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Everyone say a little prayer for Dean Friday night. First thing Saturday morning he has to take a very important test for his job. For those who don't know, he has taken on the position of media specialist (or in other words, librarian) at Brockbank. He LOVES this job, but he has to either pass the PRAXIS exam or take 30 credits in library/media (which would be awfully expensive for us). He has been studying VERY hard, but is very nervous as this is a difficult exam. Keep your fingers crossed . . . . we'll let you know as soon as we find out if he passes (scores won't be availble until April).

THANX!!

Happy Birthday Daddy

We celebrated Dean's 39th birthday yesterday. Notice the 1/2 cake. No, we did not give him a 1/2 cake. We took it to his work at lunchtime and they ate half. Then we just used the same cake later that night. Cheap, huh. After dinner we all went to the Hale Theatre and saw Phantom. For those of you who are theatre illiterate like me, Phantom is different from Phantom of the Opera. Kind of the same storyline, but totally different music. My kids have seen the movie Phantom of the Opera and love the soundtrack, so we were excited to see the play. We were caught off guard a little when it was so different! But we enjoyed it anyway. Even Jarod sat quietly and watched all 2 1/2 hours! One more year before Daddy hits the big 4-0!

DUDE!?!?! WHAT HAPPENED TO SPRING!?!?!?

Two days ago we were out riding bikes and playing basketball and soccer. Then yesterday it all went downhill!! I am going on strike. I refuse to accept winter back into my life.

WE ARE THE CHAMPIONS. . . .

The undefeated Academic team at Brockbank Jr High,

with co-captain Lindsie Bressler at

the helm, took the district championship today!!

This is actually an incredibly high score. Both teams were very competetive. Normally if one team has a score this high, it is because the other team isn't very good and their score is very low. It was a buzzer beater. We thought the clock would never get to zero in time to keep Brockbank in the lead. But they never let the other team get an edge.

NEXT STOP . . . . . NATIONAL COMPETITION!!!!!!

(The only bummer is that we live in such a technological age. You can compete in a national championship without ever leaving your own city. They don't get to go anywhere exciting!)

Asia

I wonder if my other two children feel left out because everything I post is about Jarod! He is just so obsessed with Grandpa and Grandma and Mongolia! It's all he talks about. This is a picture he drew on the board in my classroom. He was teaching my class about the Earth. He drew the Earth, then drew this little tiny square and told them that "this is Asia. Mongolia is in Asia where Grandpa and Grandma are." You can't read it, but the letters in the square spell Asia. He sure put it very close to where it actually is on the globe!!

A Valentine for You

Happy Valentines' Day!!GRANPAANDGRAMA

I typed Happy Valentines Day and started these videos loading, then went and got in the shower. When I got out, Jaord had typed "Granpaandgrama" all by himself. I'm going to have to start showering at night when there is someone else here to watch Jarod!!

Draper Temple

Today we went to the open house for the new temple in Draper. We had planned to take the whole family, but DJ and Lindsie were both throwing up, so we decided to just go ahead and take Jarod. He had overheard us talking to DJ a few days ago about how he was going to get to see inside the temple, but not actually do any temple work. All Jarod has talked about since then is the fact that he gets to go to the temple and he doesn't have to do any work! First we went to a nearby church and watched a video about temples. Then they put us on a really cool "luxury" bus to get us over to the temple. Jarod thought that was really cool. He loves riding a bus, and this one especially.

We were hoping to get some pictures outside the temple, but they took us straight from the bus to these big long tent things that led into the temple. At the end of the tour, we went into some more tent things that led to a church across the way where we got to have cookies and water. Then we left the church into more tent things that took us straight to the bus. It was kind of funny -- we were never outside! Here's Jarod, waiting for the bus to come and get us. He was so well behaved and reverent. We were really impressed with him today. He thought the coolest part of the temple was the matron's office. Go figure.

Here is a picture of the temple from the bus window. The bus going back wasn't so cool. It was a boring UTA-type bus and we had to stand because it was crowded! I guess they want you to arrive in style, but once the tour is over they just cram you on the bus to get rid of you! :)

The whole time we were there, I just kept wishing so badly that the people of Mongolia had a temple. We have so many here in Utah. Couldn't we just ship one out there so the temple blessings could be available to them too? But then I suppose they value the temple so much more because they have to sacrifice to get there. In Utah we just get lazy because it's too convenient! We'll have to do better.