Pink Ribbon Month

Today in class, we were talking about the common types of cancer, their characteristics, etc. This day requires a bit of maturity from students, as we discuss a few sensitive topics (i.e. breast and prostate cancer). However, I couldn't get mad about the snickering after my slip-up in class.

On my PowerPoint, I had a picture of a pink ribbon next to some of the risk factors for breast cancer. One student in the back asked, "What does a pink ribbon have to do with breast cancer?"

My response? "It's for Breast Awareness Month."

Unfortunately, I didn't catch myself the first time. A student asked, "For what month?"

My response again: "For October--Breast Awareness Month."

Oops. It was pretty funny, I have to say, when I finally caught up with the rest of the class. I told them I'd probably be fired for laughing along with them.

Lunch with Chad Lewis

This past week I had the priviledge of eating lunch with Tight End Chad Lewis. It turns out his brother owns a construction company and they both visited the BYU Construction Management students. He sat directly across from me at lunch and we spent a good hour in conversation. We spent some time talking about his foot injury that occured on the game winning touchdown that led the Eagles to the Super Bowl last year. We also discussed everthing from his football future to his many stories of T.O. Chad will be a free agent this coming season. He tried to recruit me to play for the NFL, but I had to turn him down because I already accepted a job. If only he would have asked sooner.

Choking

Well, our bragging has been put to rest.

We have had our hopes a bit smashed. Our little Escort--which we have constantly praised--had it's first major repairs. It simply wouldn't start. $400 later, it is working nicely. (Although we have to point out that on the books, it's worth about $500 right now.) Maybe we should follow Cory and Kristen's lead and ditch it for bigger and better...

On the same day, BYU lost to Utah--again. It seems that under Utah pressure, our teams cannot pull it together. This is the first game this season we have lost when we were ahead with 5 min left to play.


Incidentally, we saw Keena Young when we went out to eat on Friday night. We wanted to comment that we had planned to watch him that night on ESPN, and not at a food joint. We certainly can't be ticked with him, though, considering that he played well.

Hi Mom!

This has been one of those weeks when you forget that you have homework(although I have not forgotten that I graduate in two months). We have loved having Mom around. Aside from spoiling us rotten, Mom has made the most of her trip to Utah. We cheered BYU basketball and volleyball teams to victories, we had several family dinners, and Karen and I continually tried to convince Mom to move out here permanently.
To fascinate Mom with the beauty of Utah county, we decided to take her to Sundance. As you can see from the beautiful trees directly behind us, the scenery was breath-taking(literally). We took pictures anyway......
then decided to take pictures of things more visually pleasing.

The following is Terris's reaction to seeing mom for the first time during her trip. She could hardly wipe the smile off her face.

Terris decided it necessary to show off every one of her skillz to Mom during her visit. The following picture demonstrates our dog's "snoutin' grab" trick.

Taking Time Off

Brady and I both took off our separate ways these past two weeks...Brady to Reno for a construction competition, and me to Idaho with the track team. Brady's team finished 3rd, and my team had a finalists/medalists in every major category--field events, distance, and sprints.



It's fun to have good athletes on your team. We have a pair of twins that are cleaning up in Utah--they basically have records in every sprint category for outdoor and indoor track. Obviously, times are slower with indoor, but you (I guess I'm just suggesting this to Kristen, unless anyone else is interested) can check them out here: 2006 Utah Wrap-Up. Not to sound racist, but they were pretty much the only white girls that made it to finals. I can't take any credit for their talent, but they are both in my health and fitness classes, so maybe the way they eat has impacted their performance?! Just kidding... My athlete is Todd Davis, who took 4th in high jump. I trained him from day one, so I can at least feel that I contributed a bit. hehe If he had jumped his best, he would have been 3rd, but oh well.

We're home again until the end of March, when I take off for St. George with track, and then we both jet to Cali for the weekend to find a job (for me) and hopefully housing.

A Couple of Ski Bums

The beautiful Alta Ski Resort. This is how it looked as we pulled up Saturday Morning.

