Catching Up

Apparently I'm terrible at the blogging thing...someday maybe I'll do it more regularly.  I'm currently swamped getting ready for school to start.  I can't really believe that I'm going to be a real teacher.  Lots of people mistake me for a student still, which is especially pathetic since I work in a middle school.  I've been really stressed trying to get everything ready.  So stressed that I have ulcers in my mouth (I didn't even know that was possible).  I'm hoping that when school starts things will calm down and I'll be able to relax a little more. 

Vacuum

Colt and I got a new vacuum yesterday.  We went around vacuuming the whole house and we didn't have to turn the vacuum off and then on again to make it work!  I never thought I would see the day when I would be excited about a vacuum cleaner.  I remember the Christmas when my parents got a new vacuum and they were so excited.  I thought they were weird.  Now I truly understand their excitement.

!!!

Lately I've been discouraged.  I turned in application after application and went to interview after interview and it looked like I was still going to be working as a receptionist.  Don't get me wrong, I'm very thankful for my job, but I went to college for 4 years for a reason.

I had an interview yesterday, and by yesterdays post I'm sure you can tell how optimistic I was about getting that job.  Apparently, they like their teachers to look like children because I got the job!  I'm so excited to be a teacher!  I feel so relieved and like a huge weight has been lifted off my shoulders.  I can't wait!!

Interviews

This morning I had a job interview for a middle school in Iron County.  As I was sitting in the district offices waiting for my interview, this is the conversation I heard:

Random lady in office: "Who is that kid sitting out there?"
Another random lady:  "What kid?"
Then I saw eyes peeping around the receptionist window.  I looked around to see what kid they were talking about, only to find out I was the only person sitting there.  I was the kid.
Second random lady:  "I don't know who that is.  Why did they send a kid to the district office?"
First random lady:  "I don't know..."
Receptionist:  "Uh...she is here for an interview."
Both ladies: "Oh."

First of all, child or not I do have ears and can hear everything you are saying.  Second, thanks for the confidence builder before my interview.  Needless to say, I'd be willing to bet I didn't get that job.

On a lighter note, I decided to stop and get hot chocolate on my way home.  I drove all the way to Cedar, so I figured I should at least get something out of it.  The lady at Starbucks convinced me to add coconut to my hot chocolate.  It was heavenly.  I'm pretty sure that drink changed my life forever.

Disneyland!

Colt and I had a really rough couple of weeks. Well, more me than Colt, but he had to deal with me being emotional and grumpy, so I'm sure that was rough for him too.  I needed to get out. I was done being in Utah and dealing with everything going on, so on Thursday night Colt and I decided to take a road trip to Disneyland. This is the third year in a row we have gone to Disneyland for Easter, and all three years it has been pretty spontaneous.

It was just what we needed. No lines, just rides and shows and lots of fun. We even discovered that Disneyland makes gluten free stuff!  The downside?  I still have the stupid Casey Jr. song stuck in my head from the Casey Jr. ride at Disneyland that Colt wanted to go on so badly.

Casey Jr.'s going 'round the track, 'round and 'round the track...

Disappointed

Dear See's Candy,

You make such tasty treats.  I look forward to your candy all year round, but this year I'm sorely disappointed.  Your new jelly beans are ok...but your old ones were like little bites of heaven.  Please, start making them again. I need them to get through this not-so-great week.

Thanks,
Karen

Done

I try to be pretty positive most of the time, but right at the moment I'm not feeling too positive. I'm just feeling frustrated and discouraged. Maybe I'll eat ice cream for dinner tonight.

Simple Pleasures

This morning I woke up to a snow covered Hurricane and lots of fluffy snow falling from the sky. It is beautiful. I know it's supposed to be spring, but it rarely snows in Hurricane (if ever), and I've been missing it. Maybe I'm loving it because I grew up in Colorado, or maybe it's just because I watch too much Gilmore Girls, but either way, I'm a very happy girl this morning.

What is your simple pleasure today?

Attitude Adjustment

I'm trying to have a better attitude about things.  For instance, my ward.  Colt and I haven't been too thrilled with our ward here, but maybe we can fix that by our attitudes.  There have been times when I have wanted to say not-so -nice things to people in my ward after they asked if I was new (when we've been here for a year), asked if I was pregnant (no, I'm not), or told me that I wasn't important to our relief society program so they could practice without me.  Instead, I've been trying to bite my tongue and just smile at them.

This same better attitude applies to our current living situation.  I had high hopes for moving away to Colorado or Washington and getting out of Southern Utah.  However, Colt and I both feel strongly that for now we are supposed to stay here, so I'm going to make the best of it.  Instead of being sad about things I'm missing out on, I'm going to try to remind myself of all of the wonderful things about Southern Utah.  This may not be my favorite place to live, but I'm going to make myself like it.

First step: curtains for the living room and kitchen that I have been putting off since I thought we were moving.

Things I Love

I have been a little down today, so in order to cheer myself up I thought I would think of some things I love.
I love:
-g-chatting with friends and family to get me through the day
-sewing. It's therapeutic.
-the fact that this is a 4 day week
-Dr. Pepper and almond joy pieces at work
-clean, jersey knit sheets on my bed
-my husband
-Chuck, NCIS, House, Parenthood, and all of my other favorite shows

What do you love right now?

Catching Up

I'm so excited because the virus on my work computer is finally gone, so I can blog again!

I can't believe it has been so long since I last blogged.  There is no way to catch up on what's been going on, so I guess I will just list some things to get caught up.

