Bentley is 10

 To my sweet, oldest darling,

Happy Birthday! Cute Bentley, I am just the luckiest mom to have you in my life! You are such a good spirit with the happiest soul and most obedient nature. You are easy to parent and always such a good friend, helpful son, silly brother, and great buddy to all of us. I cannot wrap my head around the fact that you are 10 years old—a full decade under your belt while it seems like you were my tiny bean burrito just a few years ago!

This year has been pretty awesome: scoring tons of points in basketball games, running many miles every week, making lots of new friends in your 4th grade class and introducing Cares and Livs to Studio C—a huge favorite for you kids. You've also taken on a lot more responsibility with babysitting duties and have taken good care of your little brother and sisters (remember how you changed Luke's poopy diaper last week while I was cleaning up the kitchen and I didn't even know you'd done it? Super cool!)

I will always adore your tender heart and the special moments we share talking about answered prayers, how our spirits knew each other in heaven before we came to earth, and how our testimonies grow. I can tell you are sensitive to the spirit and building your faith in Jesus Christ which is incredible for a such a young boy to think about and act on. I pray always for your strength to make good choices and find happiness in your life as you stay close to your family and your Heavenly Father. I love you so much Beans and hope you will know how amazing and funny and cool and hilarious and committed you are. Happy year ahead of you being 10 too!!

—Love, Mom

Bent's birthday was full of delicious food (of course :) with breakfast in bed, lunch at Jimmy John's with Luke and me (we checked him out of school for a fun date), and a yummy dinner at Pei Wei where Grandpa Sherm joined us. Of course there were Legos for this obsessed boy to build too=birthday perfection.

10 days before his birthday he had a fun friend party up at Grandma Bobbi and Grandpa Sherm's cabin. It was pretty much 10 year old boy heaven and they had a ball playing sardines in the dark, quiet upstairs, shooting dollar store dart guns at each other, hot-tubbing, and playing games in the basement. Joseph took them all up there and entertained/fed them for a few hours before bringing them home around 9:45 that night.

 

 This is why Joseph was awesome fun for that party—

he assigned all the boys nicknames for their dinner cups :) 

Loved that this party was such a breeze and that my parents would share it with the boys for a few hours. It was a huge success!