A FEW FAVORITES

Breanna accused me of only posting to my preschool blog so I have to prove her wrong. I told her I am TOO BUSY! Gee, how many years has she been hearing that one?

So, here are just a few favorites for tonight. We watched some old home movies the other night and I just love them. Seeing Breanna as a toddler is WAY ENTERTAINING...that cute raspy voice, that fly-away hair, the funny things she said...

Then we had pictures pulled out for Braden's eagle court of honor...How about this beauty with him as a blonde, and the girls in one of their ever matching outfits!
I love that we have family close by! We love having Austin and Laura here, knowing it may not last forever, but being able to see them regularly.
I love Spring. New things growing, new baby animals to enjoy. Oh, and I really love my preschoolers...they are so entertaining and it is so fulfilling to help them learn and experience new things like feeding baby calves!!
I love surprises...well happy surprises like Jenna and Carter coming to visit us!!
I love reading. Breanna caught me the other night.
And that reminds me...I have a book almost finished waiting in the living room that is due tomorrow, seriously!

We sent off Jenna and Carter, knowing we will see them in less than three weeks. We are expecting Susan and Amanda in two days. We are truly blessed to have so many things to enjoy in our lives! OK Breanna, I posted!

BEST SURPRISE EVER!

Jenna has done it again...with the help of an accomplice! Scott found a $10 flight on Monday and called Jenna to see if she could get things together to come out for a week. She worked her tail off to get things set at home and headed with Carter to Utah to surprise Grandma, Breanna and Braden! I had sent Scott on errands to Salt Lake to pick up some things I needed...he usually takes the bus...so it was the ideal excuse for him to be able to go to the airport that day as well. He not only brought me home the chocolate fountain from Lori, and the wood sawhorse from LeAnn and Mike, but he brought a pretty precious package with him. Austin and Laura were in on the deal. They distracted me upstairs while Jenna and Carter came into the house to wait in the living room.

My neighbor Suki, as if prompted to help in the deception, came and rang the doorbell a minute later so I had to go downstairs to answer the door. I walked through the dark living room to get the door without even looking. Scott had to come encourage us to come upstairs about 5 minutes later to find what he had been scheming...the surprise went off perfectly!

Baby Carter did not even cry when grandma screamed!!!
We have been having so much fun today just doing normal stuff. Scott said that it would not be hard to get up to catch the bus at 5:45 a.m. if he could just have the smiles he got this morning from baby Carter!!
How great is it that we get Jenna and Carter for a week now...let them go home for two weeks and then we fly to New Jersey to spend all of Spring Break with them out there!!!

Thanks for the surprise Scott, Jenna, Carter...and Ty for letting them come!!! He is sure missing his sweet boy!

FROM SCOTT

• Buying Jenna's JetBlue flight from JFK to SLC: $10
• Using a United saver award for a return to Newark: 12.5K miles
• Getting Carter on the same two flights: free
• Cost (taxes, fees, booking) for JFK-SLC-EWR flight: $25.70
• Having Jenna and Carter here for a surprise visit: priceless

Oh, and having Carter here means lots more photo opportunities and lots more caption opportunities, so check out CARTER'S REVENGE

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.

Off to Haiti!!

If you asked Scott his next travel destination of choice, this may have been one of the last on the list...but nonetheless, he is on his way to Haiti.

I had to look up a map to see exactly where in the Caribbean Haiti actually is, and was surprised at how close to Cuba it is.
We found out Thursday that there was a possibility that Scott would go down to Haiti with a group of Church leaders and doctors to report for the Deseret News and Church News publications on the Humanitarian efforts by the LDS Church in Haiti; but definite plans were slow in coming. It was on and off until Saturday afternoon when he was called by the Church to tell him he was on the list for the flight to Florida on Sunday at 5:00 p.m.

We went back to Emergency Essentials to pick up the hiking water purifier bottle we had checked into, and made a late night run to KMart to pick up a bigger rolling duffle to fit in blankets, water, food and even a few old clothes. He is taking things that for the most part can be left behind if needed...or if stolen!
Here is Scott with his new "luggage" packed and ready to go. He met up with Bishop Burton and other General Authorities at the airport where he was given a "survival pack" from the Church with many of the same supplies we had purchased/packed for him to take as a precaution.

