A SAD SAD DAY

As we have been working on our homestudy I have been keeping tabs on the website that Jaysin has been listed on. Today when I looked her picture was no longer on the website. I assume that some other lucky family was able to adopt her into their home. Needless to say we have cried a lot tonight as we wonder what might have been. We are keeping the faith that the Lord had us start this process for a reason so we will continue to look for some wonderful child to bring into our home. I have looked at other available older children and found a few possibilities so we will go forward with faith and pray for the best.

We did receive good news this morning about Daniel. He gained 1 lbs. this month and is back on track with the growing curve. I finally get to switch him to whole milk. YEAH! What a huge savings this will be over formula. He is starting to be the little walker and is very proud of himself. We are proud of him also.

We hope you are having a better week than us.

The Packard's

Adoption update

Dear Family,

Just wanted to give you an update on how things are going. Gary & I are just finishing up our autobiographies and then we will be ready to send our application to our caseworker. We will then set up a homestudy visit and make contact with Jaysin's caseworker.

A big thank you to mom and dad for helping us trim and paint the bedroom downstairs to be ready for carpet on Monday. We will then have a bedroom ready for her.

We hope all of you are doing well. It was fun seeing you last weekend on our fun but rainy visit to the zoo.

Love the Packards

Shoshone Falls on 4/26/09

We hope you enjoy the pictures!

Video of Derek's Graduation

Now everyone can watch the short version of Derek's graduation. We arrived at the Marriott Center at 4:30 PM and left at around 8:00 PM so hopefully you will enjoy the two minute clip.

More Pictures of Derek's Graduation

This is Derek's Girlfriend Kara for those who are wondering what she looks like! Aren't they cute together!

Derek's Graduation Pictures

Derek with Diploma!



Derek cheering his accomplishment!



Derek jumping for joy!



Tossing of the hat!



Congratulatory Kisses from Josalyn and Kaitlyn.

Congratulations on your graduation from BYU!!!! You should be very proud of your accomplishments. I know it wasn't easy putting yourself through school but I am sure you will cherish this degree even more because of your many sacrifices.

We are glad we have been here with you for this great event!

Love, Mom and Dad

Derek!

CONGRATULATIONS ON YOUR GRADUATION FROM BYU! WE ARE PROUD OF YOU.

THE PACKARDS

Happy Birthday Katilyn!!!!

Happy Birthday Kaitlyn!!! I love you!!!

Biggest Looser updates!!!

Ok.....to date:
Shawn: down 14 pounds
Makenzie: down 12 pounds (14 on a good day)
Kayden: by default because there is nothing to eat in the house....down 9 pounds.
and finally.......(drum roll please)
Karen: down 25 pounds. I only have like 60 to go....that's no depressing at all.

Anyone else care to post?

Happy Happy Happy Birthday Kaitlyn!!!!

Happy B-day my sweet 15 year old neice! Have an fun filled day (traveling in the car) Make your dad stop and buy you a bucket of fries in Jarome.....isn't that where it is? (What a treat!) I'll see you tonight.....You're awesome Kaitlyn girl!!!!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY KAITLYN

KAITLYN,

JUST WANTED TO WISH YOU A HAPPY 15TH BIRTHDAY. I STILL REMEMBER GETTING THE NEWS OF YOUR BIRTH WHILE I WAS STILL ENJOYING SNOW IN NEW YORK. YOU HAVE GROWN INTO A BEAUTIFUL YOUNG WOMAN ON THE INSIDE AND OUT. IT SOUNDS LIKE YOU SOFTBALL TEAM IS DOING WELL. KEEP UP THE GOOD WORK. ENJOY YOUR BIG DAY!

LOVE THE PACKARD'S

Laurie's Health

Everyone,

We received some disheartening news today about Laurie's health. Her cancer has not shrunk in certain parts of Laurie's body in fact they have grown and there are more. This is not good news and everyone is very concerned about what next. Please keep her in your prayers.

We will keep you posted.

Love Mecham's in Meridian.

