Gratitude

Note: I wrote this post on Thanksgiving Day, but since I didn't have an internet connection, it had to wait to be posted until today.

I'm thankful for...

...parents who are great examples of selflessness, and love the Lord enough to sacrifice a year and a half and their material possessions to serve Him.

Opening their mission call.

...a loving sister who, though thousands of miles away, is still one of my best friends.

...five fantastic, protective brothers who constantly remind me of my worth.

Three of my brothers and my sister.

...sisters-in-law who are more like sisters, and a great brother-in-law who takes good care of my sister.

...nieces and nephews who bring joy to my life, even when I just think about them.

Lauren and me.

...one living grandma who is a constant source of humor, and a shining example of generosity.

...grandparents and great-grandparents long passed-away who left words and examples that still teach and guide me.

...aunts, uncles and cousins that care about me and keep track of what’s going on in my life, whether on Facebook, my blog, or though my parents’ gossip.

...cousins that share my passion for BYU sports.

Watching the BYU-Colorado State Game.

...dear friends of many years that make every effort to keep our friendship strong.

Harry Potter at midnight, thanks to the Merrills.

...new friends with whom I am creating wonderful memories.

...co-workers that inspire me to work harder and remind me how lucky I am to have the job that I do.

...the girls I coach on the tennis team that fill my life with laughter.

At dinner after our divisional tournament.

...students that remind me why I picked the profession I’m in.

...teachers past whose influence I still feel daily.

...church leaders who care deeply about my happiness and wellbeing (even when they make it a point to embarrass me).

...people who inspire me without really knowing the influence they have on me.

...people who are willing to share their talents with me, whether in concert halls, or sitting next to me on the living room piano.

...people who make me laugh.

Two of my favorites.

...people who have confidence in me despite my imperfections.

...strangers who are not too shy to share a kind word with me.

...living prophets and apostles whose words give me guidance and comfort.

...Jesus Christ and the healing power of His atonement.

Happy Thanksgiving everyone. Thanks for all you do to enrich my life.

I ♥ Bronco Mendenhall

Two weeks ago I got to meet one of my heroes:

I applied for tickets to attend a live broadcast of "BYU Football with Head Coach Bronco Mendenhall," a weekly radio show that they have on KSL Radio here in Utah. I had to write an essay about what BYU Football means to me to get my tickets. Maybe I'll post what I wrote in a different post. I got an email back telling me that I'd been selected to receive 4 tickets to the the November 10th broadcast.

It was such a fun experience. The only disappointment was when I found out that my fancy camera was out of batteries. All we had was my dad's iPhone– not the greatest for picture taking. Here we are waiting for the show to begin.

At the beginning of the show, they had us submit questions to ask Bronco. They selected four questions to be asked on the show. Mine was the third in order. However, the show went long, so they only got one question on air. Bronco told us that he would be happy to answer any other questions that didn't get on air.

I asked him what advice he had for a new coach in any sport. His answer was profound. He said, "Coaching is really teaching and teaching is service." He went on to tell me that I shouldn't expect my players to adjust to my teaching style, but I should know my players and how to best teach them. He said that I need to know the heart of each individual. This is all great advice for anybody in any teaching role (which is just about everyone at some point). My summary surely isn't as eloquent as Bronco's answer, but I thought it was worth sharing.

Even more impressive than the words he shared was how I could tell he lived his advice. It showed in the way he interacted with Joshua Quezada, the player who made an appearance on the show, that evening. Then, I went to the final home game at BYU on Saturday. I stayed for the ceremony after the game where they honor the seniors. What he said meant even more to me as I watched him hug each of his seniors. You can see a little bit of it here. Click the video on the right that is entitled "BYU vs. New Mexico Senior Night". You can see why I got a little teary-eyed watching.

My students crack me up.

Two quotes from one of the characters in my government class:

"There is this one serial killer that I really admire..."

We were talking about legal responsibilities that citizens of the U.S. have. The class had already listed following the law, paying taxes, and jury duty. I was looking for someone to talk about registering for the selective service, so I gave them a hint, telling them that only half of the people in the room would have to do it. He responded, "Be circumcised!"

Awesome

Happy Halloween

I made this last year for my family. I laughed so hard every time I watched it. I still do. Happy Halloween from the Robertsons!

Personalize funny videos and birthday eCards at JibJab!

I had so much fun making it that I also made them with all of my siblings' families as well. My nieces and nephews loved it.

It's almost like Christmas...

In a little over a week, we have one of my favorite days of the year: Election Day. It's like Christmas to me, and not just because it's about the time I start listening to Christmas music (yeah, it's not after Thanksgiving– so sue me). Today and Friday I talked to my government classes about voting. We talked about how people don't really vote because they personally get some benefit from voting. If you think about it, in every election (unless you live in a town with a population of 10), the chances of your vote being the deciding factor is so low that it is basically zero. Therefore, you never really influence the outcome, and consequently, you don't get any direct benefit from voting... unless, of course, you get some kind of enjoyment out of the voting process, like me.

