Sunday, January 30, 2011

Improvement

Yesterday we escaped to Alta, Wyoming for a full day of snowboarding at Targhee school resort.  We started out on the smaller hill and I got warmed up going toeside and heelside.  For lunch we used our little propane stove to heat up some soup.  My dad gave the stove to Thomas for his birthday and it is perfect for taking snowboarding so we don't have to spend a ton of money on lodge food. 

After lunch we tried out some bigger hills.  Thomas suggested we try out one of the hills that has a bunch of cat tracks.  We tried this one before when we went with our friends Karlee and Will and I had a really hard time.  I wouldn't get enough speed to go up the hill and then I'd end up having to unstrap and walk or crawl up it.  This time was awesome and I was able to make it all the way without falling.  It was nice to be able to compare the two times and really see improvement.  Here is a picture of my hotty husband http://www.powderdayphotography.com/p642476387/h135cd44e#h135cd44e

We saw the craziest thing. There was a couple with there 18 month old little girl who was on skis!!! She was so tiny her gloves went up to her armpits.  She couldn't even talk but there she was skiing in between her dad's legs.  http://www.powderdayphotography.com/p642476387/h1f42669f#h1a1c1dd9 This is the link to see a picture of the little cutie.
That night we had our friends Kelsey and Brandon over to play Guitar Hero and card games. 
Awesome day.

Friday, January 28, 2011

Why men die before woman

I love some of the things the kids at school say, sometimes it's really hard not to laugh.  There is one boy who loves to ask questions, especially during social studies time.  The other day the class was discussing demographics and population.  The topic came up of death and how men usually die earlier than women.  One of the students suggested that was because men were naturally more stressed out than women because of their jobs. I don't think that's the case with Thomas and I.  Poor guy, I think every day I come home and tell him how stressed out I am. In fact the other night laying in bed I could not fall asleep because I was worrying about all the things I needed to accomplish that week.  When I get stressed to a certain point I have this half sob/ half cry.  It starts as a wimper because my mind and body hurt cause of the stress but then turns into a laugh because the wimper is so funny.  Thomas massaged my neck and gave me a back rub to prevent an all out breakdown.  Anyways, my cooperating teacher began to talk about how men hold in their emotions while women talk about it and cry and let it out.  Our question loving student then seriously asks "Well what about gay relationships?" Mr. Bates just let him know we wouldn't be going into that now or any time in the future. 
This past Thursday I taught four out of the five classes.  I find that the day goes by much more quickly when I'm teaching.  I also find my feet hurt big time at the end of the day :) I'm really grateful I have a teacher who allows me to teach a lot.  We are in the third week of our practicum and there are some students who only get to teach one subject a day and then spend the rest observing or making copies for the teacher and grading papers.  One student even told me that this week she has just sat there all day while their teacher has played three movies.  I'm really glad for the chance to teach so often. 

Sunday, January 23, 2011

First Observation

I taught my first 6th grade math lesson on Thursday and was observed by my professor and I'm happy to report that it went very well :) I was so worried and prepared for the worst.  I spent a ton of time on my lesson plan.  I guess that is normal for first time teachers but I can't imagine having a life outside of teaching my first year if it takes so long to plan lesson/units. It probably takes me two hours per lesson.  So multiply that by the four or more subjects an elementary teacher teaches each day and that's a lot of time! I'm starting to think it's a smart idea to teach at a middle school so you only teach a couple of subjects.  I really enjoy teaching sixth grade and will now be happy to teach whatever grade I can. 
My lesson that was observed was about adding and subtracting fractions with uncommon denominators. I had lots of partner work and the kids loved that and were really successful with it and using the manipulatives.  Afterwards my professor complimented me on the organization of my lesson and lesson plan and how methodical my teaching was (he acted like that was a good thing so I took it as one).  Suggestions were that when I ask the kids a question I need to give them more wait time.  I agree with this, I get nervous waiting and so I just fill in the silence with my own talking rather than letting the students hypothesize and voice their ideas.  Also, we have to have a language objective along with our content objective but I totally forgot to have the kids do the language objective (i.e. write in their math journals what they had discovered). I was really happy to get that observation done.  Next week I will be teaching two of the grade level math classes and will start the social studies unit I am making on the Aztecs, Incas, and Mayas. 


