Wait, what...Rexburg?!

That's right, Jev and I are moving back to Rexburg!  It's been crazy these last few months as we have been trying to figure out where the best place for us is, and the best things for us to do.  We initially moved to Cedar City, because we thought Jevan would like going to SUU better, and I thought it would be easier for me to get a teaching job.  Boy were we wrong!  We liked SUU alright, and I did get a part time teaching job, but things weren't exactly how we thought they would be.  I had gotten several interviews for teaching positions, and they all went really well.  I tried really hard to meet with the principals before the interviews and study the kinds of answers they would want.  According to the Principal I work with right now, I came really close to getting several jobs...but, none of them ended up working.  I was pretty bummed.  Jevan is sick of school and remembered all the great resources that BYU-I had, and that he could finish schooling quicker and cheaper if he went back.  So...we decided, hey, let's see what we can do.

We decided that the only way it would be worth going back to BYU-Idaho was if Jevan could start this Fall and keep going every track.  We had already missed the application deadline by a few months, but when we called the school, they said they were being lenient, so we gave it a shot.  Jevan easily got back in on his original Winter/Spring track, but they are allowing him to start in the Fall on his off track as well.  (They're kindof desperate because everyone is leaving on missions with this new age change...at least that's what we think.)  So, we were pretty sure we were going back, but what sealed the deal was me getting a job!

It was a miracle that I got my job.  I literally filled out an online application, submitted it, and did nothing more to even get a call.  By a great blessing I got a phone call from the Principal of Madison Middle school, the next night, at 9:00!  It was so crazy.  He asked if we could do a Skype interview on Friday.  I was so excited, and agreed.  I then learned how to use Skype, and had my interview the next day.  It apparently went super well, because I got a phone call Monday morning asking me to be a part of their school!  I was originally going to be the 6th grade Science teacher, but given my current job and experience as the math specialist, he felt my skills would be better placed as the 5th grade math teacher. 

I wish I could have expanded my teaching experience by doing science, but given how I've already taught a lot of math, this will make my first year teaching much easier, which I am grateful for!

I just have to say that this whole experience is in no way luck.  I completely see The Lord's hand in this.  I have been praying for a job that is right for me and for Jevan to be happy in his schooling, where ever that might be.  I feel like we were meant to spend the time we did here in Cedar so that I could get some teaching experience and so that Jevan could better appreciate the schooling at BYU-Idaho.  Things have fallen perfectly in place and I just thank my Heavenly Father every day for these wonderful blessings he has bestowed upon us.  He knows what is right for each and every one of us.  If we just continue to work hard and do our very best, he will always provide and do the rest. 

Well, there you have it.  The whole story!  I hope you weren't too bored.  I'm just pretty excited to be moving forward and having an "adult" job, using my college degree!!!  Wish Jev and I luck!!

Fun Weekend With The Solomons

Last Thursday Jevan and I were talking about how we missed hanging out with our good friends Drue and Jane Solomon.  They used to live in Rexburg with us, but since then we have moved our separate ways.  Luckily, they only live in Logandale, Nevada, so they're really only about 1 1/2 hours away.  So, we thought, what the heck?  Let's see if we can visit them on Saturday!  It was awesome!  Friday night Jevan and I went to St. George, where we did a Temple trip with Jev's dad, and then went to Texas Road House.  It was my first time there, and it was awesome!  I especially liked the rolls.  I think I could've been happy just eating those.  haha.  Then we watched an edited version of a movie called 3:10 to Yuma.  I was so full and tired that I missed most of it by falling asleep. :(  But Jevan's parents loved it!  It's a Western drama...but they seemed to think it was a comedy!  haha.  Probably the same way Jev and I feel about the new True Grit movie (it's hilarious!). 

The next day Jevan and I woke up at 6:00 a.m. so we could start our 45 min. trip to Mesquite so Jevan and Drue could golf at 8:00 a.m. at this really nice golf course Drue works at.  The reason I'm mentioning all these times is because as we passed the Arizona state line, I suddenly realized that we were headed to Nevada....and they are in the Pacific time zone, which means we were a whole hour too early!  It was super lame, but we just stopped at Walmart in Mesquite, Jevan got some new golf tees and I bought Jane a baby gift.

