Thankful

It's Thanksgiving tomorrow, you know, so I should be thinking of things I'm thankful for. Some people are posting every day on Facebook - good job! I'm not that diligent right now.

1. I'm thankful for Mike. He's pretty great. He puts up with me. He still is around after all the weird things I do and say. He pushes me to do things (get my teaching license, get a master's, run, etc) and always tells me how capable I am when I get discouraged and think I'm not able. I'm really glad it's him I get to be with every day.

2. I'm thankful for my job and all the students I teach and all the great people I work with. I have been so lucky to have been given a job at Vista Heights where the faculty is so great. The new school opens next year and I'll be happy just to have a job somewhere, but if I really did have the choice, I wouldn't choose to leave the faculty I work with now. The principal has done such a great job picking and leading great people who know how to respect eachother and work together. I've heard stories of difficult work environments but am glad to say I don't know what that would be like. And the students really are great. They certainly have their moments, but they still make me laugh (mostly at them, not with them). We've been talking about how to teach middle school students and three things have been brought up that have changed me, just a little, this year. One, don't forget why we wanted to teach. Was it really to get through this specific lesson, or was it to reach a student? Am I going to get through to them if frustrated all day, every day? Two is that they're going to remember how I treated them more than what I said. (That one really hit me.) And three, it doesn't matter what I really think about a student. Their perception of how I feel about them is all that matters to them and how they respond / learn / act.

3. I'm thankful for my calling in the Priamry Presidency. I don't love the responsibility, and the fact that I have to worry about all the callings for teachers we still need to fill, but I really love being with the kids. They are so cute and say the best things. They have a TON of energy, and sometimes channel it in ways that I wouldn't choose, but to be able to teach them is the greatest thing I've done for a calling.

4. I'm thankful for the Gospel and to know how much Heavenly Father loves me and everyone on this planet. It's so easy to forget, but when you see simple beauties, or small acts of kindness, you can see and feel His love.

5. I'm thankful for food. I shouldn't be, because lately my choices of what I eat has kept me up late at night, but I am thankful for not having to go hungry. We had a canned food drive this last week and it was awesome to see the response. And to think that there's students in my classroom that have to go hungry is so disheartening.

 

 

6. I'm thankful for my family (including in-laws). Again, I've heard stories and seen other families and no matter how crazy mine can sometimes seem, we all care for eachother and would do anything when in time of need. And they can be fun to be around.

 

I'm thankful for so much more, but these are the ones mostly on my mind right now. (Oh, and they're in no particular order, except number 1!)

 



Mrs. Jenkins

Now that the first quarter of school is finished for Jen, I guess it's about time I posted these pictures from back-to-school night.  Jen is very excited to be a full-time teacher with her own classroom this year.  She teaches a Life Skills class (I think that's what it's called) this semester, where they teach kids in their first year of Middle School study skills, how to make friends, how to deal with a bully, how to talk with their parents and other adults, and other things.  The second semester will be Utah History.  She has a pretty big class size this year, over 40 if I remember right.  Next year there should be a new middle school completed so she may or may not end up being transferred there.  Nobody will really know until around May, so she'll just enjoy her time at Vista Heights for now.

Don't mind the handwritten name tag at the door.  They eventually got her a real, permanent one.

Life Lessons from Swim Lessons

1. I will not die when my head goes under the water. And, even more, I won’t die if I breathe out my nose.

2. Mike might have had my best interests in mind when he asked me, frequently, over the course of the last…oh, 5 years, to take swim lessons. Swim lessons can actually be beneficial.

3. Lots of other people don’t know how to swim. I was initially embarrassed to tell anyone about my lessons, and I might have put it off for so long because of my pride. But really, so many people had a positive, truly inquisitive response to my telling them. Everyone should take swim lessons! 

4. Being wet in the middle of October isn’t fun. I would much rather have NOT put it off so I wasn’t going to swim lessons when it’s below 50 outside. Oh, and the room the pool was in had a giant glass wall that let out the heat and the rec center said it was “too early” in the season to turn on the heaters. Brrr!

