much to me...I pray that by writing these things down, I will never forget these special feelings, and that the spirit will always bring these feelings back to my heart over and over again. After all, the Spirit testifies of truth, and I know that these principles of womanhood are special and true. Kesslyn even asked me what woman I wanted to meet one day and I simply responded..."Heavenly Mother." :)

Congrats Desiree!

This past weekend we took a drive up to Cokeville Wyoming for my niece Desiree's graduation party!

I made her a homemade card with two $20 bills to make it the Class of $2020. :)

She loved it. :)

I really wanted to be there because her and Dallin have always been close cousins and good buddies and I knew it would mean a lot to her if he was there.

We have a really loving and supportive family and I was so happy that it worked out and we made it up there. We ate lunch, visited, watched Desiree's graduation video (she was the cutest one in it;) and took lots of pictures!

We also had a "kitty" conversation that was NOT on my radar!

I went inside to use the restroom and when I had come out, Tammy told me that Aunt Laura told Kesslyn that she can have a kitty, and she will pay for it, and teach her everything she needs to know about taking care of it!!! And this all happened just because Tammy found little kittens in her old chicken coup.

Laura said, "How could you say no to that face????"

Kesslyn walked around for the rest of the day singing, "I'm getting a kitty! I'm getting a kitty! It will be gray and her name will be Kristy!"

OH BOY.

Next year around this time we will be celebrating Dallin graduating...WHAAAAAT??

Ya.

And then these two could be leaving for missions around the same time too!

WHAAAAAT?

Ya. I know!

I love it and hate it all at the same time! But what can I do about it? Just go with the flow, love them all along the way, hold on tight for the ride, and count every single blessing and tender mercy that comes our way!!!