life is fragile

today devin and i were made aware of a woman who three years ago lost two of her children in a car accident and today lost her husband to a heart attack. my heart sank for her and the rest of her family when i heard the news. it is hard to fathom how you would deal with this situation. all i know is that it makes me grateful for my life. i love devin. we have too much fun together. he is a perfect companion. so, thank you devin for being the best. every day counts and i want to be a little better every day.

this is devin with his polyester pimp shirt. a little bit of black swirled into the blue. silky on the inside


this is devin playing the wii. he had to try real hard to beat my four-year-old nephew.

Parent-Teacher Conference

It is weird that I now sit on the side of the table where the parents seek me for information about their children. Am I old enough to do this? The parents probably look at me like, "Who is this child acting like my child's teacher?" However, all in all, I love my profession and feel competent. I was also able to see Emily Neilson Simmons and little Sam, which was a fun surprise. They were buying some bargained Shade clothing at the school. Congrats on the new house Simmons fam.

Devin and I just enjoyed a relaxing weekend up in Midway. We love that place. We went on a hike, fed some ducks, went golfing (I'm terrible but it was fun), watched TV, and sat around. There is something about that valley that is rejuvenating and therapeutic. On our hike we could not believe the beautiful colors of the changing leaves. There was this pink color that popped against the green of the leaves that haven't changed. We stopped and made a "leaf-angel" and gathered some leaves to throw in the air and dance in. Nature is amazing. While in Midway, I noticed something remarkable. One day I was laying on the couch with my legs across Devin, he was patting my legs, and I felt no surges of tingling. Now this was thrilling because ever since my MS diagnosis I've always had surges of tingling throughout my body upon impact. It never hurt but was terribly annoying. However, that day in Midway it was different. I felt no tingling. Awesome! I have to share my gratitude with those around me. I feel so blessed because at the present time I have no MS symptoms besides fatigue. For the past three years I have battled various symptoms (dizziness, numbness, tingling, etc.) but this is the first time I have felt free of any neurological shortages. Thanks Mom and Dad for your service and for the various prayers given on my behalf. I truly believe in the power of prayer and I'm relishing in this time of health because who knows how long it will last. Yeah...I love life.

lovin' life

devin and i have been really lucky the past few months. devin got a new job, i found out that i'll be teaching dance next year, we climbed in st. george, devin threw me a surprise party, we had wonderful support at the multiple sclerosis walk, and we spent two weeks in hawaii. things couldn't be better. we love each other, we love our families, and we love our friends.

thanks to all those who donated money to the ms walk. we were able to reach our fundraising goal and are looking forward to next year. thanks also to those who participated in the walk, it was touching to see the support. i got teary eyed a few times that morning.

here are a few pictures that capture the past few months. enjoy.

I love it when we're cruisin' together.

Okay, okay...You can all stop calling us to find out when we're posting our cruise pics. Here are a few. You can see more here.

I have a man crush on Ben Kweller

Jami and I agree that we went to the best concert we've ever been to. We've actually been to one of Ben's concerts before (2 years ago to the day) but that was the day after Jami was diagnosed with MS so that put quite a damper on things.
There were two opening bands, both local. The first one was the Furs. They were a respectably good band. The second one was excellent: Neon Trees. We knew we were in for a treat when the lead singer came out before they started and was checking to see how far the mic cord would go, and doing some deep leg stretches to warm up. The music was in the same genre as the Killers. The front man was in the mold of Mic Jagger or Bono as far as being able to entertain and engage the audience. We were standing right in the front against the stage so the proximity helped too. It also led to being showered with sweat and spit occasionally. Anyway, while you may not have heard of them before, I think they're going to be nationally well-known very soon.



Then came Ben. We love his music anyway but to be so close and watch him at work was quite the experience. If you get a chance to see him, I highly recommend it. He and his band have great timing, are very clean in their performance (not many mistakes), and you can tell they're enjoying themselves up there.
Anyway, hope you enjoy the taste of the concert. To see more photos and video from the concert go here.

Books are neat

I just discovered this amazing place I thought I'd pass on to both of you who read this blog, in case you're not aware of it either. You can go and borrow books, DVDs, and use the internet - all for free! They call it a "li-bra-ry." Jami and I both just read books on our cruise last week (she read "To Kill a Mockingbird;" I read "Into Thin Air") and we both realized we wanted to and should do more reading and less watching of reality TV shows.
I haven't owned a public library card for probably 14 years. Don't get me wrong, I've been in college libraries more hours than I want to think about in the last 10 years. And my office at my elementary school is right next to the library. But I haven't used a library other than for research in a long time. So Jami and I went and got me a card (she's already got one somewhere) and we decided we want to read...books. Most of the non-school-related books I've read the last few years I get by borrowing from someone (usually mom's personal bookstore). With such a vast number of options of books to check out I was stumped. First I looked up Obama's books...both checked out. Lance Armstrong's books? Checked out. I searched through the list of various award winners and didn't see anything that hooked me. So I just did it the old fashioned way...I wandered through the library looking at the titles and authors' names on the spines to see if anything tickled my fancy (what the crap kind of saying is that anyway?!). Jami soon found me in the children's section and re-directed me to the grown-up books. I looked over a couple shelves of Stephen King (too scary). I perused a line of Hemmingway (too smart). I strolled through a row of sports books (too junior high book reporty). I then came across a book titled "City of God" by Michael Jahn and recalled that there was a foreign movie a few years ago that came about that looked really good (I think it might have been nominated for some Oscars) and I figured it must have been based on this book. So I took my book and card to the check-out counter and the lady said it was due back in a month. Jami got Memoirs of a Geisha (I like that one) and Entre Dos Lunas, an adolescent fictional book in Spanish (after our cruise Jami decided she wants to learn Spanish. She's also bought a couple pocket-size books on verbs and vocabulary and we've sat down and had a couple grammar lessons).
We went home and both started our books. After about 5 short chapters I realized this was not the same City of God as the movie. The movie takes place in Brazil and is about war amongst lower class people in Rio de Janeiro. The book is, as it says on the cover of the book, "A Lieutenant Bill Donovan Mystery" which takes place in Hell's Kitchen, New York city. I guess I should have looked at it a little more closely. Well, I'll just add it to the extensive list of books that I've started and not finished (which is larger than the list of books I've read cover-to-cover) and go back in a couple days and try to get Audacity of Hope or Blink (Malcolm Gladwell). Well at least I get credit for trying right?

I'm Dreaming of a Brown Christmas

Devin and I had a merry Christmas in the Lone Star state. I loved visiting my parents. We enjoyed spending time with them both with the missionaries and without. They look good and are doing good things. Here are a few images from our visit. Enjoy. Devin and I also decided to entertain ourselves by being silly.