It's Great to be 8!

Ethan turned 8 at the end of August...I guess it's time for me to accept the fact that he's big and all grown up and doesn't need me anymore. Ok, Ok, I know he still needs me but not as much. He's a pretty self sufficient, unless you tell him to find something for you. He still needs help with having very specific directions (but I think that's just a boy thing, not an Ethan thing), we'll work on that. ANYWAY, Ethan is a great kid. He's friendly and sweet, he likes to tell stories, he loves to pretend he's a ninja, or a Broncos or Texans football player, he loves to "rock" climb, and zip line, he's creative he makes custom Lego projects that are better than the original, he worries about his sister, he prays that he can 'follow God's plan and be good', he's excited to be a cub scout, he thinks piano lessons are, 'actually really fun',  he loves to be loved, he adores his Daddy (and sometimes he'll tolerate his mother) and loves to tease the heck out of his sister. Oh yeah he frustrates the heck out of me sometimes with his stubbornness, and his impatience he is like the rock of gibraltar he is immovable. (Is that even a saying? I have no idea...either I made that up or just botched it totally)....

Needless to say we love our (sweet, immovable) boy! He's a special kid and we're so happy to see him learning and growing and changing and maturing. It is great to be 8!

We took a few friends and cousins to do some rock climbing for Ethan's party. He loved it and keeps asking when we can go back and do it again. 

Abby braving the bridge

They were playing the alligator game or something they couldn't move or touch the ground and once they fell they were an alligator.

What a bunch of monkeys! 

I think they all loved it!

I slaved and slaved over this cake, haha, ok clearly I had nothing to do with this cake and that's probably for the best. Well...I did order the topper thing online and put it on the cake myself..so that's something, right? ;)

I 

 Crazy, cake loving kids!

One last climb, it was a big one. Look at the people below Ethan, that's pretty darn high if you ask me!

 

Fun party for a great kid! 

Here's a few pictures we took at the Temple. My boy looks so grown up! 8 is big deal in our church, it's when you get baptized (because we believe that by the time you're 8 you know the difference between right and wrong and you can make choices on your own). Ethan made the decision to be baptized when he turned 8. We prepped him so he would understand what that meant and how important a decision it is to make. He was excited and ready. He knows God loves him and he wants to try to be like Jesus, he wants to be a good example and try his best to do the right thing and make good choices and follow God's plan...

 Ethan's first night as an actual cub scout, was an awards night. We got to "fish" for a belt loop and his Bobcat award. He's excited about scouting and even wearing his scout uniform (yes my pajama only boy likes his scout uniform). I am the Assistant Wolf Den leader so I get to do things with Ethan and the rest of the Wolves. They're pretty cute and a little bit crazy but we love them.

 Helping with the flags..

 He caught a big one! (just his belt loop and bobcat pin).

Baptism day! My family came down just for Ethan's baptism, what a special day it was for us and we're proud of our boy! 

 After the baptism we had a small get together at the church for our friends and family, since some had traveled pretty far, just some cupcakes and (rotten) fruit, ha! No really some of the fruit was actually bad. Which was our bad. Sorry friends!

 He got his own set of scriptures with his name engraved on them, pretty cool!