11 Years Old!!!

On August 5, Tommy turned 11 years old!!!  To celebrate we took the family and a few of his friends to Amazing Jakes the day before his actual birthday.  Tommy had been saying he wanted to go to Amazing Jakes, but we told him probably wouldn't happen because we just went with Grandma & Papa.  But the week before his birthday I got an email from Amazing Jakes and it was a killer deal.  I decided to go ahead and do it. 

On Tommy's actual birthday Grandma, Ladd, and Grandma Reid took him to Buffalo Wild Wings (his favorite) for lunch.  But the rest of Tommy's birthday wasn't necessarily fun - he had a middle school oreintation to attend, then he had to get one last immunization, and basketball practice.  Usually he loves basketball practice, but I think he was just tired from all the excitement of the past couple of weeks.  He said all he wanted to do for his birthday was "nothing" but we had lots to do before school started the next week.

Tommy is an amazing kid!  We are so blessed and grateful to have him in our family.  Eleven things I love about Tommy (in no particular order) -
1. Prompt.  Tommy doesn't like to be late for anything (even church and school).  We rarely have a problem being late for school or church, because Tommy is reminding us 15-30 minutes before we need to go that we need to go!
2. Goal oreintated.  Once Tommy decides he wants to do something - he does it!  Yesterday, he finished reading the Book of Mormon.  A little less than two months ago, we told him about a challenge our Bishop gave to the youth in our ward and Tommy decided he wanted to do it as well.  Over the past several weeks, I have found him reading the scriptures A LOT. 
3. Hard Worker.  Tommy is a pretty smart kid, but memorizing has always been difficult for him.  This year as a family, we made a goal to memorize the 13 Articles of Faith.  Even though this was not an easy task for him, we completed our goal six months ahead of schedule. 
4. Piano.  I love listening to Tommy play the piano.  At least a couple of times a day, he will sit down and play a hymn or one of his favorite songs in addition to his regular practice.  This extra practice is paying off because he is pretty darn good.
5.  Basketball.  He loves basketball.
6.  Funny.  He is a pretty funny kid.
7.  Smart.  Tommy actively seeks to learn new things.  He loves to research different animals (especially reptiles).  Over the summer he focused on the Civil War and he is becoming an expert.
8. Great example to his younger siblings.
9.  Passionate. 
10.  Focused.
11.  Determined. 

We love you, Tommy!  HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!!