Looking back on 2010

Here is a little summary of events we remember from 2010:
Thomas graduated as an x-ray tech.
We moved from Washington to Idaho.
Bought our first non-piece of crap car.
I ran three half marathons, one four mile race, one 6K, one 10K, and two 5K's. Thomas ran one four mile race, one 6K, and two 5K's and was there cheering me on and taking pictures at all the other races.
Had fun vacations in California, Oregon, and Yellowstone.
Celebrated our one year anniversary.
After being away from college for three years I earned all A's in my classes fall semester.

It's good to look back and see what we have accomplished this year.  It has been a really fun year with lots of changes and traveling.  I look back on 2010 and don't have any regrets.

Looking ahead, 2011 promises to be another year of changes as I finish up school and student teach in Boise this spring and Thomas gears up to attend Boise State in the fall.  I will continue to keep running. I have signed up for a half marathon in June and we'll see what other races come my way. 

Let's try this snowboarding thing again

Thomas has had a cold the last couple days so we weren't sure if we would be going snowboarding today but we did! Last night he told me that he still wanted me to go so if he didn't feel well he'd just sit in the lodge while I boarded. There is no way that I would go snowboarding by myself.  I know my husband has before and other guys have but I would never. I like to have somebody to talk to and share the experience with. I wonder if it's a male/female thing. 

We went to a place that's about 30 minutes away called Kelly Canyon.  We weren't sure it would be that great because it doesn't seem like there are high enough mountains that close to us.  But it was a great mountain with four lifts and plenty of different runs to go down. 
I was a much happier camper this time.  I just let myself have fun and didn't worry about not being as good as Thomas and as a result I think I naturally improved a bit.  I felt more comfortable going down flat without breaking on my heels and I was able to get some speed and didn't have many falls at all.  Last time I was extremely sore pretty much immediatly afterwards, like more sore than having just ran a marathon.  This time I feel great! We went for the half day which is 12:30-4:30pm and that was just perfect with a little lodge/hot chocolate break somewhere in between.
It was 12 degrees today! Freezing! I wore an earwarmer headband and a beanie to keep my ears warm and a thin pair of gloves plus my snowboarding gloves to keep my hands warm. Luckily my new snowboarding outfit rocks and kept me warm.  My face was the coldest thing but once I zipped the coat up all the way it covered up to my nose.
I'm starting to see little improvements so I am excited to see how much I can improve by the end of the snowboarding season.

New home decor and haircut

I'm ready for school to start so I can get the semester over! Plus it's lonely with the hubby working and being at home.  I was thinking how it's weird that once you are married that you can't really just hang out with a girl friend, cause now most of my friends are couple friends so it's weird to hang out with one half of the couple and not the other (maybe it's just me).
To keep myself busy the past couple days I have:
Got my hair cut and highlighted. I decided to try a new hairdresser.  I really liked my old one, she is super nice and we chat away the whole time but I didn't like how my hair seemed greasy afterwards and wasn't styled how I liked it.  So I would just go home and shower right away and re-do it myself.  One of my friend Karlee has adorable hair so I asked who she went to and set up and appointment with Ali.  I  really liked her.  She was quick (2 hours for a highlight, cut, shampoo, and style) and reasonably priced ($80).  Also I liked how she styled it afterwards and she pretty much nailed the color.  It's a little darker than I like but it always fades a bit.  The highlights are super subtle which I love.

Went shopping in Idaho Falls where they actually have a mall. Here we just have a Walmart.  I was looking for some skinny jeans and some pillows to go on our new couch covers.  I didn't find any skinny jeans I liked but I did find some adorable pillows from bed bath and beyond for $20 for a set of two.  I got a set of black pillows and a set of spring green ones. Funny how once you have your own place you want to make it look cute and it's fun shopping for decor. 

Once I got done shopping I started un-decorating.  It is kind of nice having everything put away and the house being back to normal.
We are planning on going snowboarding tomorrow for a half day at a place we haven't been before! I have to remind myself "I will not be so hard on myself!" I'm planning on doing my best and having fun with my lover while getting some good exercise.

