Back to School!

This week was the first week back at school! I was SO excited to be going back, and Jake thought it was hilarious to watch. I had a hard time sleeping Sunday night, that's how excited I was!

On Monday I had 2 classes; a lower level English class (that I'm required to take to graduate...even though it's really unnecessary for me) and a class titled "Secondary Education Principles of Teaching." We meet at the middle school here in Rexburg for 4 hours, and will be working in certain classrooms and teaching lessons to middle school kids. This is the most demanding class I have EVER taken, but it's already my favorite class ever. So far we've only gone into the classrooms to observe the students and the ways the teachers run their classes, as well as discussing lesson plans together, but I am LOVING it! I know I'll be nervous once it's time to actually teach in the classroom, though. We were a larger class before we were split in half and some of us stayed at the middle school here in Rexburg and others are at the middle school in nearby Rigby, so we're a very small group of students--only 6, along with our teacher and a very helpful TA. The environment the teachers are working to create for us is extremely supportive and goal-oriented, so I feel like I have a great support team that will help me work towards becoming a teacher. Every day I leave that class even more excited to become a teacher, so I know I'm in the right place!

Monday evening I also got a haircut for the first time since last October...it feels SO GOOD! My hair is very thick and frizzes quickly here in Idaho, so having less to deal with has been really nice.

On Tuesday I have "British Literature-Medieval to Renaissance" with a professor I've never had before but came highly recommended, and after only my first day I could see why! He is hilarious, very passionate about what he teaches, and just overall an awesome guy. If anyone goes to BYU-I and has the opportunity to take an English class with Brother Brugger, DO IT! I also have my D&C class, and my "Themes in Literature" class with an English professor I had last Fall and loved, Brother Slagle.

I love going to BYU-Idaho for many reasons, but one of the main ones I've discovered over the past few semesters is how influential the professors are. I have never had so many teachers who are so excited about what they teach, and so passionate about their lectures! The attitude of a teacher makes a huge difference in how much the students enjoy their class. If you have a boring teacher, 99% of the time you will hate or dislike the class, even if you love the subject matter. But if you have an exciting teacher, you will almost always love and look forward to their class! Attitude is a HUGE factor in the success of a teacher.

While I love my classes this semester, it was a huge relief to make it to the weekend. Going from doing practically nothing every day on my off-track to rushing around like a chicken with my head cut off, all in the span of a day, was really overwhelming for me. I prepared as much as I could, but there's only so much you can do to brace yourself for a crazy semester! To celebrate surviving the week, Jake and I tried a yummy new recipe on Friday night called Baked Cheesy Chicken Penne (which I've added to my recipe page, so check it out!) and it was so nice to relax and just eat some comfort food. On Saturday evening Jake and I went to the cheap theater in town and finally saw Insurgent; our first time at the movie theater this year! It was pretty good, although there were a LOT of differences from the book.


Jake's taking two classes online this semester; Book of Mormon and a math class, while still working
full time at Pizza Pie Cafe. This is the first time he's taken more than one class at a time, so his semester is more challenging than anything he's had in the past as well. Even though he's struggling to balance schoolwork, work, and fulfilling his demanding callings at church (ward clerk over finance as well as an Elder's Quorum teacher), he's been such a huge help to me. When we got married, I only took 8 credits the following semester. So this is my first semester in school full-time and married, and I can tell I'm really going to have a challenging semester. Jake has been pitching in everywhere, from helping me pack my lunch, to doing laundry, to massaging my back and aching feet regularly. Being a married college student is hard, but in some ways I'm so grateful for the opportunity to have someone helping me in ways only a loving, patient husband could!

This Week's Spiritual Thought

On Tuesday, Jake had the day off of work so we both had the opportunity to go to the first Devotional of the semester on campus. The new president of BYU-Idaho, Clark Gilbert, and his wife spoke to us. They gave a great talk about accepting and magnifying the callings we receive in the church, and shared some of their challenging experiences involving accepting callings. One of which was when Sister Gilbert was 7 months pregnant, and the mother of two children already in the home, received the calling to teach early morning seminary in her home! I can't imagine how difficult that would have been, but she accepted the call. In some ways that calling was very challenging for her, but in others it was a huge blessing--many mornings, President Gilbert helped get the other children ready for school in the mornings, which meant less work for Sister Gilbert! It was really neat hearing about their challenges, and the blessings that they received from humbling themselves and understanding that callings come from God, not just randomly from leaders in the church.

