Rough morning

This morning I rode my bike to work, which isn't anything new...I did it all last year. But it was a little different this time because I went a lot further!!! I have a new job now, I'm working at the Tennessee 4-H office and I am VERY VERY excited!!! I love 4-H, so this is basically where I should be right now, working with the kiddies in the TN 4-H program!!! Anyway, back to the rough morning. I rode my bike, it was probably close to 2 miles in the freezing cold weather (it's about 27 degrees) I know it could be colder, but I lived in the south most of my life so it's REALLY cold to me! I huffed and puffed up the hills and managed to make it to work with 5 minutes to spare. Then I realized I lost my lock....AHH!!!!! Their are thieves on this campus, so I can't just leave my bike outside not locked up!!! So I walked back down the BIG hill and back up the BIG hill and found nothing. So I just took my bike up to the office. Then my really nice coworker took me in her car to go looking for it, and guess what!!!! I found it!! It was on the side of the road....somewhere between home and work...what a relief!!!! I was very excited, it would have thrown off my entire day. I would have had to go home drop off my bike and then walk back to campus to go to class... :)

Christmas time

Well this Christmas has been quite the adventure, in one week we traveled from Knoxville to Nashville stayed for a few days. Then drove down to south of Atlanta and stayed for a few days, then drove to south Georgia. Whew, oh but it doesn't end. After Christmas I went with my parents to Indiana. THAT'S A LOT OF DRIVING!!!!!! But, let me tell you..it was worth every second of it! I really enjoyed the time we had with our families.

Bill's family is so calm and easy going. I really just enjoyed the time of relaxation. At Bill's parents we got to see a really awesome Christmas light display. I cannot imagine sleeping at night with those lights...they were pretty though!

My family is always on the go. GO GO GO!!!! Not as relaxing, but I still enjoyed every minute with them. We enjoyed the feirce game of catch phrase...which I still clame the boys cheat. Seriously if you want to hear some people get crazy with a "screaming fest" over a game, just come to my house. I guess I could say we are slightly competative. (well, mostly just my dad and me) Mom just watches and laughs...Bill gets in on the fun too, mainly to irritate me...

In Indiana I got to spend some quality time with my Aunt Emily. She is a very strong woman. To have the ability to raise four chilren basically by yourself takes courage. She has so much love for her children, I hope they realize that! I also got to spend time with my Aunt Pam, she is also a very strong woman. Everyone can learn so much from her, she is fighting cancer right now and isn't garuanteed much more time. She has been my best friend since I can remember. Growing up we had tea parties, stayed up till who knows when, and took many trips. Wow, what a life she made! She has been an inspiration for me to always live life to the fullest. I am grateful for her love and involvement in my life.

My Aunt Pam and me.

Well, anyway, that's how Christmas was for us. Bill stayed home while I went to Indiana, so I really missed him! When I got home he suprised me with a dozen roses (my birthday was Dec 31st). What a sweetie!!! I love roses!!! Now, we're just getting ready for school to start (next week). Here are some pictures of our adventures!

I cut my hair.

My parents got a new puppy. Her name is Mona.

She fell asleep like this...so CUTE!!!

Maggie

Announcement:

It's official I am a mommy to the cutest kitten in the world. Yes, you read right, THE CUTEST KITTEN in the WORLD! Her name is Maggie and she is curled up on my blanket as we speak just purring away. My parents cat Jade had kittens and they saved us one! We got her last Friday. Saturday, Bill and I decided to give her a bath...well guess what we found, FLEAS! AHHH!!!I freaked out, seriously I handed her to Bill and left the room. I guess I'm a little terrified of those nasty bugs...anyway, Bill dried her off and we rushed to the pet store and got some intense flea killer. We gave her ANOTHER bath and then combed all the fleas away. SHE IS NOW FLEA FREE!!! YAY!!! We also sprayed our apartment to kill any unwanted fleas. WHEW!
Well, Maggie is so feisty. She likes to play fight all the time; she'll run away and then charge after you. Who thought a cat would be like that! It's so fun to play with her. We bought a laser and she runs after that thing like it's a mouse. SO FUNNY! Here are some pictures.



















































I was trying to study, but she kept sitting on my notes, and playing with me!




















Poor Maggie!

