basketball, jobs, and puppies

I know, I know, it's winter in the Volunteer State now. We've had a mixture of really nice days in the 60s and very cold days where it snows but rarely sticks.

I know I've been slacking on updating the blog, but every time I log in to start a new post I just don't feel like writing anything and my mind glazes over. That could be due to the fact that I have nothing to write about because our days have been like this:

Jeff goes to school/studies for tests, does well on tests and school stuff (yay Jeff!).

Lynn tries to look for a job anywhere from Target to medical transcription to whatever the heck you want to give her (okay, maybe not whatever), applies for jobs, doesn't hear anything about jobs, resumes sitting on couch watching Ellen and Oprah (the "man" who has woman parts is having another baby. What is this world coming to?). We blame the economy (for me not getting job, not for the man/woman having a baby)...or my lack of experience, but isn't the economy a better excuse?

Jeff and Lynn occassionally take trips to the animal shelter where Lynn tries to make sad faces at Jeff so he will let her get a puppy. These attempts are in vain because Jeff is the practical one and what is that you say? Puppies cost money? Dang. But they're so cute.

Here's how things are shaping up for next semester:

Jeff got a graduate assistantship (school paid for PLUS a stipend. hooray!) with the....wait for it....WOMEN'S BASKETBALL TEAM. That's right, I said women. I think that is what one would call karma. Jeff is already working hard lining up promotional things for said team even though he doesn't get paid until next semester.

After going into the HR department of the hospital system here and being told she didn't get the last medical transcription job she applied for (in SEPTEMBER), Lynn got a call this morning telling her they want to interview her for the job she didn't get. Weird. She will be working on her interview skills and hoping they called the right person. [Insert prayers here]

The jury is still out on the puppy situation. [Insert sad looks here]

p.s. How is Christmas next week? When did that happen? That's right, Ellen is doing 12 days of giveaways and Oprah already had her favorite things show (they were economy friendly this year...because she has to worry about how she spends her billions). Happy holidays!

Fall in the Volunteer State

It's true, fall in Tennessee is beautiful. The reds, oranges, and yellows cover the rolling landscape, and when the sun shines through the leaves the colors are even more awesome.

Jeff took these pictures right outside our apartment. Doesn't the orange tree look like it's on fire? I love it.

p.s. It's been in the 70s here. Don't be too jealous.

Til we meet again

She was a fiesty woman with a lot of love and a lot of faith.

She had a curiosity towards angels, and now she is one of them.

When I feel sad about not seeing her again on earth, I think about the many family members that greeted her as she entered the spirit world--her husband, son, brothers and sister, parents--and the happiness she would have felt at seeing all of them. I am grateful that she never has to be alone again.

She was very particular about how things were done. This used to really frustrate me, but as I got older I learned to laugh along with her idiosyncrasies and I loved her for them.

This past Christmas was special as our whole family was together. When she grumbled about the salad dressing or something of the sort, Jeff and I would just look at each other and we would start to laugh, and she would start to chuckle too with her characteristic half smile. I think she realized she was being silly at times.

We're grateful that she had a sharp mind her whole life, as well as good health.

I look forward to seeing her again one day and telling my children about their great-grandma Vera.

happenings

"Miss Lynn, are you married?"

"Yup, I am."

"Do you wanna have kids?"

"Sure I do."

"Well, maybe after this week you won't want to have kids anymore!"

Jeff and I were asked by a family in our ward (our congregation at church) to take care of their kids (ages 5 and 8) for most of the week while they were both out of town. Jeff has class most nights of the week so it was basically me and the kiddos running around from one place to the next. Days go by pretty fast when you're doing homework, getting snacks, practicing piano, practicing spelling words, going to karate, and gymnastics, and scouts, fitting dinner in there somewhere, getting ready for bed, and still trying to get some fun time in. Holy cow.

We had a fun time though and both kids were great aside from the occasional bickering (that's what brothers and sisters are for after all) and one pee incident where Shelby was peed on by a neighbor's dog (weird, I know). I love hearing the things that come out of kids' mouths (most of the time). Where do they come up with some of these things? Shelby is dying to have a pink mini van when she gets older--she's going to buy it at a place that only sells pink mini vans (duh)--and Matt was talking about how he's got a date for the school dance (he's in second grade) and all the cheerleaders already have dates so it's just too bad for the guys who are still looking for dates. It's amazing to me how perceptive kids are and how much they really catch on when you don't think they're listening or you don't think they'll understand what you're talking about in the first place (see conversation above--he had to have gotten that from something an adult said).