Baked Cheesy Chicken Penne

**Unless otherwise stated, I take NO credit for the creation of these recipes! I can cook, but I'm not usually inclined to experiment on my own!**

Baked Cheesy Chicken Penne

3 tbsp butter
kosher salt and black pepper
1/2 pound penne rigate
1/2 tsp olive oil
1-2 boneless skinless chicken breasts
1/4 cup plus 1 tbsp flour
3 garlic cloves, minced
3 cups milk
5-8 oz. white or cremini mushrooms, trimmed and thinly sliced
1/2 cup sliced oil-packed sun-dried tomatoes, drained
3/4 cup shredded provolone/Italian cheese mixture
3/4 cup parmesan cheese, shredded

Preheat oven to 400. Spray/butter shallow 2-quart baking dish. In a large pot of boiling salted water, cook pasta 3 minutes short of al dente; drain pasta and set aside. While pasta is boiling, heat oil over medium-high heat in a large skillet. Season chicken with salt and pepper; cook until opaque throughout, 3-5 minutes per side. Halve each piece lengthwise; then thinly slice crosswise. While chicken pan is still hot, toss the mushrooms in and saute until golden brown (3-4 minutes). Use a little extra olive oil if needed. In a 5-quart DUtch oven or heavy pot, melt butter over medium. Add flour and garlic; cook, whisking 1 minute. While whisking constantly, gradually add milk; bring to a simmer. Keep whisking frequently as sauce thickens about 1 minute more. Add mushrooms and tomatoes; cook 1 minute. Take the pan off the heat and gradually stir in provolone and 1/4 cup Parmesan. Add chicken and pasta to pot; season with salt and pepper to taste and pour into baking dish. Sprinkle top with the rest of the parmesan cheese and bake, uncovered, until top is golden and bubbling; about 25 minutes. Let stand 5 minutes before serving.

THE VERDICT: we made this without the tomatoes since Jake isn't a huge fan of them, and it turned out AWESOME! We are definitely going to be making this again.

Children's Books

One of the blog prompts I saw recently was a suggestion to talk about three of your favorite books when you were a kid. I LOVED these stories, and it was really fun for me sitting and thinking about which books I wanted to talk about. Enjoy!

"Being first isn't always best, as Pinkerton Pig finds out."

This book was my all-time favorite as a kid. My mom still jokes with me about it, and talks about how often she had to read it to me when I was little.

"The tender story of a lost young bat who finally finds her way safely home to her mother and friends. This award-winning book by Janell Cannon has sold over 500,000 copies and was on the bestseller list for more than two years."

"Tacky's perfect friends find him annoying until his odd behavior saves the day."

Spring Cleaning

It's been another beautiful week here in Rexburg! I've spent most of this week cleaning our little apartment in preparation for Spring semester, which starts tomorrow (April 20th). This semester is going to be extremely demanding, more than any other semester I've had, so I wanted to make sure that cleaning was done before the chaos of classes began. It's funny how you don't really notice how dirty things get until you've cleaned them...and then see how they're SUPPOSED to look! Even just after dusting in the living room, our little home looked a million times better. I think I'm going to try to be better about cleaning more regularly though!

Wednesday Jake was off of work extremely early, so it was "Bring Your Husband to Work Day!" and I picked him up before heading over to nanny Brandon. Brandon thought he was pretty cool of course, and seemed disappointed on Friday when I showed up without Jake!

On Thursday Jake was off work early again and since I didn't have nannying, we enjoyed the afternoon together. The weather was beautiful out so we walked to the library together and picked up a few books. That night was the night before "Move-in Weekend" for spring semester, so one of my friends and her friend crashed in our living room since they got to Rexburg early.

Jake and I were invited on Friday night to have dinner at the home of another member of the Relief Society presidency. The whole presidency was invited, along with their husbands, and it was a lot of fun. Jake and I were the only ones there without kids, and we were the youngest couple by about 10 years, but it was still a blast! We shared stories and laughed with the other couples, and it was nice not having to cook that night.

Jake and I finished cleaning the last bit of our apartment on Saturday evening, and it was such a huge
relief to have the house completely done! I'm lucky that I have a husband who likes to clean, because there were a lot of things I hadn't even considered cleaning that Jake willingly scrubbed away at. He's definitely a keeper!

