hello my lovely blog readers!  i have news for you.  my son is beautiful.  okay, that's not news, but omgosh.  soon i will gift you with updated pictures.  i see this 6ft tall boy everyday.  i cut his hair and give him the perfectly clean, fresh, polished look he's hoping for (mostly...i'm no pro and sometimes it shows!) every week.  i see his face get stubbly and then soft and clean shaven. i am seeing his skin shift to a more golden color right now because of conditioning and practicing for football outside everyday for 3 hours.  i see him anxious for sleep at night because of his extended school day that begins with early morning seminary and ends with the intense physicalities of varsity football (these select freshman have to earn their respect on varsity, right?).  i see his attire of solids mostly black, white, gray, browns, blues, greens (blue and green are his school colors), and occasionally pops of bright color.  he's a solid tshirt with a pocket guy with solid shorts or jeans...very simple.  and his shoes rotate between classic converse, classic vans, or an old school style pair of addidas that have recently been thrown into the mix. he wears a gold duct tape strip around his backpack strap connecting himself to a ton of other boys that are also sporting the strip.  they even have a name for themselves and a salute or a nod or a handshake or a nickname.  (is that my sentimental way of describing a gang??  kidding...it's totally not;) he collects mostly As and occasionally Bs for his academic portfolio, but holds a 4.0 or higher (because of his higher level classes) GPA. he doesn't quite get the concept of working hard for these grades but i suspect that soon he will need to exert more effort and that will be a learning process altogether.  slacks, an ironed dress shirt, a tie, and dress shoes are a part of his weekly attire. he wears this to church where he learns more about how to connect with the plan Heavenly Father has for him, to firesides that are meant to uplift rejuvenate and strengthen him, to serve families by giving them a spiritual message or seeing if they have any needs he can help them with, to banquets celebrating his athletic accomplishments, and to ceremonies celebrating his academic achievements.

he makes mistakes.  he is grouchy or moody or slips the most sarcastic tone into his speech effortlessly.  he's not always as empathetic or sympathetic towards others as he should be. sometimes challenges are big and sometimes they are small.  he is a teenager and learning. sometimes life is just confusing. he's not perfect, but he's learning.  and he's beautiful.
i see him   everyday but the other day as he was coming out from practice i saw a more grownup version of him and got to soak in how beautiful he is.  i hope he is happy.  i hope he feels like he's lived a good life so far.  and i hope he feels confident and hopeful about his future. i hope sometimes he sees it too...that he's beautiful.  and that beautiful and hot/cool/etc. are different things entirely.