Bridger is 12!! :)

Bridger turned twelve this year and twelve is a big birthday! He was ordained a deacon, started passing the sacrament, and is able to do baptisms for the dead now. Grandma and Grandpa Brown left the day of his birthday, but we were able to celebrate with them the Sunday before they left. They also watched the younger kids overnight so we could take Bridger to Billings to go to the temple for the first time. It was such a blessing to be able to take that birthday trip with him. We loved it so much! 

We left on January 2nd for Billings. We went to dinner at a pizza place in Billings, then we went to a candy store across the street! Bridger and Jeremy were super happy about it, they had a ton of different varieties of candy. Like, everything you can think of. So we chose out some unique things and took them back to our hotel to try out. We got there kind of late, but we were able to swim at the pool for a little bit before getting to bed. :) The next day we got up early and ate breakfast at the hotel before we went to the temple. We said a prayer before we went in, we were so excited to share the temple with him! When we walked in, we showed our recommends and even that was special! Inside, it was how the temple always is, peaceful and warm and quiet. They led us to the baptistry area and we changed before they had a member of the temple presidency sit down and talk with us personally about baptisms for the dead, which was so cool. It was just us there! Then, Bridger acted as a witness with the sweetest old lady beside him while Jeremy baptized me for our family names, then Bridger and I switched. We brought our own family names, and I did a few for the sweet old lady. But they let us do ALL our names, it was amazing. After, we changed and did the confirmations, and then we took a picture in front of the temple. He was a little nervous with this being his first time, but he did so good, and Bridger said he really loved being in the temple. It was special and I'm so grateful we were able to make this special trip with him. 

Bridger has really developed a serious interest in coding these last couple years, but especially this year. He is constantly coming up with new ideas to make on Scratch and his games are really, really good! He has goals to start a YouTube channel this year, which we are discussing. He shows us what he's worked on every night before bed, and it's fun to see his progress. Coding in the afternoons is great motivation for him to finish his schoolwork in a decent amount of time so he has time for it. He does his school independently and I never have to worry that he's skipping things, he does everything he needs to do and does an excellent, quality job on it everyday. He just finished Level 7 in TGTB (equivalent of 9th grade), he also finished the level of IEW Structure & Style he started several months ago. His writing has improved SO MUCH. I'm so proud of him. He's also now working through Life of Fred Fractions and is doing awesome. He still takes Spanish online two days a week, and does online piano lessons through Hoffman Academy. He also takes a 3D Animation class over Zoom on Monday mornings, which has been really cool!

He's really been enjoying Young Men's and being a deacon, our ward has been so supportive of these new young men, it's been a huge blessing. They walked them through passing the Sacrament twice before they actually did it, and that really helped Bridger feel more ready and comfortable. He's made some good friends even just in the last two months! 

How do I describe Bridger? He is responsible, intense about his interests, very silly when he's in a mood, and he has a fun sense of humor. He's super creative and has a really intuitive sense about style with coding and animation. He no longer likes me to do his hair, so we have to battle about that when we leave the house (haha!). He eats pretty much everything I make for meals without complaining, which I appreciate. He really likes spicy food, too! He complains about doing his schoolwork (like all kids do, sometimes), but he has also told me how he's grateful to homeschool and I know he's seeing the importance of education as he gets older and is appreciating it. He does his chores really well, too, which I appreciate, haha. He has really developed a close relationship with Captain this past year, too. Captain follows him around the house and lays beneath his feet when he does coding, it's really sweet. Bridger is constantly talking to him and petting him and playing with him, I love to see it. :) He has matured so much, he's growing into a young man and it makes my mom heart so happy (even though I cry because my kids are growing up so fast). He's started to babysit for short amounts of time in the last few months, and that's been really new for our family, and really helpful, haha. :) 

22 Questions With Bridger:

1. What is your favorite toy? I'm twelve, mommy. Actually, I like fidget toys like by hexagon ball and my squishes. Except you threw away a bunch. I like the computer, too, because it has an RTX 3060 and 32 ram, and it's the newest version, Windows 11.
2. What is your favorite part about school? I can do scratch or stuff like that after school.
3. Who is your favorite scripture hero? Jesus, because he suffered billions of peoples pain.
4. What is your favorite food? Pizza, or hot dog thingies. Like sausages or polish dogs.
5. What is your favorite dessert? Cake or ice cream or cookies or stuff...
6. What is your favorite vegetable? Tomatoes. Except they're fruit, so carrots.
7. What is your favorite fruit? I said I like tomatoes as my favorite vegetable, because I like other fruit more. Like grapes and blueberries or watermelon, or everything mostly. And grapes.
8. What do you want to be when you grow up? A dude, like a business guy or a coder. I want to make a tech company.
9. What is your favorite snack? Popcorn? Maybe chicken biscuits...
10. What is your favorite book? Percy Jackson
11. What is your favorite thing to have for breakfast? Donuts. But I never get to, so cereal. But I don't get cereal either, so toast.
12. What is your favorite holiday? Christmas, and Easter is my second (or possibly first) favorite because Grandma Brown always prepares 
13. What does Mom always say to you? Goodnight! (If I don't go to bed) or Goodnight, I love you.
14. What does Dad always say to you? Go to your room (If I'm in trouble), or I love you.
15. What is your favorite TV show?  Youtube. Or an older kid show, like that show we watched once, I think it had the word Street in the title.
16. Who is your best friend? Calum, maybe.
17. What are you really good at? Coding. And making youtube videos, but I can't make a youtube channel because of rules that moms make.
18. If you could have a wish, what would it be?  To have power to create anything out of air, like a machine that brings back people that died.
19. What is your favorite primary song? Umm... I'm twelve, Mommy. I don't sing anymore. Except I do like Gesthemane.
20. What vegetable do you hate the most? Sweet potatoes.
21. Best memory from this year? Going to Grandma and Grandpa's house twice a year.
22. Something you accomplished? I got one-thousand followers on scratch. I started in February, and finished in January in the next year. I also finished my IEW and Good and Beautiful Language Arts, which both of those were so boring they were probably a waste of life.

I have one-thousand followers on scratch. actually, as I write this it's one-thousand one-hundred and thirty-three. I love to code, and I make cool games like Honey, something I've been working on.

These are a couple of my recent games, and I worked pretty hard on them.

I used to make logos, but now that I have so many people asking I decided to just make games. I'm glad I chose that path. Months later, I used another account named jarvin_other to make logos again, and that helps my games get popular with my name on people's profiles.

I also got to go to the temple again, and did baptisms. We went the Saturday before that, too, but I went bowling because I was late and I wanted to spend time with my family.

I don't know what to write next, but I do like technology and jumping on the trampoline, having late nights, doing stuff with kids my age, and other things. Oh, yeah. I also like to use unique text fonts, like this, and this.