June 16th: Jared and Liam

Jared and Liam have shared this day twice now, once when Liam was born on Father's Day back in 2002 and again this year.  It is quite the special event for the both of them.  Jared loves that Liam was born on Father's Day and reminds him each year that the best gift he ever received on that day was his little cherubic angel-self.  Liam was a beautiful baby...full and round and pink and he was my biggest baby to boot weighing in at 8#15oz, which was a lot for my torso that only stretches 6 inches from hip bone to rib cage!

This year Jared came home from his travels to Denmark and Oregon about 6:30pm on Father's Day.  Liam had been a great sport all day waiting for the evening to come so that we could enjoy his birthday meal: pasta with alfredo sauce and morel mushrooms, salad and bread as well as his requested dessert of angel food cake with strawberries and whipped cream.  They were both delighted with the meal!

We opted to move on with Father's Day first and Jared received new shoes and other little treats and notes from the boys, which always make him a little teary.  Yet,  the favorite gift to give and receive was the remote control helicopter: Protocol.  Apparently it can fly 50 feet into the air and after charging the batteries a few days later, they all have managed to fly it with a wide range of success.

Next, the chasers were made and Liam was on his way collecting a few gifts and then finding, in the dark, in the back of Jared's truck, his new Giant mountain bike.  He was beyond thrilled and immediately took it on a spin around the house despite the light rain coming down.  As usual he was very grateful and thanked Jared and I several times before he finally made it to bed.  He has since taken it out on a 10 mile ride with Caleb on a dirt road near our house and is now convinced that biking shorts might be a nice investment of his savings :)

Liam at 11 years:

You are a very grateful child and I rarely have to remind you to say thank-you to anyone.  Whether we have gone to a movie or dinner, or taken you on an adventure, or brought home something as simple as new socks, you are always very quick to give a thank-you and you never say it just once!  I love that about you and am inspired by it.

You are a voracious reader.  If there is a second to spare in your day, you find a book, magazine, junk mail, anything with words to devour.

You are so stinking funny.  You have a wit that is quick and more mature than your 11 years.  You are often repeating funny lines from movies and adding facial expressions that leave me in stitches.  When I'm needing a good laugh I ask you to quote Napoleon Dynamite and it never fails to get me going.  You also enjoy making people laugh....your eyes light up when you know you've said or done something really funny.

You are very excited to start middle school and I wonder if this is mainly due to the fact that you'll get to move back in with Caleb to share a room with him again.  You do love Caleb and rarely have conflict with him.  You also love Gavin and Jonah and I love to see when you are extra patient and fun with either of them because it means the world to them.  Thank you for doing that.

You are one of the shortest kids in your class, but you never let it bother you.  Although, you are desperate to grow and were excited to have Sever's Disease because it meant that there was growth happening in your feet!

You do well under pressure and in the spotlight.  From the first time you recited two Shel Silverstein poems in the first grade with perfect flow, to giving a sacrament meeting talk a year later with comments afterwards that you might be the next President, to winning the 4-H speech contest in the 3rd grade, to playing your piano or violin pieces in front of judges or spectators, or playing in any sporting event, you seem to dig deep and harness the nervousness into performance....it's amazing to watch.

Thank you for being you....I love every ounce of you and every freckle that dots your face!