Christmas Musings

I was listening to "Forgotten Carols" today as I was shopping, and almost broke down in tears during one song. The [true] Christmas Spirit hit me really hard as I internalized the words, rather than just sing on auto pilot. Some of you may know the album, some may not. The song is sung by the innkeeper, regretting that he turned away Mary and Joseph. Once he realizes his mistake, he pleads with the listener to

"let him in, let him in
let the joy and hope begin
...
find a way, make him room
let him in, let him in
let the peace on earth begin...

How can I not be moved by that simple plea. The REAL meaning of Christmas!

If we would all remember to make room in our hearts for the Savior...and not just at Christmas, but ALWAYS, wouldn't there be more hope, more joy, and more peace on earth?

Now that I've shared that thought, let me share some others...

At school, the Peer Mentor group led a drive to collect toys for the Marine Corps "Toys 4 Tots" program. Apparently it went well... and I think I helped that a little by my ingenious plan (modest, I know). It came to me one morning...and I am so proud of it!

Pictured below is my GIVING TREE, on which a student got an ornament for every toy (or money amount) they donated. They could draw the ornament, or I drew it for them. Regardless, it was fun to see it get decorated during the two weeks the drive ran. I only have two class, but look at how many ornaments we were able to put on the tree!!!

(My camera was extremely low on battery, so I only had time for one really fast picture)

This is just something I noticed this morning, but was not planned!! (I am honestly not that concerned with the decor in my home...anyone who's been here could testify)

And last, but not least, here's some more fun pictures of our Falkor. Jeremy and Erin were able to come by a couple weeks ago and were able to share in the joy that is him. Erin, as you can see, was very much not loving the experience to hold him. The best part, which was not documented, was when Jeremy was trying to get Falkor off her shoulder. Jeremy was being timid and didn't have a good grasp, and Falkor didn't want to be picked up, so, he just climbed closer and closer to Erin's head--as she was trying harder and harder to get away from Falkor. It was hilarious to watch...


Falkor just loves shoulders...

We aren't going anywhere for Christmas this year. Mike has to work so we don't have the time for travel. It's our first at home alone so it will be interesting. But (mom and dad) don't worry! We have plenty of fun stuff planned for us. I am especially excited to try making cinnamon rolls for the very first time!

Oh, and I can enjoy eating whatever I want because I start a Biggest Loser competition (sponsored by my school) on Jan 3rd. So, the more I gain now, the more I'll be able to lose (and win) come the competition!!! Right?

There is a reason why I haven't subbed at an elementary school yet this year

*Please note that I have had a long day and you may not want to read my need to vent

I LOVE my nieces and nephews. I LOVE playing with them, helping them with anything, and teaching them new things. What I wouldn't love is 25 of them at the same time. And that's why I got a license teaching secondary school...rather than a bunch of little kids.

And why I have tried to avoid subbing at an elementary school. But, December is a tricky month. See, I have a goal amount of money I have set for myself to make sure our budget is steady from month to month. And December puts a wrench in that plan with TWO WHOLE WEEKS off. Plus, teachers are given rules as to how close to a holiday they can even take time off. So I have to take what I can get for December, even if that means an elementary school.

I did not LOVE the class I was in today... and felt unprepared from all my classes at UVU, while getting my license. (Even though I have subbed in an elementary before-many times, in fact-it has been a looooong time since). Anyway, here's my:

LIST OF THINGS THAT COULD HAVE BEEN HELPFUL BUT I NEVER LEARNED WHILE GETTING A LICENSE TO TEACH SECONDARY, NOT ELEMENTARY SCHOOL:

1. The patience to be around the same kids alllll day long. Seriously, you want me to entertain someone for 7 hours; not just do the same 80 min act 4 times???

2. The ability to dress appropriately to mix the professional side of teaching and the fact that you have to be outside during recess...in one of the windiest days Utah's seen. What good is recess anyway?!?! (joking!)

