8!EIGHT!8

     Well, it happened again. My oldest child had another birthday. I can't figure out this time thing, but with each year I just want life to slow down more and more. It's hard to believe that we have been parents for 8 years! We feel so blessed to have Boyd in on our family and especially as our oldest. He continues to keep his innate desire to do what is right. He's setting a great example and as soon as we get back to Driggs he is planning and wanting to get baptized. That's a whole other set of emotions!
    Right now Boyd's favorite things are BYU football, Jazz basketball, playing games and spending time with Phil and I. A close second would go to playing with his cousins and friends. He loves school this year and I can tell that he's having more fun than ever before. He also improved a lot at baseball this year and really enjoys it as well. Batting is his favorite, but he likes to play catch with Phil and I too! Oh and how could I forget that he takes after me and absolutely loves and is fascinated by animals. His favorite animal is the  peregrine falcon.
     On Boyd's birthday we had Swedish pancakes and then his zipped off to school! After school we picked up Boyd while he was walking home and headed over to the Audubon society where we met JaNea and the triplets. The volunteers there told us about the animals they had and Boyd lit up when he heard they had an educational bird that was a peregrine falcon. As we were outside watching the raven, the keeper went in and took the falcon out of it's cage to take it to the hospital part of the building where they were going to rewrap its foot. Boyd was able to come within a few feet of it before they took him over, which was the highlight of the trip for him! We saw a few more different animals and hiked down a beautiful trail to a bridge, before coming back up and in to the gift shop. This may have actually been the high light for everyone. The kids were enamored by all the trinkets, toys and books and explored everything for quite a while. I think most of them are saving up a few dollars to go back and buy something they liked.
     Since Phil was in New York for Boyd's birthday, Grandma Thelin took Boyd out on his birthday dinner that evening. Boyd picked Chick-fil-A. On their way home he stopped by target and picked out a nerf gun and a few hot wheels cars for his present. He had a great time!
     Once Phil was home we took Boyd to VooDoo Doughnut and drove across some bridges downtown. We wanted to drive over the one where you can see down below through the steel to the river, but I dropped the ball and had the wrong bridge in my head. But we'll go back and do that before we go home. =) On Sunday we finally sang happy birthday to Boyd with all the family and cousins. Boyd asked for a BYU football cake and I think he was pleased with the result. As for me, I think I finally got my cake making desire back!!