Raquetball and New Cookbook

I loved today.  This morning Thomas and I went and played raquetball at the gym.  I couldn't believe how out of shape I felt.  Raquetball requires totally different muscles than I am use to using.  I loved it though and got nice and sweaty.  After playing for about 40 minutes we went for a mile run around campus.  I love working out with my lover.
After working out we showered off all the sweat and headed to the grocery store.  We were seriously in need of groceries after being gone to Washington for a week.  Sunday night I made a menu plan using all recipes from a Smart Cooking the Costco Way cookbook my mom gave me for Christmas.  I love the recipes! Tonight we had a steak stir fry which was delish.  I'm not a huge stir fry fan but this one had an awesome sauce that really made the dish.  Another thing I like about the cookbook is that it gives tons of salad recipes and salsa recipes to use as toppings for your salads.  I have two new goals for myself: one is to eat more veggies by having a salad for lunch every day and the second is to drink two glasses of water with each meal.  Small little changes that will make a healthier me.  This is the first time I divided up the grocery list into sections: Fruits/Veggies, Bread, Meat, Dairy, and Canned Items.  Dividing the list up this way made grocery shopping quick and easy. 
After the grocery store we rushed home to put groceries away and then headed to the movie theater to see Tangled.  LOVED IT!!! It's my new favorite Disney movie (Disney did a great job for it's 50th animated film). I am planning on getting the DVD and the soundtrack when it comes out.  There was a variety of people at the show and everybody seemed to like it kids, adults, men, women, everybody.

Nap Time

I love this picture! My dad took it over Thanksgiving break. When I first started watching my nephew Alex at the beginning of fall semester he would cry and cry when I put him down for his nap in his pack n play.  I tried to make a routine for him so I would read two books and sing two songs and then put him down.  He still ended up crying.  I would leave the door open because I think he was afraid of being shut in a room all by himself.  Usually he would cry a little and then fall asleep.  I hated having him cry though.  So after awhile I just started laying down with him on the couch and after about 10 minutes he would fall asleep. He first drinks his bottle and then when he finishes he'll try and be silly to keep himself awake by making himself laugh and pointing at things around the room.  Then he'll try and cry but if you just wrap your arm around him and sing he'll fall asleep pretty quick. 
Over the thanksgiving and christmas breaks his nap schedule gets a little messed up so he gets to be a Mr. Cranky pants sometimes.  I liked to lay down with him and apparently this time I fell asleep.  My dad cam in to check on us and snapped this picture with his camera.  I love that Alex's pants are unbuttoned like he just ate a big meal :)

Christmas Extravaganza

My family celebrated Christmas on the 23rd because of all of us kids' differing work schedules.  Thomas, unfortunately, had to work Christmas day so that meant we had to leave Christmas eve morning to head back to Idaho.
Since my dad didn't get off work till 5:30pm on Wednesday, we were all eagerly anticipating his arrival with my grandparents so that we could start opening presents.  It was pretty funny watching all of us sitting around in the dining room listening for the car to pull up.  Around 6pm we started opening presents.

My sister Ashley was sad I didn't have christmas jammies so right before we opened presents we ran to walmart and got some for me.

Usually somebody is designated as "santa" and hands out presents to everybody.  This year we all just kind of passed the presents to whoever they belonged to.  It was so fun watching my nephew Alex with his new toys.  He got a music set with drums and tambourines and bells and was just enthralled with it.  For about 15 minutes he sat banging on the drum with a look of deep concentration on his face.  He was hitting it so hard that it ended up breaking on one side.  He's a strong little guy. 

My big gift from Thomas was a Kindle.  I love it so far! It's awesome not having to lug around a bunch of books while on vacation.  I also like that you can put games on it too.  So far I have read Self magazine on it and started reading a book called "Run like a Mother"  which I like a lot.  We exchange names within our immediate families and have a $100 limit on that gift.  My sister had me and got me the suede couch covers that I had been wanting.  Thomas got some new snowboarding pants that he had been wanting from our brother-in-law.
Thomas' big gift was Guitar Hero World Tour with the whole band set up for his PS2.  We've had some problems setting it up so haven't played it yet but we are hoping to do so tonight. 
After everybody had opened their presents we played the $10 gift exchange game, which is a tradition we started a few years ago.  Everybody buys a $10 gift and then you pick numbers and starting with number one you choose a gift or steal one.  A gift can only be stolen two times and then it's safe.  I was the last one and so had my choice of gifts.  I went for the Yahtzee game (which I had bought) and Thomas got the belgium waffle maker (another one I had bought).  We were very happy with our choices :) Today I made pumpkin waffles on the waffle maker and the tasted wonderful. 
After all the gifts we sat down for Christmas dinner.  My dad recently learned how to smoke turkey so we had smoked turkey and ham.  I love the dark turkey meat.
I think we ended up playing Yahtzee that night.  Yahtzee has become our families go-to game lately.  I like it cause it's quick, fun, and exciting.
While home in Washington I think I went to bed at 10pm every night.  I'm such an old lady.  But I like going to bed at a decent hour because then I can get up before everybody else does to workout and not feel like I'm missing out on anything.  This trip I brought my Jillian Michael's DVD's and worked out to them every morning.  (I also got some new 3lb weights for Christmas)
Thomas and I both agreed that one of our top three favorite things we did on our Christmas trip was going sledding. Wednesday, before all of the present opening we went with my Mom to the nearby Junior High that has a great sledding hill.  We started off on a smaller little hill that was in between two of the buildings and then decided to move to the bigger hill.  It's a little worrisome because you end up right next to the building and if you go fast enough you could definetly crash into it.  I was a wimp and scared of the little jumps people made and would avoid them at all costs by bailing out of the sled.  I don't remember the last time I went sledding and had forgotten how fun it can be.



