Tribute to Big "D"

Well I officially now have a 7 year old. It is so hard to believe that Drake is already 7. Before you know it he will be getting baptized. He is really growing up...in every way. He just finished First Grade and made huge progress from the beginning of the year to the end. His teacher even said that she was amazed at how much Drake accomplished by the end of the year compared to the beginning of the year. He never breaks the rules and always tries to do exactly what the teacher asks. He has really grown to love learning, and especially reading. He is quite the book worm now. The other day we all met a bunch of friends at the park and most of the kids were younger than him, so he got a little bored. He ended up getting the blanket out of the car and grabbed his book and read under the tree for the rest of the time. I love seeing that in a child, especially my child. I never had a love for reading like some of my siblings do. I'm still working on it to this day, but I definitely like it a lot more than I used to, I just can't seem to see how other people find time in their lives to read. I usually fit in a good book on a vacation and even then, maybe finish it. Maybe I'll grow up soon. I'm so glad that Drake has found that love in himself, I know it will do nothing but good for him in the future....let's just hope he keeps it up?

We sure love our Drake. We were very anxious to have him in our life. He took a while to get here so we were definitely ready to bring him into our family. But once he came he sure brightened our lives. He was such a content, happy baby. He smiled at everyone and never cried. He loves to make people laugh and is always the life of the party. He loves little babies and can't get enough of his little sister and his little nieces. He's always giving them kisses and making sure they're happy. We're still working on the little brother thing, slowly but surely he might be figuring out how to love him too. Drake is always making sure he gets a hug and kiss from Mom any time we say good-bye. He is a very sensitive boy and gets his feelings hurt pretty easy, we're still trying to tell him that people just like to play jokes--although he will let you know if he didn't like the joke. For instance, the other day when Jaclyn(his aunt) was in town, they all were on the boat and Jaclyn decided it would be funny to push Ammon and Drake in the water. Well of course, you can imagine what happened after that. Drake was furious, flayling his arms , trying to get out of the water as fast as he could, and just lit Jaclyn up. Jaclyn didn't realize that it would be that catastrophic, so she was saying sorry to him when all Drake would say to her is "DON'T TALK TO ME, JUST GO AWAY." So you can see things do really set him off. Oh what a funny kid.

Here is a list of things Drake is interested in these days....

Saving anything and everything in sight(packrat for sure)

Fishing

Reading

Rocks

Coloring

Art

Hot Tub(asks every day to get in)

Dinosaurs

Tackle Football(he doesn't know he's only playing flag)

following his Dad around

Food(Nachos and Egg sandwiches)

What's for Dessert?

Star Wars

Shows

swimming

Boating

Tyler(his cousin in UT)

etc....

Birthday morning...

Last year we went to Lake Powell with a family in our ward. One of their nieces loved to fish. Drake just followed her around and watched her the whole time and got a few pointers and even ended up catching one of his own. Ever since then he has wanted his own fishing pole and tackle box. Well his dream came true...too bad Mom and Dad know nothing about fishing. Mike's taken him a couple of times on the boat and so far has caught a few twigs. We might need a little more practice. He's hoping to catch a big one at Lake Powell. Good Luck! For Drake's party this year he wanted to do what he did last time....camping at Chatfield lake. So that's what we did...easy enough. He had all his cousins and invited one little friend. They all had so much fun. I don't know what it is about camping, but kids absolutely love it. I remember loving it as a kid too. I hope we can always try to keep it a tradition in our family.
Drake and his Batman cake
(he had to have the same one his cousin Sam had for his birthday)

Mike and his 2 tag a longs. You can always catch them cuddled up on his lap.

These 2 love their uncle Mike..but who wouldn't. He is seriously the best! He loves these girls!

Grandma with the 2 littlest..Elena and Tessa

some of the crew...

Charly, Afton, Tessa, and Jeni

We were all up with the sun that next morning. All we could hear outside were these 3 boys talking. "Dad, can you start the fire?" "Ammon, get some sticks" So finally Mike got up and got the fire going. They all enjoyed leftover pizza over the fire. Boy what a yummy breakfast. After everyone was up we got the camp taken down and Mike, Jaclyn and fiance Blake, took the kids out on the boat to do some tubing.

We are sure glad Drake is in our family. We love him so much! I love watching him grow up and look forward to the years to come to see what an amazing person he will become!

We love you Drake! Happy 7th birthday!