Seriously?

One of my 7th graders brings me a note this morning saying her soccer coach said she can't do PE today because she is participating in the Utah state soccer tournament tomorrow. Here was my response, "Um your soccer coach can't excuse you from participating in my class and I am going to tell you what my basketball coach used to tell me. If you can't do PE and play in a basketball game all in the same day you are not a very good athlete!"

That seemed to work. I remember trying to get out of the mile because we ran the mile every single Thursday my freshman year and we always had basketball games on Thursdays. But seriously a note from your coach. Coaches are crazy!

I have officially lost most of my patience. This year has been one of my best as far as teaching and coaching goes. After six years I feel like I may be figuring a few things out. But it is definitely time for summer. I repeat in my head multiple times a day, "just walk away, don't say anything." In the end it won't be worth it. I love my job but I am so ready for summer!

Life

Isn't my new apron adorable.

It is the first apron I have owned. Watch out world I might start cooking . . . let's be honest probably not. (I would cook more if it wasn't just for me....that is sooooo boring). I got the apron at Thanksgiving point when my parents were here and I just think it is really fun. I busted it out today to make brownies. As a side not I have no problem cooking treats!

School is almost out. Two weeks. I can't wait. I have not really started to count down because I feel like that makes time pass really slowly.

I have stayed busy playing basketball, soccer, and softball (when there is not rain). I wish I could say I have been biking but seriously the weather has been LAME! The days just pass so slowly when I am stuck in the gym all day.

I am also working my way through The Lord of The Rings series. I have really enjoyed reading them. I actually started with The Hobbit and an now on the first book of The Lord of the Rings. Maybe I will actually make it through the movies after I finish reading them all:)

Yesterday I did more yard work then I have done in years. Our stake went up to temple square and pulled out all the flowers. It was sad to pull out all the beautiful tulips but apparently it is necessary. It was a really fun service project and I am glad I went. Afterwards I went to Nancy's and did a little weeding and lawn mowing. I forgot how tiring it is to work in the yard, especially when the sun is actually out (maybe that is why I despised the work as a child). I was exhausted by bed time.

(I stole this picture off google pics. It is an example of all the tulips we destroyed).

Church was really good today. A member of the stake presidency was visiting and he bore his testimony about temples. He was talking about the importance of going to the temple frequently and consistently. He said "When we go to the temple periodically we don't train our ears to hear the word of the Lord." It was a good reminder for me to really make the temple a priority especially since I live so close. He was talking about a training the stake presidency recently had with Elder Bateman and that he talked about the importance for young single adults to attend the temple regularly. I am not sure I am still young but I am single. I feel like my temple attendance is either really good or really bad. I am rarely in between. I know my life is better when it is good. I know the Lord blesses me each time attend the temple. I have a strong testimony of the importance of the temple and the sacred covenants we make there. I am really going to try to make this time period in my life a temple attending one.

GyM ShOrTs!

What would you consider to be an excess of gym shorts?

For some odd reason I decided to count all of my gym shorts today while organizing them in their little closet space. I consider myself pretty down to earth, I don't NEED a lot of things, but apparently I have purchased a number of gym shorts over the years. In my defense, over half of the shorts I have I got from Lakeridge Junior High or BYU free of charge, but seriously why so many. The sad thing is even after acknowledging that I may have more than I need I still didn't pull any out to get rid of. I mean they all seem to have a really good purpose. There are soccer shorts, shorts to run in, basketball shorts, shorts to teach in, and so on and so on. I think I have a problem. The funny thing is that some people think I own too many pairs of shoes. I can report that I own more gym shorts than shoes. PATHETIC! Jana come over and steal some shorts and anyone else in the area for that matter.

Kayaking

I finally got some kayak racks for my car. Yay! I am not going all summer without kayaking this year. After multiple trips to REI I think I found some keepers. I have not tested them on the freeway but Amber and I did take them out last Saturday. The weather was so nice I couldn't resist even though there were a bazillion other things I should have been doing.

Here is the big bopper (my car) all loaded up.

Me and Amber posing for the first adventure of the new year. We only stay in touch when there are adventures to be had.

Me out on the lake. I love how the mountain is covered in snow but I am out there kayaking.

