oh dear

Dear Spring,

Thank you for gracing us with your presence. We've missed you. Thank you for bringing back the warmth and the beauty into life. I wish you could stay forever.




Dear D.C.,

Thank you for always having things for us to do and see. Riley especially liked being a tourist and checking out the FDR memorial. However, she was not very fond of the gigantor replica of FDR's scotty dog and probably has nightmares about him. Don't worry though, we bribed her with treats in order to snap a picture. She'll thank us later. Also, thank you for the beautiful cherry blossoms. Unfortunately, we missed their peak but we got to see some nonetheless.

Dear girl walking up the stairs, thanks for ruining our picture.
(I took another one but Riley is cuter in this one.)

(The pictures below are Arlington Cemetery which we were able to go see with Jeff's aunt, Cheryl, when she came to visit D.C. in March)

Dear mom and dad,

Thank you for putting up with our nut of a dog when we come to visit. I'm not really sure why she loses control (of her bladder) when she sees new people. She just wants to be loved by everyone. She can be sane at times, I promise (see picture on right below).



p.s. Can you tell we love our dog? She's basically our child (bladder control problems, nuttiness and all).

future plans

Who would've thought?

Jeff got into the MPH, Hospital Administration program for round 2 of grad school. He'll graduate with his master's in athletic administration this spring.

He was also chosen to be a member of the President's Pride which is a "student service/honorary organization unique to East Tennessee State University" (quoted from ETSU's website). Over 100 people are nominated, 50 go on to interview and 25 are chosen.

This weekend he'll be headed to Cincinnati, Ohio for the first round of the NCAA tournament with the women's basketball team cause he's been such a hard working grad assistant. Go Bucs!

I'm so proud of him and all he has accomplished!

(p.s. How cute is this picture?)

I got into ETSU's accelerating nursing program for round 2 of my bachelor's.
(no comments on the picture please. yes, this is me, not a boy in pink overalls)

We'll both (hopefully) be graduating in December 2011. There is light at the end of the tunnel!
Hallelujah.

Riley has been accepted into a treatment program for hound dogs with ADHD and anxiety disorders. Do they make Xanax for dogs? Cause I think they should. Don't be fooled by this picture.

as usual

Well, here we are in the cold dreary months of winter. I’ve decided that I don’t particularly care for cold weather, and what I really mean by that is that I could really just do without the whole dadgum season all together. You know how some people like to have all four seasons and can't wait for colder weather when summer is blazing hot and vice versa? Yeah, I’ve come to the conclusion that I am not one of those people. The thing I do like about Tennessee is that we have days that are in the 50s interspersed among the freezing cold days. Where can we live that has three out of the four seasons? Cause I like the other three just fine.

Anyway, we haven’t done anything blog worthy for awhile, just the same ol’, same ol’.

Jeff has applied to the MPH program; he is finishing up his master’s in sports admin and is working hard as usual.

Lynn has applied to nursing school; she is working and trying not to tear her hair out as usual.

Riley is crazy as usual.

And it’s flippin cold outside.

But these two can always brighten a dreary day. A dog really is a man's best friend...right after his wife of course.

home for the holidays

We spent Christmas this year in Northern Virginia (or NOVA as some locals like to call it, but we try to refrain from using the acronym too much) with part of my family. Christmas isn't quite the same with a bunch of adults and we missed my siblings who have little kids, but I'm glad we got to spend it with family nonetheless.

We started out our visit with a trip to the Kennedy Center to listen to the Washington Chorus. Even though I was hacking up a lung (which I seem to have been quite a bit this year...I blame the nursery kids), it was a wonderful concert and a great way to get in the Christmas spirit.

We headed out to D.C. the next day and went to the Holocaust Museum. I just cannot understand how any human being could think it's okay to do what they did to people. How did they sleep at night? If you ever get a chance to go to D.C., I would definitely recommend this museum, just give yourself plenty of time as there is lots to read and take in.

We then ventured out to Ben's Chili Bowl for some tasty chili.

We celebrated Sam's quarter-of-a-century birthday. If you ever need a haircut and you happen to be in the Rockville area, Sam will hook you up...even though she has never been to hair school nor does she do it as a profession.

And we topped off our stay with a trip to the Washington D.C. temple.

I'm not quite sure how it got to be 2010 but here we are. Hope you all had a great holiday season and here's to another year and new adventures (to warm places!).

Attempt at craftiness

We might have been a little ambitious in our first attempt at craftiness but I should probably tell you that this one little stocking took us all night to make, and by us I mean both Jeff and I because if I had tried to do it myself it would have taken twice, if not three times, as long to do. Maybe perfectionists (on the verge of OCD) aren't meant to be crafty. I'm the one sitting there rereading the instructions a million times and cutting exactly on the line and wanting my stitches to be perfectly straight (which is dang hard to do by the way, especially on that crown part, as you can tell). And Jeff's sitting there saying just do it! He's the one who doesn't even pin the fabric together or read the instructions while I'm saying wait, wait, wait! And of course it turns out just fine. Yes, my husband can cook AND sew. He's very handy and multi-talented really. I won't tell you how long it took just to figure out that dang bobbin (thank you YouTube). Even though it took us forever to do, I think it turned out pretty good for a first attempt at being crafty, and we didn't even have to take anything apart or redo anything (I probably would have if was just me doing it).

