Hunter's Chorus

We haven't posted a video in a while!  Here is Turner's latest.  Hunter's Chorus.  It's a fun piece.  I remember playing this with Hayden when he was a wee laddie.  Was it really 12 years ago?

Shout out to Landon!

14 years ago, a baby was born that was to change our lives.  

 
He was a big, beautiful baby.  He was born about a week early.  He was 20 1/2 inches long and  weighed  8 lbs 15 oz.  He was a sweet little guy.

When he was four weeks old, he contracted RSV and ended up in the PICU at Mary Bridge Hospital for a couple of weeks.  It was devastating for us.  He had every side effect from every medication imaginable.  He stopped breathing and had problems with his heart.

His umbilical cord stump fell out while in the PICU. He also gave us his first smile the day after they let him wake up.  He was huge compared to the other babies in there that were his age!

During follow up appointments, we were told that Landon would likely always struggle with his breathing.  He would be asthmatic and likely suffer from pneumonia occasionally.  He had pneumonia twice as a toddler, and has been perfectly healthy ever since!  In fact, he has been one of our healthiest kids!  I told him it's because the whole ward fasted in his behalf when he was hospitalized.

We held that baby close for months, helping him to recover from his addiction to the medications that they used in the hospital.  

He is a treasured member of our family.

He has a lot of nicknames.  Lando Calrissian, Landy-bear, Landito Bandito, Land O'Lakes Butter (Thank you Uncle Dale for that one), and more.  

He has a very happy go-lucky, gentle personality. 

He is very silly. (That may or may not be genetic)

When he was little, he liked to play with "guys."  Any kind of guy, animal, Fisher Price, "Castle Guys," he would play pretend for hours every day with them!

He loves to play!  He learned to ride a two wheeler when he was four.  He didn't want to though, because he was afraid he would get hurt.  But he figured it out easy peasy.

He LOVES to read.  It's one of his passions.  He has always been the top reader in his class.  Top meaning most prolific, not necessarily skill level.  He has won numerous prizes for reading.  His favorite genre is Fantasy.  

He loves playing Legos.  He doesn't do it as much anymore, but he has spent so many hours with his big brothers playing Legos with them!

He gets attached to things.  He's very sentimental.  He got "Bananas" the monkey for his fourth birthday from Grandma and Grandpa on a Build a Bear date.  He still loves it, he loves his old blankets, clothes; he's a bit of a pack rat.

He was a late teether, not getting his first teeth till about a year old.  He hated wiggling teeth and had to get five teeth pulled when he was twelve because they would come out because he never wiggled them!

He loves dressing up and pretending.  He doesn't get to do it as much anymore, but the kid has a wild imagination and isn't afraid to be himself.

He loves his friends!  He is a very loyal friend.  Most of his friends he has known for years.  Keagan and Adam he has known since birth (either theirs or his), and his best friends from Arizona are the friends that he was best friends with in preschool.  

He hated getting his haircut when he was little.  Up until really recently (when the girls in his class mentioned how much they like his hair when it's a bit shorter), he complained about getting haircuts and waited way too long in between.

He loves to do outdoors things.  He loves fishing.  He hasn't really been able to do much of that since we've moved back to Arizona.  

Turner is his little clone.  He looks so much like a mini version of Landon.  His personality though, is nothing like his!

Landon loves animals and is very gentle.  

Landon really looks up to his big brothers.  This picture was taken during one of Hayden's triathlons.  Landon was just modeling some of the equipment.  Landon went on to do a triathlon of his own and has followed in Hayden's footsteps in many activities.

He's not a huge sports fan, but he is a fan of hanging out with his dad!  This hockey game was a special night for Landon and Dixon to spend together.

Landon loves the temple.  He is living his life so that he can enter it.  He enjoys doing baptisms there now and is preparing for the full blessings of the temple in the future.

At the ripe old age of eleven, Landon completed all of the requirements to earn the cycling merit badge, one of the most physically difficult merit badges to earn in the Boy Scout program.  He completed his final fifty mile ride with Grandpa, Grandma (she did part of it) and his mom!

He loved living in Washington, but he also loves living in Arizona.

He is a super nice big brother and lets Regan do his hair when it gets long.  :)

He can enjoy reading in the outdoors!  Win!

He likes to spend time with his siblings.  He is sometimes in the older kids group (Hayden, Porter, Landon) and sometimes in the younger group (Landon, Regan, Turner, Cooper).  Now that Hayden is gone, he is more often with Porter.

He never really played sports much when he was young, but when he was twelve he decided he wanted to play soccer.  He really enjoyed it!

Big kids group!  He misses Hayden a ton!

He is a great big brother!  Turner was sad that he didn't have anyone to dress up with for twin day, so Landon agreed to dress up with him and even figured out their clothes.  It totally made Turner's day!

On March 6th, the day before Landon turned 14, he passed his Eagle Board of Review and is now officially

an Eagle Scout!

 

I'm so glad to have Landon as part of our family!