Tribute to Jake

Jake turned 15 on Wednesday, so I decided to spend a few hours learning how to scan some old pictures so I could do this post. That's a mother's love for you. Maybe Jake won't think so when he sees some of the pictures I chose to include in this post! Hold on, cause I'm going to tell you more about Jake than you possibly wanted to know! See how many of these things come as a surprise to you. Jake was born on Friday, October 29, 1993 at 7:29 p.m. It was an extra special and emotional time, because just one year earlier on October 12th, we had our stillborn baby boy Michael. Jake weighed 9 pounds, 4 ounces and was 22 inches long. We knew ever since my ultra sound showed that he would be a boy, that we would name him Jacob Christian. He was a good baby right from the start, sleeping 6-8 hours at night by a month old. He had a fun, lively personality from early on, and has said and done some funny and entertaining things over the years. I mentioned a few of his funny sayings in an earlier post, but here are a few more: our first winter in Utah when Jake was 3, Mike and the kids made a snowman. Jake came into the house and said to me- "I made a frosty and I said hi to him and he didn't talk to me. Maybe we should buy new batteries." The girls were swinging Jake by his hands and feet, and he said "I know, lets do one for the money, two for the quarter." I was playing blocks with Jake and I said I would look for the letter "J" which stood for Jacob. He said "then look for the letter gup so it will spell Jacob!" Jake was pulling down his own undies to go potty so I told him he was a big boy and he said "ya, I'm a huge boy- I'm almost a dad!" He always keeps us laughing, that's for sure. Here are some other facts about Jake, in no particular order. . .

HE LOVES HIS FAMILY- He loves to be at home, and do things as a family. He is especially close to his brother Cam. They have had some great times playing together over the years. They will still occassionally sleep in the same room, and like to play outside playing catch, riding their ripsticks, jumping on the tramp, or playing Wii or PS2.

When they were younger, they would let the girls dress them up in their dance clothes, and fix their hair. (this picture may be one of the ones I'll get in trouble for including. . .)

FREE TIME- In Jakes free time, he likes to play on the computer, play Wii or PS2, jump on the trampoline, and watch TV. His favorite shows are: The Office, Monk, and Monday Night Football.

SPORTS- Jake loves sports. From a very early age he's been very active and involved in the sport of the season. He's played soccer, football, basketball, wrestling, swimming, and lacrosse. He also can snowboard and ski quite well. Now that he's in high school, he's narrowed it down to: Football, Swimming, skiing, and Lacrosse. It is so fun watching him play and compete. He's a natural athlete. He just wishes he could gain a little weight and grow a little taller (he's 5'5")- esp for football. He takes after his Dad, so the height will come, but probably not the weight.

HE LOVES CARS AND TRUCKS- Ever since he was little, he's loved to drive cars and trucks around. One of his sayings as a little boy when he would see a truck was "look, there's a big ole' truck." He knows the names of so many trucks and can spot them out from far away. His favorite car (at least at the time of this photo) is a mustang, and he got to ride in this nice one of his friends last year.

HE'S A PICKY EATER- Some foods he loves- his favorites being watermelon, waffles, noodle soup, hamburgers, spaghetti- but there are many things he doesn't love, and won't eat anything that contains these ingredients: white cheese, cottage cheese, mayo, mustard, and cream cheese. He likes things dry- like sandwiches- no mayo or mustard. Toast- only jam. He doesn't like butter on toast, pancakes, waffles, cheese toast, or french toast. Fries- nothing. Chicken nuggets- nothing. So if Kylee asked her famous question from when she was little- "do you dip?" and liked to dip everything in something - Jake would definately say no!

HE'S A GREAT STUDENT- Jake has always been a very good student getting good reports from his teachers in parent teacher conferences. Right now at LHS, after one grading period, he has a 4.0! He did this report on Henry Ford for the history fair in 8th grade. He memorizes easily, and is a good test taker.

HE LOVES LITTLE KIDS- He has always loved playing with little kids- not tiny babies so much, but when they're old enough to run around and be chased, or laugh when he tries to get them. He talks often about how cool it will be someday when he's a Dad.

HE'S DARING- Jake is always up for anything. When we went cliff jumping this summer, he jumped off a cliff higher than everyone else. He has done the sky coaster at Lagoon many times, jumped off this three story high jump at lava hot springs, loves scary movies (well, until he saw THE GRUDGE- that freaked him out) wants to go bungee jumping and sky diving. Amazingly, his only injuries he's had was when he was 4 and he broke his collar bone jumping off the trampoline. (the one area he's not at all daring in however, is trying new foods. We're certain he'll be sent to some far away place on his mission that will cure him of this problem!)

HE'S VERY MUSICALLY GIFTED- When Jake was 5, he would listen to the girl's playing songs on the piano, and go to the piano and play what they were playing. He picks up a lot by ear. So I got him into piano lessons which he took for about 4-5 years. He took guitar lessons in middle school, and bought his own guitar. He can pick out tunes on that, and make up his own songs. He took private guitar lessons last year, and did really well. We have yet to figure out a time for lessons this year with him having two hours of football (and now swimming) practice after school everyday. He also loves listening to music.

HE'S FUNNY- He created this look while we were on our vacation this summer, and it freaks us all out- esp Brody- cause he just stares at you when you don't know he is, and when you look at him, there it is. He makes funny noises and other funny faces- and he's worn some funny halloween costumes and carried them off in character the whole night. When he dressed as a nerd a few years ago, he totally acted like one the whole time- even trick-or-treating to neighbors and ward members. Many people told me afterward how funny he was.

HE LOVES BYU FOOTBALL- Even though he is mocked for it living here in Logan, he really loves BYU and BYU football. He wore his BYU shirt to school a few weeks ago when USU played BYU, and really took a lot of grief for it. He has enjoyed going to one BYU home game for the past 4 years now. He also has a BYU sweatshirt and beanie.

HE WORKS HARD- He's either helped with or had his own paper route for the past 3 years. Believe me- it isn't easy getting up every day at 5:45- especially when it's dark, cold, snowy, rainy or foggy. He loves having his own money to buy "stuff" and has bought a lot of stuff over the past 3 years- including 7 different IPOD systems. . . When he was little, he set up his own toy sale in our front yard, and had kool-aid stands quite often with Cam and Jessica. He does weekly chores, and keeps his room clean.

Well, that's it. We are so blessed to have Jake in our family and love having him around to entertain us and keep us laughing. He's a very obedient, kind and sensitive boy who has an inquisitive mind and asks some very well thought-out questions. We love you Jake!