Thankful/Grateful 19-21

Thankful Day 19: It’s funny, since doing these thankful posts, as I go throughout the days I’m thinking of things that I am grateful for. Maybe I should do this at other times other than just during Thanksgiving, because I am truly very blessed. Today I’m grateful for the ability to talk. At practice, I was trying to explain something and my throat was hurting and voice cracking and the thought crossed my mind, what if I couldn’t speak on a daily basis. How sad I would be. I mentioned it earlier. I take so many of the every-day things for granted, things like talking, walking, hearing, etc. I would be quite distraught if I wasn't able to do some of these things!

Thankful Day 20: Music. I didn’t used to be a big fan of listening to music, but I listen all the time now. Doesn’t matter if I’m getting ready in the morning, working on a project, or driving somewhere, music of some kind is usually on. Isn’t it great when you’re listening and a song comes on and it reminds you of someone or something and can just make your whole day that much better! Some friends and I were driving somewhere, I can’t remember what we were doing or where we were going, but throughout the car ride a song would come on, and we would say what it reminded us of. Things were said like, seventh grade, sophomore year of high school, prom, senior year of college, etc. I can associate many different songs to different times or memories throughout my life. It always makes me smile!

Thankful Day 21: Sporting Events. This doesn't come as a surprise to most of you! Pretty much what most of my life revolves around! I was reading through one of those shoeboxes full of notes (see Thankful/Grateful Day 17) and one of my old roommates said, "I have never watched so much sports since I met you." :) This weekend was a fun filled weekend of sports! Friday, the Springville High School (school that I coach for) football team was playing for the 4A State Championship. It’d been the first time they’d been to the championship game in like 25 years, so it was kind of a big deal and it was so fun to see everyone get so excited about it. Unfortunately they lost…. But it was a beautiful day outside, the atmosphere was fantastic, (despite being at Rice Eccles Stadium, home of the University Utah Utes! BOOOOO!) and the feelings associated with a state championship game are something difficult to describe, but so amazing! There's nothing like it. It gives me the chills just thinking about it. The losing part. Not so fun. It brought back bad memories of losing our girl’s state championship basketball game last year. Unfortunately when you lose the last game of your season, you don't think about the great season you had up to that point, or the memories you had getting there. Someone has to lose, and it sucks when you're on the losing end. The thing that hopefully down the road everyone involved will remember, are the feelings of just being a part of it! It is something that is hard to describe! But so awesome to be a part of. I have been lucky to have participated and look forward to more to come! :)



Springville is in the red!

And... when I got home, I was checking out our local sports website, and there was this picture. I'm glad they didn't have to play in something like this!



Yes that is one foot of snow! No thank you!

I also got to go to the Jazz game last night. It was a great game and they won in overtime!





Thanks Genna for inviting me. And thanks to the Averett family for free tickets and such great seats! :)

There are very few things that I enjoy more than going to a ball game (of any kind) or watching a ball game (of any kind)! Bring on Thanksgiving and all that ball game watching! :)

Thankful/Grateful Days 5-18! FINALLY CAUGHT UP!

Well… our volleyball banquet was last night and I kind of feel like I have time to BREATHE again, somewhat. I say somewhat because basketball season has officially started, and there was no break from one sport to the next. I don’t know how I did it in high school… it’s a little more overwhelming as a coach I’ve decided. But I decided I had better get caught up. So… Thankful/Grateful Days 5-18!

***** WARNING!!!! It’s a long one! You may need breaks in between! :) ******

Thankful Day 5: Cameras! Pictures are great! Capturing the moment/memory of something you want to remember is so great! We had a picture scavenger hunt for the last team night of volleyball and without cameras this would not have been possible! Love love love pictures! Reminds me of some great memories and many good times that is for sure!

Thankful Day 6: Friends. I have some of the best friends! Seriously! I know everyone says that. But I really mean it. It’s great to know you have people who you can count on and who will be there for you when necessary. I wish I could see all of them way more often than I do, but even when I don’t it’s great to know our friendship still exists. :) The other day I was stranded at UVU after watching some volleyball games at the state tournament. Instead of riding the bus home with the team, I had stayed to watch the game that we would play the winner of the next day. So, I did not have a ride back to Springville! I called one of my friends, they came and picked me up and took me all the way back to my car at the high school. It was a simple act of kindness, and without it I would have been stuck at UVU! Hooray for friends!

