Week #4 Student Teaching

Four weeks in a row of a great student teaching experience.  This week I had asked my principal to observe one of my lessons.  He observed me teaching math on Friday mid-morning.  Of course I felt hyper sensitive to everything going on during the lessons. I'm pretty sure about five kids needed to go to the bathroom.  And I had handed out some paper Hershey's bars in ziploc bags to use while we were learning about fractions.  Apparently one of the kids in the back was blowing his up and about to pop it when my cooperating teacher gave him a look. Haha when the principal mentioned it in my post observation we both just laughed.  I would have been so embarrassed if that bag would have popped.  In the post observation he was very complimentary and gave me some great suggestions as well.  He is an awesome principal with some great leadership skills.  I mentioned how much I have enjoyed being a part of the school and would love to become a part of the staff for next year.  He told me that there will be a couple openings next year, one in first grade because the teacher is retiring, and one in third grade because my cooperating teacher and the teacher next door will be team teaching since they are both having babies.  There is a levy that needs to be passed this month.  If the levy doesn't pass there will be a lot less chance that those positions will be open because teachers from other schools might get cut and they get first priority on the open positions in the district.  The positions should be open in mid June.  Which seems to be cutting it close since school starts like the second week of August.  But my principal says he will keep me posted on the positions and will be writing me a letter of recommendation.  I feel like this would be such a perfect position for me.  I love the school, love the team of teachers I work with, and love the students and parents.  So we'll see where things go :)
Thomas found a job this week working at the big hospital in downtown Boise, St. Lukes, as an x-ray tech.  He will start his orientation this Wednesday. 
We had a fun weekend, which started off volunteering at my school's book night.  I need to take pictures of the school's hallways.  They are just amazing, filled with student artwork.  Our third grade hallways was decorated as a barn, as all the third graders had read Charlotte's Web.  One of our students' dads is a performer and he had a puppet show going on during read night the incorporated all of the stories the different grade levels had read.  Students had been bringing in used books for the last couple weeks and at Read Night they had rooms set up and families could buy books for 50 cents each.  My cooperating teacher told me to get whatever books I wanted for my future classroom and say it was for her class so that I got them all for free :) So I got a big bag of books (hopefully I'll be teaching third grade).  Thomas and I helped at the book toss. 
Saturday morning our friends Tess and Ryan picked us up and we drove downtown for the Susan G. Komen Race for the Cure. 

Thomas and I were debating whether to walk or run but ultimately decided to run because it was on my training plan to run a 5K this weekend.  Starting out it was really hard to get moving because there were so many people and tons of walkers. We weaved a lot and then got in a pretty good rythem.  I wanted to keep about a 7:50 pace and was pretty much able to maintain that.  The race wasn't chip timed so my final time was just based on my Garmin. We loved seeing the different shirts with funny references to boobs. 
"Freshly Squeezed Lemons"
"The War on The Rack"
"Walkers for Knockers"
"Save Second Base"
"Jogging for Jugs"

There were these ladies in tutus and riding motorcycles as we ran.  Loved it.
As soon as we got home I started this weeks lesson plans.  Around 4:30pm my university supervisor called me and asked if we wanted some tickets to see "The Secret Garden" at the Nampa Civic Community Center.  How nice is that?  "The Secret Garden" is one of my favorite books so we were totally up for it.  The play started out kind of rough with some bad accents and high notes that weren't quite right but it got better as it moved along.  Mary the main little girl did an AMAZING job.  It was a fun cheap date night.  We especially liked the commentary of the guy behind us, trying to explain the story to his six year old at intermission.  "The book is much much better.  There wasn't all this singing so it wasn't so confusing."  The play is definetly different because all the people who have already died will sometimes pop up wearing red hankerchief and that means they are memories so I could see how it would be confusing to kids.  Also, at the beginning of the play the director came out to make all these announcements and one of the main actresses and they were totally making shout outs to random community members in the audience.  The main actress was said to her daughter "Hi Bella! Be good. Okay?" Um... that's when you know it's a small town. 
Also, in unrelated news... On Friday night Thomas had made dinner and brought it to the living room to eat hot out of the oven.  All of the sudden I hear a crack and look over and see this:

His plate had completely cracked, I'm guessing from the heat and spilled all over the couch.  I'm glad it didn't burn his private area :) We had a good laugh at that.