Needless to say, we haven't really touched the sewing machine since. I got the idea from our friend Erin's blog (who is crafty). Here's the tutorial if you'd like to try it, just don't tell me how long it takes you to complete. We left off a couple things as you can see, but if I can barely sew in a straight line do you really expect me to know how to applique (or do it in less than a matter of hours)? I didn't think so. Maybe I should try something easier next time, something that only involves sewing in straight lines.



As a side note, you might be wondering why we chose UT fabric as neither of us attend UT. Well, we made this one for our nut of a dog cause the University of Tennessee's mascot looks like her, although she'd rather eat it than anything else (trust me, she already tried). UT's mascot is a Bluetick Coonhound and Riley is a Treeing Walker Coonhound, pretty close though.

Grateful

As Thanksgiving has come and gone I, like many others, have reflected on the things that I am most thankful and grateful for. I try to keep a running list in my head of my blessings at all times and I try to remember that I have it pretty dang good compared to many others, but for some reason it’s so much easier to think of the things you don’t like or don’t have. It’s so easy to forget how blessed we really are as we live in this materialistic world where self-esteem and self-worth are dependent on worldly possessions.

This is a short list of a few of the things that I’m most grateful for in my life right now:



I’m grateful for the almost 4 years Jeff and I have had together, just the two of us, even though it’s not what we had planned. Come what may and love it, right? (Easier said than done in some instances, unfortunately.) Who knows if, when or how we will have children, but for now it’s just Jeff and I and our crazy dog trying to figure life out.

I am grateful to be a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints and for the knowledge that I have that I am a child of God and that He knows me and loves me. I’m also grateful for the atonement of Jesus Christ and what that means for me personally.




I am grateful to have a family who loves me and supports me, has provided me with more than I could ever need or want growing up, has taught me how to be a good person and who has given me opportunities to see the world. I’m also grateful for a second family who has welcomed me with open arms as a second daughter.

I am grateful for the simple necessities that we take for granted every day: clean water to drink, running water, electricity, food to eat, a place to live, heat and air conditioning, clothes, shoes, etc.

I am grateful to be citizen of a country that believes in life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.

I am grateful for a job that helps me to provide the necessities stated above.

I am grateful for my education and parents who taught me the importance of education.



I am grateful for a husband who loves me and treats me well and wants the best for us and our future. I’m grateful for all that he does to support me and to provide for us. I’m grateful that we can laugh together and that we can enjoy life together.

in case you were wondering...

what we've been up to, I've decided to update you. And if you haven't been wondering what we've been up to, well then why the heck are you reading this blog?

Okay, does this look like it says EFF to anyone else? helloo, there is a J in there. And p.s., if you don't think that's a cute picture then something's not right with you. seriously.

Jeff is working hard as usual. He's not only taking his athletic admin classes but also taking some public health classes as well. Why, you ask? Because Jeff has decided to become an uber master and get a second master's degree in public health. Why, you ask? Because he's awesome like that. On top of his full load of classes, Jeff has his graduate assistantship with the women's basketball team helping with marketing and getting fans out to the games (which we all know is a difficult task for women's basketball, let's be honest). And since the season hasn't started yet, even though he's working on getting prepared for the season, they have him working at the soccer games doing the scoreboard and announcing. AND on top of that he's babysitting kids in a study hall two nights a week AND mentoring a couple of student athletes. I know what you're thinking, what a stud. Yes, I know.

Lynn is still typing away and sitting in front of the computer for 32 hours a week. 32 hours, you ask? Yes, you read that right. Lynn cut down on her hours because she was getting to the point where she was about to march right over to the hospital, track down the doctors that seem to think it's okay to talk likethisandmumbleandwhisperandchewgumatthesametime while trying to pronounce words like esophagogastroduodenoscopy and give them a piece of her mind. It's not a pharnix, it's a pharynx. It's not a larnix, it's a larynx. It's not a sontometer, it's a centimeter. And iller and prescriptionally are NOT words!! Gosh, I wish I had the chutzpah (yes, I just said chutzpah) to do that. But we all know that wasn't going to happen, so I cut back on my hours for my sanity...and Jeff's. Lynn has also decided to apply to nursing school yet again in February. Let's face it people, if she doesn't get in this time she might as well take at as a hint that it's just not meant to be. So stay tuned for that one. She has also decided to try and become crafty and finally figured out how to thread her sewing machine this morning! We'll see how that goes. ha!

Well, now that you're updated with our lives I'm sure you feel that your day is complete. Stay tuned because this might all change tomorrow.

p.s. in case you were wondering about Riley Jo, she's as crazy as ever. we got a membership to the dog park and she is in dog heaven...if only there were paper towels, peanut butter and cardboard there, she'd never want to come home.

POST EDIT: Jeff informed me that I forgot to mention that he is also applying to get a business certificate (which is basically the core classes for an MBA...so he really is an uber master) and also gives baseball lessons on the side. I can't even keep up with all the stuff this guy does. Holy moly.