Thanksgiving through the years....

Thanksgiving has always been a favorite time of year.  It marks the start of the holiday season: lots of food, family, etc.

Craig and I have not had a "traditional" Thanksgiving quite yet.  But all three years have been amazing!  All for different reasons....

First Thanksgiving together:

We were married the weekend before Thanksgiving (Happy 2 year anniversary!!), so Thanksgiving was spent in Santa Fe on our honeymoon.  It was one of the most memorable Thanksgivings ever, including a rotisserie chicken in place of a turkey, and a modest little meal that we whipped up in the kitchen where we were staying.

Thanksgiving number 2:

We were in Sao Paulo, Brazil, while Craig was completing an internship.  Thanksgiving isn't even a holiday there, but an American who was staying in the same hotel as we were invited us and the other intern to go to dinner with him.  We went to a place called "The View."

And while it wasn't the traditional Thanksgiving dinner, it was a memorable Thanksgiving because we were in such a new place. (And the restaurant held up to it's name...the view was incredible!)

Thanksgiving number 3:

This year for Thanksgiving, we decided for an Anniversary trip/last trip before baby comes that we should wanted to take advantage of the time we had off of work and school, so we flew down to Houston, and spent Thanksgiving with Craig's sister and her husband.  We had a great time!  We actually got to eat a regular Thanksgiving meal, and it was delicious!  We were grateful to be able to spend the Holiday with some family, but were also grateful to be able to spend some time together and take a break before the baby comes.

We will see what next Thanksgiving will bring!

Word's Gotten Around

The rumors are true!

We are having a little boy!  We are so excited!

I can't exactly describe how I feel, just a mixture of excitement, amazement, a little overwhelmed (when I think about me being a mom, and being responsible for teaching our little boy what he needs to know), humbled (that we are being blessed with a sweet spirit to join our home), the list goes on.

I am 24 weeks along, 5 months along, working on the 6th.  He is due March 8th.  I can feel him squirming around, and every time I feel him move I am just in wonder and amazed that there is a baby inside me! :-)  Craig can feel him kick from the outside now, and that is fun, too.  I am glad he can feel him now, too.

It is still slowly sinking in, I think.  We are having a baby.

Work, work, work

This year I am teaching 5th grade, and I LOVE it!  What a nice change from the 2nd graders...these kids are so much more independent, which is something I definitely prefer!  I think this has been my favorite year teaching so far.  I have so many crazy stories at the end of every day.  

Craig has been going to school, and has been super busy finishing up his LAST semester!!  (hooray!)  He has a job lined up for when he graduates working at Zions Bancorporation in Salt Lake in their Corporate Finance Department.  I am so proud of him!  

Some of Summer Time...

- I made my first batch of homemade strawberry freezer jam (yum!) and a little decor for the bathroom...there was plenty of time to be a little crafty with Craig being at work all day.

- We spent many weekends at the lake perfecting our slalom skiing skills.

- We tubed down Oneida

- We drove, and drove, and drove some more back and forth from Salt Lake to Logan. Every weekend.

- We spent a day at the races...

 saw some crazy rock-crawlers...

  a HUGE monster truck....

some other good-lookin' cars

 and watched trucks fly through the air in the off-road truck rally.

Even though I'm not much of a car person, it was way fun! 

- And last but not least, we found out some exciting news...a little bundle of joy coming in March!!

Act Your Age, Please

Last weekend, we decided that it would be fun to take a trip down to see the Manti pageant. Friday afternoon came quickly, so I whipped up a couple sandwiches, packed the car, threw some shoes on, and went to pick up Craig from work so we could head down and make it on time.

It just so happens that I have an Aunt and Uncle that live in Manti, so while we were there, they treated us like Kings and Queens. They were so kind! They had dinner waiting for us when we got there, and told us all of the ins and outs of the pageant.

We had a great time! I really enjoyed the pageant...it is a must-see if you have never been.

After the pageant, we walked back to my Aunt's and Uncle's house, and I bent down to take my shoes off, and on my feet were two DIFFERENT shoes! I had spent the whole afternoon and night with two completely different shoes on, and I hadn't even noticed. They were both a kind of white tennis shoe, but really? That is something someone much older than I should have done. I am only 22! Ha!

And Summer Begins

At least for Craig. He made it through another semester! Wahoo! And only one more to go! Hooray!! He got an internship at Zions Bancorporation in Salt Lake, and started working today. I am excited for the opportunity that he has, but not looking forward to the last month that I will be teaching up here in Logan while he is down in Salt Lake City for most of the time during the weeks.

The second graders are still as cute as ever, there is ALWAYS something to laugh about during the day. As for next year, since I am on the bottom of the totem pole in the district, I am still waiting to see where and what grade I will be teaching. There has been a lot of shifting around. I don't have too many preferences, I am just grateful to have a job! So we will see what happens!

