Gee-To-The-Knee

GRADUATION!!!

2009-12-18T15:35:00.000-08:00

So, the day finally came! I gradiated! Don't I look fantastic in a cap and gown!?

I just love candid photos! The long walk to the podium!

Brucey Juicy came to watch. All of the excitement inspired the rugrat to walk farther than he'd ever walked before... He went a whole 9 or so steps without assistance!

Craziness!!!

2009-11-22T14:46:00.000-08:00

So, life is pretty crazy!

Today is my 6 month anniversary!!! EEK!
I graduate in less than 3 weeks!

I was almost murdered by primary kids today! I REALLY need a new piano player!

Graduation Countdown!

2009-11-20T08:06:00.000-08:00

22 days until GRADUATION!!!

EEK!

New Job!

2009-11-17T08:59:00.000-08:00

So, Julian started his new job yesterday. He liked it. He's really excited (and so am I!)
He's been working at 24 Hour Fitness for the past little while but he's not the biggest fan of it. Now he's at Community America Credit Union. It's an automatic raise of $5 an hour plus benefits. He did realize how much sweeter the benefits get once you're a full time employee. DUH! Now we're just ready for me to have a job.... Then we can rock this place!

Another cool thing about the credit union is that they really like employing the friends and family of employees! That means that if I don't get the job at Park University that I'm applying for then I could probably get something at the bank. Too bad their HR department is full... We'll see what they have in a little while. Who knows!?

But for now we're all just way excited for Julian and having a job that he doesn't hate and making a more decent amount of money doing it! Plus, since he wants to go into finance he'll actually have some experience involving money!

Graduation Countdown!

2009-11-12T09:10:00.000-08:00

ONE MONTH UNTIL GRADUATION!
This means that all I have left is

3 group projects
1 all by myself project
a portfolio
4 papers
a handful of finals

Then I'm ALL DONE!!! WOOHOO! Who wants to throw a party?

I'M BACK!

2009-11-10T08:50:00.000-08:00

Basically, I realize that I fail. As far as my blog is concerned I am both not married and married but living in Lee's Summit. Neither of these are accurate. I have pictures at home so I will post some more recent shots of the happy little family later.

So, for a bit of an update:

Julian and I will have been married for a whole 6 months in a few weeks. Happy day.
I live in Gladstone with my mama and Julian and I are having a good time helping her out.
I drive a ridonkulous commute to school everyday... It's lame.
Graduation countdown can start as of today with ONE month and TWO days!
YES! December 12th = a very joyous occasion.... I am done with the University of Central Missouri! Go me!

That's me for now. I promise to be better......

What will my calling be???

2009-06-30T09:21:00.000-07:00

So, lately I've started to feel that I'm being tested by the ward to see where they want to stick me.

It all started when Father's Day came around. I sub-taught Primary so that some guy could go to the Priesthood party they had 3rd hour.

Then this week they asked me to be the guest speaker in Young Womens next week. It's a 30 minute lesson with all of the girls. YAY! After this I got suspicious.

To top it all off Sunday night I got a call from the Relief Society president asking me to teach RS on the next Sunday.... Hmmmmm interesting.

Plus, to make it even stranger... All of the lessons from all of the different manuals happen to be on forgiveness. Is this a coicidence or is my life just weird!? So, I'm going to get some calling soon and learn a lot about forgiveness. I guess I can look at it as a blessing! I'm new and I'll get to meet the WHOLE WARD in one month!

I'm terrible... I know.

2009-06-22T09:52:00.000-07:00

I'm the worst blogger in the world. I blame it on the fact that we don't have internet in our apartment. I think it's a great excuse!

We got married.... I think you could have guessed. I am now a Furrow, which is uber weird and I'm trying to actually answer to it when people talk to me!

We moved into our cute little one bedroom apartment in Lee's Summit (pretty much by Independence if you don't know where that is) If you do know Lee's Summit... It's right where 291 and Chipman hit by the giant Burger King. Oh yes!

I'm in summer school. I'm taking a comedy film class! It should be good. Class started today and there are 5 of us. No hiding out in that room! Somehow my professor remembers that I was in her Film Appreciation class in 2004... I'm a little afraid of if that is good or bad!

