It feels like his whole life we have been waiting for this age to come in his life - to go on a mission and be a fine young man. And now that this day has come its been totally low key.
He's had his best friend here all week, and he just left this morning, then BigBuddy had to go to work at noon, so it doesn't feel like a wonderfully special day, but this past week I hope made up for today.
Of all his birthday gifts, he was most excited about this coin that shows the Army of Helaman on one side and says Sons of Helaman on the back showing a missionary. I think his next favorite was either a book on the temple, which he'll go to for the first time next week, or the money I gave him yesterday to go out to dinner with his buddy. They hit Texas Roadhouse, ordered 20 oz steaks each and came back like beached whales. Then two hours later they were back in the kitchen looking for something to eat.
We've had thunderstorms every afternoon, and then they disappeared in the evening. All the boys enjoyed making s'mores every night. I thought I'd planned ahead, but still needed to make a Hershey-bar run, not realizing this was going to be a nightly ritual. That firepit has been the best investment. The kids love it!
Here you see Pike's Peak in the background. The big boys took the cog railway up it yesterday afternoon, then when they returned, they decided to hike up the mountain in front of it. As they relayed the hike to me, it was so steep it made the one at the family reunion seem flat. BigBuddy said they'd set a goal of taking ten steps, or up to the next tree, and finally made it to the top, and saw some amazing views. Among them, the trail that made a zig zag up to the top, instead of going straight up it like they had just done. In all their excitement, they missed the easy trail, but this was a week of Big Adventure, so this just added to their stories to tell.
They only spent an hour at the Garden of the Gods, but had fun posing for pictures. We saw some bucks here, which we don't usually see around here.
This morning they were too tired to do much, but eat about a dozen waffles each, and watch YouTube funny videos. It had been a big week. His friend had never been to Colorado and he loved it. He and BigBuddy hiked three different trails this week, totaling probably 20 miles. They rode bikes on a fifteen mile mountain bike trail. They went to see the buffalo farm, and we had bison burgers that night, which they loved. They played Wii and electronic Monopoly and had a lot of laughs. We went to the Olympic Training Center, (they have a new movie there), we had A&W root beer floats at A&W, and I made chicken enchiladas, since our guest told me how sad he was that he hadn't been able to come on Mexican Monday. He was a frequent dinner guest when we lived in Maryland, especially on Monday nights.
Of all his birthday gifts, he was most excited about this coin that shows the Army of Helaman on one side and says Sons of Helaman on the back showing a missionary. I think his next favorite was either a book on the temple, which he'll go to for the first time next week, or the money I gave him yesterday to go out to dinner with his buddy. They hit Texas Roadhouse, ordered 20 oz steaks each and came back like beached whales. Then two hours later they were back in the kitchen looking for something to eat.
We've had thunderstorms every afternoon, and then they disappeared in the evening. All the boys enjoyed making s'mores every night. I thought I'd planned ahead, but still needed to make a Hershey-bar run, not realizing this was going to be a nightly ritual. That firepit has been the best investment. The kids love it!
Here you see Pike's Peak in the background. The big boys took the cog railway up it yesterday afternoon, then when they returned, they decided to hike up the mountain in front of it. As they relayed the hike to me, it was so steep it made the one at the family reunion seem flat. BigBuddy said they'd set a goal of taking ten steps, or up to the next tree, and finally made it to the top, and saw some amazing views. Among them, the trail that made a zig zag up to the top, instead of going straight up it like they had just done. In all their excitement, they missed the easy trail, but this was a week of Big Adventure, so this just added to their stories to tell.
They only spent an hour at the Garden of the Gods, but had fun posing for pictures. We saw some bucks here, which we don't usually see around here.
This morning they were too tired to do much, but eat about a dozen waffles each, and watch YouTube funny videos. It had been a big week. His friend had never been to Colorado and he loved it. He and BigBuddy hiked three different trails this week, totaling probably 20 miles. They rode bikes on a fifteen mile mountain bike trail. They went to see the buffalo farm, and we had bison burgers that night, which they loved. They played Wii and electronic Monopoly and had a lot of laughs. We went to the Olympic Training Center, (they have a new movie there), we had A&W root beer floats at A&W, and I made chicken enchiladas, since our guest told me how sad he was that he hadn't been able to come on Mexican Monday. He was a frequent dinner guest when we lived in Maryland, especially on Monday nights. 
One day we say Two double rainbows. This was the first one, which I saw north of us, in the parking lot at the bowling alley as were leaving. About three hours later I saw one north of us when I went out side to check the mail. By the time I got back to get my camera it was gone, but it was even brighter and more vivid than this first one. I didn't take near enough photos of everything, but I did drive to the far away places, and enjoyed all the time spent with the boys. And our girl, she had a great time at Trek, with only one small blister the whole time. She said the woman's pull was the hardest, but she also realized that sometimes what everyone else thinks is super hard, really isn't that hard at all. And, she didn't take any photos, she was too busy pulling her handcart. I am grateful all of my children had such a good week. Looks like I'll be doing more journaling than cropping in my albums, and that's okay. I'm glad they all made great memories and shared them with me.
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