I got to spend time with this little cutie yesterday after class.  He was tuckered out after a long day and just fell asleep on me while watching Grey's Anatomy.  He was so funny and didn't want to have his coat taken off.  I finally got it off him so that he could eat but then he still had to have it right next to him tucked in between him and his high chair.  As soon as he got done eating he grabbed his coat and carried it around with him the rest of the evening.  He also loved banging on the drums for Guitar Hero.

Monday, January 17, 2011

Three day weekend

I have a lesson plan overload! I think about the lessons I'm working on all day and then when I go to bed at night I dream about them.  Thank goodness for a long weekend to try and get everything done before classes start again.
This Saturday we spent another day snowboarding at Kelly Canyon. More improvement on my toeside heelside skills.  Actually right as we were leaving we were going down a little decline and I started to be able to switch from one side to the other without making a huge turn beforehand.  We saw the cutest little guy who had to have been 3-4 years old and about 3 1/2 feet tall just cruisin down the hill on his snowboard.  He was so little that even if he would have crashed he wouldn't have had very far to fall.  Adorable.

Saturday night we watched nephew Alex while his parents went an a date and got to catch up on Grey's Anatomy on Netflix.  Last year we rented some of the seasons and got to about season 6 but stopped there, so now we are watching the current season plus catching up. 
One of my friends I met in class last semester, Kelsey and her husband Brandon came over for dinner and games Sunday evening.  We had yummy cajun chicken pasta, salad, and asiago sourdough bread (courtesy of Great Harvest, we got a card for a free loaf in our goody bags from the 5K we ran on New Years Eve). We all played some Guitar Hero (Kelsey was on medium level! The rest of us were all on easy) and we played monopoly deal and phase 10.  Kelsey and her husband are really fun to hang out with and we are excited to spend more time with them.  Thomas slipped up a bit on Friday and offered to take somebody's shift Sunday night.  Then he realized that we had made plans to have friends over and tried to switch back but it was too late.  Luckily he was able to go in a little later so that he could hang with us some. He has assured me that before switching any shifts he will check with me first now :)

Friday, January 14, 2011

I heart sixth grade

Thursday was my first day at the middle school where I will be doing my senior practicum.  I was so relieved when my old roommate Tiffany let me know that she knew the wife of my cooperating teacher and that she was way nice so she assumed he would be too.  And he was :) He is really laidback and manages his classroom well and the kids really like him.  My first day I kind of just observed and got to know how the classroom runs as well as introducing myself to the students. 
There are six periods in the day and we teach five of them, one is our prep hour.  The first two periods are math, one grade level the other advanced, then there is social studies, another grade-level math class, and then another social studies class.  All together there are about 70 students that I will need to learn names for.  I can't believe how huge class sizes are! 31 students in one class!?
I was nervous about teaching older students (6th grade) but I already really love the kids.  They love to talk and to get to know me. First thing when I walked into the classroom a group of 3 or 4 girls come up to me and were excitedly asking if I was their student teacher.  The first thing one of the girls said to me was "You are really pretty." :) Being a teacher is a huge self esteem booster. I'm telling ya, you feel like a rock star going into a classroom full of students.
My cooperating teacher teaches math and social studies.  Next week I will start teaching math and will have my first formal observation from my proffesor and then the following week I will begin the unit I make on social studies.  I've started planning the unit and already feel a little overwhelmed.  I want the information my students learn to be pertinent to their lives and not just memorizing facts about the mayans, aztecs, and incas (that's what the unit will be on).  There isn't really a teacher textbook to get ideas from it's just whatever what I want to teach.  I like the ability to be creative but there is just so much information, it's hard to know what to teach and what not to.  I'm super excited though to practice my lesson planning and teaching:)
Thursday was a long day because I spend from 8:30am-4:00pm in the school and then head to the college for a seminar from 4:30pm-6:00pm.  Even though my days are long I've been feeling great cause I have made sure to exercise in the mornings, seriously that helps me be alert and have energy all day long.  Plus I go to bed at like 9:30pm every night.  This weekend will be a long one because of Civil Rights Day on Monday and Tuesday is teacher inservice day at the middle school so that means no school for me :) Lots of time to lesson plan.

