Here's an excerpt from the journal I keep for him:
Favorite Things: SPORTS! Dane, you are such a little athlete! Truly, sports is your very favorite pastime and hobby. You love love love soccer, basketball, handball, football! You are not huge into baseball, but that’s only because we haven’t really exposed you to that yet! All year you’ve played on a soccer club team at San Diego Football Academy and you have enjoyed so much learning and growing with an excellent coach and dedicated teammates! Rec soccer was fun, but you love the structure and learning that takes place in club soccer. And you keep getting better and better! Your speed is definitely your strength. Love to watch you practice shooting hoops in the backyard as well. You take it all very seriously, and after school is basically one big sports event after another— with Grant as your side kick, you move from soccer in the garage, to basketball outside, to a handball competition against the garage wall. Along with playing sports, you enjoy watching sports on TV. You also like to watch movies and especially reality tv— where competition is involved (masterchef jr, survivor, american idol.) You love building legos, you enjoy reading non-fiction particularly about animals and fish! You love love love fish…. studying about whales, sharks, anything that swims. Your favorite color is blue, you love pancakes, you LOVE Pick Up Stix, In N Out cheeseburgers, dad and grandpa's grilled steak and grilled cheese sandwiches. You love brownies, cookies and cream ice cream and chocolate chip cookies. You love your teacher, Ms. Blais- she’s been your teacher for two years and she adores you! You love playing pool and racing hot wheels. You love visiting Old Town and collecting rocks.
Ways you have grown: Dane, you have become so independent this year and so grown up in many ways. You are great at fixing your own hair in the mornings, taking showers by yourself, pouring your own cereal in the morning, taking care of Anna and Grant when need be. You learned this year how to bake brownies by yourself and you love to do this! Your social skills have sky rocketed! You are still a quiet little boy, but you have many many friends who absolutely adore you! In fact, for your birthday this year, you INSISTED you have a friend party! Even with bribes of a fancy lego train, or going to Legoland with mom and dad on your birthday, you insisted on that friend party. I thought maybe because you wanted more gifts, but when I asked you— I found out it was because you wanted to pay all of the friends back who had ever invited YOU to a party. You had promised them you would invite them- and you didn’t want to break your promise. So sweet. And then, you didn’t want to leave a single person out…. even the little boy in class who can’t speak, you made CERTAIN I had remembered to invite him. You really are the most sensitive and thoughtful boy ever and it warms my heart. You have matured in your understanding of competition as well. Losing used to make you cry, but you have become a great sport and very mature when playing cards, board games or at your soccer games. You are competitive for sure! But you also understand that it’s just a game. I am so impressed with how your testimony has grown this year. You are very excited to be baptized soon and you take the teachings of the gospel very seriously. I can always count on you to remind me that it’s time to read scriptures and to remember the scripture stories that have been taught. You want to choose the right always… this is very important to you! You are eager to obey the commandments and serve a mission (to Seattle!) You are so very helpful and such a hard worker. Out of everyone in the family, I always feel like asking you to do the chore, whatever it may be- because I know that you will do it quickly and do it well. You are dependable and courteous at all times!
Memories/Special Stories:
This year you went on lots of wonderful trips! In the spring, you and Mom went on a special trip to visit Grammy and Papa and to meet all of your new cousins! Wade Stevens, Olive and Scout Lauper, and Penny Stevens. You absolutely loved every minute…. especially the night we stayed in a hotel, stayed up way past bedtime and went swimming with Papa! We also enjoyed your first summer playing club soccer. This meant all sorts of tournaments. You loved spending the night in hotels along the way- a favorite pastime! Our family visited Seattle again in the summer time for our Stevens family reunion and you loved fishing, slip sliding, canoeing, horse back riding and roasting marshmallows. It’s always a great adventure for you to be outdoors, especially when cousins are involved! In September, you enjoyed a wonderful beach house vacation with Grandma and Grandpa, Uncle Troy and Aunt Stac. It was so fun looking for shells, boogie boarding, hot tubing, watching movies in Grandma’s bed and roasting marshmallows out back! Such fun times. Your extended family love you so much and you are very fond of each of them. You love hearing stories about them and spending quality time together. You are very blessed. This year you have made it a goal to believe in yourself and increase your confidence…. mostly on the field, but also off! You are so humble and so sweet— as your parents we want you to know how amazing you are in every way and to understand the awesome person that you are! Dane, you make our world a happier place. You are always on the look out for ways to make your family feel loved and special. We are so blessed to have you in our lives. We know you are going to grow into a great and loving husband, father, and leader!