Overall last Saturday was great. Some biking, kayaking, cleaning, and some lesson planning, so there are no complaints here (ok maybe one that I refuse to blog about). And the great thing is that the weather looks good for this weekend. Go have some fun I am sure I will:)

Happy Mothers Day

I love mothers day. Probably because my Mom is awesome and there are tons of great women in my life. To my Mom: I think you are the best and I hope that one day I will be as good as a mom as you have been. I am sorry you had so many sons. A trial only you could bare, but at least I came first and lightened the burden:) Just kidding. I think my Mom is so great and she has so many good qualities. I hope I pick a few of those up!

My Grandma Brown is an amazing women. She is very loyal to her family. She does volunteer work. She is always helping others. She thinks education is soooo important. She is an example to me.

My sister in law Katie who is just starting the journey of motherhood. Who loves and protects the cutest niece in the whole world and lets me spoil her and love her whenever I am around.

My dad's sisters Janice and Virginia are great. They have always helped our family out. They love us. They took us on trips. They open their homes for holidays and family gatherings. They are good hardworking ladies.

My Mom's sisters Loralie and Nancy. They have always made sure I have a home away from home. They can laugh with me and cry with me. They include me in all they do. And seriously I love when the peppermint patties are all together. It makes me sad I don't have sisters.

I would post pictures of all my friends that are moms but that would take up way too much space (I mean I have a lot of friends). I love watching you take care of your children. I love that you all parent differently but that it works and that it is good. I love that you try to be the best Moms you can be! I love when you let me help. I know the role of a mother is the most sacred role for women in the world. It is something I long to be and at times yearn for. I have faith that I too will have an opportunity at this sacred calling. I only hope I can be the influence for good in the lives of my kids that you are for yours. Moms are the best!

M.I.A.

I have been missing in action for a few weeks. But I can report that all normal activities will resume because the time monopolizer has moved to Kansas (I may be more guilty of monopolizing time). It is a total bummer but this is not the place to talk about that. I will just say that I have had a fun three weeks and I am excited for summer to be here. That is a shocker I know!

My family came to visit a couple weeks ago. It was fun to hang out a couple of nights. We went to the Carl Bloch display at BYU, barbequed, and all attended the temple together. Being in the temple with everyone that lives here and my parents was definitely a highlight. On the Friday that they were here I took a half day at work and went to the tulip festival at Thanksgiving Point. That was really fun.

My dad was super stoked that he was out of the house. And, well the peppermint patties are always stoked when they are together.

Katie and I were given the job of loosening Nancy's shoelaces. That was our service for the day.

The sun was finally out but it was still quite chilly. Katie and I wore whatever warm clothes we could find in my car. Here we are headed into the secret garden.

We were at the festival probably a couple weeks early because everything was not in bloom but it was still beautiful. I love the blossoms at this time of year. Now if only the snow will stay away.

In other news track is over. YEAH! It was nice weather for both days at the district track meet called Alpine Days. That is the first time that has happened in my 6 years of coaching track at Lakeridge. It usually snows at least one day. I am calling it a miracle. I had two athletes puke at the end of the 400 race. Not what you like to see but awesome at the same time because they pushed themselves so hard. It is probably the hardest race in track and both athletes did amazing.

I can now go home at 3:30pm. That will be nice. The weather is supposed to be in the 60's all next week. That will be really nice! I am in a new ward starting Sunday. All single wards were reorganized. I stayed with the same bishopric so I am pretty happy about that. We won our soccer game tonight. It is always fun to see Jana and Michelle. Jana scored two goals tonight and assisted on the other goal. That was awesome. I myself missed about five wide open shots. That is an example of not so awesome.

Spring Break

Where did the week go? I am having a small mini depression just thinking about going back to work. So sad!

On a happier note the week was great. It is always so fun to go to Vegas and visit Katie.

It was so relaxing and just fun to catch up on everything. (Katie email me pictures I didn't take any!) Even though she just had surgery we did all of our usual things, which was great. I also had my eyebrows threaded which was AWESOME! I recommend it.

