It’s been over a year since I last posted. What a year. Here’s an update.
DJ has been working at a wholesale glass company since he’s been out of school. He really enjoys the job and the people he works with. He turned in his mission papers and we are all trying to wait patiently for his call. He’s been serving in the Elders Quorum presidency in the young adult branch of our church and loves it. I love how he is just like me and is a people person. He is amazing. He can light up any room with his amazing spirit. He’s so friendly and loves everyone. I can’t wait to see what Heavely Father has in store for him. He is going to do great things.
Karlee is a senior this year! She is getting smarter and smarter every day. She started the Running Start program last year and will finish this year with an AA. She decided to do full time college so is rarely at her high school. I love how much she loves to learn. Sometimes she is to smart for her own good! 😋 She still loves her makeup and gets complimented on it all the time. Last year while working, she saved up enough money to buy herself a camera. She has already done a few jobs for people (senior pictures mostly) and of course is amazing at it. I wish she could see all the beautiful things about her that her father and I see within her. She is going to be such a strong beautiful person once she figures out just what she can do!
Ashlee is in 8th grade this year and we decided to bring her out to the district that I work at. She loves the junior high. She already made great friendships there and it’s only been a week since school started! (That’s one of the reasons why I love our church! She already knew so many wonderful girls from girls camp.) She is excited to start volleyball at her new school next week. Her birthday is on Labor Day this year and she’s getting excited for her first stake dance on September 8th (happy birthday Mariana!). She’s really improved on her hair skills and is literally the braid queen! I love seeing her experiment with her hair and come up with beautiful designs! She has her heart set on going to a cosmetology school in Utah to become a hairdresser. Whatever she does, she will do great things. On a side note, we painted her room this summer. She wanted white on the top half and black on the bottom half. I had to paint over my favorite paint job in the girls’ room, purple with stripes of pink, green, blue and yellow. Oh how I’ll miss those colors. But as I see right before me, they do grow up, and way to fast.
Jason is doing amazing as usual. He has still kept his weight off and works hard at eating right. He continues to cycle every day that he can. Sometimes he is out bicycling for hours! I love that mans motivation. He is such an inspiration to me. He is still at the managerial job at the wholesale corporation that most people love. He continues to work hard and is noticed for his dedication by his managers. They treat him right and he deserves it. We have been blessed through his job and know that our Heavenly Father has looked out for us there.
As for me, I am loving my job(s) and couldn’t be happier. This year I’ve been moved to a different school to help in the DLC classroom (special needs class). I have an amazing teacher with just as equally an amazing parapro that I get to work along side with. We’ll call them T and L. T is our teacher and is so amazing! She is such a great teacher! She has already done wonders for those kids when she walked in halfway through the year last year. It’s amazing what a teacher can do when they know what they’re doing. And she definitely does! I absolutely love working for her. L is the same age as DJ (in fact went to elementary school together) and is one of the most mature teenagers I have ever met. She is amazing with the kids and knows just what they need. Working with these two gals is such a blessing! They make work fun and we laugh all the time. (Not at the kids of course, but at ourselves!) School barely started this last Tuesday but we’ve been in trainings the two weeks leading up to the first day. It was good to start getting back on a schedule but boy, that first week was still rough! I think all three of us had mentioned at one point that we were in bed by 8:30 one day last week! Summer fun is just to hard to lose you know! Speaking of summer, my “second” job has been a need I never knew. I’ve been teaching Aqua Zumba for a year now and absolutely love it! During the summer I would teach twice as much, two times in the indoor pool and two times at the outside pool. I love making people feel good about themselves after a good work out! Now that school is back in session I had to drop the two morning classes and stick with the evening classes. I’ve added a third evening class though so hopefully people can still get a good week of exercise. Our town has finally agreed to a new aquatic center so I’m excited to see when and how that place will be once opened! Karlee and I have something in common this year. We will both get our AA! I am so excited to be going to school that I can’t even stand it. I’ve been plugging along and will continue my two classes per semester and will finish with an AA at the end of this school year. I can’t hardly believe it! I’m so excited! This has been something I’ve wanted for years. To go to school and get a degree has always been a distant dream for me. I am so thankful for the Pathway program and where it’s led me. BYU-I will start in two more weeks and I am itching at the chance to start this new year. I believe it will be harder this year with me teaching three Aqua Zumba classes but that will only make me persevere more then ever. I can do this, I will do this! Bring on the 2018-2019 school year!
Our family took our annual Utah trip this summer and took our regular Christus Statue picture. We were also able to do some really fun things that were on my bucket list. (Well, last year was one thing I crossed off, this year is another.) Last year DJ and I swam with stingrays and sharks. I love stingrays. They are by far my favorite water animal! They love to be touched! They literally want you to pet them. They would swim up to my hands so I could pet them. I love those things!
This year we were able to go zip-lining! We went over the largest zip-line over water and the third largest zip-line in America. It was unbelievable! Such a thrill! We went to Lagoon for the first time as a family (plus one) and had some fun. Although, I got sick 🤢 on a ride and had to lay down 😴 for half the day. The day was still great getting to spend it with the family. We can’t wait to see what next years trip will bring us.
Thanks for reading!
With love always,
Nini V.
