Christmas Letter 2012

Merry Christmas!

Ah, Miracle on 34th Street playing on my TV, eggnog in the fridge, snow in the forecast, and the end of finals and a tough fall semester - all signs that Christmas is upon us and so is my task of trying to write a Christmas letter! 2012 has been a wonderful and quiet year for me. Well, okay. Maybe not that quiet. 

I’m still working for BYU in their Human Resource Development office doing online training and now that I have a beautiful new Macbook at work, my work is that much more exciting to show up for! I’m now in my last year of my graduate program, so I can see the light at the end of the tunnel! I’m also still in my little condo in Springville, and still racing and riding my mountain bike. 

This year’s travels included two trips to Seattle. (I really am obsessed, and I really do need to move there someday.) My mom joined me for the first trip - to see my friend’s wedding. While there, we explored the beautiful Bloedel Reserve and drove around the old haunts from back in the day when my parents and sisters lived in the area - long before my time! And the second trip was my dream-come-true trip of going hiking in the Olympics and along the coast. It was beautiful and everything I dreamed of. I also went to Houston to visit my sister, Joni, and her family at their new home. We went to the beach on a most perfect day ever and ate some alligator for dinner that her husband and son hunted and shot. 

This has also been the year of family with a skiing weekend in January with three of my sisters, and three nephews getting married. The cherry on top was when my mom came down for the Sundance Outdoor Theater production of Seven Brides for Seven Brothers. Bless her beautiful hide! 

In August, I bought Ruby, my Subaru Outback. I {heart} my Outback. Because I have her, I purposely parked in a snow drift last month . . . because I could. It was awesome! And just the other day, I went to lunch with a friend during the peak of a snow storm. I watched a bunch of other people sliding around while me and Ruby drove around like it was no big deal. I should have bought her a long time ago. I’m excited for all the new places I’ll be able to go because of her! 

To wrap up here are some other highlights by the numbers: 100 miles of Little Red Riding Hood road bike ride conquered. 51 miles ridden in 36 hours for the 12 Hours of Mesa Verde race. 23 miles ridden in the 12 Hours of Sundance race where we took 1st place! 4 quilts completed. 4 moose and 1 baby moose seen while out mountain biking. 2 mountain bike rides when my rear brakes quit working leading to 1 great tumble. 1 beast of a road ride over the Alpine Loop logging 45 miles and 4,200 feet of climbing. 1 tarantula sighting in Hobble Creek canyon. 1 kitchen faucet replaced by yours truly. And 1 new roommate! Jo is her name and she just moved in at the beginning of December! She’s perfectly wonderful. 

I hope all is well with you and your loved ones and that this letter finds you well and happy! May the spirit of Christmas, and the hope and joy that comes with it, fill your lives. Take care and keep the emails, blog posts, and Christmas letters coming! 

Best wishes, 

Jessika

A China Miracle?

1. Getting a roommate the day I find out about this China trip and being able to save nearly every penny of my rental income 
2. $3,000 for airfare, loding, tuition, side trips, and half of my food, all for six weeks (or less in my case) in Xiamen, China 
3. Getting the green light from work to go and work while I'm there so I can lengthen my time there
4. Interviewing for the study abroad with the program director and professor and then being told that I can pretty much count on going
5. Being told that my tuition benefit through BYU will help pay for part of the $3,000 (I'm talking about maybe $1,000!) 

Is all this adding up to be an amazing trip or what?! I can't believe it. It feels like this is being handed to me on a silver platter . . . as if I am meant to go. I don't think I could have been able to pull this off if I were in any other postion in human resources at BYU. My job is so internet-based and so independent contributor, in fact, that is one of the main arguments Tim, my director, used with my big boss, Forrest, to allow me to go. Is it way off base to think that maybe I declined the great-position-swap Forrest asked me to participate in last March in order to allow me to go on this trip to China?! I thought I declined because I might be moving next year and I suppose I still could, but maybe not now that this trip is taking place. I just sent my commitment email to Catherine. So I'm going! This is so surreal. 

All Gussied Up with Somewhere to Go!