This Week's Spiritual Thought

This week Jake and I started reading about Mormon in the Book of Mormon, and something really struck me as we read the first chapter. When Ammaron approaches Mormon and explains to him about the plates, Mormon is only 10 years old. But Ammaron still trusted him with a very important task, because he believes he is capable of doing what is required of him. My whole life, and especially now as a newlywed, I have been treated as though my opinion or life experiences don't matter because I'm "so young." That I couldn't be trusted to do anything of real value because I'm inexperienced. However, Ammaron didn't see Mormon in that way--he believed that even though Mormon was young, he could still be useful and accomplish a lot. Ammaron, as a prophet, could see Mormon's divine potential in the same way that God does. God doesn't look down on us because of our age; He believes we're all capable of important things.

My Dream Home

Jake and I have been having fun lately looking up ideas for our future home. We search Pinterest or just Google for the types of decor we like, and it's been really entertaining trying to find stuff we both like!

For as long as I can remember, I've wanted a Victorian-style home with a wrap-around porch. I'd love to put a porch swing out front, and at least one window seat inside, facing out towards the front of the house. Jake is on board with the idea, although the likelihood of us ever getting a home like this is...well, not likely! We can still dream, though!

We both want a big backyard for future kids to enjoy, preferably with an AWESOME playhouse and space for a beautiful garden. I would love to plant sunflowers and some vegetables, and Jake really likes lilies. He also wants at least one big oak tree in the front yard and the backyard. We'd also love to have a lemon or an orange tree.

As far as color schemes go Jake and I both love purples and blues, so most of our house will probably be those colors!

 I'd love for our kitchen cabinets to be painted a cheerful or just different color; something that you don't normally see in the kitchen. Here are some of the ideas I've seen and loved:

And how AMAZING is this idea?! I would LOVE to do something like this in our future home. Good thing Jake is handy with a hammer!

This post could go on for ages if I continued pulling things from my Pinterest boards, but I'll stop here! If you'd like to see more of my home decor favorites, you can check out my Pinterest boards here.

What are some of the things you want in your future (or current) home? Any dreams, ridiculous or actually possible? Comment and tell me!

Comedy Central

This week was pretty amusing for Jake and I, for several reasons. Apparently one night around 2 am, I sat up in bed, still fast asleep. I said "Goodbye, beaver," waved, and then lay back down. Jake told me about it the next morning and has been teasing me about it all week...it was pretty funny, though, so I can't say I blame him! That same day, Jake proceeded to get his hand stuck in the mason jar that we keep our spare change in, and I had to help pull the jar off. Honestly sometimes I feel like I'm babysitting this goofball more than being his wife! I guess that's just part of marriage, though.

On Saturday morning, Jake was getting ready for work and we were goofing off as usual. He went into the bathroom to take a shower and I chased after him. I guess he didn't know I was following him, because when I burst against the bathroom door as he was trying to close it, he screamed like a little girl and looked seriously frightened. I started crying I was laughing so hard and nearly fell over. It was a great way to start the day...I highly recommend uncontrollable laughter first thing in the morning, it really wakes you up!

This Week's Spiritual Thought

This week I've been working on my Doctrine & Covenants Study Book. I got it for my D&C class this coming semester, which doesn't start until April 20th, but I was just so excited about it that I started it right away haha. D&C is my favorite of the four gospels, so I've read it several times, but I'm already learning a LOT because of this book! The book begins with Joseph Smith History, which isn't technically even part of D&C but I've found it to be really helpful in "setting the stage" historically for when D&C came about and whatnot. The book asks really insightful questions that help you to apply the scriptures more personally to your own life, which is something I struggle with and I'm sure I'm not alone. Some insights I pulled out of Joseph Smith History are:

--Don't be afraid to go looking for your own answers, even if popular opinions are trying to persuade you one way or another. Look for truth for you, personally.

--Satan will always try to keep us from moving in the right direction. If you're facing adversity, push forward! That's how you know you're going the right way.

When I Grow Up...

Whenever anyone asks me "When you were a kid, what did you want to be when you grew up?" I usually get pretty tired once I've finished responding. Because the list is pretty long, people.

