Basketball. Baaaasketbaaaaall. After not having really touched a basketball since playing church ball for Young Womens, I'm surprising myself how much I loooove this game. What? I surprise myself about myself? Yes. What other surprises lay lurking in some new, scary experience? I signed up to play for our ward team and felt like throwing up because I so wanted to play but was scared to eat crow week after week---eating crow as in suffer through self-inflicted humiliation, not as in enjoying a rare delicacy. Before each game my stomach was in my throat. But I found once the ball was in play I couldn't get enough. I even dream about playing. Weird. In a huge way I feel a loss for not playing in high school, or some other competitive venue like a city league. Bon Voyage to lost aspirations we didn't know we had, right?

As a result of the seemingly innocent church ball venture, I've been absorbed in March Madness and was angry (I'm not proud of this) during the OSU/Florida game. Angry? It's just a game I kept telling myself. I felt sincere emotion we were getting whooped, again! ARRGGGG!!! Fortunately I was working out while watching and could put all the building energy into something worthwhile otherwise something would have been broken in our home. Like I said, I'm not proud of this, but it's the truth.

At this point the question must be asked, "Where did the other Jessica go?" Hmmm...

Here are a few other things you may not know about me:
1. I take a vitamin every day.
2. My favorite is purple flavored monkey shaped ones although every now and then I like an orange lion.
3. I'm afraid being a night owl is an incurable condition taking years off my life.
4. I wish I could drink straight cream and whole milk, but don't want to take any more years off my life. I find a happy medium in 1% milk.
5. I'd really like to live to be 100---as long as it's a healthy, happy, fulfilling 100.
6. My last two semesters in college before my student teaching I completed 43 credit hours. It involved 1 independent study course and more than a little smooth talking/begging/buttering up to get registered for them.
7. I graduated with a 3.7 GPA.
8. That year doesn't make the "top 25 years of my life" list.
9. I'm 25 years old.
10. I'm so grateful for my education. It's opened doors, provided an income through unanticipated ways, and brightened dull moments in life.
11. My husband and I met while working for the Boy Scouts.
12. It's my opinion scout uniforms can be very attractive.
13. I'm believe good things happen and prayers are answered when you are not actively searching for them.
14. I thrive on good friends.
15. I'm heartbroken to be leaving so many gems-of-a-friend and am worried I'll never find any so true as I've had here.
16. I'm already looking forward to Christmas cards year after year following each other's lives.
17. Our favorite saying when walking out the door is, "Out the door dinosaur!" And Natalie calls me "big dinosaur" followed by "Give a hug ladybug."
18. My family saying growing up when we drove into the driveway was "Home again, home again, jiggity jig. Home again, home again, like a fat pig." Pretty much every time it seems like.



Well, that's all for now! Goodnight!!!!

so simple

Last August I set a goal...scratch that...I wanted something more from life, so we made a minor, but important change in how our family does things. Let's see...how do I write this with out sounding trite or just plain odd? Okay, here's the thing. I want what everyone else wants. And, I want it bad. I want a great family, close knit, long term. I want my children to grow up happy, secure, and irresistibly sure of life. Soooo....how do you do that? Certainly, there's no right way, but here's one small, simple thing that I think just might make a big impact on this great and mighty aspiration. Family Home Evening. There, I said it. Sound trite? I hope not because I think we've only missed one week since August, and my testimony of this principle is getting stronger with each week and the only reason why I'm writing about this is because tonight I felt the strength in doing. I'm kinda close to tears at this point because we are giving guides and if we follow them, good things happen. Try having FHE if you don't already. Put it to the test. Make it work for you and yours. I can't tell you how incredibly simple FHE is at our house. We try to make it fun and powerpacked (not a big ordeal). We welcome everyone, we sing, we pray, we have a lesson of sorts that usually involves very simple props (I use that picture packet from the Distribution Center tons) and a point relevant to what our family needs at the time like once we read a kid's book about manners and then talked about please and thank you. We sometimes write briefly in our journals. One particularly difficult Monday I turned on various types of music, pulled out everything noisy and we rocked out. Thrown in there was a scripture from D&C about songs of our heart. Another particularly difficult Monday when I wanted to just skip it, we plopped some already made brownies that my waist did not need in my house anymore on some paper plates, had a little talk about sharing with a neighbors, and went for a walk to pass out brownies. Something amazing has happened with such a simple routine: I've found other efforts being magnified. I genuinely feel peace and meaningful purpose. Granted, it's certainly a combination of factors, but I can't minimize the importance of this one.

Tonight I pulled out 5 or 6 prints related to Easter---Christ's burial, the tomb, the resurrection, etc. I told the story very simply. And retold it and retold it. A certain three year old was thinking hard. In her prayer tonight she something a little indiscernible about being able to live again together.
We have a few left over tidbits we created from our time spent as primary teachers such as a silly cut out sun we use when singing "Jesus Wants Me For A Sunbeam" and is basically an open circle with little rays attached so you can see your face through the center then we take turns putting it in front of our face while singing. Silly. But, hilarious to the 8 month old in our house. Good times.
I really hope this doesn't come across as huffy, but I just felt so strongly to share.

we simply could not remain indoors

I have traces of dirt in my toenails and pebbles strewn hither and yon in my home. The first due to the annual rite of passage preparing ground for planting, the latter as a natural result of another rite of passage because Natalie is fanatical about small rocks which she brings home from every place imaginable and leaves for the rest of us, vacuum included, to rediscover. Does every person at some point in his or her life find rocks fascinating? Why is that? Rocks. Rocks. I'm still trying to wrap my brain around that word.
Perfect day. Warm, breezy, long, full of all the good life has to offer.

I love you beary much

Look mom, it's done!!! This is the first "real" quilt. The fabric has been bought for years and "aging" properly, in August my mom taught me the basics of sTriP quilting and helped me do the front log cabin pattern and the back was left over strips bordering a cream colored flannel, and finally a few weeks ago I bound it. Hooray! Feels good to finish this project. Very warm, very fuzzy, very "I love you!" You probably can't see the bear fabric very well, but it has little crazy little bears/hearts/phrases like "bear hug" and "I love you beary much". My grandma showed me how to embroider letters and flowers, so randomly over the quilt top are flowers, hearts, the word love. It fits Nat's toddler bed perfect. Here are some close ups.

grand day out...in the sandbox

My what big tears you have! This is his reaction to me pulling out a fist full of sand from his mouth. No sympathy from dear mom. Fortunately, he has a empathetic sister who tries to console him with a giraffe.

Actually, I'm not completely heartless. I did finally scoop him up, but kept my camera on and snapped away so I could capture this:

Can you see his single tear ready to drip off his cheek.

In the end it was the giraffe that wiped away those tears.