Give Thanks!

I have so much to be grateful for. Some of the things that I give thanks for daily are: family, gospel, health, my job (I especially give thanks for this one on the weekends, holidays, and in the summer!), my home, car. I really am very very blessed.

I am also grateful for the mountains, and Sundays, and a clean house, Christmas decorations, yummy candles, a niece to buy clothes for (seriously I may never buy clothes for myself again, clothes not shoes), a brother on a mission.

I love this time of year to contemplate all the blessing in my life and remember the things that are most important. Last night I read President Monson's Conference talk: The Divine Gift of Grattitude and it made me so thankful for all that I have in my life. Especially the blessing of having a living prophet to lead and guide.

One part I really liked was:

Notice that the Savior gave thanks for what they had—and a miracle followed: “And they did all eat, and were filled: and they took up of the broken meat that was left seven baskets full.”⁴

We have all experienced times when our focus is on what we lack rather than on our blessings. Said the Greek philosopher Epictetus, “He is a wise man who does not grieve for the things which he has not, but rejoices for those which he has.”⁵

I will be honest there are times when I too am guilty of focusing on righteous desires that I want but don't have. I don't feel like I do this very often but I am human and it does happen. This quote really puts things in perspective for me. I AM SO BLESSED! I have been given so much. When I look at all my blessings I can't help but thank the Lord for how generous he has been to me.

One other thing I like from the same talk is this:

This is a wonderful time to be on earth. While there is much that is wrong in the world today, there are many things that are right and good. There are marriages that make it, parents who love their children and sacrifice for them, friends who care about us and help us, teachers who teach. Our lives are blessed in countless ways.

As I read this last night I thought of my students and how they are so strong and so good. I love teaching, there are hard days, but everyday I see so much good in all I come in contact with. There is so much wrong in the world but seriously I look at the youth and see so much GOOD! I am thankful for the example that these youth set for me, they make the right hard decisions everyday.

I am just so grateful for all I have. You should read President Monson's talk it was so good. I hope that I can live with an attitude of gratitude!

Two Things

Two new things have recently revolutionized my gym workouts. The first is this:

I have always loved to read at the gym but the problem is that you never know if your book will fit on the equipment. The Kindle solves that problem it is so skinny. And there is a function to enlarge the text and so not only does any book you read fit you can also make the print large enough to read while working out. I have not paid for any books yet because there are actually lots of free books, all the classics are free, and so I have had plenty to keep me entertained while working out. Maybe I should do the next commercial for the Kindle, because I think it is the greatest thing ever!

The second thing is this. I didn't want to put a picture of a sports bra on my blog, but seriously this sports bra is awesome. I needed a new sports bra and I decided to try one that is more expensive, to see if there is a difference. I can report that there is a huge difference. It was $45 but it was so worth it. Hopefully is lasts a long time.

In other news my legs are just so tired every night. I have not quite adjusted to being on my feet two and a half extra hours a day. On a happier note I am really pumped about my team this year. And seriously is it already Thanksgiving I have not even started thinking about Christmas shopping?

Weekend O Fun

This weekend was really busy. Thank goodness there was an extra hour of sleep Saturday night because I sure needed it. Friday I took a half day at work and hung out with Jana and Erica, then played soccer, and then stayed up until one am eating homemade ice cream and watching Toy Story 3. I can not do late nights I don't know what I was thinking.

Saturday started off with a 5K in honor of one of my former students who is battling cancer. The weather was great and the run wasn't too terrible.

I am sad to say that Sam's sprint to the finish edged me out. I will beat him next time:)

We hurried back to my house after the run and got ready for the BYU game. My aunt and uncle got us a free tickets so we obviously could not turn them down. The weather was so great and BYU played so great so it was a good afternoon.

We love our cougars.

Afterwords Dan made us a yummy dinner. I wrapped the evening up by cleaning house and doing laundry. I can't believe it is November. Basketball starts tomorrow. Can you believe it? I am so excited for my team this year. The girls are really good but they are so fun as well. I feel like it is going to be a great season.

I can't believe the holidays are approaching so fast. This year has flown by. Time just goes faster and faster the older I get. Crazy!

update

Well I am fired as far as blogging goes. I have done some fun things in the past three weeks but I have not had my camera with me so there are no pictures to show for it. I must admit that sometimes I feel in a rut. It is like my weeks are the exact same. Work, rest, some sports, working out, church, hanging out with friends and then repeat.

I did enjoy our fall break last week. It was so nice to sleep in, catch up on some house work, pursue a couple of hobbies, rollerblade, go shopping (during the day, I know exciting), and just relax. I was sure sad when Sunday night rolled around and I knew I had to go to bed at a reasonable hour.

I have been obsessed with the movie North and South, not about the Civil War. It is so good. Michelle Rotar introduced it to me years ago but I fear I did not fully appreciate it until recently. I just finished the book which was also very good. I may just have to purchase the movie soon.

Other then that I am enjoying my last couple of weeks of freedom before basketball starts. Can you believe it is that time already? Oh and first term ends next week so crazy.

I will say I am so proud of one of my seventh grade classes, every student in the class has an A- or better. In all my MANY years of teaching I have yet to have class do that. I am so excited for them. They have one more test and I totally promised them all doughnuts if they all get an A on their reports card (great PE teacher right). I know nothing like extrinsic motivation, but seriously they are so great. It is a class of 26 students and they are just so sweet and try so hard. Love them! And I want to say that they have all the same assignments as my other 7th grade classes they are just a small class and work so hard. So there is my life recently in a nutshell.