Cross-country skiing

Today we went cross country skiing.  This was Thomas' first time and I would consider it mine too since I have only gone once like 5 years ago.  We signed up to go with the school's outdoors activity program.  It was only $10 for each of us and that included equipment and transportation.  There ended up only being two other people who signed up to go plus the two leaders/instructors. Thomas and I both agreed we loved cross country skiing.  We did not however love the ride to and from Harriman State Park.  The male leader was talking the whole time about political stuff and if anybody tried to share their view he would totally shut them down and keep going on and on. He did however allow the female leader to share her view of how marijuana should be legalized for medical purposes and how she would use it rather than other medicine.
The ride there started off like 45 minutes late because somebody had forgotten a key to the van so we ended up taking a big 6 seater truck.  Since they weren't expecting to take the truck we had to fill it up with gas on our way out of town.  Just as we are about to leave one of the girls says her ski boots are too small.  Thomas just gave me a look.  You know it's bad when even Thomas gets annoyed (I get annoyed pretty often so it wouldn't be that bad if it was just me). So then we had to drive back to get her some boots.  It took about 45 minutes to get to the state park.

Harriman State Park is absolutely beautiful! We skied along a river and had a great view of the Tetons.

We skied for about 3 hours with a break for lunch at one of the little cabins.  The cabin kind of freaked me out cause it was so old and had animal specimens all over.

  Harriman State Park would be a wonderful place to go in the summertime too for bike riding and hiking.  So pretty! Today there were lots of cute families there with there kids. Such a fun family activity. We saw this family taking a break.  That little sled like thing is for a kid to sit in.  There is a rope in front and something to go around an adults waist so they can pull a kid while they ski! Genius!

 Cross country skiing really isn't difficult, at least Nordic type, which is what we did.  You just stay in the tracks and when you go downhill just keep up your speed and don't try to brake because that is when you will fall.

I was surprised at how warm it felt as we started.  We ended up shedding our coats after our first mile and a half or so.  I loved that the sun was out and could feel it warming my body.

Thomas is such a hottie.  The whole time he was skiing he reminded me of a model from a commercial advertising some winter clothing or something.
I didn't really feel like I got a huge cardio workout but afterwards my legs were for sure tired :) And I loved spending time with my hottie lover boy. We want to buy some used cross country skis for next winter so we can go explore more beautiful trails.

Friday Night Date Night

Thomas and I finally got a Friday night date night.  Usually he works every Friday so that is my day to get all my homework done for the weekend.  It was a fun change to be able to go out with all the other date night couples.  Thomas worked a LOT of overtime this week so it was some much needed time together.
First we headed to the Rexburg temple for a session between my 9am and 2pm Friday classes.

After my 2pm class we did a little apartment cleaning together and put together a lasagna for when we got back from our date. We also put in my new Jillian 6 Week 6 Pack DVD which I wanted Thomas to try out.  We just did level one and we were both sweating afterwards.  It felt great.
For our date we decided to go to the hot springs that we always pass when we go snowboarding at Targhee.
The place is called Green Canyon Hot springs and it looks pretty dumpy when you first get there.

This picture was taken in the spring, cause right now there is still lots of snow. Inside there is a big pool where most of the kids and families hang out.  It was actually really warm (96 degrees) and felt awesome.  They have a really tall basketball hoop that hangs from the rafters.

There was a pretty intense game of basketball going on and I noticed one of my students playing :) It was fun to see him outside of school, although I'm sure it was weird for him.  I remember always being embarrassed when I saw my teachers outside of school.
Then out side in this little connected green house area there is the hot pool.  It is really hot (105 degrees) but felt so good!

In the corner there is a freezing cold dipping pool.  There were a bunch of people dipping there whole bodies in the cold pool and then running into the hot pool.  I attempted that but got to my ankles and backed out because it was soooo cold! Then when I hurried back to the hot pool my feet stung like crazy! I don't know how they did it. The cold pool is 55 degrees.

After our relaxing time at Green Canyon we were starving.  We didn't have the patience to wait to cook the lasagna we had made ahead of time so we stopped at Little Caesar's for there large $5 pepperoni pizza.  And my sweet lover boy was even hungry enough to stop at The Cocoa Bean cupcake shop to get cupcakes.  I got the carrot cake and he got the ultimate brownie.

