Doodlebug - Tally Mark 144

Hey hey Rie Rie,

I don't know if it's because you started passing the Sacrament in January, or because you play on a 12U baseball team, but it feels like you've been 12 all year.  But today is the day, and we're excited to celebrate you!

You've had quite the year!  Your braces came off, you started wearing contacts for baseball, your entire body has grown a ton, and you started middle school.  Just like last year, though, baseball has taken over.  You had been playing up two years in travel ball but decided to go down one year.  The 12U team goes to Cooperstown, and we've spent all year fundraising (most of which was done by standing outside of grocery stores asking people for donations).  As we know, public speaking is not your favorite thing but you made the most of it, and became a great sign holder!  Thankfully there are a lot of your teammates who do enjoy talking so it balanced out.  

You made the All Star team again, this time with your own age group.  There is a tradition where the boys bleach their hair but you weren't so sure if you wanted to.  We ended up shaving the sides (per usual) and you bleached the center hair.  Your natural hair has gotten darker so you were excited to have blonde hair again.  June 2025 was the last time you cut your hair, which made it easy to spot you on the baseball field because your long locks were always blowing in the breeze.  You've primarily caught in both travel ball and little league, but your travel ball coaches recently told you that they trust you in any position.  No matter where you're assigned, you give it your all.  They also said they'd like for you to be louder, especially as the catcher.  We've been trying to get you to speak up your whole life so we'll see what happens.

For a time period, multiple times a week, you would ask Daddy to wrestle with you at night.  Your friend, Marcus, wrestles and we encouraged you to join the team at school.  But you were adamant that school wrestling was different from home wrestling, and you wanted nothing to do with the school's team.  However, you did join the track team, competing in the 100 meter race.  Speaking of your long hair, you wore your baseball hat in every race so keep your hair out of  your face.  You woke up early on Mondays for practice and stayed after school every other day.  We bought you spike shoes that may no longer fit because your feet are growing at a rapid pace.  You wanted to do the relays but couldn't find other people to do it with.  You and I raced at one of your recent baseball games and I ate your dust.  I believe if you keep it up, you'll definitely make the finals next year.  It was fun to watch you at your meets surrounded by your friends.  While you are a reserved person, you can tell who the people are who make you feel safe because your guard comes down and you genuinely enjoy yourself.

I'm happy to tell you that you overcame your fear of changing in front of people at P.E.  You quickly realized everyone was in the same position as you, and nobody cared about what you were doing.  I'm also happy to let you know that you did eat pizza every.single.day. for lunch.  Overall, you had a great year at school.  Your science teacher was the same teacher The Lime had.  You'd come home often and tell us she would call you his name.  You also had the same social studies and math teacher that he had but they didn't seem to get you two mixed up.  During your first semester, I got a call from the school randomly in the middle of the day.  Since you never get in trouble, I immediately thought something bad happened and you got hurt.  As soon as I picked up the phone, the woman on the other line said, "Don't worry, everything is okay!"  She called to let me know your P.E. teacher chose you to receive an award for being a great student.  I think you've been recognized every year since kindergarten for your hard work and positive attitude.  Those attributes will continue to help you succeed in life!  I would like to note that you also didn't read the book for your final book report and still managed to get a 20/20.  I'm not sure how you pulled it off but please, please, please don't do that again.  You rode your bike to school most days but also asked for a ride most days.  Your legs mysteriously hurt every morning about 15 minutes before it was time to leave.  Sometimes we would give in and take you (the perks of having Daddy work from home now) but sometimes we told you riding your bike would make your legs stronger so they wouldn't hurt as much.

For Christmas, you received a telescope.  We've been able to use it a couple times at home but forgot to bring it with us when we watched the meteor shower in Colfax.  That was a really neat experience!  You also asked for a POCOCO projector, and got one.  You've always enjoyed the moon and planets, and often ask Daddy what planets are out when we're coming home from baseball.  At Christmastime, we also upheld our tradition of reading The Christmas Pig, and you built your gingerbread house.  You would have loved for it to snow on Christmas but we had to wait for February when it snowed just up the hill.  We went one night after work to play in it and you had so much fun, we went back the following weekend. Throwing snowballs was your favorite and, of course, you built a snowman.

This year for your birthday, you really wanted these special alcohol-based markers but they're a bit expensive so you weren't sure if you'd get them.  Now that it's your birthday and you already received them, I can share that Grammy and Papa got them for you.  You don't have a lot of free time because of baseball but when you do, you like to draw and color.  We have pictures all over our windows that you've traced of cars, and then you color them in.  You don't ask us to do it too often but your favorite thing used to be a 3 marker challenge.  We'd have to blindly pick three markers and color in a picture with just those colors, then someone would judge whose picture was the best.  If I recall correctly, you won the most.  I wish we could convince you to join the art club at school, or take a class, because it's an amazing talent you have.  It'd be so cool to see you expand your abilities!

