six things

I first picked this up from Meredith and saw that everyone else joined in. It's going around like the flu, now I have to do it! ;) I'm not sure I can think of six interesting things about me, but I'll try!

1. Human Calendar: Although I am not so great at it anymore, I used to remember everyone's birthdays and anniversaries. I have 40 first cousins and my parents both have 5 brothers and sisters and I know most of their birthdays. Now I know everyone's birthday and anniversary in Forest's family (although three of them shouldn't count, his twin sisters share a birthday with my Mom, our niece shares a birthday with my Grandpa and his parents were married on my birthday!). I also remember pretty vividly details about family gatherings, what took place there, where it was, what day it was, things like that.

2. Radiology Major: When I left High School I had already finished college credits in Patient Care through a program called Allied Health. During my senior year, we were able to shadow nurses and doctors in 6 different areas of a clinic and get a feel for what type of profession we would want to go into. I fell in love with Radiology pretty much right away. I still wonder if my love for pictures had anything to do with that. I was set to start the Radiographer program in 2003 after spending two years finishing my prerequisite courses. In the summer of 2002 none of my classes were running, so I was working none stop. I met Forest in June and met him in person in August. I went back to school in September and only lasted a month. I had the worst case of mono I have ever seen. I was dead-in-my-bed sick for 6 weeks and was still feeling the affects of it for months after that. I had to drop out of school for the semester. Before the spring semester started, I decided to move to Texas to be closer to Forest. I never did go back to school because I knew we would be getting married and starting a family. My plans haven't panned out like I had hoped, but I'm glad I can be there for the Dendy's instead of taking care of irate patients!

3. My Nickname: My nickname is Jennibee or simply just Bee. It started when I was 9 years old, in 4th grade. I was a bee for Halloween and unfortunately we do not have pictures of this! Just a few months later, Blind Melon released "No Rain" which had a little bee girl in the video. My Mom and my sister, Crystal, started calling me Jennibee as a joke and it eventually just stuck. That was 15 years ago and they rarely call me Jenny. My dining room is also bee themed, as giving me bee related decor has become a norm in our family. I started collecting Boyd's Bears when I was 11 and they pair nicely with bees as well. When Forest and I were married, we were taking photos outside in front of the chapel. My friend Nicole was fixing my train and noticed that a bumblebee was trying to pollinate my dress! It was the biggest bumblebee I have ever seen and we figured that was a good omen that we were going to be a happy couple.

4. Ich spreche Deutsch: I learned how to speak German in high school and college. I am very rusty these days, as there aren't many german folks down in Texas. I could never speak it very fluently, but I can read it pretty well. It's a fun language to learn, even if it's not the nicest sounding one. I have quite a bit of German heritage, as does Forest (Grabert comes from Gräber, which means "Graves") so I married the right person to have a last name that fits my own heritage!

5. I'm a Nerd: I know that this doesn't sound interesting, but how many girl nerds are there? ;) I have pictures from high school to prove it. Actually, I consider myself a nerd because I know more than one should about particularly nerdy categories. I love science fiction (Star Wars is one of the greatest movies ever made!), I play intelligent video games in my spare time, I know HTML backwards and forwards, I know the first 20 of so digits of Pi by heart, I get excited when Forest buys new computer guts and I get to help him fix computer hardware. Forest and I go pretty perfectly together. My Dad is kind of a "nerdy" guy, but in a much cooler way than I am. He always told me that I needed to find a husband that could fix my computer because he wasn't going to be doing it for me for the rest of his life. He also told that to my sister. Forest and Rob (my brother in law) both work in IT and my Dad hasn't had to fix either of our computers in years.

This was taken at my 16th birthday party in 1999. From L to R: Amanda, Rachel, Dane, Me, Sarah is behind me, then my cousin Jessie, and my brother Keith. Notice I am wearing a Star Wars shirt. I also had braces and glasses (I wear contacts now). I was always proud to be whatever I was, I am proud to be a nerd, it gives me a little character!


6. Music: I don't like silence and I love music. So, whenever I'm home and not watching TV, my music is on. I sing and dance while ironing. The vacuum noise competes with Pink Floyd or the Beatles on a regular basis. My cell phone is used more as an MP3 player than a phone. I'm listening to music at this very moment (The Birthday Massacre - Movie, awesome song!). I'm not partial to any one type either, I love most kinds. I have a list a mile long of favorite bands. I'm a singing non-singer. I thankfully know I can't sing very well or I would be one of the people Simon makes fun of on American Idol. My music appreciation is attributed to my Dad who has excellent taste in music. Unfortunately for us, he would find something new, get hooked on it and play it until we threatened to use the CD as a Frisbee. I am glad I didn't inherit that trait! When I was visiting them this August, it was the new Meatloaf album. After 29 years of marriage, I think my Mom has learned to let that one go ;)

