Dear Ayden,
The other day I was thinking about the things I love about my family and I thought, "Hey! I should describe to Ayden her family on my side!" So, that's what I'm gonna do (it's just about my parents and siblings, in-laws included). Be warned, they're very honest descriptions, good with the bad :P
Papa Atkin: Your grandpa is one of the hardest workers I have ever known! He does all of the fixing and building around the house himself. He did all the renovating and he always does a beautiful job! He always tells us to "do things right the first time and do it well" :) He's detail-oriented, just like grandma. He loves the outdoors, camping and four-wheeling, we all do and we all thank him for instilling that love in us. He's stubborn and sarcastic and definitely has a mind of his own. When I said that he gave me his stubbornness, he said, "no I didn't, I still have all of mine!" :) He's a goofball and a great grandpa! He's artistic but doesn't show it that often besides in his work on the house. He loves his dogs and they love him, he loves them so much we kids would joke that he loves them more than us sometimes haha guess they never caused as much trouble as we did at least. He taught me how to clean and fix things and learn to do things on my own. He never does things for me, he teaches and has me do it myself so that I'll know how to do it the next time. He loves grandma! They are best friends and the best examples of what being great parents and spouses means! He likes to watch movies and relax after a hard day's work. He's the one I go to if I have questions about something that's broken or if I'm going to buy a car or anything for my house. He seems to always know the answer to everything or at least a way to find the answer. I don't know what I would do without him to help me figure things out in life. He is very strong and brave. I always feel safe when I am with him, even if I'm still a little scared. I have only seen him cry a few times in my life, even when his brother and father passed away just a few months apart he stayed strong in his faith that he would be with them again. He loves the gospel and the Lord. He's a wonderful man!
Grandma Atkin: Your grandma is the most selfless and loving person I have ever known! She is the poster child of service and kindness. She is the executive secretary for Elder Holland right now and she is invaluable and loved by all of the brethren! She is just the coolest lady ever! She always knows just what to say when I go to her in tough situations. She is very talented: she plays the harp (a lifelong dream she finally gets to fulfill), she cooks and cleans, and is just supermom! She is a perfectionist and an over-achiever. I hardly ever see her without a smile on her face. She's beautiful and forgiving and loving and kind and sweet and helps without a second thought for any inconveniences toward herself. She is the perfect example of motherhood at its finest. She loves her grandchildren and can't get enough of spending time with them and all of her family. She is Christlike. She loves the gospel and the doctrine and there's no way she could go anywhere but the highest degree of Heaven! I'm pretty sure that when the 2nd Coming happens, she's gonna be translated and twinkled and all that! I am very blessed to have her in my life. Even when I was a brat or was stubborn, she was always there to help me, no matter what. She gets home from a long day of work where she, more than likely, didn't eat lunch so that she could get more done and she'll make dinner and help clean and do homework and whatever else we need of her. She's amazing!!
Channing: Channing is the most like papa. He is opinionated and openly shares those opinions. He is stubborn and sarcastic and goofy. He is a great dad, a hard worker and sacrifices his own happiness to work hard to keep his family secure. He loves his wife very much and they are great friends. He is a crazy driver, though he wouldn't listen to you if you told him that. :P He loves to play video games and Magic. He's great friends with his brothers and they like to mess around. If he calls you names, it means he loves you ;) After his divorce from his first wife, he and I became close and I'm so happy to have him in my life! He is a great big brother, and a wonderful friend! He isn't the most punctual :P When you talk to him on the phone, he'll hang up right after he gets whatever he wants out of you, even if you weren't quite done talking haha "K bye!" :P He also is very talented in building and fixing things, he learned from the best :) He has done a lot of great work on his house as well. He is very smart! Math is like the easiest thing in the world for him, even if he hasn't taken the class, he can figure out the answer. He could do anything with that brain of his!