If you aren't playing baseball or drawing, you're watching YouTube.  When you get home from school, you eat a bunch which makes me wonder if you need something more than pizza for lunch.  You still prefer just plain cheese pizza but tend to not eat leftovers if you have any (and that's not just pizza leftovers, that's all leftovers).  You order chicken wings more often than not when we go out for dinner.  You still eat bagels or cereal for breakfast when I make it; when Daddy makes it, you eat eggs with bacon and potatoes.  Mashed potatoes are still not your favorite but you enjoy baked potatoes (or spuds, as you like to call them).  In just the last few months, your feet have grown and you now wear a size 10 in mens.  Daddy made you another custom pair of baseball cleats this year to match your White Sox jerseys for little league.  Rather than wearing the league issued hats, you ask Daddy to get you the flex fit hats.  You're good about splitting the cost on special purchases like that since they are a want rather than a need.  When we were in San Diego for spring break, you bought yourself a pair of Birkenstocks.  It was a big purchase but I think you've been pleased with them.  While also in San Diego, you really wanted to visit Burger Kook but they're closed on Mondays.  When we headed over on Tuesday, there was a sign outside that said they were closed again, this time for routine cleaning.  It was so sad to not be able to visit because you wanted to try it so bad!  Definitely our first stop next time.  While you mainly wore black sweats during the colder months, The Lime gave you a pair of his old Dickies that you quite enjoyed.  Don't tell anyone but I gave you an old pair of mine, too.  You outgrew all of your sweatshirts so we bought you a windbreaker at a surf shop in Santa Cruz that you were every day.  The backpack you used for all of elementary school finally broke so you got a black Jansport, just like The Lime.  To be able to tell them apart, you added a Padres keychain to one of your zippers.  Every few days, you still ask me to wrap you up like a burrito for bedtime.  You chose Rooster by Alice in Chains as your walk up song for little league this year.  You insist on having a treat every night before bed.  Chores are quite possibly your least favorite thing to do.  You would like everything to be fair all of the time.  Sleeping on the couch in the living room brings you joy but only if someone sleeps out there with you.  Your ability to swallow pills and put your contacts in/take them out at such a young age is very impressive - even the Optometrist said so.

You, as a whole, are quite impressive.  A lot of things come naturally to you, and it's so exciting to see you try new things and expand your talents.  Remember that nobody expects you to be perfect, just that you try your best.  You're your own worst critic, but Daddy and I will always be rooting for you.  Keep working hard and your possibilities will be endless regardless of what you set your heart on.

We love you so much and are forever grateful you joined our family 12 years ago.  Life wouldn't be the same without our Rie!

Love,

Mama

The Lime - Tally Mark 192

Brah,

I'm not even sure where to begin.  I know this day is about you, but this year's celebration has impacted me in ways that previous years haven't.  I think it's the realization that our years of spending your birthday together are winding down, yet it feels like it just started.  Daddy and I were trusted with this little person, and we were expected to know what to do.  Shocker, we still don't know what we're doing.  Yet you've somehow grown into a stellar human being.

Last year was so much fun in Santa Cruz, you wanted to do it again this year.  But rather than just one day of celebrating, we turned it into two.  We drove down Saturday morning with Bryce, Jackson, and Liam, checked into the hotel, and then you guys immediately went out riding.  First to the pump track, next to the dirt jumps, and you ended the night at the cliff jumps (all you wanted for your birthday was to ride the cliff jumps at sunset...we succeeded).  We had Mexican food for lunch, pizza for dinner, and ice cream from Marianne's for dessert since we couldn't have s'mores during a bonfire (they removed all the firepits for winter).  The plan was to head out for dawn patrol Sunday morning but when Bryce tried waking everyone up, sleeping in sounded better.  You guys got up and moving around 8 o'clock, we packed everything up, grabbed some breakfast, and to the beach we went.  Boards were skimmed and boogied, and football was played.  The day wouldn't have been complete without Pleasure Pizza, shopping on 41st, and enjoying another sunset.  Seeing you do everything you love was the best!

There was a house on the street where the beach entrance was that caught your eye.  The homeowners were doing yardwork but the doors/windows of their home were all open, and they had music blasting.  You noticed their Sprinter van and LaFonda parked in front, and said you have aspirations of being in a similar situation when you're an adult.  You were made to live near the water.  I'm keeping my fingers crossed it happens for you.

While you're old enough to get your driver's license, you haven't felt the urgency to get the ball rolling (and you shared with us a couple days ago that you're scared to drive because people are crazy).  You did, however, get your permit two weeks ago and you start drivers training tomorrow.  Daddy jokes that he's going to get you a car that goes 65mph max, and it'll be a stick shift.  You just want a truck so you can put your bike in the back.  You've said you don't plan on driving anywhere other than far destinations for bike riding.  I hope we can include seminary into that mix because I would love to sleep in.  Although, I trust I'd still have to wake you up each morning.  You much prefer sleeping to getting up at 6:00 each morning (I don't blame you) but you do it, and I commend you.

