our girl turned 11!

although Ellie wasn't born until 6:30 in the evening on February 11, 2008, we decided to let her celebrate her birthday all day long... and then some!

we blew up 45 balloons and stuffed them all in her little room to start off her special day. when she made it to the other side of her room she found a note letting her know that school was delayed 2 hours due to icy roads and also that her birthday cards and gifts were hidden around the house and she had to go hunting for them!

she had so much fun opening up cards and gifts from relatives far away before a breakfast of orange rolls and sausage biscuit sandwiches.

cousins Lou and olive sent her a few gifts including a bean boozled game and a craft kit, so she spent most of her two hour delay playing and crafting before the bus arrived.

after school she opened gifts (lacrosse gloves, new fine point colorful pens, a new pair of earrings, and the game one night ultimate werewolf). after, we had an early dinner with all of the birthday girl's favorites: daddy's wings, tater tot casserole, rolls, fruit, and broccoli.

Ellie's cake request this year is proof of her Florida roots: a coconut key lime pie cake.

layers of coconut lime cake, salty graham cracker crust, homemade lime curd, toasted coconut, and a coconut cream frosting, topped with a flamingo beach scene of course!

it was a fun cake to make and I learned that green food coloring is much more potent than blue, lol :)

MVI_4727 from Lisa Brower on Vimeo.

after cake and ice cream we all headed out to a mandatory lacrosse meeting. although it wasn't super exciting, I think she still had a great day feeling loved and remembered by so many!

the following Saturday she and two of her best friends, Evie and Payton, went ice skating! besides a few falls (and probably plenty of bruises!), they had so much fun

Ellie is everything an 11 year old girl should be. she is adventurous, strong, smart, beautiful, creative, fierce, fearless, happy, athletic, and caring. she is also diligently reading her scriptures each night, anxious to talk about the things we are studying as a family, and regularly talks about going on a mission some day. we are so proud of this amazing girl. its crazy to think of who she will be in another 11 years. right now her goal is to be a marine biologist with Jack and go to college in Florida. I think it's awesome that she thinks about her future, a topic far from my mind as an 11 year old. I hope she will continue to be a force to be reckoned with, as long as it is a force for good. I know it will be!