Happy Holidays!

Tips!

I have been occaisionally helping the Athletic Trainer for the Utah Flash. Tonight the referees left a $5 tip for Nate and I. The last time I got a tip was from a volleyball ref at the Junior Olympic Festival in SLC a few years ago and it was $20 for fixing his back. This time it was because I gave them water.

rivalry week

BYU won! Yippee!!! This is a picture of the 2 Utah players not tackling the winning touchdown.

Real Salt Lake

Even though the RSL had a losing season they were able to win the final. Congrats!

Star Trek

I would NEVER consider myself a Trekkie (even though I do love a good sci-fi tv show or movie), but I really do love the new Star Trek movie. Although was already a JJ Abrams fan from Alias, this totally tops them all! The dvd came out yesterday, so I had to buy it. Maybe I am becoming a Trekkie?

Healthcare vote

I saw this article after the bill was passed. I disagree with #'s 3, 9, and 10 because the homeopathic doctor I want to go to may not be covered under the "public option". Plus the USA is a free capital system, we don't want to be socialist, if you want to be a socialist go to Canada or Europe!

10 ways the House bill would change health care
By David Lightman, McClatchy Newspapers – Sat Nov 7, 4:57 pm ET
WASHINGTON — These are some of the changes in the way health insurance would work in the United States if the House bill were to become law:

1. Creates a government-run plan, or "public option," to offer insurance coverage to compete with private sector insurance companies.

2. Sets up health insurance "exchanges," or marketplaces, where consumers can easily compare coverage and rates.

3. Requires nearly everyone to obtain health insurance coverage starting in 2013.

4. Ends blanket exemption for insurers from anti-trust laws.

5. Provides federal financial help for lower and middle income consumers so they can obtain coverage.

6. Bars insurers from denying or limiting coverage because of pre-existing conditions.

7. Bars insurers from imposing lifetime limits on coverage.

8. Expands Medicaid coverage to more people.

9. Imposes a 5.4 percent surcharge on adjusted gross incomes of more than $500,000 for individuals and $1 million for joint filers.

10. Imposes penalties on people and businesses who fail to comply with the new law.

more birthday

This is my 5th anniversary of wearing a tiara for my Birthday, my Mom got this for my 30th and it is so much fun to have!

I wanted to make my own cake and do at least 4 layers. After watching the Food Network and Ace of Cakes I wanted to experiment, just a little.

I love rainbow chip icing, yummy!

Lost Symbol

I just finished reading Dan Brown's new book The Lost Symbol. It is a continuation of the Robert Langdon adventures. It was a little different with the addition of Masonic mysteries. I can understand why it took so long to write the book, with all the research he must have done. I highly suggest it to anyone who liked the other two books, but if you haven't read Angels and Demons and The Da Vinci Code read those first.



A couple of years ago an old roommate suggested I sign up for GoodReads to keep track of all the books that I read. I don't update it very often, but it is another fun free website to join.

What if George W. Bush had done that?

There is an article on Politico titled "What if George W. Bush had done that?" It is really interesting:

A four-hour stop in New Orleans, on his way to a $3 million fundraiser.
Snubbing the Dalai Lama.
Signing off on a secret deal with drug makers.
Freezing out a TV network.
Doing more fundraisers than the last president. More golf, too.
President Barack Obama has done all of those things — and more.
What’s remarkable is what hasn’t happened. These episodes haven’t become metaphors for Obama’s personal and political character — or consuming controversies that sidetracked the rest of his agenda.
It’s a sign that the media’s echo chamber can be a funny thing, prone to the vagaries of news judgment, and an illustration that, in politics, context is everything.
Conservatives look on with a mix of indignation and amazement and ask: Imagine the fuss if George W. Bush had done these things?
And quickly add, with a hint of jealousy: How does Obama get away with it?
“We have a joke about it. We’re going to start a website: IfBushHadDoneThat.com,” former Bush counselor Ed Gillespie said. “The watchdogs are curled up around his feet, sleeping soundly. ... There are countless examples: some silly, some serious.”
...Managing the press
When the Obama administration moved in recent weeks to isolate and disparage Fox News as a wing of the Republican Party, there were few immediate howls of outrage — even from Fox’s fellow journalists in the media.
Press defenders and First Amendment advocates who jumped on the Bush administration for using military analysts to shape war coverage reacted with a yawn to the White House’s announcement that it had deemed Fox to be not a “legitimate news organization.”
“Had I said about MSNBC what the Obama White House said about Fox, the media uproar would still be going on,” said Ari Fleischer, who served as Bush’s press secretary until 2003. “I instinctively would have known ... the media would have leapt to their feet to defend them. I’m shocked it’s not happening now.”
One press veteran agreed. “If George Bush had taken on MSNBC, what would have happened?” said Phil Bronstein, editor-at-large of the San Francisco Chronicle. “That’s one place you can point to a real difference in how I’d imagine Bush would be treated.”

