My Story Moments: Happy 16th Birthday, Alexmeister!

Oh my word - I forgot to post this yesterday on Alex's birthday! How stupid of me. Well, Alex, my third rugrat, just turned 16! Wow, I just simply can't believe it. He promised Rick that he'd always stay 4, but each year he breaks that promise, and grow a little more, and then a lot more, until... now he's 16. It breaks my heart. But, as Grant pointed out, my kids are way cooler now that they are older. Cooler, as in, more knowledgeable, funnier, able to drive and go do my errands for me, etc. But, I will admit, that on Sunday, while watching the little primary children up on the stand at church singing Mother's Day songs, I got really sentimental and really wished hard that my kids could be little again. Because when they were little, they were dang CUTE! Which brings me back to Alex. Alex was the cutest. Sorry to my other fairly cute sons - really, I do think you are all adorable. But, seriously, Alex was the CUTEST little boy I've ever seen. He was cuddly, and soft, and oh my... just wait till you see the pictures below. But first, let me tell you what I love about Alex...

Alex is cute. Oh, I already said that - sorry. Alex is so very talented. He is an artist (drawing and photography). He is a musician (trombone and guitar - and now, the ukelele, because that's what he got for his birthday). In fact, I asked him last night to bring his guitar to the piano, and make up some music to a song I played. No problem - he did it! Alex is smart - he, like all of his brothers, GETS math. Seriously, where did these kids come from? Oh yeah, their dad is a math whiz. Well, lucky them, they got his math genes. Alex is hilarious. Really - when he was little, he wanted to be a comedian (or a football player) when he grew up. He jokes around all the time. I seriously think he could be the class clown if he really tried. In fact, I predict that he'll be voted "Most Likely To Go To Clown School" his senior year! One of my favorite stories of Alex is when we took the kids to Virginia Beach. We had never been to the beach with the kids, and when Alex saw the water (which was, by-the-way, extremely COLD!) coming up onto the beach, he thought it was after him. But, then it went back into the ocean, so he thought it was funny. Up it came again - to GET him, and he cried! Pretty soon he was laughing and crying and laughing and crying, and you couldn't tell which was which. Snot was running down his face and he was hiding behind me. Hilarious! I'll share that picture with you in a minute. Another story - we were riding the "Heber Creeper (a train in Utah, which does exactly what it's name says it does), and Alex had his best friend with him - his binky! I was standing at the rail with Alex, looking out at the landscape, when Alex pulled his binky out of his mouth and chucked it over the side. "Bye-bye binky!", he said, waving goodbye. It was so funny, but later, on the way home, it wasn't funny, as we tried to explain to a screaming 18 month old that it was HIS fault that his binky went bye-bye! We had to stop at the store and buy another one, just so we could make it back home. I remember almost losing Alex one day, when we lived in Pennsylvania. Grant and Michael went to play over at their friends' house. To get there, you had to either go through a corn field, or walk around the corn field - which put you on a main road. I told Alex he had to stay home - he wasn't old enough to follow his brothers. He was 3. A very determined 3, it turned out... a while later, it was pretty quiet. I thought he was watching tv. The doorbell rang, and when I answered it, some strange man was standing there with Alex! He had found Alex walking down the busy road by himself. He was pretty upset with me. He said, "You are very lucky that I'm a good person. You might not have ever seen him again if I wasn't." I think I waited YEARS before I admitted to Rick what had happened. It scared me to death. Alex is just a complete joy to have around. He's never made me disappointed. Well, maybe those times when he's mean to his little brother, but that happens between all brothers, I think. Alex towers over most of his brothers - he grew over a foot while Grant was away on his mission. I think Grant didn't recognize Alex when he came home! And, have I mentioned that Alex is adorable? Don't believe me? Just look at these...