Naughty or Nice Quiz

Check out this quiz! I laughed hard when we took it! What a thing to say...

You Were Nice This Year!

You're an uber-perfect person who is on the top of Santa's list. You probably didn't even *think* any naughty thoughts this year. Unless you're a Mormon, you've probably been a little too good. Is that extra candy cane worth being a sweetheart for 365 days straight?

Were You Naughty or Nice This Year?

Theresa's Pilgrim Name Is...

Remember Hopkins

Jason's Pilgrim Name Is...

Jasper Hopkins

What's Your Pilgrim Name?

I thought this was a pretty accurate description of me from a few simple questions:

What Theresa's Thanksgiving Meal Says About Her

When it comes to the holidays, you are traditional with a twist. You do things a bit differently, and you've established your own traditions. You see the holidays as a time to think about what's important to you. It's a good time to reflect and regroup. You like the aspects of the holiday that remind you of your childhood - opening presents, treats, and old favorite foods. During the holidays, you are likely to feel energetic. At your worst, you feel bored. You consider yourself a real red blooded American, and you're proud of it. You tend to spend your holidays sharing and pitching in. You'll do whatever needs to be done.

What Jason's Thanksgiving Meal Says About Him

When it comes to the holidays, you are traditional with a twist. You do things a bit differently, and you've established your own traditions. You see the holidays as a time to think about what's important to you. It's a good time to reflect and regroup. You like the aspects of the holiday that remind you of your childhood - opening presents, treats, and old favorite foods. During the holidays, you are likely to feel comforted. At your worst, you feel a bit over-indulgent. You consider yourself a real red blooded American, and you're proud of it. You tend to spend your holidays relaxing. Holidays are your down time.

What Does Your Thanksgiving Meal Say About You?

Ah the memories

So today was the last day of classes before Thanksgiving break, woo hoo! Most of my teachers actually called it an optional day. I think a lot of teachers did because when Jason passed by the bus depot for outbound trips it was packed with little college brats headed home. After this week of freedom we have only 1.5 weeks left in the semester. Then it's home, Florida, home, back home. :) Well this week has just been full of surprises. I actually got caught up on my grading for the most part. I also got an A on two more tests this week and drove my Business 301 teacher crazy . . . again. He's hilarious. he yelled at me the other day for making it sounds so easy because a few of the students are really struggling and it doesn't help to hear "That was easy" or "it only took me 10 minutes." :) Today I was a little punchy so when he asked questions I just said "Si senor" in a Mexican jalapeño voice. After the second time you could see the smile and that he was trying to ignore me. :) I love college.

Jason also had some revelations this week. He was able to finish some Christmas presents and spend a lot of time with Alisabeth. He also did an amazing amount of stuff around the house in helping me get everything ready for my Pampered Chef party. The party was a blast. We had just enough chairs for everyone, and I made almost the perfect amount of food. Can't beat that! Jason wasn't there because we found out on Sunday that we had a Nursery training meeting at the same time. He went to it and had a great time. They talked about a few ideas for disciplining the little babies when they hit each other, or are just acting out without having to go find the parents. (In case you aren't following, Jason and I are in charge of 14 babies ages 18 months to 2.2 years. We provide a nursery for 2 hours during church while their parents are in classes). It was really neat, and he told me that most of the things they talked about were already being done by us and the other nursery.

The other exciting thing this week just happened tonight at about 6:15. We were driving to Idaho Falls for a Mary Kay party. It was a one time event because of a special guest from Utah who was coming up tonight. We were excited to go. As we drove down the road a poor young guy didn't see us and took over our lane. Jason honked and finally swerved to avoid him. I watched for a second more than just covered my head and closed my eyes. When we stopped moving I immediately looked at Jason who was now below me and called out to him hoping he was fine. I noticed a nice smash in the windshield and was hoping it wasn't from him. Luckily he was okay except for his shoulder. He had landed on it when the car came to a stop and it ended up that it was "separated" (dislocated). So he'll be in pain for a bit.

As I hung above him taking stock I noticed that my window, which was up was surrounded by branches, as was the windshield in front of me. I couldn't see anything else because the room had been crushed in a bit but I repositioned myself so that my feet were touching the dashboard next to the steering wheel and then let myself loose from the seatbelt.

