Miles is 21!
My sweet little boy isn't so little these days! He's significantly bigger than Jared, which is really a head scratcher to all of us. When Jared married me, he thought we were going to have some little point guards. But Miles is like 6'5" and has a big frame.
When Miles was a little boy he was so sweet. He was always holding Simone's hand: at the gym, the playground, the park. He loved to taking care of her. Although they definitely had a lot more disagreements with being only two years apart. They for the most part enjoyed being together.
It's been fun to see that reconnection post-mission. Miles is a very hard worker and always thinking of business ideas. Back in November he did a sales trip selling fiber internet in Ohio. Somehow Jared knew a guy and he got connected with some other people in the industry and they started their own company at Miles's so they could have some customized blitz locations and could have more control over the process. Jared loves to develop business ideas with his kids and this is actually such a good fit for both of their skillsets. In December they were getting some specifics figured out, and by January Miles, Jared, Carson, Simone and a bunch of friends were driving to Nebraska to test things out on a sales blitz.
It ended up being a really great trip. Simone loved the farm airbnb and seeing the animals each morning. They all did well and had a lot of fun seeing a whole different part of the country. Miles's friends detoured to Mt. Rushmore on the way home. Carson had a ton of sales, and since he's just starting up his new insurance agency, it's good to have some quick cash while he builds his pipeline. Simone is focused on climbing and always excited to try something new that will help support her with that.
Anyway, hearing Simone say how much fun she had with Miles and his friends really made me happy. He also said separately that his friends thought she was really cool. My mama heart has been waiting a long time for this. They were super fun in Italy, but Simone said this was different. It wasn't just getting along and not fighting, they had a really good time together.
She said Miles was revealing some of the trouble he caused in Jr. High. Funny stories that we never knew about. When I say I needed eyes in the back of my head to keep up with this kid, I meant it. But he really does have some funny stories. In this one, he was sent to the principals office. But the principal left to do something else and Miles was just bored in the office for like 45 minutes. He saw some sticky notes with usernames and passwords and realized they were for the music that plays over the speakers between classes and at lunch. So Miles figured out how to login and would take requests from other kids.
Since he's been home, Miles has had some fun. He went to Hawaii with his buddies in December. They have a great group of boys and I'm grateful for the good influence his friends have been through the years. Fun time reconnecting after their "World Tour" as they call their missions. I didn't get any photos from this trip unfortunately.
When we went to Italy, he wanted to watch "The Chosen" the whole plane ride, and that is really sweet to me. I love how he loves information and is always in pursuit of learning. He created an app for sales training in October. And I love seeing how he thinks outside the box. He likes to improve systems and think of new ways to do things. When he has an idea, he takes immediate action.
We were talking the other day about how fun it is that we all have such different ways of thinking. In a family, that is helpful! We have kids who are really different from each other. But as a whole, we've got a really wide range of skillsets.
We celebrated his birthday dinner at Tsunami and it was a lot of fun. He and Josie shared their story of how they met in May of their Junior year at Hobby Lobby. Miles and his friend Cam were buying rockets and Josie was their cashier. They found out she went to Skyridge. Later Miles wanted to find out more about her and did some sleuthing to find her instagram and followed her. It took him like 6 months to ask her out. We were all wondering what she thought of his social media haha. She asked one of his basketball friends what he thought of Miles before she said she'd go out with him. He tipped her off to the TikTok account luckily she wasn't too scared off by his early misadventures. But she still had to convince her mom, who didn't know Miles at all. Luckily her mom let her go. They had a ton of fun and I think it's safe to say that Miles has been smitten ever since! Josie is so sweet and fun and we were happy to hear all about their early days.
It's been over three years now since they first started dating, though for two years they were apart due to missions. Three years ago for Miles's birthday they went to a Jazz game. They lingered after the game and were waiting for the arena to clear out and some famous rappers started shooting around. Miles's friend Creighton kept telling them, "hey it's my friend's birthday" and finally Travis Scott grabbed Creighton's phone and gave Miles a profanity laced birthday greeting. So epic for Miles who was actually a big fan back then. I'm not a fan of him as I dislike most celebrities so that's nothing new. But thought it was funny and so fortunate that Miles got a birthday shoutout from him.