Tuesday, January 11, 2011

Middle School

I found out today where I will be teaching for my senior practicum. First of all it will be at a middle school! WHAT?! I totally wasn't expecting that since I'm an elementary ed. major.  And my coordinating teacher is the 6th grade math teacher.  And it is a male.  I just have to laugh at my luck because I have NEVER had a math teacher that I have liked.  Let's hope this guy is the exception :) I am excited though because I thought I woudl be placed in Idaho Falls which is 45 minutes away but the middle school I'm teaching at is just about a mile away from our apartment.  That will save a lot of time, time that I can spend doing lesson plans :)
I remember in 6th grade at my elementary school we had a student teacher.  His name was Mr. Morita and I was in love with him.  He played football at Idaho State University and was so fun.  I cried the day he left and I cried when he came back to visit. Hopefully I can have that much of an influence on my students. 
I got this picture off of facebook.  I guess he is the football coach at UAlbany.

Monday, January 10, 2011

Start of the school week

Today was my first Monday of the semester and it went great. It was kind of hard waking up to workout (Jillian's No More Trouble Zones) but of course 5 minutes into the workout I felt good and was happy with my choice.  I hope all Mondays can be this good.  It seemed like each of my classes went by super fast.  I had class from 9am-3pm with a break from 1-2pm for lunch.  I brought a lunch from home and just ate it in the student hub area and did a little homework at the same time.  I love multi-tasking. 
My spanish methods teaching is really funny.  I saw him on campus last semester and mentioned I was taking a class from him and he let me know it was a boring class but he tries to make it interesting.  Today he was talking about different foriegn language associations we can join as teachers.  After awhile he said "I see you guys are getting bored.  I'm going to tell you a story and it involves sex."  He paused and then said "I knew that would wake you up."  His story was just a funny story about him being at one of these foriegn language associations' conferences and he got stuck in the elevator with two drunk texas women who were half dressed and how they followed him to his room and to get them off of him he told them "Well I have to meet a couple women now *wink wink*." And he left them at the door. 
In my P.E. methods class we signed up for the subject we wanted to teach coming up and I chose yoga.  I'm pretty excited about that but apparently the big burly basketball player girl next to me wasn't because when the teacher called out my name and I said I would be teaching yoga she groaned really loud.  She of course chose ball handling skills.  I now vow to work that girls booty off so she never groans again when the word yoga comes up.  I'm guessing she thinks it is a sissy workout.  I'll show her otherwise :)
Last night we had a fun time at Bea and Ivan's house.  They invited us over for dinner and games to thank us for watching their cat while they were gone for the latter half of christmas break.  Ivan grilled ribs and they were delish! I love me some ribs! We played Yahtzee and Apples to Apples and a little bit of Wii bowling, cycling, and table tennis.  I can't believe that in the two weeks that I haven't seen Alex he has grown so much :( He says cheese so perfectly it's adorable.  Love that little guy.

Saturday, January 8, 2011

Saturday is a special day

Great Saturday today.  We were going to go snowboarding but Thomas and I both decided we just wanted to chill out at home. We slept in till 10am and then went on a two mile run around the new indoor track.  The track makes you feel super fast and it's so nice being able to run where it's warm and not on a treadmill. After running we decided to play a little one on one basketball on one of the ten new courts.  My body is not use to short bursts of energy like basketball requires so it's good to switch it up a bit.  Then we played a little soccer on one of the indoor courts.  It's so good to have a fun workout like that with lots of variety.
Once we got home we hung out on the couches watching the Seahawks play the Saints.  I fell asleep during halftime and most of the third quarter.  Playing basketball wore me out, I felt the same way I feel after a long run during half marathon training.  I woke up in time to see the underdog Seahawks win :)

This evening we went to the cheap theater and saw the movie "The Social Network". Both Thomas and I really liked it.  It's crazy how facebook went from a college only thing to an everybody including parents and grandparents things.  I wonder if it will still be around when our kids are our age. 

