Ethan turned 12!

This guy of mine went and turned himself 12 years old.  What?!   It's shocking, really.  He's a full fledged middle-schooler, pre-teen, guitar playing 12 year old.  I don't love it.  It's so hard watching him grow older and older while I just stay the same age.  You know...29.

Seriously.  I love this Ethan-boy, so much.  From the moment I first saw him, Ethan filled up my heart.  He has an infectious, full-bellied laugh that has always fills up an entire room.  He is boisterous and exciting.  He is determined and a bit of a dreamer.  He loves to take command but has an often surprisingly tender heart.  My sweet child challenges me and inspires me.  Just when I think I have hit the all-boy, noise-making, brother-teasing, girl-crazy limit, he puts his arm around my shoulder and asks me how I'm doing.  Because he really wants to know.   He cares so much about his family.  So, much, in fact, that we often have to tell him to cool it.  He cares about what everyone is doing, how they are doing it, what they should be doing and what they aren't doing.  That, my friend, is a whole lot of caring.

I love him fiercely.  Now that he's 12, he's just a couple inches shorter than me.  He's got an energy running through him, threatening to burst through and make him an all-out teenager.  Sass and vinegar work their way into comments followed by the most childlike reactions to the hard world of middle school.  Ethan stands in the vortex of all these emotions, daring us to push him away and pleading us to hold him close.  It's so hard for him to stop being a child even though every day it seems like he wants to prove his maturity.

So, I'll keep holding on to my little wild man-child.  I'll keep hoping that I'll be able to squeeze in a few more hugs and kisses.  I'll still see him as my little, perfect, most beautiful boy.  His life has made my life so vivid and bright.  And seriously.  That hair!  Those eyes!  That smile!  I'll never get enough of him.

Here he is, ready to go to the temple for the first time.  Such a cutie.

Grandma and Grandpa Jones were able to come for Ethan's big day.  We are all so thankful for all that they do for our family.  Having them with here made everything that much more special for Ethan.

(Thank goodness I can wear heals!)

On Sunday the bishopric had him come up and tell everyone what his favorite scripture was.  He got up and said, "Uh.  I like the first article of faith because, well, it's the easiest to remember."  Then he sat down.  Huh.  Future apostle? 

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This week has been a tough one for me.  Robert has been travelling, Alaina is still back in Utah for a gymnastics camp.  Ethan has a symphony camp way on the north side of Vegas.  Since I knew that I would definitely be in town this week, I also booked a bunch of doctor appts a couple of months ago.  (Back then, I didn't know that Robert would be out of town.)  So, yesterday was going to be my biggest day.  I was dreading it.  I had two different appointments to get to in between dropping off and picking up and hardly one break during the day.  When I woke up in the morning, I heard Jason outside of my door and rushed out.  Ethan was standing there with him and he ordered me back in my room and told me I had I note on my door.  Sure enough, in Ethan's hurried scrawl, full of scratched out words and crazy punctuation was one of the most thoughtful notes I've ever gotten.  This is what it said:

Good morning Mom.  Today is going to be a hard day so Please Go back to sleep until I send you a text saying get ready we are going to leave and if you don't want to go back to sleep do it for me okay.  So turn around and hop back in your comfortable bed please.

p.s.  when Emmett wakes up I will be very silent coming in and out of the room.  Now go to bed.

What do you do when you get a note like that?  You do exactly what it tells you to do.  (even when it doesn't make complete sense...I mean, how was he going to text me?  He doesn't own a phone.)  Regardless, I did jump back into bed and slept for another whole hour.  I brought Emmett down when he woke up and I didn't even care when I found out that Ethan had give Jason chocolate ice cream for breakfast which he spilled all the way down his new white shirt.  (okay, I didn't love that part, but I chose to ignore it.)  Or that they had just watched tv all morning.  It was just such a sweet gesture that it made my day bearable, and that is saying a lot for the insane day it turned into.

My little storm troopers.

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I had a book on my desk set during the Holocaust.   On the cover was a small flag showing a swastika.  Ethan picked up the book and examined it.

"Oh. this looks like a sad book.."  Looking closer, he spotted the flag and I could tell he'd seen one before.  He pointed to it and somberly shaking his head he said, "Oh man.  Look!"  Pointing to the flag with a voice full of disdain he lowered his voice and groaned, "Naughties!"

Hee hee.  Well, the "Nazis" were about the most terrifying group of people there ever was, so "naughties" isn't so much of a stretch.

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Before it actually started getting warm in Vegas, Ethan and I had a special morning together.  Instead of just going to breakfast, Ethan wanted to take a little hike.  He played it pretty cool for about the first 10 minutes before his lips tuned blue and teeth starting chattering.  After that, I pulled him under my arm and used my sweater to cover both of us.  Who wears a tank top when it is 50 degrees out?  Oh yeah.  This tough guy.

I think 12 year old Ethan is starting to grow on me.  :)