From a girl to an older girl; oh, I guess I have to call her a teenager these days!
Spring Dance concert with two of Bryn's great friends. These are the same girls Bryn auditioned for Nutcracker with when we lived in Utah the first time. Having these girls to come back to this move has made all the difference in Brynley's world. Indeed, Brynley's world IS her friends; all 30 or 40 of them!
Make no mistake; this girl has loads of personality. Bryn wore the Batman costume around the house for a week before Halloween. She was protesting her parents tradition that once in Junior High, the family funding of costumes ends. She wasn't about to miss out on trick-or-treating, so she had to scramble through the dress up clothes to find a costume that would fit. Voi Laa!
Our trip to Chicago included a tour of the campus where Bryn was born. This spring day was nothing like the frigid February morning we walked into the UofC Hospital to bring this amazing soul into the world
Bryn got a camera for her birthday and carries it wherever she goes. She documents herself, her friends, and her family as well as trips and every day life. Seeing life through the lens of a camera has become second nature for her.
Bryn had an extremely eventful and action packed year. Several travel experiences and lots of new friends as well as entering a new school and looking for new privileges in the tweenage world. Here are some of the high lights...
In March Bryn went to San Fransisco to see 'Wicked' with sister Madi, Auntie Jess and chauffer mom. We shopped and ate and watched a fantastic performance. It was such a fun girls' weekend, mom (at least) has wished for another just like it ever since.
Just a few weeks after San Fran Bryn hopped a plane with mom and dad to see the place of her birth. The Windy city was beautiful; and made more beautiful by Bryn's presence in it. I learned so much about Bryn on this trip, it was very insightful. She was as interested in her book as she was in the shopping; in fact, the only thing she bought on the miracle mile was a stack of novels. We also learned that Bryn really enjoys learning; we spent more time in the Museum of Science and Industry in one day with her than I had ever spent in the the two years we spent living around the corner from that fantastic institution. She ventured through the Natural History museum and the Shedd Aquarium with equal interest and detail. It was a fantastic time spent with a really fantastic kid.
Spring also brought some new personal adventures for Bryn. She decided, after a very successful effort, to leave gymnastics and switch back to dance. We are pretty sure her interest in friends had a part to play in her decision to switch. When we asked her to list her goals and the pros and cons of dance and gymnastics as a way to help her make her decision, our eyes were really open to the ability Bryn has to look into her future. I had expected to see her goals be something like "get good at dancing and make really good friends." Instead her first goal was "get a scholarship to BYU and get great grades in High School." She can see farther than the spring recital and well beyond last year's tumbling meets, and into the good things that sooner than later will come.
Summer meant lots of dance class, a trip to girls camp with neighborhood friends, and another trip to the beach and Disneyland. Bryn also spent LOTS of time with her friends, and started asking repeatedly for her own personal connection to the girls who are her world, a cel phone. It was toward the end of summer that Bryn's intense 12 year old maturity began to give way to that inevitable teenage girl brain freeze that takes over all darling and wonderful girls and turns them into super emotional very sensitive and highly unreasonable teeagers. She struggles to remain with us in the land of the rational, and does pretty well most of the time.
Autumn meant (finally!) entrance into Jr. High School. She took to the new routines like a fish takes to water. Dozens of girls to hang out with at lunch and connect to at home through her favorite new past time, facebook. Her grades have not been a struggle at all, its the facebook and email time that are the challenge for this budding teenager. More than once these privileges have been suspended, only to see the contrite darling Brynly quick to comply with family computer rules so she can get back on line and friend friend friend!
As Winter continues We see Bryn head back to the slopes with her wicked cool snowboard (as long as her parents drag her out of bed, feed her a warm breakfast, and promise to get her home in time for the evening's social event). She is happy in the moment and looks forward to every moment ahead of her. Just like the slippery speed of her snowboard, life is coming fast for Brynley and that is just how she likes it.
