November 12, 2008 - Looks like I have my new web software all set up on my laptop. I look forward to making some more updates in the near future.

August 15, 2008 - Did you read what Wendy wrote today, you should read that first before continuing...

Ok, here's the whole truth; Addie's diaper was changed an hour before she fell asleep. Her blowout happened because she drank 35 ounces, more than she has ever drank in a single day. Combined with the fact that someone didn't upgrade Addie to the larger diaper size she should be using because we want to use the old diapers first, we had a mess. Here is your chance to vote, who caused the blow-out... E-mail your vote to blowout@acglass.com.

May 31, 2008 - Addie sneezed 30 times today, and she doesn't have a cold.

May 8, 2008 - I'm not actually updating this section myself... my lovely wife Wendy decided that it would look better if there was actually something new here... and maybe she wanted to tease me just a little bit. I'm very busy being a new daddy while working full-time and attending classes at UVU. I get home around 8:00 in the evening and Wendy is glad to hand over Addie so she can get some rest after her long days. I'm also on the softball team for my company. We play every Friday night. So far our team is not doing the greatest... well, we hope to win a game sometime this season! It sure is fun though!

February 9, 2008 - With my (not so) new job, the prospect of adopting, the passing of Uncle Dave, the passing of President Hinckley and everything else going on in life there is definitely no shortage of items to write about.

Mitt Romney has recently dropped out of the presidential race. I voted for his campaign and was sad to see him go but oddly enough, I am convinced that any of the 3 other main candidates (McCain, Clinton, Obama) would each make a fine President and would be able to work well with the legislative branch of our government. It's almost not worth mentioning but I'm glad to see Huckabee running so far behind. Those who lose elections are forgotten with the passing of time but the quote he gave, soon to follow, is frightening how his own religious views conflict with the foundation of the United States,

"I have opponents in this race who do not want to change the Constitution; but I believe it's a lot easier to change the Constitution than it would be to change the word of the living god. And that's what we need to do -- to amend the Constitution so it's in God's standards rather than try to change God's standards so it lines up with some contemporary view."

Let me make it clear, I do not agree with this statement above and I am glad that he will get no where near the political office of President. I wonder which portions of the constitution he is specifically attacking? the Bill of Rights perhaps?

October 31, 2007 - The Ward "Trunk or Treat" was this evening. In addition to normal Halloween activities, the church tends to have these Trunk or Treats where everyone can decorate their car trunks and park their cars in the church parking lot for kids to trick or treat at. I think it's one step safer than going around the neighborhood. This year we decorated our trunk with a Super Mario Brothers theme with music playing, topped with Wendy and I dressed as the Princess and Mario, respectively. We took a week to plan it all but Wendy ended up only having time to make her dress the night before. Everything turned out great and we even one a first place ribbon.

October 14, 2007 - Yellow Stone was beautiful and the time with no real responsibilities was wonderful (although school never rests.) The park is so huge most of the time is spent traveling from one location to the next and with a dash of snow and the occasional wildlife, we were entertained even on rout to each location. The geysers stank but that was expected. I never realized how acidic they were until now though,

September 2007 - We had Nate & mom visit this week. It was a chance to visit with family, especially Uncle Dave. We were able to set Nate up on a blind date and as far as we know he had fun.

August 23, 2007 - Today was Wendy's fourth day back to school. This week is spent in one-on-one assessments with her Kindergarten and the full class schedule will start next week. She has thirty students in her class!

August 21, 2007 - Over the summer the requirements for my major has changed which has caused some timing problems with my college plans. In the end the entire situation was fixed... looks like I'll be attending BYU for a term again. Through BYU I'll be able to take multiple classes that otherwise I would have to take one after the other. I also avoid a new prerequisite that was thrown into the accounting program this way. I'll still have one class through UVSC (soon to be UVU) which means a little more tuition to pay.

August 20, 2007 - This had been a busy week again. Most importantly, Uncle Dave was admitted to the hospital Thursday evening and we found that he has brain cancer at only 68 years old. There was an exploratory surgery on Saturday that actually led to most of the cancer being removed. We hope, along with his children and wife, to make the most of everything this coming year.

July 7, 2007 - Last night Wendy went though our home and took most everything that wasn't bolted down (just kidding) for a garage sale her co-worker Diane was having today. Wendy and I were up late putting little price tags on every item. Today Wendy left at 6:30 to take everything to the garage sale which ran from 7:00am to 1:00pm. It was a success and we made $130.00 selling mostly $1 - $2 items. Today is also Jim Jr.'s birthday. To celebrate (since we're obviously in a different state) we went to IHOP and ordered Steak (I think he'll see the significance there.)

July 4, 2007 - Wendy has the summer off and I had today off to celebrate Independence Day. Last night while at Wal-mart I picked up a box full of fun little explosives to detonate. We got together with our fiend Janie (who lives in Gateway too) at about 9:30 to set off fireworks and sing the main themes to the 1812 Overture. We could also see the Pleasant Grove City fireworks from where we were while setting off our own so basically we had a double feature.

