seventeen years

the first week of the school year always brings one very important event,

taylor-bing's birthday!

this year is extra special since he is also celebrating his last year of high school.

we celebrated with taco salad and lemon cupcakes, his requests.
i found these super cute candles that i thought were so great.

that is, until we lighted them and they were pretty much melted before taylor could make a wish!

so funny!

i had a ton of fun shopping for t this year because there wasn't a main gift that he wanted and so i was able to accumulate a few smaller things which were totally taylor. i love giving gifts that fit the receiver perfectly.

the biggest hit was a spock bauble-head. its sort of an inside joke about the SBO's theme for the high school his year, "live long and conquer" (instead of spock's traditional phrase "live long and prosper"). his reaction was perfection.

but he also loved the captain america shirt we purchased sneakily during our trip to orlando. it was especially sweet because he went crazy over it in orlando when he saw it, but didn't have enough of his own money to purchase it. :) i love surprises.

and a giant orange watch

(seriously, you could deflect bullets "wonder woman style" with this thing)

and my favorite thing that he actually asked for, a good old fashioned pair of ray-bans.

taylor has excellent taste. later on, i taught him how to "pop" his polo collar so he looked like a true 80's boy, but i missed a photo of it, bummer. i must have been too busy laughing.

so...SEVENTEEN is a big deal.

at least HIS seventeenth year will be.
a lot is going to happen before he turns eighteen next year - including graduating from high school and starting college. it's also going to be a year of a lot of learning and growth with all of his student government responsibilities. two days after his birthday, he was introduced and sworn in as an officer at the back to school assembly.

it was such a proud mom moment for me to see his name come up on the screen and see his little video clip and then later, standing on stage with the other officers getting sworn in. i'll admit to being a tiny bit misty-eyed, i'm such a softy. he was proud too, i could tell. and he should be. he's such a good kid. i mean, man.

on sunday, he received his patriarchal blessing, it was a very spiritual experience, one i am sure he'll never forget. no surprise to me, heavenly father has a lot in store for this sweet boy. it made me remember that a loooong time ago, my own patriarchal blessing promised me a righteous posterity that would bring great joy to my life. check.

(with brother ostler the stake patriarch)

love you t-bill.

you are awesome-spice.

live long and conquer man.

i already know you will.