It's Great To Be Eight!

My cute little guy turned eight last week.  I've been so slow getting his birthday stuff up.  Part of the reason is I wanted to include a few pics from his friend birthday party on this post.  April 23 began bright and early.  The birthday boy was so excited he could hardly sleep the night before.  Luckily, he finally fell asleep so I could make this little creation.

Ethan is a huge BYU football fan.  The only person I know that comes close to loving BYU football as much as Ethan is my nephew, Luke.  We honestly haven't brain washed him, he came wired this way.  The kid eats and sleeps sports, but his true love is football.  From a mother's perspective I wish he could love something a little less violent, but what can I do.  He loves what he loves.  Therefore, what type of cake to make him was a no brainer.  I always make their cakes the night before so when they come down in the morning they can see them sitting on the counter in the kitchen.  To put it mildly, he was thrilled!   Totally worth all the work to see his adorable face light up with excitement.

He had to open his gifts before school.  It was just going to be cruel to make him wait.  By the way, those were his words, not mine.

He looks totally tired to me in this picture.  However, you can't miss the excitement of the day all over his face.  And yes, his shirt does say, "I'm my biggest fan." 

Later that night, we ate cake with the sisters, Grandpa Allen, Aunt Lisa and cousins Conner and Brynn.  I bet you can't guess who got the piece of cake with the giant Y.

Saturday dawned bright and sunny.  Such a relief after some of the rainy weather we had the day before.  I really needed the weather to be nice for his birthday party, you'll see why very soon.

Ethan wanted to have a football birthday party.  A few weeks earlier, he and I had been looking online for some party ideas when we saw a family who had spray painted a football field on their back lawn.  Using our powers of persuasion, Ethan and I convinced Jared (truthfully it wasn't hard to convince him, he's a sucker for this little guy just like me!)to do the same for the birthday party.  We did take it a little farther by putting up a field goal post made of PVC pipe.

I'm not going to lie, this thing was the hit of the party.  All eight little boys had a fabulous time kicking field goals and playing football related games.  The field is still painted on and the field goal post is still up.  It will have to come down eventually, but I'm loving watching him enjoy it so much.  He dreams of playing football for BYU one day.  Whenever we drive by the stadium he tells me that I'm going to watch him play there one day.  I realize that the likelihood of that is slim to none, but I still love watching and listening to him dream about it.  

Ethan is a total joy to have in our family.  He loves to tease his sisters and pester to the point of distraction, but you can't help but love him all the more.  He is a fierce defender of those same sisters he loves to tease and a great example of constantly choosing the right.  He loves to help me and has a great respect for his parents.  He is a fantastic little boy that never ceases to melt my heart.  I can honestly say he is my favorite son!

Isn't he the cutest little football player you've ever seen?  Who knows, maybe he will play for BYU one day.  :)