Ian's Sweet 16

Our sweet Ian Robert turned sweet 16!  And since our boy does not like cake, he chose a peanut butter cup "cake" for his special treat!

He had fun picking out the candles and helping me decorate the cake.

As always Ian's siblings got him some very thoughtful gifts.  Whitlee got him some aviator sunglasses that he had been wanting.  And Ashlyn got him concert tickets to a favorite country artist, Ian Munzick. 

Ashlyn had fun helping me wrap the packages and even made a super cool spider web bow to go with the spider man wrapping paper that she had picked out for Ian.

From Mom and Dad, Ian got a new stereo system for his truck and a gift card for a Spotify Premium subscription.  Even though this birthday warranted a big Sweet Sixteen party, Ian was much more happy to celebrate with just the family.  Since it was a school night and we had just gotten back from Moab the weekend before, we decided to have a low-key birthday party in-house and had a fun movie night watching Hobbes and Shaw.

10 Things We Love About Ian:

1. Music- Ian's birthday gifts this year were largely centered on music.  And ever since this boy was born, he has been so enthralled with music.  He has such an eclectic collection on his playlists and loves to be our DJ on car rides.  

2. Ian is a friendly guy and has friends from multiple friend groups in his school.  It seems he can fit in and make friends with just about anyone.

3. Ian has an awesome testimony.  Every Sunday without being asked or reminded, Ian is up on time and to the church 20 minutes early to prepare the Sacrament.  He is always willing, ready, and worthy to bless the sacrament.  And I am so grateful for him.

4. Ian has an engineering mind and intuitively knows how things go together.  He is so helpful around the house and a tremendous help to his dad on construction projects and home maintenance.  He is so good at problem-solving and being able to see a problem and know how to fix it.  With Zac away so often, he is very considerate of his mother and how he can help her and keep the house and family functioning.

5. He is an incredibly hard worker.  He started moving pipe at the age of 12 and has been working for our construction company for years and is such a huge help.  This summer he took a job with VanOrden Farms and worked full-time hours all summer long.

6. The boy loves adventures and especially loves driving.  He had an absolute blast in Moab this year driving a UTV up and down the difficult trails.  He also loves driving his motorcycle, snowmobile, and our boat.  He loves tubing and knee boarding.

7. He has so much energy and is the life of our family.  He is the best brother to Bronson, always playful, wrestling him and playing ball with him.  Whitlee also loves to wrestle her brother and Ian is good to be gentle and fun with her.  Ian keeps us all laughing and is always up for a fun game.  But his favorite thing to do at the end of a long day is to have a movie night with the family.

8. Ian is athletic and is always involved in sports of some sort.  Though he gave up on school basketball, he dominates at church ball.  He has been working hard at football ever since he was five and is getting so good.  He is so fun to watch.  But it was the most fun this year watching him dive into track and learn to love and throw his heart into throwing events, discus and shot put.  We can't wait to see where his goals will take him in these events.

9. Ian has a very deep voice and everywhere we go, people are always commenting on it.  He is often compared to the country singer Josh Turner and everyone wants to hear him sing.  Though he doesn't love to sing, he is often a very good sport and will belt out a few lines for anyone who asks.

10. Ian is incredibly smart.  He has maintained a 4.0 GPA throughout his entire school career.  He takes difficult classes and catches on quickly.  He has lots of ambitious and wonderful goals for the future and we can't wait to see where life takes him.

We are so lucky to have Ian in our family!  Happy Birthday, Ian!