3. The listening skills required for tattling EVERY FIVE MINUTES. I don't care that he just dropped a pencil or that she is coloring on her math or that he hit your head with a pencil!!! Are you bleeding? Is the kid in danger? Then I DON'T CARE! (and probably will have been able to notice without your help and would have taken care of the problem, but now I don't feel like it).

4. The answer to this dilemma during recess: "I don't have anyone to play with..."

5. What to do when two boys come in from lunch recess (the only time I have alone, mind you) and say "Z roundhouse kicked M right here [the groin] for no reason." Then, the office calls and tells me to send Z to them right after lunch. And then when I go to tell Z, he starts crying and telling me he won't go. And really absolutely REFUSES to go. Can I please just pick him up and take him myself?

6. Speaking of crying... crying, in class, really? And then, of course, everyone else has to tell me about it while I am trying to give them directions and turn their attention AWAY from the crying student.

7. Teaching anything to a student who just replies with "I don't know how." Really? You had almost the exact same problem for the warm-up today? What did you do then? And I KNOW they can do it...because they did number 1-4. Why is number 5 different? "I don't know..."
*This is something I should know because it happens at every level...but have the least patience for.

8. The desire to want to help. Why can't they just sit down and let me pass out papers? Or erase the board? It would be easier, I promise!

I'm sure there's more, but I am hungry. I promise that I do not hate kids. AT ALL! But it was just one very long day.

Welcome to the Family!

Whenever we go to a pet store we look at the lizards. The Bearded Dragons always seemed to want to come home with us. So it got me thinking, a couple years ago, that I might want one. It was decided that if I were to get one, it would be mine and I would have to take care of it. Not that I'm irresponisble, but I wasn't that committed at the time... so we put it off.

Just a couple weeks ago I was thinking about my upcoming birthday and what I would want. When all of a sudden "bearded dragon" popped in my mind! We looked into it, and looked for deals on KSL and Craigslist, and finally found one a week ago.

Bearded Dragons are good starter pets because they're really laid back and are ok with being handled. And they eat almost any vegetable and fruit. So far we've fed him cucumber, kale, carrots and crickets. Apparently they really like raspberries, so we'll try that soon as a treat. Sometimes I'll hand feed him and I think he really likes that. He also likes to lounge--when we're watching tv at night, we'll bring him down and lay him on us...and he's perfectly content (once he finds a comfortable spot).






We named him Falkor (it was whiskers...he's not a cat!). One of my favorite movies, and books, is The Neverending Story. In the story is a Luck Dragon, named Falkor. How appropriate, right?


Can you see the resemblance?

End of Summer Report

It's ok that it's October and I am just now getting around to giving an end-of-summer report. Trust me...

I'm starting to understand why my grandma ALWAYS tells us that we are growing up too fast whenever she sees us--time really does fly and I don't think I'll ever get used to it!!!

Those of you around Provo know that there's such a thing as a Pass of All Passes. It gets you entrance (mostly unlimited) into a variety of venues around Utah and Salt Lake Counties, including our local baseball team games, our local water park, and local "family fun centers." Mike and did not get it this last summer because we knew we wouldn't have much time with all his new work training. But we couldn't pass it up for this year (good through all of next summer) when we saw a waaay good deal online. We've even already taken advantage of our passes-we've gone mini-golfing twice! The first time, Mike wasted me, which is normal. BUT! This week, I was rockin' it! The proof is below:

(It got wet because we also went on the bumper boats, with a bunch of ruthless little kids, and I got stuck under the water falls for probably an entire minute. But that is the actual card!)

We had a crazy summer full of crazy weather, including a wind storm that blew down a tree in our near backyard, twice. The first third broke off without us getting pictures, but then a second third broke off!

