Carter Dean Happel

Carter Dean Happel, our first son. For some time I thought our only son, but God had a much bigger plan. Carter's picture is right beside the word "strong willed" in the dictionary. Another photo of him would be beside the word "stubborn". I was not a wise enough mom when he was younger to see these things as good traits. I know now, what I did not know then. These traits of his would lead him to much success in his life in many areas. Carter loves his sports, and he likes all kinds of them; baseball, wrestling, football, golf, and anything that involves moving. He rides bikes, plays ball for hours, hunts frogs, plays with his siblings in the back yard, he is a very busy guy. He is a lot easier to get along with if he is using his body in a physical way. He just needs to use that energy. I do know where he got that trait from.

He has had an incredible amount of success on the wrestling mat. He has won 14 state titles to date. He is the one in the red singlet. This is a freestyle match he wrestled this spring. He loves to pitch, play catcher, and short stop when he plays baseball. That is him throwing a warm-up pitch in a game this year. What impresses me most about this boy is that he can work, and work hard. He and Dean are putting in a floor upstairs. I do not mean he is watching, he can run the nailer, and the other day he was measuring and using the chop saw to cut the boards down. He works right along side Dean and he loves it. He has hung shelves for me with levels and cordless drills, thinks to check the breaker box when lights are not working. I am comfortable that if something needs attention and Dean is gone, that Carter can take care of it. He even is learning to grill for us. He is growing into a fine young man, despite my efforts early on to sabotage most of it.

I escaped yesterday with my children to the free movie. We saw Hotel for Dogs. We saw it earlier this year on a hookie day. The children were awesome, and we enjoyed our time together. We also hit WalMart for a few groceries and some shoes. Came home and had a relaxing afternoon here at home. It was just what I needed. We saw three other movies that are coming yet this summer that we are planning on making a family day out of.