Informative post about stuff that seems to be going on in my life at this point in time that others feel the need to know about.

So, I have been given crap by several because I don't blog anything, but that is because I usually don't have anything important going on in my life to blog about so its not really my fault. However, I recently had something that is a little exciting happen so I will post about it. I'm getting married. I know that this will come as a shock to some and others will mutter and/or shout its about freaking time! So anyway here are the details that are relevant at this time. I am marrying Tom Tanner, he is from Rexburg and he owns Premier Rental Properties. We have been dating for a little over two years and we are getting married Nov. 19th, 2011 in the Rexburg Temple. So, there you have it an update on my life. I will also include a picture so that I don't get yelled at for not having one as those who have not met Tom will likely want to know what he looks like.

I'm officially Graduated!!

Well, I'm officially graduated. I'll get on an actually blog about it later cause its late and I have to get up early for work. For now here is the proof. Check out the shoes!!!!

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 is usually spent with 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.

Kali Ann turns 4

I know another birthday post, but this already a week late and I will hopefully have some spare time when we hit the holidays to catch up on the last 4 months of my life. Meanwhile, my niece Kali turned 4 last Saturday. Kali is so much fun. I now get to spend time with her three days a week and I love it. My absolute favorite part of the day is anytime I come home because she always is so happy and excited to see me and will run over to give me a big hug. She totally loves horses, but as of yet has not ridden one. I am working on that. :) She also loves to sing and even though she doesn't get all the words right, although she may be getting them right and we just can't understand her, she always gets the tune right so it is so much fun to listen to her sing. Happy Birthday Kali!

Let's talk about me.

Since my last several posts have been birthday wishes for my nieces and nephews I decided that I needed to write a little about me and what is going on with me. School. That's it mostly. I am 4 weeks away from being done with my first semester of grad school, which is really nice. I moved into my new house a couple of weeks ago, I will post pictures later (when I take some). Let's see what else. I am going to the midnight showing of Twighlight on the 20th, yes I am making time in my busy schedule for that. K well that's about it. I will try to do a full catch up in December when I have my month off from school.

Baby Holden is 1 today!

Holden turns 1 today. He is an amazingly happy little kid. He smiles most of the time that I see him and is so happy. I still remember the day he was born, cause I got to go up to the hospital and meet him just a short while after he was born. He didn't have a name for a long time so I called him little John because they knew that John was going to be his middle name. And now we call him baby Holden. He is an amazingly resilient little kid, he spent a couple of weeks in the NICU because he was born early but he bounced back and is doing awesome now. I love hanging out with Holden cause that smile he gives you makes you just feel like the most special person in the world to him. Love ya Holden.

P.S. I totally stole this picture from Raygon's blog. Thanks Rayg!

Morgan Ann turns 9

My niece Morgan turned 9 on Saturday and of course I am late on this post, tends to happen these days. Morgan is my oldest niece, and even though Ann is her middle name I have always called her Morgan Ann or Little Ann. Morgan is absolutely amazing. She is very smart and does really well in school. She loves to read and has already read many of the Harry Potter books, book 3 is her favorite, and reads for an hour or more everynight, not because she has to but because she wants to. Morgan is so helpful with her siblings and also with the other cousins when we are all together, she is always willing to help out. She is so fun to be around and is growing up so fast. Happy Birthday Morgan Ann, I love you tons.

Sassy is 3 going on 16

My niece Abby turned three today, well technically yesterday but this is the first chance I have had to sit down and type this up. Abby is such a doll and I love hanging out with her. Abby is such a funny little girl. I call her sassy because she knows what she wants and thinks and isn't afraid to tell you about it. We have a great time when I babysit and I love spending time with her. Abby is huge into baby dolls and has been for a long time, it is so fun to watch her totally mother one of her babies. Abby is a great big sister and helps out with her little sister whenever she can. Happy Birthday Sassypants, I love you!

Lazy Jess

So I have a couple of minutes so I want to write a quick story. I have been staying at my brother Jared's house when I am in Utah for school. I have taken over their guest room downstairs and spend most of my time in it when I am here either doing homework or doing paperwork for the office. So today after spending most of the day in my room I came up for food and as I was sitting there talking to Becca my nephew Cade who is 7 came up to me and said "Jess how come you are always so lazy when you are here." I totally did not know how to respond so I laughed. Becca looked like she wanted to kill Cade. I guess from a 7 year old's point of view if you spend all your time in your room with the door closed you must be sleeping or laying around being lazy. HAHA! I guess I should work on not being so entirely anti-social while I am here.