I love that my mom is up for any adventure and that she went sledding with us.

 Thursday we went over to Thomas' parents house for most of the day.  I loved walking into the house and Kayden, Lexi, Savannah, and Katie all shouted "LINDSEY'S HERE!!!" and ran to hug me.  That is exactly why I want to be a teacher.  Kids are just so fun and make life so happy.  The nieces and nephews were very entertaining.  We told knock knock jokes, I braided the girls hair, painted fingernails (even Kayden wanted his done), read christmas books, sang christmas songs, and danced.  Very fun.

Lexi and Katie Bug showing off their painted nails.

 The nieces and nephews even wanted to put on a little performance for Thomas and I so they sang Jingle Bells and Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer.  Adorable. 
We opened more presents there and ate lots of yummy food. 
Christmas eve was spent traveling home and we lucked out with clear roads all the way home. 

In front of the in-laws tree

Sleigh Bells Ring

We left for christmas break on Sunday night.  Thomas worked from 7am-7pm so I spent the day with my MTC mission companion.  We went to church together and then hung out the whole day.  I picked Thomas up around 7pm and we were off, headed to Boise for the night.  We spent the night at my friend and old roommate Tess's house.  I love being able to see them pretty frequently when we stop over on our trips home.  Monday morning we were off again.  I had borrowed some books on CD from the library to try out for the trip.  The only problem is, whenever I put the CD on I ended up falling asleep and missing part of the story.  This was a bonus too though because the 6 hour trip home, I slept most of the way so it went by super fast.  The CD was actually a huge failure, it took forever to get to the plot of the story and then had a sick twist where the mentally disabled sister runs off to be a lesbian.  Very weird.
Monday night we spent with my parents and played Yahtzee with them and my younger sister and her hubby. 
Tuesday was Thomas' parents day. We had six neices and nephews over there so we were very entertained.  We went sledding and played a million games of Go Fish. Instead of sleds the kids used sheets of plastic to slide down the little hill next to Thomas' parents house.  They worked very well, I was impressed.

Miss Lexie

Miss Katie

Lil' daredevil Savannah

Kayden giving his cousin Katie some hugs.

My lover.  His job was to stop the kids from running into the little pump/rock at the end of the hill.

Mr. Kayden

The little girls and I going down the hill.

Lovers for life

Thomas and the little ones.

We could fit a lot of kids on that little piece of plastic.

Mr. Dillan

At the end of the night we were all in the living room chatting.  Thomas was laying on the couch next to me and got up to go check on the jerky he was making.  Savannah (7) and Katie (4) asked if they could snuggle with me.  They found out a spoke spanish and spent the next half hour asking "How do you make _____ spanish?" I was very surprised how well they could pronounce the words. Especially Savannah.  Another half hour was spend playing name that tune christmas version by humming.  Then another half hour they told Thomas and I there favorite parts of Home Alone.  It was so entertaining and I loved it.

Story Time

Funny story: Yesterday I was watching my nephew for a bit while his mom took a final.  He is super sick with a fever, sore throat, and an ear infection.  Normally he doesn't like to be just held cause he wants to be moving and playing, but because he's so sick he just wanted to be cuddled and held.  He is normally really smiley and you can get him to laugh pretty easily but while he's been sick he has the saddest little face.  Right before he left my sister was telling me that he was touching her boobs so she told him "Those are mommy's boobies." He got this big smile on his face and said "boobies!".  So I turned to him with his sad little sick face and said "Boobies!" and he broke out this huge smile and laughed.  Such a boy :)

Happy Story: I'm done with classes this semester!! Last night I got done with my last final at 8:45pm.  YES!!! Just one more semester here on campus and then student teaching in the spring.  Next semester is going to be soooooooooo killer! I hope I don't turn into a monster. I will be taking 18 credits and I will be in school most days from 7:45pm-6pm.  But right now I am just enjoying the fact that I have one more semester done. 