I love married life. NO I'M NOT PREGNANT YET! I just thought I'd clarify that one!

Julian is working as an admissions rep for Grantham University over at Zona Rosa... that means we both commute. Boo.

Today we'll probably be buying a car. It's a 2006 Ford Taurus. It's pretty nice. Maybe I'll show some pictures. It'll go nice with our Focus we already have. You'd guess by that that we like Fords but honestly I am in no way partial to anything. Eh.

But yes. I promise to randomly post some crazy things that have happened soon. It'll be out of order because I fail at posting but at least you'll get some good stories. I might even put some pictures on. You've seen some of Kim's pictures from the wedding but I also have some sweet ones from my grandma. I'll see about working that out! I so much fail at this.

The countdown!

2009-04-29T10:49:00.000-07:00

So, I haven't posted in a while. I think we all know I'm terrible at this.
Right now I have a few things to count down to....
I have one more day of classes- tomorrow.
Then I have one week of finals! Dumb!
I have three more papers to write before it's all over.
Then, the things that's most exciting to count down to....

I'm getting married in three weeks and two days!

YIPPEE!

ENGAGEMENT PICTURES!

2009-04-06T12:05:00.001-07:00

SO, we finally did it. We got our pictures taken. Now hopefully we can get our invites out!

Aunt Kim and Uncle Brent helped us out and took some great photos for us!

It was uber cold and kind of raining.
They also made me climb up onto the railroad tracks where I almost fell and died.

But after everything... I think we look pretty fantastic!

Especially because neither of us are wearing our own clothes.

You may recognize all of my jackets from Kim's closet!!!

I am not a goober.

Kim popped his collar!

This right here is how I got him!

We felt very much like we were little kids... and the tree was HUGE!

Look, I found a boy that's just as much a goober as me!

Nauvoo the Beautiful

2009-03-04T10:42:00.001-08:00

This past weekend I got to go to Nauvoo. My MTC companion's aunt and uncle were getting sealed. She's from Arizona and I haven't seen her since the MTC so she flew to KC and stayed with me a little while. Then we drove to Nauvoo. We brought my friend Amanda with us too. We stayed with her family there. It was so fantastic. You can sure tell that her mom is a Bowen because she's pretty dang awesome! (one of the reasons I've always believed that my MTC comp, Jasmyne, was as amazing as she is was because she's half Bowen! What are the chances!?)

Basically, it was a great experience that helped me see how much prayer really works. This family had been praying for their brother and his wife for over 20 years and they finally got sealed. Also, it made me want to get married RIGHT NOW! I guess I can wait until May!

But for a small side note.... while I was writing this post I wasn't paying attention and went to eat a handful of nuts... It turns out that for some reason my dad has a cup full of dog food on his desk. WHO DOES THAT!? GOO! My life is strange.

I'm still here!

2009-03-04T10:38:00.000-08:00

So, as Maren said, I've been stuck in the wedding prep void. That's not completely true... It's been more of the wedding prep/going to school/buying a car and figuring out how to pay for it void. It's a fun one.... BUT I now have a car! It's in my name and everything. They actually let me do it without a cosigner. Too bad that meant that I had to pay more down and now have to figure out how to get it all titled and stuff.... but yay! Life isn't fun without great big challenges, right?!

I also have a dress. It's perfect. I love it a ton!

I haven't failed out of college... yet. I do, however, HATE my lit class. It's ok though, I still love my communication classes. I guess that's why I'm a comm major. But this whole being a senior in college thing is way harder than it sounds! It's also fun and lame living in two different places. I LOVE staying with the Nielsens but I'm pretty sure my room back home never gets touched! My poor family probably won't even notice when I actually move out!

But life is generally happy... just with no money!

The date....

2009-02-07T21:46:00.000-08:00

So, my wedding will officially be on May 22nd in Nauvoo. The reception will be on May 23rd. I'm pretty darn excited! If any of you are able to make it then YAY!!!! You should tell me! Then I'll make sure to schedule you in!!!!!!! But yes.... YAY!

I'M ENGAGED!

2009-01-26T07:41:00.000-08:00

I'm officially engaged. The boy is beyond ridiculous! I'm pretty dang excited about it, though.