Saturday Session of Stake Conference

We had a great session tonight at the Saturday evening session of Stake conference. We will have the broadcast tomorrow from Salt Lake. We were taught to be prepared from a food storage and savings standpoint. We were told you can't cram the law of the Harvest. Which means things have to be done in a sequence and order and at the proper time. I guess in away it is like tithing. Pay the Lord, then get some food storage and then pay your bills. We are also taught to be better home teachers and visiting teachers. We were told how this one home teacher was so faithful and always did a great job taking care of this families. Well he passed away and the following month his home teaching family was taking their son to the MTC and on their way home their only car stopped and the husband on returning home found out he had lost his job. The very next day the widow of the former home teacher called the family and said, "I don't know why I am calling you but I received this impression to call you and see if you could use this van that I have in the yard. My husband always kept it up but no one in our family needs it. Can you use it?" Well, it sounds like this home teacher continued his visits even beyond the grave.

We were also reminded by our Stake President to improve our temple worship and to enjoy the time and make the most use of it when we are in the temple. He also said that we needed to prepare ourselves more diligently to go.

It was a great conference.

We love you all and hope all is well!

Bryan and Michele

#114 Campout as scoutmaster in the record books!

We enjoyed our campout to Leslie Gulch. It was so much fun. I had four scouts come and four former scouts join us. My scout that just moved up to the Teacher's quorum came along as this was the place where he went on his first campout with me 2 years ago. It is fun to see he is still excited about camping.

Enjoy the pictures of this beautiful area.







This is a picture of Jake Lewis and Me. He is my newest Eagle scout and he also earned his bronze and gold palm while in my troop. He loves scouting.

brigham city check in

Hi everybody-
Derek, I love the inner tube water polo idea! What fun! I think we will do about anything to win a t-shirt! We got your graduation announcement and showed all the kids. Congratulations on a great achievement.
Today I subbed for a kindergarten teacher. Wow! What a fun day but I'm glad I don't do that everyday because I would get worn out fast.
This morning a BYU coach came to watch Brant in a early open gym before school. Keith bribbed his team to come with donuts and chocolate milk. Kyler got in on the fun too and missed his first hour class. Keith said it went well. The coach talked to the team a little bit and they had a good time with him.
Tomorrow Kyler plays baseball games at 9:30 and 5:30 and Brant plays at 11:00 and 1:00. It is good because they are all in Brigham City. Brant also has one tonight in Ogden. Tomorrow will be the first game on our high school's new baseball field. The boys are excited to see who gets the first hit, home run, double play, etc.
Annie and some friends in our neighborhood have started a babysitters club. They are quite serious about it. Not that eight year olds are ready to babysit, but they sure think it's cool.
I guess I beat all of you with getting my peas in! I planted a few things last Monday. Keith cleaned out the raspberries and mowed the lawn. I'm looking forward to planting more!
Keith was informed that the school district decided to have one person do an internship next year. He had to fill out an application . I'm pretty sure that he will be picked but we will just have to wait to find out.
We love hearing your news! Hope all is well!

Great Week

We have had a great and busy week. Keith, Robyn and kids came up on Thursday and spent until Sunday with us. While they were here golfing, bowling and an egg hunt was enjoyed. Brant turned out to be the best bowler and I think the best golfer. We had plenty of food and Keith, Robyn, Dad and I even got in a good game of rook. Keith and I won but not by much.

After Keith's family left we drove to Grace to attend the Eagle Court of Honor for Kirby (Teresa's youngest son) and Donavan ( Shane's oldest son). It turned out that my cousin Max Christensen had two grandsons who also got their Eagle award so it was a family affair. Teresa had fixed yummy refreshments.

Monday morning we left for Island Park. They have tons of snow and we got 7 or 8 inches more on Tuesday night and since snow was predicted Wednesday night we decided we better come home so we would be ready for our Temple assignment Thursday. We got a lot of reading in and a few movies.

It is a beautiful day here today so I think if it dry enough we will plant our peas and potatoes. Dad plated some radishes awhile back and he said they are up.
's
By the way Bryan it was Aunt Ruby's son Samuel W. Clark who was put in as an Area Authority. I called and had a nice visit with her. He had just been released a couple of weeks ago from being the Stake President. She told me that Dan was going to be sustained as the Bishop in his ward this Sunday.