There is more, so here is the link to read the whole article.

Birthday 2009

Ok, I will admit it is my 35th birthday today. I normally don’t have a panic attack about the fact I get to another age milestone, but this year is a little different. I knew this one was coming up and have been in denial for a while, but I just can’t avoid it. I really do like having Birthdays because you get cake, ice cream and presents, it’s an excuse to party, but not this year.
On July 18th, 1883 my great-grandmother, Madora Laverna Rogerson, was born (yes my great, great grandparents gave in and named her one of those weird Mormon combo names, except their names were Sarah and John, so how they got Madora is a mystery). In 1918, when Madora was 35, she finally told my great-grandfather to get his sheep shearing act together and marry her and a year later, at age 36, my Grandpa and his twin were born. Since I am not dating anyone worthy of marriage, then I will be breaking her record. Granted it is 2009 and not 1918, so I am not considered an OLD MAID yet, . . . maybe?

Julie/Julia project

I started reading the book the movie is based on, which is based on a blog. The real life person is named Julie Powell, here is her link. The story is she had a boring life, so her husband convinced her to write a blog about her experiences cooking all the recipes from Julia Child's Mastering the Art of French Cooking. My "beef" is that her family did not support her! She quotes her mother and the frequent saying is "your pushing yourself too hard". Oh please! Like it is really difficult to read a cook book then do the recipe! There is definately a difference between cooking and joining the Navy Seals, so what do you think is "pushing yourself too hard"? Maybe I am coming from a different perspective since I have a family that will support me in whatever crazy idea I come up with (yeah like, I want to go to England for my PhD). So I must say thanks to my family and friends who are supportive!!!
Plus I must say that French cooking requires LOTS of butter, lard, gelatin, and other versions of things that harden the arteries. I can't even fathom eating all of that after reading the book.

*I must warn you she swears frequently, so if you don't like swearing don't read it.

professor shirts

I always give my family a list of what I want for my birthday and Christmas in about Aug/Sept so they have time to look for what I want. I decided I want button up shirts since I am about to start my PhD and need to look like a professor. Mom and I were at the Park City outlets today and went to the J Crew store and found some great shirts (bought dark blue and purple), however the white version was see through. Same problem going to all the other stores. Does anyone know where I can get this shirt in white and not be see through?

outliers

I just finished reading Outliers. It was really good. It's all about why successful people are successful. I suggest you check it out!

Important new computer software

My friend Karen sent me this and I laughed too hard!

Dear Tech Support,

Last year I upgraded from Boyfriend to Husband and noticed a distinct slowdown in overall system performance -- particularly in the flower and jewellery applications, which operated flawlessly under Boyfriend. In addition, Husband uninstalled many other valuable programs, such as Romance and Personal Attention and then installed undesirable programs such as Rugby, Football, Sailing and Continuous TV. Conversation no longer runs, and Housecleaning simply crashes the system. I've tried running Nagging to fix these problems, but to no avail.

What can I do?

Signed, Desperate

.....................................................................
Dear Desperate,

First keep in mind, Boyfriend is an Entertainment Package, while Husband is an Operating System. Please enter the command: 'http: I Thought You Loved Me.html' and try to download Tears. Don't forget to install the Guilt update. If that application works as designed, Husband should then automatically run the applications Jewellery and Flowers. But remember, overuse of the above application can cause Husband to default to Grumpy Silence, Garden Shed or Beer. Beer is a very bad program that will download the Snoring Loudly Beta.

Whatever you do, DO NOT install Mother-in-law (it runs a virus in the background that will eventually seize control of all your system resources). Also, do not attempt to reinstall the Boyfriend program. These are unsupported applications and will crash Husband.

