Click.

Okay, so, sometimes when a few of us at Sundance don't get lessons, we go and do skiing clinics. And today we clinicked (I don't know if that's a word, but it is now) with Owen, and I have to tell you right now, he is officially my new favorite person to clinic with. He makes you (well, me) feel like a CHAMP. Seriously. Today he said to me, "I love watching you ski. You are such a powerful skier. It is beautiful." My jaw seriously dropped into my lap as I was grinning and blubbering thanks. But seriously, for someone as good as he is to tell me that HE loves watching ME ski?! That blows my mind/makes me feel like a million bucks. I can honestly say I have never received a better compliment in my entire life.

But, during the clinic, there was this moment of "OH! THAT'S what that's supposed to feel like!" It was so awesome. I felt my skiing improve in just a matter of hours. Seriously. It was so freaking cool.

Anyway, that's pretty much all I have to say. But. Work is good. Even when I'm not getting paid.

I'm trying to get Chris to come skiing with me this weekend, so that if he ever ends up coming and taking a lesson from me, I'll have an idea of what to work on. We'll see. :)

Weirdo.

So let me tell you a little bit about my friend, Weirdo Blogstalker. She is fantastic. Apart from saving kittens from burning buildings and working to end world hunger, she occasionally likes to hang out with me and read my blog. After reading my blog, she will often tell me how much she loves me, and how happy my being in love makes her. Ha. She makes me happy.
Honestly, have you ever experienced the phenomenon that occurs when you have someone with whom to share your happiness? Your happiness somehow becomes exponentially greater, until you're reduced to a pile of lovesick giggling.
Okay, not really, but I will admit that whenever she tells me how much she loves me and Chris, I somehow get all giggly and love-struck. It's weird. And frankly a little abnormal.

Anyway, my dearest most beloved Weirdo, I just want you to know that you are beautiful and I adore you! xoxo and all of that stuff.


Moving on. Finally finished my stupid paper today at about 3:30. Woot. I have to admit though, I still don't feel like finals are over. It hasn't hit me yet that I'm free for the next couple of weeks. I still have this little lurking stress headache. So I'm definitely looking forward to a night full of Skyrim and texting Chris to relax. :)

Tomorrow I'm going to give my first adult 'lesson!' Haha, not really, I'm just heading up to work a little early to ski for an hour with my friend Francis. He skied for the first time today, and I'm looking forward to having a student to explain things to on a more technical level. And, of course, I'm excited to ski! Woot.

Then work, then work again, then Skyrim, then sleep, then CHRIS. :) Hurray.

Six.

That's how many consecutive days Chris and I have spent together in the past seven-day period. Yep, six. Birthday weekend turned into birthday which turned into finals all-nighter, so technically today (Wednesday) is only PARTLY contributing to the six, but w/e, it sounds more impressive/awesome. However, now I have to wait until Sunday to see him. *face melts into indecipherable expression*
But then we get to have another 'weekend' aka he's going to hang out in Provo for like four days and whenever I'm not working we'll be together. And when I am working he may or may not be vegging at my apartment playing Skyrim on The Gorgeous. Or watching Netflix. Or sleeping on my couch. My roommates won't be home, so I need someone to guard my stuff while I'm not there! (Right.) Either way, the month of December is going to involve plenty of Chris-Jen togetherness.

Next semester is going to suck.

The job at Sundance is still going ab fab, I'm finally to the point where I'm teaching lessons by myself, NBD.

The job at Outdoors alternates between putting me to sleep and making me want to kill all of the people who come in all at once wanting to return/rent skis. Grrrrrrrrr.

School is almost over. One more paper to wrap up and then I'm free, for better or for worse. There is light at the end of the tunnel, and I'm not going to lie, I'm SO excited to get rid of the permanent headache that settled on me last week it's kind of ridiculous. I'm not even nervous about my last final, not even remotely. I'm just nervous about finishing my paper.

On the subject of papers, I don't know if I've told you all, but there have been a few times that Chris has told me that I'm "the best girlfriend" he's ever had. (Although I haven't actually heard him say it in a while, which is okay I suppose. It's just not something I ever get tired of hearing.) To be honest, he had been chilling at the topmost tier since before we even started dating, but there hasn't really been anything to this point that has "blown my mind." Until now. It's not even something that seems like a big deal, but it was huge to me. Some people might think of 'mind blowing' as some completely over-the-top romantic event, but to me, it was simply him helping me with my paper. Because of his help I was able to get it done on time, which might just save my grade. He had tons of studying to do himself, but instead he opted to help me. Seriously, I'm still in a little bit of disbelief. I know he doesn't think of it as that big of a deal, and some of you are probably like, "What? Something that simple makes him the best boyfriend you've ever had?" My answer to you is most assuredly yes. By small and simple means great things are brought to pass!