Both were delish.  All together our date was only $21!!
So here is a random memory.  This last summer we went to The Cocoa Bean and were waiting for our order when Thomas looked over at the merchandise display and saw these shirts that said "I heart Cupcakes".  He turns to me and says "I should get you one of those for your birthday".  For some reason I was super cranky and was so insulted and told him "Why would I want THAT?.  Then I'll look like a fat girl." My poor hubby, he was totally just trying to be nice.  I think at that point he realized I was being a little crank pot and just got his cell phone out and played a game on it till I had some yummy cupcake in my belly and my spirit was renewed again :)

School update and Jon Schmidt Concert

An update on my first two days of school.  It's going fantastic.  I have gone to my Thursday classes which include Literacy Practicum (where I go into a local elementary school and work with kids on reading), Science Methods, and Hispanic Civilizations.  So far so good there.  Turns out one of the girls in my Lit. Practicum class also lives in our apartment complex and her and her husband go to church with us.  She also is in my Science Methods class and in one of my Friday classes :).  Friday I just have one class, Exceptional Students.  I love now that I'm in my senior year I am taking all classes that interest me and have to do with my career.  It helps so much in my motivation to do my homework and go to class when I know the material will be applicable to my career. So far I've done well managing my time.  I watch my nephew Alex after class and try to sneak in a little homework before he gets here and since he loves being read to I'll read to him from my textbooks :) He's going to be one smart cookie.  Getting homework done seems to be a lot easier now that I'm married, no social pressures to go out with roommates or go on dates. 

Although speaking of dates, Thomas and I went on a fun date tonight.  First, we stopped at Coldstone.  I got a cup of Peanut Butter Cup Perfection and he got the Founder's Favorite.  Both excellent choices.  Then we headed to a concert on campus.  Jon Schmidt a wonderful piano player performed with cellist Steven Sharp Nelson.  So awesome! There video on YouTube of them mixing Love Story by Taylor Swift and Viva la Vida is really popular.  Thomas really liked the concert because not only do they play awesome songs but they also mix in humor.  Jon will lay on the piano bench and have his head under the piano while he plays.  I love piano music and I loved the mix of modern and classical songs. 

My sweet boy came home from work a little late Wednesday night.  I had called him around 5:15pm cause he's usually home by 5pm and asked if he had stopped to fill up on gas and he said yes.  When he walked in the door though he had a beautiful bouquet of sunflowers and tulips for me and my favorite chocolate Reeces' peanut butter cups and some sour skittles.  He told me he wanted to tell me that I'd do great in my classes and that the last year of marriage has been amazing and that the next year will be just as wonderful.  What a sweetie!

Hot Date

Last night I had a hot date with this guy:

We found this great deal where you get 2 games of laser tag, a pizza, 2 movie tickets, a large popcorn, and two large pops for $20.  That is a smokin' deal! We went and saw Toy Story 3 and we both loved it. 
When we went to play laser tag there was just the two of us at the start of the game so we were battling it out against each other.  But then all of the sudden we realized somebody was shooting us from up above.  These two little girls, probably 6 and 8 years old, totally owned us.  They beat us both big time.  It was a nice little workout running all over that place.
Speaking of workouts, after Saturday's long run I needed a long nap.  It zapped me of engergy.  I almost considered just staying home instead of going on our date cause I was so tired but opted to go, and I'm glad we did.  We also made some homemade salsa together and I think it turned out to be our best batch thus far in our marriage.  We LOVE homemade salsa.

Let’s Go Fly a Kite

When we were dating Thomas and I went to Sarg Hubbard park and flew some dollar store kites. So when the new dollar store opened up around my parents house we went in and took a look and saw the same kite we had used last year. So we bought them and one day after work when it was super windy we went to the same park to give them a whirl . Thomas put together the first one in the car cause it was too windy to do it outside.

He was going to put them both together but we noticed the jipped us on the sticks and there were only enough for one kite! As soon as I stepped out of the car with the kite it broke!

So we took the sticks from that kite and put it on the other kite. That kite made it about 2 minutes outside till it broke. Moral of the story: Invest in a better kite than one from the dollar store. We want to get a really nice one someday. But we still had a fun time and made a memory.

Kite #2

And Kite #2 goes in the dumpster L

So we just took a walk around the pond J

A walk down (and up) Cowiche Canyon

For forever Thomas and I have been wanting to go back to Cowiche Canyon where he proposed.  On July 9th, 2009 5:24pm I recived the following text (I still have it saved on my phone :) "hey I was thinkin we could take a walk up that canyon you we talkin about. What do you think?" So we met for dinner after work at my parents house and then went for our hike up cowiche canyon.  The following photos were taken recently so kind of a difference in weather from July.

