She's a teen!!!

For a couple of years now, I have been speaking of Abby as if she was already a teenager.   

That may be because, for a couple of years now, she's been acting like a teen!

Finally it's true.    My first baby girl is 13.   

A few things stand out to me when I look at this picture:  1. My nose is big  (that grade 1 boy I work with at school is right;).     2.  Abby has had braces for 7 months already, which means there are only 7 more payments to go.  Woot woot!!    3.  Our selfie skills are sorely lacking.   Abby's friend Falen was supposed to snap a birthday picture of me and my girl but she obviously thought that included her in it as she kept sneaking her way into the shot.  haha.  What cute girls!  I definitely feel grateful for the good friends this girl has right now in her life. 

Abby's actual birthday was (at best) a gong show.   Her Grandpa Hardy had just had a major surgery, I'd worked all week long, and she'd had a week full of girls choir rehearsals.   We did our best to piece together a party but it certainly wasn't anything grand.   On the plus side, her 14th birthday is bound to be impressive by comparison;)

The day after Abby's birthday, we loaded the kids up and headed for Calgary.   John and I were looking forward to visiting with Max at the Foothills hospital and Abby was performing with the Girls Choir in Calgary.  

I had forgotten what city life is like.  

First, we dropped the younger kids off at Ben and Kat's house to play with their girls for the day.   Then John, Abby and I drove up to the University area to visit Grandpa.   

We weren't allowed in though as it was hospital "rest time" so we hopped back in the van.

Drove to Knoxx church located in down town Calgary and dropped off Abby with her group.

Then we headed back up to the hospital, saw Max for a mere 25 minutes and then - 

back to Knoxx church!

We watched Abby for a few minutes, took some pictures, and then I drove John all the way down to Ben and Kat's house at the furthest end of Calgary so that he could take care of our kids again.

I turned around and drove right back downtown to be able to get Abby.   I was able to listen to the final adjudication before grabbing Abbs and heading back down to Ben and Kats for dinner before heading back to Cardston. 

It was CRAZY!! 

You can spend all day driving around in that city and never really feel like you accomplished much, but there is certainly a fun energy to city life. 

I appreciated the brief moments where I was able to pause and take in the beautiful Knoxx church.  

 I'd been here once before, exactly a year ago, and it is one of my favorite places to hear a choir sing!

We got home shortly before midnight and the kids were absolutely exhausted, but it was certainly nice to watch Abby and celebrate her accomplishment a little bit.