Jason couldn't get free from his, so I began moving around trying to get a feel for how we were going to get out of the car. I tried kicking the windshield and would have eventually broken through (since it was already cracked) but it wouldn't have done much good because of all the branches from the tree we were resting against. My next goal was to help Jason get out of the seat so I moved to where I was underneath him to try to support his weight and hopefully take it off of the seatbelt until he could release it. Unfortunately because of his shoulder he couldn't get to it so that didn't help much. By this time some of the passer-bys had stopped and a few lights were shinning in at us. Jason kept honking the horn accidentally whenever he shifted his weight so they assured us that they knew we were there and we assured them that we weren't doing it on purpose.

The only other option for getting out was the back window so that's what I headed for next. I couldn't quite get there and it wouldn't have mattered if I did because it hadn't yet been broken so I wouldn't have been able to break it with almost no leverage to work with. By this time the police had arrived and we saw a few people from the fire department. The back window was broken and I was given a seatbelt cutter to get my husband out. Finally they cut through the tree and eventually through the windshield and helped us escape. I was sure to grab Jason's temple bag . . . the only thing I cared about, and he was sure to grab the baby's stroller . . . the only thing he cared about :) The guy who had run us off the road took full responsibility for the accident and strangely his boss showed up (I guess it was a company vehicle on a bank run).

The other driver felt so bad he was in tears. I just wanted to give him a hug and tell him "it's okay." He personally approached me to apologize. I told him not to worry. We were all okay and it was an accident. I tried to help him see that not only did I completely forgive him, but that there was no need for him to replay this incident over and over in his mind. I know for me I take things like this so personally that I replay them for years after the event which is so bad! We're praying for him to have peace and I hope there are no lasting problems with his job. His boss seemed pretty ticked when he got there but he only stayed a few minutes to make sure that everything was okay and then he was off again.

Needless to say we are down to one car again (thank heavens we weren't in my car at the time : p) Luckily we have a week off from school with no plans to leave the city anyway so we'll be fine (even if it is 50 degrees in the middle of the day and I'm going to freeze to death walking everywhere). Did I mention that our other car is in getting the paint re-done . . . again . . . from the last accident . . . last year?

Yeah anyway, we called a friend instead of paying the ambulance $500 to drive us to the hospital and they happened to be driving right behind us and had just passed us when we got into the accident (they didn't realize it was us though) so they flipped around and were there in a few minutes. They took us to the hospital, waited and then took us to fill our pain meds and then took us to Dairy Queen?!! However I feel bad because we weren't able to make it to the Mary Kay party.

Needless to say the rest of the holiday should be quite boring. . . Although we do have a giant thanksgiving dinner scheduled!! I am quite excited about that. See next week for lots of photos, and maybe some of the sideways car!! the cops kept snapping pictures and we're going to try to get some copies!! The ones you see in this blog were taken by Jason the next day when they went to salvage the brand new battery and to see if the alternator would work for a friends vehicle. Ain't it pretty?

Shared Memories

1. As a comment on my blog, leave one memory that you and I (any of us) had together! It doesn't matter if you knew me a little or a lot, anything you remember!

2. Next, re-post these instructions on your blog and see how many people leave a memory about you. It's actually pretty funny to see the responses. If you leave a memory about me, I'll assume you're playing the game and I'll come to your blog and leave one about you.

So, is it winter or summer?

As temperatures skyrocketed to a high of 50 this week I began to wonder what winter thought it was doing and why it decided to play a game of cat and mouse with summer. Every day is a unique surprise here in Rexburg. One day you better have earmuffs or you will be hurting by the time you get where you're going, the next you shed all the extra layers and curse the ones you can't politely get off in public. However, what do I have to complain about, I can still drive without the cold fear gripping my stomach as I come over the hill and hope I can stop in time for my turn. Plus I don't have any cute winter clothes :)