My family might call me a broken record, but I'm more crazy about this boy than I've ever been about anybody else. AND he got the, "he's really cute!" seal of approval from my mother. Which is a big deal to me. She called Brandon 'nice' (code for "what on earth are you thinking Jen?") and she never met Nine Toes. I honestly don't remember if she liked Mitsubishi or not, seriously, I remember very little about that relationship, even though it was essentially eight months long from start to finish and we had very seriously talked marriage. The last boy she called "really cute" was Dork Boy, and I don't think I've talked about him, but my mother LOVED HIM, in fact I think she's still secretly disappointed that I let him get away. Even though that was almost two and a half years ago and he's married now. Yeah. Either way, lately every time I've been invited to 'family things' it has been "would you and Chris like to come/be able to make it to..." YEAH. I don't think I have to tell you how much I really like that. I've always wanted to be "you and boy." And now I am. I love it I love it I love it.

Sunday is the Woods family Christmas party, and I don't know if I should be excited or nervous. Now that I think I'm over the parents hurdle I'm not particularly nervous. Besides, I'll be with Chris. Other than remembering to keep the PDA toned down (it will have been FOUR DAYS since our last time together, talk about difficult!!!! LOLz) I don't think I have much to worry about.

Tomorrow is a full day at Sundance, followed by Friday morning there as well. (Friday will be awesome, because I'll be off by 12:30 and don't have to be at work at Outdoors until four. Skiiiiiiinnnnngggggggggggg.) Stoked. I love skiing. I love Sundance. And teaching is okay too I guess.

OH, and today a tandem bike fell on my leg as I fell through a rack of skis. I'll be sure to post a photo/diagram tomorrow. It hurt. And I want you to fully grasp why.

Sequel.

Dinner at Chris's parents for the second time yesterday... infinitely better. So, that's a relief, because honestly I was concerned that it would be awkward forever. Thankfully, it is looking up.

Dinner with Chris's friends... while I might not have impressed Smartypants as much as I would have preferred, we ARE friends on Facebook now, so I suppose that's a good sign. As for the Quidditch team, well, they already love me, NBD. Nerdy Friend (I don't think he will end up meriting a nickname, but if he does, I'll come up with something new) would have to be clinically insane if he didn't approve, because we sat across from each other and basically ended up quoting Robot Chicken Star Wars and HISHE at each other all night... Yeah, nerd Jen definitely showed herself at that particular outing. Again, NBD.

Quidditch practice with the Fliers... SO AWESOME! It was fun to see what a 'real' practice is like, rather than just scrimmaging and such. I learned a lot from Brown Wig, and even though it was honestly like the second time I've played Quidditch with other people in my life, I feel like I didn't make a COMPLETE fool of myself. Chasing, however, is definitely not my thing, especially because now that climbing season is over my hands have lost all of their strength. :/ Keeping FTW.

OKAY, so. Onto sappier matters. Today is Chris's birthday. And, having spent his entire birthday weekend with him (the weekend which included the one-month mark, which I'm not going to lie, is a big deal to me, especially in light of my recent success in the dating world) I just have to say that caring about age difference is for shmucks. Not that Chris is immature, but I think we're on a pretty good level maturity wise. Does the fact that we're over four and a half years apart make me love him any less? Assuredly no. Does he love me any less because of that? I imagine not. So. Yeah.

Anyway, I'm heading to Salt Lake once again (isn't Chris nice for buying me gas?) tonight again for birthday shenanigans. Stoked.

OH and a final note, I freaking LOVE my job at Sundance. I have gotten total ballers for students so far, and I'm just... I love it. Putting on that dang Sundance uniform makes me feel (and ski) like a million bucks.

Thanksgiving.

I'm exhausted. Part of this is because I was 'Skyping' Chris until like 1 am (my time, I'm not a very nice girlfriend) and then woke up at like 9 for family breakfast. Plus I ate tons of turkey. Not really helpful.

Today was great though. Skyrim, college football, beach, body boarding (caught some SICK waves), hot tub, beach football, and lots of delicious food. Mmmmmm.

So, it's a little cliche, but here's a list of things I'm grateful for, the important stuff at the top but not in any particular order.

I am grateful for Chris. Not only does he make me happy, but he makes me feel important/wanted/needed/desirable. He has restored my faith in finding a guy as diverse as I am. Even when he posts things on Facebook that make me mildly unhappy, I'm still pretty crazy about him. I'm thankful that he cares enough about me to help me work through my insecurities and get to a place where I can accept compliments and believe him when he tells me he loves me. (He hasn't yet, and it'll be awhile. That's fine. But it's probably going to happen eventually.) I'm grateful that I found him, and most especially grateful that he cares about me as much as I care about him.