Friday, January 7, 2011

Class Review

So far so good on the school front.  Here is what I am taking this semester and a little review.
Senior Practicum- We had a 4.5 hour seminar on Thursday and it was okay although I think it could have been shortened to like two hours.  This is the professor I'm not too fond of and he was actually super nice.  He told us that he has coached tennis for years and he never yelled at a player til he started coaching his son.  When he realized what he was doing he told his son that he could just say "Dad, cool it!". He told us that sometimes he gets a little overzealous and we can tell him to cool it.  I'm thinking it has something to do with the fact that he made me bawl my eyes out last semester and I think it's nice that he is aknowledging that he can be over the top and mean and that he wants to be told if he is.  Although I don't know if I'd have the guts to confront him again.  Hopefully there won't be any problems.  The one thing I and the other students don't like about his class is that it's not clear what assignments are due when.  It makes life a little more stressful when you don't have a list of assignments and due dates and you just have to look online to find what is due and hope you found everything.  Our school uses something called Brainhoney, where each class has their own little page that has all the class information and where you can submit assignments and take quizzes.
Spanish Teaching Methods- I have taken a class from this professor before and I really like him.  He has a very similar teaching philosophy as I do.  In fact today a lot of the class we talked about how the two most important things that effect a students education are a positive self concept and a positive student/teacher relationship.  I know that students will become who you believe that they can become.  I became an A student and a hard working athlete because I had teachers and coaches who believed in my abilities, so I believed in myself in return. Too many teachers think that just because they know the subject matter makes them a good teacher.  I think by knowing your students you become a good teacher.
Assessment and Evaluation- I really like my teacher in this class too.  Here were learn how to make tests.
Social Studies Methods- The teacher seems pretty funny.  It's a guy teacher so I'm afraid he won't be organized (I've heard rumors he's not). One thing we talked about today was the importance of teaching social studies through stories and not through dates and locations.  We all remember a good story, so if we want our students to remember history we need to make it interesting through stories.
Since I missed Wednesday I still haven't gone to my Old Testament class (a certain amount of religion credits are required) or my P.E. Methods class. I'm excited about P.E. methods in the syllabus it says that if we want to opt out of taking the final we can just teach a P.E. lesson at a local elementary school.  Heck yes!

Thursday, January 6, 2011

Book Reviews

I love reading books on my Kindle.  I actually prefer it rather than reading a normal book because the lettering seems bigger, it's easier to "turn" pages, and it is lighter.
The last week I have just been craving a good read.  I bought my first book for my Kindle which was "Water for Elephants" by Sara Gruen

Here is the description from Amazon:
"Jacob Jankowski says: "I am ninety. Or ninety-three. One or the other." At the beginning of Water for Elephants, he is living out his days in a nursing home, hating every second of it. His life wasn't always like this, however, because Jacob ran away and joined the circus when he was twenty-one. It wasn't a romantic, carefree decision, to be sure. His parents were killed in an auto accident one week before he was to sit for his veterinary medicine exams at Cornell. He buried his parents, learned that they left him nothing because they had mortgaged everything to pay his tuition, returned to school, went to the exams, and didn't write a single word. He walked out without completing the test and wound up on a circus train. The circus he joins, in Depression-era America, is second-rate at best. With Ringling Brothers as the standard, Benzini Brothers is far down the scale and pale by comparison.


Water for Elephants is the story of Jacob's life with this circus. Sara Gruen spares no detail in chronicling the squalid, filthy, brutish circumstances in which he finds himself. The animals are mangy, underfed or fed rotten food, and abused. Jacob, once it becomes known that he has veterinary skills, is put in charge of the "menagerie" and all its ills. Uncle Al, the circus impresario, is a self-serving, venal creep who slaps people around because he can. August, the animal trainer, is a certified paranoid schizophrenic whose occasional flights into madness and brutality often have Jacob as their object. Jacob is the only person in the book who has a handle on a moral compass and as his reward he spends most of the novel beaten, broken, concussed, bleeding, swollen and hungover. He is the self-appointed Protector of the Downtrodden, and... he falls in love with Marlena, crazy August's wife. Not his best idea.