Jason was home all week with Alisa this week and I pretty much wasn't. Between tests and projects and everything else I haven't been able to be home half of my normal time. I guess it was a real blessing that he got laid off because I don't know what I would have done without him here. Alisabeth on the other hand is angry when I leave and takes a while to be comforted by dad.
Here is one of his newest tactics for combatting the tears. She was really tired here, but it shows her sweet nature really well. He has also gone out in the mudfields a lot with Alisabeth and watched her enjoy the quiet and nature. He said she just sits and watchs that world.
She has also begun to really enjoy books. Whenever we go for a carride we hand her her baby einstein colors and shapes book and she'll spend the whole trip flipping through the pages and looking at the pictures. She has also gotten to the point where she understands us, and it able to communicate finally. I've been trying to teach her hungry since she was born and she just recently started pointing to her mouth when she wants to eat or drink. She also mimics the sing-song "All done" or "Thank you" that we use with her all the time. It's amazing to watch her growth.

We also had a neat experience this week. As we were in the kitchen preparing dinner or something then all of a sudden our kitchen lit up with this pure orange light. It was so neat. We ran outside almost too late and snapped a few shots, but they don't do justice to the sunset.
You can't really tell from these photos, but the day was beyond overcast. It was dark all day and then just at sunset the sun broke through as you can see here and just lit up everything in it's path. Against the DARK blue/grey sky it was quite a sight. Everything was clear and crisp. I thought it was breathtakingly beautiful.

Jason has been spending a lot of his time on a new hobby/project which I can't mention here because of some Christmas presents that might result, but which is beyond cool. For those of you that know what he's been up to you'll be interested to know that he's completed his first piece and has almost completed his second. He's even invented a few modifications which have helped him go faster and more accurate. I'm pretty proud of him, even if it is just a hobby he's really enjoying it and he's working hard on it to learn and do well with the skill.

On a completely seperate note I just got back from a Relay for Life University training down in Pocatello. I am going to be the Data committee chairperson (and was originally supposed to be the accounting chairperson). We got there thinking accounting only to realize about 3/4 of the way through that the person above us in the chain of command didn't exist, and the other branch that we are supposed to work with doesn't exist either. Thus the three of us diversified and each took on another position. :) I got the data entry position because of my level of excel skills. The spreadsheet they use to keep track of their info is pretty intense ranging about twelve pages with lots of built in macros. It's crazy complicated.
For those of you that don't know what the Relay for Life is, it is the American Cancer Society's major fundraising event. Companies who want to participate (and individuals or families or groups) sign up and get sponsered and then do a 24 hour walk in rememberance of those who have died from cancer and to raise money for cancer research and development. Rexburg hit an alltime high last year of 20,000 gross income so we're looking forward to trying to meet or beat that number this year.
I am really excited. This is the 25th anniversary of the Relay for Life and so it's a pretty big year for them. They have invited us to do things on the 25th of each month so that we can keep it in our minds and invite others to keep it in theirs too. There was a lot of rah-rah at the meeting, and for those of you that know me, it doesn't usually effect me like they want it to, but I definitely have a more invested mentality than I did going into it. I am excited to participate and do my best to control the funds and spend wisely so that we can make this year a sucess.

So it begins . . . again.

So if you've been following my posts you know that I said winter was here. Well I was wrong back then because it didn't really get here until this week. The temperature dropped to a nice 40 degree average and it's gorgeous outside. My light coat is enough for most trips outside and my closed shoes are nice and cosy. I wouldn't however, recommend open toed sandals. Especially when you will have to walk home (because the baby finally fell asleep and your husband doesn't think it's a good idea to leave her and come and get you so you won't freeze to death. :p)

Like she would really mind?!! This week she's made much progress. She now tells you when she has run out of food on her tray, and she calls mama for Jason and dada for me. . . we're still working on that part :p.

She has discovered sheppard's pie and loves it. She also enjoys peas. However she really doesn't appreciate green beans. When given one she simply takes it out of her mouth, throws it behind her and opens her mouth again for more. The picture to the left is after she ran out of raviolli. She enjoys that too, but her favorite things in the world right now are hotdogs, manderine oranges and bananas. So I start her out every morning with a banana and some healthy cereal (of which she eats only a little) and a cup of milk and then for lunch she starts with a corndog while I fix what she's really going to eat. The appetite on this little tike is amazing! I was told that her appetite was supposed to decrease when she turned one, but I found that as I began to feed her real food she went to town. You can't feed her enough. The only time she stops is when she's gotten sick of the taste of whatever it is you've given her.