5. Sleep is a most wonderful, necessary thing. Swim lessons that start every day at 9 pm, go till 10, meaning I get home at 10:30 and to bed no earlier than 11…then wake up at 5:30…not fun. By Friday, you could say I was tired.

6. The changes I saw: I don’t look like I’m drowning when I’m trying to move through the water. I can spend quality time under the water, making my body more streamline. I don’t tire out from moving five feet because I can use an efficient swim stroke. I don’t have to pause to breathe out of the water (even though I still am not as graceful at that as Michael Phelps). I learned the free stroke and the backstroke.

 

7. Swimming is a really good workout. But your hair doesn’t like it every night for a week.                                                                                                                                                                                            

8. A Master’s Program wouldn’t be the worst thing in the world and might be in my future.

There is a Season for Fishing

And it's over. In a good way.

We've gone a couple times recently, but haven't had great success. One time we stayed an extra hour, until Mike couldn't even see his bobber, because the fish were nibbling and he just HAD to catch one. And the one he just barely caught before we left happened to be a tiny bluegill.

Mike didn't want to end with only having caught bluegill, so we went again today. The fish were jumping out of the water all morning, but never even nibbling. Mike finally moved to a different spot and could see trout swimming all around his worm. It started to get hot, and we were starting to get bored. Right when I turned to start packing up, Mike caught his first rainbow trout of the season! Woo! We're pretty sure he killed it-the stupid fish swallowed the hook and kept writhing around, spraying blood all over us, so we just dropped it back. And it floated to the reeds and lay still. We (I) named him Jim. Jim's friend came over to look for him... But, before we left, Jim wasn't in the reeds. He went somewhere else to die.

Oh, and we can't finish up the fishing season without mentioning Moby Dick. There really was a giant white fish that we would sometimes see swimming around, and then would disappear. Next year, Moby. Next year.

What I Did During Summer

This is the last day of free time I have for the next nine months. Until June of 2013, I will be thinking of grading, students and lesson plans on any given day.

Here's a list of things I did this summer to make myself feel good about the time I had off.

*Read several books (included in the list were Wizard of Oz, Uncle Tom's Cabin, Freedom Writer's Diary)

*Watched and completed television series on Netflix (completed: Monk and Psych; started and want to complete: Supernatural, Buffy, Burn Notice, Law and Order, etc; started and don't want to complete: Pretty Little Liars)

*Went to Seven Peaks Water Park about 6 times

*Completed 5 sewing projects (scripture bag, tote bag, 2 jumper cable bags, drawstring for my gigantic pajamas)

*Took several trips to DI and the dumpster while cleaning out and organizing the house

*Vacuumed at least 5 times (which, unfortunately, is a major accomplishment for me)

*Took a trip to St George

*Completed a 5k, 10k, and 10-mile leg of a relay

*Hiked the G and the Y

*Took fewer naps than I actually wanted to (why don't I fall asleep when I am soooo tired?)

*Gained weight... I put on some work clothes to go to a meeting yesterday and they fit tighter than the last day of school

*Created a goal to lose weight

*Didn't blog

*Woke up before Mike went to work every day (even if I wasn't out of bed yet...)

*Went shopping for clothes

*Never babysat, even though my schedule was perfect for it

*Did my hair twice  (even though I always do my hair on Sundays...don't I have to if I don't even go until 11?)

*Spent time with Mike on his lunch breaks

*Helped Jeremy move

*Didn't worry about where I was going to be working and if my going back to school was in vain

*Got paid for none of this!

Why Can't We Have Some of the Fun

Growing up, my mom would take us all over the state of California to follow sirens. I remember clearly when Rancho Santa Fe was burning we went and took a look. We were there days after the Northridge Earthquake. We had to take a detour to see damage of mudslides in Malibu. I'm actually kind of surprised we weren't following OJ in the white bronco!

This afternoon, on my way to the store, I noticed what seemed to be a new fire, with TONS of billowing smoke. So, really, am I going to stay focused and go shopping, or try and get closer? Well, my mom would be proud.

I thought the fire was right at the mouth of American Fork Canyon, but when I was headed there, I noticed I was just one canyon too south. And I wasn't sure how, exactly, to get to the actual canyon where the fire was. I navigated the best I could, while listening to the news reports, and it just wasn't worth getting lost to get that close.