The Slacker

Sorry I haven't posted for a while. This is just a quick message to let you know that I started Grad School about 4 weeks ago and since then I have been running like crazy. I don't have much time for anything but work and homework. Hopefully I will be able to get the balance thing down and have some time to catch up on all the fun things that I did before school started.

Cademan is now 7

So my nephew Cade turned 7 on Tuesday and I totally got caught up and forgot to post this so here it is. Cade is one of the coolest kids I know. He can always make me laugh. He loves playing X-Box and is so good at it that I can't play with him cause he spends the whole time saying things like "Uh, Jess you need to come over here where my guy is." And "Just follow me and I will tell you what to do." It's funny cause I totally suck. Cade is super smart and started second grade this year. He is an awesome reader and gets better every day. I love hanging out with Cade and spending time with him and now I get to see him every week for three days which is great because since they moved to Utah I was only getting to see him every few months. Happy Birthday Bubba!

Trip to Coeur D'Alene

This may be boring as there are no pictures so feel free to skip it if you like, I promise I won't get offended. So yesterday I had to go to Coeur D'Alene for a meeting so I got up at 3:45 in the morning so I could get ready and get my house cleaned before I left. I got to the airport at about 5:00 for my 6:00 am flight. I find that if I have to travel it is really kind of fun to not have to pack a suitcase cause that whole checking in and waiting for baggage thing is annoying. Anyway since I didn't have any luggage cause I was only staying for the day I was able to head right over to security. I still have to wear an ankle brace to support my ankle so I was a little worried that I would set off the alarm, but I didn't I was pretty happy about that. Oh I forgot the best part of this whole early morning flight thing was that Mom and Dad had to go to meeting too so they were there with me and I had someone to harass. :) Anyway so I flew to Boise, which wasn't bad because I got to switch seats and not have anyone sitting by me. I had a two hour layover in Boise before flying to Spokane so Mom, Dad, and I went over and found seats to chill in. I was having a great morning, because I had made it through my whole flight without getting sick, wich for me is good because I get motion sickness really easy, or so I thought. As we got over to where we were going to sit I suddenly did not feel well at all and had to go buy a coke to settle my stomach. Mom immediatly settled into reading her book and Dad and I joked around before he took a nap. I spent the time playing around on the internet for a while, yea for free wi-fi, and then I also pulled out my book and read. The fun part was that we were sitting by the elevator so they kept bringing people past in wheelchairs and this one person was rolled by with a big bag on their laps and dad leans over and asks "Why is it that everytime you see someone being pushed in a wheelchair do they have a big bag on their laps." We laughed and then everytime anyone else in a wheelchair went past dad muttered about bags under his breath. Then as we continued to sit there this guy who worked for the airport walked past and dad says to me "uh-oh here comes the quax guy." I look up from my book to see this guy walking past with a big QX on the back of his vest. Then Dad says to me "Do you know what he does?" So curious as I was I said yea and dad says "He quax around the airport." I of course laugh for a while and then had to tell mom the whole story when she got back from the bathroom. Anyway after the fun layover we finally get on our plane to Spokane. Nothing real fun on that ride cause it was actually overbooked. Mom and Dad and I did talk about missing our meetings and taking the ticket that you can use to go anywhere and going to Hawaii instead, but then decided that we should go to the meetings. When we landed in Spokane we got Mom and Dad's bags and then went to get our rental cars. The line for my car was way long while there was no one at the place Dad got his car so they got theirs and then just waited for me. I finally got the keys to my sweet ride for the day, THE SILVER BULLET aka the silver PT Cruiser. So we go out to get our cars and the car parked next to mine is so close that I can't get in the driver seat and so I wait patiently for the people sitting in that car to pull out and I wait and wait and then finally I went around to the front of my car and waited so they could see that I was waiting on them and they finally pull out. As I get into my car and start to drive over to where Mom and Dad's car was supposed to be parked I see mom waving me over so I head over there and she tells me to just park cause Dad had to go in and get a new car cause their stunk really bad like cigarette smoke. So I pull into an empty spot next to them. So mom and I are sitting their wating and this old guy comes walking up to the car, he works for the rental agency that Mom and Dad went through, so I roll down my window and he tells me that the car I am in is not one of their cars so I start to explain. I say to him that "I am waiting for my parents because they rented the car next to me but needed a different one because there is something wrong with that one." Halfway through my explaination this guy turns around and walks away. I turned to mom and we both just look at each other with that WHAT THE look and then we chuckled about it. Shortly therafter Dad shows up with their new car, which still smells like cigarette smoke, just not as bad. So about an hour after landing we are finally able to leave. But since we have several hours before my meeting starts and Mom and Dad can check into their hotel we decide to go the Post Falls Outlets. Sweet idea right? Wrong. About 3/4 of the stores were empty and the ones that were open weren't that impressive, but Mom and I did get some new shoes so it worked out. So since there wasn't really anything else to do we decided to drive around Coeur D'Alene and since driving two cars around was silly we went to where my meeting was and dropped my car off then we went and Mom and Dad showed me Lake Coeur D'Alene which is huge and really cool. Then I went to my meeting which took almost 4 hours and then I went to Post Falls to talk to Mom and Dad before heading back to the Airport to catch my 6:25 flight to Boise. I was supposed to get into Boise with about 30 minutes to spare to catch my flight to Idaho Falls so I was really worried that we would be late and I would miss my flight but fortunately for me my flight to Idaho Falls was running about 15 minutes late. So I got to Idaho Falls at about 10:00 and then drove home with the A/C cranked and the Radio blaring to keep me awake.