July 2, 2007 - Since Maggie and her family are out of town in Texas we had family home evening with just the two of us. After my evening class we went to Ikea (and bought a new dish set) then went and saw Fantastic 4 - Rise of the Silver Surfer. Highlight the following to read a spoiler... I'm really disappointed that Galactus was nothing more than a huge intergalactic tempest. I wanted to see Galactus the man.

June 30,2007 - Wendy and I went to Lagoon for the first time together today. First we went to the water park lagoon-a-beach and rode on doughnut tubes all morning. Then we got dressed and rode a bunch of the rides... the less intense ones. We also took a look at the historic pioneer village with the miniature train museum. Before going home we each picked out a little stuffed animal that were just calling out our names. A Siberian Tiger for me and a Giraffe for Wendy.

June 28, 2007 - Vanessa and Kayla have been away at girls camps this week at Starvation Reservoir . Wendy and I got to go tonight for the devotional by President and Sister Henry and for the testimony meeting. We also brought the girls home early so they could leave for their Texas family trip.

May 30, 2007- Last Day of school.

May 13, 2007 – I have my new church calling as the Stake Financial Clerk. This means I get to do something on Sunday similar to that which I do Monday through Friday. I also get to work with some great men in our Stake Presidency. First there is President Henry, who is respected in the community for his work as a teacher and who was one of the top wrestling coaches in the area. He is very tender hearted for a coach. Then there is President Walker who is an accountant also and works at BYU. Finally there is President Bratt, with whom I expect I'll get to learn more about over the course of the next few years. One thing about receiving a new calling in the church is how much you worry about the status of the person who came to fill the shoes of your previous calling.

May 12, 2007 – Our movie summer has started with Spider-man 3. Also this summer is Shrek 3, Harry Potter 5, Transformers, and Fantastic Four 2. Not to mention we'll also have the last Harry Potter book in about 2 months.

May 10, 2007 – Our neighbor, Maggie is in the hospital for the next few days. She has lung disease and now heart problems. I'm her home teacher too. She has 3 children at home, John (20 yrs), Kayla (16 yrs) and Vanessa (13 yrs) who we will help watch over the next while. Last Sunday we had the girls over to play some LDS board games and we'll be having Family Home Evening with them on Monday evenings for the next while. Wendy and I are really happy to have them as our neighbors and we're anxiously awaiting Maggie's return home.

May 8, 2007 - The HOA has been meeting weekly over the past month to make sure we can get a series of things accomplished by the time the pool opens for the summer. We're working on the lawn care, getting the security key card system installed in the club house, decorating the club house, adding a gate to the pool fence, policing the parking, still getting the builders to finish some important items (like addresses on the building) and keeping homeowners informed on all of the things we are working on. We have some members on the committee who are really committed to improving the community. In addition, there was a homeowner who accidentally drove into one of the dumpster gates and we have someone getting evicted for drug use. My time as the HOA Committee Chair ends in 2 more months, then I intend to start up the Jazz Ensemble again.

May 5, 2007 - We went Hiking today up to Battle Creek Waterfall. We left a little later in the day then we would have normally because I went and helped our friend, Stephen and Jill Tew, load up to move. Isn't it funny how it's the people you'd like to have stay that you typically help to move out when the time come. Since we hiked in the afternoon, it was especially hot. After we passed the waterfall, we found a place to sit and read books for about 45 minutes (I read The Baker Street Irregulars and Wendy read the second Levin Thumps book.)

April 27, 2007 - Today was Wendy's birthday and she has opened all of her presents. She received some scrapbooking supplies from Josie and my parents. She got clothes and jewelry from Heidi and her mom... and from me... well, she picked out a nice, big scrapbooking desk that has now made a home in our living room. Photos pending.

April 25, 2007 - Finals are over. It's been a busy first part of the year with work, school, the HOA, church and everything that has happened with our family. This summer should be a lot smoother, although we don't intend to travel much since the busy season from my work is during the summer.

March 28, 2007 – It is the end of March and we have snow…? I guess it’s only to be expected since we had rain up in Washington last weekend and the weather system just had to follow us back down. The funny thing is that the snow had completely vanished by 4:00 pm.

