Dear Aubrey,

I should have written this on your birthday, but I am a few days late. It seems impossible to me that you are 15! It doesn't seem that long ago that you would come to our house (now your house) as a toddler and spend time on my lap playing games or making "letters" on the computer. Those were special times for us and even then I knew they would not last long and that the day would come when you would move on to schools and friends and activities that i would observe from a distance. That is as it should be, but I am grateful for those special memories with you when you were tiny. One of my favorite more recent memories of you was our reunion in 2008. It was the first time we rented the water slide and you joined in and seemed to have fun. But even more special to me was how you took your younger cousins under your wing and helped them enjoy it too. Older siblings and cousins often don't realize until later how much the younger ones look up to and admire them. I remember once as a five year old helping my nine-year-old cousin make Kool Aid. I thought she was so grown up!

You are like your dad in that you often are quiet when you are around a big group of people. What some don't know though, is that like your dad, when you are one-on-one you often light up and become animated and happy and have a lot to say. I love to watch you when you are happy and smiling with your friends. You have such a beautiful smile and I hope as you grow older you will share it as much as you can! Smiling at someone who may be having a bad day can make such a big difference, and people are drawn to other people who are happy most of the time.

I am so glad that you have wonderful parents who love each other and who love you and who you obviously love in return. When I was your age, I wasn't sure if my dad loved me as much as he loved some of my other siblings. I think now that he did, but we weren't a very affectionate family and so there were years when I wasn't sure. Do you know the first time I said the words "I love you" to my parents and the first time I can remember them saying that to me was when I got engaged to Grampa?! I knew they loved me, sort of, but we just never said the words. Now I realize that saying those words to each other is one of the most important things we can do in a family! Don't ever be afraid to tell members of your family that you love them. Knowing we are loved is the most secure feeling in the world.

You are a beautiful girl, inside and out. Inner beauty radiates to the outside and gives outer beauty its depth. As you get older you will find that there are some people who might be considered plain on the outside, but as you get to know them and their inner beauty radiates to the outside, they will become beautiful to you on the outside as well. You might also meet some people who are beautiful on the outside, but may be shallow on the inside. Surround yourself with people who are beautiful on the inside and you will always have loyal friends. Outer beauty eventually fades as we age; inner beauty never does.

The most important thing in the world to me in addition to my family is my testimony of the gospel. For the first fifteen years of my life, I didn't know about the gospel. Then a friend introduced me to the church and my life was forever changed. Nothing the outside world has to offer is as precious and sweet as the gospel of Jesus Christ. If we keep the commandments and the covenants we make, we can get through any difficulty in life. If we choose another path, we can never be as happy and safe as we otherwise would have been. When life gets hard, turn to your Heavenly Father, your parents and your church leaders and they can help you through any challenge.

I love you Aubrey. Someday, that will come sooner than you think, you will have grandchildren and then you will know how much I love you. One way I know Heavenly Father loves me is because He sent me so many amazing grandchildren!

More love than you now know,

Gramma