 As we got out of the car Thomas reached back to get something but I totally didn't think anything of it cause I didn't want to get my hopes up.  He had asked my dad on the 4th of July so I knew it was coming soon but like I said I didn't want to get my hopes up.  And even when he kept his hand in his pocket the whole way down the trail I tried not to think anything of it.

I had told Thomas about this bridge that the trail leads to and how I always wanted to have a picnic on it.  So we hiked down to the bridge holding hands and talking and laughing.  We sit down, talk some more, and then realize we better head back before they lock the gate to the parking lot.

(That's Thomas' green finger pointing to the bridge)

As we get off of the bridge.  Thomas stops to "tie his shoe"  but I noticed it wasn't untied.  So he looks up at me with this silly grin and I think "oh heck no! He's teasing me cause he's on one knee and wants to pretend he's proposing!"  But then he pulls a ring box out of his pocket and asks me to marry him.  I say "Oh my gosh!"  a hundred times and then say yes and he kiss and hug a ton.  And then remember the gates are about to close and hurry back up the trail. 

Another reason I was surprised is that we hadn't gone ring shopping.  So I didn't know how he'd know what size ring to get or what to get.  But the sneaky little guy waited for his sister to come into town and she went with him.  This is the ring he picked.  I love it and am so glad that he surprised me.  If I would have gone ring shopping it would have taken FOREVER! I'm so indecisive when there are a million decisions! He said he was in and out in like 30 minutes.

Here is the only pic we have of our actualy engagement day.  When we went home to tell me parents my wonderful mama had the commonsense to take a picture.

Running, Food, and Thomas things I love!

I posted earlier that I got a new running toy, the Garmin Forerunner 305.  I am really loving it.  It tracks my heart rate, my distance, my split times, my pace, elevation, everything! It's so cool too because after you run you hook it up to your computer and it downloads all of your info and puts it into little charts.  It even Google Earths where you were running at so that you can see your route.  Oh ya and it also tells me how much calories I'm burning! I love it.  It's a little bit chunky looking on my wrist but it feels light. 
One of bloggers whose site I read does a little summary of her workouts each week when she's training for an event.  I want to try and do that. Okay so this week:

Monday: 1 mile warm up, 25 minute tempo run (3miles), and 1 mile cool down
Tuesday:  Jillian Michaels No More Trouble Zones (my fave of all the Jillian workouts)  Thomas joined me for some of this one.
Thursday: 7 x 1000m my splits were averaging about 4:42 which is what they were 2 weeks ago when we only did 5 of them and I absolutely died. And I didn't feel like dying this time so there has been improvement!
Friday: 30 minute easy.  I just did a 30 minute walk cause my quadricep was bugging and I figure I need to keep rested for the 10 miler on Saturday!
Saturday: 10 mile long run

Another thing I really like in blogs is when people post recipes and meal plans.  I love making a meal plan and then going and getting all the ingredients and feeling ultra organized.  So tonight because Thomas is working the weekend late shift and did the grocery shopping and meal planning.  I stopped by my parents to let the dog out and run over there and while I was at it I picked up some recipes.  I found an old church recipe book, those are the best cause you know they are tried and true.  Tonight I tried Cheese Stuffed Manicotti.  It was super easy and delicious! Here is the recipe:

4 cups spaghettic sauce ( I used one can of Prego Traditional sauce, it's the best).  Simmer for 10 minutes.
Cook manicotti shells by boiling for 6 minutes.
Filling:
1 1/2 cups mozzarella
1 1/2 cups cottage cheese
1 cup grated parmesan
3 beaten eggs
1/4 cup parsley

Mix 1 1/2 cups mozzarella and all other cheeses, add eggs and parsley.  Stuff shells.  Pour 1/2 of sauce in bottom of 13x9 inch pan.  Lay sheels on top.  Cover with the rest of the sace.  Sprinkle mozzarella on top.  Bake at 350 degrees for 30 minutes. 

Thomas and I celebrated our 6 month wedding anniversary today so I took him the manicotti to work for his lunch break and we had a romantic dinner eating it in the break room of the x-ray department.  ;)  Since our schedules were totally opposite today we met on my lunch break and went to this great little soup and sandwhich place right next to my work.  And like I said for dinner we met at his work. 
I love being married to Thomas.  He is my best friend ever.  Never before I met Thomas did I have a best friend who was a guy.  It's so wonderful having our lives totally intertwined.  I love having the same friends and the same plans for the weekend and weekdays.  Marriage is beautiful.