(The tree on the left-the broken one-used to be as full as the tree on the right)

We have some Rhodes rolls that might be old, but they just don't rise for us. Here's what our cooked rolls look like:

(They taste fine, but look funny)

In September, my niece, Janna, got baptised. So we went down to St George over Labor Day weekend to show our support to her decision!

Couldn't pass up this photo-op!

Dad and Daughter

The proud supporters

The proud Grandparents (and younger sister)

My parents came here for a week or so and during their stay we all went to the Kennecott Copper Mine. It was really neat and we're both really glad we finally went to see it. It is just a big hole you look into, but it's crazy to see the way people can manipulate the land. My dad used to work in a copper mine in Arizona, so it was fun to have him along to tell us the "behind-the-scenes" stories that you don't read about on the walls of the Visitor's Center.

We have hiked the "G" a couple times this summer. With the nicer weather, and little later sunrise time, we decided to watch the sunrise over the valley. It was a perfect morning. I don't think we have a panoramic function on our camera, but I took spanning pictures and am trying to find a site that will patch the pictures together. For now these will have to do:

This is the first pic I took that morning, while we were still going up the mountain.

And on our way down--almost looking at the same spot as above.

Mike's parents came down for a weekend and we went on the Stewart Falls hike on the backside of Mt Timp. It was fun being with them nad some other's of Mike's siblings. In fact it was almost a family reunion because only one sister, Natalie, was missing.

That's Mike near the bottom of the pic, in red. There's an upper ledge you can hike up to once you are at the bottom of the falls.

It was hot, but I'm still not sure if that justfied all the Jenkins siblings going under the falls...

Thanks, Mike, for a great summer!!

Feeling Old(er)

I subbed today at High School, which is totally different than Jr High. I usually don't enjoy high school as much--there's usually more attitude and the kids try soooo hard to NOT do what they should be doing. But today was mostly enjoyable. It didn't hurt that it was Social Studies!


That's not what made me feel old(er).

As I was driving home from Provo (where Mike and I lived our first year) I thought about some girls I knew from my calling in that ward. I was the Mia Maid advisor. It was 6 years ago; they were 14 and 15 years old. And then BAM! 14 + 6 is 20!! Those girls are OUT of high school. They could be on missions or married. They certainly are MUCH older and (hopefully) more mature than when I knew them.


And that is what made me feel old(er).

Best doggone dog in the West

Several weeks ago we were watching an episode of Roseanne. Roseanne was describing how evil her mom was by saying her mom thought Old Yeller had it coming. Jen has never seen Old Yeller, so we put it on our Netflix queue. We just got done watching it.

Jen: So it's a little sad, but it's not that sad. He did kind of have it coming.

Me: WHAT?!

Jen: He had rabies! He had it coming! Plus I kind of had to keep myself from laughing at some points near the end.

Me: *staring at her in disbelief* Oh my gosh. What is wrong with you?

Jen: *uncontrolled laughter*


I fear my wife may have no soul.

The Good News

For anyone who is not on Facebook, I have some very good and exciting news. Drumroll please:

dududududududu....

I got a teaching job! I interviewed last week and they called me that same day to offer it to me. They said they felt strongly that I would fit really well into their already established department.

Before you get waaay excited, it is only an hourly position and I do have only two classes. Don't get me wrong--I am waaaay excited. And this is 50 steps closer to my end goal than subbing. It's just, you know, not the perfect job. (Does that exist?)

So, it's a 7th grade course, where the first semester will be a "student success" class and then Utah History for the second semester. The student success class is a new development for the school, and the area. It helps the 7th graders transition into the secondary school expectations and also helps them become life-long learners (organization, manners, planners, research, internet safety, etc, are all topics of discussion). It will be interesting...

Since it's only part-time, I have plenty of time to sub. Works out well...

Yay me!

Road Rash

As many of you know, I am new to this running thing. One foot in front of the other...fast? How could I be expected to remember all that?