My government students laugh pretty hard when I tell them how much I love voting. I tell them about how exciting it is for me to go the the polling place, run into my neighbors, punch the card (or push the buttons now), and most of all, get the sticker proudly proclaiming that I did my civic duty. One of my students said that he imagined me being a cat lady* with a bunch of voting stickers on my shirt when I'm old.

I also love staying up late watching all the returns come in. Seriously. I even do this in odd years when most of the elections are just local elections and KBYU is the only channel doing election analysis. I wait in anticipation as the precincts slowly report their outcomes, and am either heartbroken or ecstatic when they announce a winner.

I'm grateful to live in a democratic republic where we have the opportunity to choose our leaders. Next week don't forget to signal your support for the philosophy that the people should ultimately rule. That's the real reason you vote. Your vote may not count, but it does matter. Happy Election Day everyone.



*Unfortunately, this is not the first time that I have had a student suggest that I would become a cat lady someday. Last year my students were hassling me over my marital status, when this kid said, "You should become a cat lady. Cat ladies are hot." I'm pretty sure if I am an old maid (though I'm not planning on it), I will never own cats. I have been too traumatized by trying to play in our sandbox and digging up little surprises that our neighbors' several cats left buried there. If you ever live by people who have several cats, don't build a huge sandbox by their yard.

October 14, 2010; Tyler, Texas

I'm going to just post the pictures and let you wonder what this is. Maybe I'll explain later. Plus I owe you all (or I should say, ya'll) a post about my fabulous trip to Texas last weekend. Enjoy.

Three Videos

You've probably all seen these, but they are super fun.

The original:


From my alma mater:


Sesame Street version:

I love my Jessica Jon

I just got off the phone with my dear friend Jessica Jon Penovich Gibson. She lives in Florida. I miss her. I went out to visit her twice this past year. One of the times was right after (and I mean RIGHT after) a fairly traumatic experience, and visiting her was the best thing that could have happened to me at that time. She was in a very real way an angel sent by my Heavenly Father. But it wasn't just that one time that she has been an angel to me. Since I first met her our sophomore year of high school, she has been there for me time and time again.

One of the best summers I have had was the summer when she and I both decided to go on missions. We worked together on BYU Grounds Crew in the morning and then at the BYU Interlibrary Loan Copy Center (or the BYUILLCC, as we liked to call it) in the afternoon. Then we spent just about every evening together. We spent hours discussing just about everything, and commiserating about our boy drama (and both of us had plenty that summer). This is one of my favorite days from that summer when we were hit with torrential rains on our walk from the library to her car. It stopped once we got in the car, but it was too late by then.

We decided to go on missions about the same time, and turned our papers in the same week. I wanted to go to South America and she wanted to go to Spain (because her mom served there). She got her call and was called to Argentina, and I went to Spain. It was so much fun preparing together to serve missions. One week we went to the Salt Lake Temple and then spent the rest of the evening trying to find a sister who was either from Spain or Argentina on Temple Square. We finally found a Spaniard as we were about to give up.

Because of Spain visa issues, she ended up leaving almost two months before I did. However, I got to the MTC with just enough time to see her for a few days. When we saw each other in the cafeteria the night I got there, it was quite the scene. Everybody in our proximity was amazed at our display of excitement. Since we had done so much shopping together, we had a few of the same outfits. We planned to wear them on the same day so that we could take the famous map picture in matching outfits.

I loved getting letters from her throughout my mission, and it was so fun to compare experiences when we both returned. I also loved writing her letters, because I knew that she would appreciate my sense of humor, since she's one of the few that truly appreciates my quirkiness. She always makes me feel like I'm the funniest person in the world, even when I'm not.

She got engaged right after I got home, but she kept her promise to be my roommate and we lived together the semester before she got married. Even though we didn't see each other a lot that semester, she still made time for me. One of my favorite nights was when she was preparing to give a talk in church the next day. She was assigned to speak on music (which is perfect for her since creates so much beautiful music). We were up until 3:00 AM going through the hymn book and talking about our favorite lines from the hymns.

Hers was the second temple sealing that I was able to attend. I'm pretty sure I cried both tears of joy and sadness. Richard is a great guy, but I was just a little sad that she wasn't going to be my roommate anymore.

I'm glad that Richard has been unselfish enough to allow our friendship to flourish. The chats and visits that we have had since then have been so important to me. Jessica is one of the most loyal, thoughtful, kind, loving, beautiful people that I know. I wish everybody could have a little bit of Jessica Jon in their lives; it would make their existence so much brighter.

Homework Time

My niece Ruth is majoring in linguistics at the U of U and is here getting homework help from her grandpa. So cute.