Happy/Sad

What makes me happy:
I passed the PRAXIS exams!!! In order to be an elementary teacher you have to take two tests, Elementary Ed. Content Knowledge and Principles of Teaching Learning.  I passed the content knowledge test with a 182/200 and they sent me a nice little certificate saying I was in the top 15% of test takers :)

Too bad they didn't give you your money back as a little prize :) Those tests are pricey.  I had felt pretty good about the PLT test but when I found out how I did on the content knowledge which I hadn't felt that great about I started psyching myself out.  But I am happy to report I got a 198 out of 200 on the PLT!!!! Yay! We are going to eat mexican food tonight and frozen yogurt to celebrate and then watch the season finale of The Biggest Loser.  Can't wait.
Thomas and I did a little Bob Harper workout today.  On his cardio DVD there is a 25 minute Butt and Balance workout.  It get's a good bod burn going.  Then we did a little ab ball workout.  Feeling good :)
What makes me sad:
I got to my car today after class and there was a parking ticket! It was only $10 but I was ticked.  The reason why was because the decal was attached with some tape.  We got a new car a month or so ago so we switched the decal to the new car.  I had made sure to go to the parking services office and switch the information to the new car.  The guy was going to charge me for a new decal but I told him we still had the other one and he said okay.  Well apparently you can't tape the decals on.  I was sooooooooo mad! So I find that same guy at the office and kind of angrily explain to him what happened.  And then I start to cry.  I have no idea why! Okay maybe it's becuase it's finals week and that was just one more thing to add to my stress.  But the guy felt really bad and started telling me how one of his teachers brought a guitar to class and sang Free Falling while the whole class screamed and how that really helped.  Haha. But what made me stop crying is when he told me he'd take the fine off my account and he gave me a temporary parking pass full day of the semester.  This school thing makes me an emotional person.  For like the last 10 years I have seriously only cried twice every year.  Now I have cried like three times in the last three months. I will say that it does feel good to just cry and get the emotions out rather than stew over them.

I love my husband

Today I just felt an overwhelming happiness and love for Thomas.  It hit me while I was walking from one class to another.  I was just thinking how awesome it is that everyday I get to go home to my best friend.  I always have someone to go home and to talk to.  That man knows exactly how to handle my moods and he knows just what to say to help me feel better in any situation.  He makes me laugh every single day.  If you get to know him well enough he will show you the funniest impressions.  The other day he walked in when I was watching "America's Next Top Model".  He does the funniest model impression EVER! Thomas is so good about sharing the work around the house.  I'll often just walk into a room and realize he's cleaned it without me even noticing.  Today he was telling me a funny story about work.  He was transporting a really old lady from the ER up to a room.  He had the wheelchair ready and she walked around it and said "Do you want to piss me off?! Do you want to mess with me? I'll show you what I got." Thomas just said "No I don't want to mess with you.  Why don't you just sit down here."  Her reply was "Okay, sure I'll sit down.  Thank you."  Haha! I know he'll treat me just as well when I'm an old crazy lady too.

Snowboarding: Season 2

I had been looking forward to Saturday all week, it's what got me through what seemed like the longest week of the semester.  The reason why was because Thomas and I had plans to go to Grand Targhee Ski Resort in Alta, Wyoming for our first snowboarding day of this season.  Last year I went like three times and so I was excited to see what I could do this year.

