15.

Last week Sydney turned 15! Hard to believe isn't it?! This girl is flat out fun. She is animated and silly and often times loud, but just an over all amazing young lady. We get some eye rolls here and there when we "pester" her to do things, but even through the eye rolls we think she is a pretty awesome kid. The sky is the limit for Sydney and I enjoy watching her grow, mature and soar. 

  

  

  

On her actual birthday she requested steak for dinner so we headed to Longhorns. Joey and Katie joined us for dinner and afterward we headed home for strawberry birthday cake. The only problem was we were all too full to eat cake. Ha! 

Sydney opted for a smaller low key party this year with her best buds. We took the girls to the pool for the day and then back home for a spend-the-night. This was quite possibly the least amount of planning and work I have ever done for a party so I'm grateful for her choice of keeping it simple. Jordyn ended up having some friends join her at the pool as well and despite the age differences and the fact that Bryce was the only boy in a pool full of girls everyone had a blast. 

  

  

   

On July 5th Sydney and I headed to the DDS so she could take her Learner's Exam. She passed and we now officially have another driver in the house. After her test I drove to a church thinking the parking lot would make an excellent first driving experience, but much to my surprise most of the parking lot was being worked on so we headed home. Last night Sydney finally got her chance to get behind the wheel. Bryan and I took her up to the Etowah and Booth school parking lots for her first driving lesson. She had a serious case of the giggles at first and after a few times of Bryan and I yelling out "BRAKES" and "turn, Turn, TURN" she pulled it together and ended up doing a pretty darn good job. As for myself I was surprised at how nervous I got once she actually put her foot on the gas pedal. I now understand why my dad said the scariest part of parenting for him was when we started driving. When you start to explain everything that goes along with driving to someone who has never done it you realize just how much there is to learn and focus on.