We have been called as the Ward Employment Specialists in our Ward and are going to teach a workshop for 3 men who are out of work Sunday, Tuesday and Wednesday nights.

We are looking forward to Derek's graduation and also the Zoo on Saturday. Congratulations to Derek for his championship and to Kaitlyn for the good job she is doing in softball.

We will see most of you next week. Take care and remember that we love you.

Mom and Dad

Hello Family!

How is the family. It seems a little quiet from certain households. Not to point fingers or anything. Michele and I have been pretty sick the past week. I am on day 3 and Michele is on day 6. I am starting to feel a little better but when I see Michele cough and sneeze and be stuffed up, I realize it might not be over for me either. I sure hope it is not another 3+days for me.

Kaitlyn won her game tonight 12-5. They beat Eagle and revenged their earlier loss. This is exciting as this puts MV in a good position to get a good seed in the district tournament for the J.V. teams. She plays tomorrow and Monday and Tuesday next week. She has settled in as Catcher which makes it tough as she will miss two games for Derek's graduation.

I will be going on my 114th campout as a scoutmaster tomorrow night. We are going to Leslie Gulch. It is a really pretty cool place with a lot of fun hikes in beautiful surroundings. I will take my camera and see if I can get some of the cool rock formations.

I am itching to get out in the garden and grow my plants. It is going to be 77 here on Monday. I will need to till the garden and get it ready to plant.

I sure love all of you. I can't wait for August when we can cruise as brothers and sisters with our loving parents. It will be a blast. I have already checked out some of the fun things to do on the ship. It looks like they have some simulated golf. I am sure we will have a lot of fun. Anybody having any thoughts on fun things to do on the shore excursion? I am told we must go on the train ride and the totem pole tour. It looks like there is an Aerial tram that looks fun. It looks like it starts right where the cruise ships dock.

Talk to you again soon.

InnerTube Water Polo Champs!

I wanted to take a break from Studying and inform you on the latest happenings at BYU. For this semester I decided to join a ward intramural coed inner tub water polo team. It has been a lot of fun. For any of you who do not know what inner tube water polo is you can visit this site http://www.innertubewaterpolo.com/

This is what it looks like.Anyway, this last week has been the final tournament. On Tuesday we played our championship game and WON! We were in division three but we still won our division which means that we won the intramural championship tee shirt. This is the most sought after shirt on campus. This years design is kind of fun.

I guess this was one way to end my senior year with a bang! I had always wanted to play, but I always worked in the evening. This time I am working in the morning and so I was able to join this fun sport. BYU students are always looking for a fun stress reviler and this is the only sport you can play at BYU sitting Down. It is Awesome!

Hi

Dear family,

Our family had a great Easter weekend. Emmalynn & Daniel enjoyed the Easter egg hunt at grandma & grandpa's. Thanks for putting the egg hunt on! We are looking forward to seeing all of you at the zoo date. Hey Bryan, don't worry about getting discount tickets for our family. We have a zoo pass from the Pocatello Zoo and it lets us in free at the Hogle zoo.

Our family is knee deep in getting our home study done. I just ordered trim work to finish a bedroom in the basement. Dad, I hope you can help me????? I would really appreciate your help. If I can borrow your (I think they are called) horses so that I can put the trim on them to paint then I could work on getting it painted before you help me put the trim on.

I hope all of you are have a great week. We look forward to seeing you on the 25th.

Love
The Packard's

Kaitlyn had another great game!

Kaitlyn played really good tonight. Her team won 16-8. They won last night too 4-3. They are in second place of the 10 5A schools here in Boise area. She is starting to hit the ball hard. She drove in a couple runs in tonight's game. Michele is at the community choir practice. She will be performing on May 9th. Michele is on the downhill side of getting over her cold and I am just starting the process and hope to get over it soon.

It is suppose to snow here tonight and be up to 75 by Sunday. Can you believe these temperature changes. I am wondering when winter will finally be over so we can enjoy spring. I have never seen so much wind as I have this spring. It seems like it is always blowing because of the cold fronts followed by warm fronts followed by cold fronts.

