Girl on Fire.

Mauri turned 13 yesterday.

THIRTEEN.

This blonde-haired bang-less girl wanted a party. Bad.

This mamita didn't want to throw a party.

We came to a compromise. Here were Mar's terms:

A pup wake up call at 5:45am

(which meant I had to wake the pups up)

Hot pancakes for breakfast

Shopping after school

Dinner out with the fam

Hair colored at the salon

In my desperation NOT to have a party (she had two friend parties in 2013 here and here), I agreed to her rigorous terms. Bright and early I sent the pups up to her room and started making fluffy buttermilk pancakes. I couldn't resist putting THIRTEEN CANDLES on her stack,

 and lighting them on fire.

Mar came home from school

 to this huge balloon bouquet.

 (I won't mention how expensive this baby was. The regular balloons didn't even last 12 hours.
Good thing that 13 is still floating high.)

After a little shopping, we headed to dinner at Red Robin.

 Mar was excited to have the servers sing Happy Birthday to her. It was a little busy, so we got a good chuckle out of the three-servers-trying-to-sound-like-eight-to-ten singing extra loud. 

After dinner, Mar and I headed to the salon.

She wanted to go darker - with some red.

She showed me these pics:

I started madly foiling while Bill ran home to get her math book so she could do homework (I think she managed to complete one problem), and while Mar facetimed Lauren, then chatted it up with her YW leaders who popped by to wish her a Happy Birthday.

I'm the first to admit I'm not the speediest hairdresser on the block. Throw in a few interruptions and I can guarantee a lengthy sit in the chair (wink).

When we finally finished up with the color, we snipped some bangs (she was obviously going for a whole new look), cleaned up the salon, and headed home around 10:30.

Mar was {thrilled} with her new look.

 Every time I've seen her since, I can't help but think,

This girl is on fire...

(Because I was a little hesitant at making her hair as dark as the pictures she showed me, I went for a level or two lighter, which made the red - on previously blonde hair - more vibrant than I anticipated. I've tried to talk her into a few darker brown low-lights to tone it down, but she'll have nothing to do with it. We used a semi-permanent color, so she's even threatened not to wash it - she wants that red to last as long as possible. It was fun to see her so excited and happy.)

We sang Happy Birthday (again), then had her cake of choice (and mine!)

That cake is not much to look at now...

but slap on homemade whipped cream and some berries... beautiful (and yummy).

I can't believe my baby is a teenager.
And a flaming redhead.
And on fire.

Love you, Mauri!
It's going to be a great year.

Out With The Old, In With The New

We are now on the one-to-four meeting block for church.

In the past it has been my least fave.

This year I am excited about it.

Time to sleep-in rest (for everyone but Billy-my-hero)

Time to study and pray

Time to reflect and plan

Time to record and journal (via blog for me)

Today, in anticipation of a busy January, I'm doing another jam-packed post covering the past jam-packed week.
So much to post, so little time.

Taylor and Lynnea came last Sunday, December 29th. Their 2nd Anniversary.

I can't believe the past two years have gone so fast.

They had spent the week prior with Lynnea's family, then the night before celebrating their anniversary in Denver. It is always the best when family comes to visit! Taylor got a new guitar for Christmas (such a super sweet story), so we convinced him to sing the song he learned per Lynnea's request (and sang at Rob and Sookie's wedding) for us. Seriously, so romantic.

We commemorated the day with a lovely meal of brisket and creamed carrots.

The next day Taylor came to visit me in the salon.

He won for the biggest pile of hair removed.

New Year's Eve was spent in a celebratory manner:

banners

party hats

lettuce wraps, fried rice, and soda pop

musical performances

a rousing game of Monopoly

 good friends

family

noise makers

a party crowd

(Lex, btw, had a hot date)

a lot o' cheesy finger foods from Costco

and some bubbling Martinelli's.

Buh-bye 2013.

2014 came in with a long work day for me,

a long day of puking for Lynnea,

and a long day of errands and car maintenance for Bill 

(and Tay, who went along purely for enjoyment - haha).

I think they might have squeezed in another long game or two of Monopoly.

 Mar hung out with her friends all day. I'm not sure what Lex and Shi did... I was working (wink).

January 2nd was moving day for the Billats.

A lot o' tears were shed.

 These cute girls have lived in the same culdesac for most of their lives.

A lot o' pictures were snapped.

(Shi had to work, so missed out on the photo ops)

A lot o' good-byes were spoken.

A lot o' hugs were given.

 And they were gone.

These girls stood around in the cold for another hour...

 ...sobbing.

Within an hour or two, the new started moving on in. Weird.

In our grief we played more Monopoly.

 Lynnea, feeling much better, was the biggest winner. I, my friends, was the biggest loser.

The following day (January 3) Bill and I took Lex to Idaho.

Her friend Katie came over at 5:30 in the morning to say good-bye.

Now there's a true friend.

Lex said good-bye to the pups,

then we headed on our long-but-beautiful 10-hour drive to Rexburg.

We unloaded her stuff, picked up the stuff she had stored at Uncle Russ', unloaded that stuff, then purchased more stuff. We also found time to stuff ourselves with pizza in between it all.

 Lex and Sydney like their new digs much better than their old ones.

I'm digging that healthy college diet (cough, cough).

We kissed Lex good-bye, then headed back to Russ' for a quick night's rest,

driving by this beautiful temple on our way out.

Early yesterday we made the 11-hour trek home. We were grateful that the weather was good until Fort Collins. The last part of the drive was treacherous and slow, but we eventually pulled into our garage after two days and 21+ hours of driving.

Bill, Mar, and our awesome neighbor Randy cleared the driveway and sidewalk, then Bill and Mar built a snowman. They named him Rocky.

It's been a crazy week.

Lots of hellos.

Lots of good-byes.

Lots of laughter.

Lots of tears.

An end of a year.

A new beginning.

Changes.

Routine.

Hello, 2014.

Be good to me.