On Wednesday, September 21 Raine turned 8 years old.

I joined her for lunch at school. It was Pizza Hut day — perfect for Raine.

Raine picked McDonalds for dinner (yuck!) and I picked Celebrity Bakery for cake (yum!).

After dinner, Raine opened her presents.

She received leather scriptures with her name on them — a family tradition.

Another family tradition is that Grandma Anderson makes the grandkids a quilt for their 8th birthday. Raine’s was covered in stars, she loved it!

After presents we sang Happy Birthday and ate cake.

Raine is quite an individual. She is highly academic and spends her free-time reading and researching whatever topic strikes her fancy. A September birthday is perfect for Raine because the absolute best gift for her is a bag full of office/school supplies! She is always creating something.

Raine is very tender-hearted. She loves nature, animals, and bugs — sometimes to a fault. She started an animal rescue club and a bug hospital with her friends.

Raine also loves being a spy. She created the International Spy League so that she and her friends could solve mysteries.

Some good words to describe Raine include: passionate, determined, creative, inventive, smart, and sassy. She has a big personality that sometimes gets her in trouble when Mom and Dad “just don’t get it.” Sometimes I worry about what she is going to be like as a teenager because it surely couldn’t get any more dramatic than this, but I’m sure it will!

We love Raine so much. Carter thinks the world of her and she is a great big sister. I’m excited to see what she grows into. I know she will be highly successful in life and do some great things.