Veteran's Day

As an English teacher, wrapped into my job description is to teach moral lesson through reading and writing. I used Tuesday as an opportunity to do such.

On Tuesday, we had an assembly in lieu of Veteran's Day on Wednesday. I was touched by the musical performances, the speeches, the historical facts, and by the fact that the entire assembly was run by my 7th grade students. AMAZING! It was a wonderful display of patriotism and honor to those who have fought to serve our country.



In response to that assembly, I had my students take some time to think about Veteran's Day and what it symbolizes to our country. Many kids were just excited to have the day off of school and didn't really know what Veteran's Day was all about. Taking the time to explain it to them, I got tears in my eyes thinking of all the men and women who have willingly served our country over the past 233+ years.

As students began sharing their thoughts and experiences with those people serving in the armed forces, we had a rich discussion that I hope will affect the type of citizens these students choose to be. No, I have never served in the armed forces, but I can still be living my life in a way that is patriotic towards my country. I can uphold certain standards and beliefs that the founding fathers set forth 23 decades ago. I can support those protecting and fighting for our country through letters, prayers, and kind words.



Veteran's Day isn't just about Veterans. It is about caring about the country in which we live. It is about supporting those people who rose to a higher standard and were willing to protect our country, no matter the costs. My challenge to you, my friends, is to find a way to be more patriotic today. Read the constitution. Uphold it as best you can. Hold lawmakers to those truths that are just as self-evident today as they were hundreds of years ago. Say thank you to someone who has or is currently serving in 1 of the 6 branches of the armed forces. Offer prayers of thanks for the freedom of the country in which we live.

I'm scared...

I want to take this time to mention that I'm grading my students SCARY short stories in an empty school at night all by myself. I have to be honest that I'm starting to really freak myself out! I can hear the wind howling outside and the rain beating against my classroom windows. I just needed a quick sanity break to get me away from the ghostly, creepy, deathly, scary stories I'm reading.

I must say that my 7th graders are pretty talented to have me this frightened!



P.S. I have to say that as I went to look for a "scary" picture to put in this post, I freaked myself out even more! I couldn't even look at half the pictures, they were to frightening!

Halloween, Crock Pots & Curtains... Oh my!

I have to admit that having my own place and being married has turned me into somewhat of a domestic "geek." (My writer friend, Corina, put it much more aptly as a comment on my latest blog post.

I have given up most of my blogging, reading, and play time to vacuum the pine needles off our carpet 10 times a day, visit sisters in our ward, and clean the kitchen for the 100th time that week. I enjoy getting the laundry pile down to ZERO as often as possible. I get excited when I think (emphasis on the word THINK) about blending something, decorating our house, making dinner using our new crockpot, or sewing curtains for our kitchen! It's funny how much domesticity has taken over my life and reminded me of the fact that I am OCD. (I think that Evan has realized that fact more than I have!)

Here are a few of my latest and greatest adventures:

I used my crockpot for the first time last week after drooling over recipes in my Fix It and Forget It cookbook. I made my own variation of enchilada casserole, which turned out WONDERFUL! We almost made it again last night for some guests we had over, but realized that we didn't have sour cream.



For Halloween, I dressed up wearing the Bavarian dirndl I got last summer in Germany. The dirndl cost me a pretty penny, but it is worth it! My students thought my costume was hilarious and we had a lot of fun at our Halloween aloud party, where my students read aloud the scary short stories that had written. We cleared out all of the tables and chairs, turned off the lights, and gathered in the middle of the room as students volunteered to share their stories using on the "flashlight of death" (AKA a normal flashlight given a pseudonym to sound Halloween-y) to aid in their reading. It was awesome.





On Halloween morning, my SWEET mother-in-law helped me to sew curtains for my kitchen. I'm embarrassed to say that before then we had an ugly, old, tattered, red towel up in our window using chip clips. This is definitely an improvement! My sisters helped me to decorate the rest of my apartment. I'll post a tour soon.

