Oh, sweet Arthur, how can it possibly be thirteen years since we welcomed you into our family?? You grew from that tiny little baby boy into the amazing young man you are today, and I don’t know what we would do without you in our family.

Arthur is amazingly sweet and loving to each of us, but I think he gives me an extra measure of that love. I am definitely lucky, as he will still give me hugs and kisses, and even hold my hand. I love it. He will even curl up next to me to read or watch a movie. It’s the best.

Arthur loves to read books!! He reads all the time, and sometimes I have to cut him off at the library, because he has checked out so many, we hit our limit. He loves to sing and has been growing so much this year in choir. Arthur also discovered acting this year, and not only loves his theater class, but was in the school musical. If that wasn’t enough, he is participating in Academic UIL and is applying for National Junio Honor Society. He is also planning on joining the golf team at school. Wow!

Arthur loves the Gospel of Jesus Christ, and has a wonderful understanding of the doctrines of Christ, especially for someone so young. This past year, he has visited a temple to do baptisms for his ancestors at least once a month at eleven temples in many different states. What an amazing blessing!

Arthur has a great sense of humor and has the tiniest of mischievous streaks – mostly when it comes to playing a silly joke on someone, especially his brother. (In fact, as I was trying to take his portraits this year, he would be posed perfectly, only to leap up in the middle of my shooting and run away. He thought it was hilarious – me, not so much.)

Arthur loves to have fun, to play games, and especially to spend time with his brother and sister. It is amazing to me that even though there is such a large age gap between them, they embrace him as not only a brother, but a friend.

Like I said, our family would not be complete without this amazing boy. He is the perfect puzzle piece, and he fills our lives with excitement and joy.

Here are some of Arthur’s favorite things . . .

• Food: Overnight French Toast
• Dessert: Ultimate Ice Cream Sundae (brownie, chocolate chip cookie dough ice cream, whipped cream and chocolate sauce)
• Snack: Cheezits
• Color: Purple
• Song: Varies, but loves “The Resistance” by Skillet
• Thing to Do with Mom: Read our books
• Thing to Do with Dad: Watch him play video games
• Thing to Do with Lily: Talk with her
• Thing to Do with Derek: Play video games with him
• Movie: Varies, but right now it is “The Muppet Movie”
• TV Show: Percy Jackson
• Game: The Game of Life
• Video Game: Lego Star Wars
• Activity: Reading
• Book: Changes, but right now it is the “Wings of Fire” series
• Place He Most Wants to Visit:
• Favorite Place to Visit: Idaho
• Favorite Place to Vacation: Disney World
• Wants to Be When He Grows Up: Video Game Designer or something involving technology
• Most Excited About for this year: For the Super Mario Galaxy movie to come out