Regardless, I had plenty of great photo opportunities, that I will now share:

The view from home, when I went back to get the camera.

This gives you an idea of how far it is from our home.

How much of the mountain it's already taken. (It had only been burning for maybe an hour).

Those cars in front of me are doing the same thing I am!

You could see the flames pop up, over the ridge. They must have been huge!

I really didn't want to leave! But this is me driving away.

From the Target in Orem.

If you look close, you can see the "G" Mountain. For those of you familiar with where we live, that kind of gives you an idea of the proximity.

So, the details.

Right now they are speculating this started by some construction in a park. The flames are moving up the mountain and to the east. Apparently American Fork Canyon is closed and the park rangers are warning all campers and hikers to leave. They also said they've got planes in the air just to look for campers and hikers that ground crews might have missed. They also had to evacuate a neighborhood that has "elaborate" homes (6-8000 sq ft). Only one barn has burned down, so far. If the winds change, a lot more structures will go.

This causes no alarm for us. It's far enough away that we won't be affected at all. However, my pottery teacher lives in the older part of Alpine (the city where the fire is). I don't think he needs to worry, either, but he's certainly close enough to probably be packing the valuables...

I'm assuming some of you are aware of the reason for my title...but just in case. It just seems like our entire state is on fire right now. Literally, we have fires from our southern borders all the way to our northern ones. We've been on fire for a couple weeks now, and we haven't even reached the 4th! I can't imagine what stupid things people are going to pull tomorrow.  It's just so sad that people are so irresponsible and those who are end up paying the bills.

Oh, and just a couple weeks ago my school in Saratoga Springs was an evacuation center for the residents south of it who were in danger of those fires. I've been meaning to go out there and hopefully get some good photos of that damage done.

Insert Title

First of all, I would like to say that this is my second time blogging with this new format. I am not sure how I feel about it. At first glance, there's a lot going on. But, at least with the picture uploads, it seems to work a little better. We'll see... (And we just watched a documentary about Google last night and they probably have already picked up on the keywords that I'm talking about them and reading this as I type!)

Also, school's out for the summer. And I'm bored. You wouldn't guess that since it's taken me two weeks to blog (well, really, it's taken me two months), but Netflix is so much better than typing and editing. The end of the school year was awesome and I LOVE teaching. Being crazy busy only reinforced that fact for me. I can't wait for next year and to have my own classroom! PS, if you haven't heard yet, I do have a FULL-TIME contract!! WOOT!! I haven't started on getting my room ready. I'm reserving that for the end of summer. But, I do have some ideas floating around in my head. (Mostly because they've been there for years).

Regarding summer boredem, I am trying to get a gig with a temp agency, but nothing's come up. So I spend my days with my friends; their names are Netflix and Hulu. I also clean, and run, and think about other things I can put on my to-do list. It's nice, though, because Mike has Thursdays off so we can use those days to do fun summer stuff, instead of going on crowded Saturdays. For instance, we've gone to Seven Peaks (the water park) a couple times already, and we are trying to plan a trip to Lagoon.

We also do this fun stuff:

FISHING:

We found a local body of water (it seems to big to call it a pond, but too small to be a lake... and I'm the Geography major - come on!). Anyway, it's a great place to go and we noticed people fishing. We've been meaning to go fishing for a while now, but didn't want to travel an hour. But ta-da! This place is ten minutes away!

Mike caught a fish once, but we forgot our camera, so we have no proof. But don't worry, he won't try and tell you it was "this big!"

My very first fish! Well, at least as an adult...

We invited Jeremy and Erin on Memorial Day.

Jeremy's fish! (His first, he caught two).

And the winner is... ME!! I caught the only rainbow trout--the biggest of the day.

Erin's fish (she also caught two).

A good shot of the blue gill we were catching.

COMPUTER STUFF:

Mike built a computer! He's been trying to get his hands on a good, modern computer for a while now. You know, for years. But we haven't had the available funds, and there weren't games that Mike wanted to make the purchase worth it. But, Mike has been getting some bonuses at work so he figured now was as good a time as any, especially since there was not one, but TWO games that made the purchase worth it! (Diablo III and Starcraft II, for anyone who cares).