She also re-discovered her baby swing. It's only supposed to hold 20 lbs, but she doesn't really care about that. It doesn't have batteries either, but she'll grab a stuffed animal and maybe a blanket and head right over to it when she gets a chance. . . not to sleep mind, just because she wants to sit in it. And heaven forbid it doesn't allow her to get in right away for some reason because then we all hear about it! Did I even mention that she has developed quite a set of lungs? I can't imagine how you could look at this little girl and not love her though. It's crazy how that happens.

The other great and exciting adventure came when we were invited over for FHE at our neighbor's house. She's a Mary Kay rep and wanted the guy's help practicing because she'd never done a guy's show before. Dutifully they all came over, mostly clean shaven because of the school dress-code which requires clean faces, and lathered up and shaved their 5 o'clock shadows :)

Don't we have some great guys? It was a fun party and I got lots of pictures to use as blackmail. . . strangly most of them were gone when I went to search the camera. . .

That's about all of the exciting adventures for the week. Alisabeth got to play in the mud, I passed all of my tests with A's for the week and I actually began to understand cash flow statements and balance sheet accounts. Ah, it's getting scary, I feel like I'm beginning to comprehend accounting?!!!

Galusha (my accounting job here) is hiring their last intern for tax season this week. I have a friend up for the vote. I hope she gets it because she really wants it. She's been in several groups with me since I've been up here and each time I am really impressed at her level of understanding and preparation. I think they would be really impressed.

Oh, and for those of you who haven't yet received an invitation. I'm throwing a Pampered Chef party on the 20th of this month right before Thanksgiving. It's the perfect time to get your stoneware 20% off for your holiday baking! (I'm getting one of the large stone baking pans for $11 for hosting a show, so I couldn't pass it up!). If you want to see what they've got for the holidays I can send you an E-invitation so let me know.

Well, that's about the extend of our crazy week. Jason was able to help me out so much that I was almost completely stress free this week and it felt great. (Is it bad that I'm glad he got laid off?) Well, thanks for sharing this week with me. I love you all!

The Halloween Scene

This week's main event was Halloween. The ward did a trunk-or-treat right outside the apartments. Usually by now everything is covered with snow and the temperatures are in the twenties. This year is different. The school/church leaders have been praying for no snow because the auditorium still isn't closed to the elements and a lot of damage would happen if they weren't able to get it closed in.

Needless to say I was excited because no snow meant we could actually go trick-or-treating! We dressed up as Lois Lane, Clark Kent and a large and loud piece of Kryptonite (wearing her monkey leash).

A great time was had by all. We ended up decorating the Raybon's SUV and decked it out for the kids to climb into, but they were all too little so they didn't appreciate our blacklight and cobwebs :)

The rest of the week was a bit of a bore. School passed quickly and the work-load is getting up there, but it's nothing we can't handle.

Jason has been amazing at taking Alisabeth for long spurts so that I can get solid chunks of homework done.

He had a hard experience on Saturday. Just as he was packing up for the day (it was his Saturday to work). They pulled him aside and told him he'd been doing a great job, but they were going to have to let him go. Poor guy!

We haven't quite decided what the next step will be. It's an odd time because he starts up in January with school so he wasn't going to be working anyway, so that really only gives him 2 months, but not many people are hiring for that short of a time period. He's going to head back to the staffing service he was at before and see what they have available. If he can't find anything useful I'll probably pick up a few shifts of tutoring if there are any available. We both felt so blessed that we had followed the counsel re-given recently to save what we could because now we don't have to stress so much. We have enough for the necessities for a few months. God is good.

This week wasn't as exciting as some. We're still trying to decide about Thanksgiving. Now that Jason isn't working for them we may be able to hitch a ride with some friends to Boise and spend Thanksgiving with his aunt and uncle again. . . time will tell. Please vote and let us know what you think. . . :)