The most interesting aspect of the book is all the circus lore that Gruen has so carefully researched. She has all the right vocabulary: grifters, roustabouts, workers, cooch tent, rubes, First of May, what the band plays when there's trouble, Jamaican ginger paralysis, life on a circus train, set-up and take-down, being run out of town by the "revenooers" or the cops, and losing all your hooch."

I really liked this book.  It was so interesting to me that the author put actual true stories from the circus into the book. You really get to know and like the main character Jacob and the book moves fast.  I finished this book in a day.  It's a quick read. There were a couple raunchy parts that I wish would have been skipped but overall a great book.
 
The second book I read this week I also read in one day. "Run to Overcome" by Meb Keflezighi who is a running star extrodanaire.  I loved how it talks about the history of his family fleeing Eritriea in Africa and how they came to the United States.  I also love that he always mentions God and how God has had such a huge roll in his life. You can tell that he really is a devoted man who loves his family and values his relationship with God, even through the tough times.  One of my favorite quotes from the book is this: "Winning doesn't always mean getting first place: it means getting the best out of yourself."
 
Amazon's description:
"When Meb Keflezighi won the New York City Marathon in 2009—the first American to do so in 27 years—some critics questioned whether the Eritrean-born runner was “really” an American despite his citizenship status and representing the USA on two Olympic and several World Championship teams. Yet Meb is the living embodiment of the American dream. His family came to the U.S. to escape from a life of poverty and a violent war with Ethiopia; Meb was 12 at the time, spoke no English, and had never raced a mile. Yet he became an A student and a high school state and national champion. And when he stood on the platform as a silver medalist in the 2004 Olympics, Meb knew his hard work and determination had paid off. How could life be any better?


Then it all came crashing down. Meb, a favorite for the Beijing Olympics, fractured his pelvis during the trials and was left literally crawling. His close friend and fellow marathoner suffered a cardiac arrest at the trials and died that same day. Devastated, Meb was about to learn whether his faith in God, the values his parents had taught him, and his belief that he was born to run were enough to see him through.

Run to Overcome tells the inspirational story of a man who discovered the real meaning of victory, and who embodies the American spirit of overcoming the odds. "
 
Another thing I have been reading is this little gem of a magazine. 
 
 I checked the mail the other day and there it was.  My mother-in-law surprised me and subscribed to it for me! I have already planned next weeks dinner menu using all recipes from this months edition.

Wednesday, January 5, 2011

I forgot the first day of school!

So tonight around 7pm I am looking at people's status updates on facebook and one of my classmates had written "Survived the first day of classes." WHATTTTT!!!!??? I thought classes started tomorrow.  So I hurry and call my sister who also attends school here and ask her "Did classes start today!?" Yep they did.  I cannot believe that I didn't realize it.  For some reason I had it in my mind that they started on Thursday.  Thomas and I even went on campus today to check out the new fitness center and indoor track (amazing by the way).  We both commented on how it was so weird how many people were on campus with backpacks.  I just thought they were picking up their books and parking permits.  I honestly can't believe I slipped up like this.  It's like a nightmare where you miss a big test or race or something.
I e-mailed all of my teachers and looked online at the syllabi so that I could get caught up.  But darn that counts as an absence and most teachers don't let you miss more than twice or you drop a letter grade.  Let's hope I stay healthy. 
Right now I'm okay about it and not freaking out too bad.  I had a fun day at home with Mr. Lover Boy and missing the first day isn't the worst day to miss.  At least I didn't miss a final. 