March 26, 2007 – Wendy and I have been buying CDs recently. We tried the internet thing were you can download songs for $0.99 but the problem comes when you want to use those files around and about. To use them at work you have to log into your MSN ID, or in our case we have to log in both of our MSN ID because we bought songs on each of our accounts. Then if you put the files on a MP3 disk they won’t play because there is no software available on these MP3 players to decode the security. So basically we gave up on online music and went back to Wal-mart. This weekend for our trip Wendy picked up two CDs, John Mayer and The Fray. I couldn’t find anything good so today I went to Wal-mart and pick up two classics, Foo Fighters (self titles) and Weezer (self titled.) “I’ve got Kitty Pride, and Nightcrawler too, waiting here for me yes I do…”

March 25, 2007 – We spent this weekend up in Eastern Washington visiting Wendy’s sister and family. We left Thursday evening after school and drove a few hours up to Pocatello. Then we drove all the following day all the way to Spokane. There also happens to be a street there with the coolest corner…

March 11, 2007 – Yesterday was the day to paint the clubhouse. Besides Wendy and I, we had 10 other volunteers throughout the day. We started getting set up at 7:30am, I left to take a midterm until 10:00 am as Wendy directed the work, then I returned (with donuts) and continued painting until about 8:30pm. The clubhouse looks great, now all we need to do is get the security system up and the walls decorate.

March 1, 2007 – Today was my first day at my new job. To reiterate the story, my previous company had decided to move the accounting department to New York, which meant that there was no position for me there. This decision was released in January of 2006. I stayed on the staff, expecting the change to happen approximately in September 2006. The change over was pushed back to aproximately Jan 2007 then finally to April 2007. With the probability of further schedule push backs, and the prospect of job searching during my Finals or even during the busy summer season, I ended up accepting a job with Vinyl Specialist, an established and growing Utah fencing company as the Admin/Finance Manager. I am excited about this opportunity.

February 2007 – Valentines Candy…

January 27, 2007 - This has been a busy and tiring month for us. Wendy's father passed away in the beginning and it has been a struggle to anchor things down ever since. The memorial is located here. We continue our hopes to adopt too.

December 25, 2006 - We wish you our best with this year's Christmas letter.

September 16, 2006 - Wendy received a new church calling today. She is now the 1st counselor to the Relief Society President. This replaces her old calling of youth (ages 12-17) Sunday School Teacher. The funny thing is that I was recently called to help Wendy teach that class and now I'm teaching it by myself along with my other calling as Membership Clerk.

Our Branch President hinted that there might be something else in line for me in the near future but I hope whatever it may be I will still be able to teach the youth. I love the calling and it reminds me of when I was a visitor at Seminary after I first joined the church. Sister Kuntz was the teacher and she loved the students so much that even though she was called as the Relief Society President only two months into the school year, she still wanted to finish teaching her students till the end of the year.

September 3, 2006 - The new Artemis Fowl book, The Lost Colony, is out and I got it as a present for Wendy. Neither of us has had a chance to read it yet though. The new Series of Unfortunate Events book is out now too. It's more like a branch from the series since it's a series of letters rather than an actual story.

August 18, 2006 - My favorite new thing is YouTube.com where you can sort through thousands of videos uploaded by other users. You can check out a play list right here (Link Removed.)

August 9, 2006 - I have a two week break from school. I am ecstatic to report that I got a 97% on my Managerial Accounting Final. I went home and celebrated by kissing Wendy and lying down to read more of Shadow Puppets by Orson Scott Card, which I finished tonight. Wendy is away at the church for the scrapbooking club she runs. She fills the car with bags and cases of scrapbook supplies and spends the evening with others from the branch (which might become a ward very soon) once a month.

Ever since our long car trip to Vegas, I have had lower back problems. I went to a doctor last Tuesday and they game me some medicine (anti flammatory and some heavy Ibuprofen) to see if it will heal itself.

Note: May 2007, I haven't had any back problems since.

July 24, 2006 - This weekend we were in Las Vegas (a city with beautiful buildings and awful billboards) with my parents and my nephew Nicky.

My parents performed in the Nation Community Band 2006, which was a tribute to the music of John Phillip Sousa. The band sounded outstanding. They will produce a CD of the performance and I look forward to getting my own copy.

On Saturday evening we went to see the Blue Man Group, a performance group. The show was full of talent, music, paint, and tons of white paper. If you ever get a chance to see them I would strongly suggest it.

July 19, 2006 - Yesterday after work when Wendy and Nick came to pick me up, we noticed that the car made an awful clicking noise as it accelerated so this morning I took the car into the local Saturn dealership for inspection. It turned out that there was oil problem which cause a rod in the engine to malfunction and we'll need a new engine. Wendy and I thought maybe we'd trade the car in for a new one but in the end we decided to get the car fixed (put in a new used engine) and also buy our second car, a 2007 Saturn Vue, storm grey color. We're excited about our new car and it will take some time for the old one to be fixed so we'll be driving our Vue to Vegas this weekend to see my parents perform. My favorite part about the new car is that it plays MP3s.

July 15, 2006 - As construction on our condominiums comes to a close (a few more months left) the HOA company had a home owners meeting to select an HOA committee. Wendy and I attended, I volunteered and got voted in as the President of the HOA. I have been actively engaged ever since. We have our first committee meeting the first of August which is when things will really start working.

My nephew Nicky has been visiting ever since Wednesday and he will be here through the next week. Wendy and I are having fun with him. Next weekend we're going to go see my parents perform in Las Vegas (5 hours away from here) then my parents will drive home with Nicky the next day.

