Jimmer... You are my hero!

Uh.... YES. He made this shot. Look how freaking far out he is! Money. Go Cougars!

Here's some video footage. He's so entertaining to watch!

Video Courtesy of KSL.com

Blessed

I’ve been kind of negative lately and coming up with WAY too many “things I hate right now” lists! :) Not literally… but in my head! Lots of things have been annoying me! So I decided I should try and be positive and start making a “Things I loved about last year list!” Maybe that would take my mind off of the “I hate everything” attitude! So… things that I loved from last year (broken down by month).

January-

• A full time subbing job at Springville High School while Nancy was on maternity leave. Loved teaching health, and got to teach some awesome kids!

February-

• Family Parties/watching Rosemary speak at BYU devotional.
• Undefeated 4A Girls Basketball State Champions! It was an exciting day! And so fun to be a part of!

March-

• March Madness! :) 
• I got hired as an assistant softball coach at Springville! Three sports in one school year!Ah! Loved every bit of it though!

April-

• Spring break! Good times going home for a few days, then flying to Oklahoma to watch Ashley play softball and hang out with the Harris’!  

May-

• Waking up to fish on my doorstep and other softball adventures! 
• The end of another school year! 

June-

• Volleyball, basketball, and softball camps/summer stuff!
• Tandy’s visit to Utah! We got to do a lot of fun things for a couple of weeks!

July-

• Spending a month at home with the family! Trips to the cabin, to the lake, to the coast! Enjoying the summer time! I miss the warm weather!

August-

• FINALLY getting a full time teaching job at Springville High School teaching resource English, Reading, and Study Skills. It was well worth the wait! Love the new job!

September-

• Trying to survive coaching, teaching, and working for the company in Arizona! I have great friends who helped me survive with encouragement, dinners, hanging out, and the best book I’ve read in awhile “The Race.”

October-

• A trip to Texas for Fall Break to visit Mike and Katelyn! Great to see them after so long!
• Harris’ dropping off a pumpkin from my mother, having dinner, and watching the Giants quest to win a World Series!

November-

• Thanksgiving at home for the first time since like my freshmen year of college!
• Duke vs. U of O basketball game in Portland! Sooooo awesome!

December-

• Christmas with the family! Nothing like being home for the holidays! It was too short!

I had a very good year and was definitely blessed! I didn't even mention a quarter of the good things that happened! These were just a few of the highlights! Too often, I fail to remember the many things that I’m blessed with everyday! Here’s to being a little more positive, even when things aren’t going how I want them to! :)

Baseline... Suicide... GO!

At practice yesterday we got to the "conditioning" part of practice! Everyone is on the baseline. We say, "Suicide... GO!" They have to wait for "GO" before they can start running! They all run their "suicide" (free throw line, baseline, half court, baseline, other free throw line, baseline, other baseline, baseline). Everyone knows what A suicide is right? Others might call it a ladder? (After yesterday... maybe that's what we'll start calling it?) ANYWAYS!

After they run their first suicide, they're all waiting on the baseline for us to tell them what to do next. After a quick break (because we're not totally heartless :) haha) we say, "Suicide... GO!" In sync, all at the same time, they make a gun with their fingers and shoot themselves, and fall to the ground. Holli, Britt, and I look at each other, and are like, "Did they really just do that?" We are so dumbfounded that 1) they did it. 2) That they were all in sync! 3) That they did it at the same time without acknowledging (at least that we could tell) that they were going to do it! We had no idea when they could have planned it? Apparently the planning went down during Christmas break, but they forgot to do it before the first suicide, and somehow remembered while running!

Anyways... appropriate? No. Probably not. Funny? Totally! They didn't mean anything bad by it and they thought they were just SO clever and funny for coming up with it! I went home that night and couldn't stop smiling about it! Too funny! But, we of course had a nice chat about suicide, with me being the health major and all. I of course reminded them that "Suicide is a permanent solution to a temporary problem."

After their little dramatization they all quickly got up and ran their suicide! One of the funniest moments of practice thus far this season!

Christmas 2010

I am failing at the whole blog thing these days! Here is a quick update with pictures from Christmas break! It was GREAT to be home, GREAT to relax, and GREAT to be with family! It of course was TOO short, like always!

It started with the Thackeray Family Hallelujah Chorus (see video below) at the Etna Ward Christmas Party.

Then came Christmas Eve! We always spend Christmas Eve at Grandpa Berry's. This was on the car ride over.

 

We ate DELICIOUS food, chatted with family and friends, played a little American Idol on the Wii, and opened presents! It was a very enjoyable time! 

 

Christmas Day was fun as usual! 

We woke up, looked at our stockings! Then the present opening began! I have had a pile of old t-shirts from high school sitting in a garbage sack for a few years now! Mom finally made me a quilt out of all those shirts! I LOVE it! Lots of fun memories! I also got a Cricut (paper cutting machine). Those were the big presents. And I got lots of other things as well! Also pictured below is a game of Ticket to Ride. Pretty much, we played every day! It was a little out of control! I was definitely very blessed! Lots of awesome friends and family that are very kind!

 

After we opened presents, the Grandparents from both sides and Aunt Linda came over for "brunch". Tracy, Dad, and I were the chefs. Notice the matching BYU aprons, another one of mom's creations! I sure love me a good apron! :)

We played lots of games! Another hit was The Game of Things! There were some funny moments. Example: Things a cat thinks, Things you should not title a children's book, etc. Pure awesomeness! 

Christmas night the extended Thackeray's that are in town get together for games and food. Linda brought her XBOX Kinect and that was definitely the hit of the night! We always have a good time when we get together! 

The kids went sledding a few times! Mom made Tandy and I go up one day, much to our dismay! But we had an enjoyable time! I think I can handle one hour of sledding a year! That is the ONE and only time I will enjoy and not have a disdain for snow! :)

It was fantastic to be home hanging out with all of these people! In my old age I look forward to it more and more! :) Sure do love the holidays! Good times for sure!

Thackeray Family Hallelujah Chorus

Well... I obviously haven't had time to update! I should be able to throughout the next couple of days! Until then... stay entertained with this! It was performed at the Etna Ward Christmas Party yesterday by a combination of Thackeray's from different families! Enjoy! :)

And another version from a different angle :) you know... to help you get the full effect!

Basketball

State Volleyball was November 5th and 6th. Tryouts for basketball were November 8th! One sport done and on to the next! :) Coaching has been extremely different this year! Not in a bad way and not in a good way! Just different. I know this sounds like a bad thing... I still love it! It's extremely fun, and I can't imagine my life without it! Like I said, it's just different. (Must be that full time teaching thing getting in the way, making my feelings change a little bit. HA!) The one thing that I love, that never changes, is that the group of girls I get to coach are such fun, good girls! They definitely keep me laughing! The season has started off really well! Let's hope we continue with that pattern! Coaching really is the best!

Mormon Tabernacle Choir Concert featuring David Archuletta

The Brown's invited me to go with them to the Mormon Tabernacle Choir Concert, featuring David Archuletta! Not a huge fan of David Archuletta, but he was REALLY good! It was an awesome concert that sure got me in the holiday spirit! It was way fun!