In summary, Husband is a great system, but it does have limited memory and cannot learn new applications quickly. It also tends to work better running one task at a time. You might consider buying additional software to improve memory and performance. We recommend Food and Hot Lingerie .
Good Luck,
Tech Support

itunes

I downloaded all my cd's to my itunes so that I don't have to take them with me to England. Then I got bored...so I have been checking out cd's from the library to download. I have been checking out at least 15 cd's a day from different categories, not done yet. I have over 3000 songs so far. It's fun to have new songs on my ipod. How many do you have?

General Conference Weekend

We went to Boise for Conference weekend to play with Caimon and Brylee. I didn't get a good picture of Caimon because he wouldn't sit still, that's 2-year-olds for ya, but I got some great ones of Brylee. She has grown sooooo much since I saw her two months ago, she is getting that baby chubbiness right before she starts to walk. She has these BIG eyes and she is quick to smile.


I also had the opportunity to visit with one of my freshman roommates on Saturday night while the men were at Priesthood session. We played monopoly with her son who had turned 8 that day. I hadn't played in a while, so it was fun playing with a kid. Thanks Em!

So my favorite part of Conference is that you can watch church on tv in your pajamas on the couch. Last week the Relief Society teacher said you shouldn't do that because it doesn't put you in the spirit to hear and feel what the General Authorities say. But then she went on to talk about family traditions and that is our family tradition. Do you agree or disagree?

crafty

My Mom goes through these crafty stages. In the '90's is was cross stictch. She got really good and made this really complicated Santa picture that took a while. She did knitting for a while to make Caimon a blanket. The list goes on, but currently she is doing jewelery making. I asked her to make me a red necklace to go with a dress I have, but she kept putting it off. So I did it for myself. Then I made a bracelet to match.


Well it was fun, so I went a little crazy and made a green and blue necklace with a bracelet.

What is your crafty habit right now?

I gave in...

I finally gave in and read the Harry Potter series. I was bored and did all 7 books in about 10 days. Everyone in the family has read them so I just borrowed their books. I have to give it up to J.K. Rowling, she does have a really good imagination to come up with this universe!

our poor teachers

In the new October 2009 Reader's Digest on page 18 there is a great article about teachers and students they do and don't like. My favorite comments were:

• We're sick of standardized testing and having to "teach to the test."
  
• Kids used to go out and play after school and resolve problems on their own. Now, with computers and TV, they lack the skills to communicate. They don't know how to get past hurt feelings without telling the teacher and having her fix it.
  
• Your child may be the center of your universe, but I have to share mine with 25 others. (When I taught PE I had 45-50 kids in a class)
  
• Please help us by turning off the texting feature on your child's phone during school hours.
  
• The students we remember are happy, respectful, and good-hearted, not necessarily the ones with the highest grades.

Healthcare

Pres. Obama spoke tonight about the new healthcare plan. Since I come from a healthcare profession I personally am against socialized medicine. My Grandma Jensen's brothers were doctors in Alberta when Canada switched over to socialized medicine. I remember that this was the only topic they would get angry about.

Back to tonight's address. Is President Obama the cheer captain? Is Congress a cheerleading team? What is up with all the standing up and clapping? I thought this was a speech in front of Congress not a football game! Pres. Obama said "time for bickering is over." When did this topic get debated? I haven't seen anything on CSPAN on the House or Senate floors. They are hiding something, what is it?

BYU vs Oklahoma

Yeah for BYU! It was almost as good as the BYU vs Miami game of 1990, the year Ty Detmer won the Heisman. But I can't believe that Oklahoma still has a chance at a BCS and national championship game even though they got beat by a #20 team! The BCS sucks!!! Go Boise State, Utah, BYU, and all the other underdogs who MAY have a chance at making to a BCS game, but only if you are undefeated!

Mom's Birthday!

I almost forgot to tell everyone that August 20th was the 29th anniversary of my Mom's 29th Birthday! My Mom works really hard. When I was in high school my Mom was working fulltime and going to school to finish her Bachelor's degree. She would schedule her classes around my soccer games so she could support me! My Mom's really good at not thinking I am a crazy person when I tell her of my newest adventure. So we went to see the movie Julie and Julia yesterday to celebrate, I highly suggest it!

reading

I've read two good books lately that I would suggest to everyone.
The first is Eat, Pray, Love by Elizabeth Gilbert. She moves to Italy, India, and Indonesia to learn pleasure, spirituality, and balance in life. I don't know what else to say, but go read it, Oprah liked it too.