Ok. Here's the story. Julian planned this big prank on a friend of ours. I thought it was really stupid. I told him that and I didn't want to go. THEN he talked me into it, only after getting my dad in on the prank. We drove all the way up to Jake's place in Galiton (about an hour away). There also happens to be a lot of snow up there! EEK! COLD!

Then, as we were sneaking around the house to get to the back yard, Jake came running out of the house with a gun. He started yelling "Who are you? What are you doing on my property!?" and he shot the gun. I freaked! Julian and Kat (who was also with us) started running. Then Jake threatened to shoot them if they didn't stop. I yelled for Jake to stop because it was just us. Goodness... the jerks! I was so freaked out. HE SHOT A GUN AT US!

This is Kat and Jake... the one's who were in on the prank!

Then Jake came over and asked us what we were doing. I was still a bit startled and told him straight up that I didn't want anything to do with it and said it was dumb. Then he asked me what I said.... I was way confused until I turned and saw that Julian had gotten down on one knee in the snow and had a ring out. Yea....

So, this whole thing was a bit ridiculous... but luckily for Julian, I still said yes! YIPPEE!

Back to School

2009-01-16T10:05:00.000-08:00

Back to school, back to school, to prove to dad that I'm not a fool!!!

Pretty much, it's weird to be back in classes after being gone for so long! All of my friends graduated! :( I'll work it out though. I can make NEW FRIENDS! YIPPEE! But my classes are all pretty good. I like my professors for the most part. I've got a really lame Lit class that I'm not excited about. My professor somehow compares the bad characters from our ancient epic poems to George Bush. Crazy Liberal professors!
The rest of my classes are all communication classes. YAY! I like those! It's what I do! My first project I did for my interpersonal communication class involved the whole class throwing chocolate at each other! I'm starting the year out right. At least she won't forget that any time soon.
I am also officially graduating in December. Somehow taking two years off in the middle, only taking 13 hours this semseter and all the other crazy stuff I do didn't stop me from graduating in 3 1/2 years (of actual being in the country time!). Basically, I rock!

I'm also alreading enjoying the whole back and forth thing. It's not all bad. I'm part of two families and two branches now! More people to love! The only nutso thing is that the Nielsens actually wake up at 6 to do the whole going to school/work thing. WHO DOES THAT!? But being woken up by Joe playing the piano and Linda making me breakfast isn't half bad! I was way productive. I guess I'll have to start waking up at 6 more often. Can you believe it? That's even EARLIER than you wake up as a missionary!

So, now I just have to try not to fail out. Coming back has actually lead to some sweet conversations about the gospel. I got a high five from one of my professors! Life is fun!

A little of the life of Jeni

2009-01-09T10:34:00.001-08:00

Hey look at me! I'm subbing again and, as I've mentioned before, this is the only worth playing on site that I can get onto through the school's firewall!

A little update on the life of Jeni:

No matter what my mom called and told any of you... I'm NOT engaged. Not yet anyhow!
School starts in a few days and I've got mixed feelings about if I'm excited. It will be fun to have a purpose back. I'll have something to work on that will last in y mind for more than a few hours. Subbing doesn't really help fill the void of no purpose! On the otherhand, I'm SO going to fail out of college. I've been gone two years and I'm going back to my senior year! EEK! I don't even know English grammar anymore! My journalism teachers are going to LOVE that!
I'll be down at school three days a week... Tuesday through Thursday. I've been lucky enough to have a family, the Nielsens, to let me crash in their basement whenever I need. Linda said she'll just make me her slave while I'm there to pay her back! I'm game!

I really think that's it. My life is so sad. I could only think of three points. :(

WELL! I've got one.... I almost put it as a point but decided that it deserved SO MUCH MORE!

I'M AN AUNT! YAY! Little Bruce Oskar Bowen has arrived. He was born on Wednesday morning at around 8. He's ADORABLE! He's got dark brown hair and was 7 lbs 1 oz. I'm pretty sure he was 19' long. I still can't believe that Hy is a dad. Goodness. The world really is a crazy place!

Welcome to 2009!

2009-01-02T11:27:00.000-08:00

New Year's Eve was basically the funniest night of my life! We went to the regional dance with all of the young single adults. I've got some friends from church that have been giving Julian and I a hard time. You see, Dean and Rachel got engaged after dating for two months. Julian and I have been dating for two months. They want us to be engaged. They haven't left us alone about it for a while. We decided to play quite the little prank on them!