Courtney: Courtney is very creative and girly. She loves doting on Naiya and dressing her up in ruffles and frills :) She loves to paint and decorate her house and she's done a great job. She can be quiet at times but once you get her talking, she's not shy at all! She doesn't like confrontation or causing problems and she worries a lot over doing anything to make people upset. She's a sweetheart that way. :) She's a lot of fun! She loves spending time with Channing and maximizes that time, she's very much in love with him! She loves being a mom and she does a great job! She tries her best with Oryhan and Porter, sometimes holding back because she worries about being the bad step-mom. She does a great job but doesn't give herself enough credit. She can be very anxious sometimes even when everyone tries to comfort her :) She's very strong of spirit and mind. She is daddy's best friend, in fact she's the only friend from high school he ever cared about keeping in contact with! She likes to tease and joke :)
Necia: Necia is very helpful. She's like grandma that way, if someone needs help, she'll drop everything to see what she can do to be of use. She is there when you need to talk about anything. She's a wonderful mom and her and her kids are very close friends. She's very sarcastic! She's my best friend :) She is very talented musically: she sings very well and plays the piano too! She cooks and bakes and cleans and does her best to keep things nice! She goes over the top when planning parties and always worries that they don't go that well, even though they're always great (she's just like grandma that way--perfectionist haha). She does everything possible to make sure her girls can do everything they want to! She finds extra little jobs to do so they can do dance and sports and play instruments and anything else they like. She's responsible and teaches her children to be as well, they are very polite and loving, just like her. She always takes the high road even when she sometimes wants to just punch somebody in the face haha She's a wonderful woman and a great role model for me, she always has been. She's a great sibling to have, very supportive and present in all of our lives!
Joe: Joe is very helpful and kind. He spends all of his time going to work and school to make a better life for his family. He hardly has a second of time for himself but I never hear him complain, though I'm sure he doesn't like it. He's a great dad and I know his kids love the time they get with him. Anytime he's home, he's happy to let Necia get out and get a breather and have some fun outside of her home and away from the kids. He's not much into video games besides Halo. He used to be pretty sensitive to the sarcasm of my family but he's grown out of that. He's pretty dang sarcastic himself now, we corrupted his innocence! :P He's bald and in denial haha He's a great co-worker (I used to work with him and papa and we had a lot of fun) and a great brother-in-law! He likes to have fun and spend time with family. He's great great guy! We're all very happy to have him as a part of the family!! He's a real brother to me.
Johnevan: Your uncle Johnevan is a major goofball! He has always been the most random and silliest of all my siblings :) He bounces around from job to job and place to place, one day he'll find what he's looking for hopefully. He is very brave in the face of all he's had to put up with in his life medically. He's had so many surgeries and I've only seen him cry a few times and I only heard him complain once or twice. He's the best! We've always been close and I loved the times he would take me to hang out with him and his friends. He actually wanted me there, we always had a good time :) He's a big romantic! He'll just have met a girl and he'll bring her flowers and write a song and the whole shebang! We tell him it's a little too forward and too much but he's just waiting for the girl that doesn't see it that way. That girl will be very lucky to have his attention and love! He's fun-loving and crazy! He loves Disney and a lot of childish things like Phineas and Ferb :P He's going to make a great father and husband one day! He's a great uncle, though babies don't really like him for some reason haha He can be very sensitive and emotional sometimes and I know he has a great testimony of this gospel. He's sarcastic and likes to be the center of attention so he can make people laugh :) He likes to play peacemaker. He tries so hard sometimes, though it often backfires :P We all recognize and appreciate the effort, even if we don't at the time haha He's just awesome!
Austin: Uncle Austin is a sweetheart! He is the most like mom. Sensitive and willing to do anything to help others. He's had some trouble making friends in school, for reasons no one knows and it makes no sense! If they but took a chance to get to know him, they would be amazed at how awesome he is! He jumps into activities and loves to be included in the work of the Lord! He's very into productions right now and he did a wonderful job in the play, Aida just recently at school. He loves Nauvoo and sharing the gospel with others and he's going to make the best missionary! All he wants is to be included and loved and boy does our family love him! He gets side-tracked by video games and other such distractions and I miss him when he leaves. He is the best with kids! They all love him! It's no mystery why, he's so fun and childlike himself :) He's a goof and loves to talk our ears off about his current projects or likes and hobbies :) He loves to serve and spend time hanging out and making memories. He was very talented at playing the trumpet back a few years ago but he didn't get the appreciation he deserved so he quit. Which is just too bad, he was really great and practiced all the time. He's my little brother who I used to fight with all the time and all of the sudden he just grew up! It's crazy, I didn't even realize it was happening until he turned into this awesome little man :)
So, those are just a few short descriptions of my siblings and parents :) They're awesome and I know you'll love them too!
Here are some fun pictures of my family!
Love, Mommy