Once we were geared up we were ready hit the slopes.....literally. Due to my highly uncoordinated 'skillz' at skiiing I determined it was best not to bring the camera along for action shots. So enjoy our before and after shots.

You can really tell the difference between people who ski a lot, and people who go once a season. We'll let you guess what category we fit into after we describe our getup: underwear, long johns, pajama pants, and track pants (non-padded, and straight from high school...). On top: 2 long sleeve shirts, sweatshirt, and over-sized coat. Not to mention the rented ski goggles, poles, and skis. We look nothing like the Ritchie boys...

It started snowing HARD about halfway through the day. We could hardly see while driving down the mountain. Apparently other people had trouble seeing us, too. Today we found that we'd been hit on our front bumper, and it's either from church (See "The Sure Way to Hell") or the slopes.

Snowshoes, Ice Down the Pants, the Whole Bit

As you all know, I get ants in my pants when we don't have anything "special" planned over holidays. So, Brady was considerate enough to get work off, and we went snowshoeing. It was my first time. Here I am standing. I put this picture in so that you know that I was standing for at least part of the day.

Here I am with my sister Natalie, who brought her friend Tyler with her. They were a ton of fun. Natalie turned out to be significantly better at this than I was.


Case in point... This is one of about 20 times I landed on my bum after a quick decent down a hill.


The boys found a really sweet hill to jump off. It only took me three times (haha.."only") to get the jumping down, and avoid just sliding down (with the snow jamming up my back!).


Here's Natalie: she got it on her first go.


Brady was actually the first to jump off. The pic doesn't do him justice. He was pretty fun to watch.


This is Tyler, who gets the award for "best action shot."

Tyler and Brady found a frozen waterfall, and decided that we could handle the haul up the mountain. The snow was fresh, so the snowshoes didn't handle it all that well. As a result, we were thigh-deep in snow half the time. The boys made it fine, but Natalie and I spent a lot of time in the snow, rather than on top of the snow. It took some real determination, but we made it. Truth be told, I finally only finished climbing because Natalie did. That competitiveness really kicked in, despite having taken MANY falls down the mountain. (And I know that picture doesn't look like a mountain, but it's just a bad angle...)
The top! I was huffing and puffing.

Here's a picture from the parking lot. I'd like you to believe that we hiked to the top of that mountain.

Dog Parka

We had some friends that were motivated to walk their dog everyday because they were afraid of being one of those owners who looks like their dog. You know, fat owners have fat dogs, rich owners have floofy dogs (and yes, that is a word in my vocab), 80's women have poodles, short and stubby men have Basset Hounds, you know the drill.

Well, we are proud of our dog...especially with her new dog parka. We wouldn't mind looking as cute as her.

Monster Truck Rally

We never would have paid money, but we were invited and given free tickets. I was glad we bought ear plugs. Here is a sampling of some big trucks and crazy motorcyclists.


My personal favorite........The Terminator.

This was one of 4 trucks that tipped during the event.

We compiled a list of the types of people who attend these events. You can make generalizations based on this list:

1. Guys with fancy mohawks.

2. Men wearing cowboy hats with feathers sticking out of them.

3. Young dads with missing teeth.

4. Hoochies. Lots of them.

5. Girls that still thinking glitter is cool.

6. Babies covering their ears.

7. Women who get those long fingernails...ick.

8. And of course, lots of people completely smashed.

We know what you're thinking...we fit right in!

Time to Get Out of Spanish Fork?!?

Several people have commented on my "accent" since getting back from Ohio/Michigan. This is pretty typical--not the first time. No comments were quite so dramatic as a few kids in my fifth period.

A few students said to me, "Ms. Edwards, you went home for Christmas, didn't you?"

I answered that I had.

The reply? "I thought you had a Middle Eastern accent!"

Yikes.

Christmas 2005

C aroling, Christmas Eve, and remembering Christ.

H angin' out with family.

R est & relaxation. Cory sported his new eye-mask complete with eyelash protection and nose relief. We refer to it as the "face bra".


