Alex

I wasn't going to talk about Alex leaving home since he left long after I started blogging. I finally decided that he deserves his own special entry just like the others. Alex is so very different than the other kids in many ways. He usually likes to do things his own way and isn't too interested in what you have to say but in the end if I decide to offer my suggestions he seems quite willing to try them. I have no idea if that is why he is actually the one who has completely followed my advice about dating and college or if that is simply what he wanted to do. While Alex has dated far more than any of the other kids he has only really had one girlfriend. Sure he has had a few girl friends who lasted for a week or two but Mackenzie was a part of our lives for quite some time. It was a sad day in our house when they broke up. We like to joke that we like Mackenzie more than we like Alex. Oh well, teenagers really shouldn't be going steady anyway.

Alex went off to college with no strings attached and as far as I can tell he is following my A, B, C rule completely.

Alex is a combination between Brandon and Ben. He is totally into sports like Ben and played Football, Basketball and Volleyball in High School just like Ben but he also was much more into his academic classes similar to Brandon. He was very social and loved to party like Alycia but also had a bit of a shy side to him like Kira did. Most people would think I was nuts for saying Alex was shy but I saw it all the time and I would watch as he carefully hid the shyness and insecurity and forced himself into uncomfortable situations. It was near impossible to get Alex to call an adult on the telephone. He was deathly afraid of that.

The amazing thing about Alex is how dedicated he is to doing the right thing. He certainly had his "wild" side and loved to joke around and get a bit crazy but as far as I could tell he has always been very serious about following the teachings of our Lord Jesus Christ. He has always taken his responsibilities very seriously.

Alex got very close to Alycia the year before she left for college and then in his senior year he got very close to Sarah. He was also very protective of her. I have to tell one story about Alex that exemplifies this well. I hope I tell the story correctly but if I'm not completely accurate in the details you will certainly get the main idea. Sarah has often been the victim of teasing through out her life. I think it is partly due to her very gullible personality and partly due to immature boys who have a crush on her but are too stupid to flirt and so they tease instead. In one of her classes there were two boys who teased her mercilessly making fun of her being Canadian and of being Mormon. Finally it got so bad that Alex could see something was wrong and during one of their breaks she told him about the boys. Alex says in a very harsh tone, "who is this guy? Show me who he is!!" Sarah points him out and so Alex gets a bunch of his football buddies and explains what's going on. Of course Alex's football friends all love Sarah and they say, "guy's, today we're all Canadian Mormons OK?" They then proceed to find and corner one of Sarah's tormentors. Surrounded by a circle of huge linesmen, Alex gets in the boys face and says, "so I hear you've been giving my sister a hard time!?" The poor boy is terrified and literally shaking in his boots. At first he denies everything but when Alex actually quotes some of the things he has been saying he changes to serious apologies and promises to never do it again. One of Alex's faults is that he doesn't always know when to stop and in this case he brought this boy literally to tears. Finally Alex makes the kid promise to apologize to Sarah and to never give her a hard time again. The boy proceeded to do just that and of course with Sarah's forgiving nature she readily accepted his apology and I believe they actually became some what friends after that.

After tormenting the first kid, Alex and his friends went looking for the second guy but apparently he got wind of what was happening to his buddy and he was nowhere to be found.

The one thing that was very different about Alex was his deep reluctance to leave home. All of the other kids were either very anxious to get out of the house or if not anxious, they were at least excited about it. Not Alex, he dreaded it from day one. He refused to even talk about it. We had to force him to pick out some schools to attend and in the end Lisa more or less picked the schools for him. In the end when he did get accepted at a few different schools he picked the University of Utah. Finally, just mere weeks before heading off to school we saw some excitement in his face.

Picking a major was just as frustrating. Lisa spent hours grilling him and asking him what he thought of various occupations. Finally it took two serious football injuries to get Alex actually thinking about medicine. He thoroughly enjoyed biology so that gave us some idea that he might like that kind of thing but after tearing his AC joint in his shoulder and then breaking his arm he became good friends with his orthopedic surgeon and at least for now he is planning on medical school. He promises to rethink that idea if Obama gets his socialized medical plan in place. Since I think it is ridiculous to get a useless undergraduate degree his bachelors degree will be in exercise physiology. While psychology, political science or zoology may be good for getting high grades what kind of job can you get with one of those degree's? You have no choice but to go on to graduate school. I think it makes much more sense to get a degree that will get you a job just to play it safe.

So in between Alycia's wedding and Peters wedding we drove Alex up to Salt Lake City and got him settled into his dorm room. His first week was a tough one because he was just not meeting anyone and I could see him getting a bit homesick. Finally his ward started getting some activities and he joined the LDS fraternity and he quickly became thoroughly engulfed into the college life. He is actually a councilor in his wards Elders Quorum and I can tell he is taking the responsibility very seriously.

As it turns out some of Trevor's good friends (who actually live in the same building as Alycia and Trevor) had some openings in their apartment and invited Alex to move in with them. They live in the same ward as Alex so we strongly encouraged Alex to move in with them. It is saving us a ton of money but while he lives very close to campus it is a little more traveling for him.

So that is it. Alex is gone and Sarah is an only child and hating it. It is very quiet around here but the breakfast cereal lasts much longer. I guess Sarah was right, Alex was the one eating all the food.

I know Alex is doing the right thing for his future but I sure do miss him. Can't wait for Thanksgiving and then Christmas is right behind it.






















Do you notice the new hair doo? This is when Alex changed from a boy to a young man.




































Alex was so worried that he wouldn't be a good shot with a gun. He figured being a good shot was an essential part of being a Leavitt. He needn't have worried. For his first time shooting he did very well.



How embarrassing














My third Eagle. Thank goodness. That was a tough one.















Mackenzie and Alex went out for some time. We all love Mackenzie.
















Just a few of Alex's many dates.


















































This is my favorite girlfriend.