Pre-dance prep: I bought a ring at Claires for $5. Then, Julian called Dean and told him that he was going to propose to me at midnight on New Years Eve.
At the dance: Julian showed them the ring to prove it wasn't a prank. (A few bystanders got pulled into the prank by accidentally seeing the ring too. Poor Kat!) Then at midnight Julian got down on one knee and tried to give me the ring. I said no and left the room. I went and hid in the bathroom. Rachel came and had to talk me out of the stall I was hiding in. She made me go back out to talk to him. When we got to the hallway Julian was gone. He had gone outside into the cold (not in the plan... bum got me all cold!). Dean and Rachel both made me go find him so that he didn't get too upset. When I got outside, he was standing there laughing. Then we came back in and told them that it was all a joke.

Ever since that happened EVERYONE has heard about it. I went to the movies with some people last night and they all knew. They weren't even at the dance. We were the talk of the dance. Sure, I expect some kind of revenge from Dean and Rachel but we got them really good so I'm alright with it!

This is us at the dance. All of the cool kids there wore purple! Those are some of my friends. Rebekah, me, Julian and Katy.

This was our friends trying to get pictures of "The Proposal." Really, they were horrible. THIS was the best picture they got. But that was my dress that my mommy helped me fix up.

HAPPY CHRISTMAS!

2008-12-25T20:47:00.000-08:00

Goodness. Christmas is just about the happiest few days of the year but, at the same time, it is time for it to be done when it is.... I'm SO TIRED! But I thoroughly enjoyed my first Christmas back in America! I'm really glad that I got to spend such a special time of year with so many friends and family.

The fun all started in the happiest place on Earth... no not Disney World but HUNANS! I went with my mommy and the whole Aunt Kim/Uncle Brent gang to get some AMAZING Chinese food. I'd also like to point out that Julian passed the Hunans approval test. Some of my friends decided that if he didn't like Hunans then he wasn't good enough for me!!! haha. That, of course, was all spectacular. Then.... I raided Aunt Kim's fondue. That was also spectacular!

A short while afterr that, as if I hadn't eated enough food already, we had a big Christmas Eve dinner with my Papa and the gang here. There were a LOT of people here but it was great to be with friends and family. John Boy brought his new little girlfriend. That was funny. After dinner we all played Apples to Apples and we did a little bit of an initiation! It was splendid! I love being an older sister! Julian were also challenged to a game of pool by the youngins.... the beat us. But I'm ok with that. We still won at Apples to Apples.

THEN I stayed the night with my mama. We had some fun talking until too late. We also got to wake up to Christmas morning and some blueberry waffles/pancakes! Those are the first I've had since being back. They might have been my first blueberries too! Basically, fantastic! Oh, and my new favorite quote from A Christmas Story is just after Ralphie fights the jerk and the little brother is under the cupboard.... "Mama, Daddys going to KILL RALPHIE!" I really don't know why that moment in the movie made me laugh so hard but it did. More than once today.

Then to finish off Christmas I spent the whole day either driving to and from Albany, MO or sitting in a little house full of 90-year-olds in Albany, MO. It was actually way fun. The city is not the type that most people know exist but I usually enjoy myself. Plus, old people can be hilarious! For those of you that don't know.... we go to Albany to see Jeri's (my step-mom) parents. They're pretty dang cool. But if you ask Jeri she'll say that they aren't quite 90... but they're pretty darn close!

Now Christmas is almost over. Saddness. But, I'm sufficiently full of gift cards and food so I guess I can call it a day! I just hope that everything I own isn't sticky after eating the cotton candy I got in my stocking.... that would just prove my dad right. I can't have that happen!

I hope everyone had a great Christmas! It is one of my FAVORITE times of year! In case I didn't use enough synonyms for this.... I had a FANTASTIC Christmas!

A flashback to the good ol' days...

2008-12-20T11:57:00.001-08:00

Today, I was going through some old CDs and came across "HEARSpremEARS Vol. I" It has music from original Disney Channel movies. It's amazing. I felt that I should share this song. This is in honor of Misty Moo Cow!