Thankful Day 7: Sight. It was the state volleyball tournament a couple weekends ago, and unfortunately it was not the finish we in any way had planned on, but nonetheless we had a good time and hopefully created some memories! We took 8th place in the entire state of Utah, which is a pretty good accomplishment. Only 7 other teams can say that they placed in the STATE tournament. While I do not necessarily agree with the setup of the tournament (4 courts playing with games going ALL AT THE SAME TIME!) I did get to watch A LOT of volleyball that weekend! So for this thankful post, I’m grateful for my sight. Seriously, I’ve realized I take a lot of things for granted each day, and I would be truly sad if I was not able to see the things that were going on around me.

Thankful Day 8: Naps, especially Sunday naps! Everyone makes fun of me for taking them but they are my favorite! Getting woke up in the middle of a Sunday nap, NOT my favorite! But really, I am thankful for sleep! I can say one of the worst feelings is wanting to go to sleep but not being able to go to sleep, so when the opportunity presents itself for a nap it’s probably one of my favorite things to do to relax! Unfortunately, as a result, I can really never sleep that night! But it's worth it to catch up on some sleep earlier in the day! :) If only there was time for a short nap every day!

Thankful Day 9: Good weather! I’m afraid to talk about it for fear of jinxing it! But it has been surprisingly sunny and considerably warm for being November in Utah! If I have to walk out of practice and have it be dark, it’s nice to wake up and drive to work in some sunlight.

Thankful Day 10: Jobs. Having enough jobs to be able to survive and still do the things I really wanna do that don’t necessarily pay the bills (i.e. COACHING!)! Not being able to get a permanent teaching job has been frustrating to say the least. I realize I have limited my options by staying in Utah County. So I am partly to blame! But, coaching has been the best experience and so I find it difficult to give it up! Anyways, I have been truly blessed to make enough money to survive! Recently, I started doing more work for a company in Arizona that I did some things for while I worked at BYU! It has been a huge blessing and although I have a million different jobs, it allows me to continue coaching at Springville and for that I am super thankful!

Thankful Day 11: Coaches. Recently I had to endure basketball tryouts. Can I just say, tryouts are the worst thing ever! I don’t enjoy making people sad! :( By far the WORST part of coaching… but partly necessary I suppose! Anyways… on this day I’m thankful for coaches. My high school coaches, my parents, and others who taught me valuable lessons and helped shape me into the person I have become. They have had a tremendous impact. More than they will probably ever know! Since I have been in Utah, I have had the privilege of coaching with some truly amazing people. They have taught me A LOT the past few years and I am so grateful for the friendships and things that I have been able to learn as a result!

Thankful Day 12: My favorite TV shows! This may seem ridiculous. But sometimes you need to just unwind from a long day, and what better way than watching your favorite TV show! Favorite TV shows at the moment: One Tree Hill (although it was definitely better in its earlier years… I’m still sticking with it!), Grey’s Anatomy, and Private Practice. Hopefully Friday Night Lights returns shortly. Shows that I don’t watch religiously but will watch if I am home…The Ellen Show… I don't care what you say she is hilarious! The new Let’s Make a Deal with Wayne Brady! And of course Sportscenter! Thank goodness that college basketball is back, because Sportscenter becomes entertaining once again. Surprisingly, I can sometime watch it over and over and over with the same stories, stats, and top plays… and yet I still find it entertaining. It is on as I am writing this all up!

Thankful Day 13: When people appreciate the work that you have put into something. Lately, I feel like people have been much more appreciative of things that I have done for them. Don't get me wrong, I am happy to do them and most likely would still do them whether or not they showed appreciation or not! But it is nice when people actually are thankful for something you have done for them that has taken a lot of time and effort on your part. One example: the entire volleyball season I did stats for each of the varsity games. The girls continually thanked me for doing it. While it was tedious and often times FRUSTRATING (especially rewatching the games we did not win), when someone thanks you for all the work you have put into it, you somehow find a way to suck it up and continue doing it! While I know I would still do it even if they were NOT appreciative, it gives me extra motivation to do nice things when people show appreciation and are thankful. It helps my attitude with the situation.

