Provo Howards

 Brandon has continued to learn a lot at his job as Director of Finance. He travels a lot and so far has flown to Texas, Nebraska, Arizona, Washington, Massachusetts, Nova Scotia, Nevada, and Washington D.C. (in May). He is currently studying early in the morning to take the Certified Fraud Examiners (CFE) test in July, it will be a nice accomplishment. He is also becoming more active in NACHA, the National Automated Clearing House Association and is attending many of their conferences and workshops. He is still serving as bishop of our ward for a little while longer. But his work will easily fill in any gaps that may be created.

I am still dabbling in a few things but the best news is that I am likely going to have Baby Girl on August 23rd. I am in my second term as the Precinct Chairwoman for my area. I am in my second year as the Health Commissioner for the school and after Field Day and the Hershey Track Meet I will be done. Also, on Tuesdays and Fridays I have been volunteering as a teacher’s assistant in the 2nd and 4th grades. I am still the 1st Counselor in the Relief Society over education. And I finished reading the

unabridged Les Miserables and recommend the abridged version.

Alyssa has had a lot of new experiences recently. She is in concert choir (which meets early to accommodate Dr. Jacquard’s schedule at BYU) and they were recorded two weeks ago for a CD. She

enjoyed the National Children’s Choir and seeing her cousins, and was impressed that Aunt Melanie braved a very bad storm to see her perform. She is in her fourth year of violin lessons and her second of piano. She continues to dance and recently her group’s dances took 2nd and 3rd places at a competition. She won 2nd place in the science fair, went to District, and finally to region at BYU. She was an Honor

Student for a month. Her favorite book is The Anybodies.

Kyle has learned a lot recently. In April, his research paper, project, and oral report were on Juab County. With Grandma’s and Grandpa’s help, he had a fun display and his presentation was a success.

He won 1st place at the science fair for his project on tsunamis. He has done well at scouts: he got his Bear two months early, and won the pinewood derby. He recently wrote and “published” a story that his

teacher entered in a contest. He is still plugging away at piano lessons. And he will receive the school’s Honor Patch after doing service hours, maintaining good grades, memorizing quotes, and other things. His favorite book is A Door in the Woods.

Megan is still our little firecracker. She is no longer sitting in the center of the classroom by herself (after many talks from me about how to be quiet in class with Brandon smiling quietly to himself). Her teacher said, “Mrs. Howard, Megan is an A+ student . if she would learn to close her mouth.” She does well at anything she sets her mind to and makes friends easily. She passed off her multiplication and moves onto division next. She is on a dance team and her group took 1st place at two competitions, and 4th place overall for points. She likes going to piano. She is looking forward to being baptized May 27th or

28th. She continues to be a prolific reader and her new book is The BFG.

Matthew is still our little prince. He has come a long way in overcoming his shyness and surprised us by saying the opening prayer in Primary. He also surprised the Primary President by singing the first two verses of "I Believe in Christ". He likes playing with his “guys” and doing puzzles, but his favorite thing to do is going to the library for story time and then playing science games on the computers. He enjoys being in the school classrooms with me each week which will help when he goes to kindergarten. He is working on learning the alphabet sounds and the short sight words. He loves reading books at night while the big kids are in bed.