Mike researches very well and thoroughly before buying anything WORTH anything, so he finally decided it would be best to build his own. I could give you all the reasons, but then we would all be bored. Needless to say, it was a long process. And I'm glad he did it (and didn't ask me to help!)

The evidence:



Notice the tutorial online and the how-to book on the table!

Just looking at this makes my brain hurt:

The finished product is something we all can enjoy! (Mike enjoys it the most, but check out Falkor in the lower left corner. He loves having someone spend time in his room!)

RACES:

I  know I've mentioned it, but we're down to crunch time for our 40-mile relay race. 7 days!!! So, to train, we've participated in a local 5k and 10k. Both went well, in that we survived, but they were mostly just for training purposes, so we really didn't expect much out of ourselves. We're thinking, though, that next year we need to win medals. Mike only needs to shave off 1 or 2 minutes from his time. And I only need to shave, what, 10? No big deal, right?

The Pepsi Refresh (?) 5k

Obviously, the Utah Valley 10k, which is part of the Utah Valley Marathon. Even though I look that bad, this is before the race.

NOT CAMPING:

I feel like I have to mention that Mike and I missed out on a great opportunity to go camping. Mike's brother, Eric, invited us to go camping with them over Memorial Day weekend. They even had a tent set up we could use! We were way excited to go: changed our Sunday plans, got roasting sticks and treats, and watched the weather report. It was a horrible Memorial Day weekend. Eric's family still went, and enjoyed their time. But Mike and I, when we heard from Eric that it had been raining for hours and didn't show signs of stopping, decided that we wanted to stay dry. We still "camped out" at home, downstairs, with s'mores and watched a movie. We were really bummed we couldn't go camping with them, but it did allow us to go fishing with Jeremy and Erin. So we still had fun!



Falkor Update

Primarily, I guess the most important thing to add to this "update" is that Falkor is still alive. Besides that, he has been entertaining us quite nicely with all the weird things he does...

We take him out and let him walk around the extra bedroom where his tank is. This gives him some exercise, the ability to explore and some other good things that people online have told us that are good for bearded dragons. Anyway, he eventually gets bored, or cold, or scared and finds a spot to rest/warm up/hide. On occasion, we forget about him moving around and lose track of him. Once it took us almost ten minutes to find him. (Remember we're talking about a 10 x 10 room!) Check out below to see why it was so difficult:


Can you see him in there??

In case you wanted some help, here's a closer look at where he's hiding.

Then, another time he was found on the same box, but this time he preferred balancing on the flap. At least this time we knew where to look:

 

He also likes nooks and crannies.

Bearded dragons are good starter pets, for one reason, because they are ok with being handled. Mike and I took him with us to St George once while visiting my parents. My brother Dan's kids just LOVED it! Van, their youngest (2 1/2) wanted to help feed him and take him out all the time. He would sneak back to the room to just watch Falkor. It was pretty awesome. At least for the kids. Falkor didn't LOVE it, so we tried to let him adjust before being man-handled by small people.

Near the end of our trip I let the kids come in one at a time to hold him. Here's Van with Falkor:

 

Van loved it, until Falkor started getting cozy on his neck. Mind you, Van wasn't scared. He was in pain because Falkor's claws are at his sharpest. Whoops! (Disclaimer: we  have since read that you can de-sharpen claws by trimming them, which we chose not to do. OR get rocks for them to climb on that will "file their nails." We went with the rocks and it worked like a charm! Sorry Van!!)

Falkor loves getting in hair (we can't figure out why...) but he loved Janna!

And, of course, he loved Vienna as well!

The last way, that I'll mention, that Falkor entertains us is with his sleeping positions. Sometimes I peek in on him asleep, just to see what new position he has decided on. Here's a great one:



Today

Today was kind of crazy. It's the first day back from Spring Break, and I've now become the permanent sub for a teacher in my department who's on unexpected maternity leave. We all knew I was going to take over her classes (and there would be a different sub who would take her two classes while I had my own classes), but me and the teacher were supposed to sit down, today, and talk about the plans...because she wasn't due until May 12th. But Sunday after Spring Break started, she posted a pic of her beautiful baby girl on facebook (5 weeks early). So, not only do I have to rush to make sure my class is in order for today, and to make sure she has all the supplies I need today, I also have to make sure everything is ready for the sub.