New Name, New Life

The most frequent question that has been asked of me in the past two plus months is, "So, how is married life?" Almost 3 months after our marriage, I still hear this question a few times a week. And I'm still never sure about how to respond to it.

Am I honest that it's not that much different than before? Do I tell about how much more cleaning I do now? Maybe I should tell about how nice it is to wake up next to Evan? Or, do the people who ask really even care? Is this question some awkward hurdle we must jump before we get into normal conversation?

To quell all the asking of aforementioned questions... I'll give you a quick update. Marriage life is great! Sure, there have been a few times where I've freaked out about the amount of "toys" Evan has brought into our house (a toy helicopter plus tools, mountain bike, his 2 surfboards - haven't brought mine to our apartment yet -, three to four bags of his climbing gear, a drill into the wall rock climbing and pull up practice tool, etc.), but I've come to realize that I am not without my own quirks too. All in all, here are a few things we've been up to the past few BUSY months:

*Evan started school to do his nursing pre-requisites. He hopes to get into the program next year.
*Evan lost his job because of starting school.
*I became the 1st counselor in our Relief Society presidency a month or so ago.
*Evan became the 2nd counselor in the Elder's quorum presidency.
*I've been working with the missionaries 1-2 times a week to teach investigators in our ward.
*We have kept our goal to make weekly temple visits until we have children and that goal may no longer be viable.
*We got night stands! (I had been wanting them for quite some time and FINALLY got them last week. Hallelujah! My bedroom looks so much better.)
*We're taking a family history class and have continued the genealogy work our families have done.
*As usual... We've had adventures rock climbing, mountain biking, and spending time with family and friends.

I'm working on being better at blogging again. I feel like I've been SO swamped every night that keeping up with a blog drops down to the LAST thing on my list. We hope you all our well!

Sick and Tired of Being Sick and Tired

A few years ago when I was living in Hawaii, I caught a cold from one of my students. As I phoned friends and family thousands of miles across the Pacific Ocean to tell the of my fate, someone said the funniest comment that makes me laugh to this day! The person quizzically asked me, "How can you catch a cold if you live in Hawaii?" The person was obviously wondering how, in such warm temperatures, I could get sick with a cold.

I laughed and then explained that colds are not caught by it being cold outside and a person can get sick in any temperature. (Wayne Schmidt's Cold Page suggests that the reason we refer to it as a cold is because in ancient times people thought colds were caused by the cold weather.)



Well, even though the weather in Washington is still fairly beautiful, I have caught another cold from my students. First it was the flu a few weeks back. Now it's a cold that even involved me vomiting yesterday due to too much mucous in my stomach. (Graphic, I know.) It is ironic that something as simple as the "common cold" is not quite so simple. I feel terrible all over. I can't breath, which makes it so that I can't sleep. I can't wait to have my nose, sense of smell, and taste back! I'm just saying.

(This contraption looks genius to me right now.)


In other news, Evan and I watched my sister's kids this weekend from Friday until today. More pictures, soccer, and rock climbing adventures to come.

Surfin' USA

Evan and I may not be in Hawaii anymore, but we've made surfing happen here in Washington. (Evan's been surfing here ever since we got back, while I just made my first surfing venture into the Washington waters on Labor Day.) It takes a LOT more preparation for a little payoff, what with the inconsistent blown-out waves. In spite of all that, I still had a lot of fun! I was happy to be back on a surfboard again!

Preparation 1: Buy a wetsuit.





Preparation 2: Wear a hood, otherwise you get crazy hair from the unpredictable waves.



Preparation 3: Have your husband help you paddle out to the waves, because the waves are so blown-out it's hard do it yourself. (Plus, he offered. Why get so tired paddling out there, when you can use the strength of 2 people and give more energy to surfing? Come on, people. It just makes sense.)



Preparation 4: Get on the surfboard and go.



