I'm Back!

Blogging has been on my to-do list for a long time now. It's been at the bottom of that list, but at least it made it on the list, I should get credit for that right!? Well, three months from my last post I'm not going to do what we've been up to any justice. I'm halfway through my first year of teaching and I'm feeling it. I truly love my career. My students are absolutely amazing, I love the joys and the challenges they bring. I have noticed a difference in my energy levels and my expectations. I don't know why, but sometimes I cannot understand why they don't know the answers or why they can't follow directions! :) My mom mentioned to me once, "Don't you remember what it was like to be a kid?" She's so right! I know I need to relax and continue to enjoy teaching, so I'm trying to chill out and have fun! Everyone will be happy to know that I am even more in love with my wonderful husband than before. He makes me so happy and works so hard to take care of our family. He just began his second semester of school and is trying to tackle physics. He's made some good friends which we are both grateful for. We are enjoying serving in our ward as gospel doctrine teachers for the 12 year old age group. We are also serving in the Oquirrh Mountain temple on Saturday evenings. Steven leads the 6:30 Spanish session and I'm the follower on the 7:15 session. It's been a unique experience and one we will treasure forever. Last weekend we went to St. George with Megan and Cooper and had a great time. We've recently gotten into the television show Heroes and finished the 3rd season while we were away. At school we had a spelling bee for the lower grades and the upper grades. One of my students got 4th place. Our grade-level is learning about immigrants and a student in the other class raised his hand and said "We are all immigrants, we come from lots of different schools." Totally didn't notice the variety of colors we have at our school, just the fact that everyone had the common denominator of being at a new school. I thought it was pretty funny. I'm done blabbing for now, and I'll try to bump blogging up on my to-do list so you'll hear from me sooner rather than later.

M.I.A.

Sorry I've been M.I.A. in the blog world! I wanted to stop in and post a blurb about what my baby and I have been up to lately. We made it to Lake Powell before school got started and it was just the break we needed! Steven is now addicted to wakeboarding and I managed to do pretty well at it myself. School started 5 weeks ago and I can't believe I'm finally a teacher. I'm loving it, despite its ups and downs, and the school I teach at is amazing. If you'd like to read more about what we're doing for the community here's a link to the article written in the Deseret News: http://www.deseretnews.com/article/705332571/Charter-recruits-refugees.html
(just copy and paste it into your browser). Steven is back in school, after our fight over residency. Because we filed taxes jointly in Idaho last year they said we didn't qualify for residency. We explained the situation and saved us about $6,000. He's getting his BS in mechanical engineering and is taking chemistry, calculus and an engineering class totaling 12 credits this semester. We were called to work in the new temple in South Jordan. We work every Saturday night and it's been quite a blessing in our lives. We've been having a lot of fun lately just being together. Life is busy but good and we're finally settling into a routine. I'll post pictures soon, I promise!

My little Brother!

Before I post about our Disneyland and Sea World vacation I have to tell you about my amazing little brother! He got his mission call last Wednesday (while we were on the beach) to Peru! Of all the places in the world I would have never guessed this is where he's going! I'm so excited for him to have this amazing experience and meet the wonderful people whose lives he's going to touch! He leaves on December 2nd so he's got a little wait, but I know he's meant to go when he needs to and he'll find out so much about himself and the gospel. Good luck Jesse! Steven and I are so proud of you and I have no doubt about your capabilities as a spectacular missionary!

