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.

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.