(complete with candy bar poster)
Everyone looks overjoyed that early in the morning, don’t you think? 🙂
My brother and his family were still staying with us and it was fun to have a couple of them join in for the grand breakfast.
I snagged her from school and we went out to lunch.
Apparently it was the best birthday ever. All her friends remembered and sent her home with the most thoughtful, sweet things:
(It’s a pretty big deal when you turn twelve in our church because you get to “graduate” from primary and head into Young Women.)
One of the reasons Claire was so over-the-moon that Max would still be here for her birthday was that she was so dang excited to go to the temple (you get to start going when you turn twelve), and she wanted SO much to be there with him.
So she made sure to have her interview and be all prepared so that she’d be ready to go with us all on the very day of her birthday.
And it was quite a night I tell you!
Lucy stayed with my brother’s family and the rest of us headed to that wonderful place.
Claire’s excitement was tangible. Made my excitement pretty tangible too.
I felt so overwhelmed with love for that place, for those kids, for that husband, for faith, for the gospel, for a son ready to go share it.
As we were leaving we ran into this cute girl who was leaving the very same day to the very same mission with Max.
How crazy is that?
We basked in the glow of that beautiful place for a few minutes…
Then headed out to dinner at Texas Roadhouse.
…and then had our Claire-birthday-tradition DANCE PARTY.
The pictures can’t do it justice. It was rockin’.
I know that cute Camille who is in Max's mission! She has fabulous parents!
Happy late birthday Claire looks like it was a blast!
Where did u get Max's temple bag? Thx!
IKEA
So cute! I love seeing how well celebrated your little girl was. Happy birthday Claire!
Happy Birthday to Claire. What a sweetheart she seems to be. Love the temple pictures. Hoping that person face down on the ground in the second to last picture was okay. And hey, Texas Roadhouse is sounding pretty good!
ha ha! I think that was Grace trying to do the "worm." 😉
Sounds like a great day. Seems like I am seeing birthdays celebrated all over the place. It's my sister's today. Love your individualized birthday traditions!
Just read about Taiwan. Prayed for Max and the people of his new (temporary) home. <3
Just heard about the earthquake. Praying for everyone in Taiwan. Let us know when you hear Max is safe.
I think he is still at the MTC in Provo? Is that the area he will travel to?
Hope Max is safe. <3
I'm not sure if Max is there yet, but I just read that all LDS missionaries in Taiwan are safe and accounted for.
Thanks guys, yes Max is still in the MTC (he's there for nine weeks) but we are sure praying for the people of Taiwan.
I enjoy reading about your family and hope all is well for Max. Do you know where you found your round pedestal table and chairs? We love them!
We found a local guy to make the table (we couldn't find a 72-inch table in the style we wanted), and we purchased the chairs from Overstock.
(thanks for the compliment. xoxo)
I hope my question isn't impolite, but I guess Max went to a special part of the temple when you had that big celebration for him a while ago, am I right? And when Elle and the rest go to that part, it'll also be a significant milestone, right? Or did Claire just enter the temple earlier?
Not impolite at all, thank you for the question! Sorry it's taken me so long to get back to this! Yes, you're right, Max was able to go to the temple to learn more about the gospel and make covenants with God, something people do generally before missions or before marriage, whichever comes first. I hope all my kids will be able to go to the temple some day. So what Claire did was different: When kids turn twelve they are able to do baptisms in a different area of the temple, that's what Claire was so excited to do. More about temple baptisms here: https://www.lds.org/topics/baptisms-for-the-dead?lang=eng I hope that makes sense!
xoxo