Sarita Bonita Chiquita

Sometimes when I meet new people, they ask me where I fall in my family. Sometimes, I have them guess. And more often than I would like to admit, they guess that I am the baby.

The thing is, I am not the baby of the family. The baby of the family has reddish hair, not blonde. She is a basketball champ. She started blogging at a much younger age than I did. And she just turned ten today.

Sarah started out cute. She had strawberry-blonde hair and big blue eyes. We loved having another baby, a baby we could dress up and dote on and adore, and she loved being that baby. She laughed all the time and somehow, despite all of us clamoring for a chance to paint her nails or feed her or dance with her, she didn't turn out spoiled.

She had these two super-cute outfits when she was about three: a fluffy little skirt and a shirt to go with it. One was pink and one was green. She loved wearing them and dancing in the living room to "Supermodel," the song from the Lizzie McGuire movie.

One time when she was a baby, she was running around the island, being chased by Joseph or Jacob and just laughing her head off. All of a sudden, she stopped running, stopped laughing, and squatted down, looking very concentrated. The broder stopped. "Sarah?" he asked. She made a little panting sound, then stood up and started running and laughing again.

I guess when you got to go, you got to go!

One day when I was in college but was home for the summer, I took all the kids to get their hairs cut. The haircut lady put this streak of blue in her hair so obviously we had to have a photo shoot right when we got home!

Two years ago, we had a family reunion in Midway. All the girls shared one bed which was SO fun. I discovered then that Sarah moves around a lot in her sleep, and she is suddenly endowed with super-strength. If she wants to move, she does, and nothing will get in her way. I don't know how, but apparently, I slept through this.

On the flight home from that trip, Sarah got hot chocolate for her beverage. As the cherry on top of a disastrous plane ride, it of course spilled all over her. Since she didn't have any other pants, we just had to strip off the ones she was wearing and wrap Mom's jacket around her. I think it makes a very stylish skirt, don't you?

Something that I love about Sarah is how funny she is. She says the funniest things sometimes! I love talking to her on the phone and hearing about her day at school, or the boys who like her, or the latest drama with her friends. When she was about 2 or 3 we would browse through the Avon catalog every time it came and pick out our favorites on each page. She talked like a teenager then, and now, I feel like I am talking to one of my friends when I talk to her.

There is no question that Sarah is the most athletic girl in our family. I think her athleticism is Heavenly Father's blessing for my dad serving in the bishopric or something, because none of the first four girls did much of anything with sports. Sarah, on the other hand, loves basketball and soccer and pretty much any other sport she tries. She is, without question, the best one on her basketball team. (Don't worry that she fowls out on a regular basis ;) and we all love watching her play!

Sarah has a huge heart. She just knows how to love people and show them. She is a good listener; when she's talking to me, I never feel like she's just waiting for her turn to talk. She is genuinely interested in others. She is honest, sensitive, and sincere, and you can tell when you talk to her.

Contrary to what you might think from this picture, Sarah likes when I do her hair. I remember when I worked at Club Libby Lu and she was so pumped when she got to come in and get a makeover. She's just being sassy in this picture.

Sassiness is not a bad thing if you do it as cutely as Sarah does it. One time, when she visited me in Florida, she met my friend Sean. I don't remember what he said, but she thought it sounded a little flirty and decided he needed to be called out on it.

Hand on hip, eyes fixed, she bobbed her head and said, "Oh, I see, you crushin' on my sister?" in a way that reminded me that a lot of her friends are these cute little black girls. Sean wasn't crushin' on her sister, but he still turned red and laughed about it for weeks afterwards.

Even though she's almost 8 years younger than Julie, and the rest of the sisters are only about 2 years apart from the next sister, Sarah fits right in with us. She easily floats from the sisters to the brothers to her own friends.

Sarah had a unique experience when she came to Disney World. Having a sister who worked there and had just tried out for Cinderella, she knew more about how the park worked than lots of other kids her age. But at the same time, she was so much fun to go around the park with. She is super-energetic and was so enthusiastic about everything.

This is when she accidentally splashed me when getting out of the pool. I think that she mostly likes being the youngest, but thinks it would be nice if she had a sibling more her age who always wanted to swim in the pool with her when her boring older sisters just want to sit on the side and dip their feet in.

One day, a girl in our ward broke up with her boyfriend. Actually, he broke up with her, and she ended up at our house for dinner that Sunday. We had a great dinner, and afterwards, she wandered out of the kitchen, unnoticed by most of us. Sarah of course noticed and followed her to the living room.

When I went in there later, the Single Lady was lying on her stomach on the couch, saying something about how "I just don't understand, everything was going so well!" Sarah was nodding and "mhmm"ing sympathetically, her hands expertly karate-chopping a rhythm up and down the Single Lady's back.

Now, whenever I have a bad day, I wish that Sarah was there to give me a nice massage and "mhmm" sympathetically at my pathetic story. She's not, but the memory of that still cheers me up when I need it!

Sarah makes me feel like a million bucks every time I go home to visit. She doesn't try to hog attention; she tries to throw it all on the person who is having a special day. If I'm visiting from college, I am that person. If Nicool is having a birthday, she is that person. I literally think Sarah doesn't even think about herself when it is someone else's time to eat off of the Special plate.

This Christmas, my dad dropped a coin in the garbage disposal. Or at least, he convinced himself that he had. He tried getting it out and couldn't, having big man hands, so he got Sarah out of bed (it was probably about 6:50 in the morning) and asked for her help. She traipsed downstairs in her pink t-shirt and hand-me-down-from-the-broders tiger pajama pants, rubbing the sleep from her eyes, hopped obligingly up on a chair, and felt around for the coin.

I thought it was so cute that I had to take this picture. All I know is, if Dad asked me to do that, I can't promise that I would be so sweet about it. And that is why Sarah is cooler than me.

She loves doing sister photo shoots. Here are some gems from past sister or family photo shoots:

At Disney World, a guy walking around Animal Kingdom made up this song on the spot for Sarah. If nothing else, he at least got the name right: "Princess Sarah." Enjoy!

Love you Sarah!!! I am so proud of you and brag about you all the time. I can't think of a better way to finish off the Connor Clan. I hope you know how amazing I think you are. I love you forever!