I am (obviously) grateful for my family. Even when they drive me crazy, I still love them. I've interacted with enough people in the universe to be very glad that I have as good of a family dynamic as I do. I love them, they love me, and even when tempers run high, things never go terribly awry.

I am grateful for my unendingly forgiving parents. I know I stress them out, and yet they still love me  without pause.

I am grateful for my (admittedly very few) true and lasting friends. Scooley, Bruce, Christel...

I am grateful for my wonderful roommates.

I'm definitely grateful for all of my friends, old and new. I could list them, but that would seem... lame.

I'm grateful for my coworkers and classmates, who make my days brighter.

I'm grateful for the technology that allows me to communicate with the people I love even when I can't be with them. Texting, Gchat, Facebook.

I'm grateful that I've been provided with a car that allows me to go wherever I want to go, whenever I want - yes, most specifically Salt Lake, but also my work.

I'm super grateful that I have a (mostly) perfect body. I may not take the best care of it, but it does pretty much everything I ask of it, and most of that it does very well. Harder, better, faster, stronger - that will come with time.

I'm grateful for Hannah's mission. If she hadn't gone, I never would've met Chris, and even if I had somehow, he probably would've been married to her. I owe her the best guy I've ever dated.

I'm grateful for my passion. Without it, I never would've made it to where I am.

I'm grateful for the Gospel, the Church, and BYU. I don't think I need to go into any sort of detail on this.

I'm grateful that I've never had the misfortune of getting rejected from a job that I truly, legitimately wanted. I've always had wonderful employers, and they have always been gracious enough to give me jobs when I wanted them. Jim, Gardner, Jerry - thank you from the bottom of my heart. I will love you men forever.

I'm grateful for snow. It makes me happy, and has provided me with what I hope will be a fantastic job, as well as a lifelong passion.

I'm grateful to live in Utah. Some people don't much care for the state, but I am deeply in love with it. It is truly a playground!

I'm grateful for music. How boring life would be without it! Music says what I need when words escape me.

I'm grateful for perspective.

I'm super grateful to you, the readers of my blog! Even though this blog is pretty much completely for myself, I love knowing that you enjoy it.

I'm grateful that today isn't the only day I can express gratitude for all that I've been blessed with, because one day is not enough!

So, in the spirit of this lovely day, what are YOU grateful for?

Recap.

Okay, so guess what I did yesterday?? I won't tell you though. But guess anyway. so a guy named jingle heimer schmidt came to my work today and made me laugh so hard I almost kicked a stool over which almost hit him and caused a gigantic raucous with my co-worker I call morten butkis. But really, I am so cool I dont know what to do with myself. any ideas? maybe I should move to china. Anyway, back to reality, my long lost friend gina seymour chinamen came over and ate at my apt. It was so fun to catch up and remember the good old times at our old all boy boarding school. good times. I want to buy a bike  but I only have about 750 euros, which we know means somewhere in the neighborhood of 2 dollars and 75 cents. i have no sense. I'm all out. Got a concussion last night, don't know why. but I do know I am cooler than the other side of the pillow. I think I want to kiss jingle heimer schmidt, but for some reason I only see him when I sing a special song. That song is a secret but guess what it is anyway and i still won't tell you. I am in love with ********. decifer that and you will know whom I love. I must go to the bathroom right now...excuse me. anyone have a match I can borrow?


.... Wait.... That was definitely one of my coworkers... Thanks a lot Chance.

And now I don't even remember what this post was really about. If you got to read it before Chance deleted it (jerk!), lucky you.

Basically, whole weekend with Chris, skiing at Brighton was great, I got the job (woot!), but lost my iTouch (sad day, I'm so bummed). BYU football did great, and Chris did great cheering for them. Baby steps. ;)

Ugh, Chance, I'm going to KILL YOU. I had so much in that post.

Backflip.

I get to ski TOMORROW. Oh my goodness. I am so nervous/excited! Went on yet another lovely date with Chris. Cafe Rio and quality conversation, what more can a girl ask for? Oh and when we walked back outside? Snowing like a yeti's backyard. So happy. Chris doesn't much care for winter, but I'm hoping that my obsession with it will rub off a little bit. lol. It is beginning to astonish me how much Chris and I have in common. Tonight we got onto the subject of politics, and, shocker, we have pretty similar views. We're both 'moderate liberals.' It's just so funny to me that almost everything we talk about, we pretty much agree on. We disagree enough that it's clearly not a case of Runaway Bride Syndrome. It's like we're the same person... I won't pull out that ridiculous two halves of a whole thing quite yet, but it's an intriguing concept. Anyway, I need to be able to do a triple backflip tomorrow, as per suggestion of my home teacher, so I'd best be off to bed. I'll keep you posted on how things go! Triple backflip here I COOOOOMMMMMMEEEE!