Thankful Day 14: Cell phone. Kind of materialistic. But truly it’s my connection to many people. Last year (or the year before that I'm not quite sure) I remember losing my cell phone and feeling totally distraught and lost. I felt as though I was cut off from the world. No one could get a hold of me. I could not contact anyone else. So I am grateful that I have a cell phone that people can get in contact with me and I can get in contact with them (although it’s usually the first scenario because I’m not usually the initiator of the phone calls… I’m working on it!)A text or phone call from someone seriously makes me so happy!!! :)

Thankful Day 15: The scriptures. I had a goal to read the entire Standard Works (Bible, Book of Mormon, D&C, Pearl of Great Price) by the end of the year. I had my calendar all mapped out with what chapters from which book need to be read each day. I am a big fan of checking things off a list. This is not to say that I considered it a “to-do” thing, but I figured I would stay on track this way. It hasn’t happened. I doubt I will have it finished by the end of the year. But I am back to reading daily to try to do some catch up! I love being able to read, even if it’s just a couple minutes a day. It makes me feel like I have accomplished something, and I always have a good feeling when I am done reading!

Thankful Day 16: see “Failure” post (below this ridiculously long one).

Thankful Day 17: Personalized letters/notes. Tuesday was our end of the year banquet for volleyball. I thought it was a great night that capped off a great season! A lot of work and preparation went into the night and by the end it was definitely all worth it. The girls on the team made me the coolest scrapbook full of pictures and then each one of them wrote me a letter. Seriously the best present I have received in a long time. It was way thoughtful, and I LOVE NOTES! Seriously, since high school they have been my favorite! I have 2 shoe boxes full of them! So today not only am I grateful for the volleyball team (which I have mentioned before), it was so much fun to be able to coach them this year, but most of all I am grateful for personalized notes from people! If I got one every day that would be so great! :)

Thankful Day 18: Temples. I rode with one of the other coaches (Jodi) and her son (Mason) to the volleyball banquet last night. On the way home, Mason wanted to see the temple so bad. So on our way home we drove to the Provo temple. He was so cute and seemed so genuinely happy to just be there and looking at the temple! I love the feeling I get when I not only see temples but when I get to go inside. With everything going on in my life, it’s nice to know that I can go somewhere that I sincerely can forget everything and just feel peace. One day, I will go to all of the temples around the world. How cool would that be? At the rate their building them, I better get on that!

HALLELUJAH! Finally caught up! :) If you read all the way to the end I'm impressed!

FAILURE?!

Can you say failure? I think so! Busiest 2 weeks in awhile! Full of WAY TOO MANY things to do (details to come I'm sure... maybe?), and I haven't been a very good time manager! Normally one of my strong suits! So I've been slacking! Anyways... it in no way means I am not grateful... I will catch up on every single day! Don't you even worry! Until then... enjoy this! Because pretty much every time I watch it I just laugh! It's not even THAT funny... but yet, I find myself practically in tears everytime! So for today... we'll say... I'm grateful for my little brothers! Because not only are they entertaining they're probably some of the coolest people I know... even though I may not always you know express that to them! :) So this should be "thankful/grateful #16"! Only twelve to catch up on... no big deal!

Wade (in the red shirt), Troy (the cameraman), and Kyle (Wade's friend) having a grand 'ol time in Etna!

Thankful/Grateful #4

I know 5 posts in one day, guaranteed it won't happen again! :) So enjoy it while you can! Haha!

Today is my Grandpa and Grandma Thackeray’s 60th wedding anniversary! SIXTY YEARS! Pretty impressive. I’m grateful for awesome relatives who live the gospel and are good examples to their families. Love love love all of my family (immediate and extended)! They are the best!

