Goings On

Yes, it's been awhile. Not because I lack anything good to say, but because I lack the desire to write it down. Here's what's going on with us right now....

I GRADUATED

After lots of interviewing, I was offered a job at Bennion Elementary school in the 5th grade. So not only did I graduate, I got a BIG KID job.

• Steve's working full time for Sterling, and I'm working a couple days a week for Extra Space.
• We've had fun trips to Lake Powell and the Cabin, to enjoy time with friends and family.
• The sprinkler line at the top of the stairs to our apartment burst, thus flooding our kitchen and living room. Said flood was found when I decided to skip Sunday school to prepare the stuff for my Young Women's lesson. Having no idea what to do I ran back to the church and grabbed Steve out of his Gospel Doctrine lesson, (for which he didn't return) and some amazing members of our ward dropped everything to help.
• Due to the flood Steve and I replaced our damaged laminate flooring with tile, with help from my parents, and we are still in the process of putting it all back together.
• I'm off to spend my first young women's camp as a leader up in the Oakley area. It will be interesting to be on the other side of this. What I've learned so far is that the leaders get to go down to Kamas to get "ice" AKA "sodas" while the girls cannot leave the camp. I think I'm gonna like being a leader.
• We're both looking forward to the Cundick camping trip in Yellowstone as well as the Boucher California trip the following week. We'll be busy traveling this July. :)

Other than that our summer's flying by altogether too fast, and we're enjoying every moment of it.

More pictures and posts to come!

The Wooldial

The Wooldial (full name: The Second Annual End-of-Finals Wooldial Auto-Invitational Semi-Pro Golf Classic) is a golf tournament that a buddy of mine and I decided to put together last spring. It's a two-man scramble, meaning that you play as a team of two. You each hit, then you go to the better of the two shots and each hit from there, etc.

For the second year in a row, I played with my mission buddy Derrick. This year, his wife came along to ride in the cart and hang out. Megan would have come too, but she was working her last night at the Lion House (exciting story about that to follow in another post.)

Last year, Derrick and I won. We weren't so lucky this year. Derrick played well again...I did not. Still, we had an eventful outing.

From time to time, golfers have been known to put on some pretty good threads to play the sport, and Derrick and I feel that the Wooldial calls for a trip to the DI before-hand. Below are the pictures, first from this year, and second from last year.
Hopefully we can make it two out of three next year.

My mind has been reeling lately. I feel very behind on lots of things, including my blog and right now I should be catching up. Unfortunately, I cannot bring myself to to do it. So instead I feel like sharing a few things that have been on my mind.

I'm LUCKY

I married into an amazing family. When Steve and I got engaged, I was very intimidated by his family. I had no grounds to feel this way, other than that I wanted them to like me. Now I see how silly I was to feel that way. They are the most loving and kind people I know. I have been overwhelmed with the love and support we have been given. Steve's family goes to extremes to support each other, even when they have their own burdens to bear. I so admire his parents, and their desire to help their children succeed. I want to be like his siblings because of their concern for each other. His nieces and nephews are adorable, and never fail to make me smile.

I was raised by parents that cared about my education. I know this, because of how involved they were at my school. My mom was on every committee, my dad was at every play, music recital and class event. Even with all of us graduated now, my parents can still be found at foundation meetings, on school re-build committees and in my mom's case, sewing up a storm for the drama department. As I am student teaching, I am learning how crucial a parent's involvement in their child's classroom is. Because of their examples, I CARE about my education. Heck, I would say it's one of the reasons I want to be a teacher. They have inspired me to help my students to care about their education too.

My husband loves me. This may seem simple, but I honestly believe it's one of the reasons I'm lucky. I've noticed recently how he and I love each other more every day. And even though that doesn't seem possible sometimes, each day I'm surprised because it grows even more. The best thing about it is that I'm sure that it will be this way forever.

I have a knowledge of Heavenly Father's love for me. I know he's watching over me and those I care about. I know that even though I don't always like what he has in store for me, I know that I'll overcome whatever challenges come my way because he wouldn't send them if he didn't think I could handle them.

Sorry it's sappy, but it's as close to how I feel as I can say. I'm just really, really lucky.