Jevan then met up with Drue and I left them to golf while I drove the remaining 30 min. to visit Jane and their new baby Jedidiah!  It was so fun!  I got to hear all about her time at the hospital and her first month being a new mom.  Jed wasn't the easiest baby at first because he would cry and puke all the time, but it turned out it was because he has heartburn.  He's on medicine now and is doing much better!  It was great just to hang out with Jane and her new baby.  We have a lot in common and it was nice to talk to someone who thinks the same way as I do.  I also got to hold a sweet little baby and have him fall asleep in my arms.  Who doesn't like that??

Then the boys came back, we played a little Mario Brothers on the Wii, and went out to eat at a cute little diner type place called Sugars.  They had really great potato skins, breakfast, and hamburgers.  Drue grew up in Logandale, so he pointed out all the important stuff in this little town, like their only gas station, his best friend's house from high school, and a house that looks like a castle.  We met a lot of old people that would mumble stuff to us loud enough for us to hear them, but quiet enough that we couldn't understand them.  So we would just nod and smile.  haha.

Then we headed back to St. George to watch basketball and eat Cafe Rio for dinner before we headed back to our place in Cedar.  Sorry for no pictures, I should be better about that.  But it was a super fun weekend and I thought it worth the blog! 

Living in Southern Utah

As many people now know, Jevan and I are now living in Cedar City, UT.  Jev is going to school at SUU, and it has been quite the change for us here.  The weather is fairly similar to Rexburg, but the campus and town are SUPER empty!  I guess we never realized how over crowded BYU-Idaho was, until we went somewhere else.  We like the town well enough, but don't plan on living here for forever.  Main street has really cute lights it puts on the trees, but every entrance to a store or building parking lot has a huge dip!  Thank goodness we have a lifted Jeep, or else the front of our car would hit every time.  The biggest difference between here and Rexburg is the fact that boys can have long hair, beards, and everyone can wear shorts.  It was quite a shock for me when I went to church that first Sunday and met a guy, just like I described.  Jev's loving being able to wear shorts though.

We really like our new little apartment.  It's only a one bedroom, but that's all we really need.  It also has a washer and dryer, which is so nice to have!  And it's a decent price. :)  The weird thing about it is that our fridge makes kindof a fireworks sound...all the time!  We're used to it now, but it first drove us crazy!

While Jevan has been busy studying, I went and hooked myself a part time..well, less than part time, job as the Math Specialist at Three Peaks Elementary.  How I got it, I'll never know, considering I always hated math.  I guess I'm just good at teaching it?  I've also had a lot of experience in it and have grown to find Elementary math, pretty fun.  It's been a cool job.  I get to work with kids in every age group, 1st-5th.  I get my own classroom called the Math Center, and I get to work with a great team of Resource teachers to plan fun math activities and lessons.  The year is almost over, and now I need to decide if I'll stay doing this job for next year...I just wish it was more than 18.75 hours a week...

I've been job hunting like crazy, and I've had some great interviews!  But, so far, no luck. :(  I consider myself extremely blessed to even get interviews though, considering there are hundreds of applicants, and only 24 or more got interviews.  I feel like I always do pretty good, but the right job must not have popped up yet.  I just keep having faith that things will work out the way they are supposed to.  All I can do is try my hardest, pray, and never lose faith, and doors will be opened. :)

Sorry for the boring writing, if anyone actually reads this thing. :)  Here are a few pics from a family get together last weekend!  My older brother Todd graduated from BYU-Idaho, and then came to visit in Salt Lake with everyone else.  It was awesome!  I just wish I could've stayed longer than the weekend.  I'll also add some pictures from my birthday and whatever else has been going on.

This is my cute niece Jane!  She would smile super big, and then stop right before the picture took.  This is the best smile we captured I think.

Here is another picture trying to catch her adorable smile.  I thought I looked better, but she was smiling less, silly girl!

I snagged Macey, to be in a picture since I never get to see this cute girl.  She is getting so tall and growing up so fast!

Here are my beautiful sisters and beautiful mom. :)

This is a visit to my awesome friend Hailey a few months ago.  She lives in Provo, but every once in a while I get to go visit her.