Toeside

I used to always blog about running and now it seems like I always blog about snowboarding.  But trust me running outside in the winter in southern Idaho is danger.  Yesterday it was -1 degrees out! So freezing.  Luckily while snowboarding you stay pretty warm.  The coldest part of boarding is going up on the lift.  We went to Wyoming again to Grand Targhee.  Last time we went there wasn't the best experience because we went on so many runs that were too advanced for my ability level.  Yesterday we found a perfect run for me and I was really getting the hang of going from heelside to toeside! Finally!
Today is my last day of vacation before winter semester starts.  Yikes! One of my professors already sent us an assignment.  Grrrr, that kind of drives me nuts.  Just let us enjoy our last days of freedom.  It's the same professor who made me cry last semester and who I swore I would never take another class from.  Really that is the only class that I'm really stressed about because I dreaded his class last semester so much.  Isn't it interesting how a good teacher can make an uninteresting subject fun while a bad teacher can make any subject horrible? That class is my senior practicum, where I will be in an elementary class two days a week teaching all day and then have a seminar for two hours one night a week.  I've decided that what I am going to focus on is not this mean teacher but focus on myself as a teacher and the students I am teaching.  I just want to help the students to learn and enjoy school and be inspiried.  I'm not going to stress about busy work or a mean professor I am going to focus on what really is important and that is that my students learn and that I am becoming the kind of teacher that I am supposed to be. 

Monday, January 3, 2011

Snow Hiking

Today we were all ready to go snowboarding.  I put a meal in the crockpot so it would be all ready when we got home tired and hungry. We were all bundled up and about 30 minutes away from home when Thomas says "Oh dang! Kelly Canyon is closed on Mondays!".  Haha I even remember him commenting about that last week when we went up there snowboarding but it didn't even cross my mind that we had plans to go on a Monday. I think I would have normally been pretty bummed but we have plans to go snowboarding tomorrow as well. Rather than turn back home we decided to go and see if we could find a trail to hike.  We found a cross country/ snowshoe trail that was an excellent hiking trail.  It was so steep I was breathing like I was running rather than walking.   

 I love going on hikes with my lover cause it's a great way to get exercise while chatting away.  One of the first times we really had a deep conversation was on a hike in Washington on nasty creek road (I'm not joking, it's actually called that). 
Thomas had the great idea to make snow angels when we were taking a breather.  I can't remember the last time I made a snow angel.  They turned out pretty darn good.



We made it to the top after about 45 minutes or so and we realized we were at the top of the ski hill! We ended up right next to lift #1.  The view was worth the hilly climb and it was really fun taking pictures.



 We even got to pretend we were ski patrol.  Kelly Canyon ski lifts are really scary.  They don't slow down at all when you get on our off of them.  When you get on it you have to lift your board up parallel to the ground because there is a slope upwards, I don't know why. 

So today we totally made lemonade out of lemons.  We had a very fun unplanned day hiking in the snow and taking fun pictures.

Sunday, January 2, 2011

Look Not Behind Thee

This is just what I needed to hear as I embark on a new year and new semester of school.

New Running Mantra

I totally have a new running mantra.  I was reading the free kindle edition of the book "Run Like a Mother"  and one of the authors talks about how when she was training for marathons afterwards she would always be kind of dissappointed because she felt like she had a little bit left in her tank.  Finally she ran a race where she left everything out on the course and her tank was on empty by the end.  What helped he to give it her all was by telling herself to "go towards the light"  the light being the pain.  Or in other words she was telling herself to not be afraid of the pain but to embrace it.  I know a lot of times when I am running hard I allow myself to slow down because I am afraid of the pain.  While running the New Years Eve 5K we had about 400 meters left and Thomas started to pick the pace up a bit.  He told me to pick it up too but I told him to go ahead.  Then I realized that I did not want to finish this race alone and I reminded myself to "go towards the light" so I embraced the pain, picked the pace up, and we finished together. 

This is totally posed.  We took this picture after we had finished. It was so cold that when we finished the fans to keep the finish line sign up had frozen so it had fallen.
 Last night we had a fun game night with our friends Karlee and Will. We have been really lucky to find good couple friends who we share similar interests with since we have been married.  We played Settlers of Catan, Monopoly Deal (card game), and Yahtzee (card game version). I love card games because they are quick and usually don't require too much thinking and strategy.  We are super excited for Karlee and Will because they are expecting their first baby in July :)  Karlee just finished her student teaching this past semester and graduated.  She is an inspiration to me.  A super cute, fun, smart, athletic girl.  We trained for the Mesa Falls Half Marathon together and she is speedy.  She has continued to workout through her first trimester and I hope to follow her healthy example when I'm pregnant (someday).