Last year I was running around the neighborhood, on the sidewalk, and, right in front of a family sitting on their porch, ate it. I stumbled on the driveway's incline (you know how the sidewalks dips down and then back up as you go across the driveway?) I didn't pick my feet up, I guess. And NO ONE asked me if I was ok. Mike thinks they were just trying to be nice and not point it out to me that they all saw...but I thought it was mean.

But, you know, falling on the sidewalk wasn't all bad. I mean, there wasn't even blood.

Now, asphalt, that HURTS.

If you are squeamish, stop reading. And don't look at the pictures. Otherwise, enjoy the story of my misery.

Friday night I came home and didn't want to run, but we were going to go out to eat, so how could I enjoy my meal if I didn't earn it? So I was going to just go 1 1/2 mile, around the block, and hurry home. But, around the block means running through a construction area. It's after they've all gone home, and it's flat, so it's safe. Right?

I had just gotten off the sidewalk to go around the corner into the orange barrel zone when all of a sudden the ground is coming toward me. My feet had gotten wrapped around something in the road and all I had were my two hands to save my face (from a second skinning of my lifetime). I kept falling, braced with my palms and rolled to my shoulder. I immediately looked around for the evil piece of metal that tripped me and when I knew it could do me no more harm, I looked to the truck driver of the guy who slowed down to samaritously ask if I was ok.

"Thank you for asking, I think I can make it."

Rather than stop and wail on the side of the road, waiting for my mother to come tell me it would be ok, I had to trek home (maybe only 5 minutes' walk) to Mike. The whole way home I was angry and cursing Utah for it's construction. I was also trying to slow my heartbeat so I wouldn't bleed to death through my hands. (I HATE bleeding).

As soon as I got home and asked Mike for his help, I broke. I couldn't stop the tears and almost-hyperventilating (sorry Dad...I tried). It didn't hurt, yet, but just knowing someone else could, and would, take care of me allowed me to not have one ounce of "being strong."

Mike was an angel and cleaned me up as best he could between my wincing and crying. He asked what happened and listened to me choke out the story. He was great. Until...

The rubbing alcohol. He was actually really gentle with that too, but he couldn't stop the pain. I don't think I've ever had rubbing alcohol on a wound before. If I have, I just don't remember. But when that stuff touched my nerves (for the skin was gone), I thought my hand was actually put in acid and was being slowly burned off.

When it was all over, Mike came over and hugged me and told me how brave I was. He's going to be a good dad.

Anywho, here's some pics!

This is of my shoulder, the day of.

Two day's worth of healing:

This is my right hand, the one that's not the worst. (I don't have the worst of it up here because it really is that bad and I don't want to gross anyone out! But I got 1.5 x 1.5 in' of the skin rubbed off on the palm of my left hand)


And this is two day's worth of healing:

I think I'm healing pretty good and have gotten all the sand/rocks out. My left hand now looks like it is growing skin back (I don't know how to explain it without being grossly descriptive). The good thing is that I didn't break anything. The bad is that I just can't use my left hand. I can move my fingers without putting any weight on them, and squeeze them together. But anything that requires any muscle from my palm hurts like mad. You know, like holding the steering wheel, or taking a picture. I can't pick up the laptop... It's weird.

And now you all think I'm a whimp and a klutz. And you are right.

Continued...

I tried to post some video in the previous post, but it didn't work. Does it usually just take FOREVER to upload? Or is there a trick to using the video application? (Instead of video, I am just uploading more pictures instead.)

Oh, and of course the pictures got all spread out. I can't figure out how to prevent that, considering it doesn't look like that when I am composing the blog post... I apologize for my ineptitude.

Be Sure to Wear Some Flowers in Your Hair

I have been meaning to blog about our summer vacation for a while, but have been frustrated with blogger and their picture capabilities. That’s why the pictures are all together and not spaced out—I apologize.

