12 YEARS OLD!

12 years have flown by! It seems that my easy going little boy has turned into a young man over night. For his birthday we had a fun dinner and celebration before Riley headed off to baseball practice. In celebration of his 12 years, these are 12 my favorite things about Riley:

• Riley still gives me hugs at bedtime and before he leaves for school
• Riley still sleeps with the stuffed koala named 'Beanie' that his Aunt Leslee gave him when he was 6 weeks old
• Riley has a natural talent for music and has played the piano since he was 4 years old, he has also played percussion for 2 years and drums on everything
  
• Riley loves the scriptures and I often find him reading the scripture story books or church magazines
• Riley also loves comedy, comic books and silly tv shows
• Riley works very hard at his school work and only complains about writing and art (which he comes by very honestly)
• Riley often gets lost in his 'own little world' (like father, like son)
  
• Riley has more legos than any boy needs and still plays with them
• Riley couldn't wait to pass the sacrament
• Riley is very sweet and has an understanding of adult feelings
• Riley takes great care of his younger sisters (when paid and not distracted by media)
• Riley loves video games, his ipod and his camera....and pretty much anything else with a button

It has been a difficult thing to watch this overnight change and witness the power of the adversary on our precious young man as he prepared and then received the priesthood. When Riley received his copy of "For the Strength of Youth" from the bishop, he read it that afternoon and then declared, 'there are things in here that I shouldn't read until I am older'. This gave us a good laugh and some reassurance that my little boy is still there, but scary because some of the issues in the book will come up before we know it. So with lots of prayer, teaching, reteaching and faith...here we go - jumping into this new uncharted world for us.