I nflatable Mattress -- Due to the creativity of Mom and Dad Nufer, Karen and I had our own room with comfortable sleeping accomodations....a difficult task in house full of people.

S ports. While vacationing we found time play ping pong, bowling, and a healthy amount of Tetris. Dad Nufer placed first in ping pong and bowling. Matt scored the all-time highest record in Tetris with 423 lines.

T urbulance during our flight to Columbus, Ohio. The flight attendants were asked by the pilot to discontinue the beverage service and put their seat-belts on. Then we hit it.....the worst turbulence I have ever experienced. Not one person could contain their drinks or their screams. After a grueling 15 seconds of being tossed around I sat in shock, dripping with orange juice, ginger ale, coke, etc. Karen immediately burst into laughter which caused the entire plane to erupt in laughter. I, on the other hand, continued to remain in shock for the rest of the flight.

M ichigan with Mom and Dad Edwards. Karen and I, Ryan, Cory and Kristen Fam enjoyed our visit to Lansing, MI. Among great food and entertainment, we also kept Mom and Dad up late...ie...etc.

A nna "flexing" & other entertaining moments from the kids. Anna demonstrated to us that when you want to flex, you have to make your body shiver.

S ilent Night. Christmas Eve was a memorable night. We each suited up in our various roles and performed a unique rendition of the nativity.


B aptism -- Janece was baptized on December 23. She was so excited, even though the water was ice-cold.
R ocking in 2006! Chinese, games, you know the drill. We got tired early so Dad set the clock a half hour ahead and we celebrated the new year at 11:30 pm. Hey--the kids didn't know the difference! Karen and I had a Tetris competition. I am currently the champion with 209 lines.

E ating, eating, and eating.
A ttacking the Christmas pile which was organized by name, thanks to Ada.
K icking back with friends

It's Official.....California

It's true. We just accepted a job with Shea Homes in CA. My responsiblities will involve managing homes built in a master planned retirement community. I will also have a hand in the construction of the amenities....golf course, club-house, water features, etc. We will begin our move at the end of April. Conveniently, Cory and Kristen will only be a half hour away. We are extremely excited about this new opportunity.

We expect that if we want to buy a home there it will take only 28 years. Until then we will be renting. I hope all of you will make the trip to visit us sometime.

Construction Classics Part III

A continuation of previous posts stating actual comments that were said to me or in my presence at the construction site. I love what I do!

1. "It's completely different over there, but the same."

2. "All's I know is I don't know."

3. "Well..... I need to go pick up all my kids from all their prospective mothers."

4. "I have two little kids--they're three months apart."

The Road to Hell...is Paved

I once had a BYU professor give an entire lecture on why cars are the demise of our society. It was quite interesting, and very detailed. Today, I realized that not having a car is equally a demise--not to society, but to my life.

Yes, our problem-free car has become a problem. (Now, you will notice from the picture that this is NOT our car. Our car has a dent that enabled us to pocket $600 from a careless lady in a big truck--obviously not used to driving a big truck.)

Thankfully, I decided that it was warm enough (and I was recovered enough from a nasty cold aquired over Thanksgiving) to jog outside. I was thus stuck at home rather than the gym. So, there's the bright side. On the dull side, I had nothing to do. I couldn't make my Christmas deliveries as I had planned, couldn't rent a movie, couldn't read a book (I planned on buying a new one tonight), couldn't call anyone...well, I guess I could have called someone.

I did, however, straighten up my house, do laundry, and complain to Brady, who is on campus studying.

Really, I'm just ticked that I have to get up an hour earlier to drop Brady off and borrow a car. Now, isn't that a funny thing to whine about? Just rememember that this entry was written entirely to occupy my mind.

For Your Viewing Pleasure

We would have enjoyed this whole experience so much more if it wasn't so cooooold! We just made quick work of our walk around the temple and then were warmed by the various cuisines at Bombay House.

A Thanksgiving Spectacular

We made our own Thanksgiving hats and sported them all through dinner. We had fun coming up with names.


From left to right: Chief El Guapo, Chief Donk, Chief Pot, Chief Corn Skuzz, and Chief Squat and Drop.