Anyway, with Mike starting a new job and his crazy training schedule, we knew we weren’t going to be able to take a summer vacation this year, so we took one early during my spring break from school. We went to Sacramento and San Francisco. It was a ton of fun and I don’t even remember how dreadful the 11 hour car rides were because we had so much fun during the week we were in California!

We drove out on a Saturday and just visited that night. Kai didn’t remember us, but warmed up real quick to Mike. Kai just LOVES reading and Mike went right to the books (without knowing…but good guess!) to get Kai to know him. After a while Kai couldn’t resist loving his favorite aunt and having the time of his life while we were there!

Sunday, Scott and Desiree were awesome enough to take us out on their boat on the “delta.” It was awesome being out in the sun after so much snow this winter. We loved it so much that we got sunburned and had to buy Mike a new hat so he wouldn’t get more burned later! But it was worth it. Sea lions roam around the river and some hang out on a buoy. We were able to get up pretty close to them—thank goodness they didn’t jump into the boat!

On Monday we went dirt biking at this pretty great course not far from Desiree’s place. It was both Mike’s and my first time… Mike did pretty well and was able to follow Scott around the actual trails and had a blast! He loved it, until he fell. Apparently he took a turn too sharp and fell onto his side. He was fine, except his ribs were sore for a couple weeks. I, on the other hand, took my time warming up to it. I stayed in first gear, and you can see from the video that I went way slow—no chance of me falling!!! That night Desiree took us to her school where she’s taking a photography class and we were her models for the night. It was kind of weird, but ended up being really fun. I can’t wait to see what she did with our photos! We’ll be famous! (And I guess I have a really big mouth when I open it up really wide…who knew?)

On Tuesday we went to a “family fun” type center and Desiree had found some really good passes to let us do almost anything, over and over. So we played mini golf, including Kai! We went on the bumper boats and got soaked. We raced around the go-kart track a couple times (I’m pretty sure my kart was malfunctioning EVERY time). And, they had this ride that spun around (motions like a ferris wheel), and you sat in a car that spun around—it was crazy. If you’ve been on the X at Magic Mountain…it’s like that but not a track. Regardless, it was fun and scary… Oh, and Desiree and Scott pretty much broke it by trying to get their cart to spin too much—it started swaying on the axis it’s not supposed to sway! Whoops!!!

Wednesday we said a temporary good bye to the Odenbrett’s and went to San Francisco. It was rainy when we first got there, but cleared up to give us two pretty nice days. We took the BART in to San Fran, so we had to walk everywhere we wanted to go. The first day was crazy because we wanted to see China Town on our way to our hotel. Of course it was all up hill, and then downhill, but a good workout! Neither of us had even been to China Town, and it was pretty interesting how there’s this section of the city that could have just been transplanted from China just yesterday. I especially loved the whole, roasted chickens/birds (complete with neck AND head) hanging in the shop windows. Gross.

While in San Francisco we also went on board a submarine from WWII. The guided tour was pretty awesome. We went to Pier 39 and ate at Bubba Gump’s—had calamari even! We took plenty of pictures of the Golden Gate Bridge, but we couldn’t find a timely, cheap way to get to it. And of course we went to Alcatraz. We spent quite a while there getting all the juicy details of its history and inmates. It made me want to see “Escape from Alcatraz” again.

Come Friday it was time to say good bye and be on our way. It was an awesome trip and we thoroughly enjoyed ourselves. Now we just have to wait another couple years before we go to California again  Thanks again, Desiree, Scott and Kai, for having and entertaining us!!

Here are some pictures for you to enjoy (there's more on facebook). Hopefully they don’t space out like they did in the previous post…

Mike getting ready to ride

The crazy ride


China Town



AAAAAGGGGHHH!!! We're taking on water, Captain. There's nothing we can do to save her!!

Bubba Gumps.

Alcatraz

Catch Up...

...and mustard. Sorry, couldn't resist.