Thankful/Grateful #2 and 3

Recently we took a 3 HOUR bus trip for a volleyball game. In high school, bus trips were often anywhere from 1-4 hours. No big deal, when you don’t know anything else it’s just fine. When I started coaching in Utah, we had ONE, 1 hour bus ride, all season long. Everyone else we play has been 20 minutes away, at the MOST. Needless to say, I had grown accustomed to short bus trips! So when they realigned our region (league) this year, someone so NICELY volunteered to have a high school 3 hours away in our region! Obviously I say this sarcastically, and am rambling. Anyways! I feel worse for them, they have to travel 3 hours once a week, we just have to do it once a season. Thus the reason for the 3 hour bus ride and the point of this post! :)

We as coaches had a brilliant idea to leave early, get to the school, have a little picnic lunch, and then get ready to play. We assigned everything one thing to bring, and had quite the lunch! SO much food! Anyways, also beside the point! :) While sitting around eating lunch, we started by talking about middle names. We were kind of spread out all over the grass so some girls on the team didn’t really hear our conversation. More on that to come later. We sat around wasting time, chit chatting, and ended up trying to guess others middle names. There were the normal Ann, Marie, Elizabeth, typical middle names. When they got to me, they all began guessing. To no avail, since I don’t have a middle name. At one point in the little guessing game, one of the girls said, I know it! It’s Bobillian.

Jillian Bobillian Thackeray.

Really? Bobillian?

At which point I responded, if that was my middle name, my parents must have HATED me! The girls spread out overheard what I said and asked why my parents hated me? (How many conversations do we overhear that are totally taken out of context? :) haha) The girls in our conversation said, because her middle name is Bobillian! The girls who overheard this were like really? That’s your name! They totally believed it! Again... really? Bobillian?! The joke went on for a little while at which point I informed them I had no middle name.

I’m grateful my parents didn’t hate me and give me the middle name Bobillian! (#2)

And I’m grateful for a gullible team, who definitely makes me laugh or sometimes scream every day! :) Seriously though, they are great! (#3)

Grateful/Thankful

One of my friends is doing a “grateful/thankful” post, every day until Thanksgiving. I decided I would start! So this gives me an easy subject to write about each day, and it means I will hopefully be more frequent in my blog updates! I will do a couple to get caught up for today! Yes I am subbing, yes they are just reading, so I need something to do :)!

Thankful #1: I am grateful for the internet so that I can update this lovely blog. It's very nice to have it when subbing and the students are doing something that I can't necessarily help with. It can make for a boring day. Having the internet is a lifesaver! We have been without the past few days at our apartment, and it’s rather inconvenient. Survivable but inconvenient! :)Hooray for modern technology and things like the internet!

Go Fish

You know what’s harder than the first post, or even starting a blog? The second post, or deciding what to write about after the first. I have been going to blog, and conveniently (or NOT) our internet has been down. Every time I’ve thought about blogging, I knew it would be too short for a post. Rick Reilly, sports writer for ESPN the Magazine, has a project going on called "Rick Reilly Go Fish" (http://sports.espn.go.com/espnmag/reillygofish). He has many titles for his posts. Examples: Too Short for a Column, Things I Yell at the TV, Excellent Intramural Team Name Ideas, and many others. As most of you know, I’ve been a substitute teacher for the past year and a half. Being in many schools and many classrooms, I’ve heard many statements by students, some of them funny, others absolutely ridiculous, and some repetitive and absolutely annoying. I decided I should have kept an ongoing list a long time ago, because I’ve since forgotten what they have said. So in Rick Reilly fashion, I decided to start a list. I will continue to add to this list as they come along!

So we’ll start with the MOST USED statement, no matter what school I am subbing at (although I will say, it’s mainly the elementary and junior high, occasionally the high school).

As soon as the students walk into class they say, “We have a sub today?”

DO I LOOK LIKE YOU’RE TEACHER?! :)

Of course I never say that, but I think it pretty much every time!

I’ll add more to the list as they come along! If you like sports, go check out some of Rick Reilly’s. He’s hilarious sometimes!

Given in...

I said I would never give in! My life is boring. I have nothing to write about. But after a recent effort to try and catch up on my journal after *cough cough* a YEAR, I decided it would be much easier to have a blog to stay up to date. Also, since my mom's awesome email awhile ago... chastizing us for not keeping in better contact (I've tried harder since), I figured this would be a good way to keep her up to date on the happenings of my life! So... until I figure this whole blogging thing out... or until the next time I have something noteworthy to write about!