But that was all expected today. What I didn't expect was:

-A mouse. In my classroom. During class. A student raised his hand and told me he had just seen something move near my desk. I think I brushed him off because I didn't want to believe him. Really, what could it be. I don't have a door that opens to the outside... But then he tells me "I just saw it again! Run towards the desk. I think it was a lizard or something." Yeah, right. A lizard in my class? I'm pretty sure I left Falkor at home this morning. But then, a moment later, I saw something move out of the corner of my eye. I approach, slowly, and sure enough, a little brown mouse is sitting in between my chair and desk. I jump back, and find half my class watching behind me. Oh boy! While on the phone with the office, requesting a janitor, I'm trying to get them all to be quiet and sit down. Me against 40 of them... Anyway, we didn't see it anymore. I finally had to tell them that if they really wanted to see a mouse they could go to the pet store and the only thing they could talk about for the rest of class was Utah History. But, when they were lining up, waiting for the bell, what do they see just outside in the hall? The mouse.

-To be part of an AP Pyschology class project. I was leaving WalMart and someone was walking behind me. I glance over my shoulder and find them RIGHT behind me. Closer than I would want Mike to walk behind me. If I stopped, she would have run into me. I was wondering if she thought I was her mom, or something, so I turned and looked at her. But she kept walking behind me. My bubble was definitely popped, so I had to ask her "why are you following me???" She kept there, but then kind of veered off. She then appraoched me to tell me she was conducting a "breaking the social norms" experiment for her class. I told her it worked. It's funny to watch those things online...but it's not funny to be a part of them.

Hiatus

I feel bad about not blogging for a while. But not much has been happening...

I've been trying to work a lot (pick up a lot of sub jobs) to make up for the fact that I won't be getting paid for a week during Spring Break. I am still enjoying my own classes, immensely, and will be sad to see them go at the end of the year. I am realllllly hoping to pick up a full-time contract at the same school for next year, but I am just waiting to see what happens. We have finally entered the season of job postings and interviews, and my chances are better this year than they were last, but I still just have to wait and see.

We did our taxes. Not the most enjoyable of ventures, but we survived it.

Mike's back is feeling better and he's been able to get back into training for Bone and Back. It certainly makes it easier to work out when you have the support! Mike helped me make my training schedule so I'm ready to run 10 miles by June (he doesn't have to be one the same schedule because he's only running 5, but he has to worry about running uphill the WHOLE way). It kind of scares me to know that I will be running 10 miles soon... and that my easier days will soon be 6 mile runs, instead of 2 mile runs... Eek! But, "I can do this!"

My parents have moved, semi-officially, to St George. I think they've told everyone, so I can finally say something. I went down to San Diego on a Friday with my brother, a 16 ft trailer and his 3 kids. I came back to St George Saturday with my mom, and the 3 kids. We unpacked the trailer Sunday morning and I drove back to Pleasant Grove a couple hours later. It was a busy weekend!!! But fun, and I am excited that my parents will be closer. It will be nice to visit them without having to plan a week's vacation. However, it hasn't yet set in that I won't be visiting San Diego as often, if ever.

Oh, and we woke up the other night thinking someone broke into our house. At about 3 in the morning, we woke up the sound of a woman's voice. We both lay there for a couple seconds getting our bearings and trying to figure out if it was our neighbors, and where it was coming from. Sure enough, it was coming from downstairs. Mike told me to stay put and he went and grabbed our two dumb-bell bars and went downstairs. While he was gone, all I could think about was how our cell-phones were both downstairs... So I grabbed some scissors, and waited. Mike finally called up that everything was fine. It was our laptop, that likes to just turn on in the middle of the night, even though it's closed. It had refreshed everything, and I had left the internet browser open, on a website with a video clip that I wanted to remember to watch. The video clip started playing on its own, and it was loud. Yay for not getting robbed! But oh so painful the next morning when we couldn't go back to sleep for the next 2 hours.

That's all... Not very exciting, huh?