Here I am on my birthday!  Jevan got me a blizzard for my birthday cake.  It was perfect!

Goodbye School!

It's weird to say, but I'm officially finished with my bachelor's degree!  I can't believe I'm actually done and can apply to be a teacher in my own classroom!  My student teaching experience was awesome!  I loved those 6th graders so much and still do!  I miss them like crazy, but hopefully I can get my own classroom this next school year and have new kids to miss like crazy. :)  Here are a few pics:

This is from July, right before I did my student teaching.  I decided to walk first. :)  I graduated!!

My handsome husband. :)

Some of the best friends ever!  I was so happy I could walk with them!  Brighton and Hailey. :)

My wonderful parents came all the way to Rexburg for me!

The cutest class ever!

They are all goofs!  Can you find me?  I'm about their same height!  haha.

 

 

My awesome mentor teacher, Amy Allen.

This is me with all the amazing gifts from my students.  My favorite was the binder full of their pictures with sweet notes from them all.

My last day of class was so much fun!  The whole class totally tricked me!  I was convinced that they kids were going to have a pop quiz in science during the last hour of class, so I kept hinting to them that they should study.  Little did I know that there was no pop quiz!  My teacher told the kids that when she lifted up the over head screen, the quiz would be on the board.  When she did that, instead it said, "We will miss you!" and they all turned to me and said "SURPRISE!!!"  It was so shocked I started to cry!  Then they had me turn around, and each kid whispered something they remember with me, or liked about me, and I had to guess who it was!  I was pretty good, almost guessing everyone, and they were way impressed.  Then we ate treats and I gave them all the personalized notes I wrote them.  I became a celebrity as they formed a line asking for my autograph.  We then finished with another game and a class picture.  I loved it all!  The other best part was getting hugs from EVERY single student, even some of the boys my teacher and I thought would choose a handshake, gave me a hug.  And then as soon as the bell rang some of the girls busted out their phones and got pictures with me.  I can't wait to go visit them again sometime!

This is the Man I Married...

Jevan has been loving his long hair.  He especially finds it hilarious to part it down the center and slick it back behind his ears.

He kind of looks like the bad guy on the Thor movie.

This is one of my favorites.

How Jev's hair looks normally.

These pictures are from Christmas 2011, so pretty much a whole year ago.  People thought his hair was long then...but it looks short compared to how it is now!

Jev's normal hair a year ago.

He loved to slick it back a year ago, and still does it now.

Angel's Landing

Jevan and I went to Zion's National Park a month or so ago, because I have been to St. George several times, but have never done the traditional cool things most people do in St. George.  So, we planned a trip, and Jevan, his dad, and I went and hiked Angel's Landing.  It was awesome!  Here are a few pics Jevan took with his phone, (which are pretty good considering he doesn't have one of those smart phone!).

1 Year- Finally No Longer "Newly Weds"

A few weeks ago Jevan and I celebrated our first wedding anniversary!  It was awesome!  We decided that we would spend it up a little on this special event, so we planned a trip to visit St. George and Las Vegas.  Jev has never been on the Las Vegas Strip, and had always wanted to go.  Unfortunately, it wasn't quite as cool as he thought it would be.  But, we still had a ton of fun!  We went to St. George Thursday night, and hung out with Jev's parents.  Then Friday morning we did a fun photo shoot, courtesy of Jevan's sister Kassi.  She took some really cute pictures and even edited them for us!  It was so nice!  I also finally got to see more of the famous Dixie Rock, which was cool.  Here are a few pictures:

Jevan and I then headed off to Las Vegas.  We had a hard time when we first got to our hotel, because we didn't want to do valet parking...But, the parking lot was pretty confusing, so we ended up wandering around looking for the hotel entrance for a long time.  We only spent one day in Vegas, but I think we walked enough for a whole week!  We checked into our awesome room at Caesar's Palace and then headed out to explore the strip.  We quickly realized though that there wasn't much to see, and that it was REALLY long.  We also realized that it's hot in Las Vegas, and casinos don't have drinking fountains, just really expensive water to buy.  We did have tickets to a cool show called The Tournament of Kings,  BUT we realized that an earlier ticket would have been better.  So, basically Jevan and I walked the strip, got lost in casinos and hotels, bought a $3 something water bottle, (later finding out that people sell legit ones for a buck on the street), got sick of cigarette smoke, and avoided old Mexican ladies trying to give us sketchy handouts, for about 4 hours until our show started at 8:30.  I know it sounds like an awful time, but it was still fun!  We did see some cool things, like a 3D movie at M&M World, and a sketchy Mexican video taping a girl in a bikini from inside the hotel.  No joke, he was a creeper!

