Preschool teachers know their stuff...

Oliver's preschool teacher, Mrs. Jolley sent home a little reading material and although the author is unknown, I thought it was poignant, so here it is:

YOU ARE...

You are strong...
when you take your grief and teach it to smile.
You are brave...
When yo uovercome your fears and help others do the same.
You are happy...
When you see a flower and are thankful for the blessing.
You are loving...
When your own pain does not blind you to the pain of others.
You are wise...
When you know the limits of your wisdom.
You are true...
When you admit that there are times you fool yourself.
You are alive...
When tomorrow's hope means more to you than yesterday's mistake.
You are growing...
When you know what you are, but not what you will become.
You are free...
when you are in control of yourself and do not wish to control others.
You are honorable...
When you find your honor is to honor others.
You are generous...
When you can take as sweetly as you can give.
You are humble...
When you do not know how humble you are.
You are thoughtful...
When you see others as they are and treat them in a caring way - always and anyway.
You are merciful...
When you forgive in others the faults you condemn in yourself.
You are beautiful...
When you don't need a mirror to tell you.
You are rich...
When you never nedd more than what you have.
You are you...
When you are at peace with who you are not.

Mrs. Jolley always sends home good stuff for the parents. Usually reminders about how each child is different and that we (as parents) need to respect their differences even if those "differences" are the things that drive us nuts! I really like her, Oliver LOVES her and I feel like we're really lucky to have caught her in her last year of teaching before she retires. She's a gem!

Better late than never, right?

In case you haven't noticed, we like to update our blog about 1-2 times per year and no more. :) 2010 has been quite a year for Familia Rojas.

Gilbert is still at Marriott (16 years now!) and enjoying his job there. I joke that one day he'll be the President. He also coaches Tarek's 1st grade soccer team and plays recreational softball on Tuesdays. He just did his first sprint triathlon last weekend and was totally awesome. The boys really liked watching him cross the finish line and so did I. He's a stud.

I am working part-time at a company called Blackbottoms Cyclewear. We make full-custom cycling gear. Need a jersey? Shorts? Knickers? We can make it for you and all with whatever design you desire. I started here a year ago and had no idea what the world of cycling was all about. It's really, really cool! I even did my first bike race this past June with sister Jessi, my mom and a few friends. We did 35 miles in the Little Red Riding Hood race in Logan, UT. We all finished with decent times and no one hyperventilated - bonus!

Tarek turned 6(!) in July and is attending 1st grade at an elementary school right around the corner from us. He is an absolute ROCKSTAR at reading and I think he truly loves school. He's been way into lunch there since he got his very own secret lunch code! He plays soccer on Thursdays with Gilbert as his coach. This season (his 5th), they have goal keepers! We're thinking of signing him up for Cub Scouts... he would be a Tiger Cub (my sweet little tiger cub). As long as they don't teach him how to light fires yet, I'm for it!

Ollie turned 3 in July and is raising hell. :) I say that with a smile on my face because he's a super cute hell-raiser. He's got a personality and attitude that we're not sure how to react to sometimes. Most of the time he doesn't care if you get stern with him or send him to timeout. Whatever. Hell, he puts himself in timeout sometimes! He started early preschool at the elementary school that Tarek attends. He goes twice a week for a few hours and LOVES it! It's pretty much a playdate with ABC's and 123's mixed in at this point and it's perfect for him. He thinks he's so big! Actually, I can't believe how big he is...

All in all, Familia Rojas is doing very well. As always, we're cheering our hearts out for the Utes - they've won all of their football games so far this year and we hope the streak continues. We're just enjoying life and trying to stay sane. I promise to at least THINK about updating this blog more often. To tell you the truth, I forget that we have it! Oops!

Last, but definitely not least: Please keep our brother-in-law and Uncle Christian in your thoughts. He was in a very serious mountain biking accident almost a month ago. He broke his neck and scared the hell out of all of us (especially my sister Jessi). He's in rehab now re-learning to use all the parts of his body. The things he has accomplished are incredible. The guy is amazing and his attitude is so positive. As I've said before, I can almost hear the theme song from "Rocky" when I see him. If you haven't seen it yet, check out his recovery blog at www.christiansjourney1.blogspot.com.

Until next time (possibly next year),
Jenny

Brothers

OK, I take it back. We're going to have at least 2 posts from 2009 (both on the same day perhaps).

I changed our profile pic to this cute shot of Tarek and Ollie at the last Utah home football game. It captures exactly how I'd like them to be when they are old men. Close together and having a great time. I'm so happy that they have each other, even on the days that they're fighting. My younger sister, Jessi and I fought like crazy when we were kids and we ended up best of friends. I hope this happens for my boys. There's nobody quite like a sibling.

You must be kidding me.

The way things are going, this will be the one and only update to our blog in 2009... Well, that's all I can think of. See you next year.

So fired.

OK, it's official. We SUCK at blogging. Gilbert was in charge of this and doing a fine job for a while after Oliver was born, but soon, we got all bogged down with the rest of our world. At least I updated our picture today... it's from LAST football season, but still more recent than the previous pic.

Our First Family Vacation

We took the boys to San Diego at the end of September to see the Zoo, Shamu and the beach! Fortunately, we were able to see all three and have an extra day to ride bikes from Mission Beach to Pacific Beach and around a good portion of Mission Bay. We spent some great time with my cousin Keith and Tarek took to him pretty quickly.

It was a great trip for me and Jenny because for the first time in a long time, I took 7 days off of work and didn't even check my email once. We were able to spend some good quality time together with the boys and eachother and have our "cocktail hour" each night on the patio!

In one of our finer moments as parents (nomination for parents of the year), we were leaving dinner with Keith when Tarek loudly asked from the back seat of our rental, "Hey, where's the jackass?" More to come later regarding our nominations for parents of the year...

Check out some of our pics:

Tarek Loves the beach and the "crazy waves"

Winner Winner, Chicken Dinner!

Big Jason with Marley and Gilbert with tarek (Dads doing their best impressions of pack mules)

Holy Crap...I love Shamu!!!

Jenny and her boys at La Jolla Shores (notice how tan Oliver looks next to Jenny)

For more vacation pics, click on our photo album link!

16 Year High School Reunion

Even though it took a sad event to get us together, it's nice to know that we all reconnected. Here's a few pics of the ladies and gentlement from Alta High School class of 1991 and 92 since we took in baby Ryan!

These ladies haven't changed one bit: Laresen, Stacy, Joey, Steph and Cynthia

Same ladies and add Baby Ryan, Gilbert and David

Natasha, Larsen and Mandy

It was great to see everyone and if you want copies of the pics, email me!