This year, Steve’s birthday fell on the last day of a beautiful weekend with all his siblings and parents in Montana. According to Steve, it was the absolute best birthday weekend, and I didn’t have to plan it. 🙂
His sister planned a thoughtful birthday breakfast where his siblings gave their personal messages of love (instead of throwing them on the group chat) and then we took to the lake one more time before having to head home.
After his siblings spent time celebrating him, he came home to kids who celebrated him with thoughtful gifts and acts of service (detailing his car in our toasty garage when it’s 111 degrees outside is a labor of love!)
Steve is loved. His heart is kind and pure which makes loving him easy.
Today we celebrated Bennett and his 15 years of living.
Here’s a snapshot at 15 years old:
He is 6 months away from a driver’s permit and it slightly terrifies me.
He’s always listening. He’s been like that since a young kid but I thought he may grow out of it. We were just in the car last week and Steve and I were having a normal conversation in the front seat and he accused us of talking quietly so he couldn’t hear. We weren’t. We were talking at a normal tone, he just was in the backseat and couldn’t hear us. But he wanted to hear us. He wants to know what’s going on all the time. If he even senses a whisper, his spidey ears kick into gear.
And because he’s always listening, it’s led him to be observant. Really observant. To everything.
He recently formed a band with his friends. Friends who have no experience with music. But they confidently played at our block party this weekend and it was the best.
He has a dry sense of humor that is subtle and well-timed. He has friends who constantly say, “I can’t tell if you’re being serious.” He keeps us laughing. He says some of the most random things but his delivery is fantastic and usually has us laughing.
He’s probably my most passionate child – not in anything in particular, he just dives into something all the way.
He’s loving tennis. He played freshman tennis in the fall and then made the JV team in the spring. He spends every free night/weekend at the court with friends.
He works out with Hunter out of obligation but he hasn’t acquired a love for it yet.
He loves listening to podcasts and his current lineups include true crime and how people have built their businesses.
He’s working on patience – especially with other people. He tends to figure things out quickly in his own head, and when it feels clear to him, he assumes it should be clear to everyone else. So when it’s not, his patience can wear a little thin while he waits for others to catch up.
He has a newfound obsession with Coldplay and he acts like he discovered this new band. 🙂
He spent the last year suffering through severe knee pain as he played sports and we assured him that meant a growth spurt was in his future and we were right. He’s gained inches this year. He’s very excited to have passed Hallie in height while she’s been on her mission – a serious accomplishment.
He’s playful. He jokes around. He doesn’t take himself too seriously, even when he probably should.
He is our favorite middle child – a position in the family that was recently reported as becoming extremely rare due to family sizes of one and two children.
Tell me you’re the youngest in the family, without telling me you’re the youngest.
When I asked Briggs what he wanted for his birthday, his list was surprisingly short: A FIFA soccer ball and the large Kerplunk from Costco. He mentioned it over and over again. I couldn’t figure out where he had played it but he brought it up in multiple conversations and it clearly left an impression.
I wish I had had a better idea for a gift for him…but I didn’t. When my kids were younger, I went for quality and lifetime play value over quantity. Years of high-quality Christmas and birthday gifts have accumulated in our house and coming up with another gift is hard. We lean heavy into experience gifts but he really wanted these two gifts.
Steve and I went to Costco after dropping boys at soccer and I walked straight to the lifesize Kerplunk. It was huge – much larger than I remembered seeing it a few months ago. Where in the world were we going to keep this game? I couldn’t bring myself to put the massive box in our cart and I stood in the aisle trying to think of literally anything else we could give him.
Steve said, “Just put it in the cart. It’s one of only two things he wants for his birthday.”
“It’s huge. How much is he actually going to play with it?”
“That’s okay. We don’t need it to have a lifetime value.”
And he was right.
We’re at the tail end of buying toys for our kids. We don’t need to be concerned with long-term play value anymore. He’ll love playing it with his friends/siblings and when it doesn’t keep his interest anymore, we can pass it on to another family that will enjoy it. The thought was actually exhilarating! And such a large shift from how I’ve approached gifts for so many years. There are some perks to being the youngest.
It’s been sitting in the middle of the living room since Briggs set it up with Cannon. It’s obnoxiously large but it has been played with multiple times and new games are already being created. I told my parents what he got for his birthday and they are taking partial blame for his Kerplunk desire – he went with them to Costco when they were in town and Briggs was drawn to the toy aisle where the Kerplunk was on display.
There was a life-size Tetris game on display next to Kerplunk and I’m just hoping that isn’t the next gift request!
As much as we call him our baby – there is nothing baby about him.
Here is a snapshot of Briggs at 10-years-old:
He plays hard.
