Our Youngest is a Teenager!

Kanyon's 13th birthday was in February. I can't believe we've finally reached the day that our last child is officially a teenager! It's both sad and exciting! Sad because we no longer do all the fun little kid stuff like dress up for Halloween or have the tooth fairy or play with children's toys. Exciting because Josh and I are just one phase closer to having the kids grown up and gone!!!

In our family, we rotate years between celebrating birthdays with friends and birthdays with our family. This year it was Kanyon's turn to have a family celebration! He couldn't really decide what to do as a family; originally he wanted to go to Fat Cat's in Rexburg to miniature golf and bowl, which would've worked because we planned on spending the weekend in Mud Lake since Micah had an indoor track meet in Pocatello that we wanted to attend that we thought was a 2-day event and on Sunday we were going to our niece Jessalyn's baby blessing for their new infant son in Pocatello. However, that changed when we learned that Micah's track meet was only on Friday...so, plans changed, and after going over all the choices available in Salmon, Kanyon decided to go bowling in our hometown on Saturday instead. 

We haven't gone bowling as a family for many years, and we haven't gone to the bowling alley in Salmon since it changed ownership. We were all pleasantly surprised! The service was great, the building was clean, and the food was super delicious! We had so much fun! We played two games. Micah won the first game, and Jonah was winning almost the entire time during the second game, but then Kanyon won it at the end! We ate lunch; everyone ordered different burgers, which were big and juicy, and their fries were fresh and yummy, too!

Just to clarify the order: Kanyon was on top, then Micah,

Jonah, Kala, and Josh. I totally lost!

I chose not to play the 2nd game. This time, Josh

was the biggest loser. It was fun to see our boys

be so competitive and do so well!

We had Kanyon's birthday dinner on Sunday after church. He wanted roast so Josh made pork roast, and I made the other things he wanted: mashed potatoes & gravy, creamy corn, and biscuits (he LOVES biscuits!). The birthday meal was delicious! Grandma and Grandpa were gone to Jessalyn's new son's baby blessing, so we invited Uncle Tim and Aunt Barb to join us for dinner.

For his main birthday gift this year, Kanyon really wanted a Nintendo Switch. I took him shopping one afternoon in Rexburg to look at some, and realized just how expensive they were. I told him the budget I had for his birthday, and let him know it was over-budget. He said he would contribute funds to pay for it, which was totally fine, but then we had to have a real heart-to-heart discussion about how expensive all the other components were and how he would have a gaming system without any games for a while until we/he could afford more. He thought about it seriously, and decided it wasn't worth it at the moment, which I thought was very mature of him. However, since we did NOT get what he'd been thinking about for so long, he now had NO idea what he wanted for his birthday. We wandered around a few stores, contemplating ideas, but nothing sounded good. I got him a few smaller items like athletic shorts (he now wears shorts EVERY DAY because he hates pants!), a new charging cord and an external battery for his phone, and a new jacket, but he still had half the budget left to spend by the time we were done. 

We took a break from endlessly wandering around stores, and went to have dinner with Josh (who'd driven bus for the girl's district basketball game and had stopped for a dinner break in Rexburg after the game). After Josh left, we went back to Walmart because Kanyon FINALLY realized what he really wanted: a new backpack (apparently his old one had a hole in it, unbeknownst to me!) and headphones with a microphone for his PlayStation gaming system. I thought his choices were brilliant! Unlike before when we were shopping, I had come up with a whole bunch of ideas for him which he either accepted or denied, but these new ideas were solely his (which is a big deal for him, because he struggles with new ideas). I was so glad that he got something that he wanted that he was excited about!

He picked this backpack because he said it looked

like a starry night. I hadn't seen that before he said it!

He has LOVED this gift! 

This was his one surprise gift that I'd gotten for him that

he hadn't helped me pick out. I gave everyone in the family

socks with designs on them this year. His had images of

the leg and foot bones--he just loves skulls, so I thought

he would like them! I love the smile on his face!

Kanyon with his birthday gifts! Not pictured was the 

bright pink pair of athletic shorts that he requested that

Josh had purchased online that arrived a few days later,

since we couldn't find any in the Rexburg stores.

He really REALLY loves bright pink right now!

That evening, we finished celebrating by eating his requested birthday dessert of pumpkin fudge, and playing the game "Things" as a family (also per his request).

His birthday was the following day on Monday, but we chose to celebrate it over the weekend since that's when we were all together. However, on his actual birthdate, one of his classmates Hannah Lundholm made him these awesome finger claws, which was SO thoughtful of her!

At the age of 13, these are some of his favorite things:
FOOD: deer roast or T-bone steak
COLOR: hot pink
GAMES: Skyrim, Fortnite, and Settlers of Catan
SCHOOL SUBJECT: P.E. and weights
SPORT: golf
FRIENDS: Jackson McDonald and Ryker Babcock