July 9, 2006 - We are back from Alaska spending the day with Wendy's parents before we return home. The cruise was wonderful, we ate eight to ten square meals a day (with exquisite dinners and free room service), saw many wonderful performances, beat five other teams to win at Family Feud, spend a lot of time playing games and hanging out with our Roberts cousins (Wendy and I beat Henry and Patrick at basketball,) and had fun in all of the cities and town we visited. There were live musicians all over the boat which was one of my favorite parts about the whole time. Also, while the parents were tasting wine and champagne, Shirley Temple became the drink of choice for us and our cousins.

June 29, 2006 - This will be last day of work for over a week because we are going on an Alaskan Cruise with my mom's side of the family. My Grandma Dee set up this trip for the family before she passed away and we're all really grateful for the opportunity to go on an Alaskan Cruise. I'm sure she would have loved having us on the cruise with her too. We'll be flying out tomorrow evening then take a train from Anchorage to the port for sail. The cruise will be for one week on Royal Caribbean cruise line.

June 12, 2006 - So we took Wendy into the doctor last week and found that she had a cyst the size of a softball in her pelvis. We were given option to wait it out and watch it, or to have surgery and remove it. Of course we choose to get it out of there since we already know it's been there for a very long time.

Wendy had surgery yesterday and the actually removed two cysts and we learned that it was not ovarian cysts like the doctor thought but it was fallopian related, which means they shouldn't be returning and it would never be cancerous. Today Wendy has some friends coming to say with her while I am at work so Joan & Roberta from school came and some friends from our Branch came too.

June 4, 2006 - The school year is officially over now and Wendy has a piece of the summer to enjoy and recuperate. Unfortunately she has come down with some stomach illness and has been out of commission all weekend. What a great way to start the summer. She's feeling a little better now. I'm looking forward to taking her to new restaurant I found called Osaka so we can celebrate the summer with some really good Japanese food.

June 3, 2006 - The following is a letter I wrote to my local Utah and not so local Washington state Senators about an issue that has been brought to my attention and will go into vote on Tuesday:

"Regarding the marriage protection amendment, please vote yes.

"I feel it is correct to specify that a legal marriage and all the benefits that come with it should be classified between one man and one woman and not any other variation that could arise.

"1) Marriage is a term that should mean commitment to a spouse and a family, it is a relationship based on mutual nurturing and love and one that can perpetuate the same love through generations. Selfishness in marriage partners has created instability in the concept of marriage that is greatly recognized in the western world today. Often the actually union of marriage is purposely ignored for the fear of commitment or bases on the high rates of divorce. Marriage should stand for stability rather than be a harbinger of doom and those who abuse the right of marriage should be punished within the law (e.g. adultery, abuse...) In other words, a strong marriage and a loving family is the solution to most of America's social issues.

"2) Homosexual activities and alliances are an individuals choices but not one that should be directly assaulted or protected by the U.S. Government. Homosexuality may in fact be genetic and a person may be born or choose to homosexual but that shouldn't make it automatically morally correct. Alcoholism can be genetic too, so can so many other positive and negative traits and issues. Society has some issues that I consider to be morally incorrect, same sex partners is one because they only provide immediate gratification for the participants and are not biologically sound to perpetuate the human race; the same is for pre-marital sex, incest and pornography.

"I hope you will vote for a simple means to properly define marriage in a society that already believes schools, government & society are at fault for children's progress, rather than focusing on the family stability itself.

"Sincerely, Aaron Glass"

May 22, 2006 - Wendy and I finished setting up our home office this weekend. Wendy had repainted the walls and the base-boards  during the previous week and we finally got out new furniture delivered. Courtesy of my parents, we also have a brand new, super fast computer, to replace our old one that finally broke down after years of faithful service and some new (amazing) music software to help take my time away from school work. Pictures will be made available shortly.

May 20, 2006 - I got my grades from UVSC for last quarter and I am glad to say that I am continuing my 4.0 average that I had going at BYU. Right now I am on track to complete my Bachelors in Accounting in April 2008. Afterward it will be 2 more years for my Masters Degree and to become a Certified Public Accountant (CPA.)

Life takes you on quite the journey and everything always work out for the proverbial "best". My life is one long chain of good fortune. When my dad was in the military we moved around a lot. In 8th grade we moved back to Washington state. I had never been popular but at this new school I had made a lot of friends and was considered cool. Unfortunately I turned into quite a jerk and picked on others whenever the opportunity arose. I was only at that school for one quarter and thought everything was perfect  when my family moved to Kent Washington, I had no friends and was back to being a geek. I was picked on relentlessly and decided that I would not do the same to others ever again. My personality developed during these years into who I am morally and institutionally today. Even though I'm still arrogant and conceited, at least I'm tolerable.

In high school I had my first girlfriend, we got along well since we both were geeks. Two things came from this, first, I met my great friend Orlando. Second, I never got mixed up with the crowd of people who do inappropriate things, such as drugs or premarital issues.