Halloween

I know it's been like a week since Halloween, but I'm slow at posting the happenings of our life!!! Anyway, I carved my first pumpkin this year!! It was sooo fun!! Well, Bill actually did most of the work, but I helped gut it! :) After we were done carving it, I roasted the seeds...MMM!!!!!! They were very yummy! Friday I dressed up as a Zombie! I got some of the craziest looks from people..but I also got lots of compliments! Halloween night we went to the football game with Bill's family. It was wet and cold, but the team did really well. The half time show was the BEST though!!! The Pride of the Southland is seriously the best band in the U.S. (just so you know, oh and Bill was a member of it for 3 years...so I have all the rights to BRAG!). Since the game landed on Halloween night the band did a Halloween show, and boy did they rock it! A few of the selections included This is Halloween from Nightmare Before Christmas, Jaws theme song, Thriller. They DANCED to thriller, how entertaining. They even wore just one glove!!! BAHAHAHA!! I loved it! The half time show turned my night from yucky to AWESOME...the cold wet weather just was not fun! Overall I had a really good Halloween!



















Me, zombiefied! :)














































































































The Power T!
















There goes the football team!






























BOO















Thriller!!!















JAWS!


















Last week I had an exam in every one of my classes. Whew, that was tough! I did pass all of my exams, though...and even A's on some of them!!! Wow, I KNOW! I am really enjoying my new major, it's such a blessing to actually enjoy what I'm doing. I actually look forward to going to class now. Bill's doing great in his classes, he just passed a test for Ear Training...he has one left and he'll be done with that class! He has been SOOO busy these days. He goes to class, then rides his bike to work, then comes home around 8...we eat dinner then go to bed. He gets no breaks. I try to help him out wherever I can, but he's just being pulled thin. I'm looking forward to our Thanksgiving break, we WILL relax!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Oh, GUESS WHAT! We're getting a kitty!!!! I'm really excited!!! The closest I'll get to being a mommy for a while! ;) My parents cat just had a litter so my parents are giving us one! I can't wait to see it!!!!!

Cades Cove and stuff

Last weekend Bill and I went to a place in the Smoky Mountains called Cade's Cove. It was so beautiful! The leaves were starting to change...the only problem was all of the people. It's tourist season here in East Tennessee, so everybody and their brother are headed to the Smokies. Here are a few pictures of our adventure










































This is a water chute..I thought the angle looked really neat!















Also, yesterday, Bill's good friend, Eric, left for boot camp. He joined the Army, and when he's done with boot camp he'll be in the Army Band (which is what Bill's going to do when he graduates). We got to spend a little time with Eric the night before, but we're really going to miss him!















We made him some brownies!















One more update! Monday Bill and I spoiled ourselves... For starters Bill took me to the most AMAZING place in the world. KRISPY KREME. I love this place, I never get it unless we get special gifts from my family. My grandma sent me five dollars to spend at Krispy Kreme, so we did just that!!




















My parents gave us a gift card for Olive Garden, so after our Krispy Kreme stop we went to Olive Garden. (We saved the doughnuts for dessert). We feasted on never ending soup and salad and seriously when finished we were sooo stuffed!!!!! It was very very yummy!!!






































Bill found something that looks really good! I think it was some kind of chocolate dessert...but remember we have doughnuts waiting for us!!!!!!!

We have enjoyed our little breaks, but we're still going strong in school and looking forward to Christmas Break!!!

Date Night

A couple of weeks ago, Bill and I went to Pigeon Forge, a vacation hot spot here in Tennessee. We went to a place called WonderWorks, it looks like an upside down building!!! It's basically a place to be a kid!!! It's really interesting, there's scientific stuff and art stuff and interactive stuff too!! SO FUN! We also went to a dinner show called Hoot'n Holler; that was pretty funny!

This ride just looped around, but to make it move he had to pedal. It was so funny..when it started Bill barely moved, then the lady to him to pedal and he shot off!!

















This was the bubble section...so neat!!! I almost covered myself with this HUGE bubble!















Here's Bill playing a virtual game.
























Bill Lying on a bed of nails!














This is me dancing!!!














