...and he is kind of our absolute favorite. His name is Jacob Aaron Harmon and he was born on August 28, 2001 at 10:21 pm. He was 21 inches long and he weighed 9 pounds and 8 ounces. Like Hannah of the Old Testament (1 Samuel 1:27), "For this child (we) prayed..." and the Lord blessed us and has continued to bless of every single day with this boy in our life. Fourteen years! Our baby is fourteen years old! The best years of our lives hands down, with out a doubt.
We started celebrating a few days early because we just couldn't wait! Jake has been wanting a smart phone but we told Jake it wasn't going to happen...until Aaron noticed that Verizon had changed their plans and that we could actually get Jake a smart phone for free and our monthly bill would go DOWN-a lot! Crazy but true and this boy was SHOCKED!
Birthday preview collage:
Jake wanted Daddy's famous ribs for his birthday dinner so Aaron prepped them the night before.
The car was full of birthday prep. Yes he is spoiled. No he is not rotten. You only turn 14 once!!!
(one more rib prep picture because the chef is so cute...and so is my kitchen!)
Jake had the day off from school on his birthday but he still choose to go to Seminary. He had the devotional and since I drove him that day (he rides with Rere and Lala), to bring his birthday muffins, I sat and tried to listen to his devotional from the hallway. I couldn't really hear but I was able to zoom in and take a picture so that is almost as good!
Aaron took the day off from work and the plan was for the guys to go on a mountain bike ride but Jake had a head cold that settled in his chest earlier in the week and the cough was still hanging on. Aaron still went because he doesn't get a lot of chances to ride and we played with Sadie in the back yard.
I love this picture! Not the best quality but I love Jake's arm in the motion of throwing Sadie's ball and Sadie's face-tongue out and all-as she turns to chase it!
Jake jumped on the trampoline for a little bit while throwing the ball to Sadie...but it made him cough.
So we played regular catch.
Aaron was still gone riding so I gave Jake one gift he already knew about because he was there when I bought it for him a couple of months ago. Even though he knew what it was I still put it in the Vader Father's day bag to wrap it.
It is a small Lego set that was on sale. That hardly ever happens and usually means they aren't selling it any more.
We also used the label maker to make a tag for the Tardis that Jake made (Dr. Who).
When Aaron got back from his ride we pulled out the gifts that were wrapped in this amazing white birch wrapping paper I found!
Sweaty, P.T.P.P. Aaron ate a muffin while Jake opened his presents.
These are store bought snickerdoodle's because Jake mentioned the day before his birthday how much he loved them (I never knew this before...he said he has told me but I didn't remember...) and I didn't have time to make them.
Jake has been wanting a debit card for years (since he was 8 years old probably) but Wells Fargo won't let you have one until you are 14. We opened a checking account (and put some money in it as another gift) and linked a savings account (that we also put a little money into) to it (we have another one for him but in order to learn budget and saving skills we opened one that would link to his checking, that he can transfer to savings at any time from an app on his smart phone, that won't let him see our accounts. The other savings is linked to our accounts-this one is linked just to his). He is pretty excited to have a debit card and checks.
The last gift is something he has been wanting and thanks to Amazon sending us all a message on our smartphones saying it was shipped, he knew was coming. Aaron has since turned that notification off on his phone. Who knew that Amazon would send us all a notification? As soon as I got the notification on my phone a couple days earlier, I knew Jake would too...
This is his adorable attempt at acting surprised he got a Dr Who Sonic Screwdriver. He is such a bad liar and came clean that he did know about it but didn't want to ruin it for us. Love this kid....
We had lunch at Jake's favorite restaurant: Taco Dog.
Jake showed Nee some things on his smart phone because she got one too (part of the deal that made our bill go down. Craziness).
After lunch we went by Aunt Sheila's and she gave us an AC window unit she has been wanting to get rid of because our AC died for Jake's birthday!
I will tell you what-it was a life saver because this was Friday and the AC wouldn't be replaced until Tuesday! We were lucky all weekend because it was unseasonably cool. Tender mercies...
Sadie was super excited about all the birthday festivities! Actually she was still tired from playing outside that morning.
Aaron also sold Burt for Jake's birthday! Hahaha! The AC guy came by to check our unit and tell us we needed a new unit (which we knew) and commented on all our cars. Aaron mentioned he was going to sell Burt and the guy made him an offer. It was a little more than we would have gotten to scrap it so it was a no brainer! Aaron and Jake spent some time cleaning it out and jumping the battery.
That evening for dinner we had RIBS. Oh my gosh...heavenly.
And we watched Dr. Who-Jake's favorite show.
I really want to eat some ribs right now...
Jake was wearing his vest so he could have his Dr Who Sonic screwdriver in his inside pocket-like the Dr does. Jake is a vest guy. We found this awesome one at Sam's Club for cheap. And since we live in the South, we layer a lot instead of wearing coats. Jake is the proud owner of 3 of these nice down vests. This evergreen, a navy blue one, and charcoal gray one. I can't wait for fall and our annual Jake photo session. We will get pictures in each color!
This picture sums up just how amazing Aaron's ribs are....The first bit is sooooo good!
Two racks with honey barbecue sauce and one with Carolina style mustard base sauce. Both are delicious!
THIS. This shows you how amazing these ribs are. The meat comes clean off the bone. Yummmm...
We ended up having a slumber party for Jake's birthday in order to take advantage of the AC window unit that was keeping the living room amazingly chilly!
All in all it was an amazing birthday celebration! Jake we LOVE, Love, love you! You are our joy, our heart, our life! You are growing into an amazing young man and we are proud of you. Always remember who you are and that you earthly and heavenly parents cherish, adore, and love you!