I spent the mornings reading and looking through old pictures. All I have to say is all Orovillians beware. Katie has so many pictures and so many of them are the opposite of cute. Stay on this girls good side. But it was so fun to just think back on all the good times.

We hung out with Katie Ritchie as well. So fun to just catch up and chill.

I traveled down to Vegas with Amber. So we got together on Thursday and did some hiking. The funny thing about this was that we are both usually over prepared and cautious but not so much on this day, we will get to that in a minute.

The red rock is so pretty.

Neither of us had eaten much and on a whim Amber stopped at the visitors center and bought a sprite. By the time we got to our "long" hike we had half a bottle of sprite between the two of us. Seriously could you plan any worse?

Amber is laughing about it here because we aren't thirsty, hungry, and tired yet!

So I have not used my nice camera in forever and I may have forgotten to change the light settings, hence every picture is too bright. Me pointing to our destination.

This may be the only time Amber and I have ever hiked where we didn't reach our destination (unless there was an injury or safety concern). We were not prepared and thus turned around a little short of the top. LAME! But the right choice. Here we are at the end. Again my camera was giving me fits. After 5 attempts there was a picture I actually made it in even though I look like a dork.

Overall a very fun trip. I got to bike and hike, do a little shopping, visit with friends, see the sun . . . what more could you ask for during spring break.

And Katie seriously send me some pictures so I can add them to my blog!

REALLY?

This was the scene in Aunt Nancy's front yard this morning. Gotta love Utah and the spring weather we have every year. You can tell I was SUPER excited about the snow. However general Conference was awesome snow or no snow. And really I guess it is a good day to snow since I was inside all day anyways.

Dan, Sam, Amanda and I always go to Nancy's for conference weekend. I have been going to Nancy's for conference since I first came out to BYU. It is a tradition. Amanda has added to the tradition and now we have aebleskivers for breakfast.

They are Danish pancakes shaped like a sphere and they are delicious. We consumed quite a few of those while watching conference.

And conference was so much better with my new scripture journal. I decided to take notes it even though it is supposed to be used to study the gospel by topics. Whatever! Don't mind that I have not finished binding it yet.

In between conference yesterday and during Priesthood session Amanda and I did a little shopping. It was good times. Then last night we all went to Sam and Amanda's and used their apartments hot tub. So nice. But for some reason I felt the need to keep jumping in the pool and then getting back in the hot tub. I think I was trying to impress my brothers so I hope it worked. The hot tub just feel so much better after you are freezing cold.

I love that I have family out here in Utah. I wanted to post my favorite picute ever of me Dan and Sam but it is not scanned so this one will do.

These boys were my playmates all growing up and it is funny how they still are. I love that we are good friends. There is no denying that we had our moments but they are so fun and so good to me. Families are the best. That was definitely a take home point from general conference!

happenings

I know there are so many people concerned about me when I don't update my blog so here is what I have been up to:

• attending all ward activities, long story not for the blog, but I have committed to doing so. No more excuses as I tell my basketball players. Obviously getting to church was never an issue but since grad school I have not gotten back in the habit of going to everything else. Well the past three weeks I have gone. Even if I am EXHAUSTED, which is everyday, I still go.
• Track . . . I only ask myself why am I coaching about three times a day. Just kidding. It is time consuming and stressful at times but I do enjoy the interaction with the kids. It keeps me feeling young:)
• Basketball. I open my gym a couple times a week and play on a team so I am still playing plenty of ball. I love to get exercise that way as opposed to running. It does help me get through the extra long Utah winter.
• Friday night soccer. I just love to play sports. I wish it was not Friday nights but it is usually really fun and I get to see Jana so that is a bonus as well.
  
• I made a scripture journal as suggested here or here. It is so cute. I am pretty sure my scripture study will be AMAZING now. I wanted to post a picture but I don't have my camera cord with me here at work. Sometime maybe I will but just know it is very cute.
• Being the best PE teacher ever. Just kidding. But I really do love my job and I really do spend a lot of energy trying to be a good teacher.
  

What I am looking forward to:

• This week being over. We had teacher meetings until 4:30 Monday. Track meet until 7 yesterday. Parent teacher conferences until 7 today and Thursday. I am not cut out for 12 hour days. I am seriously tempted to take Friday off of work but I probably won't.
  