Short.

I honestly don't have that much to say, because I'm a) exhausted, b) way too excited for this weekend, (skiing + Quidditch + Chris + BYU football... yeah, I don't have to explain ANYTHING to you) and c) about to go play Skyrim. Even though I am, yes, super exhausted. Skyrim > sleep.

An Eddie Bauer catalog came in the mail today. Man, if I could just dress like I walked out of that thing... or L.L. Bean... or Patagonia... or all of the above...

*** I had to give a little update... On the IQA Western Region's Facebook, Bear Train posted something about being mad that there weren't any pictures of them from the World Cup on the official website. I ended up commenting... pictures ended up getting found... And then Willis (the Fliers's keeper) said "Just go to the link I posted, and click on the picture twice. You might be interested in this one, in particular:

"

Let's just say, I blushed SO VIOLENTLY that I'm sweating...

But what can I say? He's like... the hottest thing on the planet... Seriously...

Defensive.

So, today Chris and I were having this conversation about Mitsubishi, and we got on the subject of how we deal with people who mess with us. He generally tends to go the 'mind-ninja' route (yikes, remind me NEVER to get on his bad side) while I tend to be the "I am going to punch your face until it doesn't look like a face anymore" type.

But seriously. For me it was more of a continued realization of how defensive/protective I am of the people I care about. A brief example, somebody close to my dad recently took advantage of him and his goodness. I won't go into detail, but I am still completely FURIOUS. When I think about it, I literally have to unclench my fists and jaw. And the worst part? I am completely HELPLESS. Which infuriates me even more. Seriously, it makes me blood literally boil. I'm not Polynesian, but you know how when you piss off a Poly they get that scary glint in their eyes and you know you'd better run the heck away before they kill you? Yeah, that's one bit of Poly I have. If you mess with 'my people' enough, I WILL want to kill you. And when I have my concealed carry permit... I might just bust a cap in your knee.

Another example. Some friends of my roommate just totally betrayed her. I am livid. I know of them, and I seriously want to just go deck them in the faces. I know it's irrational, but I am fiercely loyal, and fiercely protective. YOU DO NOT MESS WITH MY FRIENDS. Or most especially, my family.

At Aspen Grove this summer, we had this little running joke of 'who would you want to fight/not want to fight?' Three guesses who was at the top of every girl's list, and admittedly a couple of guys'. I probably don't even need to tell you the sense of pride that fills me with. At the same time though, I do worry about my 'intimidation' factor. I've been told by many people that I'm intimidating, especially to guys. I try not to be, I'm really not a scary person. Until you mess with my friends/family or do something really idiotic/fury inducing, there's not anything to be afraid of.

Honestly though, it takes a lot to make me REALLY mad. I'm pretty easily irritated; it's something I've been trying to work on, and my bluntness can occasionally come across as sharpness/anger. But to get me truly, blood boiling, IMMA KILL YOU mad? It's legitimately difficult.

I guess what I mean by telling you all this, is that if you're one of those people I would consider a friend, know that when things go wrong, I've got your back. Unless getting your back means I go to prison. Which, for hopefully understandable reasons, you can understand.

On a different note! You know that stupid pickup line "Are you tired? 'Cuz you've been runnin' through my mind all day"? It's kind of actually super accurate. Haha, I'm funny, huh. But seriously, my cheeks are legitimately tired from smiling so much (I can't help it!) and my brain is just like... yeah. Chris and I have been talking so much, it's a little ridiculous. We only stop to sleep. Or when we're in class. It's crazy, there's just always SO MUCH to talk about! It's kind of crazy for me. I mean, I LOVE to talk, it's ridiculous, but I don't think I've ever had such great conversation that lasts. It's just so... great. My dear FHE sister and friend Amanda said she "has a hunch" about us. I try not to think about that. It's still way too early for ANYTHING, we're not even dating yet! But we do get along really well, and we've been talking quite a bit for more than a month. Plus, two dates and planned third date = promising. :) Trying to stay calm. Getting my hopes up hasn't tended to end well. But I know I like him, and I'm pretty sure it's mutual. Ah! I like being twitterpated.

Last note! My new helmet/goggles came today, HOLY FLY.