On another note, as you can probably tell I've had a little bit of blogger's block recently. We haven't really done too much that has been blog worthy. It's kind of hard to find something to write on a daily basis when you do the same things every day, unless you have kids cause they're a constant source of entertainment and stories. I'll do my best to keep the blog interesting.

We did go to see some of the Dragon Boat Races a few weeks ago which is a fundraiser for the Children's Hospital. It was blazing hot that day with 90% humidity so we didn't stay too long, but at least you have some pictures to look at right?

parents weekend

My parents decided to bring the mini van, the bikes, and some of my stuff (hallelujah we have a microwave) down to Johnson City for a visit. So my parents, Lance, Ariel, Jeff, and I all piled into Lance's truck, strapped the bikes into the back, and headed up to the Virginia Creeper Trail which is a biking/hiking/horse trail that goes from Whitetop, VA to Abingdon, VA. It hooks up with the Appalachian Trail (which goes from Maine to Georgia) at one point too. We cheated a little bit and took a shuttle up to Whitetop and rode mostly downhill to Damascus (about 20 miles) instead of biking round trip or going all the way to Abingdon. We had one flat tire along the way but actually ended up making great time even with Lance and Jeff biking back and forth from a restaurant that had a pump to get it fixed (my mom is one fast speed walker).
I stole this one from your blog Ariel (thanks!)

Later on in the weekend Jeff and Lance took on my parents in tennis. I'm still trying to figure out the whole game, set, match thing. What kind of scoring goes 0, 15, 30, 40 (did someone forget how to count by fifteens)? And then they throw in the words love, all, deuce, and ad in/ad out. And it's definitely harder than it looks, but isn't that how it is with all sports? We also enjoyed some homemade pizza courtesy of the master chef Jeff. So as you can tell, we had a great weekend! We recently ordered some bikes, so stay tuned for more biking adventures.

guaranteed to make you smile

Jeff and I both have some super cute (when talking about nieces and nephews it's completely appropriate/acceptable to use the words super cute) nieces and nephews. We were really lucky to live near Jeff's sister and my brother in Utah. Before we left I happened to get some cute pictures (please excuse the bad red eye reducer). If you don't smile when you look at these then there's something wrong with you.

The newest addition to the family

And I had to include a picture of my sister's little girl, Anika, cause she's super cute. They live all the way in Illinois, and we wish we got to see them more often.

We made it!

We are alive and in Tennessee! I know all of our avid readers were starting to get worried (hi mom!). We never want to move ever again. Moving all of our stuff in and out of trucks and garages and apartments over and over didn't help that feeling. Where did we get all of this stuff!? We seem to have added even more stuff since we arrived...ugh. We left Utah on Thursday the 14th and made it to Johnson City on Saturday just in time to move our junk from our cars into our apartment and settle down on Lance and Ariel's (our across the hall neighbors...hopefully they're not tired of us yet :)) couch to watch Michael Phelps win his eighth gold (we timed our arrival for this). Man that guy's ridiculous. Did you watch the Olympics? Did you watch Usain Bolt blow everyone away? I'm trying to get Jeff to agree to go to London in 2012.

Anyway, we've been really busy trying to get settled. Jeff started school yesterday and I've been trying to find a job (don't ask). So you know how Jeff's scholarship requires him to teach some activity courses? Well...

Yep, he's teaching a general conditioning class AND...bowling! So we like to joke that Jeff quit his job at the Health Department to bowl. We won't mention that he hasn't bowled for years, but I'm sure he's still great at it.

Photos of our adventure:

Goodbye basement apartment

Goodbye lab where Jeff and I met

Hello gas prices (this was more than 70 cents cheaper than Utah's gas prices when we left)!

This is the field where Jeff played summer ball in Nevada (pronounced nuh-vay-duh), Missouri

And this is the gym in Nevada with the crooked stairs

This is the road to get to Ammon and Marlene's house (his host family)

Here are Ammon and Marlene. They're hilarious. This is where we picked up the word dagum, and lucky for us they use it here in Tennessee too.

Jeff is pretty handy. This was our makeshift shower curtain--trash bags and packing tape.

I don't really have any pictures of the area yet, but it's beautiful and green out here with all the rolling hills and trees. It's going to take a little while to really know our way around since there's no grid system here like Utah. We're practicing our southern accents so we can understand people better. Well dagum, y'all come back now, y'hear.