It was the most perfect day for snowboarding.  Clear and the snow wasn't too hard, perfect.  We bought a 4 day pass that lets us go full day for the price of a half day.  We got there around 9am and headed right up the mountain.  I was nervous about the lift because I hadn't quite perfected getting off it last year.  I'm happy to report that this time I had no troubles at all.  Didn't knock myself or anybody down :) We stayed pretty much on the same part of the mountain the first part of the day and I was feeling pretty good about the improvements I was making.  I have a hard time going from heelside to toeside and tend to stay on my heels the whole way down.  But that first half of the day I had some good transitions from heel to toeside.  We went down a different side of the mountain after a couple times down our preferred side but it had a lot of cat tracks and up and downs.  I wouldn't get enough speed going down and then didn't have enough momentum to go up the hill.  So I'd either have to akwardly crawl or bounce up.  Eventually Thomas just told me to take one of my feet out of the bindings.  That helped. 
For lunch we had planned brilliantly and brought a little propane stove and a pot to make chili dogs.  It was wonderful to not have to pay a bunch of money to eat at the lodge but still get a hot meal.  We'll definetly keep that little tradition going. 
After lunch we met up with our friends Karlee and Will who came for the half day.  We started going down that same cat trail that was hard for me before but cut off through some powder.  Powder is hard! You are in a lot of trouble if you biff it cause then when you try to get up you sink like three feet and it takes a lot of energy to get out.  This really tired me out.  Then we tried some more trails that were really to advanced for me.  I felt horrible because everybody had to keep waiting for me to get unstuck.  I really just wanted them to go ahead cause I felt like I was slowing them down and that made me feel guilty and I was embarrassed for my lack of skills.  The confidence I had at the beginning of the day was totally zapped.  Finally, Thomas and I just decided to call it a day and ended up walking a half mile out of the cat tracks with our boards.  I was really upset at myself and swore that I hated snowboarding and was done doing it. 

This is my sad snowboarding face.

Thomas was so patient with me.  He knows that I am very hard on myself and explained that I am a beginner and can't expect to be able to do everything right when I want to.  I told him I know but this is like my 4th or 5th time going and I swear there is something wrong with me cause I still have to stay on my heels most of the time.  And I let him know that I felt bad holding him back.  He explained to me that he just wants snowboarding to be something that we enjoy doing together and doesn't care if he has to wait, if he wants to he'll do his thing and then wait for me.  His explanation totally made sense to me when I put it into context.  If I were teaching him to play volleyball I wouldn't care if he shanked the ball a ton of times and wasn't as good as I was.  I'd just be happy that he was playing with me and willing to learn.  I love that guy!!!
So after a little pep talk I felt a lot better.  It totally reminded me of having a bad volleyball game and being so mad at myself.  On the car ride home my mom would make me repeat out loud over and over "I will not be so hard on myself! I will not be so hard on myself!"

My sexy snowboarding lova'

So I will be snowboarding again :) After I recover though.  I am so sore in the weirdest places.  My knees, ankles, wrists, and most of all my kneck.  I had a really bad spill where I flipped over a couple times and my head flopped all around, luckily I was wearing a helmet.  I would never ever go snowboarding without a helmet! As we were getting on the lift one time, we saw this kid with blood running down his face and on his head.  He obviously wasn't wearing a helmet when he crashed and he was totally out of it.  His ski had split in two it was crazy! I don't care how good you are you should always wear a helmet. (I'll get off my soap box now).
I love seeing the little kids skiing and snowboarding.  I seriously saw a little three year old learning to snowboard on the bunny hill.  His mom would be at the top and push him down and his dad would be a few feet down the hill to catch him.  Adorable!

I heart ZUMBA!!

This week I just wasn't feeling like doing workout videos.  So instead I tried some workout classes at the gym on campus.  Monday I went to a kickboxing class.  The first warning sign to me was that it was like two minutes til class started and there were only three other people there. When there aren't many people at a class that says something. The first girl was singing some song at the top of her lungs and had her shorts rolled and her shirt tucked into her shorts.  She then proceeds to get three excersice balls, line them up, and then run across the room at them and roll on her stomach across all three. I left after I saw that.  So I got in a good cardio workout with 30 minutes on the stairmaster, 10 on the elliptical, and 10 on the treadmill. 
Tuesday I went to my first ever zumba class.  I heart zumba!! I can't believe that I haven't tried it before.  Well actually I can.  I have no rythm and can not dance for the life of me.  But some girls in my math class were raving about it so another girl asked me to go with her.  I also invited my friend Karlee and we all absolutely loved it.  I am picky about the classes I go to because I want to get just as good as or a better workout than I could do on my own.  This zumba class is taught by a guy from belgium and he is wonderful.  Plus the class is so packed it doesn't matter at all that I look like a fool.  I was definetly sweaty afterwards and I was smiling the whole time becuase it is so much fun.  LOVE ZUMBA!!!
Wednesday was another attempt at a class that failed.  Karlee and I met to go to cycling but the instructor was sick.  We did our own little class and took turns choosing what we did. 
And tonight was another wonderfully fun Zumba class.  I would totally recommend this to anybody.  The workout will fly by, you will have so much fun.  Just don't be embarrassed and give it a shot.