Student Teaching and Home rennovations Slide Show

Update

So I can't believe I've been MIA with my posting! I finished student teaching and had such a great time! I loved working with the students and teachers that I had and I had so much fun! I'm not going to bother to describe the whole thing since it would take far too long and I have much more to tell you! Right now I'm just hanging out until my new job teaching 2nd grade with the American Preparatory team at The School for New Americans. I begin training on the 3rd of August and school officially starts on the 15th! Steven has been working for an engineering company creating the machines that make medical pipettes and viles. He likes his job so much he decided to major in mechanical engineering. We're very excited for him to begin his schooling and get started on the path to a career he's going to enjoy! FINALLY!!! We love where we're living. We're in a basement ofa home with a family that we just love! We are in South Jordan just a few miles north from the new Oqhirrh Mountain temple. It's a great location and we love the ward as well. We're serving as teachers for the 12 year olds. Our new hobby is to search on the local classified ads for cheap furniture and repair it for a good price! We just finished redoing our bedroom total cost was probably $300 including the bed Steven made us in Rexburg. We're just starting on the living/kitchen/dining room. As I sit here Steven is demolishing a table top to refinish and re-tile for our dining room. I'm going to try and stay up to date with my posting, but it won't be until next week since we're going to Disneyland for my birthday! HOORAY!

Graduation!

Well it's official, I have graduated from BYU-Idaho! This has been a crazy few weeks for us, and we're happy things have settled down a bit. Last week Steven packed our WHOLE house while I finished some take home tests. He loaded the U-haul with our stuff on Wednesday and drove it down to Utah to unload on Thursday. That night he drove back to Rexburg with my family, and arrived around 8. We slept on the ground in our empty house and woke up early for graduation ceremonies the next morning. Elder Anderson spoke at commencement, and then he and President Clarke were at my convocation later. I was able to shake a newly sustained prophet of the Lord's hand! After graduation we cleaned and set off for Utah! We're now in our new place and we're very happy. It's definately going to take some getting used to for me. It's a lot different than our other place, but it's just right for our needs. Oh I almost forgot, Steven talked me into getting him a flat screen tv for his birthday! I'll have to post some of those pictures later! I start student teaching on Tuesday and honestly I'm anxious to get it over with! Enjoy the pictures! I'll post again soon!

I also have to post a picture of the amazing bed my husband built us! He's so talented and we're both really pleased with how it turned out!

Retraction and Updates!

So retraction first, I posted my student teaching placement and found out later that they changed it so I could experience a variety of grade levels. I'll be in the same school on C and D tracks in the 4th grade. I'm really excited. It will be a lot different than anything I've done and I'm ready for the challenge.
Updates, we have so many!
We found somewhere to live! We'll be in a basement apartment of a beautiful home with a wonderful family in South Jordan! I'm so excited to be close to family! (Brandi that means you! :) My Dad is home! It's really nice not to worry about my Mom by herself at home. I know now that my Dad is taking care of her and she is taking care of him. They bought a new car together which is exciting and I'm looking forward to their trip up here when I graduate.
I'm almost done with school! It's crazy to think I'll be out of Rexburg for good in a few weeks.
Steven got accepted to the University of Utah!!! I'm so excited for him. It will be a different atmosphere of learning for him but I think a change will be good. I'm ready for him to jump back into learning and really discover his amazing qualities and feel successful at what he accomplishes. He's going to be amazing!
My little sister broke her collar bone. Not exciting news, but news just the same! I love that girl so much! We were able to spend some time together when my Dad came home and she's growing into an amazing young woman. I so look forward to her getting her driver's liscence (in a year, crazy!) and coming over to hang out with her big sister! She really brings so much joy to my life and is continually surprising me with her maturity and strong sense of self. I was never as put together as she is! I love you Meggy moo and I hope you heal soon!
Below are our pictures from the past little while. The videos show you how hilarious my life is! I have the best eternal companion in the whole world! Thanks for reading, more updates to come!

Cooper renting his skiis!

My sweet husband and I eating lunch while snowboarding.Joel, Steven's cousin, was in the same unit as my Dad.

Snowboarding AGAIN!The day sweet Meggy broke her collar bone.
Here are three videos. The first is me snowboarding. Steven was filming. Just wait till the end, it's pretty funny. The second video is one of our late nights, it's Steven's chin! The third is my Dad working out on Wii Sports!