*I had the camera with me, so Evan took no pictures of me riding the waves. Hopefully, he will next time! :)

The Wedding Day

***HERE are a few more pictures taken by my sister, Nicole! She's talented!



I know that MOST people feel that their wedding day was amazing. I do not differ from those people. I feel so blessed to have been able to marry my best friend in the Lord's holy temple. There are so many reasons why it was the best day of my life.



Some of the most tender moments of that day happened behind the scenes. Let me tell you about a few:



*Driving to the temple with my two sisters- While I frantically sped to the temple (we were a little late!), my sisters plucked my gray hairs so that they wouldn't show up in pictures. It meant a lot that my sisters cared enough to help me look my best on my wedding day! I also loved that time I was able to spend with them, just us sisters, on my wedding day.





*Before and after our sealing, Evan and I had a chance to just sit alone in the temple and talk about what a significant day that was. Before the sealing, it was so special to sit in the waiting room arm in arm watching our people fill up the sealing room. It was very humbling to see and feel the love of so many. After the sealing, we had to sit on the couches in the foyer to wait while another couple went out and met their families. I'm so glad for that time! It was such a precious time to talk about our sealing and what the sealer had said. Such tender moments...

(My grandma and I on my wedding day... she is the only grandparent or parent I have left! I love her dearly.)


*In the temple, I saw my wedding ring for the first time. Evan had spent MONTHS and countless hours designing and making my wedding ring (and his!). There was no better time to see my ring for the first time than in the sealing room in the temple. See pictures below!





*Another memorable moment was our luncheon- Erin Rose (Evan's mom) continued the family luncheon by having all of our siblings share a childhood story and accompanying small gift for us that related to the story. I loved hearing the stories about Evan! It was also so sweet to hear my siblings stories. My sister, Nicole, made me cry by her sweet story about how I came home from the hospital in a stocking. One more story of the day was by Evan about when we had seminary together way back when. To accompany his story, he gave me scriptures with my new name on them! He also bought us a family set of scriptures for family home evenings. It was really sweet. The luncheon was a beautiful displey for both family and friends to share in our joy together.

*Our reception couldn't have been more beautiful! My siblings, their spouses, and so many more people came together to really make our reception look amazing. With Mt. Rainier as a backdrop, we were able to share the joy of the day with so many family and friends that came from all over the country to celebrate with us! It was such a fun day for Evan and I. We both thought that we would have to overcome the urge to be stressed all day, but we didn't. Our families took care of us and helped to ease our worries and stress. We were and are just happy.

My sister's friend made me charms of my parents on their wedding day with a charm of the Seattle temple! It was so neat!








Our cake topper was my parents cake topper from their wedding!






Although you can't see it in the picture, our guests had sparklers to send us off! It was so fun. Another fun thing we had was a polaroid guest sign in book. We have the most fun pictures from that night! :)

Gratitude Abounds

**NOTE: These are some fun pictures my sister took and I stole from her blog. She's a great photographer!



I think about posting on this topic OFTEN and am finally glad to have a chance to do so. It took me being home sick today from school to find the time, but I'm happy to post a few more pictures of our wedding day and to tell you all a little bit about it... six weeks later. You don't mind, do you?



Before I tell anything, however, I need to express my gratitude to all those who helped make our day possible (AND SPECIAL!). My sister and brother-in-law (the two who raised me after my parents' deaths) went out of their way to make our wedding day amazing. They spent countless hours in their yard and house preparing it for that day. They gave up so many hours with their children, planned family vacations, and sacrificed much more so that we could have a beautiful, outdoor wedding reception at their house. I'm so grateful for what they've done for me for my wedding and during my life. Thank you.



Evan's parents are also not without fault in the matter. They took so much time making our family & friend wedding luncheon beautiful and touching. Evan's mom was planning the luncheon menu for months in advance, testing out recipes to make sure that they would be PERFECT for our wedding day.