Bill and I have been very busy this fall! We're both going to school full time and working. We like getting away once in a while.
I'm looking forward to Thanksgiving, my Aunt Pam wants to go to Dollywood which is just about 45 minutes from Knoxville... So I get to see my family!!! We weren't planning on seeing my family much this year, but luckily they're coming to us!! My Aunt Pam has cancer and we're not sure how much longer she'll be with us. She is a very special person to me and I pray constantly for time to spend with her. So, I really want Thanksgiving to HURRY up and get here so I can see her!

Change

Well, the day before classes started this semester I decided to change my major. Math is great and all, but it was causing way too much stress for me!!! If I wasn't stressed out I was depressed, because I couldn't excel in my math classes...I'm the type of person that really feeds off of excelling! If I'm failing constantly then I just want to give up. I guess you could say I gave up on math. My new major is SOOO much better. So, here is how I decided to choose a different major. I was planning out the next two years of my life and realized I would have to take a TON of HARD math classes so I just broke down and cried my eyes out, then Bill found me and tried to cheer me up. He's really good at that. He started talking to me about 4-H; I wanted to show him my portfolio from my senior year of high school...it contains all of the amazing things that I did in 4-H. Anyway, I went on for probably an hour on how I miss 4-H and how amazing the organization is. (mind you, without 4-H there would be NO Jennifer & Bill)
So the wheels in Bill's head started turning...He said to me, "Jennifer, since you have so much passion for this why don't you major in something that allows you to be a part of the program." That means Family and Consumer Science... I said "oh, that makes sense." So I decided I would look into it. I compared classes and the time frame... I'll get done with school in the same amount of time as is I would with math..so that's alright..I would have LESS stress...that's amazing! I would be able to do what I LOVE...that would just be PERFECT! So, I did what everyone should do before they make a huge decision, I prayed. Oh, boy did the tears just flow!!! I have a calling in life, and I feel it is to help the young people of this world.
UT doesn't have Family and Consumer Science degree, so my major is now Child and Family Studies.
Already I can feel a difference. I really enjoy my classes and I'm actually remembering what I learn!! What a relief. Oh, and I'm taking more hours than I ever have and I don't even notice the strain of more classes!! I'm taking 18 hours, (6 classes)..I could have never done that with math.

Visit to Georgia

I was able to visit my family these past two weeks, and boy did I have a blast! For starters I went to Savannah to see my sister Kristi. She took me to all the sights of downtown Savannah, we rode our bikes everywhere! I also got to experience crabbing; wow, let me tell you, it's some hard work!!! My entire body was sore after we were finished. We caught 4 crab and some shrimp. The work paid off, though, our meal was delicious!I didn't get any pictures with my parents, mostly because I forgot to bring my camera out. I had a great time with my parents though. I miss them so much now. School starts this Wednesday and I am not looking forward to it. I'm dreading all of the math classes I have to take. Weird, I know, since I am a math major. This major is just really kicking my butt. I hope I survive this semester.

Pretty Flowers

After a long day of brain torturing calculus I came home and found these lovely flowers sitting on the entertainment center
Isn't he just the sweetest ever!!! And HANDSOME too!!!! I'm so lucky!

Recent Happenings

So, when I was asked to be the Primary Chorister I was so scared..I literally cried my eyes out for like 3 hours straight. Well, I have no clue why I was so upset...this is the best calling EVER! I love singing songs with the kids!!! It reminds me of the days when I was a camp counselor; I get to play games with them and sing awesome songs!! The kids are so smart and so fun!This past Sunday we "made" Mexican Wedding Cakes (each ingredient was a song). To get these yummy desserts the kids had to sing all of the songs really really well!! Anyway, they all did a good job! So next Sunday I'm going to bring the actual cookies to them!!! This is what I'll be making:














I'm probably going to make them red, yellow and blue. A couple of weeks ago my good friend Kristina came to visit me. She and I met at Georgia Southern a couple of years ago and seriously became instant best friends. Here are some pictures of the awesome week that we had together!














Some yummy Mexican food we made:














And of course playing the best game EVER! TWISTER















Other than these fun pictures my life has been pretty busy and mostly consumed with school. My classes end next week! I am so ready to take a break and just relax. Next Thursday I'm driving to Savannah to spend the weekend with my sister!! Then I'm heading to my parents house. Poor Bill will be staying home alone for two whole weeks. I'm looking forward to the next few weeks!