Catching Up.......Again

So I don't know what to tell you guys, but someone really really sucks at keeping this blog updated. At this point I figure no one really looks at it anymore, cause I mean really 2 posts in a year is pretty sad. But I will give you a little update while I have some time. Since June, which is the last time I actually posted something, I really haven't done that much so this will be another short post, but I promise to try and find some time to blog about my cruise. I did finish another semester of school, but I find that I am totally getting lazier about doing my schoolwork but I did pass this semester and I only have one left. It is crazy to think that in 5 months I will be done with school forever. I did make a couple of trips to California during this time, which was awesome! In June Paul, Mandy, Tom, and I helped Mark and Maegan move to California. We packed up a U-haul truck and drove all the way to Cali, fortunately we did it in two days so I didn't have to kill myself due to being in the car that long. We then spent a couple of days helping them unpack their house and then we drove home, this time we did it in one straight shot driving all night which totally sucked. I was pretty bummed that they moved cause I am really going to miss Ethan, Abby, and Whitney, but on the upside it gives me an excuse to visit Cali on a regular basis. I also went to Cali in October for 4 days so I could be there for Abby's birthday, it was super fun. We went to Knott's Berry Farm and I got to spend 4 whole days just hanging out and not worrying about school or work, it was super nice. What else did I do this Summer? Oh yea, we had our family reunion which I was in charge of and I am soooooooo glad that I don't have to be in charge again for another 6 years. Anyway we stayed in some condos at a resort in Ogden Canyon which actually ended up being pretty fun. So yea, other than that fun stuff, I am still working for my parents and working at the fire department and those two things in combination with school and sleep actually takes up most of my time. What little time I have left has been confiscated by Tom so I actually stay pretty busy most of the time. So that in a nutshell has been the past 6 months of my life. I know, super exciting over here and I know you are all so glad you just wasted 5 minutes reading this. Until next time. (Which could very well be another 6 months so don't hold your breath!)

Been a While

Wow, so it has been a long time since I posted anything and a lot has happened. Well not really, but I am going to tell myself that so I feel better. Since my last post I have finished my first year of school and an currently enjoying a 4 month break from school. I'm not sure how I feel about going back, but I still have two whole months before I have to worry about it. I went on a week long cruise, which I will blog about and post picture about later when I have time to write about everything. I now have a new niece curtosy of Paul and Mandy and as of today I have a new nephew curtosy of Steve and Kelly. I am back to working with a full case load of clients again and it has been really hard to get back into the swing of working this many hours again. It ALMOST makes me miss going to class and doing homework, almost. So really aside from my cruise there really hasn't been much exciting going on and I will post about those later when I have a free night, I haven't had many of those lately but I'm sure eventually I will find one and I will get some better updates on here.

Whits is 1 today!

Whitney turned the big one today! She is so fun, and I love that she is so determined and independent. She gets into everything! When I babysit I feel like I spend all my time following her around and putting everything back where it goes. She loves her big brother and sister so much, I love it when she just latches on and gives them hugs, hence the picture. Happy Birthday Whits!

Play Time!

So, on the day I moved into my house Kaleb came over and for the first time in his life, all of my fire trucks were down where he could reach and play with them, because I have always kept them up on the shelves. He was in heaven! Raygon tells me that since I moved in he asks her everyday if I am home and if he can come over and play with my firetrucks. I told him could come over when I am home and play, but the problem was that I was gone a lot. So finally I had a free afternoon because of a cancellation at work and I knew Raygon was getting ready for Holden's birthday party and for her younger brother Tanner and his wife to arrive so I called up and asked if Kaleb and Holden could come play. We had tons of fun. It will be more fun when I baby proof my house and don't have to spend all my time watching Holden to make sure he doesn't take I dive down my stairs. :)

They had a great time! Kaleb was pretty sad that he had to put the trucks away and go home for Holden's party.

New House

I moved into my house in the middle of school. That was fun. If you ever want to stress yourself to the point that all you want to do is sit in a corner while rocking and crying this is how you do it. I finally was able to get renters for my townhouse so I proceeded to plan to move into my house, but where would I find the time. I packed my house up in two days, amidst working my full time hours, covering shifts at the station, and getting all my homework done. Then it took TWO trips with the trailer, and mind you this was not a small trailer, to get all my stuff to the new house. Then I had to put everything away. So not fun. Lucky for me I have an awesome family. Maegan came and helped me finish packing the night before the move. Then while I was going back and forth with the boys telling them where to put things, My mom, Maegan, and Mandy cleaned my townhouse. Then my mom came over to my new house and while I put things away and figured out where the things I needed were she cleaned my room and bathroom in my new house so I wouldn't have to worry about it. I really wish I had thought to take more pictures because my family is awesome. My dad and my brothers (Andy, Mark, and Paul) moved all my heavy stuff in the house and willingly moved it to wherever I asked. My family is awesome. Megs took these pics the night she came over to help me pack because she thought I would want to remember my house.

