Little Miss Fancy Pants

This is an older picture of Reilly - but I love it. Reilly just turned 10 a few days ago and I can't believe how quickly she's growing up. I always hear about how fast they grow up but it's hard to imagine it until you experience it for yourself. I absolutely love and adore her and I am so thankful she's in my life. I couldn't have asked for a better older sister for the rest of my crew. I can't believe that in 2 years she'll be in Young Women and in 6 years she'll be dating and driving. I'm glad she's not interested in boys just yet (but more then a few seem interested in her...ahhh I'm not ready!) Anyways, I know that Reilly and I seem to butt heads more now that she's getting older but I think it's because we are SOOOO much alike (it's kinda scary). I love what she adds to our family and I love the young woman she is becoming. I'm looking forward to all that she has in store for the world and yet I want to keep her tucked away and hidden from the ugliness she no doubt will encounter. I'm so glad that she and Darren have such a good relationship - she truly is a "daddy's girl" and Darren just loves it. I know that there will be some turbulent times ahead and I pray that no matter what she will always know she is safe and loved at home.
Top ten things I love about Reilly:
10. I love her smile - love it!
9. I love that she loves to read, and read she does - a lot! She is always asking for new books for her birthday and Christmas and she reads them all.
8. I love that she is always wanting to try new things. I see her constantly expanding her comfort zone and I'm amazed at how far she's come.
7. I love her creativity. She is always wanting to do what I'm doing and she is actually REALLY good at it. She just got a little sewing machine for her birthday and I can't wait to see everything she creates.
6. I love that she loves to organize. She'll often ask me if she can organize her closet or her drawers - I mean com'on, how many kids do you know who does that? And bonus, she's really good at it too!
5. I love what a good person she is. I can't tell you how often I have people telling me that she's their daughter's "favorite" friend, or she's the nicest to their kids and every teacher from kindergarten on has told me she's a top favorite student of theirs.
4. I love that she wants to read the scriptures. I can't tell you how often I've found her in a quiet spot just reading the Book of Mormon. It pulls at my heart and I get chocked up imagining the powerful example she is to me.
3. I love that she loves to learn. It seems that so far both Reilly and Jacob have been blessed with this desire, but I can't help to think that Reilly has had a wonderful influence on her younger brother. One of their favorite things to do is solve complex math problems that Darren and I write out for them.
2. I love that she is in charge of Family Home Evening. She is always the one to organize it, teach the lesson and involve everyone. She spends so much time preparing activities, searching for lessons - she even made her own display board for pictures. I can't tell you how proud I am of her when she stands before our family and gives us an amazing lesson.
1. I love how nurturing she is. There are some people just born with this ability and I was not one of them. I can tell already that she is going to have a life dedicated to serving others. She is such a wonderful older sister to Ryann and Evan. They often fight over who's going to sit by Reilly - they love her so much. Her heart is just so big.

I know she's not perfect, but she's pretty darn close:)