Favorite Things: Dane, you are a kid with lots and lots and lots of interests and hobbies! You love sports— soccer is your favorite by a landslide and one day you hope to be a professional soccer player. You’ve worked so hard this year, improving your skills, barely missing a single practice! You are a wonderful athlete. Along with soccer, you also enjoy flag football, golf and handball. You love tossing a baseball around too- although we haven’t officially enrolled you in any leagues the past few years! Aside from sports, you are a true scientist at heart. You love learning about insects and animals. You love collecting rocks and breaking apart geods. You love reading non-fiction and watching Brain Games. Another hobby you enjoy is cubscouts! You are such a great little cub scouter. You love hiking, fishing, exploring, camping. Scouting is right up your alley and your leaders love you so much because you are so diligent and on-task every single week. You love movies and TV shows. Your favorite tv shows are: Goldbergs and Teen Titans Go. You also love Tom and Jerry cartoons! This year you’ve become a fan of Indiana Jones. You love going on adventures and are usually up for anything. Hiking has been a big thing for us this year. I love how strong you are…. you never complain and you can hike any mountain no matter how steep. You are typically positive and upbeat on all of our outings. I’d say your least favorite adventure is the beach, but you are always a good sport no matter where we head. You love to read non-fiction books like biographies about famous people and true event stories. This year we’ve read ALL sorts of biographies including: Disney, Hershey, and Ab Lincoln. We’ve read about the GoldRush, Mt Everest, and 9/11. I love reading with you!! Your favorite food is: teriyaki noodles, chicken and gyoza. You love steak and Grandpa’s prime rib. You love ceasar salad and pancakes. You love chocolate chip cookies and anything sweet- although you are very healthy and do a good job of choosing healthy foods most often. This year for your birthday, you got a pet hedgehog named Barry and you love it so much! You are really into animals and though you would’ve preferred a dog, the hedgehog is a good compromise. You’ve always been a hard worker, so taking care of the hedgehog comes easy and you’re not afraid of the work owning a pet entails. Your best buddies are Cole Brinkley, Braxton Jones and Aidan Miller. You’ve spent SO much time with Braxton this year and the two of you are two peas in a pod- laughing and wrestling and playing sports. It’s been fun to see you having so much fun with a friend! Last year in your classroom, it was your turn to be spotlighted. When a student is spotlighted, all of the other children raise their hand to pay you a compliment. Outside of the “he’s awesome at sports” compliment, most of the kids said that they thought of you as one of their best friends and that you were just such a great friend to everyone. That made me so proud. You really treat others with respect and kindness and you are well liked by everyone.
Ways you’ve grown: You have grown so much this year! At the beginning of the school year (4th grade) you were so nervous you could barely sleep! You felt worried about leaving Mrs. Fagan who you’d had as a teacher for 3 years and entering a class full of new students and a new teacher. But so quickly you assimilated and felt at ease. You love your teacher, Mrs. Baker. You love all of the responsibility of 4th grade. You stepped up to the plate with the new homework load and reading reports. Your level of responsibility has been amazing this year. You are truly a hard worker and are always first to get your chores done every day. You never complain about work- it’s amazing. You are the best big brother anyone could ever ask for and boy, Anna and Grant sure know it. They look up to you and love you more than anything in the world. Unfortunately, Evelyn is a little hard on you at times… but you and she have established a better relationship this year- you have your ups and downs with her, but it’s getting better. I love how you enjoy helping me cook! You are getting so good at scrambled eggs, pancakes, muffins and chicken squares. Often I can count on you to make dinner and it’s awesome! You are a fantastic chef. Another hobby we enjoy is putting together puzzles. You definitely have a mind for puzzles- and you are the best in our family. You love playing Risk, Battle Ship and Life boardgame. You also love Monopoly. You love your Grandma and Grandpa and your Grammy and Papa. You are very special to them and spending time with them is your favorite activity. You love your cousins as well and really enjoyed spending time with Adam this year, even though he’s quite a bit older then you- you two had a special relationship.
Memories/Stories:
This year you traveled to Tucson over Christmas break to celebrate New Year’s with the Rustands. You traveled to St. George, Utah over Spring break with a group of our friends. You traveled to Palm Springs a few times- once with just our family, once to visit Grammy and Papa. We went to Seattle for two weeks over the summer- which was so much fun! There we traveled to Mt. St. Helen’s and explored the ape caves, along with visits up to the city to see friends and Aunt Michelle. You spent a day learning to sail in Orange County. And a day at Disneyland with Grandma, Grandpa, Stacy and Troy. You also had the chance to go to Disneyland alone with Grandma and Grandpa this past year— you had such a special weekend being spoiled! Your favorite was going to IHOP! In the Fall, we celebrated Grammy and Papa’s 64th birthday by heading to Disneyland again with the whole family. It was a wonderful trip that we all enjoyed so much.
Dane- you are kind, loving, generous, thoughtful, respectful, diligent, intelligent, athletic, creative, curious, hard working, spiritual, and sensitive. You bring so much light and joy to our family— you are the definition of a peacemaker. We are so grateful that you are a part of our family and feel so blessed to Heavenly Father for sending us such a bright spirit to spend our lives with. I have no doubt you will grow up to do amazing things with your life. We love you Dane!