I hope everyone is doing great! We are excited to see everyone next weekend (April 25th). We should be able to go to the zoo unless Kara (Dereks friend) is playing Rugby on that Saturday. For sure Brielle will go to the Zoo. I am working with Krissy to see if we can get some free passes for the kids. I will keep you posted.

We sure love all of you and hope to hear updates soon!

Love the Mecham's in Meridian

Happy Easter!

Happy Easter!

I have had the opportunity to listen to this video from the Church tying in Jeffrey R. Hollands conference address. It is very touching and worth watching. Here is the link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rboSk1p06BQ

I hope all of you have a wonderful Easter. We love you very much and our thankful for parents who raised us in truth and conviction. Thanks mom and dad for teaching us about Jesus Christ and all of his teachings. We also appreciate your endless example of service to Him.

Love the Mecham's in Meridian.

Derek...that's maken' me miss Hawaii!

I love salt water fish. I didn't even know you had a salt water tank. Those are beautiful. You need to get that Hawaiian state fish....the hummahummanookanookaapooahhh. I'm sure I got the spelling right on that one. We (Kenzie and I) saw some starfish at Petco and decided we wanted one. So we asked the sales lady there about the starfish and by the time she was done telling us what it took to take care of a saltwater tank....we ran out of the store crying. Needless to say we do not own a starfish. That's a lot of work and your tank is crystal clear. Beautiful! You little animal and fish lover you. Maybe we just need to set you up with a girl with big eyes and puffy lips....would that do it for you? ") he,he,he,he,
Love You,
K

The Aquarium!

I had to go get some food for my fish the other day and there were some really cool black and white ones. I had to get them. I have not found a good setting to try and just take a picture of them. I decided to take a video instead so you could see them in their natural habitat.

ZOO DATE for everyone

Karen and I had a miss understanding on the zoo date. The new zoo date is on Saturday April 25. We are going the weekend of DEREK's big graduation from BYU! Congratulations Derek on this great accomplishment. Any of you who would like to go to the zoo that day are welcome to come. We will let you know the time as it gets closer.

Gary and I are knee deep in getting our home study done. We both have to get federal background checks on Monday and I am getting my physical done on Wednesday. Our doctor has to feel out a medical report on Gary and I. Luckily Gary has already had a physical. We are writing up autobiographies on ourselves. We are also required to take 30 hours of trainging for foster/adoptive parents. We feel like we are is school. Gary & I have been taking online classes. Last night I told Emmalynn that I had homework to do and she stated "mom your not in school" I had to explain I was taking classes on the computer and had some reading to do. Each class I take is anywhere from 14-31 pages single typed to read then I have to take a test. Needless to say the red tapes so to speak is a pain but we can understand why they have you do it so they make sure that they are putting these children in a good home. We are hoping to be done with our home study and classes by May so our social worker and make contact with Jaysin's and then we will go from there. We will be starting to finish a bedroom in the basement in case we are blessed to be able to adopt.

We hope all of you are doing well. Emmalynn is very excited about the Easter Egg hunt and Grandma's and Papa's house on Saturday with Tegan & Annie.

WE LOVE ALL OF YOU!
The Packard's

Kaitlyn won her game!

Kaitlyn played a great game at catcher. She is playing well. She through out a girl stealing second and made some other great plays. She went 1 for 2 at the plate with 2 walks. They played Timberline. Timberline is a good softball school. Kaitlyn has some fun things to look forward to. There are 5 freshman on the varsity 3 are pitchers (They alternate starting) and 2 are catchers. There are 2 Freshman on the J.V. and a whole team of freshman that have only lost one game. So hopefully she will be able to someday play on a state championship team if all goes well.

We had to give the dog back to the owners. They finally got connected with the right person to know that we had their dog. I told him to come over to get it but that I had spent about $300 on caring for the dog the past 2 months. He said he didn't have the money to help with the costs but that he would try to get me some as he started working more. I doubt I will ever see a cent. It was hard giving her up. She was a great dog. I realized that I don't think I could ever be a foster parent as it really affected me watching her leave our property and she is only a dog.

I hope all is well with everyone.

