We had a great family Trip to Branson in October. We packed a lot of fun into 1 week. Like the titanic museum, an awesome magic show, the Noah musical and Silver Dollar City. At Silver Dollar City while waiting for a particularly big roller coaster Steven seemed a little nervous as we watched the riders get on and off. I told him he didn't have to ride, and he looked at me very sternly and said "I have to do it." He takes his roller coaster riding seriously. He did indeed love and wanted to go again.

Steven was so sweet to Scott (his Dad) recently when he had a migraine. We were having guests for dinner and I was busy cooking and Scott had one of his migraines, but this one was worse than normal. I was busy getting ready for our dinner guests (and I was not blessed with the gift of mercy) and Scott was trying to sleep a little and see if his headache would go away. If you know much about a migraine headache you know that the smells from dinner weren't helping the matter any. Steven is so compasionate so he was sitting with Scott and trying to help and a bit worried about his Dad. When Scott couldn't take the smells any more he decided to walk around the block to get some fresh air. Steven was so cute he held his Dad's hand and walked around the block with him. It was the cutest thing.

Well, we survived. Bekah left for her 2nd year of college and Steven started high school. I can hardly believe it. Steven is doing pretty well, but think he is a bit overwhelmed. There are so many students that just getting down the halls can be a challenge. He comes home and just doesn't have much left. He spends much of the afternoon in his imaginary world talking to his "friends". I think he likes it there because they do what he wants. Maybe I should try it:). It would be nice to be in a world where people do what I want. Hopefully he will settle in and get used to his routine and start talking to us. I'll try and keep you posted.

Sweet 16

I can't believe it. 16 years have flown by. For the most part I feel like the luckiest parent in the world. I know that feeling will change but I'll enjoy it while I can. Steven is a blessing in ways I could never have imagined and we have the best friends and support we could ever ask for. Steven has a way of bringing people together.

Steven loves to dress up. Some days I get so tired of it. It would be so cute if he were 6 or 7, but 15 almost 16? And some days I just give up! Still he’s pretty cute.

Steven has been saying the funniest things lately. It is so great to have him trying to use vocabulary even if he doesn’t do it correctly. It might even be better when he does is incorrectly. He calls hummingbirds, honeybirds-so cute. And one day when he was driving with his sister Bekah and she wanted him to roll up his window he was frusterated with her and said, “Oh Bekah, you leave me nuts”. I love it!
He went to camp last week and kept them laughing too. When he met his councilor she introduced her self with, “Hi, my name is Arden it sounds like Garden”, so he called her Garden all week. He stole her heart and told her he loved her. It was so fun hearing about all he did. Usually when he comes home all we get is, camp was fun, but this time he told us he swam, tried the zip line but chickened out (he said he would do it next year), danced, rode horses, and fished. When asked if he caught a fish he replied, “Almost”. He said he was afraid of them. He seemed so grown up when he got home. It is a nice break for us when he goes to camp but our home is just missing something when he is gone and it is always so fun to get him back. He was one of the councilors favorites (of coarse).
One thing that is a bit difficult when he gets home is that he wants to have something to do all the time and it is just not like that at home (boring). I try to do something each day, but still feel guilty when I see him wandering around or constantly trying to get me to do something with him or working on us to take him out to dinner (his favorite sport).
As bad as I don’t want summer to end school will be a welcome distraction.

I don't have a picture to go with this post so you will just have to use your imagination. I have been leaving Steven home alone for short periods of time for about a year, but that practice my have to stop. About a week ago I was leaving to have lunch with some friends and Bekah (Stevens sister) was on her way home from work, so I decided to go ahead and leave. I told Steven Bekah would be there soon (which meant within 15 minutes) and went on my way. I never dreamed how much could happen in 15 minutes. Steven called his sister twice, me once, his Dad once, Bekah's old boyfriend once and....911!. Yep, he did. They responded as 911 ought to with, "911, what is your emergency". Well some how he proceeded to tell them that there were bad guys in the house and someone was dead. They immediatly send a policeman to the house, but he can't enter until backup arrives, so he is parked
inconspicuously accross the street. Bekah arrives home thinking what is going on over there. But as she exits her car she hears, "Hey,...Hey you, come here", being whispered from behind her. She just about jumps out of her skin (and like any teenager immediatly thinks she is in trouble). The officer asks her to come out to the street behind some trees so they can't be seen from the house and tells her there has been a 911 call from this location from someone who speaks spanish and someone in the house is dead!!! She breaks down in tears and tells him the only person home is her brother. The officer can't go in because backup still isn't there and for about 6 or 7 minutes (but it seemed like an eternity) she thinks Steven is dead. Then suddenly Steven pokes his head out the door and notices his sisters car and says "Bekah?". The officer tries to get him to come out, (he still thinks there are bad guys inside), but Steven sees a police officer and jumps back in the house and closes the door. Bekah explains that if Steven doesn't see her he won't come out and he finally lets her get close enough to the house so Steven can see her and then he comes out. By then the other officers are arriving and they ask him if there are bad guys inside to which he enthusiasticly replies, "yes". Bekah tries to assure them that he is making it up, but they must respond as if there were a real threat. So 5 officers converge on my home from every angle and check every nook and cranny, but no bad guys. After they are satisfied that it was all a mistake they leave. All this happened in about 25 minutes while I am happily oblivious with my girlfriends having lunch. When I get home and hear the whole story I still want to know who the spanish speaker was that called 911. When I am able to speak with the officer who responded he assures me there was no spanish speaker. The 911 dispatcher couldn't understand Steven so she made and assumption. So needless to say, Steven won't be spending a lot of time home alone anymore.