Typical mirror pic, yeah, I know. But seriously, for like the first time in my life, I'm going to be the one with the "cool, new, hot" gear. Do you have any idea how stoked I am about that? Smith Pro Deal, you are on the top of my list forEVER. Too bad I only got you once in my life. :( Totally worth it though. Freakishly worth it. Ahhhh I'm so stoked.

SNOW!

It snowed in the mountains. Like, holy crap. I am so excited, it's kind of ridiculous. If my skis weren't in Logan, they would resume their normal place in my bed. Yep. IN MY BED. Once upon a time I had photographic evidence that my skis spent a few nights in my bed (when they first arrived), but that evidence has long since been lost. Okay, 'LONG' being a year.
Anyway, snow turns me into this ridiculous, hyper, ecstatic person who claps her hands and bounces up and down a lot. Because snow=skiing. And you probably know how I feel about skiing.

SO, in celebration of the snow, I drove up to Squaw Peak to have a snowball fight with myself, and take pictures of the snowy autumn leaves. It was wonderful. I would have been clapping my hands had I not had to maintain a steady grip on the steering wheel.

It was gorgeous.

I am so excited for winter, it's a little ridiculous.

La Niña.

Yep. Another video.

Today was so freaking awesome. I've been saying for a while that I really need a vacation, and this was it. And it was so awesome. I spent the vast majority of my day watching trailers for ski movies. (Don't worry Mom, I went to school.) Which means I spent the vast majority of my day with my jaw in my lap and goosebumps all over my skin.

I watched a guy break his femur in TGR's One for the Road.

I watched guys ski some SICK POW in Powderwhore's Breaking Trail. (This one MIGHT turn me into a bc skier this year...)

Other than that, going to class, and playing some Oblivion, I didn't do much today. I needed a vacation, and I got it.

Heaven.

I went skiing this morning. Ohhhhhh heaven and earth, it was glorious. It was snowing, quite a bit at first, so there was a little skiff of powder on top of the snow. Not enough to qualify as POW but enough to make for some fun spraying. :)
I can't wait for next week. Even though it's finals week, I'm going skiing every day. Yeah. I know. My life is the bomb.com.
Be jealous.

Me.

Once upon a time, there was a college student. She wanted to say clever and brilliant things on her blog, but when the time arrived, no words came to her. So she blabbered on with no point until she figured no one was reading anymore, and then she crawled in a hole and died of shame. The end.

Just kidding. I'm not planning on crawling in any holes anytime soon. And I'm definitely not planning on dying of shame.

So anyway, I'm Jen. I live to be outside. I ski, rock climb, surf, canyoneer, hike, backpack, and ballroom dance. Wait, one of those was out of place. Ah yes, ballroom dancing. I love it, but I generally don't do it outside. I'm constantly looking to expand my outdoor sports repertoire, and hopefully will learn to ice climb this winter, and mountain bike next summer.

Other than outdoor sports, I love regular sports. Most especially football and basketball, of the college variety. December and March are the best months of the year, hands down. I am a diehard BYU fan, and I will fight [watch], day or night, rain or snow. I have been known to wait for three+ hours in under 30 degree temperatures just to get good seats for a basketball game. Yeah. I know.

Just so you get an idea of where this comes from, both of my parents graduated from BYU, as did both of my brothers. Both of my sisters-in-law attended BYU, and at least one grandparent from each side of my family has graduated from BYU. Most of my aunts and uncles either attended or graduated from BYU, and the same is true of most of my cousins. It's kind of a family legacy, what can I say? I've had at least one piece of BYU clothing for my entire life. I bleed Cougar blue, straight up. In fact, BYU (Provo) is the only school I applied to, so thankfully I got in! ;) I love BYU so very much and I'm stoked to have a diploma from Brigham Young University in a few years to hang on my wall. Or maybe just carry around with me everywhere. That might be a teensy bit pretentious though... so I think I'll steer clear.

I am probably the most bluntly honest person you will ever meet. Okay, maybe not always blunt, but always honest. Beating around the bush is my number one pet peeve. If you don't know how I feel about you, you haven't asked. But by all means, please ask. I will tell you. I try my best to always be tactful, but lying is something I very rarely do unless I have a good reason to.

I love animals, most especially horses. The current love of my life is a 17-hand dark bay Warmblood gelding named Showtime. He's such a goof. Sometimes he can be a little twit, but he's five, so I'll cut him a break. He's absolutely gorgeous though, my goodness. And riding him is glorious, when we work together. He has the most beautiful gaits. Ah! I love him. He's the sweetest.

I also love fruit. And talking. And dating. And movies. And music. And my car.

I really love to start blogs. Please forgive me if I neglect this one. But I promise I will try not to. :)