The second is the biography of Henry Eyring called Mormon Scientist: The Life and Faith of Henry Eyring by one of his grandsons Henry J. Eyring. I really liked this book, especially since I am about to start my PhD. If anyone has questions about conflict between science/evolution and faith/creation you should really read this book because Professor Eyring is really good at not seeing a conflict. One of the things I didn't know was that he was at Princeton when all those other famous scientists, like Einstein, were doing that great research. I don't want give away anything, but I did learn a lot from this book, so go read it!

family christmas picture?

We took two good pictures in Waterton so my Mom can send out for the family christmas picture. Which one do you like best?

at Red Rock? (of course we'll photoshop out the stroller)

at the PW?

summer

So this summer was busy: moving back to utah, girls camp in cali, 4th in boise, cheer camps in boise and oregon, vacation in waterton, and american fork football. I am finally chillin' waiting to find out when I get to move to england.

Just one note about cheer camps; I happen to be in both Boise and Eugene when they were having heat waves. (Yeah, it was really hot this summer and I have the farmer's tan to prove it!) When I was in Eugene I took Denae's advice and went to this ice cream shop near Univ of Oregon campus. It was delicious! If you are in Eugene you must go!

I have put up pictures of our family vacation to Waterton on facebook, but these pictures are my favorites. We haven't been to Waterton since 2001, so we were really excited to go. For those of you who don't know this is Waterton Lakes National Park in southern Alberta, Canada. My Grandma Jensen grew up here and my Mom spent every summer here growing up too. Uncle Roy and Aunt Donna still have a cabin in the park. If you have never been here I suggest you go, especially if you like the outdoors, there is just too many things to do.

At the Prince of Wales hotel. Caimon has learned to love throwing rocks, especially in the water.

I got this great goofy laugh of Brylee's.

Animals have the right of way in Waterton. There were A LOT of deer near our hotel.

Corey took this picture right after I took the picture above. I love how we are both looking in opposite directions!

This is the trail to Bertha Falls. It was a beautiful misty day.

Yeah that's me covered up because it was raining on the way up to Bear's Hump. Corey and I were suppose to have a contest to see who could get to the top the fastest, but we ended up waiting for my Dad at several points because he is old (he'll be 60 in November) and we didn't want him to die on the way up. Bear's Hump is only .9 miles, but it is EXTREMELY steep and switch backs the whole way. As you can see they have fixed the trail so it is easier to do the switch backs. On the way back down (yeah that's a song), I was ahead of everyone and when I was almost at the end there was a clearing and I saw a baby bear. Normally that would just be cute, but in Waterton you have to look out for the MOM. I was too scared to do anything but stand and wait for the bear to go further into the trees. When I was there long enough to realize the Mom was not around and not going to kill me I hurried to the end to get to the bathroom! Sorry I didn't take a picture of that, but it was a tense moment.

favorite quotes... for now

I started reading eat pray love by Elizabeth Gilbert. My favorite quote so far is on page 95, "I don't even have an address, and that's kinda of a crime against normality at this ripe old age of thrity-four."

I saw a T-shirt in the Sea-Tac airport that said, "Those who wander may not be lost."

Both are true for me right now as I am waiting to find out if I get a visa. And I am 34!

Natural Highs

My cousin Debbie sent me this email, so I thought I would post it instead of forwarding it.

Natural Highs Please make sure you forward this back to me . . . You'll see why at the end.. Think about them one at a time before going on to the next one. It Does Make You Feel Good, especially the thought at the end of #44.