I just received word that our car is done and after a used engine replacement I am only down $2,500 and my transmission is getting replaced which is another $1,000. I also learned today that I hadn't paid my gas bill for the past 4 months due to a problem with their autopay program so now I have another $550 bill for that. I hope my trials stop for a while. I consider myself very humble. :-) I am thankful for my employment that allows me to cover such bills but would have rather helped a few other people out than sticking the money into cars. I guess in a way I helped some people.

I am not complaining just lamenting. :-) I am having trouble squeezing lemonade out of these lemons I have been tossed. Let me know if you have any words of wisdom you would like to share.

I love you all!

Bryan

Happy Birthday Kyler!!

Hope you have a crazy fun Birthday!!!!

Laree and Gary and all-

What a beautiful little girl. She definately looks like an older Emmalynn. Keep us posted when things happen. We will be wondering!! We have a wonderful warm spring day today! Yeah! I am making Kyler's birthday cake right now. Can't believe he is fourteen already! All you kids are growing up to fast.
Have a great day!

Laree and Gary......

Thought this deserved it's own post. I'm really excited for you guys. For the rest of you.....Laree and I have talked about this for a few weeks now. I know she's really thought this through and has weighed everything out and has come to a decision that I think is a great one. Laree....you've always had this incredible ability to love. You have a ginormous heart and you are a very tender mother which is what you will need. What a great attribute to have. I pray that this will work out for your family or at least lead you in the direction you're supposed to be going. We love all of you and hope for the best!
K

Happy Happy Happy Birthday Kyler!!!!

Wow....feels like I just said this to Jarom. Hope you have a great day today Kyler. Hope you don't get too much homework for tonight so you have more time for cake eating, playing spin the bottle and that other game where you race another line and run down and pop the balloon by sitting on it. That's what I thought was fun when I was younger and I've got to tell ya....now it just sounds really dumb. Anyway....have an awesome day. We love you tons!!!! You're a great kid!
Hugs and Kisses,
The Jorgs

Happy Birthday Kyler!

Kyler, we hope you have a wonderful birthday. I hope your college basketball team wins the NCAA championship on your birthday. I hope you get to watch it. Well you are moving on to the Teacher's quorum. I am sure you are glad to move on from the Deacon's quorum. I am sure your scoutmaster is feeling like I am this week as he watches his SPL move on to the teacher's quorum. My SPL is moving up to the teacher's quorum also. It is tough to lose good leaders but we always wish the best for them. Kyler, I am in my 16th year of being a young mens leader and it doesn't get any easier watching the young men advance. Also, I have learned over the years that these next two years are a very critical time for young men. I know that you will make it just fine but be wise and always obey your great parents that you have. I love you parents very much and I know that if you will follow their counsel you will be blessed. Good luck in all you do. I hope that I can get over to watch you play some football or basketball or even baseball for that matter. Keep me posted of any games you might be playing close to Boise. We will stop by and see you the weekend of April 25th. Derek will be graduating on the 23rd and 24th from BYU.

We expect great things from you. I can still remember your baby blessing. Aunt Michele and I flew up from San Diego and did not let anyone know we were comimg. We came to the church after it had started. As your dad got up to go bless you, I walked up to the circle this was the first time he knew I was in the congregation. It was so surprised that I think he even called you Brant a couple times during the blessing. I can't believe it has been 14 years. That is crazy how fast time as flown by. Now you stand many inches above me. I think I still have you in weight. Okay, I know I have you in weight! :-)

Kyler, we love you very much and are proud to be your Uncle and Aunt. Our girls are happy to be your cousin.

Have a great birthday!

Love Uncle Bryan, Aunt Michele and Kaitlyn and Brielle.

Laree, I thought we had agreed that there would be a warning on posts like that so we can get tissues before we start crying over the keyboard! I think that is an amazing idea! I watched the video and I already love that little girl too! And wow, she does look so much like Emmalynn. I wish you guys the best! Keep us updated!

Conference

Dear Family,

We are enjoying the conference sessions. Even Emmalynn is doing well at listening. We have had her playing conference bingo which has seem to help. She has picked out the words the speakers have said and marks her bingo sheet that has those same words. Daniel likes to lead the music when the choir sings. We will feel very sad when the conference is over at 4:00.