Later my second girlfriend introduced me to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, and with her family's positive influence I joined the church and learned the principles of salvation. Her sister got me a job at Wizards of the Coast, and I got my friend Orlando to hire on there also. At Wizards of the Coast, Orlando met his future wife and eventually joined the church also.

With my new affiliation with the church I decided to serve a 2 year mission. I was sent to Japan where the girl who would one day become my wife, Wendy, was also serving as a missionary. Through fate we both happened to return home from Japan on the same day, became good friends, started dating, fell in love and got married, (Orlando was the best man.)

After getting married Wendy and I made the decision to move to Utah so she could finish school at BYU. I had to find a job in Utah really quick and ended up working as an office clerk. through time I worked my way up to the position of Finance Manager. I found my career in Accounting and I am now attending school for that same degree. Wendy and I will be financially comfortable for a long time to come because of this and I never would have discovered accounting if we hadn't moved to Utah (and what a great career who someone who considers themselves slightly OCPD.)

So here it is, 2006, Wendy and I have a home, we are preparing to adopt and in two moths we  will be dept free (except for our Mortgage.) In the good times and the bad, everything has had a purpose and I thank my Father in Heaven for helping me to see what great blessings I have received.

April 06, 2006 - On April 5, Grandma Dee Roberts passed away in her home in Minnesota. Uncle Steve informed my parents and my parents called me. I will miss her greatly but find joy that she will be reunited with Grandpa Roberts who passed in 2003.

April 05, 2006 - Today at 1:02 and three seconds it will be 1:02.03 04/05/06.

It has been a busy testing week. First of all I had the third test for my accounting class. We got the scores of the multiple choice section back on Monday. The class average was 58% and I was in the upper percentile with a 72%. Our teacher stated that this was a good test because he can see who put forth the effort and will know how to augment our grades at the end of the class.

I also took my Utah Divers License test. It was an open book test with only 25 questions so I got a 100% on it. The weird thing though is that as I took my test, I heard other people getting the scores to their tests and having to retake it because they didn't pass. There was about five people in this predicament and I sat there wondering to myself, do we really want these people on the road?

February 26, 2006 - There have been some major changes in the life of the Glass family.... no, not my family, but the Glass Sr. family, namely that of my parents. After a few months of trying to sell their home they have decided to give up and keep their home. This makes sense since a new, smaller home would cost more than what the owe of their current home. The timing is good too because my sister Josie and her family have just moved back in with my parents.

My dad also has acquired a new position at Microsoft doing web related solutions so he is keeping anxiously engaged in all of the new items he has there.

February 22, 2006 - I finally got my test results back for my first class at UVSC in the accounting program, the class average was 81% and I got a 93%. It's funny how after years and years of getting mediocre grades in grade school and early college, I'm getting repetitive 4.0s. It's not particularly easy to be an 'A' student in college, at BYU or UVSC, but it's not difficult either as long as one applies themselves. Life can change so subtly that it takes a good look at grades to notice that something has really happened. When I first joined the church I had thought I was already where I needed to be and didn't have much to change (e.g. I already didn't drink caffeine, alcohol or smoke) and of course one never sees themselves change but only looks back afterwards and compares then to now. I thank my Heavenly Father daily for all of the wonderful things he has bestowed upon me in my life, not least of all is my wonderful wife and support, Wendy.

January 1, 2006 - Heidi & James (Wendy's sister & brother-in-law) came to visit us for a few days last week along with our nieces & nephew. One afternoon we decided to visit Park City and the outlet malls after visiting some relatives. The entire day we were valiantly braving the snow and on the way back we got caught in traffic. A forty minute drive turned into several hours. and we were all tired by the time we returned home. Ethan, the youngest ended up getting sick and had a temperature of 105. Once they had returned home it turned out that Ethan had two ear infections. In the end he recovered and we learned a valuable lesson... snow makes the traffic bad.

December 27, 2005 - I had a choice. I simply wanted to find a game I could play over my week off, would it be Spider-man or X-men Legends. Nope, in the end I choose and new game called City of Heroes. It's a MMORPG (Massive Multiplayer Online Role Playing Game) which I didn't realize when I bought it, neither could it be returned so I started the game by creating a hero then I took that character into the virtual world. It's a really fun game and it'll be sad when my trial month is over and they'll expect me to pay to play more, because I wont.

December 24, 2005 - Wendy and I enjoyed Christmas this Saturday morning. Tomorrow morning we will have church at 9:00am with choir practice preceding and I'm not used to interrupting my own Christmas ritual of with two hour away from home in the morning. In turn, Wendy and I will be able to appreciate Christmas for what it is, a celebration of the birth of Jesus Christ. I'm glad to separate the two. Besides, Jesus was not even born in December.

Wendy has been spending her time (since Thursday evening) building a new closet shelf system for our master bedroom. It has been tiring work for her and the bulk of it still fills our family room. It will be a great accomplishment once it's complete.

