Tyler is 9!

I can't believe Tyler is actually 9 years old! It seems so crazy! He turned 9 on the 21st. He went to his last day in Wolf's and then Grandpa and Grandma Whitney came up and took him out to buy a birthday present. He got back just in time for his football game. We all went to the football game together and Grandma Neilson, Crystal and Kurt all joined us too. Then Grandpa and Grandma Whitney took us out to Hamburger Patty's for dinner where we embarrassed Ty and sang him happy birthday. He was embarrassed even though we were the only ones there :)

Saturday was party day. I didn't think ahead really well. I knew I didn't work Saturday night but kind of left out the part where I worked Friday night. But it all worked out. I took Tyler, Jesse and Ty's two friends Ethan and James to the movie. Thanks a ton to Megan (and Addi) for tending Tracen, he's not fun to take to movies yet. Josh got to go to all the SUU homecoming activities so he missed out. We went to Astro boy which I thought was pretty cute. We bought lots of popcorn and treats and I think they had a good time. Then at 6 we had a family party, which Josh did get to come to thankfully. Ty wanted cheesecake, so we had that and vanilla and mint chip ice cream. I know they don't really go together well, but that's what we did. Ty loved all the gifts he got, so thank you everyone! He's been reading his books, downloading music and movies from itunes and shooting everything in sight with his nerf machine gun.

Ty is a great kid! He drives me crazy sometimes, but I've really come to realize what a great kid he really is. His teachers and other adults around him always tell me what a wonderful person he is and he really is. He's so smart it's scary sometimes. He loves to read. He is currently reading several things all at once and I'm not sure how he keeps it all straight but he does. He's reading Harry Potter again and is in book 4, he's read three of the Fablehaven books and says he's going to read four when he's done with Harry Potter and he's also reading Spiderwick, which he got for his birthday. He throws in other random things like Diary of a wimpy kid and others to mix it up I guess. He's a great brother and plays well MOST of the time with Jesse and takes great care of Tracen. I can sleep for a while after working and know that Ty will take care of Tracen and come get me if he needs something. He loves legos and builds all sorts of stuff. He loves all sorts of artsy type stuff and has recently taken up writing comics. They're pretty funny actually. He has loved playing football and I think this is the first sport he hasn't been totally sick of by the end of the season. In fact, he was really upset he had to miss a game a few weeks ago.

Ty also likes going to church and helps keep us all in line. Josh was going to go buy Ty some batteries for his machine gun today while he was working but then Ty realized it was sunday and was all torn between wanting his batterries and having Josh break the Sabbath to get them. He told me "mom I really want them, but it's not really an emergency huh?" So we came up with a plan and called Josh, he's going to go buy them after midnight, then it's Monday LOL!. He also loves scouts and constantly brings me his book to either help him pass something off or to ask me to help him pass something off. In wolfs he ended up with his badge and 5 arrow points. He's a crazy kid.

One of the things I love about Ty most is that he's super compassionate and empathetic. He totally feels for other people. He cares about his friends and would rather be upset himself than make them upset. He cares a lot about other people and will really feel happy or sad for them. He's cried for people before and he'll see something on the news or tv and comment about how sad that is and that he's sorry for them.

Anyway, it's a long post but I haven't written anything about Ty for a long time so it's more for me, sorry if you're still reading all this! I love you bud and I'm so proud of you! I'm so glad that I get to be your mom. I hope you had a Happy Birthday!

Ty's birthday cheesecake
Tyler and I trying to light the candles on his cheesecake...interesting. Cheesecake en flambe anyone?
Ty hiking the other day

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TYLER!