Zeke Christian is FIFTEEN!

Zeke's main birthday request this year was that we NOT go somewhere for Spring Break. He wanted to have a friend party on his actual birthday. We can give him that.

Zeke has seemed way too big this past year to only be 14. But I also can't believe he is already 15.

The main thing he wanted was some new J'nco's - "Convicts". To say the legs are huge is an understatement. They look cute on him and I try to capture as much of these extreme styles as I can because I know they are fleeting.

So much denim!

He also got some dog tags :)

He has such great, curly long hair. All natural. I love the copper color. Zeke is very chatty. He is always good for a conversation. I love that he is so open and tells me all about his friends and things he is interested in. I love that he makes the best of situations and understands his part in contributing to the greater good. He is currently the Teacher class president and attends his meetings, volunteers to teach and comments in class and bares his testimony because he feels like he needs to set the example for the younger boys. I appreciate that he understands his responsibilities and shows up. That is not to say he is always excited to do it, and there really aren't any boys in the ward that he feels endeared to. But he's a good sport and always attends and makes the best of it. I always tell Zeke that he lives the most charmed life of anyone I know. I think it's pretty sweet to be Zeke!

He wanted to have some friends over and said he invited around 10-12. Famous last words. I've been here before. I had Jon pick up a stack of pizza's and Zeke and I grabbed some treats at nearby Franz bakery. Jon and I retreated to our room with a movie for the night as we heard more and more voices, music, the door opening and closing. The party was in full swing when I went downstairs to see if anything needed refilling. There were at least 20 14 & 15 year olds in every square inch of the downstairs and outside. Zeke gave me a thumbs up. 

Part of the night that made me chuckle was when Kent (our neighbor and my boss) showed up with a basket of wet garments. Their dryer went out and he was wondering if he could use ours. Zeke said all of a sudden Kent is pushing his way through the crowd with his wet garment basket and going upstairs. Then he came back an hour later to get them. Ha! 

Zeke has a lot of fun friends. I can tell he is loved dearly. I will say, they are a rough-looking crowd. I told him things are about to change drastically over the next year, he'll see. 15 to 16 bring a lot of changes and access to more things. He will need to make some hard decisions at times. I suggested he continue to broaden his friend group so that if it comes to a point that he doesn't feel like he can hang out with some anymore, he has others that are more inline with his values. I appreciate that he trusts me enough to tell me these things, and I suppose I trust him as well. He is a good kid with a good head on his shoulders. I love my Zekey Bears so much!