Her Day

A quiet ride, for me, from Provo as Bryn dives into her brand new read.

One of many phone calls Bryn received from Happy Birthday wishers!

Birthday cake, baked by Dad. Purple frosting made by mom. Happy Birthday singing in English and our traditional Swedish by children who adore their sister. Twelve Candles, count 'em. Twelve!

We drove the valleys of the Great Salt Lake in search of books stores worth noting. She carefully guarded the money given her for each stop-saving it up til at the last (and largest) bookshop where she let out the stops and picked up a few of the novels she's been eyeing for a while. We drove around the BYU campus as one of Bryn's current goals is to be a student there.

When I was twelve my current goals were to avoid babysitting for my parents and not have to take a turn dusting the lamps at my father's shop. Not Bryn. Get great grades. Be a great dancer. Graduate from BYU. Run her own bookstore. So, I figure, if that's the kind of girl she is the least I can do is let her skip school to check out the campus and do some "job spying" for her future career.

We met John at In-N-Out burger for lunch, we bought candy at the BYU candy counter, and we picked up cupcakes from the Sweet Tooth Fairy just because how often are you in Provo? I mean, if you don't live or study there?

Then it was home for dance class and dinner, and then off to her first Young Women's meeting. Cake, cupcakes and candles (with plenty of ice cream) waited for her at home. And her sisters and brothers waited to sing to her and celebrate.

She played it pretty cool, taking it all in stride. But I heard from her friends (and their parents) that she had a great day...is that what I'm in for now that she's 12? Hearing from other mouths than hers when she's happy? oh boy, here we go.

Happy Birthday to Brynley. Now that the celebrating is behind us the work of loving a tweenage girl has begun :)