Tagged

3 Joys
1. Riding in an Ambulance on my way to a call. There is nothing in the world that I have come across yet that has that same adrenaline rush. It never ceases to amaze me how revved up I get when I get to go out and help people when they are most in need of some help.

2. My Nieces and Nephews. I would give most anything to spend time with my nieces and nephews, especially work. There is nothing like hearing the joy in a kids voice when they yell you're name cause they are so excited just to see you.

3. Reading. I love just sitting around and getting totally immersed in a good book. It doesn't happen much, but I do absolutely love it.

3 Fears
1. That what I have in life now is all I am going to have.

2. That a member of my family will be hurt really bad and that I will show up on scene in the ambulance or the fire truck and not be able to do anything to save them.

3. Spiders. They are totally gross and kinda freak me out a little bit.

3 Goals
1. Do better on my scripture study, church attendence, and temple attendence.

2. Be able to get back to playing basketball by the end of the year. I haven't been able to play for over 2 1/2 months and I am totally missing it.

3. Stay on top of everything that I have to do in my life like work, housecleaning, and exercising and soon traveling and homework.


3 Current Obsessions
1. The twighlight series. The new book comes out in a little over a week and I have been re-reading the other three books which is bad because it keeps me from doing all the other things I am supposed to be doing.

2. Movies. I love movies and I actually collect them. If I watch a movie and like it I totally buy it, I even buy some that I have never seen because I want to see them. One day I will watch all of the movies that I have.

3. Facebook. I know it is totally sad but I get on facebook first thing in the morning and last thing at night, and several times during the day. I like to be able to keep up with all my friends both current and those from high school.


3 Surprising Facts About Myself
1. I am actually a pretty good cook when I want to be, but I hate the process and avoid it at all costs.

2. I cry at sad movies when no one else is around. Yes many of you will be shocked at this because I never cry when I am around other people.

3. I am very anal about my hair. If it sticks up or doesn't look perfect I get super annoyed.

Now I am going to tag Becca, Kimmy, Shellie, and Jason and Amy (and yes I want answers from both of you.)

Name Meaning

So I found this on my friend Nicole's blog and found it interesting.

What Jessica Means

You are fair, honest, and logical. You are a natural leader, and people respect you. You never give up, and you will succeed... even if it takes you a hundred tries. You are rational enough to see every part of a problem. You are great at giving other people advice. You are friendly, charming, and warm. You get along with almost everyone. You work hard not to rock the boat. Your easy going attitude brings people together. At times, you can be a little flaky and irresponsible. But for the important things, you pull it together. You are the total package - suave, sexy, smart, and strong. You have the whole world under your spell, and you can influence almost everyone you know. You don't always resist your urges to crush the weak. Just remember, they don't have as much going for them as you do. You tend to be pretty tightly wound. It's easy to get you excited... which can be a good or bad thing. You have a lot of enthusiasm, but it fades rather quickly. You don't stick with any one thing for very long. You have the drive to accomplish a lot in a short amount of time. Your biggest problem is making sure you finish the projects you start. You are very open. You communicate well, and you connect with other people easily. You are a naturally creative person. Ideas just flow from your mind. A true chameleon, you are many things at different points in your life. You are very adaptable. You are usually the best at everything ... you strive for perfection. You are confident, authoritative, and aggressive. You have the classic "Type A" personality.

What's Your Name's Hidden Meaning?