Monday, Monday

So...this may have been my sister's anthem for the day, but this totally made my night! I was listening to the english version in the car on the way home tonight. So much fun to find it in Dutch!!!

Other random thoughts of the day:

* I have found the piece of clothing that I think I could live in for the rest of my life. It's called sweatpants. I have been longing for a new pair for at least six months, and Saturday that dream came true. They are the most comfortable thing on the planet, and I wish that societal norms allowed me to wear them everywhere!

* I have got to find a way to not be gone for ALL DAY every day. I get up at 5:30, am at work at 7:30, and tonight I didn't arrive home till almost 9:00. That's p.m. Tomorrow's not looking any better. I like all of my extra curricular activities. Maybe I can cut out work? Probably not.

* At least my gym bag made it into the car today. I didn't actually make it to the gym, but I was prepared. Maybe tomorrow...

* My Halloween costume's almost done. And it's AWESOME!!! I'm so glad that I have a patient grandma who likes to teach me to sew. Now it's just the dang zipper. She asked tonight, "Are you sure you don't just want to use velcro?"

* I packed my lunch and ate outside today. I love those lunch breaks. They feel longer, and I get to read my book. And it's the good autumnal warm outside.

* A boy told me that he loves me tonight. Granted, it was Ariane's almost-five-year-old nephew, Allan. But it was so cute! I love you too, Al. :)

*Did you know that the study of unidentified flying objects is called ufology? Pronounced you-fall-uh-gee. Isn't that so funny? I love podcasts. I highly recommend "Stuff You Should Know."

Slaap lekker hoor!

Family History, I Am Doing It!

This has been a very cool weekend for me with regard to my family and family history. 

Yesterday, my mom and I were able to go to the Sacramento Temple to do the endowment work for two of my great-grandmothers. What a wonderful morning it was! I'm so grateful for temples and that they not only allow us to make sacred covenants, but that they bind families together forever. And I love being there with my family members. :)

After the temple (and a quick trip up to the outlets), we went to the Rhoads Family Cousins' Luncheon at Davis Ranch. This is a yearly luncheon that has been put on for the past 30 years by this woman, Ellen Rosa. 

I'm sorry that this isn't a great picture of her, but she's 86 and she LOVES family history! And each year we have the opportunity to gather and learn more about our family and meet distant cousins. 

See...I'm a sixth generation Californian on my mom's side. We came over just before the Donner party. And then we went back and rescued them. And then some went back to Utah, and some (like my family) stayed in California and settled all the land just east of where I live now.

This is the second time that I've gotten to go to the luncheon, and I hope I get to continue to go. It's wonderful to hear the stories and recognize that we are where they were. It helps me to feel more connected to them. And it inspires me to do more family history so that I can spend more time linking us together in the temple.

Happiness is Little Pizzas and Venn Diagrams

Thank you for all of the concerned comments, calls, and texts regarding my last post. Perhaps I was slightly more verbose about my bad day than I usually am, but I didn't mean to make everyone worry.

Let me clear things up.

I may not love my job, and it may be causing me some stress right now, but I'm totally OK. Life is still good.

In fact, tonight when I got to my grandparents' house, grandpa had made little pizzas for an appetizer.

Is there anything that could make a person happier than having a grandpa who makes you little pizzas?

You may be thinking, "yes."

If so, then you've never had my family's little pizzas. :)

And the other good thing about not loving work is that it's causing me to really look at life and what I want my career choices to be. Sometimes you need to know that you're in a situation that you don't want to be in forever to cause you to take some action to create a new situation. Right?

I've also realized that many of my jobs have come as kind-of knee-jerk reactions to needing a job and not really knowing what it is that I want.

The phrase from the scriptures that keeps coming to mind lately is that I now want "to act and not be acted upon." It's time to buckle down and make big-girl choices about where my life is heading.

So...I'm using one of the things I learned at the conference last weekend to help. It's a Venn Diagram.

You all remember what those are, right?

I think they're great.

But I'm also a little nerdy and like things like Venn Diagrams.

