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!