Year 13 for Benny

October begins our 6 months of birthdays every 2 weeks or so.

When March is over we breathe a sigh of relief.  : )

 Our cute Benny starts the birthday stretch off each year.

This October she turned 14.

For Benny, her 13th year of life included

the end of 7th grade, the beginning of 8th.

Still filled with childhood, but morphing into a young woman.

Through the morph, she has held onto and increased her strengths. . . 

To name a few:  dancing, singing, acting, piano, viola, caring for young children, being a help around the house, and working very hard in Personal Progress (she earned her Medallion a month after her 14th birthday).

Just for the record, at the beginning of 2012 Benny was definitely taller than Caden.

By her birthday in October, they were the same height.

Benny had many adventures this year.

Angel's Landing at Zion's was a hike that made her push through a trepidation of heights.
It was fun to see the stubbornness (or determination) that has always been a part of her, take over and help her accomplish this task.

Her younger siblings look to her for comfort, a playmate,

painted fingernails, a good arm tickle, fun hairdo's, and candy.  : )

She kept her beautiful smile (beautiful because of what shines out of her eyes),

and I had to include this pic because I love her profile.

Jeremy took her to a Pink Floyd show at Tuacahn

where they also camped and went on a hike the next morning.

She went to her 2nd year of girl's camp (luckily it didn't rain this year).

And LOVED cousin's camp.

We were reading one of Jeremy's old journals the other day and there was an entry when Benny was about 3 years old.  She went up to him and said, "Ummmm, Dad?   Ummmmm, I love my family."

Those little phrases became 2nd nature to us for a few years when we didn't really have anything else to say.

"Ummmmm, Benny?   I love my family."

Though many people think Benny to be shy and soft spoken,

we all know otherwise.  She is LOUD.

It is good to know that she will stand up for herself and not let other people take advantage of her.

Ben has always needed straightforward answers and the complete truth.

She has a very curious mind which won't be satisfied until she figures things out.

She loves to cook,

she got her braces off,

she is super fun to be around,

she is someone who just HAS to sing.

And here's a bunch more pics of our beautiful Benny.

Did I ever tell you why we call her Benny?

First off, that was how Jaycie said "Bethany" (she was only 21 months when Benny was born).

Secondly, when we moved to Cincinnati and she met her 1st grade teacher,

Mrs. Strakowski asked what she wanted to be called.

Without hesitation, Bethany declared, "Benny!"

And so it was from that day forth,

on her desk, folders, etc., etc.

For her 14th birthday, Jeremy and I took Ben and her good friend Callie to Olive Garden.

(They didn't plan the outfits.)

We laughed a lot teaching Benny all the "proper" manners.  This was the first time we'd ever gone to a "fancy" restaurant that she could remember.  And the only time it had just been with her.

When we got home, some friends had arranged a surprise party for her.

She was so surprised she was in shock and didn't even put together that the party was for her.

After we had sung happy birthday to her and she had blown out the candles I heard her ask one of her friends, "You mean, this party is for me?  For my birthday?"

Goodness, we love this beautiful young lady and look forward to seeing what year 14 holds.