Scenes from a Chinese Restaurant

Last night was our weekly Friday night date. It went a little something like this:

We went to the one Chinese Restaurant within 40 miles, the Snow Dragon. Sitting in the booth behind us were 2 couples, obviously on a first date. The girls were mostly talking to eachother and the boys were sitting there awkwardly. The following is a conversation we heard from said double date going on behind us:

Girl 1: "Wow, this water is really hitting the spot"
(awkward pause)
Girl 2 takes a sip: "You're totally right!"
(awkward pause)
Boy 1: "Glad you like it."
Waiter: "You ready to order?"
Girls 1 and 2: "Yes"
Boys 1 and 2: "No"
(awkward pause)
Girl 1 to Waiter: "What's the difference between Egg Drop and Wonton Soup?"
Waiter: "Uh....let's see. Uh, I don't know how to explain them. Look, there isn't a huge difference they're both Asian."
Girl 1: "OOOkaaaaaaay"
Boy 2: "Can I have half sweet and sour half sesame chicken?"
Waiter (who I'm now thinking is the worst waiter ever): "We can't do that because (whispering slightly) the cooks are Chinese, and if I try and talk to them, they get really confused. Sorry dude, unless you want something else other than what you ordered I can't do it."

Steve and I couldn't help but laugh. First at the awkwardness of the first date conversation going on thrilled to be out of the dating game. This water is really hitting the spot? Really? If you can't think of a better ice breaker than that, maybe you should take some lessons in small talk.

Second, did the waiter really just say those things? Really?

When we paid we noticed that the owner's son was in a class that Steve helped out with during the first part of the semester. He recognized Steve and told his dad about him. His dad replied that the boy was like Steve's apprentice. The boy then said, 'yeah, he's the sorcerer and I'm the apprentice.' (he began to mumble some weird incantation.) Steve just laughed and we stood there uncomfortably as we finished paying. The owner gave us a lovely Calendar of the Chinese New Year, and asked his son to tell us what the Chinese Characters meant on the box...the boy looked at us, then back at his Dad obviously confused, as he had no idea what they said.

Good times to be had on Date Night!

On another note, we saw Tangled, and it was wonderful.

The Scoop

So between the two of us, Steve and I aren't very good at updating our blog. Maybe it's because there isn't much going on with us, or maybe we're just lazy (Steve's just busy, I'm more lazy), so here I am with what will hopefully be a semi-interesting update.

Steve is now working two jobs along with a busy school schedule. They just amount to about 10 hours a week, but we definitely consider them a blessing. One of the things we're learning as newlyweds is that tithing works, and that Heavenly Father answers prayers. :) Steve's doing well in his classes, and loves being at Snow...for now. I'll be honest, I'm pretty sure he misses being a Utah Man. It's been hard for him to be away for games and stuff, and since his family is BIG into the Utes, it'll be good for him to be back in Salt Lake.

I have been working in a 3rd Grade classroom for the last two weeks, and will spend the rest of my time here at Ephraim Elementary. My students are a challenge, but I enjoy every minute of it. Anything beats being a student in a sometimes 5 hour class. Now I'm a teacher, in an actual classroom. I've been given an awesome mentor teacher who really wants me to succeed. She's given me tons of materials and ideas I can't wait to apply in my own classroom!

Steve and I are both getting anxious to move back to Salt Lake. It'll be nice not to have to drive 2 hours when we want to see our family. That's been the hardest thing about living here, we never get enough time with our families. I have yet to find out about my student teaching, but am supposed to get an answer about it in about a month. We're hoping for somewhere close, but I'm so excited to finally be student teacher, I'd go anywhere! Not to mention that I'm so ready to graduate I could scream! So we just have a short month left in Ephraim and we'll be done. Wow, time flies.

Well that's the scoop on us for now. I should probly post pictures and stuff, but I don't have anything uploaded yet. I'll work on it and post soon!

So there I was

So there I was, minding my own business, working on some homework, when my husband burst through our door and told me to come with him. This seemed strange to me because he'd just left for school five minutes earlier. He was insistent that I come with him this instant, that there was something I HAD to see. So we ran to the car and began to drive. He was giggling like a little kid, and I could not imagine what the surprise could've been. So we drove along main street, and turned right toward Snow College and there it was...




or should I say, there THEY were. Hundreds of sheep running down the street. They were surrounded by trucks, men on four wheelers and sheep dogs, guiding them down. So we parked the car and watched the sheep parade.
Once again, we've found something we love about Ephraim. Quirky, loveable, hicktown Ephraim!

Happy Sheep Day!

Wedding Pictures

Here are some of our favorite wedding pictures. Our photographer did a fabulous job!

Like I said, these are just some of the pictures we love. We created a slideshow to put on here, but it's kind of small! If it didn't take so long I'm SURE I'd post more.

Thank you Amanda Abel! Our pictures were beautiful!