Taking Back my Days

Mike and I made a bet on the Superbowl: whoever lost would have to run 6 miles. Mike thought the Patriots were for sure going to win, so he took them, even though he wanted the Giants to win. Too bad for him... But the bet took a turn for the worst when his back went out after the run. He has been down and out for the past week, and still hurts, even though he's trying out work for the first time today. Here's hoping it doesn't months to get whole again!

The reason I mention this is because I've been trying to be supportive and help him with everything he needs. Unfortunately, part of that support has been me just sitting by while he plays a video game or is on the computer. For some reason, which seems totally unrational now, I would just waste my time just being there. Mike didn't need that... And it really put me in sour moods... This weekend I decided to take my days back. I wrote out a to-do list, and crossing off those tasks felt SOOOO good and refreshing. I am really hoping I remember this for the future!

On the other hand, what else is awesome is my pottery. Besides my own pieces, my instructor supports a local food bank fundraiser. He's asked all of his students to make 6 soup bowls to be donated, that then sell for $25. You know what that means? 6 people will buy MY art! Woo!!! Those bowls aren't done yet, but I have some pics of my most recent pieces.

Yay for Spontaneous Root Canal!

I can't remember if I mentioned it, but Mike and I went to the dentist in Nov, and as a result, I had a filling right before Thanksgiving. I was told at the time that the tooth would be sensitive, for up to a month, but that the sensitivity is normal and would go away. By "sensitive" did the dentist mean "pain so bad it wakes you up at night?"

I sat on the aches for a while, because I was told they were "normal" and they would only happen at random. Then, finally, they did go away (or I stopped noticing the pain...). However, on Sunday, at church, the tooth started aching again. I resolved to call the dentist and they made an appt for me right away. Apparently aches lasting this long is not "normal."

My appt was today, just an hour and a half ago. And it was...interesting. (Please excuse my wonder at the world of dentistry. I am just so new to it, that everything is weird.)

The dentist decided that I did, in fact, need a root canal. While the filling was good, the bacteria had already made a home in my root so the whole thing needed to go. YAY! He puts the numbing cream on right away so he can then give me the numbing shot. (It stung a little more this time).

Then the drilling. Oh, the drilling...and the agony! Ouch!!! It did not feel good...and I had to explain the pain through the mouth stuff they had already put in. So I told him that "it was ok, until they hit the nerve, and then it was a sharp, cold pain." "Well, I haven't even touched the nerve yet" informed the dentist. So he gives me another shot, on the other side...for "those extra nerves that sometimes are around."

Then the drilling, Oh, the drilling...and the agony! It still hurt! So I got a THIRD shot, at the top of the root. Geesh! But at least it didn't feel so bad after that.

After about 45 minutes of two people just staring at my mouth...and seemingly doing something with those 100 tools, I hear them talking: "are you just going to have her come back?" WHAT!?! Yep, I bleed too much so they wouldn't be able to get a proper seal on the tooth yet. They instead put some medicine in the canal to plug up the bleeding and are having me go back on Monday to get the "real" tooth stuff. (I remember, after my wisdom teeth got pulled, having to change my gauze very frequently because I bled alot after that procedure too. I guess I have 5 times the blood vessels, or pressure, as the normal person).

As a result of the THREE numbing shots, I feel like a stroke patient. Half my face is numb...even my eye (I think). As I write this, my nose is plugged by kleenex because it's running, but I can't feel it; I just noticed it in the mirror! I just had to take pictures!
I'm trying to open my whole mouth...

In this one I am trying to pull up my nose...you know, what you do when something is gross... (I am not doing just one side on purpose.

And the smile...I cracked up when I looked at this picture. I am trying to give my biggest smile.

Benefits of living in Utah

I have been pondering the lack of snow recently and have been torn. I have very much enjoyed the snow-free commute and snow-free blustery days of winter. However, I very much am aware of the danger of drought if we don't receive enough moisture. Needless to say I was excited to see the rain yesterday. We got the moisture without the snow!! I could live every winter in Utah like that! But then, when I was at the gym last night, I looked out the windows and saw that the rain had turned to snow. After just 45 minutes in the gym, my car had about a quarter inch of snow gathered. My dreams of a snow-free commute have to be put back on the shelf...

