The latest, not necessarily the greatest

Jordan had his first car accident on New Year's eve. Thankfully it was a minor literal "fender bender" and no one got hurt and there were no other cars involved. He had a fight with a tree and lost. It came about as a result of trying to slide in the snow (like his Dad always does) with a front wheel drive car. Thank goodness it was a tiny tree in our neighborhood (the tree is fine too) and that he didn't hurt anyone or anyone else's car. Hopefully being grounded from driving with friends or driving on dates until he earns enough to pay for the damage will teach him to be a little more careful. The parts were only $100, but the paint job and labor was $250.00. Brendan and I ended up helping him with half of the paint job/labor ($125). He had gone to an early movie with his new girlfriend, Nicole Foster (really cute, sweet girl whom we love) and was coming back with her to spend the evening to celebrate New Years Eve at our house. It's all good now. Jordan is doing really great...We had to make a teacher change in his English class (long story), but he was able to get back up on the honor roll this past term while playing basketball and working two jobs! He works three days a week (about 8-10) hours at the carwash still and he is also refereeing basketball on Wed. nights and for about 6 hours on Saturday mornings! He took the ACT for the first time and just go the results back -- 22 with a 3.9 GPA. Not that great considering you need a 29 and a 4.0 for a BYU scholarship. He still has 2 or 3 more tries before college applications are due so better luck next time. He's busy, but staying out of trouble and really enjoying his weekends with his friends!

Jake is just awesome! He is such a hard worker at school, but has really struggled with test taking in some of his core classes this past semester. We checked into getting him help at Sylvan Learning Center, but it costs more than tuition at BYU!!! No kidding. Anyway, we had good discussions with him and his teachers and have some things in place that will hopefully help him do better. He's certainly trying his best which is all we can really ask of him. He is just about done with his last merit badges and has just started on his Eagle. He is going to be collecting new and gently used pajamas and books for the Women's and Children's crisis center in Orem. His goal is to get it all done before he turns 14. Jake is absolutely LOVING skiing. He saved up to buy a ski helmet and he got a new ski coat and goggles for Chrismtas so he's all set. He's planned to go night skiing this week alone with a good friend (which has me worried sick) but they are good boys and Brendan assures me that they will be fine.

Allison is really growing up. Her wardrobe has really switched gears recently and she looks like a young lady. She's also growing like a weed! She can't wear makeup yet (all of her friends do), but she wears colored lip gloss every day. She has decided to grow her bangs back out again. She is so nervous to go into Young Women's next month mainly because she is the oldest in her group of friends and will be in there for a few months without them. We get to go to New Beginnings next week. I'm so excited for this stage in her life (mainly because it was one of the best times of my life and I'm so hoping it will be for her too.)