Newest Teenager on the Block

I officially became the mother of a teenager last Sunday. We have had a crazy, busy week, so I am finally getting around to posting this. We had a really great day, Grandma & Grandpa Keele were here in the morning and came to church with us. It was our ward's Primary program, so it was really nice to have them with us for that. After church, we went to Lehi to celebrate with the Powell's. Grandpa Powell's birthday is Nov 11th, so we celebrated both their birthdays. On Monday, we went back to our new favorite place, Jump On It, where we, once again, had a ball.

It's a tradition in our family to record the birthday boy or girl's favorite things each year, so here are Gavin's favorites:

Food: Pizza

Treat: Blondies

TV Show: Lost

Movie: Iron Man

Book: Capt. Hook

Game: Madden 2009

Hobby: Playing PSP (I'm convinced that his actual favorite hobby is making random sound effects to annoy me. It's what he does nonstop throughout the day.)

Color: Red

Sport: Basketball

Music: Dashboard Confessional

Friends: Jake & Zack

Girl: Mom (That's a big fat lie, but it's what he says every year to get out of telling me who he really likes. Lucky for me, he has a little brother who doesn't mind spilling his secrets.)

Last year, we took a picture of Gavin and I standing back to back and we were about the same height. This year he has at least 3 inches on me, possibly 4. His feet are HUGE and he eats so much that I frequently worry that there will be nothing left in the fridge when I go to make dinner.

2007

2008

I am terrified about what being the mother of a teenager means. The attitude is already more than I can take some days, but there are rare moments where we just connect in a way that is so absolutely cool that it makes all the hard stuff totally worth it.