Leah turned 18 yesterday. My kids are getting so old. I have no idea how I got a 20 year old and an 18 year old. It is crazy. Leah's birthday usually falls on or very close to conference weekend. What a great way to spend a birthday, listening to a prophet of God. Since we are in the middle of this pandemic still, I was worried about how lonely her birthday would be. I had managed to get her a couple little gifts before we were not able to shop anymore and as requested Dave was able to pick her up a DQ cookie dough cake. Friday she was supposed to go down and do a social distancing circle of cars with her friends to celebrate her and another friend's birthday. But it started to snow and was cold, so she didn't feel like joining them. Besides as is Leah's life story, she had homework to do. (Can we still call it homework if all school work is done at home now?) All in all Leah had a great birthday.
We tried to quietly cover her door with balloons. I don't think it is possible to be quiet with plastic and balloons, we had a couple pop too. But we managed to get it all up before she opened her door.
She couldn't decide between spaghetti and Chicken Caesar salad. We did both. Spaghetti Saturday, salad Sunday.
During lunch we got a text from Jared saying the first calf had been born. Leah decided since it was named on her birthday that she was going to name it. The next day she went to check cows with Dave and to get a picture. She has named it Jerky.
Blake gave her the best coupon book. He drew all these funny quick pictures that are hilarious to the two of them because of conversations they have had the last few weeks. For example he asked her to play fortnite with him. She did not want to but finally went down with him and the he played online with his friends as she texted her friends. Great bonding moment. ;) None the less I thought it was a cute fun book for them to share.
The DQ cake!
The week before I had seen our local fire department say that if anyone had a birthday, they wanted to help celebrate. I debated for a day or so, thinking 18 might be a little old for the fire department or we might be to far out of town. Then I was like what the heck she can't do anything with friends. So we got it all set up. They called me when they were about a mile away. I looked out the window and kind of laughed because we rarely have a car go by on our road and behind the fire trucks were 5 cars. I was thinking those poor people, got stuck behind the birthday parade. As they got closer they had the lights and sirens going. They sang Happy Birthday through the megaphone and had balloons and signs. It was awesome. Then we started to recognize some of Leah's friends and our neighbors in the cars behind them. The Fire Department had somehow contacted her friends and had them come along too. It was so neat. Leah was so pleased that so many friends and neighbors would drive out of their way, just to drive by her house. Some came 30-40 mins one way just to wave at her.
It was really cool. She even got a card handed to her while trying to social distance. Our fire department is awesome. They went above and beyond to make it a special day for Leah. We were very pleasantly surprised.
That night she wanted to watch The Greatest Showman, and of course we needed a little second piece of DQ cake.
Sidenote: I was teaching Blake to make a tie. We did two side by side so he could follow along. He made his and I made Dave's. Turned out fairly well for first time. His few mistakes we were able to hide and he learned the importance of properly cutting out material and not rushing through it.
Leah is a true delight in our family. We feel so blessed that she got to come to us. Next year our home will definitely be quieter and not as busy. She has a very deep rooted testimony and will not be swayed. Even when her friends try to get her to 'have a little fun and stop being a party pooper' she will not do anything that she feels is wrong. She is a loving example to her high school friends and they all know her to be trustworthy and dependable. She will not gossip and many kids will come to her with their problems and ask for help. She is a good kind soul, but will not put up with your crap. Leah has very high standards. Some of her friends tease her that they can not wait to meet the man she finally deems worthy to date. Many have tried. She has a fun, sarcastic, offbeat sense of humor. Extremely hardworking and dedicated to her school work. We are still working on the room cleaning. We are so proud of the woman she has become and are excited about the next steps in her live and can't wait to see what she does with it. We will miss her dearly.
Happy Birthday my beautiful girl. Love you lots.
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