Happy Birthday Kyle!

It's Kyle's 16th Birthday and he and his buddies are sleeping in a tent in the backyard {a clever suggestion from yours truly that should hopefully mean for a quieter night for the rest of us}. Later this week he'll write his driver's test for his learner's license and next week he starts grade eleven.

Whoa. Where did the time go? Seems like just yesterday he was a little guy:

And now he towers over both me and his Dad.

Some things I love about Kyle:

• he has a strong desire to do the right thing
• he makes good decisions
• he is very thoughtful and helpful
• he has a great sense of humour
• his velociraptor impression is pretty awesome
• he is a very good big brother and is (mostly) patient with his brothers and sister
• little kids love him and he takes good care of them
• he is super polite and respectful
• he has no embarrassment about saying "I love you," even in front of friends
• he isn't in any hurry to grow up and still likes to do 'kid things' with his brothers
• he is fun to be with - two weeks of solid mom and son time in England put that to the test
• he is so smart - he is both interested and interesting
• he soaks up information and knowledge and has great recall
• he loves current events - he reads the Economist and every morning before seminary reads BBC News online 
• his love and knowledge of history is impressive

I am loving watching him grow into the young man he's becoming and I'm excited to see what the future holds in store for him. Yesterday he told me that in Young Men's at church they were talking about how happiness and success in life is dependent on the choices we make. I have no doubt that with the path he's already on, he has an amazing, successful, happy life ahead of him. And I can't wait to watch it unfold.