A New Year!

Wow a whole new year to look forward to!  I was looking through my past year blogs and have to say...this past year has been pretty boring.  Unfortunately boring life = boring blog.  I'm thinking that I'm gonna have to start making things up in order to spice up the blog a little.  Would that confuse everyone?  Oh well, I guess I'll have to write about my boring life.
All the fam except Lynn and his family were here over Christmas.  Lynn and Alyssa had to stay in Portland because Alyssa was due with their third baby.  It sure gets crazy with all the family, but it was a blast to hang with everyone.  We had a lot of fun, but no snow!!  Sorta crazy for this time of the year.  In fact I'm looking out the window now and there is still no snow.  That is CRAZY!  Half way through January and no snow in Idaho Falls!  Of course I say that and tomorrow we'll get the storm of the century and I'll be mad I jinxed the nice weather.  No really I enjoy the snow.  I hate driving in it, but a whole winter without snow would be a shame.
Lynn and Alyssa's baby Adam Jorden Jensen was born on Dec 28th.  I haven't gotten to see him in person yet, but he sure is cute in his pictures!  Speaking of Portland, I sure do miss it there.  I really love that area and am doing all that I can to get back there sometime soon!  The hardest part about living there was being so far from the family, but now with Lynn and Alyssa living there, well it's just about perfect!  Anyways that is one of the things I hope comes in this new year, a move back to the most gorgeous place on Earth!
Well I think that's all I have to say...dang this boring life!  Someone save me!

Counting my blessings!

Wow, Thanksgiving time again!  Time for getting together with the family, eating lots of food, and remembering why I am so blessed!  I can't believe how easy it is to get caught up in all the things that have gone wrong over the past year.  I guess that's why it is good to have Thanksgiving, I need to remember that even though things don't always go the way I want them to, I still have so much to be thankful for.

Thanks to my family!  I love you soooooo much!  Without all of you who knows where I'd be.  I'm more than grateful for you being there when I need you most.  Love my friends who stand by me no matter how many idiotic things I do.  Someone who I don't talk to for a year, yet when we finally do see each other again it's like we were never apart!  That is a true friend!  A warm comfortable place to sleep, food to eat, the ability to work and earn money.  There is just so much!  I am truly blessed by a loving Heavenly Father.

More Spooky Stories

This story comes from Danielle from Hillcrest:
I heard that there is a tunnel in Shelley Idaho that is haunted.  They say if you go into the middle of the tunnel, turn your lights off and put your car in park they say your car will be moved by the devil spirits out the other side of the tunnel.  The people who have done it say they can see a red mist around the car as it moves.  (Some of the kids said they heard the same thing, but it seems none of them have ever been, so no one was real sure where exactly it was.)


Here is one from Kylee also from Hillcrest: 
There is an old cabin up in the Ririe (Idaho) foothills that is called Wolfman's Cabin.  The story is that a long time ago a farmer lived there with his family.  They were isolated, and after awhile the farmer started acting strange.  They say that the isolation from other people made him crazy.  He ended up killing his wife and kids and putting their bodies in a silo, then he killed himself.  The wolves got into the silo and dragged the body parts down into the town where they were found.  Now everyone says that the man comes back to haunt the cabin once a year on the day he killed his family.  Some of my friends knew where the cabin was, so we went driving one night to find it.  We were driving very slowly down the road because it wasn't a very good road when suddenly people started coming out of the trees that lined the road.  They looked scary, like they were zombies or high or something.  They surrounded our truck and started telling us to turn around because the place was evil.  I don't know what they were doing there in the middle of nowhere, but we were so scared.  We ended up turning around before we got to the cabin.  (One of my other students said he had been to the cabin and there were all sorts of satanic symbols all over the place.  SCARY!)

Spooky True Stories

I love Halloween!  It's fun to dress up and pretend to be someone else for a day, but really I love the spookiness of Halloween.  I wish I could say that I'm tough and don't scare easily, but I pretty much do.  Funny thing is, that doesn't keep me from trying to find scary stories and I'm all about the local legends.  It seems that teenagers always know the scariest places in town, so when I was teaching at Hillcrest and Bonneville in Idaho Falls I figured it would be a perfect time to find out some spooky stories about Idaho Falls.  So for class on every Halloween I had the kids write me some scary stories.  The rules were that the story had to be true and had to have happened to them or someone they knew.  I also wanted the story to be about Idaho Falls or the surrounding area.  Well a few of the kids took it seriously and seeing that it's getting close to Halloween I thought that I might share a few of those stories here.  Some of them I have to recall from memory because I don't have the papers anymore.  Anyways hope you enjoy!  PS~If you have any spooky stories I would LOVE to hear them in a comment!!!!  Remember the rules, it has to have happened to you or someone you know and preferably about the area you live in.

