Christmas

Christmas was great as always. It is always so nice to be with family and just relax. Well relax and eat. I told my basketball team at practice on Wednesday "I just went three hours without eating, I have not done that in a week." So, yes I ate way too much. The only bummer was that I was not in Oroville very long at all and so I didn't get to see very many friends.

Christmas dinner was amazing. My poor Mom and Aunt Nancy cooked two days straight but it was seriously delicious.

Presents. Aunt Nancy had my name so I got a present that was beautifully wrapped (well two that were beautifully wrapped but I only took a picture of this one).

Poor Olivia was teething and had a fever. She was a trooper and my Dad was happy he had someone to appreciate his train.

I am in love with this hat I got Olivia. She probably won't have the patience to wear the thing but it was so cute I couldn't pass it up. You can see how done she is in this picture. Poor little girl.

Caleb got lots of Jazz gear so of course he was pumped.

We went to Willits for a night. That was great because we got to see extended family and play games. I did a terrible job of taking pictures but I did get a few just not one of each person.

And last but not least Simba (or a scary version of Cosmo) showed up at my house to play games on Christmas Eve.

I can't believe 2010 is over. The years just seem to go so fast!

I heart Les Scwab

I got home yesterday and I had a flat tire on my car. LAME! Not totally flat but definitely low. I pumped it up but it was low again today. Anyways long story short went to Les Scwab and they fixed it for free. Seriously how nice is that. It feels like a belated Christmas present.

If I quit my job . . . .

It is official I would become a detective for a school. I am pretty good at tracking down missing things. At the start of basketball season our boys team realized they were missing two pair of shorts from their closet. They were there at the end of last year so we knew they had been stolen. Well junior high kids aren't always the brightest and I told the coach if they were actually stolen they will show up. Sure enough two months later I see this big Samoan kid at school wearing them. Don't worry I hunted him down and we got the shorts back. It turns out I am really good at intimidating people to. I think I scared him a little. News flash if you are going to steal something don't wear it to school.

Second case yesterday I see this chick wearing one of my teams bball sweatshirts. Now I designed the sweatshirt and happen to know that there were only 14 of them made. I didn't approach her at first because I wanted to talk to my players and make sure they had not loaned their sweatshirts to anyone. Well they had not. Two class periods late I tracked her down and got it back. She was a 7th grade student I have not had in class and so it was a little more challenging and I had to do a little detective work to figure out who it was. However we got it back. One of my players had left it in their math class and it was taken from there. So lesson to all junior high students IF YOU TAKE SOMETHING THAT IS NOT YOURS DON'T WEAR IT TO SCHOOL! There are other things I have tracked down as well over the years stolen jeans, the girl that flushed underwear down the toilet and clogged all the drains, ipods, cell phones . . . . if it is stolen I will try to get it back.

My back-up profession after being a detective is a doctor or athletic trainer. I dislocated my shoulder again last night and this time I layed down and put it back in place on my own. Not painful at the time but it is really sore today. I probably should take 4 weeks off but lets be honest I probably won't.

2nd Annual Taco Soup Cook Off

My siblings that live in Utah and I have started to have a taco soup cook off each year. We all cook a little different recipe and then come together to eat it. YUM!!! This year we had a steak taco soup, chicken ranch taco soup, and a pulled pork taco soup. (Sam's pulled pork soup is pictured above.) All were delicious! However none of the soups were quite as delicious as the homemade chocolate candy cane ice cream. That is to die for.

After dinner we went to Amanda's Christmas Orchestra Concert. It was really fun to listen to the Christmas music. It is always great to get together and eat yummy food and enjoy each others company.

2nd Place . . . . . Is Lame!

My team took 2nd place at our tournament this weekend. Which I am very happy about and 2nd place is really great . . . but it is also lame. If you win the tournament you get all these things . . . 2nd place gets nothing. That is lame and frustrating. I mean it is always like that and you think 2nd place is awesome but it is not 1st place so no trophy, no t-shirt, no cutting down the net (who does that in 9th grade), no bragging rights . . . nothing. My team looks really good and the are great kids. I just felt bad that after working so hard we went home completely empty handed.

And that picture is my serious coaching face. Yikes!! We won that game by 30 points but don't worry I am all business. My assistant coach was making fun of me because we were watching another team play and I had my coaching face on and she was like relax. We are not playing we don't have to coach these girls. I watch basketball and I go straight into coaching mode. Thankfully I was not the coach over either team we were watching because they were not good and there was lots of coaching to be done.

The Most Wonderful Time Of The Year!

It is the most wonderful time of the year right? Why does it seem so crazy? Life has just been so busy. I have not even thought of getting my camera out. My house is decorated and my Christmas shopping is done but that is the only signs of the season thus far. I mean we don't even have any real snow yet.

I want time to slow down so I can enjoy the holiday season. I must be really crazy because I scheduled my team to play 11 games in 3 weeks. Bad planning on my part. That is a lot of games. I am exhausted. It is Wednesday and I feel like it should be Friday. I am already looking forward to the break. That is bad because it means the next week and a half will go very slow.

Some highlights the past week or so have been:

• I bought a poinsettia and I love it. It is so pretty and it was only $3.50 at Wal-mart.
• I bought the wise men to my nativity set.
• The bball team I coach is 4 and 1.
• The Christmas Devotional, listen here if you missed it
• Christmas dinners and parties
• I have had a student teacher (this is her last week)

Lots is going on. It is a crazy time of year but I do love it. I love that I get to spend time with family and friends. I love that people are more generous and thoughtful. I love that we have time to reflect on the Savior and His life, I love Christmas music, I love that we will get to talk to Anthony on Christmas Day. I love this time of year and it is wonderful just crazy as well.