12!!

I know that parents say this all the time, but WHERE does the time go?

We just celebrated Caden's twelfth birthday yesterday.

Nolan thought up and designed/decorated a birthday cake for Cade.  He wanted him to have the "best cake ever". So of course, a "monster cake" was in order.

I hope this doesn't give anyone nightmares ;) Nolan insisted that it needed to be "slimy blue".

We had a good day at the lake playing in the sand and swimming:

This is Caden being, as the kids term it, "the naked aborigini"

The "naked albino"

Caden is a great kid, and I don't know what our family would be without him in it.  Some things we love about Caden are:

1.  He is always thinking about everyone else and how they are feeling and wants everyone to be happy.  Just yesterday he and Shawn were going to go to a store and Nolan wanted to tag along.  Shawn asked Caden if that was alright, and it was evident that Caden preferred to have some one-on-one with his dad, since it was his birthday, so Shawn told Nolan he couldn't go that time.  Nolan started to cry, and I could tell that Caden would have caved if I hadn't diverted Nolan.

2. He has a super sense of humor and keeps us all laughing.

3.  He's as sharp as a tack! He gets straight A's and loves to learn.  I have gotten a kick this summer out of what he checks out at the library.  He has brought home books about rocks and minerals, leaf identification, baker's bibles on how to cook pastries and cakes, tree grafting and propagation, bird identification, dog training, how to build an earth oven, how to make a bonzai, and more.

4. He's a good example to us all about living the gospel.  For years he has gotten up early and read his scriptures every day.  This year when we were unpacking boxes, he was excited to find some study manuals that Shawn and I had had in college for the Book of Mormon, Doctrine and Covenants and bible.  Now he uses them in his studying and has a notebook handy to take notes.  It's so heart-warming as parents to see him sitting down with his scriptures and study manuals open all around him taking notes as he goes!  He set a goal several years ago to bear his testimony more often, and every other month or so he gets up and does it in sacrament meeting.

5. He's very dependable and a hard worker.  We can give him a job and know that it will get done, and that it will be done as well as we would have done it ourselves.

6. He's handsome! I've always loved his dark brown eyes-(the only ones in our family.)

7. He's not a show-off and never likes to be the center of attention.

8. He's always looking for ways to serve.  (I'm the beneficiary to his service quite a bit)

9. He has a lot of great talents, including playing the piano, which he is getting pretty good at.  Just in time to play for priesthood meeting!

Today Caden had the Aaronic priesthood conferred on him and was ordained a deacon.  He is pretty excited to be moving on from primary, and Shawn is excited to have someone to go to priesthood meetings with. We are proud of Cade and the good young man that he is.