More Christmas

My mom just posted some more Christmas pictures so I thought I'd relieve the season for just a little longer.
Sledding:

Mom and I headed up the hill.

Do you see my mom? She biffed it.



Mom and I at the bottom






Ready to race.


Mom thinks I'm a pretty fun sled driver.

Waiting for Dad to get home so we can open presents:
Sister Ashley

Brother in law Mike

Thomas and I passing the time with electronics.


Sister Bea imagining what Santa brought her.

Family:
Grandma and Grandpa Clement


My pretty sisters

My lover and I
The Cutest Little Boy in the World:




Randomness:

My bro-in-law's sister Eunice came from Mexico for Christmas.  She just graduated high school and will be attending college here in the states.

 My mom had a little present wrapped up in a check book box for Thomas and I.  On it was written "Remember the plan."  Apparently I told her that I wanted kids when I was 24 and since I'm 24 now she is reminding me about that.
 It's a little Seattle Sounders onsie :) They are a soccer team that Thomas and I like.  My sister Ashley was like "Is this an announcement!?"  I assured her that it wasn't.
 This big blow up thing my mom got on clearance and we had many a debate about whether it is a bear/reindeer/ or dog. 
Dad, Alex, and dog Abby in front of the reindeer/dog/bear.

Saturday, January 1, 2011

New Years Eve

Thomas and I had a wonderful, memorable New Years Eve.  He worked in Idaho Falls until 7pm so I drove the 35 minutes there around 6pm and picked up movie tickets and ordered us some dinner at Cafe Rio and he met me at the restaurant.  I have been trying to eat more veggies these last couple weeks but let me tell you it is tearing up my insides! My stomach/intestines are just not used to that amount.  So instead of splitting a salad with Thomas I went for a burrito. 
The movie theater is right across the parking lot from Cafe Rio so we headed right over after eating.  Thomas had gotten some free movie tickets for his work Christmas gift so we used those.  I can't believe how expensive movies are! $10 a pop that's $20 for two of us, with that we could just buy a movie! We saw the new Chronicles of Narnia movie and we both really liked it.  I was nervous that I wouldn't know what was going on because I don't really remember the first two movies but you really don't even have to see the first two. I loved the messages that movie presents.  My favorite part is when the little girl Lucy uses a magic spell to make her self be more beautiful like her older sister.  Aslan (who represents Christ) comes to her and talks to her about understanding her value and her worth in this life.  He tells her that she doesn't understand her value.  This struck me, I think most of us don't understand our true value and it's only through Christ who know perfectly our potential and value that we can come to understand what our worth is in this life. I really loved this movie and it kind of made me want to read the books.
After the movie we went and changed in a restaurant bathroom to prepare for our 5K.  We were layered up because it was a frigid 4 degrees outside! I was wearing to my knees snowboarding socks, under armor pants, long johns, and yoga pants on bottom.  On top I had under armor, a long sleeved shirt, a running jacket, and a sweatshirt.  I also had on an ear headband warmer, a beanie, and a mouth/nose cover.  The mouth/nose cover saved me! While we were snowboarding on Thursday we realized we needed some so I got one for each of us at Big 5. 
It was a unique race that was pretty small (about 30 people ran it). They gave everybody glowsticks to wear while running.  You started the race between 11pm and 12am so that you could finish about midnight.  It was a little strange just starting whenever you wanted.  You just told the race director when you were starting and he wrote down your starting time and then when you finished they wrote down your finish time.  No official time.  We started around 11:21 and finished at 11:45. 

 I was surprised at our finish time considering neither of us have really trained and it was freezing and late.  I was really happy with how we did.  We had a really fun time running together and it made for a memorable and healthy New Years Eve. At midnight we blew our little horns and popped our poppers and of course had a New Years kiss :)




They had hot cocoa and hot cider at the finish line.  I was really just craving water but Thomas had a cup of each to warm up.

The goody bag included a long sleeve shirt, hand warmers (which we saved for when we go snowboarding), a free loaf of bread from Great Harvest (YUM!), a great job sticker, a box of rasins, some shave lotion, and chapstick.