Some of the most impressive events of Brynley's last year have very little to do with her accomplishments and her many -names- long list of acquired friends. They have been in the mornings when I still find her curled up with her sister Lucy, having helped her roommate through a sleepless night. They come on evenings when she has tackled a difficult dinner recipe, all by herself. And in days when I see her knit hats for cancer patients or send a note to a girl in the neighborhood who struggles with this or that. Though her body is plagued with the woes of teenagerhood, her spirit is fighting strong. She shows her true colors more and more these days, and they are happy, clear, clean colors; bright with her hopes for the future and her sheer ability to make those hopes into her very reality.
In March Bryn went to San Fransisco to see 'Wicked' with sister Madi, Auntie Jess and chauffer mom. We shopped and ate and watched a fantastic performance. It was such a fun girls' weekend, mom (at least) has wished for another just like it ever since.
Just a few weeks after San Fran Bryn hopped a plane with mom and dad to see the place of her birth. The Windy city was beautiful; and made more beautiful by Bryn's presence in it. I learned so much about Bryn on this trip, it was very insightful. She was as interested in her book as she was in the shopping; in fact, the only thing she bought on the miracle mile was a stack of novels. We also learned that Bryn really enjoys learning; we spent more time in the Museum of Science and Industry in one day with her than I had ever spent in the the two years we spent living around the corner from that fantastic institution. She ventured through the Natural History museum and the Shedd Aquarium with equal interest and detail. It was a fantastic time spent with a really fantastic kid.
Spring also brought some new personal adventures for Bryn. She decided, after a very successful effort, to leave gymnastics and switch back to dance. We are pretty sure her interest in friends had a part to play in her decision to switch. When we asked her to list her goals and the pros and cons of dance and gymnastics as a way to help her make her decision, our eyes were really open to the ability Bryn has to look into her future. I had expected to see her goals be something like "get good at dancing and make really good friends." Instead her first goal was "get a scholarship to BYU and get great grades in High School." She can see farther than the spring recital and well beyond last year's tumbling meets, and into the good things that sooner than later will come.
Summer meant lots of dance class, a trip to girls camp with neighborhood friends, and another trip to the beach and Disneyland. Bryn also spent LOTS of time with her friends, and started asking repeatedly for her own personal connection to the girls who are her world, a cel phone. It was toward the end of summer that Bryn's intense 12 year old maturity began to give way to that inevitable teenage girl brain freeze that takes over all darling and wonderful girls and turns them into super emotional very sensitive and highly unreasonable teeagers. She struggles to remain with us in the land of the rational, and does pretty well most of the time.
Autumn meant (finally!) entrance into Jr. High School. She took to the new routines like a fish takes to water. Dozens of girls to hang out with at lunch and connect to at home through her favorite new past time, facebook. Her grades have not been a struggle at all, its the facebook and email time that are the challenge for this budding teenager. More than once these privileges have been suspended, only to see the contrite darling Brynly quick to comply with family computer rules so she can get back on line and friend friend friend!
As Winter continues We see Bryn head back to the slopes with her wicked cool snowboard (as long as her parents drag her out of bed, feed her a warm breakfast, and promise to get her home in time for the evening's social event). She is happy in the moment and looks forward to every moment ahead of her. Just like the slippery speed of her snowboard, life is coming fast for Brynley and that is just how she likes it.
Some of the most impressive events of Brynley's last year have very little to do with her accomplishments and her many -names- long list of acquired friends. They have been in the mornings when I still find her curled up with her sister Lucy, having helped her roommate through a sleepless night. They come on evenings when she has tackled a difficult dinner recipe, all by herself. And in days when I see her knit hats for cancer patients or send a note to a girl in the neighborhood who struggles with this or that. Though her body is plagued with the woes of teenagerhood, her spirit is fighting strong. She shows her true colors more and more these days, and they are happy, clear, clean colors; bright with her hopes for the future and her sheer ability to make those hopes into her very reality.
2 comments:
"intense 12 year old maturity began to give way to that inevitable teenage girl brain freeze that takes over all darling and wonderful girls and turns them into super emotional very sensitive and highly unreasonable teeagers." ...Nice reminder it happens to the best of them!
0h how I envy her. She is so full of energy, optimism an wit! I LOVE her personality! I hope as a teen she can continue to be a leader not a follower an blaze her own trail instead of following the crowd. I am pretty optimistic about that!
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