Today's story comes from Kelsey at Hillcrest:
The cemetery up off of Sunnyside (in Ammon Idaho) is supposedly haunted by a little girl.  And when you walk through the cemetery at night you will hear singing in a tree.  One time me and some friends were walking through it and we saw an open grave and when we went to look inside we heard a little girl giggling.  It was so scary we just left.  And I've heard other stories about people who have actually seen her. (As a side note I've done a little research about this cemetery and there are a few stories about it.  Some say it's a little boy, but all say that she sits in a tree by her grave and waves at people as they pass by.  A few of the other students in other years have mentioned this cemetery as well, so there you go!  SPOOKY!)

A Perfect World

Well I can hardly believe that I missed my St. Patrick's Day blog. I guess I've been a little distracted lately. It's coming to the end of another school year, and I'm trying to decide what to do for this next year. Hopefully I'll figure it out before too long.
It came out a couple of days ago that Osama bin Laden was finally captured and killed. Many people here in the USA rejoiced at the news. He has committed such terrible crimes against so many by masterminding the death of a lot of innocent people during the 9/11 attacks. I am glad that he was finally captured so he could be made to stand up for his actions. I suppose he had to pay the ultimate price by having his own life taken.
The day after his death I saw on the news pictures of US citizens celebrating, and while I was glad he could not hurt anyone else, I was also saddened. These conflicting emotions left me confused. I thought about those people who had lost their loved ones and I tried to put myself in their shoes. I did not want to feel sad because such a terrible and evil man had died. So here I was feeling confused and a little unpatriotic when I read a quote my cousin Brittany had put on Facebook.
I was overjoyed when I read the quote because it said what I could not. This life is not perfect and I understand that. In order for me to have the freedoms I enjoy, many people have had to die and I am so thankful for that, but I am not happy that it had to happen. When I see a small child crying over his dead father, it makes me sad, no matter who it is. It makes me wish that there was no reason to have wars. I wish people could set aside their differences and embrace their similarities. Unfortunately this is not a perfect world, and may not be for a long while yet, but there is always hope, and so that is what I will hang on to.

"I mourn the loss of thousands of precious lives, but I will not rejoice in the death of one, not even an enemy. Returning hate for hate multiplies hate, adding deeper darkness to a night already devoid of stars. Darkness cannot drive out darkness: only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate: only love can do that"

— Martin Luther King Jr.

I guess I better get this over with...

Well I've been putting off the v-day blog, because I don't have a lot to say about it. It's one of those holidays for other people. Like in church when it's time for the marriage lesson. The teacher always says something like, "For those of you who are not married, just think of other types of relationships in your life and try to apply it." Whatever...all I ever hear is, "Blah, blah, blah you're not married so this doesn't apply to you." Not that I'm complaining. Life is amazing for me right now. I do what I want, when I want. If I want to quit my job and move to a new place, I just do it. I love having the freedom that being single has given me.
Now that I've said all that, geez I wish I had a boyfriend! I have to admit, it kinda sucks that I write all these romantic little stories, and don't even know what it's like to have a boyfriend. Good thing I have a good imagination...and great friends with interesting lives :) Life sure is a crazy ride, I guess I'll just keep hanging on. I don't know where I'm going, but I have a feeling it'll be amazing!

Reminiscing

"C'mon Jenn, I'm fine. I don't have a headache or anything. I can play!" The older man standing behind me is so close I can feel his labored breathing on my neck. He hasn't left my side since I pulled the young athlete out of play. "Jennifer I think he's fine, he seems to be acting normal. We need him in there. We can win this game!" From somewhere up in the stand I hear a man yelling, "Taylor get back on that field! You're fine!" I check the boy's eyes again, methodically moving the flashlight from one eye to the other. His pupils instantly react to the bright light, a normal enough response, but the years of schooling I have recently completed scream at me to keep Taylor out of the game a little longer.
He must see the uncertainty etched across my face because he begins his desperate pleading once again. "Jenn please don't do this to me. You know me! I would tell you if I thought I couldn't play." It's true, I do know him, but I also know what this game means to him. Again from the stands I hear the frantic yelling, but this time a little closer, "Taylor, shake it off and get in the game!" I'm surprised I can hear the lone voice over the roar of the crowd. I need more time, so I think of another task. "Okay Taylor, I want you to stand on one foot, tilt your head back and close your eyes." I know it's tough for anyone to do, but I need to buy some time.
He quickly jumps to do my bidding, eager to prove himself to me. Taylor wobbles unsteadily and finally has to put his foot down. I look back at the older man, and with a defeated look he nods and steps away from me to rejoin his team. I know it's a cheap shot, but I never work well under pressure.
Taylor grabs my shoulder and turns me back around, "Let me try it again, I know I can do it if you just let me try once more." I know how useless that would be, so I ignore his question and get to work. After a few more minutes I have finally made my decision, though still I wonder if I have made the right one. I hand Taylor his helmet and then grab his face so that he will look me in the eyes. "If you start to feel light headed or nauseous you better get your butt over here and tell me." His face lights up and suddenly he grabs me and lifts me off the ground in a bear hug. "I will Jenn, I promise!" I watch him as he runs off and then I look up into the sky. I take a deep breath of the crisp night air and then shove my way past the group of burly teenagers standing around, finally reaching the front of the sideline. I look across the field and sigh, I love this time of the year.