December 11, 2005 - I am sick this weekend, I've been slightly sick for two weeks now, with only a runny, stuffy nose but it hit hard last night. Yesterday morning I helped an older couple move out of our Branch and spent four and a half hours back and forth in the cold so it's possible that my cold was aggravated by that. Wendy went to church alone this morning and has been pampering me ever since. Isn't marriage wonderful!

December 5, 2005 - Removing the detail of the situation for a far future date, we were asked by an anonymous party to deliver a Christmas package of $900.00 dollars in gift certificates to a family with seven children and one income. We showed up as they were finishing dinner and preparing to start their Family Home Evening about service projects. They were a really wonderful family, strong and happy and Wendy & I were blessed to participate in such a magnificent blessing in their lives.

December 4, 2005 - Today our Stake is being reorganized with a new Presidency. This will be a first to see for Wendy and I. We had leadership and adult meetings yesterday with Elder Merrill J. Bateman who is a President of the quorums of the Seventy. At the adult session, Elder Bateman asked for a teacher with really nice handwriting to assist him. I volunteered Wendy so she got to meet Elder Bateman and act as a scribe for him. When he asked Wendy's age and she said "a quarter of a century", he went into a little tangent about youth and living a long healthy life. It was a delightful experience and I hope we'll have him visit the Stake often.

December 3, 2005 - My friend Brian (from work) came over this morning to record some vocal tracks that will hopefully be included on this year's Christmas CD. At the same time Wendy has been making candies and tree ornaments to give away this Christmas. She had her friend Mandy over to help her.

December 2, 2005 - I received an e-mail this morning stating how my company would be getting rid of a lot of old equipment. I went over to the I.T. department and found a few laptop that were available, so I left and waited until the preset time then returned in hopes of claiming my prize. A few people were interested in the laptops so we had a drawing and I won first dibs. I now have my new laptop and I've been using it to create new card decks for a card game called Epic Duels.

November 24, 2005 - Happy Thanksgiving! We forgot to take the turkey out of the freezer on Sunday so we thought we'd never had out Turkey thawed on time but with Wendy's ingenuity and a little help from mom Nievaard, had a wonderfully yummy turkey done in time for Thanksgiving lunch.

November 20, 2005 - We have been waiting ever since we moved to Pleasant Grove for our new church building to be finished and now after only two extra months of waiting, we have out first services in the new building today. This afternoon there will be a building dedication. Our little branch is very happy about this but are also less excited that they would have been had it happened two months ago.

This evening we have a stake fireside. I will be participating in a cantata about the life of Joseph Smith, celebrating 200 years since his birth. It is full of beautiful music and is narrated by David Nibley, who started in the movie The Best Two Years. I will be playing the oboe part, transposed for my Alto Sax.

November 2, 2005 - My friend Orlando has turned the insurmountable 28 years old. For you, Orlando, I put together a little Public Service Announcement.

October 22, 2005 - Wendy and I celebrated my birthday Thursday evening. She had Thursday and Friday off this week for teachers UEA weekend so she spent Thursday shopping around for my birthday presents. Wendy has never been able to sustain her excitement when she buys presents, so we never seem to be able to wait for the day of the holiday to celebrate it. Besides a bag full of various dark chocolate candy and clothing, she bought me a few DVDs, CDs & books. I also go a new leather bag to carry my stuff around in. As for the candy, most of the Oreos disappeared while I was at work on Friday.

October 19, 2005 - Today on my evening trip to the bank I ended up locking my keys in the car. I called Wendy and fortunately she had a friend at school who lived down in Provo, so she was able to get a ride down to unlock the car. While I waited I decided to put my time to used and see if I could get into the car somehow. I walked around the car and found the rear passenger window open a fraction of an inch. Then I search the parking lot for anything that could prove useful and I found two types of branches. One was a little too thick with knots where the branches had been. The other was thin and stiff with little sticks protruding from it. I devised a scheme as follows: First I took the comb from my pocket and pushed it through the crack in the window (it would barely squeeze through) and I pushed the rubber lining out of the crevice to create a little more room to work with. Then I pushed the stick through the window so it would land teetering across my bag in the back seat. I removed my neck tie and using a loose string at the end of it, tied my comb to the neck tie. Pushing the comb-tie  through the crack, I lowered it to the stick and swung it back & forth to gain enough momentum to swing the comb-tie around the stick, with intentions to snag the stick and pull it over, yank and unlatch the lock. As I was engrossed with my plan, Wendy showed up and unlocked the door. I wasn't fast enough. but given more time, I bet it would have worked.

October 15, 2005 - Wendy and I took a part of today to drive down the canyon and take some long overdue photos of ourselves. I put together a little desktop background with two of those pictures.

Also I am including a link to a song I transcribed for my dad. Anything, by Don Burrows.