Anywho, we haven't posted in a while and we need to. Mike asked me the other day if I am going to blog about our California (summer) vacation. I hadn't even realised that we haven't blogged about it...probably because I posted pictures on facebook. Oh well. And guess what? I'm not blogging about that right now anyway. I will, but don't feel like it now.

Alright. Why are we posting so much about running and 5k's recently? Well, we have a couple reasons. Mike's friend recently lost 40 lbs and was rewarded with a PS3 gaming console. I told Mike that if he were able to complete a comparable task, he could be rewarded with the same thing... so he could play games online with his friend. Well, by giving him that, he knew I was actually serious about wanting us to get in shape. So he's become my (our) trainer and we have a goal deadline for the end of this summer.

Reason two is that we are training for a relay race in June. In Idaho Falls, there's a 40-mile race called To Bone and Back. It's 20 miles to a small town called Bone, and then back again. Mike and I will both be taking a 5-mile leg of that race. We're way excited for it and are hoping that we'll be able to not only survive, but do well.

Besides what we've already posted about, I recently ran with Jeremy and Erin in the Susan G Komen Race for the Cure in Salt Lake, and we have one more 5k together in about 3 weeks (I think).

It was a really fun race, but there were soooo many people there. I think I could have finished faster if I caould have had more room to move! There were walkers and runners, and the road was packed the entire race...and there were people pouring in to the finish line at least a half hour after I finished. It was crazy!

Our team name was "Team Mimi" of course, and I made shirts for us so we could be snazzy and match. This is what I had on the back:

Here's the most awesome team there!

Mike came and was the official photographer for our team. He didn't sign up for the race, and it's a good thing. He got sick in the middle of our day in Salt Lake.

Like I said, there were sooooo many people there!

Telos Timp Triathlon and 5k

We ran our second 5k last Saturday in the Timp Tri & 5k race. I was worried it would be a bit rough since we ran it the day after we returned from our trip to California, but it went just fine. We are both in better shape now, plus there was no forced walking section like last race, so we both improved on our times significantly. This race was a lot fancier than the last one. They wrote our numbers on our arms, our age on our calf, and we wore an electronic timer on our ankle.

It was actually a triathlon with a 5k tacked on almost as an afterthought. Unfortunately, they didn't announce before the race that there was a separate finish line for the 5k-only people. I crossed the line into the transition area (what I thought was the finish line), walked to our car to get the camera, came back, and noticed that there was now someone directing a few 5k runners to a separate finish line. I asked about it, and then swung my leg across the sensor so my time was recorded, so my recorded time is about 6 minutes slower than it should have been.

Since this was mostly a triathlon, there weren't many 5k-only runners. Had my time been recorded accurately, I would have gotten first place by a big margin and won a medal. Oh well, at least I was keeping track myself so I know what my real time was.

Jen showing off her number

A guy dressed as Robin. There were a few people running in costumes, including Robin, Batman, and the Tin Man. They were doing it as a fundraiser for someone.


Batman on the left, Tin Man on the right.


Final stretch for Jen. Check out how she's leaving those other people in her dust.


Getting close! Right about now I'm shouting at Jen where she's supposed to finish. See the guy in the orange vest? He was supposed to be directing the 5k runners to the other finish line. Note how he is standing backwards and not paying attention.


Jen crossing the real finish line. I "finished" at the banner back there that says, "RUN." That guy in the picture almost walked into Jen at the finish line. Like I said, they didn't tell anyone this was the finish line for the 5k-only runners, so I'm sure he had no idea he was getting in the way.

There were also some professional photographers there taking everyone's picture, so you can see some other photos of us at their website, http://www.zazoosh.com/events/409
You can search for our photos by our race numbers. Jen was 104, and I was 105. If you want, you can even order a poster of us running and hang it on your living room wall. If you want to see Robin on his sweet bike, he's 68. You can see me right behind him during the run. Soon after that I burned by him. It was only a small victory since I'm sure he was saving his strength for the bike.