Stargazing megafast
You hit me like a cosmic blast
You've given me a Technicolor world

Putting me in Overdrive
Speed of light, I'm so alive!
Could you be my supernova girl?

Interplanetary, Megastellar, Hydrostatic
There's no gravity between us
Our love is automatic!

(Zoom Zoom Zoom) Make my heart go
(Boom Boom) My Supernova Girl(x4

Visions of your pretty face
Send me into Hyperspace
Caught up in a planetary whirl

Breathing in, you give me air
I'm living off your solar flare
Could you be my Supernova Girl?

Interplanetary, Megastellar, Hydrostatic
There's no gravity between us
Our love is automatic!

(Zoom Zoom Zoom) Make my heart go
(Boom Boom) My Supernova Girl(x4)

1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8

Interplanetary, Megastellar, Hydrostatic
There's no gravity between us
Our love is automatic!

(Zoom Zoom Zoom) Make my heart go
(Boom Boom) My Supernova Girl(x4

Pictures of me and my amazing life!

2008-12-11T08:38:00.001-08:00

BASICALLY, I've been up to a bunch of craziness lately. These are a few pictures of some of that. We'll start out with a little bit of sisterly love. This is the most recent picture of our little trio of sisterhood! Pretty much, we're adorable!

I also tend to spend a lot of time with my Singles Branch. This is a group of us that went ice skating in Crown Center. There actually were more of us, we pretty much took over the whole place that night, but we're the only ones cool enough to be in the picture!

Then of course I've got that boyfriend. We tend to spend quite a bit of time together. This is us just pretty much being cute. We're in a wagon... you can't get much cuter than that!

And of course another.... we're cheesy!

A while back, we went and saw Twilight with Sister and Mike. It was pretty much a good time (even though I'm SO disappointed in the movie!) Mike and Julian seemed to get along a little TOO well! The boys were really funny.

And a LONG LONG time ago I got home. Then I went to visit the best friend and her small ones. This is proof that I actually did that... even though I don't go over near often enough anymore. I promise to come back soon! I love you! And I promise that Ashe loves me... it's just not obvious in this picture! CUTENESS!

SO! This is me for right now. It's official as of today... I really DO get to go back to college next semester. It'll be pretty interesting to see how I get that to work out. Life is WAY too complicated to get back into after disappearing for two years. Who does that!?

YAY FOR SNOW!

2008-12-09T11:53:00.000-08:00

Basically, I love the snow. I'm way excited that it's snowing and really sad that it stopped so fast. I want enough to build a snowman! I, pretty much, had some amazing snowball fights in Ukraine but it wasn't enough there either. Julian served his mission in Michigan and I'm pretty jealous of the pictures he has... We need a winter like that!

So, I know I promised pictures.... but I lost my card reader. They will come soon. LOVE YOU!

I hate sickness....

2008-12-05T07:52:00.000-08:00

Bleck. So, I'm sick. Last night I wanted to die. I went to bed earlier than I have in a very long time... but it was wonderful! Now, I'm not completely dead but I am still home trying to drug all of the yuckiness out of me. I have a really big and exciting weekend and I REALLY want to be able to do everything I have planned.

There is only ONE DAY until my good friend Jenna gets married! YAY! I've been getting freaked out phone calls and text messages all week! I don't want to be sick and let her down...

I'm sorry for failing yet again....

2008-12-01T07:09:00.000-08:00

So, I'm really sorry that I'm such a failure. I actually have some cute pictures but I'm at work right now. I PROMISE all of you people that I will put some sweet pictures up very soon!

A quick update on the life of Jeni because I fail at blogging:

Carl was in town this week. FUN FUN FUN! I love the sister.

I'm just sort of living with my dad and working still. Right now, I've got a 2nd grade class. I love that the only thing that I can get on to with the blocked computers is this blog because you can sneak past the firewalls if you go through Google!!! I'm so bad!

I hang out with my boyfriend, Julian, a lot. Pretty much he's really cute and for some reason he likes me. I haven't ruled out him being completely NUTS yet... we'll see. I'm not one of those girls with 6 boyfriends (Maren!!!) but that doesn't mean that you people should get any funny ideas about me running off and getting engaged for Christmas (Marcy!). I'm not THAT kind of RM!

