Zoe turns 8!

We do birthday parties for the kids every other year. So this was Zoe's non-birthday party year, even though it is her super important 8th birthday! We decided to go to Boomers for miniature golf. We went with our dear friends, the Clevelands.
It was dark when we got there. Our kids had never played before. They had a lot of fun. We started with golf. The kids got through 18 holes in about a half hour.
After golf we went to the go carts. Travis took Liam and Zoe went with Hannah. The girls got stuck within the first 30 seconds and were laughing and screaming so hard. It was fun to watch!Something was wrong with the machines at Boomers and they couldn't take the "points" off the card so it ended up being a free night of fun!
Back to Clevelands for Pumpkin Pie Milkshakes- yum!


Saturday morning Zoe opened her gifts. I was so excited about something I found for her. A big book that had empty pages for writing your own fairy tale. It came with glue, glitter, stickers, paper, ribbon, sequins, etc. for decorating your book. She had so much fun with it Saturday and Sunday.

Liam and Lydia and Felix got her Apples to Apples. It is a lot of fun! We love to play games together!

Saturday after Saturday Morning Conference Session we went to Panda Express (Zoe's choice). Zoe brought Hannah.

Zoe didn't want a birthday cake. She wanted a slice of Cheesecake Factory Cheesecake. What can I say? She is a girl after my own heart. We went and all shared a couple pieces. Yum.

Now after all of this I can't tell you if she had a good birthday. When she went to bed she was trying to tell me that it had been a bad day. I don't think she really believes that, but she has a hard time making decisions, and I had given her too many decisions. What do you want for breakfast? What kind of cheesecake do you want? Where do you want to go eat? Growing up as child four of eight children my birthday was pretty much the only day I had any power in decision making. So, to me, that is what is great about a birthday, having power. I projected that on Zoe and subsequently ruined her birthday. Not really. Years later she will remember the fun things we did.

This birthday is really special because she will be baptized in November. We have spent a lot of time talking with her about this decision and she is very excited. Her Mimi and Pa sent a set of scriptures that she has been carrying around. More information about the baptism later.

We love our Zoe. Her name means LIFE. From the first time I saw her on the sonogram screen I felt how full of life she was. She loves to laugh and have fun. Everything she does is whole hearted. She is exuberant! I don't know a lot of exuberant people, it is quite a joy to know her.

Happy birthday, Zoe. You are becoming quite a little lady!