Here are a few pictures of the Gardens in the Belagio.  So pretty!

This is the Cosmopolitan Hotel.  It was so pretty and sparkly inside.

Jevan thought these buildings were awesome.  We have several pictures actually.  It's hard to tell from these pictures, but they are built so that they almost look like they are crooked or going to fall over.

Finally it was 8:00 and the doors were open for our show!  The Tournament of Kings is basically a medieval knight show.  There is an in door arena that has a real dirt floor, and it is surrounded by sections where people eat.  Each section is a different country, such as Ireland, Hungary, etc.  Jevan and I were in the "Dragon" section.  This meant that we were the only section that cheered for the bad guy to win!! That was pretty fun actually, because everyone else was booing when we were totally owning the good guys.  We got to relax in an air conditioned arena, drink ice cold Pepsi from a plastic mug, drink tomato soup out of a bowl, and eat a Cornish game hen with our bare hands.  It was delicious! And while we were doing that we got to watch knights joust, sing and dance, and battle each other with swords and maces.  I know it was choreographed, but they really would swing those swords so hard, it almost seemed real.  We were in the front row, so Jevan even got a little souvenir of dirt kicked up on him from the horses.  And of course, good always conquers evil, so we did not win, but it was still fun to watch!  Jev and I decided that one knight looked just like Kevin Bacon.  Jevan claimed that he looked directly at him several times too. :)

Right after the Tournament of Kings show with the hotel in the background.

The Excalibur Hotel where our knights show was.

 After the show was done, we still had to walk back to our hotel.  On our way back though we were able to see a few of the free shows that start at night.  We saw the water fountain light show at the Bellagio, twice, then we saw a pirate battle at the Treasure Island Hotel.  (Well, it was actually these slightly scandelous "Sirens"  that were trying to seduce the pirates off their ship, so it was super cheesy and dumb, but the Asian in front of me seemed to love it.  She captured EVERYTHING on video tape. ;)  There were a few cool explosions I guess.  But hey, it was free!)  Then the last thing we saw was a volcano eruption at I think the Mirage Hotel.  It was okay too.  I think we were just a little worn out.  You can tell by how haggard I look in these last few pictures.  Then Jevan and I concluded our day by relaxing in our nice hotel. :)

Just looking exhausted with our hotel in the background.

The fountain light show at the Bellagio.  I had a cool video, but it didn't want to upload. :(

This is a pic of a volcano that erupts every hour at the Mirage hotel.

Sweet bathrobes.

A super nice jetted tub.

The beautiful bathroom sinks. :)  The rest of the hotel room looked really nice, but the pictures just didn't do it justice!

The view from our hotel room.  It looks a lot more impressive than this picture shows.  We were on the highest floor, besides those with Pent Houses.  Floor 27!

We could even see our car from our window.

We returned to St. George the next day, where Jevan took a long nap, and I went shopping with his mom.  Sunday was our actual anniversary, but we just spent that day at church and then traveling back home.  A few days later I did bust out our wedding cake though!  It surprisingly tasted pretty good for being frozen for a whole year!

The top of our year old wedding cake.  I had forgotten I had the lady make it half yellow cake and half chocolate.  I was pretty surprised when I cut into it.

Here is the first taste...

Faking that it was gross.  He just didn't like the frosting, but said the cake was good.

 So, Jev and I have been married a whole year and it's been awesome!  I don't regret a single day!  I know I made the right choice a year ago, and I don't plan on ever letting him go. :)  We have so much fun together everyday, and he's someone who I know will always be there to provide for me, do things around the house, and show me great love.  I can't wait for the many more years to come!