Here's what's going on in our neck of the woods:

-I got a job at Colt's office doing receptionist/secretary work. Not my ideal job (teaching), but it isn't too bad and it gets us a check every week.
-I finally got my teacher's license! It's kind of anti-climatic printing it out from a website, but at least I can be a real, live teacher now.
-Colt is still waiting to hear back from grad schools. It's a long wait, and it's driving me crazy to not know where we are going to be next year.
-I hurt my knee again.  This sounds bad, but really it's ok because it's giving me an excuse to go home. I have to go to a doctor in Colorado...darn!
-I have fallen in love with my sewing machine. I love to sew. I. Love. It.
-I finally got put on the list to substitute teach. Of course, this came right after getting my job...so now I have tough decisions to make. Money vs. my love for teaching. I don't know what to do.
-I love working in the office with Colt. I get to see him more, and we get to eat lunch together everyday!

I guess that's a basic update of our lives. Hopefully now that my computer is fixed I will be able to blog more often.

Edible Village

Colt and I have had kind of a rough week being stalked and all, so last night we decided to take it easy and do something fun.  We bought candy and spent all evening eating candy and making a gingerbread village.  I think my favorite was when Colt would talk about how some of the roofs weren't designed correctly for the snow. Here is one that Colt made:

and one that I made:

We made a whole village, complete with marshmallow snowman and coconut snow.

Thought our piping skills leave something to be desired, it was nice to have a fun night where we didn't have to worry about school or creepy people.

Christmas Dishes

Last year for Christmas, my mom gave me a beautiful set of Christmas dishes.  I have been waiting all year to use them, so Colt and I finally pulled them out when we made burritos earlier this week.  That was probably not the most festive meal choice, but I didn't care.  I just wanted to use them.

Thanksgiving

For Thanksgiving, we went to Houston to be with most of Colt's family, and see the cute little twins that Colt's sister just had.  We had fun playing with our neice and nephews.

We we went downtown Houston on Thanksgiving and watched one of the coolest firework shows I have ever seen. I wish I had taken pictures.  Colt, Toni, and I went to the Space Center and got to see all kinds of cool things.  There was also a castle lego exhibit where Colt and I were king and queen of the lego castle.

There were also lego dragons and lego knights, so Toni and I were knights with pink shields.

It was a really fun trip, and we enjoyed being with family and finally getting to Texas to see Amy, Erik, and their family. 

Now Charles, That's How You Threaten Someone

This has been quite an interesting week for Colt and I.  Colt has been stressed with finals coming up and his last projects of the semester (and his undergrad degree) being due soon.  On top of that, we have had some creepers kind of stalking us...

Thursday morning Colt was away at work, and I was watching the news/dozing before starting my day.  I woke up to the doorbell ringing, but wasn't sure that it was actually the doorbell, so I ignored it.  The doorbell rang several more times after that.  I didn't answer...I thought it was creepy.  Later, we found a note at our door saying that the previous tenants of our townhouse had a package delivered to our house and to call them when we received it. Since Colt's sister is the manager of our townhouse, we asked her to deal with it.  I thought it was all behind me at this point.

I was wrong.  I got a call that night that these people were at our house pounding on the door.  They were also sending threatening/rude texts to my sister-in-law, and claiming that we were trying to keep their package.  (As if I really want their stupid package in the first place).  This went on well into the night, so I was a little scared to go home.  So scared that we spent the night at Colt's parents house.  I still can't think of anything so important that you need to pound down someone's door for it. 

The next morning we notified the police of the problem.  We gave her back her package, and informed her that if she contacted our family again a formal complaint would be filed with the police.  She was also informed not to have things sent to our house anymore. I thought that would have been obvious since they moved out 8 months ago.  Creepers.

Bonus points to anyone who knows where this title came from.

Graduated

I'm done! No more school. Ever. I'm so excited!

The End

I have three days left of student teaching. Three. Days.  I can't believe it.  I am going to miss all of the crazy conversations I have had with middle school students the last three months.  I will have to do a post about those later.  Really, this means I will be graduating...finally.  I have been waiting for this day for a long time.  I can't wait until Friday!

Back in the Groove

I can't believe so much time has passed since I have last blogged.  I want to get back in the blogging groove, but we will see how it goes with my schedule (and our lack of internet).

I have been student teaching this semester, which I absolutely love.  I am at Hurricane Middle School and I was really nervous because everyone told me that middle school is the hardest to teach.  Though my students are at an awkward stage of life, I love them!  I'm so glad to know that I love teaching as much as I thought I would.  I have 38 days down, and 22 to go and the time is passing so fast.  I'm super excited to be done and graduate, but at the same time I'm not sure that I'm ready to move on.  I don't have a plan for what's next in my life, but we will see what comes.

I also recently joined a ballroom dance team.  We only practice once a week, but it is fun and it has allowed me to dance again which is wonderful.  We will go on a few tours and do some local performances, so it should be fun.  I wish Colt could do it with me, but due to his class and work schedules he couldn't. 

Other than that, we are just busy trying to keep up with everything going on.  Hopefully, I'll get back in the blogging groove!

Birthday Week

The last few years for our birthdays my mom has come out to visit.  I consider it my birthday week, and I love it!  She just left, which was sad, but we had a great week.  Mostly, we sat around and watched Lost and movies.  We also got our hair done,

and went to see Cats at the Tuacahn theater in St. George.  We convinced Colt to shamelessly take a picture with Old Deutoronomy and with the Cats sign.

As you can tell, we got a camera for our birthdays! Both of our cameras had stopped working so we were desparate for a new one and were very grateful when my mom brought us one.  Now, hopefully, I will blog more.  I love visits from my mom.  She's the best.

Birthday Boy

Happy Birthday to my wonderful husband!

Colt is really the best husband ever.  He takes care of me, loves me, and works so hard.  I love that I have a husband who honors his Priesthood and takes me to the temple.  He makes me laugh and smile everyday.  Thanks for everything you do for me, Colt!  I hope you have the best birthday ever!