October 11, 2005 - As Wendy and I wait for the next installment in the Series of Unfortunate Events books this month, I found some time to put to paper my thought on the latest Harry Potter book. For all of those out there who have not read the book yet, please don't read my editorial yet. This will be full of spoilers and I would rather have you read the books and enjoy them for what they are because they really are quite the little masterpieces. For my Harry Potter book six editorial, click here.

October 10, 2005 - I just started working on a web project for my company so I end up putting in an extra hour each day. In turn Wendy was able to secure a ride home from school with a friend so she wont have to wait for me to pick her up.

We had General Conference just a little bit ago and we also had a convert baptism in our branch the same weekend. It is wonderful to be able to take a weekend and listen to the words of a Prophet.

September 25, 2005 - Aaron's birthday is coming up again at the end of October and I put together his wish list on Amazon.com. Just click "Wish List" and type in his e-mail address. - Wendy

September 3, 2005 - In remembrance of what New Orleans has always had and the good things it may once again become, I put together a Desktop Wallpaper. I find this helps me to keep the people who suffered from Hurricane Katrina in my thoughts and prayers.

September 2, 2005 - Wendy wrote recently, "My first week and a half of school has been interesting to say the least. I had eight students cry, sob, or otherwise shed a tear on more than one occasion. I had to pick one student up and bring him in the classroom. One mother and I pulled a girl in kicking and crying. The secretary brought a girl in who tried to run home. Another girl bit her sister trying to escape. I pried a girl's hand off the door and dragged her in. Finally, there were a few who walked in, sat down, and just started crying. WHEW! I was not ready for that... but today was the first day that everyone came in by their own free will. It was a good day!

"This positive change may have been due to a talk we had the previous day about the "sad bug." I pretended like I caught the sad bug in my hands so nobody else could get it. We talked about being friends and all of that good stuff. Everyone was giggling by the end and I set goals with my escapees and criers. Oh happy day! It's a lot of fun when everything goes smoothly and I hope things continue to settle down. Just thought I'd tell you what first graders are like!!!

"PS - I still have one boy who can't reach the counter to get his lunch... but it's really cute!"

August 20, 2005 - In an astounding 11Mb of furry, I bring you my first project to test my computer's new multi-track recording system. After hours of recording all of the parts, editing and finally settling for less, I bring you my own watered down version of Rhinoceros, written by the Smashing Pumpkins. I would suggest that you right click this file and choose the option to save it to your computer before you try to listen to it.

August 14, 2005 - This weekend Wendy and I went camping with Garrett and Brittany at the Wasatch Mountain State Park. Last night as we took a late night (early morning ) stroll to the restrooms we noticed that the sky was amazingly clear and filled with stars. It looked like a photo taken of deep space stars, with swirling masses and everything. Next time we go camping we're going to go tent-less.

We also visited the outlet mall in Park City, kind of near the Wasatch Park. I picked up a new book called The Zero Game by Brad Meltzer. I am extremely happy with it, especially considering the twist the book took in Chapter 7 which I had never heard of happening before in a book. Recently I have also read The Italian Secretary: A Further Adventure of Sherlock Holmes by Caleb Carr. I am happy to report that Caleb's approach to the characters rivals, if not dwarfs, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's own renditions. And through the suggestion of my Grandpa Glass, I have read The Pilgrim's Progress by John Bunyan. This was a very old novel of itself, and the copy I obtained from my dad was printed in the 1860s. It is a very straight forward novel about a Christian's Journey, or simply, a Pilgrim's Progress.

And finally, I am re-reading the Book of Mormon, which, like the Bible, deserves to be read, reread and studied as often one can make time to. Out of every book I would ever recommend, The Book of Mormon is on the top of the list. Besides the moral and spiritual lessons it teaches, the book's purpose is to testify that Jesus is the Christ, the Savior of mankind and it does that job very well. The witness of Jesus Christ provided in the Book of Mormon gives an individual the opportunity to feel the Spirit of God and to learn for themselves what the book teaches is true and because of this, I am a member of the Church of Jesus Christ today.

July 30, 2005 - Wendy finished reading Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince today and I finished it last week while on vacation in Washington state. We both enjoyed it thoroughly. I would have liked to express some opinions about it now but I'll wait because I know there a quite a few who have not read it yet.

A while ago I follow my dad's foot steps and got a "My Space" from MSN. This is basically a place to have your own website and share information without having to program. I would invite all to check it out and even consider setting up your own so that we can all be up to day on the latest news.

July 26, 2005 - We just returned from a week long vacation in Washington. We visited family and friends on the Glass and Nievaard side of the family. Although it was too short it was a well appreciated break.

July 08, 2005 - Tonight we had the last softball game of the season, we lost by one point so we might not have ended up first place in our division but that's alright. There's always next year.

Following the softball game we went on a double date to see Fantastic Four. I thought it was really well made and entertaining. The movie theater we went to was right by our old apartment so as we started driving home we almost went there rather than head to our new home further north. But we made it home safely in the end.