Valentines Weekend!

Thomas and both agree that it is awesome having V-day on  the weekend cause then the whole weekend turns into a big V-day celebration.  It all started on Friday night.  We went to another wards valentines day dinner/dance because my Dad's band was performing.  They did such a good job.  It was fun because they played a variety of music, country, oldies, rock, soft rock, even some Adam Sandler.  I told my Dad I want them to perform at my birthday party this summer.  When we got home there was a bouquet of flowers for me and some balloons from my honey!! He's so sweet!

Saturday morning I went on a nice long 8 mile run.  That's the most milage I've gotten in one run in awhile.  Hailey and I have been training for 4.15 mile run that was last Saturday.  It was the Frosty Four Miler in Terrace Heights.  The race was supposed to start at noon but there were too many same day registration people (GRRR!!!)  so it didn't start till like 12:45pm.  Just let me vent on this one.  Okay those people who actually sign up ahead of time and are expecting the race to start on time have warmed up and are ready and then they find out it won't start till however much longer, that isn't fair to them.  But of course the race directors want to make money.  But still they should just make those people who sign up late start after all of the on time people have finished, rather then make the on time people wait.  I guess that is the nice thing about running longer races like half marathons cause nobody is going to sign up day of the race.  Anyways it was a little windy but the race went well.  Thomas ran with me the whole way and pushed me along (isn't he the best!).  I ended up finishing in 33:50. I was satisfied with that.  Hailey and her husband got first in their age groups!! They are amazing. And I got fourth place in mine! That was a surprise.  We are doing a 6K in March and have also started training for our half marathon in April in Wenatchee.

Saturday evening Thomas and I went to the Taj Indian restaurant for dinner.  That was where we went for our first day last year on V-day.  The food we even yummier then I remember.  I love love love Indian food!! We tried the homemade mango ice cream for dessert and it was divine!!

After dinner we went and chaperoned a stake dance.  That was really fun.  We danced a couple slow ones.  Even though Thomas said he use to think it awkward  when the old chaperones would dance lol.  We were mainly in charge of blocking the hallways so that no couples snuck back to the empty classrooms to do.... whatever.  So to entertain ourselves we took some jelly beans and would eat one and then have the other one guess what flavor it was by kissing. Hehe It's okay we are married.

Today has just been a nice relaxing Sunday spending time with my honey.  We had lunch together after church of BBQ Korean Ribs and rice, salad, and strawberries and pineapple dipped in chocolate.
Tomorrow we are planning on snowboarding! Hurrah!!
Oh ya and we got a new curtain for our shower and it looks super cute!  We already had navy blue towels and a rug and so the curtain was a perfect addition.

One Year Back

January 13th was the one year anniversary of me being back from the mission.  It was a normal day at work. Wednesdays are my busiest days of the week I would say.  I work, then go running with my running buddy Hailey, and then home to make dinner, shower and go to mutual. I am with the Mia Maids (14 and 15 year old young women) and one of the girls lives right down the street from me.  She isn't active, so my goal is to visit her every Wednesday on my way to mutual.  That way I can invite her and give her a ride if she takes me up on the offer and I can tell her about the last weeks activity and give her anything.  She is a sweetie and I have stopped by three times but just met with her once.  My goal is to get her and her mom to come to New Beginnings which is at the end of February. So that has been one thing missionary oriented that I've been doing.  I also have really liked visiting teaching.  Of course it is always difficult to get motivated and schedule the appointments.  What gets me motivated though is thinking of how in the mission I always thought "if people would just do their home/visiting teaching their would not be this many less actives." So I don't want to be a hypocrite.  Plus I really like getting to know new people and chatting.  One of my people that I visit teach is a young 19 year old recent convert less active who has a three year old little girl.  She is the sweetest person and I am excited to have her and her husband come and play games with us soon.
Isn't it interesting that the things that make us happiest are often the most difficult? Like missions, relationships, running (getting our bodies in shape), etc.
Anyways so after mutual I was feeling a little sad and my wonderful hubby suggested we go to Dairy Queen.  It's the one we went to on our wedding day after the reception when we were starving, so it holds a little memory for us.  Then he suggested we stop by Blockbuster and rent Grey's Anatomy which I love! He knows how to cheer me right up!