And then there were our sisters... Evan's sister flew up from Colorado for the whirlwind week of preparation. My sister and her husband flew up from Utah to become the wedding coordinators of our household. It was so humbling to see all they did for us and what they sacrificed in order to be there to help and participate. Everyone's kindness meant so much.



Of course, there are people to thank outside the family too... the selfless woman who miraculously hemmed an impossible dress within only a few days of my wedding, to name one. I'm so grateful and humbled for eveyrone's time, love, support, and well-wishes. You truly cannot start a marriage without the support and love of others. Thank you.



Okay, so this post is now turning into a thanktimony and getting too long to add to it. I guess I'll have to post more soon about the wedding day! Thank you everyone for your kindness and love!

Update & More Pictures...

Okay, so this still isn't the post you all are hoping for. You know, the one where I actually tell you about our wedding day and show actual pictures from our photographer. Nope, it's definitely NOT that one.

It's is, however, a post about a link to my wedding photographer's website with a few more pictures from our wedding and about a little update. I promise I'll tell you all about the wedding and the fantastic job our families and friends did to make our day amazing!

Since I still don't have pictures on my school computer, I decided I better update you all a little bit before I get too behind! The last 3 1/2 weeks since Evan and I got married have been incredibly busy. I didn't think that getting married, moving into a new apartment, opening gifts, returning/exchanging gifts, writing thank you cards (only 180 more to go!), buying household items, changing my name, transferring to a new school, moving into a new classroom, and preparing for a fresh school year with a brand new curriculum could be so stressful. :) That is, in a nutshell, what we've been doing the past few weeks.



My classroom is almost all setup, but I'm still working on grading and curriculum specifics for next year. I will be teaching 7th grade Language Arts at a middle school in the school district I taught in last year. I feel so grateful to know so many teachers and staff coming into this situation! It's been a blessing, that's for sure.

The past week has been a little easier to get things in my classroom accomplished, because Evan has been gone for work. Last week, he was gone for 3 days and came home for the weekend. This week, he'll be gone a total of 5 days. The wife is a little sad, but I know that I'll have more time to finish up as many thank you cards as possible without a distraction at home! :)

So, that's life for us right now... I'm just preparing for school to start on Monday and Evan is working as hard as he can to save up money until he starts night classes at the end of next month. Life is good to us. I feel like the transition to married life was super easy since Evan and I had dated for nearly 3 years and have known each other 5 times that long.

ALRIGHT... enough of the update. Back to working on school! A REAL update with pictures soon.

18 Days Married

WOW! The past 18 days since Evan and I were married have been such a crazy whirlwind. I apologize for lack of posting! Evan and I don't have internet in our apartment and I haven't had time to get to a computer that has had internet. That is, until today.





I still don't have much time to post, as I'm in my new classroom trying to organize for the school year which starts in 12 days. Suffice it to say that this is a teaser post. Pictures soon to come (pictures above taken from the websites below... thanks for posting)! For pictures from blog posts of friends and family who came to our wedding, see HERE, HERE and HERE.

The wedding was great. I'm so grateful to all of the family and friends who worked so hard to make it a wonderful day for us. Thanks to everyone's kind wishes, thoughts, and gifts. It made our day so special.

The honeymoon in Whistler, Canada was awesome. We canoed, hiked, rock climbed, ate, walked, and went on a zipline tour. Amazing.

Moving into our apartment the last few weeks has been exciting and exhausting. Mostly exhausting. We're almost moved in and all organized. Almost.

I'm now finally able to start work on my classroom, only 12 days before school starts.

Am I stressed? YES! Am I happy and grateful? HECK YES!

Life is good. Tonight I drive up to Bellingham to visit my husband (still crazy to me that I can use that phrase) who started working up there yesterday and will be there until Friday. I'm excited to sleep in an air conditioned hotel with this heat we're having, but even more excited to see Evan!

Okay... back to organizing my classroom. Wish me luck!