Friends are life. He’s always asking if he can have a late night with friends on the weekend and there’s not a school day that goes by that we don’t have scooters littering our front porch. And he’s so used to a group of friends, he often struggles when there is just one friend and he’s immediately trying to gather more people.
When he’s not playing with friends, he’s on the soccer field. He started competitive soccer younger than his brothers because we were already at the fields and I didn’t want to have to manage another soccer organization. He’s a beast and his brothers love when we tell them he will likely be the best out of all of them.
He’s the youngest in the house which means he goes to bed later than his siblings did at that age and they like to point that out more often than not.
He loves watching Beast Games and Survivor.
He doesn’t require much attention (as long as he has a ball and friends!)
More than anything, he wanted a FIFA soccer ball for his birthday – which was easily deliverable and brought a large smile.
He has a closet full of clothes and yet manages to wear the same ones over and over again and doesn’t even care if they’re clean or not.
He’s similar to Hunter in that although he plays soccer – football is still king. He always has a football in his hand and loves watching football. ASU football games are his happy place.
He doesn’t have fear of jumping into new or uncomfortable situations. Which is evident when he decided he wanted to learn how to wake surf, so he jumped in the water and without any assistance, he popped right up.
He’s a tough kid. He rarely gets knocked off the ball but when he does, he just fights back. He’s the only one who can play soccer in the backyard with Hunter and not walk away in tears! And he’s a better athlete because of it. It’s exactly what Hunter wishes he had had when he was younger, an older brother to knock him around a little bit.
He sits through a lot of siblings’ games and practices and rarely complains. He just knows to take a snack and a ball to keep himself entertained, and I’m so grateful he’s a willing participant.
He’s funny and always throws out well-timed quotes for a laugh. Hopefully, he’ll continue to entertain us for years to come when he’s the only one left at home.
He’s easy to celebrate. We love our not-so-little “baby”.
This weekend we celebrated Hunter – and between the concert on Wednesday, his birthday on Friday and hosting a birthday party for him Saturday night – it was a non-stop party.
His friend and soccer teammate from Gilbert stopped by after school – I have loved their friendship over the years.
Hunter had plans to take two of his friends to the ASU game. Steve was out of town, and Bennett had a soccer game that I needed to take him to so Hunter was using our extra tickets for friends. But the weather that day was insane with torrential down pours and massive flooding. An hour before they were supposed to head to the game it was raining and miserable outside and we all questioned whether the game would be cancelled and there was more rain in the forecast. And even if it wasn’t cancelled the idea of sitting in the rain wasn’t sounding like much fun.
But then Bennett’s soccer game was cancelled. And our friends who have tickets with us at ASU games decided they didn’t want to weather the storm and they offered their tickets for more of Hunter’s friends. With Bennett’s game cancelled I was suddenly available to go and Steve figured if there was an extra ticket he would join us for the fourth quarter straight from the airport coming from China. What did we have to lose?
So we made the executive decision. Wait out the next rain sprinkles at the start of the game and get there at the end of the 1st quarter.
Our plan worked beautifully. The seats were dry. The weather was cool. We had a full section. And we watched the best game of the ASU season as they pulled off a last-minute win against TCU. Hunter was happy with the birthday win.
While we were at the ASU game his friend came and decorated his room.
Last night after yardwork all afternoon, Hunter spent hours prepping to host a party. He got all the lawn games ready, set up 9 square and the ping pong table. He cleaned the house and then went grocery shopping…all while I was at a soccer tournament for Bennett. He knows how to throw a party. He just doesn’t know how to take a picture and somehow we don’t have any photo evidence of the large gathering at our house. I rolled in from soccer just as his friends were showing up. I was really impressed with all his efforts.
Today we made an ice cream cake and sang happy birthday and we can offically end the week-long celebration!
I’m happy to celebrate him.
Hunter is a special teenager.
He has so much drive. He just keeps going – I get tired just watching all he does. From working out and temple trips before school to tennis and soccer practice after school (often going straight from one to the other) and then he fills in all the cracks with homework and work. And then he starts a new week and does it all over again.
I often want to parent him and tell him it’s too much or give him unsolicited advice. But he’s managing it well and he’s happy. So I let him be and ask how I can help!
He loves all things sports, both participating in and watching.
He is a graceful wake surfer and snow skiier.
He still plays with his younger brothers. Briggs is usually the most willing participant to go outside with him and kick the ball.
He eats so much food. I’m not sure where it’s all going but we have a really high food bill right now.
I’m thinking his 6’2″ frame has reached its capacity!
He is a good and loyal friend and is very social.
He determined he was going to create a job that was flexible with his schedule and I admit I was skeptical. I’m not sure why I even question him – he’s proven he will be successful in anything he’s driven to work at and his new venture is no different.
He is a happy teenager and I am grateful he’s still willing to talk and share his life with us.