Bake Sale

As I returned to school this year I learned that one of my former students had been diagnosed with Leukemia. She is only 16. A great student and a great athlete. She also comes from a great family and the whole situation just really breaks your heart. Well tomorrow they are having a bake sale for her in Orem so me, some aunts (Loralie and Nancy), cousins (Melissa and Heather), and family (Sam and Amanda) all got together and made some treats for the bake sale. It was a fun evening and seriously there are so many treats in my house right now.

Pumpkin chocolate chip cookies

cupcakes made by the less talented

yummy peanut butter brownies and lemon bars

strawberry cupcakes made by someone a little more talented (Heather)

And some really cute cupcakes also made by Heather.

Also some banana bread not pictured

All the treats went through Sam Brown quality assurance testing and the tests came back with excellent results. He took his self assigned job very seriously. So if you live in the area make your way over to the bake sale tomorrow I am sure there will be lots of yummy treats (800 South Geneva Rd at an LDS chapel).

Here is her blog if you want to learn more about her. And thanks to all of my family who helped I really appreciate it.

Pictures

I have not done much this past week. So I have nothing to report on the blogging front. I have been looking through old pictures and here are some shots from a ghost town in Wyoming that I liked. I took them last summer.


And some pictures of my cousin Heather's daughters. The are so cute. As I was looking at older pictures I was shocked at how much they have changed in a years time.

And really why are skinny jeans back in style. They do look cute on little skinny girls but they are definitely not my favorite.

did you know . . . . .

They make computers that are all inside the screen. I didn't until today. Went to Best Buy to look at laptops came home with this

first glance you think what a nice computer screen, but don't worry the computers built somewhere inside. And it is a touch screen. It is pretty much the coolest thing ever. My only requirements for a new computer were that it could hold lots of photos and music. I really wanted a netbook that I could hook up to my TV when I wanted to use photoshop, so it would be nice and big. But I took Dan shopping (never agood thing when it involves computers) and he convinced me that my life is so boring I don't even need a mobile computer, which is true. And then I saw the screen computers and I just love it because it does not take up any space, no tower needed. I really really love that about it. So yea that is the most exciting thing that happened in my life this week.

Labor Day

This weekend was just really nice and pretty relaxing. It is always AWESOME when you know you don't have to work on Monday. Mikila and the Than & Erica Hancock family were in town. It was fun to spend the first part of the weekend hanging out with friends from Oroville. Dinner at Sam and Amanda's was also a highlight.

I was supposed to hike Timp on Saturday but my sprained ankle was still too huge so I had to postpone until Monday. It was a great day to hike. The weather was nice and cool, actually it was pretty chilly until the last two hours of the hike, and it was not crowded. I have hiked Timp on Labor Day a few times and it is always crazy but yesterday it really wasn't.

We stayed on top long enough to sign the book and snap this picture it was too cold.

Now it is back to the grind and no more three day weekends until UEA. Bummer!

Tik Tok

So I might really like the song Tik Tok by Keisha. Is it an appropriate song? NOPE! I was first introduced to the song last year by my basketball team. They always listened to it on the bus. I had never heard it and finally I searched it out downloaded the song and listened to the lyrics. YIKES!! These little innocent girls should not be listening to that song. And neither should I but, seriously it has such a good beat. You know


Pedicure on my toes . . toes


I had my first pedicure on Saturday with Emily. It was lots of fun and I kept singing this verse of Tik Tok to the lady, she is so lucky.

I was advised by a sibling, he who will not be named, that boys actually do look at toes when they notice girls. Well ok now my toes are about the cutest thing ever so come on boys:)

(Dan killed my computer so I could not photoshop this picture so you could actually see the cute flowers)

Back to Tik Tok


Trying on all our clothes . . . clothes


I only dress up on the weekends now that I teach but anyone that has ever lived with me knows I always try on lots of different outfits in the morning to decide what to wear. Not so much now that I teach PE. On the weekends I sometimes fall back into this old habit. It usually results in a very messy bedroom.


Boys blowing up our phones . . . phones


Um not really one of my problems. Wish it was more of a problem but it was the last little phrase in the most tame verse of Tik Tok.


See I can really relate to that song now that I got a pedicure.


Today our combined 5th Sunday meeting was so good. It was on the vision of the tree of life and particularly on overcoming our personal mists of darkness. Do you think that I shouldn't listen to that song anymore? Probably not but I just love it.

Life Lesson

Never ever go to the movies without eating dinner first. Enough said.

Preparation

Can you believe I have to go back to work in three days? LAME!! I am so bummed. I always have a mini depression as I watch summer come to a close and school start again. Don't get me wrong I LOVE my job and I LOVE the school I work at but I also LOVE free time.

This week has not been too exciting I have just been doing all the little things to get ready for nine months of no free time. You know, the dentist (no cavities), the doctor (1st physical in 9 years still look healthy), the house cleaning, the house organizing, the lunches with friends, the long bike rides, the hiking, the sleeping in, the nap taking, all good things that will be forgotten in a few days.

Seriously this summer was great and I really do love being on a schedule and so that is the great thing about work. I also spend way less money when I am working, there another perk. I have not taken a nap the last two days, gotta break myself in. Prepare myself mentally for what is to come. So there you have it.

Don't worry my last two days of freedom will be spent biking, swimming with Jana and kids, dinner with the brothers and sister in law, playing basketball, one more doctor visit, a little more cleaning, some more hiking, hopefully some kayaking, and NO MORE MONEY SPENDING!!

Thanks for the picture Angelee!