Scott has arrived in Florida and was supposed to fly out at 2:00 a.m. Utah time but the flight is now slated for Monday at 6:00 p.m. so he will have time to rub shoulders with doctors and church personnel all tomorrow before their cargo plane takes off for the Dominican Republic; then ground transportation to Haiti. We have no idea if we can communicate easily or not, we will see and will keep you all posted.

He is in good spirits and in good company. He likes the photographer going down with him and we feel he will have more security with Church officials than if they would have sent him down on his own.

Keep Scott in your prayers...I asked him on the way to the airport if he has ever seen a dead body...like most of us, he has not. I do not know how cleaned up the areas he will be going to will be, but it is a humbling and frightening thought. (At least we have been watching the TV series "Lost" which has had several dead bodies for him to practice on.)

I am sure he will have an incredible experience there and come back with a new perspective and appreciation of how blessed we all are.

Meet Carter Jensen!

We counted down the days until Ty, Jenna and baby Carter came to Utah to visit for the holidays! It was so much fun getting to know this new member of the family!LeAnn brought Vicky, Lizzie, Cody and Tanner to visit the baby and they all thought he was pretty cute!
Grandma Carole Olsen thought her first great-grandbaby was wonderful...and he liked her too!
Braden had a way of making Carter smile about every time he appeared! They were natural friends!
And Breanna loved to SNUGGLE with baby Carter. They are both pros at snuggling!
Grandma could not get enough Carter time either...whether it was baths or changing diapers or just playing. It was all good!
Aunt Lori came over for New Years and got some extra Carter time too! He was pretty happy about that as well.
Great Grandpa Sydney Carter James came over for a visit to meet his little namesake Carter too!
The only thing about this trip was that it was just TOO SHORT!!! We cannot wait to see the Jensens again soon! Thanks for coming to see us! WE LOVE YOU!

Is It CHRISTMAS?

The kids had enjoyed showing us the website "Is it Christmas.com" which is pretty funny...check it out. When we got up on Christmas morning, Braden had programed all the computers in the house with multiple windows of this site telling us that YES indeed it was Christmas.
We donned our Santa hats and got into the present opening.

Santa brought Austin a new guitar...it was amazing, Austin knew to bring his amplifier to our house!!!
Mom got into the gift opening...and then we had Christmas again when Jenna and Tyrel came to see us a few days after Christmas. Ty is reading his book about bears in this photo!

MERRY CHRISTMAS TO ALL!

Prognostication nation

Our family is into the second year of ESPN-sponsored college football and basketball picks contests -- a weekly picks contest during the regular season of football, an end-of-the-season bowl picks contest and a March Madness picks contest to pick the men's basketball tournament.

Last year's winners — Cheryl won the regular-season football one, Tyrel won the bowl contest, and Breanna claimed the March Madness contest. We even created some traveling trophies - at least for the two football contests (be patient, Breanna, we should have the March Madness trophy by, say, March). Maybe we'll post photos of the trophies some time.

In addition to the three aforementioned winners, other participants include Jenna, Braden, Austin & Laura, Jenny & Jon Spell and Scott.

Austin just recently won the 2009 regular-season contest - we think Cheryl will gladly forward the trophy to him. It's a single football shoe, awash in glitter spray paint, afixed atop a gaudy candlestick.

Austin created a logo for our bowl-picks contest, which was lacking a formal name. He gave it two "name" sponsors, as you can see. In order for me to link the logo to our ESPN contest site, the logo had to be available online — so posting this blog with the logo is essentially the sole reasons for the post. Others can post comments about contest formats and how we get together every week to watch the results of the games.

New grandbaby ... new blog!

May we call your attention to a new little blog that Scott has started -- it's called "Carter's Revenge." Here's the web address -- http://cartersrevenge.blogspot.com/ -- and here's a link to click on to take you right there.

Carter's parents -- Jenna and Tyrel -- have provided us with lots of digital images. Some of the expressions just beg for a caption. Other faces make us wonder what Carter would say if he could talk.

So, now you can help us help Carter communicate with the world. Leave your comments on the respective photos, and we'll update the photos with your suggested captions. Check back every few days for new photos ... or become a "follower" to find out by email when a new post is added.

First Freshman Basketball Game!

Braden had his first game of the season last night against Westlake, a new high school out by Saratoga springs. We were surprised and happy to see the other team being coached by one of Austins friends from Provo High, Aaron Robison. Aaron was the tallest guy there.Braden's team was pretty large tonight, with all freshmen playing together including the ones that will normally play up with the older teams.

Braden got into the game in the last quarter...and it was not too long before he was muscling it up...and causing a foul.
He got some pretty good action and set some great screens and got some rebounds while he was in.
He even got off one shot...looks like it made it...but it was an "almost."
Final score Provo 64 Westlake 27 Yay Provo Bulldogs!!

Pumpkins 2009

Halloween is gone, but we have pictures of this years' pumpkin creations! We had Austin and Laura over for an evening of pumpkin carving and dinner and roasting pumpkin seeds!

Braden came up with this creative pumpkin...this is a picture of each side. If you really think, you may come up with what he is trying to say. Give up?

Well, first there is a "face." Then the word "book." Oh yes, the dreaded "facebook" pumpkin!

Scott got online and came down with his secretive pattern ready to go...

which turned into THE JOKER!!

Austin laughed and laughed when he came up with this design...it is about as simplistic as you can get!! It made us all smile...except the pumpkin, that is.

Moving On To Basketball

The count is in and Braden comes up the big winner!

After two days of Freshman basketball tryouts, Braden was surprised a bit to make the first cut. About 40 guys tried out for 12 positions on the Freshman team. They first cut it to 24. Braden was pretty nervous about going back for final cuts and when he got home that night he was certain that his chance of making the team was zero. He felt he had performed pretty bad that night.

So, the next day during lunch, when the phonecall came from Braden, I was expecting to be consoling him and telling him to get together a good Jr. Jazz City League team. When he told me he made it, I almost did not know what to say! Of course I congratulated him heartily and he then asked me to let Dad and Austin know.

Scott was almost as shocked as I was, then he told me to call Austin and trick him by asking Austin if he would be a Jr. Jazz coach for Braden.

When I called Austin and asked him if he would coach, the silence went on for a long time. Then he asked how much time I thought it would take. I told him a lot of time, but he did not need to say yes. Austin kept thinking, and the great thing is, he was really willing to make the sacrifice for Braden. I told him one more time, "You do not need to say yes, because he will not be playing Jr. Jazz this year." "You mean he made it?" was his shocked reply.

I do not know for sure who was more excited, Austin or Braden. It will be a building year for Braden and he is up for the challenge!

CONGRATULATIONS Braden on reaching yet another of your goals! GO PHS Basketball!

BEATLES ROCK BAND

Jen and Jon invited the Taylor clan over for an evening of

Beatles Rockband and Pizza!

We had a really good time trying out all the instruments...yes, Laura and I even did the drums and guitar, though she was much better at it than I was...oh, and we got a kick out of trying the vocals...on EASY level you could not go wrong so it was pretty fun.
We learned that we did not really know a lot of what the Beatles were really singing and it was a little interesting singing about knickers and barking like a dog etc.

No, that is not smoke in these pictures, these are cell phone pictures from Jon.

THANKS for a great evening of wonderful company and wonderful food!!

Happy birthday, Bunkerhead Woman

Breanna and a prince-in-waiting

Our favorite youngest daughter ... and only youngest daughter ... turns 20 today.

Since March, she has paid tribute to family members on their birthday with lengthy lists of talents, traits, quirks and favorite memories about that person. See some of her "greatest hits" selections from Jenna, Josh, Scott, Cheryl, Tyrel and Austin listed at the bottom of this post (we can't wait for February to see what she writes about Braden!).

Share two of three of your similar thoughts about Breanna - either as a comment to this post or in an email to Cheryl (taylor_home@comcast.net) or Scott (taylor@desnews.com) and we'll compile them for her.

From “Ode to Jenna”:

• Jenna has tickled a bee — and lived to tell the tale.
• Jenna can make the fish face. Tyrel doesn’t like it. But it’s truly a gift. Jenna can make lots of weird faces actually. It’s a good thing she’s cute.

From: “Some fun facts and favorite things about Josh”:

• He loves to vacuum. ‘Nuff said.
• Josh has spidey-senses. I’ve been on a quest to catch him off-guard and scare him for a while now, but he always seems to know where I’m hiding, or takes alternate routes that foil my plans.

From “some fun facts about my dad:”

• My dad is the master pumpkin carver. Every fall our porch is decorated with his entertaining, random, funny and amazing creations. We’re talking “getting out the jigsaw, thin knives and toothpicks” kind of skills.
• Some of you may know my dad is actually a very creative cook. Brought to you by Chef Scott: Breakfast Nachos, Black Bean and Pineapple Burritos, and Ranch and Pepper Jack Quesadillas, to name a few.

From “My most amazing Mum”:

• My mom still lets me snuggle with her when we meet in the family room for prayers and scriptures. We’re going on 20 years here of her allowing me to wrap myself around her arm like an octopus, put my legs across her lap, or snuggle in and ask for “scratch-a-backs.” I can always tell she’s had enough though when she threatens to lick me. Then I have to snuggle Braden instead.”
• She’s always on the go. I don’t know how she fits it all in, but she does. She’s like the Energizer Bunny.

From “My favorite brother-in-law … and only brother-in-law” [Tyrel]:

• He dresses very nice. He even wears the tie I gave him for Christmas, which I think is very cool, since it has polka dots, and I’m still not sure if he even likes polka dots. But, the point I’m trying to say is that Ty looks classic and professional … except for when he’s wearing his huge, puffy NJ Nets slippers that he got for Christmas this year. Then he looks silly. But it was hilarious to watch him open them and put them on. It was an extra bonus that the cats were terrified of them. Ty chased Mieka around with his slippers for the rest of the day.
• Tyrel says what he thinks. (But not in a socially unacceptable way.) It’s refreshing, and more often than not, hilarious.

From “My favorite older brother … and only older brother” [Austin]:

• When I was about four or five, Austin and Jenna convinced me that “oomaguama” monsters lived in our basement. For the next few weeks, they took turns hiding behind shelves in the storage room or under my bed so they could jump out at me and scare me. One time they even did a “summoning chant” to try and get the monsters to come. I screamed.
• On a similar note, Austin once tried to convince me that he was a vampire, showing me his pointy side teeth. He told me he was waiting until Jenna and I were old enough to turn us into vampires, too.

Our Autumn Ladies Night!

Autumn was the theme for our semi-annual "Ladies Night" get together during General Priesthood Meeting. We started this tradition a couple years ago and have really enjoyed this excuse for getting together with family and friends. Breanna decked out the table with some great berries she found on her way here.
We started the night painting pump-eh-kins...yes, you have to say it that way. The creative juices were really flowing in the kitchen! Laura and I painted some cute "afraid of spiders" pumpkins and Breanna striped hers in all fall colors. Anteres Barton joined us tonight and she painted a very cool Provo High pumpkin for her boys...wow! She thought of them on "Ladies Night!!

Larlee and Nikki came from the dorms and were glad to get away from studying and writing papers! Larlee did a New York Yankees pumpkin and Nikki began the amazing task of putting the entire Wizard Of Oz onto a small pumpkin.
Here we are with our finished products. They all turned out so cute!
I had to take a close-up of Nikki's...and this was before even more finishing touches were added including a yellow brink road that led to New Jersey of course!
We also watched " A Little Princess" while we created some very cute cards. Here are a handful of the creations!!! I guess I better mention that we fondued cheese and chocolate with all sorts of things to dip into them...I totally forgot to put out the veggies and dip...I think it was a subconscious desire to really pig out!

It was a great Ladies Night at the Taylor household...want to join us next time? Just call and then come on over!!