You just completed your first semester of your sophomore year.  You enjoyed Geography so much last year, as well as the teacher, you chose to take AP Euro this year.  At the last minute, you second-guessed your decision but I told you that you had to stick with it.  It's been a lesson, most definitely.  We've also learned that electives are your strong point, and you can do well in Spanish if your teacher actually teaches.  You took Construction Tech and made us a wooden bench that we proudly display on the front porch.  It not only looks great, it smells fantastic.  You also made a cutting board that I don't want to use because I want it to stay nice.  This semester, you're taking Graphic Design and your teacher is in our ward.  Your first day of class, you sent me a text that said, "Bro...he's playing Led Zeppelin!"  You also sent me a text on another day that your phone battery was getting low because you had been listening to music all day.  I asked how you got away with it in class and you said you just cover your ears with your hair.  I suppose there are worse things you could be doing.  Music just makes you so happy.  You also say it helps you to concentrate.  After seeing you get distracted while taking your permit test, I say do whatever works for you.

As a Teacher at church, you finished the quorum out as the President.  The bishop pointed out how you're a leader and how much the boys look up to you.  You've also commented that you feel like the glue that holds your friends together.  Rie passed the Sacrament for the first time last Sunday, as did three other boys, and you were so thoughtful in how you instructed them on what to do and where to go.  Now you'll be blessing the Sacrament as a Priest.  If only Daddy and I could convince you to go to church dances.  It's one of the perks of being an older youth but you don't think they'll be fun.  Just like with In-N-Out hamburgers, you'll never know if you don't give it a try.  We just need to find a Denny's nearby that you can get mozzarella sticks at after the dances.

Speaking of In-N-Out, we give you some money every time Rie goes to batting practice to make things financially fair.  You tend to spend all of your "fun" money eating out.  With that, you did sell your Marin dirt jumper this last year and you've done a great job saving that money.  Even though we don't have room for more bikes, that's what you're holding out for.  Jared was kind enough to give you his old road bike, which you've thoroughly enjoyed.  You pride yourself in being able to ride to In-N-Out in 10 minutes.  And I think the fastest speed you've clocked is 37 mph.  You record your rides in Strava and you love seeing what everyone else is doing.  People have shared that you're the first person to like their rides and how good it makes them feel.  You like the connection and take pride in meeting your own goals the app has set for you.  I believe it's currently set at 35 miles per week which you usually meet by Wednesday.  Sometimes you'll just go ride around the block a few times to get out of the house and get a ride in. 

Traditions mean a lot to you.  Every Sunday night in December, we drive around and look at Christmas lights while drinking hot chocolate (and depending how much room we have after dinner, eating popcorn).  You make sure we don't miss a week.  We also eat spaghetti on Christmas Eve and look at Christmas lights in a specific neighborhood.  I planned poorly this year and we ate spaghetti a few days before Christmas Eve so we didn't feel like having it again.  The weather on Christmas Eve was extremely stormy so we stayed home.  While we ate dinner on Christmas, you shared how disappointed you were that we didn't do either tradition.  We didn't have an impromptu spaghetti dinner but we did end up going to look at the nights on Christmas night.  I love that you love them!  

You're about 6'1" and 150 lbs, still wear a size 12 shoe but you've moved up to size L clothes, you have a cool as a cucumber mentality and remind me often everything will be fine, you say you love us every time we part ways, you aren't a fan of Daddy touching you with his feet, I love the texts you send me in the middle of the day as well as the memes you send me, you are brave and care free, you have your own IG account but it's under my account (and you don't know the password) so your time on the app is limited, you thought it was the best day when Max Clark followed you back on IG, you have a job offer to work at Walmart but you're not sure that's what you want to do (you'd rather work at Vans but have to be 18), I signed you up again to umpire little league even though you'd prefer not to, you still have Lucifer and snuggle it often, you went surfing for the first time last year for Bryce's birthday, you get upset when you're grounded because riding for fun gets taken away and you hate being stuck inside, you're going snowboarding for the first time next weekend and you're convinced you'll be doing 360s before the day is done, you still drink a lot of water and eat all the time, you can't keep your sheet on your bed to save your life, you drink smoothies every morning for breakfast, you wish you could live in Hawaii and you think it should count for something that Papa served his mission in Hawaii and has a Hawaii driver's license, you and Daddy like to banter back and forth about who got who onto what, you may have more clothes than anyone else in our family, you like spraying canned whipped cream directly into your mouth, you hardly argue or talk back, and you still have a mustache.

How wonderful it would be to freeze time and keep you as you are, but then we wouldn't be able to see what this year brings you.  Hopefully nothing but the best.  You bring so much joy, peace, laughter, fun, style, and excitement to our family.  I love you so much!

-Mama