Miss Becky's Blog

BAYLOR -- # 1 Grandson

Baylor Phillips Mitchell born on June 11, 1996 is our first grandchild and such a good, special boy who has enriched our lives so much.

He's currently in the fourth grade at Edith Bowen Elementary School that is part of Utah State University (USU) here in Logan, Utah. (Both Ken and I worked at USU for many years.) The following are his words from an assignment his new teacher asked all the children to do to introduce themselves to the class and teacher ... each child wrote their name vertically down the left side of the paper and then had to write a sentence about themself that started with that letter from their name. Here is what Baylor wrote:

B - Baseball is one of my favorite sports.

A - An Activity I like to do is camping.

Y - You should know I like sports.

L - Lemonade is my favorite drink.

O - Outside is where I like to be most.

R - Reading books about snakes is fun to me.

He did really well describing his interests and the things that are most important to him.

Here's a picture of Baylor with his Dad, Jason, our oldest child. This picture was taken a couple of years ago, but shows how much he loves his Dad ...

In 2002 Jason wrote, "Baylor's hero is the crocodile hunter. He told me a while ago that he has 2 Dads, me and the Crocodile Hunter ... That's OK because today he had a friend over from school. Baylor came down to my office to tell me that his friend was here and I told to bring him down and introduce him to me. Baylor ran off and I heard him say 'Come here, I want to show you my Dad. He's stronger than your Dad.' Seriously. Isn't that awesome!" Jason and Baylor have a really good relationship. Baylor loves sports and plays some sport every season of the year, and sometimes plays on two teams at the same time. Jason has been one of his coachs in basketball, baseball, and now football since they have lived with us for the last nine months.

Here's Baylor, #66 in action ... American Football. That was his father's favorite sport. Jason was an All-State Football player in high school, meaning he was one of the best in the whole state of Utah. Baylor is also a good football player and loves to watch football games on TV with his Dad.

Ken/Smiley's favorite sport is Basketball or "Hoops" and he helps Jason coach Baylor's basketball team.

Here Pappy (that's what our grandchildren call Ken) is playing "hoops" with Baylor, #23, and McKay our second greandson, a year younger than Baylor.

Last May Baylor had the "Happiest Day of His Life" ... the story is told in the following article, an e-mail message Jason wrote to our family the day after Ken's heart attack.

Along with sports, Baylor loves animals, especially snakes ... he decided a few years ago that he wants to be a "snake scienist" and he has been learning about them ever since. He has a pet snake that lives in his room now. He earned the money to buy it. Baylor is responsible to care for it and buy it's food. He named the snake, "Jerry".

Here is a picture of Baylor when he was 7 years-old and got involved with "The Crocodile Hunter" (Steve Irwin) and the Australia Zoo over the internet. He loved watching the Crocodile Hunter on TV and learned much from his programs. Have you hear of or seen "The Crocodile Hunter"? He's known all over the world for animal conservation.

Baylor wrote a letter to "The Crocodile Hunter" and he (his assistants I'm sure) sent him a bunch of Croc stuff, so his Mom took some pictures to email a thank you note.

That year for Halloween Baylor dressed as "the Crocodile Hunter" and in this picture with the help of a small toy crocodile, he acts the part of Steve Irvin, the real Crocodile Hunter!!

Last month when Steve Irwin, "The Crocodile Hunter" died, Baylor was very sad. We watched the special memorial for him from the Austrialia Zoo. Steve was a great person, he LOVED LIFE, his FAMILY and all kinds of ANIMALS. You can learn more about him and his mission on his web site: http://www.crocodilehunter.com/ There is an introduction to Steve on my blog under the category "Making a Difference in the World".

Our TRUE STORY from Nana’s Book Club this month (October 2006) is dedicated to BAYLOR, our Little Croc Hunter, and to Steve Irvin, the real Crocodile Hunter. Steve was a great example of “Living, Loving, Learning and Leaving a Legacy.” His “legacy” lives on among his many friends, both human and animal, all over the world … including “Owen and Mzee”. Click on the category "Reading and Books" to get this story.

Baylor is just a really GOOD Boy. He is an excellent student for a 10 year old. He has two younger sisters, Britt, age 8 and Gwen age 6.

This picture was taken at Easter time a special spring Holiday celebrated in the Christian world.

I LOVE BAYLOR!!!!!