Running in winter

This week I've actually ran! I haven't in a couple months or so because of the freezing cold weather and instead have opted for Bob and Jillian workout videos in the morning.  On Wednesday, I got out of my Exceptional Students class early so I headed to the gym which is where I have my weight training class.  I was able to hop on the treadmill for about 20 minutes before class started.  Then on Friday since I only have one class I went to the gym directly afterwards and did a bangin interval workout on the treadmill.  1 minute at 2.0 incline and 4.0 speed followed by one minute at 2.0 incline and 8.0 speed for 30 minutes total.  It felt awesome! Then on Saturday I was determined to get in a "long run"  it's funny how depending on where you are in your training depends on how long a "long run" really feels.  If I were half marathon training right now the 5 miles I did on Saturday would have been a short run.  I was really proud of myself because a few times I tried to convince myself to stop at four miles but I knew that I could push through it and I did.  I did sort of intervals with this workout too and it rounded out to about a 9:30 minute miles.  I would run half a mile @ 10min. mile speed, half a mile for 9:30min/mile, and half a mile for 9:00min/mile.  I felt wonderful afterwards.  I'm definetly going to have to sneak to the gym more often to run during the winter.  I find my problem is that now I make time to workout in the morning and it's so much easier to just pop in a workout video then take them time to get ready and drive in the cold to the gym. 
Notice I said "I make time".  I hate it when people tell me "I don't have time to workout".  That's bull, working out just isn't one of your top priorities so you don't make time.  I could totally just sleep in an extra hour everyday and then say that I don't have time.  But that's a lie, I do have the time but I decided to use it to sleep rather than workout.  I promise myself I will never make the excuse that I don't have time... promise.

The Holiday Season

Here are the highlights of our Thanksgiving Break:
-Driving 15 hours to get back to Idaho when it normally only takes 11.
-Playing Wii biking, table tennis, and bowling.
-Black Friday shopping for the first time with my mom- I was very proud of my purchases.  Our first stop was Michaels at 8:30pm Thanksgiving night.  I got beautiful, bright christmas tree ornaments and ribbons for the tree for a grand total of $25! Next stop around 11:30pm was Wal-mart. We were ready in line with our purchases by 12pm when they opened up the registers.  After Wal-mart we went home till 3:30am and I did a little online shopping.  After that we stood in line for a half hour in the freezing cold outside of Target.  At Target I got a pre-lit 6-foot Christmas tree for $25 and a microwave for $33.  After Target we went to Big 5 and then finally arrived home at 6am.  And I slept until 2pm:)
-We celebrated Thanksgiving on Wednesday since my Dad had to work Thanksgiving day and Thomas had to head back to Idaho.  Our family has the tradition of going to a movie on Thanksgiving day.  This year we saw the Harry Potter movie.  I haven't read any of the books or seen all of the movies so I'm sure a lot was lost on me, but still a good movie. 
- Thanksgiving day we went to the hospital where my Dad works and had dinner with him in the cafeteria.  I was a little nervous to eat in a hospital cafeteria but it was actually pretty good. 
- My best friend from high school and her hubby Rob and their 2 month old baby Collin came to chat and have a little game night at my parents house.  Collin is such a cutie and I'm so glad that I got to see their little family. 
- I worked out 4 out of 6 days in Washington.  Very happy about that. 
- On the way to Washington we spent the night with my friend/old roomie Tess in Boise.  Love her and I love that we live closer and are able to see her family more often.  They are so generous to let us come at all ours of the night and crash at their place.
- It was soooooo nice not worrying about school and not having anything that I HAD to do for a whole week!
It is always nice to get back into routine once vacation is over.  Here is what has happened since being back:
- Lots of projects and tests in my classes.
-Put up the Christmas tree!

I learned how to fold the bow topper from an online video.

-Thomas and I went on a date to Idaho Falls to see The Forgotten Carols play.  So nice.  I had been before but I feel like this year the singers/actors were exceptional and I swear they changed the play up a bit. 
- We have half of our Christmas cards sent out and are almost done addressing the second half. 
- Thomas and mine schedule's have been pretty much opposite this whole week so the day that he had off he came with me to a forum about classroom motivation and management for two hours.  He's such a trooper :)