1. Falling in LOVE.
2. Laughing so hard your face hurts.
3. A hot shower.
4. No lines at the supermarket.
5. A special glance.
6. Getting mail.
7. Taking a drive on a pretty road.
8. Hearing your favorite song on the radio.
9. Lying in bed listening to the rain outside.
10. Hot towels fresh out of the dryer.
11. Chocolate milkshake (vanilla or strawberry ).
12. A bubble bath.
13. Giggling.
14. A good conversation.
15. The beach.
16. Finding a 20 dollar bill in your coat from last winter.
17. Laughing at yourself.
18. Looking into their eyes and knowing they LOVE you
19. Midnight phone calls that last for hours.
20. Running through sprinklers.
21. Laughing for absolutely no reason at all.
22. Having someone tell you that you're beautiful.
23. Laughing at an inside joke with FRIENDS
24. Accidentally overhearing someone say something nice about you.
25. Waking up and realizing you still have a few hours left to sleep.
26. Your first kiss (the very first).
27. Making new friends or spending time with old ones.
28. Playing with a new puppy.
29. Having someone play with your hair.
30. Sweet dreams.
31. Hot chocolate.
32. Road trips with friends.
33. Swinging on swings.
34. Making eye contact with a cute stranger.
35. Making chocolate chip cookies.
36. Having your friends send you homemade cookies.
37. Holding hands with someone you care about.
38. Running into an old friend and realizing that some things (good or bad) never change.
39. Watching the expression on someone's face as they open a much desired present from you.
40. Watching the sunrise.
41. Getting out of bed every morning and being grateful for another beautiful day.
42. Knowing that somebody misses you.
43. Getting a HUG from someone you care about deeply.
44. Knowing you've done the right thing, no matter what other people think.

Pass this on These Natural Highs to in the Next Half Hour and Something Fantastic Will Happen to You in the Next Few Hours.

The Big Park

There is the AMAZING park next to Corey and Sara's house. I took pictures and if your town needs ideas for a park, they should do this!

This is part of the big toy.

This is the water area.

The ground has this gymnastics type of bouncy, rubberized track stuff. They even have designs in the flooring like dophins, hopscotch, and other designs.

The big toy.

The rock climbing area, of course the rocks are small/kidsize.

The small toy.

The music area.

The swing area.

Plus there is lots of grass surrounding it for soccer and baseball fields.

The last couple of weeks

I have been in Boise the last couple of weeks. We originally went up to go to Brylee's blessing, which happened to be over 4th of July weekend. Since I haven't seen the kiddos since Thanksgiving I decided to stay and play until I had to work for a week for this Cheerleading company at Boise State (yes the school with the blue grass football field). Sara went back to work from maternity leave, so I got Caimon all to myself one day. It was just fun to be around my adorable niece and nephew, it was hard to go back to work without constantly talking about them. I did two camps, one was for the dance/drill teams and the other cheer and dance. Since the cheerleaders were out in the HOT sun I had a couple of girls with heat illness, thank heavens they got better. But now I am back in Provo, finally caught up on all the sleep. So here are some fun pictures I took while in Boise.



Caimon wanted his toes painted like mine, and then he wanted Brylee's toes painted too. I only did his big toe, because I knew my brother would be annoyed that his son had painted toe nails.

Caimon layed down next to Brylee, so we took pictures.

At the Big Park

Ok, it didn't turn out well, but that's me and Brylee.

She is so cute. This was when Corey and Sara dropped me off at BSU for work.

Caimon was mad that I was leaving. It was too cute!

Caimon is so smart!

My completely adorable nephew has learned how to use electronics. I was taking him for a ride in the wagon and let him hold my camera when I turned around and saw that he had undid the velcro, pulled out the camera from it's case, turned it on, then snapped some pictures. Does everyone's two-year-olds know how to figure electronics out?

Ok, he doesn't know how to aim yet,

or keep his fingers out of the lens.

4th weekend

I will post more pictures and explanations later, but I thought ya'll should get a sneak peak of what I have been up to the last couple of days. This picture is of Brylee's blessing day. Just the cutest niece!

Hiking the Y

Today I hiked to the Y. My family moved to Provo, UT when I was 10 years old and I have never hiked the Y, don't ask me why? So I finally did it.

Here is the map of the trail. This is not for the faint of heart. The trail is VERY steep!

My parents house is around this bend.

That is what the Provo Temple looks like from the Y.

Only in Utah would you find two LDS chapels that close to each other.

More Girls Camp

These are pictures of me falling into the river. My Mom made me post these so everyone could laugh!

Yep, they are just watching me fall into the river!

It was actually nice to get all wet in the cold water. Waterton here we come!