• Spring break in two weeks. Can't believe it is almost here and I can't wait to go somewhere warm. I think Vegas and San Diego are on the hit list for this year.
• Warm weather. We have had a couple nice days but I am ready for lots of nice days:)
  
• Taking my kayaks out. I didn't really get them out last year after the car denting incident, but now that my car is paid off I figure what the heck we will give it another go.
• SUMMER- is it ok to say that already. The school year has gone so fast. Can you believe there are only 9 weeks to go?
• General Conference. I seriously love general conference. I am pretty sure I love the messages the most but the food at Aunt Nancy's is a really close second.
• Riding my pink bike with the awesome zebra striped handle bar tape I recently had put on it. It is very cool.
  

Life is crazy!! I can't wait for spring break, really I can't wait for summer but spring break is the next holiday so we will go with that. Yesterday was the first track meet of the season. CRAZY TIMES! Of course people were turning in the required physicals and bus fees up until we left. I seriously did not have the heart to tell them they could not go to the meet even though they were a day late. So annoying. Turn your junk in on time. So I am pretty thankful I didn't kill anyone yesterday. We are talking probably 60 kids turned their stuff in yesterday. In case you were thinking about coaching track hold off if there are 200 junior high kids on your team. Overall the meet was great once we were there, minus the snow! I swear it snows every track meet. Six hours in the freezing cold. I still shiver just thinking about it.


On a happier note . . . the cougars. Seriously they played so great on Saturday. I am kicking myself for not buying tickets and going to Denver. What was I thinking??? I just hope they can keep playing well. I have definitely caught the craze. It is so fun to have BYU doing so well.

Other then that I stay busy playing basketball and soccer. I will be happy when the weather changes and I can get some sun. I feel so pale in the winter. So pale that I am embarrassed to wear white shorts (I don't want to scare anyone).

While I Have Been Living It Up . . . .

I didn't really have time to blog. Ok, I have been busy but I have not really been living it up, but wouldn't it be awesome if I had been. Although I have done some blog worthy things the past couple of weeks.

Basketball is officially over. The banquet is done! And I have jumped into track with both feet. Oh boy, what have I gotten myself into. I don't even know. My bball banquet turned out really nice and it was fun to talk about each of my players because they were all so great.

One of the things the school did for our team was purchased championship t-shirts because they were 14-0 in league. A group of them asked if they could come watch one of my basketball games and I told them only if we made it to the championship. Well we made it and we won. I made their day because I airballed a shot and missed a lay-up. HILARIOUS! That made their night. Here we all are sporting our champion gear.

Jana was on the team this year which was way fun. It was great for me because after work I would just come chill at her house and she would cook me dinner and then we would go play ball. That was SWEET! Thanks Jana and Ben. You can still have me over for dinner once a week if you want:)

On Friday I took the day off work and headed to Vegas to cheer on the Cougars. We tried to scalp tickets for Friday night but no such luck. The tickets were going for $125-400. As much as I wanted to cheer on BYU I could not afford that price. We ended up going to Red Robin and chilling there for the entire game. Which was also really fun and much more affordable. BYU played awesome that night and got into the championship which was really important because we had tickets for that.

We got there early, here we all are ready for the game. I loved the seats at the Thomas and Mack Center. Every seat has a back and every seat is padded. That was good planning.

The place was packed. No empty seats. It was crazy. It was also fun, but unfortunately the fun ended soon after the game started because BYU had a rough go that night. Let's just say us cougas fans did not have much to cheer about.

Vegas was awesome it was 80 degrees. I bought a swimsuit down there because I was like I am hot I want to swim. It felt so great to be in the sun and just enjoy some nice weather.

An added bonus was that I did not have to work today. I was able to sleep in, go to the temple, run errands, clean my house, work out, and . . . . .

pay my car off! That is right no more payments for me. Seriously the lady at the bank was very unenthusiastic about me paying off my car. Obviously she did not realize how much money I have put into that thing. It was not as exciting as I anticipated but I am seriously pumped. I hate having a car payment. Hopefully this car will continue to be awesome and I won't have a payment for a long long time.