This is me in my front room/dining room. Notice that it is almost the end of October and I am still wearing shorts and a T-shirt. Also the sweet black brace on my ankle. I had to wear that thing for 4 months after I got off the crutches and out of the boot. Pretty crappy and annoying.This is me packing up the last of my bedroom. I left the bed up, so I could get a couple of hours of sleep. :)

This is me in from of my townhouse my last night there. It was getting dark so this is the best picture we could get.

Catch Up Time

Well there really isn't a lot to catch up on, sadly my life now consists of school, work, homework, paperwork, and on occasion sleep. I have been spending the half the week in Logan at school, learning how to be a really good Social Worker, and then I spend the other half of the week here in Rexburg practicing being a good Social Worker. I have been given new responsibilities at work, that I actually really enjoy even though I wasn't sure I would. I also still occasionally find time to run on the ambulance, which I have been missing. It's nice to be on break because that means I can cover more shifts and get my fix before I start classes again. When I am in Utah I stay with my brother Jared and his family. My sister in law Becca and I have had tons of fun on my off day. I try to spend most of Tuesday, when I don't have class, doing homework or paperwork, but more often then not you will find Becca and I out shopping. Many of you know that shopping is not my favorite things, I don't love it, but it is tons of fun with Becca. Our new favorite place is DI. We go every Tuesday and look for good books because her kids love to read and I have been trying to find books that we can use in our daytreatment program to help kids learn and understand the concepts we teach. I love being able to spend so much time with Morgan, Cade, and Kali as I have missed them a ton since they moved to Logan. Right now I get the best of both worlds. I get to spend time every week with ALL of my nieces and nephews which is really awesome. So moving on to how school is going. I finished my first semester of Grad school with a 4.o0 which is amazing, I really think that the teachers just want our grades to look good since we are the first MSW Group. Oh well, I am willing to accept it. :) I am now on my break and have had about 2 weeks off and go back on January 5th. So that is pretty much the update on my last 4 months and to finish here is a funny story from school. I had to get up and do a presentation for my Statistics class and the teacher tells us we have to wear business dress. I know what business dress is, and I don't own it. So I ask her what I should wear and she gets this look on her face like I cannot believe that you don't own any business casual clothes. Don't worry, in time she will come to understand me well enough to understand why I don't own business casual. Anyway back to the story. So I say I have this denim skirt that I wear to church sometimes when I am not working and get to wear pants. Again another one of those weird, who the heck are you looks. So she agrees to let me wear my denim skirt and a "nice" shirt. So the next week I am kinda having a bad week and running late to leave for Utah I through my stuff in the car and leave. When I get to Utah I find that I did not bring any nice shoes to wear with my skirt so all I have are my tennis shoes, but I figured I could swing that. So the class I have to give the presentation for is my last class of the day, and anyone who knows me, knows I am not wearing a skirt ALL day. So I through my "dress" clothes in my backpack and off I go to class. When it is time for stats to start I go into the bathroom to change only to realize that I didn't bring my white T-shirt to wear under my "nice" button up shirt, which I always wear open. So I left on the shirt I was wearing, a grey shirt with NC Tarheels written in blue across the chest. So I put on my denim skirt, T-shirt, green button up shirt, and tennis shoes and go into class. When it is my turn to do my presentation everyone is rolling with laughter about my "business casual" outfit. To make it better, I also was carrying my folded up pants in one hand, because I am not sitting in a dress for the next 2 hours until class gets out. So I give my presentation and of course I cannot resist the sarcastic remarks which keeps the class laughing so hard that I had difficulties at times talking because they were making me laugh. Anyway, when I finish my presentation I walk over to the teacher to get my slip of paper with my grade on it and promptly walk out the door to go change into my pants. I don't think anyone actually thought I would leave class to change because they all immediately began laughing and hooting as soon as I walked out the door. But don't you worry, I looked so good in my business casual that I got full points for my presentation. :)

Candy Making

I know what you all are thinking, Jess doesn't cook. This is true, but candy making does not involve cooking so I can do this. My sister in law Mandy is awesome at making candies and taught us all how to do it this year, so my last day in Logan before my Christmas break my sister in law Becca and I decided to make some candies. We made Peanut Butter cups, Carmels, Peppermint Bark, and crispie rice things. We figured it would take us a couple of hours and we were right! It took us like 9 1/2 hours, that's a couple right? We made candy from about 1:00 in the afternoon until 10:30 at night. After spending all that time in the kitchen Becca and I got a little loopy and well the pictures kinda tell it all.

What could be so funny you might ask.

This peanut butter cup did not set right and looked like the victim of a tragic accident and we thought it was absolutely hilarious.

Then Becca had to go and smash one of our peanut butter balls which of course was even more funny. Why you might ask? I don't really know, I wish I did. I think it was a combination of lack of sleep and way too much sugar.

But in the end we did come out with some pretty good results, if I do say so myself.