Regarding the title of this post, I have started teaching Utah History at school. We started out by talking about the good things about Utah--and they aren't few. I think the residents take advantage of the great things about Utah and bemoan the fact that there's "nothing to do." But people come here from all over the world to enjoy our backyard. So, I have two positives about Utah this week. (and they may be a stretch...but oh well!)

*Utah Grizzlies games. I mentioned before that Mike and I got a "Pass of All Passes" that allows us to enjoy several venues of entertainment in the Utah and Salt Lake Counties. One such form of entertainment is the local hockey team in Salt Lake. Mike and I went with Jeremy and Erin for free! When we got there, our seats were taken by another family. Is it just me, or is that a very dreaded conversation!?! Who knew it could turn out to be a GOOD thing? The family had been on the third row, right next to the visiting team's "box(?)" and had decided to move back...and wanted to switch with us! That means we got to see the squished faces of the players when shoved against the glass! We were THAT close! Jeremy was sure the puck had his name on it and was coming straight for him...several times. We also got to hear the season pass-hecklers the whole game. At first it was annoying, but as time went on, and they got more drunk, it got more entertaining: "Fight! Fight! Fight!.... For America!!!" Speaking of fighting, the refs were, unfortunately, on their toes and stopping fights before they began; all but once. And the one fight was a sore loser sucker punch from behind. Lame. In the end, we enjoyed the game, our seats, the hecklers, and the win (further affirmation that we are good luck for any team because we have never been to a sporting event when the team has lost, and baseball doesn't count because we rarely are there for the whole game).

*Celebrity sightings. I have mentioned Kid History (look it up on YouTube) in the past, and just recently found an excuse to show it to my kids at school (you know, demonstrating how the story can change, based on who is telling it). Well, Mike and I were at Shakey's (a local pizzeria--not as good as Pizza Pie Cafe), when all of a sudden I see the main guy from Kid History (the taller, skinnier one)! I was near the dessert, waiting for an Oreo Cookie pizza and looked over at the salad bar and recognized him instantly. Mike was sitting down, but I just HAD to tell him! So I texted him... (I couldn't get out of the dessert line because there was another lady who was planning on getting two plates full for her and her family). Mike took FORever to view his text (he was watching some football game...psh!) and finally turned around to look. BUT looked in the wrong direction! So I called out his name, and failingly tried to subtly point/throw my head in the direction of the guy...and he finally notices. It's so weird when you see someone "famous"...what are you going to do? Especially at a restaurant!?! We did go over and ask for a picture...but we didn't notice that it didn't save on the camera (which is ok because we don't even have a way to hook the phone up to the computer to save/share the picture). It's memorable for us, even if he's already forgotten about it!

Oh, and by the way, I am finally going to get my pottery back soon (I signed up for February) so be looking for pictures of my newest pieces soon!

Christmas Card Edition

Merry Christmas from the Jenkins!

Ok, so I know this late...but better late than never.

Mike and I don't send out Christmas cards/letters and we probably won't for a while. And with our blog and Facebook, I just can't justify going through that extra bit of work around the holidays. It's still fun to get them, so I do apologize that you don't get one extra card in the mail.

2011 was pretty good to Mike and I. Here's some highlights:

*We both got jobs!! Here's to hoping that in 2012 I get that much closer to getting a full-time contract and that I'll be able to renew my license in 2013!

*We went on a fabulous vacation to Sacramento and San Francisco. We got to spend wonderful time with Desiree, Scott and Kai and Mike got to see the Golden Gate for the SECOND time!! (He still hasn't walked on it yet...so we'll have to go again).

*I got to go to San Diego while Mike worked (but I did miss him!) and visit my parents while they were taking care of grandkids.

*We accomplished our goal of running 5 mile legs in a 40-mile relay race, which prompted our 2012 goal of running 10 mile legs this year, and eventually maybe working up to a half-marathon. (We don't yet have the marathon in our sights yet).

*We got a fabulous pet.

*I successfully made cinnamon rolls! (This isn't really that great for our letter, but I wanted to show off what I did during my Christmas Break).

And here's just some more fun pics of Falkor getting real cozy: