- I'm grateful for every time that I don't have to plan out and make every part of a meal. This week has been really nice because I went home and my mom cooked a yummy meal for our family, I just got home from a really good dinner group that I didn't have to plan, and I attended two meetings for work that included lunch so I didn't have to pack my lunch for the day. It is such a service when others take care of meals and I don't have to worry about when, or what we're going to eat.
- I'm also grateful for friends and family. My brother and his family were visiting from Colorado this week and it was nice to see and talk to them again. It's a nice change of pace from school and work to spend time with family. I'm also grateful to have great visiting teachers and a companion that have become some good friends to me through visiting teaching. I love talking to Jason, but it's also fun to talk and interact with other girls. My friend Sara also indulged me by playing Ping Pong this week. We're pretty evenly matched. She won the first game, I won the second, but she won the third. That means that we'll have to have a rematch soon. :)
- I'm grateful that I like my job. My job is really pretty interesting to me. I feel like it's meaningful and it doesn't cause me a lot of stress like some of my other jobs. It pays well enough for what we need right now and keeps me busy since Jason is so busy with school.
- I'm grateful for good health. I feel like I am really blessed with good health. I rarely get sick and have plenty of energy for a day's worth of activities. Jason got a cold this weekend and he didn't feel very well over the weekend. It just makes life so much easier when you're not thinking about the pain and discomfort you're feeling. Fortunately, Jason recovered pretty quickly from his cold.
- I'm grateful for how often the Lord helps things to work out smoothly and blesses us with little things that are important to us although they may seem small to other people. I am trying to renew my teaching license and had to get my fingerprints taken for a background check. I decided I needed to take care of it this week and knew that it would probably be a big ordeal trying to fit it into my schedule and get the right forms to the right people, etc. Well, it ended up being a really easy process that didn't take much time at all because after some quick checking, I found out that they do fingerprinting in my college and I was headed there that afternoon anyway. A process that could have easily taken 2 hours only took an extra 15 min. in my day. A simple thing, but I count it as a blessing.
- I'm also very grateful for a very loving husband. Jason is very altruistic. He may tell you that he has a harder time seeing things from someone else's perspective, but that doesn't stop him from thinking about others and what he can do to help them. Since I am married to him, I am often the benefactor of his service, although whenever he is around other people, he is often thinking of ways to help and volunteering for whatever is needed whether that need is made explicit or remains unspoken. I am very grateful to be married to someone striving to be so unselfish and kind.
Sunday, March 21, 2010
Gratitude
Jason and I were just talking about how we need to be more grateful for our blessings and the little services that other people do for us every day, so this post will be dedicated to expressing some of those little things I'm grateful for.
Sunday, March 7, 2010
Racquetball Championship and other Sports
We played in the Racquetball Intramural Championship game this week. I was kind of excited because we've had pretty easy games this whole tournament and I wanted to get a free t-shirt for winning the tournament. Well, we played Tues. night against a worthy opponent. The other team played well--well, at least the boy did. We lost a game, won a game, and then barely lost in the third game 7-11. Since we hadn't lost any games in the tournament and it was double elimination, we played the same team on Thursday. Both Jason and I were pretty sure we could beat the other team. Unfortunately, we were rushed that night and didn't have a lot of time to warm-up and mentally prepare. As a result, we lost the first two games. Right after the games, I asked them if they just wanted to play one more game for fun. They agreed, and now that we were both relaxed and warmed-up, we beat them 15-5. At least we walked out of there with our pride, if not with free t-shirts!
Saturday afternoon I went to the bridal shower of my good friend April. It was actually a really fun shower and enjoyed playing the games and talking with friends.
That night Jason and I went to a BYU Men's Volleyball game against Pepperdine. They are the No. 1 ranked team but we beat them Friday night 3 games to 1. I was excited for a really great match. Unfortunately, the BYU team did not play very well--missed serves, blocked spikes, etc. We lost 3-0. I guess all good teams have their off days, whether in volleyball or in racquetball. :)
Saturday afternoon I went to the bridal shower of my good friend April. It was actually a really fun shower and enjoyed playing the games and talking with friends.
That night Jason and I went to a BYU Men's Volleyball game against Pepperdine. They are the No. 1 ranked team but we beat them Friday night 3 games to 1. I was excited for a really great match. Unfortunately, the BYU team did not play very well--missed serves, blocked spikes, etc. We lost 3-0. I guess all good teams have their off days, whether in volleyball or in racquetball. :)
Wednesday, March 3, 2010
C is for Cookie
For one of my bridal showers a long, long time ago I received a cool lunch box container or letter-shaped cookie cutters. Well, I finally made some time to make sugar cookies and had fun spelling out things with the cookies. This one was my favorite creation though.
Sunday, February 28, 2010
Extracurricular Activities
This last weekend was filled with sports and family, and sometimes both. Friday evening Jason had a intramural basketball game. I've gone to all of his games this season and with all my experience I can heartily say that Jason is good but his team is not. I think this least they've lost by is 25 points, so the games are kind of sad. They should be playing in a lower division but they're playing in the intermediate division bracket. The tournament starts this week though and hopefully they'll start playing teams more on their level.
Saturday morning my parent drove down to here to attend the Temple with us. We had a nice session and a yummy lunch afterwards. It's nice to attend the Provo Temple with my family because many people in my family have done a lot of temple work there, including my Grandma and Grandpa Rasband who worked there for about 20 years. I'm reminded of them there when I go, and yet I've never even been there when they were alive and working there. Something tells me they're probably still working there even now.
After the temple session, we had enough time to eat and get up to the Marriott Center in time for the basketball game against New Mexico. It was an intense game and very fun to watch. I wish it had ended a little differently, but it was still fun to watch. We were sitting by Jason's parents and his brother and his family were also sitting nearby.
Saturday morning my parent drove down to here to attend the Temple with us. We had a nice session and a yummy lunch afterwards. It's nice to attend the Provo Temple with my family because many people in my family have done a lot of temple work there, including my Grandma and Grandpa Rasband who worked there for about 20 years. I'm reminded of them there when I go, and yet I've never even been there when they were alive and working there. Something tells me they're probably still working there even now.
After the temple session, we had enough time to eat and get up to the Marriott Center in time for the basketball game against New Mexico. It was an intense game and very fun to watch. I wish it had ended a little differently, but it was still fun to watch. We were sitting by Jason's parents and his brother and his family were also sitting nearby.
Monday, February 15, 2010
Birthdays and Valentines
This was a busy week since not only was it Valentines, but it was Jason's birthday! It's sad when I feel like I'm so busy with school and work that fitting any other "celebration" stuff can be stressful, but we tried to make it work.
The day of Jason's birthday I was working all day until almost 5:00pm. I rushed home to make fajitas for dinner and then we went cross country skiing as a "cultural assignment" for Jason's Hebrew class. We took three people from his class up to Aspen Grove with us and arrived at the same time as 20-30 BYU outdoors club people, so we had to wait 20-30 minutes for them to get all their gear before we could get our skis and poles. None of us had ever been before. The lady in charge explained how to get to the trail head. I asked her if the trail was lit and she said yes, so I didn't worry about getting a flashlight from our car. Well, we finally got on the trail about 7:45pm and we had to be back by 9:00. We started up this path that the sign indicated, but it was really dark and I couldn't see much. I was convinced that we weren't on the right path because the girl at the lodge had said the path was lit. Well, I wasn't happy about skiing in the dark on the "wrong path" when we had so little time, but it turned out that we really were on the right path, but only half of it was lit. Apparently some people think it's fun to ski in the dark, but I kept falling down because I literally couldn't see where I was going. The path would curve or something and I couldn't see my feet, or the ground, or where the path went, and some parts were pretty steep. So much for a romantic night skiing with my husband on his birthday!
Friday Jason surprised me with a half dozen red roses for Valentine's Day. I think what surprised me most is that he was TWO DAYS EARLY! I love flowers though and they are beautiful. I did find out later that part of the reason he was so early was because he went in with another guy from our ward for dozen roses and then split the roses and the cost. So there is another girl in the ward with roses just like mine. :)
That night we went to another Hebrew cultural activity at Jason's teacher's house. Several class members came over to celebrate Shabbot, or a dinner ceremony welcoming in the Sabbath. It was actually a really cool and interesting experience. I can see how traditions can be so powerful, and if truly celebrated, can bring people closer to the Lord even though some only see it as a bunch of "dos" and "don'ts."
After the dinner we went to the 40th celebration of Young Ambassadors with Jason's parents and Grandma and Grandpa Richards. Many of the alumni came back to perform, including some professional performers. It was a really good show, but my favorite song was from Les Miserables "Bring Him Home" followed by "Defying Gravity" from Wicked. It was kind of funny to have one of my students and her date sit right behind us during the show. It reminded me of a time when Jason and I were dating and one of my third grade students and her mom sat right behind us at a Vocal Point concert. Gotta love it!
After the concert Jason's parents and grandparents came over to our apartment for dessert. They stayed and talked for a few minutes but then needed to head home because of the late hour. I think Grandma and Grandpa Richard might have been up later that we were that night. :)
Saturday we tried to do homework part of the day, but that night we went to the temple to do sealings and then over to a Stake Valentines Dance. I didn't think the music was that great, but the chocolate fountain was yummy! At quarter to 10:00 we ate dinner at Los Hermanos and we didn't have to wait at all. It's been awhile since I've eaten there and it brought back a lot of good memories of other times I've been there for celebrating birthdays, my mission call, and college graduation.
The day of Jason's birthday I was working all day until almost 5:00pm. I rushed home to make fajitas for dinner and then we went cross country skiing as a "cultural assignment" for Jason's Hebrew class. We took three people from his class up to Aspen Grove with us and arrived at the same time as 20-30 BYU outdoors club people, so we had to wait 20-30 minutes for them to get all their gear before we could get our skis and poles. None of us had ever been before. The lady in charge explained how to get to the trail head. I asked her if the trail was lit and she said yes, so I didn't worry about getting a flashlight from our car. Well, we finally got on the trail about 7:45pm and we had to be back by 9:00. We started up this path that the sign indicated, but it was really dark and I couldn't see much. I was convinced that we weren't on the right path because the girl at the lodge had said the path was lit. Well, I wasn't happy about skiing in the dark on the "wrong path" when we had so little time, but it turned out that we really were on the right path, but only half of it was lit. Apparently some people think it's fun to ski in the dark, but I kept falling down because I literally couldn't see where I was going. The path would curve or something and I couldn't see my feet, or the ground, or where the path went, and some parts were pretty steep. So much for a romantic night skiing with my husband on his birthday!
Friday Jason surprised me with a half dozen red roses for Valentine's Day. I think what surprised me most is that he was TWO DAYS EARLY! I love flowers though and they are beautiful. I did find out later that part of the reason he was so early was because he went in with another guy from our ward for dozen roses and then split the roses and the cost. So there is another girl in the ward with roses just like mine. :)
That night we went to another Hebrew cultural activity at Jason's teacher's house. Several class members came over to celebrate Shabbot, or a dinner ceremony welcoming in the Sabbath. It was actually a really cool and interesting experience. I can see how traditions can be so powerful, and if truly celebrated, can bring people closer to the Lord even though some only see it as a bunch of "dos" and "don'ts."
After the dinner we went to the 40th celebration of Young Ambassadors with Jason's parents and Grandma and Grandpa Richards. Many of the alumni came back to perform, including some professional performers. It was a really good show, but my favorite song was from Les Miserables "Bring Him Home" followed by "Defying Gravity" from Wicked. It was kind of funny to have one of my students and her date sit right behind us during the show. It reminded me of a time when Jason and I were dating and one of my third grade students and her mom sat right behind us at a Vocal Point concert. Gotta love it!
After the concert Jason's parents and grandparents came over to our apartment for dessert. They stayed and talked for a few minutes but then needed to head home because of the late hour. I think Grandma and Grandpa Richard might have been up later that we were that night. :)
Saturday we tried to do homework part of the day, but that night we went to the temple to do sealings and then over to a Stake Valentines Dance. I didn't think the music was that great, but the chocolate fountain was yummy! At quarter to 10:00 we ate dinner at Los Hermanos and we didn't have to wait at all. It's been awhile since I've eaten there and it brought back a lot of good memories of other times I've been there for celebrating birthdays, my mission call, and college graduation.
Sunday, February 7, 2010
February Already?
I'm not sure how it came to be February so quickly, but I can say that I'm getting tired of the cold weather and long for warmer days and Spring flowers.
This week has been very busy with work. One of the projects I'm working on required me to help put together seven focus groups. Focus groups consist of inviting a randomized sample of various groups of faculty and students to come meet together for one hour. We ask them specific questions and record the sessions so we can look for themes in responses to get a general idea of their challenges and opinions. I reported the results at the Academic Technology committee meeting and will spend next week putting together a survey to continue gathering data. I was a little nervous doing the first one, but by the last one, I was getting pretty comfortable facilitating the discussions.
I also put quite a few hours into revising several parts on my Behaviorism Simulation for my Educational Psychology class. They are testing it out this week and I hope they have some good suggestions for how I can improve it. My committee chair hired a programmer for 5/hrs a week, but he'll be working on trying to put my design into a different platform. All the changes I'm making for the time being are still in Flash and I'm doing it myself. If you want to see what it's like, the link is http://jburningham.net/BehaviorismPro.swf and you can just login as 'Julie.' It still has a few bugs, but you can get the idea.
Jason and I started Intramural mixed doubles racquetball this week. We won our first matches easily on Tuesday. Too easily. We realized we accidentally signed ourselves up for a lower division than we meant to. We tried to switch to a different one, but they won't let us now. Hopefully we'll have some more challenging matches eventually, and it wouldn't hurt if we got some t-shirts for winning our division championship either. :)
Friday Jason had a Intramural basketball game. I got to be a scorekeeper, but unfortunately I mostly only added points to the other team's score. Hopefully the next game will go better. :)
Afterwards we picked up our ceramic things from Color Me Mine
and stopped by Cold Stone for some free birthday ice cream. That night we watched "Mr. Smith Goes to Washington" which was a pretty entertaining 1939 black and white movie.Saturday morning we went to a 3-hour Ward Specialist Training put on by the Provo/Orem area. It was really cool to see all the resources the Church has put together in "helping the members help themselves."
Sunday my Mom and Dad invited us over for birthday dinner. It was delicious!!! Thanks Mom!
This week has been very busy with work. One of the projects I'm working on required me to help put together seven focus groups. Focus groups consist of inviting a randomized sample of various groups of faculty and students to come meet together for one hour. We ask them specific questions and record the sessions so we can look for themes in responses to get a general idea of their challenges and opinions. I reported the results at the Academic Technology committee meeting and will spend next week putting together a survey to continue gathering data. I was a little nervous doing the first one, but by the last one, I was getting pretty comfortable facilitating the discussions.
I also put quite a few hours into revising several parts on my Behaviorism Simulation for my Educational Psychology class. They are testing it out this week and I hope they have some good suggestions for how I can improve it. My committee chair hired a programmer for 5/hrs a week, but he'll be working on trying to put my design into a different platform. All the changes I'm making for the time being are still in Flash and I'm doing it myself. If you want to see what it's like, the link is http://jburningham.net/BehaviorismPro.swf and you can just login as 'Julie.' It still has a few bugs, but you can get the idea.
Jason and I started Intramural mixed doubles racquetball this week. We won our first matches easily on Tuesday. Too easily. We realized we accidentally signed ourselves up for a lower division than we meant to. We tried to switch to a different one, but they won't let us now. Hopefully we'll have some more challenging matches eventually, and it wouldn't hurt if we got some t-shirts for winning our division championship either. :)
Friday Jason had a Intramural basketball game. I got to be a scorekeeper, but unfortunately I mostly only added points to the other team's score. Hopefully the next game will go better. :)
Afterwards we picked up our ceramic things from Color Me Mine
and stopped by Cold Stone for some free birthday ice cream. That night we watched "Mr. Smith Goes to Washington" which was a pretty entertaining 1939 black and white movie.Saturday morning we went to a 3-hour Ward Specialist Training put on by the Provo/Orem area. It was really cool to see all the resources the Church has put together in "helping the members help themselves."Sunday my Mom and Dad invited us over for birthday dinner. It was delicious!!! Thanks Mom!
Sunday, January 31, 2010
Birthday Girl!
I turned another year wiser this week. I usually either look forward to or dread my birthday for several weeks ahead of time, but this birthday kind of just snuck up on me. My visiting teachers came over on my birthday eve to bring me beautiful pink potted tulips that are blooming in our kitchen right now. I know the Lord loves me because he knows that I love tulips but my visiting teachers didn't.
I also love roses and gerber daisies and Jason brought me three lovely red roses just before I started teaching my class that morning. As a result my class sang "Happy Birthday" to me. My good friend Sara was kind enough to take me out to lunch at Kneaders. I had never been there before, but highly recommend it. It was delicious!!!
That night Jason and I celebrated by going out to dinner at Mimi's Cafe and then to Color Me Mine. For those of you not familiar with Color Me Mine, it's an art studio that allows you to buy white ceramic kitchen items or decorations, and then paint and glaze them any way you want. They provide all the glazes, brushes, stickers, tools, aprons, etc. and then they fire your ceramic artwork in the kiln for you. Jason and I were there for over three hours. I decorated a square serving plate and he decorated a utensil cup. I think the most random part of our experience is that we ran into one of Jason's freshman dorm roommates, a guy from our university dance class last year, and the friend of one of my former students at Cedar Ridge who recognized me as the teacher who got her engagement ring in class.
Saturday Jason and I played racquetball with a couple other guys from our ward and that night we went to the BYU v. U of U basketball game. We went sitting up in the nosebleed section, but we could still see fairly well. It was a pretty loud and exciting game and crowd was really into it. Jason's ears were ringing afterwards and I got a headache from all the noise. I'm glad BYU won in the end.
Today Jason and I were sustained as the Ward Employment Specialists. Apparently the Bishop is pretty concerned with the number of members who are either unemployed or under-employed. Hopefully we can connect them with some resources that will be helpful.
We enjoyed a delicious dinner at Jason's parents' home tonight to celebrate Jason's and my birthdays. Both sets of grandparents were there for the occasion. Jason and I did 4 truths and a lie as the honorary guests. Nobody could guess my fib, but Jason so focused on coming up with his truths that he kind of forgot about the lie part. It was kind of funny. :)
Thanks to all those who called or wished me a happy birthday! It's nice to be reminded of how many people care every one in a while.
I also love roses and gerber daisies and Jason brought me three lovely red roses just before I started teaching my class that morning. As a result my class sang "Happy Birthday" to me. My good friend Sara was kind enough to take me out to lunch at Kneaders. I had never been there before, but highly recommend it. It was delicious!!!
That night Jason and I celebrated by going out to dinner at Mimi's Cafe and then to Color Me Mine. For those of you not familiar with Color Me Mine, it's an art studio that allows you to buy white ceramic kitchen items or decorations, and then paint and glaze them any way you want. They provide all the glazes, brushes, stickers, tools, aprons, etc. and then they fire your ceramic artwork in the kiln for you. Jason and I were there for over three hours. I decorated a square serving plate and he decorated a utensil cup. I think the most random part of our experience is that we ran into one of Jason's freshman dorm roommates, a guy from our university dance class last year, and the friend of one of my former students at Cedar Ridge who recognized me as the teacher who got her engagement ring in class.
Saturday Jason and I played racquetball with a couple other guys from our ward and that night we went to the BYU v. U of U basketball game. We went sitting up in the nosebleed section, but we could still see fairly well. It was a pretty loud and exciting game and crowd was really into it. Jason's ears were ringing afterwards and I got a headache from all the noise. I'm glad BYU won in the end.Today Jason and I were sustained as the Ward Employment Specialists. Apparently the Bishop is pretty concerned with the number of members who are either unemployed or under-employed. Hopefully we can connect them with some resources that will be helpful.
We enjoyed a delicious dinner at Jason's parents' home tonight to celebrate Jason's and my birthdays. Both sets of grandparents were there for the occasion. Jason and I did 4 truths and a lie as the honorary guests. Nobody could guess my fib, but Jason so focused on coming up with his truths that he kind of forgot about the lie part. It was kind of funny. :)
Thanks to all those who called or wished me a happy birthday! It's nice to be reminded of how many people care every one in a while.
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