Nice to Meet You

Friday night we got to welcome home my little brother, Jared! He just returned from serving in the Warsaw, Poland mission. It was so good to see him! Although we loved reading his weekly emails, and seeing how much he has learned and grown, it is fun having him home again!

After waiting for two years, and then waiting anxiously in the airport for 20 minutes, it was a joyful reunion! Well, at least a reunion for most of us. For Craig and Jared, it was more like a "nice to meet you!"

Surviving the 2nd Grade...

...and loving it! 2 weeks ago, I interviewed for a job teaching 2nd grade. I interviewed on a Thursday afternoon, found out I got the job Thursday night, (wahoo!) and started teaching on Monday. It was a really fast transition, and it was kinda stressful being thrown into a classroom in the middle of the year. but I am so grateful! The school is less than a half mile away from our apartment, so as it warms up, I am excited to be able to walk or ride my bike to work. One thing that I have learned, teaching 2nd grade is WAY different than teaching 6th grade! There are definitely pros and cons to both. But I love my students, they are all so cute! I feel like I know them all so well already, and it has only been 2 weeks! In my classroom alone, languages that kids speak other than English include: Spanish, Burmese, Arabic, Korean, Chinese, Turkish, Thai, and British (as one student replied when asked what other languages they spoke...ha!) It is a pretty diverse bunch of kids and it makes it really fun.

It is amazing how things always seem to work out better than I could have planned! What a blessing!

When I get frustrated...

Work at Bridger Elementary is going well. I feel like I am making it over the learning curve, and am starting to really enjoy working as the refocus teacher. Some days are easier than others, but there are always lots of crazy stories when I come home at night.

One day, a little Kindergartner came in, who was just really frustrated, and not happy with life. He was crumpling up the papers that he was supposed to be working on, etc. Anyways, after he calmed down enough, and I was able to get him started working, and he started getting frustrated again. All of the sudden, he just blurts out, "I just need to pray!" I thought he had said, "I just need a break" but wasn't sure, so I had him repeat it. The cute little kindergartner explains to me that "When I get frustrated, I just need to pray." So he folded his little arms, and I went back to my desk to give him some privacy, and he said his prayer. After he was finished, he had such a new determination to do his work. It was so cute! He ended up being able to finish all of his work after that.

I was so proud of him, what a great idea! It was good to see the results of parents taking the time to teach their kids about who is always there to help us.

Thankful

I am a little nervous, but excited. I got a phone call yesterday from the principal at Bridger Elementary here in Logan offering me a full time position at the school. No more job-hunting! I will not be a regular classroom teacher there, I am going to be the Refocus Education Specialist....so basically, I am in charge of discipline and positive reinforcement at the school. Before this time in our lives, I would have never even considered looking at a job like that, because I am not the "mean teacher" that kids are afraid of. But I am really excited, and mostly thankful, for the opportunity that I have to teach these kids (the ones that need it the most) about responsibility, leadership, decision making, and respect, and feel confident that I can be a positive influence in these kids' lives and can do it without the kids being "scared" into behaving. Wish me luck!

Freezing

Well, since it has been over a month (time flies!) I decided it was time to give a little update...

The last weekend we were in Brazil, we took a trip up to Craig's mission. After two years of looking-and-not-touching....

Craig couldn't wait to jump in the ocean! Our trip up to Maceio and Aracaju was the highlight of our experience in Brazil. We got to spend time playing on the beach and in the beautiful ocean,

ate some traditional North-Eastern Brazilian food, (some of it was good, some of it, not so much)

and visited some of the people that Craig worked with while he was on his mission.

It was amazing meeting all of the wonderful people from Craig's mission, and seeing some of the areas that he worked in.

So we went from this

To this.

And now we are back to the real world...and although we were FREEZING when we came back, we have adapted. We made it back safely to the United States right before Christmas, and spent the next week or so in between families houses until we got our apartment put together again. There is nothing like spending the holidays with the fam! It was so good to see everyone again!

In honor of our experience in Brazil, and our return to Logan, we hosted a Brazilian party for New Years, complete with Brazilian treats, games, and soccer jerseys.

Craig is really busy this semester between school and work. But he is doing really well managing his time and all that he has to get done. I have been working here and there being a substitute, and it has been okay, I just am not a fan of not knowing if and when I am going to work. So I just got a new job as an After School Club Leader, (it should be pretty fun) and will be interviewing for a couple of jobs this week for different teacher-related jobs.

We are doing really well, and are happy to be back and enjoying good ol' Aggie Village (minus enjoying the cinder blocks), intense games of Settlers and Rook, trips up to Lava Hot Springs, and more time with family.