We received the results back on Daniel's blood work and we are grateful that everything came back fine. We just have a skinny son but Emmalynn was the same ways. This week has found him starting the venture out on his own walking. The most steps he has taken is about 6-8 but his confidence is growing.

A couple of weeks ago I was watching the Wednesday child story on local news 8. Wednesday child is about children who are in foster care who are looking for an adoptive family. There was a girl on their named Jaysin. She grabbed my heart as I heard Jay Hillebrant interview her. I went onto their webiste to find out more information. They connected us to a Northwest Adoption Exchange website and phone number. That night I showed Gary the interview on the web and told him that I thought that we should look into this more. Gary felt the same way. I have made calls to the Northwest adoption exchange and found out what we needed to do to possiblely become adoptive partents to this girl. They gave me information on the need for us to do a homestudy and taking 30 hours of training for foster parents. I then contacted our local Health & Welfare Department to get information on how to go about the homestudy and adopting out of foster care. They sent me information and a list of agencies and individuals that assist with the homestudies. I contacted a lady on that list out of Idaho Falls and she sent us the packet for the homestudy. Gary and I have prayed and attended the temple to know if this is something that we should do for our family. We have talked with Emmalynn about the possiblity of adopting an older sister and she has watched the video also. She has been telling people that we are going to adopt a big sister for her. As Gary and I have prayed, fasted and gone to the temple we haved decided that we are going to do the homestudy and make contact through our caseworker with her caseworker to see if maybe we can adopt this girl. All we know besides the video segment from local news 8 is that she is 11 years old and lives in Washington state. If you would like to see the video you can go to http://www.localnews8.com/ and click on the Wednesday child section of their web then scroll down until you see a picture of a girl named Jaysin. That is the girl we are looking at. She reminds me of a 11 year old Emmalynn and maybe that is why she grabbed our heart. We don't know for sure if we will be an adoption option for her or not but we are going to try. Gary and I have been very blessed in a lot of ways and feel that we could bless the life of an older child who is looking for a permanent home and parents to call their own. I just wanted to let you know that we are doing this and hope that if it works out that you will be able to accept her as a granddaughter, niece, and cousin.

We hope that all of you have a great week and an enjoyable Easter this coming week.

KYLER HAPPY BIRTHDAY! You are born on a great day in the history of our church. I still remember being in New York on my mission the day you were born and thinking that I felt you were so lucky to be born on the day our church was organized. We hope you have a great birthday. It is hard to believe that you are 14 but harder to believe that I have been home from my mission that long.

We LOVE ALL OF YOU!
The Packard's

Happy Birthday Jarom!!!

Have an Awesome Day!!!

HAPPY B-DAY JAROM

HAPPY BIRTHDAY JAROM!

We hope that you have a great birthday!

Love
Aunt Laree, Uncle Gary, Emmalynn & Daniel

Happy Happy Happy Birthday Jarom!!!!

Have a great day and eat lots of cake. You're a great kid and we love you!!!!!
All the Jorg Clan

Happy Birthday Jarom!!!

Jarom, Happy Birthday buddy! I can't believe you are already 11. It was just a few years ago when I remember you were born. I know Kyler probably warned you about what happens to you when you turn 11 by your Uncle Bryan. Well he is right. Jarom, I want to encourage you to get your Eagle before you are 13 and 10 months. I have a nice juicy steak dinner waiting for you. I might even be able to make it a little more juicy since I haven't had to pay to any of my other nephews. So I will raise the award for you. Steak dinner at Maddox - what ever size you want plus $25 in Cash if you are an Eagle scout by 13 and 10 months. I am here to help you anyway you want but will only help if asked. When I ask you how you are doing, I will only be asking to find out if I need to start saving my money. :-) Actually, it is because I am truly interested in your scouting success. The other real reason is that all the young men that I have been associated with that earned their Eagle also went on a mission.

Here is my top 11 things I look forward to seeing you accomplish:

Earn your Eagle Scout
Be ordained to the Aaronic Priesthood and become a Deacon
Become a Teacher
Become a Priest
Earn your Duty to God Award
Graduate from High School
Graduate from Seminary
Receive Melchezidek Priesthood and be ordained an Elder
Go on a mission
Graduate from College
Get Married in the Temple

Once you get these tasks done we can talk about others. :-)

Also, I would like to see if you can beat me in Racquetball. It is the only sport I might have a chance. :-)

We love you Jarom and are excited to see you grow up! Make us all proud!

Love, Uncle Bryan

I resigned from Micron Today!

I finally had it. I went into my boss and just unloaded on him of all the things I was tired of at Micron. I told him that I could not work another day for such a company. I told him I was tired of the top guys getting rich while the rest of us did all the work and didn't get anything. He was very surprised when I handed him my resignation and told him my last day would be this Friday. Oh did it feel good to unload and get everything out on the table. Before I knew it, I was saying April Fools!

Did I get you?

I didn't resign. I am hoping for positive things to happen and I am gainfully employed and appreciate and respect my boss and would not even do this to him. I just thought I had to come up with one April Fools joke.

I did call my wife to tell her I was in a car crash and that someone had rear ended my car and that she needed to come get me. Unfortunately, she figured it out before she came out the door where I was waiting to scare her. I had her going for a few minutes but she is too smart.

Kaitlyn had a great game today. She caught the entire game. She went 3 for 5 and drove in 5 runs. She is getting better and better everyday. It is alot of fun to see her play.

We hope all are doing well!

Love, Bryan

For all you weight loss people I have a really good website you can join. I have a friend who is a trainer. We have been working out together for a couple months. It has been really great (at least for me!) Anyway she told me about the website called sparkpeople.com It has a calorie counter, healthy recipes, exercise ideas and lots of people on that give ideas. It's really fun and it's free!

Thought I'd add some pictures this time. The first two are at Annie's baptism. Cute girls! The next one is Annie's basketball team. We are amazed at how tall she is growing lately! The next one is of Kyler and his good friend Shad. This is when they won the state AAU basketball championships. The next one is of Jarom getting his arrow of light last week. Brant's update is that he was named all-state honorable mention. He is playing varsity and JV baseball which is really busy. Like four nights a week he has games. Also his uniform is all white and is really awful for me to keep clean. I've used two whole bottles of spray already!!!! Keith is one week away from finishing his college class. This is a huge relief because it is his last class. He now has his internship that he was hoping to do next fall. However, they have announced that our school district has to cut 5.4 million dollars to next year's budget. This will probably mean no more internships. We will just have to wait and see what happens.

Hope everyone has a great week and think spring!! The snow has to go sometime.

Uummmmm...not neck and neck.....

Just weighed in this morning and I'm down another pound and an ounce. (that's like saying I'm 44 and 1/2) I hate to even challenge you Bryan because you so competitive I know I'll loose. I must be determined though because I had a dream last night that I was sitting in a train station and someone offered me sour patch kids (my favorite) and I turned them down. Dang it! Dream food is fat & calorie free. Makenzie is down 6 lbs. She's doing really well. She just bought three new pair of shorts for summer so I told her to slow down so they still fit by summer. Shawn is down 8 lbs and Kayden is still the same. Hummm....imagine that. Got to find a way to get that kid motivated!
Josalyn....Congratulations! I totally have that date saved in July. Do you want me to do your hair? Tyler is a lucky man. (he,he,he,he) Sounds like you have a fun ward. Love that!
K

Save the Date!!!

I wanted to share a funny story with you all! So some sneaky person in my ward has been finding pictures of a boy and a girl in the ward that are not dating but have a picture together, making up some sort of a wedding announcement with "save the date" on the top. It was quite funny to see the first few with funny pictures of different "couples" in the ward. But you can imagine my surprise when I opened the envelope that was on our door this morning and saw a wedding announcement for me! So Save the date, July 9, because Tyler and I are getting married :) It has provided quite the laugh, considering the only date Tyler and I have been made my bottom three list! I am glad to hear everyone is doing so well with the weightloss. I will have to jump on the scale and start keeping track myself! I love you all!!!

~Josalyn