Alex's Big Month

April has been a big huge month for Alex. Alex has always been interested in sports. He loves to shoot hoops, play catch, swing bats, and run. However he has always preferred to do these activities in the comfort of his own backyard. We have tried to sign him up for teams before, but he has always said he wasn’t interested. Well, after much waffling he finally decided to play on a little league baseball team with a few of his friends. To nobody’s surprise he absolutely loves the practices and the games. He likes to be 10 to 15 minutes early to each game and usually puts on his gear as soon as he gets home from school. The league is machine-pitch and everybody bats each inning, so we haven’t seen more than two innings yet. But it is a lot of fun and Alex is thoroughly enjoying it.

He also turned 8 years old this month which in our house means that you get to start going on birthday hikes with Dad. We chose to do a 2.2 mile loop in the area east of Lake Padden in Whatcom County. We had a fun morning finding the first wildflowers that had started to bloom, searching for a geocache or two, and taking lots of pictures. He tried out his new backpack and we were happy that the rain stayed away until later in the afternoon.

Turning 8 also means that he has the opportunity to be baptized. So the Saturday following the hike, Alex was baptized a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints by his dad. Grandma and Grandpa McCain and Williams both came for the event as well as Uncle Scott, Heidi, and Nicole. Aaron’s Uncle Marv and Aunt Janie were also in town and came to participate. It was a pretty special day and Alex was excited. There was a sweet spirit as he and another little girl both made these important covenants with Heavenly Father.

He has also become a cub scout and his first event is the pinewood derby. The car is almost ready and the race is Wednesday night. (We'll keep you posted.)

To close out the month Alex, Brittany, and Justin all get to participate in the Temple Youth Celebration associated with the dedication of the new Vancouver Temple. Alex and Brittany were selected to sing in a primary choir while Justin is in some of the theatrical numbers that will be performed the night before the dedication for President Monson. The practices, open house and upcoming dedication (all with the accompanying trip to Canada) has been pretty big news in our neck of the woods and we are excited about having the new temple.

We like Alex and have really enjoyed celebrating life with him this month.