WE ARE PROVO...AND DON'T YOU FORGET IT!

This is the chant we have been hearing around the house since Thursday night..."We are Provo, and don't you forget it." OK, I had to ask Braden last night what it was he had been chanting; guess I FORGOT IT!

We just completed an entire week of tournament games with the Boys Freshman Basketball in Utah Valley. Provo played games Saturday, Tuesday, Wednesday and on to the final game on Thursday vs. American Fork, who they had played and beat once already during the early games. This game however, did not come off easily. When Scott and I got there late in the first quarter, the score was 3-12 against Provo. We had hit one three pointer. AF had one tall guy who got every rebound and got in under the hoop about every possession. Provo was not hitting anything. Slowly the tables turned and by halftime we were about at a tie, maybe up one point. It was close the entire second half, with Provo going up by as much as 14 and then down to within a point. It was back and forth the last few minutes until Provo pulled ahead and won by three points...I think it was 48-45.

At the buzzer, Provo fans poured onto the court to congratulate the team...

The boys won a really nice trophy...

And they even got to cut down the net!

Congratulations on a great season boys!

Braden did not play much, but he should be proud of his hard work and dedication in helping his teammates in practice every day.

It all makes a difference!

Now Braden is counting the minutes until he can go play CHURCH BALL this afternoon. He has been looking forward to this all season! (His coach asked the boys on the team not to play church ball until the season was done.) He can't wait to REALLY PLAY BALL!!!

WHAT'S IN AN EGG?

Thursday when I got home, there was a message on the answering machine from one of Breanna's college professors...her favorite one, I might add. She has shared her enthusiasm at his teaching style and subject matter from the very start.

Breanna is in Brother Black's Biology 100 class at BYU. He loves Birds and Bears and Bats. Two of the books for his class were a bird identification book and a book that makes bird calls...yes, this is the sort of book list I would want!

Professor Black appreciates creativity. He encourages the students to express themselves in class projects through song, dance, whatever!

Anyways, I called Professor Black back after getting his message and he started the conversation like this: "Mrs Taylor, I just wanted to thank you for sending your daughter to BYU."

He then proceeded to tell me that he had just read Breanna's answer to his test question "What's In An Egg?" Breanna had told me about this test, and that she did not remember a lecture about what was in an egg, so she had written a poem instead.

"She cupped the world within her palm;

Creamy-cool, dippled perfection.

Her mind rolled the possibilities

over her fingertips, unwinding

excitement, waking wonder.

She held the seeds of conscience,

the pre-murmuring of a heartbeat

fluttering against the gifts of life and flight.

To think that beauty and death,

breath and end,

all the sciences and fantasies that

fall into the grasp of man...

lie subdued and anticipated

within one egg."

Professor Black read me the poem and described the accompanying drawing; he was enthralled at her beautiful answer. It made his day...and mine when he called me...and Breanna's when he called her...and maybe his wife's when he also called her.

Let's just say that Breanna got an A+ on her test, and that Professor Black and I had a wonderful conversation about how talented Breanna is, and that he wanted to personally meet her ( from his class of 270 students) and had her read her poem to the entire class today, and that he and his wife (a retired English teacher) want her to publish the poem.

Biology is about life...Breanna gets that.

Braden the Birthday Boy

Click here to go to Breanna's blog called "Risking Spontaneous Delight" (as opposed to Spontaneous Combustion") to see her latest in a long line of well-written, entertaining birthday tributes.

Her latest is for Braden, whose birthday was Tuesday, Feb. 9.

Just a quick update on the now-15-year-old:

• His Provo High freshman basketball team is playing in the valley championship game tonight (the Bulldogs manhandled Spanish Fork, the only team to have beaten them in the regular season, last night in the semifinals; they play American Fork, a team the Dawgs already defeated in the regular season and earlier in the 16-team tournament)
• He's got an X-Box party planned with friends Friday night to celebrate his birthday. Two TVs, TV X-Boxes, multiple controllers ... can Cheryl and I just go out somewhere for the evening?
• His Eagle Scout court of honor is planned for Sunday, February 21, 6 p.m. at the stake center.