Hey, I didn't do half bad...I suppose even I am interesting ;)

so clean you can eat off of it

Towards the end of my "shift" at Jennie's, McKay and Alexa decided to play with bubbles in the kitchen sink. Grace crawled in to see them and was laughing as they created a mini bubble bath. Grace loves her baths, so I'm sure she assumed it was time for that. They started to pick up the bubbles and put them on their heads and soon Grace was covered as well. Jennie came in to find all three of her girls, soaking wet and covered in bubbles. So, what else to do? Let them clean the floor! Grace was in fits of giggles and when that happens, you can't help but laugh too. I got a quick picture on my phone of the aftermath, although they were all moving so it's not the best quality. It's rather small, but you can still see the bubbles across the floor!

gracie tidbits

Some of you may know, Grace has very odd behavioral problems. This isn't rare for kids with delays, but really is the only thing about her that can be frustrating. When she sees Jennie (and occasionally me) across the room or otherwise not paying attention to her or when we eat in front of her she cries and screams. Other random things can trigger these fits as well. I would feel bad for their upstairs neighbors, but they are insanely loud themselves, so I don't feel so bad. Jennie has been seeing a doctor who specializes in behavior modification. If Grace cries because we're doing something that drives her crazy, we have to completely ignore her. Once she calms down, we have to wait about a minute to go talk to her so she can tell the difference between the bad behavior and the good behavior. We have been kind of doing this for the last two months, but not waiting the full minute. We tried this Tuesday, which was a disaster, but a good disaster. Her behavior got worse (which is normal) and she screamed for probably at least an hour. She would almost get to the minute of being calm and we'd go to praise her, but as soon as we turned around she'd wind up again. Once we fed her dinner though she was being very cute.

So, yesterday a little before dinner, Grace was screaming her head off at us and we ignored her, but the amount of time it took her to calm back down was significantly shorter. I was feeding her dinner and she was taking these HUGE theatrical bites, it was hilarious. Jennie was working on a project for McKay's class while we were watching Ratatouille, but was kind of hiding where Grace couldn't see her. She sat with me on the couch for a bit. She was laughing at the movie and every once in a while she would cuddle up next to me and just giggle. It was too cute! Grace scooted her way to the floor and poked her head around the corner to see Jennie and instead of her normal fit, she just crawled to her and laughed! Jennie ended up not needing to hide and Grace was being so good. She even ate dinner in front of her and didn't have to feed her Cheerios or play with her like she normally would have had to. We still have a little bit of a road to go, but after just one day of being very diligent Grace is already learning that crying is not going to get her what she wants. We're also trying to teach her to use the communication skills she DOES have to let us know what she wants. She's been doing pretty good with that, sometimes I have to guess what she wants, because she only says "hi", but I've become pretty good at guessing!

no more tears

I had a good day yesterday. Jennie came to get me around noon and we with McKay and Alexa to see the Nightmare Before Christmas in 3-D. It's really fun to see on the big screen again and the girls enjoyed it. Afterward was Family Fun Day at Reata Rehabilitation. Grace does horse therapy at Reata once a week which helps her balance and muscle control. She's pretty adorable up on that horse. Once a year they have family fun day where they have games for the kids, a cake walk, food and other fun things. Grace was part of a little program which was very cute. There was a boy there, his name was Byron, who rode before Grace. His smile alone made me feel so much appreciation for all of God's children. He was probably my age, if not older, but has Cerebral Palsy and had caused severe problems with his motor skills. His parents were there and he hadn't seen them a while. He was so excited he nearly jumped right off the horse to get to them. I think about how some kids my age treat their parents and don't appreciate them at all, but Byron has endless love for his and will never feel anything else. He is so happy and that is really all that matters.

Today, well, I've been very emotional today! Sometimes for good reasons, other times for reasons that I wish weren't happening.

I woke up today at 9, mildly freaking out because we were supposed to leave for church at 10. I then realized we hadn't turned our clocks back an hour yet, so I laid there for a few more minutes before I finally got out of bed. We had a short meeting with Michelle Reed about the Christmas Party the three of us are planning for the ward. She has some excellent ideas, it should be a very fun night, so all of you in Trophy Club Ward be ready to be dazzled ;)

It was fast and testimony meeting and although I had a mild feeling to go up and bear mine, I decided that if I did no one would understand me due to my crying. I have so much to be grateful for right now, Forest and I are in a really good place in our relationship, with our jobs, with our lives. Courtney is doing fantastic, or as fantastic as she's going to be with her second round of chemo (she's still in remission, this is to just make sure she stays that way). The outpouring of blessings on her family have been abundant. I know their faith in Heavenly Father to watch over them is probably a huge reason they are doing so well emotionally with this burden and I know that they can handle it with his help. So many of us who have the gospel take it for granted, not truly knowing the miracles that can happen with faith.

I'm so glad Courtney is doing well and that this horrible thing is finally on it's way out. My happiness is mixed with sadness though, as my Uncle Richard is quickly losing his own battle with cancer. Words really can't express how I'm feeling right now. All I want to say is that it's not fair. I know that if I didn't have the faith I have now, I would not at all be able to handle this at all.