They look like this:

Each circle represents something different, and then your middle ground of your three variables is the answer for which you're looking.

The talk I heard related that in order to be in a VERY HAPPY place in your career, you need to put the following three things in the diagram:

1. What you love to do.

2. What you're good at doing.

3. What the world values (i.e. will pay you to do)

If you can find a career that incorporates these three factors, the likelihood of career satisfaction is very high. 

So, I'm using this as a model and making lists. I'll keep you updated. Comments about any of the three factors in relation to me are welcomed. There are no bad ideas in brainstorming. However, I reserve the right to veto your ideas later on. :)

OK - this post is too long, but I'm not editing. I'll sleep instead. 

And, yes, I did more than just learn at the conference. I met many wonderful people (read "great guys"), some of whom I'm hoping to keep in touch with (read, "Hey tall, dark, and handsome - call me!). None of this is making any sense anymore is it? I'm so glad tomorrow's Friday!!!

Hmm...

Can you be grateful and antsy at the same time?

I'm so grateful to have a job in a market where jobs are scarce. I am able to meet my needs and live comfortably. Heck - I drive a mile and a half to get to work! That's fantastic! I work with nice people who are kind to me. I have benefits.

But I'm antsy.

And since my job description got turned upside down a week and a half ago, I'm starting to loathe going to work. I mean really loathe. Perhaps despise, detest, and abhor. Well - that seems strong, but those were all words that crossed my mind today while I was trying not to cry.

And that makes me sad.

Because a couple of weeks ago I knew I was antsy because there's just more for me to be doing in life.

Now it's because I have a job that I didn't think I was going to have and don't know how to do and that might very well give me ulcers someday. Or at least a lot of anxiety breathing.

And yet, I am reminded how grateful I am that I have a job. I'm not desperately looking for a job so that I can pay my rent and eat. My life is richly blessed.

There is opposition in all things?

This too shall pass?

Every rose has its thorns?

I will try to be more cheery tomorrow, but tonight I'm going to fall asleep thinking about the Venn Diagram of Career Happiness that I learned about at the conference, not General, this past weekend.

Oh, yeah, the conference. I'll post about that tomorrow too. :) What a teaser, huh?

Boise Pictures

Here are several thousand words worth of pictures from my recent trip to Idaho. Holy moly I miss that family so much!

Dylan woke up on Saturday morning and all he wanted to do was help me put together his new high chair. And sit in it at the same time.

We like to call her hello-I-just-woke-up-and-have-crazy-hair-Claire. Not really. That's kind of a long nickname. But her hair was beautifully out of control.

Their real nicknames are Diz (or Dizzy) and Rita (or Frita or Frita-lay). And they WILL grow up to be Boise State fans. It's forced from an early age. This was right after Dylan pretty much took over Claire's toy. Oh well. Move on.
 

Dad started rapping to Claire and she was completely entranced. So much so that she forgot that she hates wearing hats. Dad's command of "the flow" is mesmerizing.

Danny and Dylan. Go Broncos!

I may have mentioned it before, but this girl just makes me melt!

Powdered donut?

Yes, please!

Our amazing gymnast! I got to go to her class, and she did such a good job!

Sisters, sisters! There were never such devoted sisters! So cute and cuddly. :)

I can't wait until Christmas when we're all together again!

Conference Time...But Not General

I'm going to this today.

I'm looking forward to it.

And not at the same time. 

I have a love/hate relationship with being single. 

And I think that these events accentuate all aspects of that. 

But I'm going with a good attitude and great friends, so that should be a winning combo.

And, don't worry - I know not to surround myself with a lot of friends the whole time. I will leave myself open to meet lots of new people. Even my grandpa made sure to remind me that no guy has enough courage or ego to come up to a large group of girls and ask to talk to one of them in particular.

Yes, I recently had a dating conversation with my grandpa. And grandma and aunt and uncle, actually. :)

So...off to a new adventure! 

Seven Quarters from Kallie

One more cute Idaho story:

On Saturday (after the ice cream that the twins devoured), the men took the babies home to go to bed, and the girls - me, Mom, Mollie, and Kallie - got ready to go hit one of Mollie's new favorite stores.

