And Happy Birthday to Kendra!

We'd barely finished celebrating Camille's birthday before it was time to get excited for Kendra's big day!  She decided to eat at the Cheesecake Factory for her dinner with Grandma and Grandpa.  This made me happy because I LOVE the Cheesecake Factory, but it also stressed me out, because we were going on a Friday night, and it's always a little tricky trying to get a table for nine people.  Especially since the restaurant is an hour away and we couldn't leave until around 5pm.  So I was SHOCKED when they seated us immediately!  (The woman in front of us had a party of two and was told the wait time would be 30-45 minutes!)  So that felt like a Christmas miracle or something!  It was hard not to be in a great mood after that, and then enjoying the delicious food there.

Once we were home, Kendra opened her presents and we enjoyed our cheesecake. 

The next day, her actual birthday, we gave her our presents to her:

An Emma M. Lion pin

And Craig set to work making the cookies she'd requested (chocolate chocolate chip), which seemed pretty great, until her friends showed up to hang out with her, and one friend had made red velvet doughnuts (!!!!!) and caramel cookies and they were both to DIE FOR.  I spent the weekend eating as though I were trying to give myself diabetes.  I had my long choir practice that afternoon, and Kendra's dinner request was Swedish meatballs.  So I'd mixed up the meat and rolled them all into meatballs before I left, but then Craig had to actually cook them and make the sauce.  He did a great job and I pitched in and helped once I was home.  And they turned out delicious.  Kendra has great taste!

As soon as we finished eating, Kendra hurried over to a neighbor's party (they share birthdays) for a few minutes, and then rushed to the stake dance that night.  Apparently some boy got all the youth to sing to her, so she seemed pretty happy about that.  What a great birthday weekend!

Happy 15th Birthday, Kendra!  

I'm so proud of the lovely young woman you're growing up to be!