Kendra invited me to join her for her work Christmas party Saturday night. She works for Ancestry.com and they know how to throw a party! The theme was 1940s (probably because the 1940 census came out this past year) and it was formal dress. I was so excited to dress up! I wore my new glittery heels with my black dress and dolled my hair up in curls to mimic 1940s hair as best as I could. This party had a sweet car from the era that Kendra and I took too many pictures with, they had a dinner and dessert buffet, and gambling for prize raffle tickets (where I learned to play poker).  They also had dancing, a comedian show, and a juggling act - which we didn't participate in. And they had rented the entire new Utah Valley Convention Center. It was crazy huge! And so fun. After that I was in the mood for something World War II and some more men in uniform so I watched the movie, Pearl Harbor, when I got home. Mmmmm. Check us out! Aren't we dishes? :)

Acting Reveals a Lot About Me

I had my work Christmas Luncheon this past Wednesday, and I was on the planning committee. My assignment was music and helping the emcees. The emcees were Greg, Marden, and Carl, who I now affectionately call the three stooges of HRS. They are hilarious and totally feed off of each other! That's the reason why they are the emcees. Our theme for the luncheon was a cowboy Christmas, and the emcees got this brilliant idea to film a black and white film with the four of us being the actors. The idea behind the film (and to make sense of the video below) is that we get the group to start singing "Here Comes Santa Claus" while we wait for Santa to come into the room, but Santa doesn't show up! So Greg and Marden (the two cowboy emcees) think something is wrong and head out to go look for Santa and that's when the video begins - of their adventures of saving Santa from the evil Black Bart.

Guess who is Black Bart? Yep. Me. I'm also Ms. Jesse Jane at the beginning. And let me tell you! I have a new respect for actors and actresses - or at least the ones that can do just about any role. The part where I have to swoon into Greg and Marden's arms? Yeah.... we took like four different takes of that because I couldn't do it! I make fun of swooners so there was no way I could do it myself. Ugh.  But as for being the evil villain? Piece of cake. It came so naturally to me..... wait.... yeah. That was the great reveal! I'm a natural villain! Oh dear.

Enjoy the video.

Mundane Monday: Old Posters from College

This weekend I did some spring cleaning and came across some posters that I used to hang up on the walls of my college apartments. I just wanted to memorialize these since I loved them in college and I've now tossed them.

An image of downtown Salt Lake City during the 2002 Winter Olympics

Ansel Adams image of Denali National Park

Every girl should have this image in her apartment.

A Roommate & China

I'm getting a roommate. I know. You're shocked. I've held for several years now that having my own place was a step foward in progression for me and that getting a roommate (other than family) would be a step back in progression. Well.... this feels good - like I need to be doing it .... like it is a tender mercy from the Lord that I didn't ask for, telling me to beef up my savings faster than I could have otherwise ... as if something is coming that I need savings for. Initially, when I heard the voicemail from Sister Hooper from my ward wondering if I was interested in getting a roommate, I shut down the idea. But I started thinking about it and how helpful it would be to my savings. So I thought I'd at least get the details before I shut down the idea entirely. When I found out that she was older (38) and had very few belongings because she is from Taiwan and that Sister Hooper said she was very nice and a sweet girl, I thought I'd meet the girl and see how I feel. Thursday night she came over to see my place and meet me. Her name is Jo Kung. She is very sweet and I felt good about it! She is chattier than I expected, but she seems very sweet and on top of things. So I invited her to move in! She moves in tomorrow and Tuesday. And one other reason why I like this idea - is because I'm doing her a service. She's been living in a terrible situation with a roommate who has been having her boyfriend sleep over. I guess I'm a sucker for helping people out.

And then China. Well. I received an email from my master's program director inviting us students to go to China with her and one of our professors next summer. It would be a mini summer study abroad since we'd be going to a Chinese university, living on it's campus, and attending a class there taught by our professor. The whole trip would be six weeks and they would do a bunch of cool side trips on the weekends to Beijing, the Forbidden City, the Great Wall of China, Shanghai, the terracotta army, Hong Kong, and other places. Guess how little this trip would cost me? $3,000. That price includes airfare, lodging, tuition, side trips, and most meals. I'm skeptical because that seems too good to be true! Flights alone cost nearly that much. I'm going to grill them with questions at their information session this week. Then I'll have to figure out some way to make it work with work, like maybe they'll let me work from China, or else I'll have to go for only three or four weeks since I won't be able to save enough vacation days for the full six weeks. Keep your fingers crossed for me!