This is basically my life. I'm either at home, at work, at church somehow doing something with my activity's committee calling, or I'm with Julian. I'm pretty happy with my life!

Double dates...

2008-11-09T17:29:00.000-08:00

This is my friend, Cynthia, and I. This Saturday night the two of us went on a double date with two boys from our Singles Branch.

Cynthia is one of my new favorite people. I'm really glad that she somehow found herself in a hole in Missouri. She doesn't even know how she ended up here!

On our date we went ice skating and then out to dinner on the Plaza. Cynthia can't have anything with Glutton in it so we had to go to a Glutton free restaurant. It just so happens that all of the Glutton free restaurants are AMAZING!
This was my date, Julian, and I skating. The

picture isn't the greatest quality but hey, the

lighting wasn't the best and Cynthia was taking it

while skating backwards!

Julian is from Texas but his mom moved here while he was on his mission. He's a pretty cool guy and I had a lot of fun with him.

Basically, he likes me and I think that I'm in trouble. One of my biggest problems since coming home is that somehow there are too many boys trying to date me. Usually it's not too much of a situation but now there are two that I really think I like. DUMB BOYS! So, here is Arizona boy's biggest competition!

A big change of plans...

2008-11-07T05:44:00.000-08:00

So, my life makes more sense now. I was pretty much freaking out about this whole being kidnapped thing. Now, I guess Cody has figured out how ridiculous he is (probably with a lot of assistance from his family because I don't think he realizes it still) and I'm not going out next week. I will be chillin' in Missouri for a while longer. I'm actually a lot more excited about that then I think I should be. Who knows!? If all this stuff is actually going to happen it will happen much slower... YAY! I don't do that whole run around all fast like stuff. SHEESH!

So... my life is a little more interesting than I let on!

2008-11-06T06:27:00.000-08:00

Ok fine. So, you all know what I'm up to anyway so what's the point in telling you! I'll be in Arizona next week. That Elder kid that you've all heard about came home from his mission and called me. Now he's going to kidnap me to Arizona for a week. I think I'll be getting there on Tuesday and I'll be there for a week-ish. If you happen to be in Arizona at that time then I'd LOVE to see you. I'm too scared of boys to be around him the WHOLE time! SHEESH! I was already planning on going out to see Uncle Al and my two MTC companions (my favorite people ever!) and he just decided that he wanted me to do it a little faster than I was doing it on my own.
I have been on some dates. I went out with a kid named Alan a few times. I kicked his but at the shooting range (not real guns... just fake ones but I still won! He thinks that it's just beginner's luck but we all know that I just rock at EVERYTHING!) I also went bowling with him... he beat me but not by much. It was a double date though... we were competeing against the other couple. We dominated! Dating him didn't so much work out but we're still friends. That's a good thing because we're on Activities Committee together in our Singles Branch!
I've been working a lot and I've made a lot of new friends since I've been back. It's pretty cool. I've also been trying to get out to the temple as much as possible... after Ukraine 4 hours doesn't seem like a good excuse not to anymore!
I actually have a date on Saturday with a friend of mine. His name is Julian. He knows all about Mr. Lavagnino, or as people that can't say that like to call him, Cody, so he figured that it could be his last chance to go on a date with the oh so popular Jeni Bowen!
Apparently, my dating life is the most interesting part of my existance right now... but that's how life works, I guess. A lot of people are already planning my wedding and asking me which temple I'll be married in but I'm a little less convinced of the situation. Personally, I think that this is all RIDICULOUS! If you've talked to me lately you'll know that ridiculous is my new favorite word... it fits well.
No worries. When I find out more I'll let you know.

Basically I fail at life!

2008-11-05T09:02:00.000-08:00

So, I'm sorry. I didn't start blogging. I figure that if I don't start now than Misty really will kill me!
My life is not overly interesting... I'm home. I work. I'm a sub and basically I get asked out by middle school aged children a lot.
I've been home for about a month and a half. I'm not in school yet but I will be as of January. Boys like to ask me out (normal aged ones too).... I like it a little less.

This is how we do it:

2008-10-11T11:03:00.001-07:00

Misty made me do this...

and she picked the blog title.

The. End.