As we stood in the restaurant getting ready to go, our conversation went something like this:

Mom: I don't have my purse. Do you?

Mollie: No.

Jenn: No.

Mom: So that means that none of has a driver's license with us. Jenn - you drive.

Jenn: It also means that we don't have any money.

[We all look at each other realizing that the shopping trip might now be less fun when Kallie looks up with all the worry of a six-year-old.]

Kallie: And I only have seven quarters!

Ok - maybe it wasn't as cute when I wrote it down as it was when it actually happened, but I just love that girl! She's just as sweet as can be!

And, luckily, we didn't need to use her seven quarters. :)

It's Hot Chocolate Weather

Well...for today it is, and I love it! Rain showers, a few bolts of lightning, and cuddling up with a big mug of hot chocolate and fresh peanut butter cookies. A little slice of heaven.

I know this is fake Fall, but I won't complain. That's the beauty of California. We'll get a couple of days of rain and then by the weekend it'll be 75 and sunny. Perfect combo. And then by Halloween it'll be real Fall, and I'll be ready for it.

Speaking of a slice of heaven...I got a triple helping this past weekend! How did I get so lucky to have such a wonderful family?! I just wish that Boise was about seven or eight hours closer to Sacramento. Who can fix that for me?

I accidently left my camera in Idaho and won't get it back until Sunday, so instead I'll fill you in on some of the memorable moments of the trip.

1. We hit a coyote. And I'm pretty sure that we not only hit it but that we smashed it to pieces. It ran out of nowhere on a dark Idaho highway and Dad was going somewhere in the neighborhood of 80. Who wins? Not the coyote. It did some damage to the car, but luckily no one was hurt. In fact, we didn't even stop to check on the coyote.

2. It was so fun to have Kallie read a Pinkalicious book to me! Usually I do the reading, but she's getting so grown up, and she totally read it to me. And...her handstands and cartwheels rock. Mine and Mollie's aren't too shabby either.

3. I love being the grown-up who gets to go in and get a baby out of the crib. Claire took a few minutes to warm up to me the first time, but then it was all hugs from both twins. There's something wonderful about a 15 month old being SO HAPPY to see you come into their room. Arms outstretched, laughing, cuddling terrific-ness. I loved it so much that I even broke down and changed a poopy diaper. That's big for me.

4. We had dinner at Fuddruckers on Saturday evening, and the twins were really tired and unhappy. So Mollie bought them each an ice cream cone. Say what you will about the nutritional value, but those things were golden. Plus, they were hilarious with them. Neither wasted any time diving right in.

About half way through their cones, we looked over and Claire had eaten part of her cone, but it was taking too long to get to the ice cream. So she held the cone in one hand and used two fingers from the other like a shovel - scooping the ice cream from the cone and depositing it into her mouth.

Dylan, on the other hand, turned his cone upside down and smooshed it onto the (plastic, thankfully) tablecloth. He then set his cone to the side, ran his hands through the ice cream on the table, sucked it all off of his fingers, and then laughed at himself.

Two very different, but equally effective and humorous methods. And, let me tell you, they didn't waste any of that treat. :)

5. I got to skype with Kari - TWICE! I haven't gotten to talk to her since she left and it was so good to hear her voice. In fact, we had her on skype on Sunday evening when we called my grandpa for his birthday. We put the phone on speaker and grandma and grandpa got to talk to Kari through a phone via computer. Technology is so cool that it might have made several of us cry.

More vacation stories tomorrow, but I'll end with my sister's super easy and delectable peanut butter cookie recipe that I whipped up tonight. Enjoy fake Fall!

1 cup peanut butter
1 cup sugar
1 egg
1 teaspoon baking soda

Mix ingredients and roll into 1 inch balls and place on an ungreased cookie sheet. Use a fork to make the cool criss-cross design. Bake at 350 degrees for 8-10 minutes. Don't overbake! Let them cool for a few minutes or they'll crumble. For best results, enjoy with a glass of cold milk or a mug of hot chocolate.