It's ironic how I have more time now that I'm between classes again yet I always seem to find ways to spread myself too thin and even though I end up doing a lot of things, I leave some of the more important tasks in need. It's a uphill battle and I need to make sure to prioritize what is really important right now.

June 19, 2005 - We will be in Park City this entire weekend for the International Association of Jazz Educators Teacher Training Institute. I will be attending clinics such as, Rhythm Section 101, Starting & Maintaining a Jazz Program, Big Band Rehearsal Techniques, Sax Section 101 and more. Each day after the clinics Wendy and I will have fun in and around Park City.

June 18, 2005 - It was a crazy day today but everything worked out great. We took care of home stuff, got the mail key from the mailman, had our dryer installed (it needed a "new" cord), had the internet installed and we had our couches delivered.

I had my finals at BYU and they all went smoothly. They best part is that my religion teacher, Brother Manscill, wants to work with me on my paper about Joseph Smith to get it published. I was walking on air all day after that.

June 15, 2005 - We moved in last night from 7:30 to 10:30 pm. A lot of our friends helped us to load up the van and then they came with us to our new home to unload. We're very fortunate to know sure great people. Afterwards we ate pizza.

May 30, 2005 - Happy Memorial Day. Since I have today off Wendy and I decided to do absolutely nothing. Eventually we went furniture shopping and out for dinner. We also stopped by our condominium to take some pictures.

May 29, 2005 - Wendy is finished with school this year. Now she has the entire summer to relax, apparently the first summer she's had off since she was 16. This summer we will be moving to our new condominium, taking a vacation back home in Washington and I will be attending a Jazz clinic in Park City. We'll probably fit a camping trip or two in there also.

May 27, 2005 - A few months ago I discovered Wikipedia, a type of online Encyclopedia where anyone can add or edit information. I have been spending some time here and there working on the entry for Joseph Smith, Jr. This, combined with my Religion Class at BYU, has been a time for quite some enlightenment.

    When Joseph Smith Jr. died there was something known as a "succession crisis" where some people declared their own intended stewardship over the church.  The majority of the members followed the quorum of the 12 Apostles and Brigham Young, the head of the quorum, became the second President of the Church.

    The interesting part is that all of the others who claimed to have authority over the church were not apostles. Joseph Smith Jr. himself was not sustained as the President of the church until after he had been called as an Apostle. One of the many points of doctrine that the Catholics and the LDS church agree on is that Peter, as the head of the ancient apostles became the head of the church on earth after Jesus Ascended into heaven. So in practice, ever since Jesus Christ has called his first Apostles, only those who were called could lead in the Kingdom of God.

    I just thought that was interesting.

May 3, 2005 - Life is getting pretty crazy now with homework, work & other responsibilities. The good news for this week though is that I will be able to study saxophone over the summer with Ray Smith, the head of Jazz and Saxophone at BYU.

May 1, 2005 - Our computer had a crash last week so we've been out of commission until yesterday. Now we're back up again with our new layout.

I'm back doing college again with 3 classes this term. At the same time Wendy is finishing up this year of teaching and is looking forward to a nice summer. Her birthday has just come and gone (April 27) and she was able to build up her wardrobe while getting some new items for our new condo, which will be finished in mid June.

Click Here for the song of the day! (Link dead)

April 14, 2005 - Wendy's birthday is coming up on April 27th. Wendy is done with College. She got a 191 out of 200 on her Praxis test (Early Childhood Education). The average for the test was 184. Also, Wendy got a 89.4% on her Teacher Work Sample. This was really good considering a lot of others failed the test all together. I'm really proud of her. She's really happy to be finished.

Wendy and I have just joined the Larson Davis company softball team. Games are every Friday starting this Friday. We went out to buy mitts and some matching track pants but we couldn't find the right size for the right price (all of the cheap ones where either size Small or XXXL). We ended up going out 3 evenings this week, and still no pants.

This past weekend I put my G.I.Joes up for sale on Ebay. I'll be sad to get rid of them but on the other hand, they're not that important. And I don't have a place to put them anymore.

March 26, 2005 - Last weekend we went on a family vacation to Vail Colorado. We used to go yearly but now, it's been 10 years since I've been. Wendy was able to ski for her first time and she picked it up perfectly right away. I think the best part was seeing all of my cousins again who I haven't see since the beginning of 2003. Click for pictures of the Vail Vacation.

The good news so far is that we're now getting ready to move into a new condo. It's a lot bigger than our current apartment. It is being built right now up in Pleasant Grove and we get to pick all of the options we want like floors, carpet, counters and more. It has 3 bed rooms, a large family room and big closets. We still have a few months left until it's read though.

The bad news though is that we returned from Vail with a letter in the mail box explaining that I did not get into the BYU music program yet. I've been pretty down about it but it'll be alright. I've been spending my time on music theory and reading Orson Scott Card Books to keep me pleasantly occupied.