Barbie (yes, I wanted to be THE Barbie doll. Pretty ambitious for a little girl, if I do say so myself.)
Artist
Elementary school teacher
Writer
Singer
Fashion designer 
Journalist
Interior designer
Archaeologist
Anthropologist
and then for a while I had no freaking clue what I wanted to be. 

I think I wanted to be an artist mostly because of my Papa, who worked for Disney for a long time. He would always draw Disney characters on homemade birthday cards for us, and sometimes he'd sit down with me and show me step by step how to draw Mickey Mouse or Donald or whoever. And I thought it was the coolest thing EVER. Eventually I discovered that I have no talent when it comes to drawing, unless you count stick figures...so that dream ended.

I think every child, especially girls, want to be a teacher at some point in their lives. I would set up stuffed animals or make my little sister pretend to be my student, and give them pretend homework and tests and whatnot.

A writer. For as long as I can remember I've really loved writing, and I used to get in trouble for it during school. I would rush through my work so that I had some free time before we moved on to another activity. And I would sit there and either read a book, or start writing my own story. I wrote my first "full book" when I was around eleven or twelve, and all I remember about it was that it was set in colonial times (a time period I was obsessed with for quite a while). I don't know what ever happened to it, though. What a shame.

Fashion designer: this was my dream from sixth grade until early high school, when I finally discovered that I just don't have the right kind of creativity to design clothing, nor the patience for sewing something like clothing. 

Journalist: my senior year of high school I took a journalism class and got to write articles that were put on our school's newspaper website, and I had a lot of fun with it. But the rushing of deadlines and stress associated with that just wasn't for me.

Archaeologist: I thought this was SUCH a cool job! You got to solve historical mysteries and all that jazz, and find old artifacts and learn about ancient civilizations. But once I realized that I would have to be digging through dirt all day, I decided that just wasn't a good idea for me. I'm not such a big fan of dirt.

Anthropologist: I started becoming obsessed with the TV show Bones at the end of high school, and took an anthropology class one of my first semesters at community college. I don't know if it was the professor I had or the actual work, but the class BORED ME TO DEATH. So, while I am still in love with Bones, that dream just isn't realistic.

For about a year and a half of my community college time, I had no idea what I wanted to be. I took a lot of psychology classes which I found really interesting, but couldn't see myself going into any kind of fields associated with a psychology degree.

I ended up getting 2 degrees from my community college; one in Social and Behavioral Sciences and one in Humanities. I was planning on going to BYU-Idaho and just getting a good old plain English degree, when I finally figured out what I wanted to do: teach. But specifically, high school English. Here's my explanation from my teaching website for why I have decided to become a teacher:

"For as long as I can remember, I have struggled with school. As a child in elementary school I was often reprimanded for rushing through assignments and doing them improperly, writing my own stories when I should be doing a math assignment, or simply not paying attention. At parent-teacher conferences, my mom was always told that I was “very smart, but she just does not try hard enough”. I was dubbed a slacker; a girl who does not care about her education, and who never will. The only place in school where I excelled was English. Grammar concepts were easy for me to pick up, and essays or research papers were a breeze. I managed to graduate high school, with the help of supportive teachers and patient parents who would pay for tutors or pick me up after school late in the evening if I stayed for help.

"Two years after I graduated high school, my mom started receiving promptings to have me tested for a learning disability. After four months of meeting with a psychologist, intelligence tests, and answering literally hundreds of questions on my strengths and weaknesses in learning, I was diagnosed with ADD. Through help from my doctor and beginning to research my disability to better understand it, I began seeing a change in how I viewed myself and my abilities, and education as a whole. Over a period of one year, I went from a 2.6 GPA to achieving a perfect 4.0 my final semester of community college, and I decided to pursue a career in teaching.

"Through those years struggling to learn and keep up with my classmates, not once did a teacher suggest that I had a learning disability, or say anything regarding my abilities--teachers told my parents and I that I lacked the proper motivation, or even simply saying that I was stupid or incapable. Most teachers lack a knowledge or understand of learning disabilities; signs to watch for in their students, things to be aware of, tips for helping them to succeed, or ways to make the classroom environment one that they can learn in more easily. Because of the experiences I've had struggling through school, I know that there are hundreds and even thousands of other students experiencing the same difficulties. No one should ever have to feel too stupid to learn, and I plan on changing that."

I think another big reason why teaching is so appealing to me is because I want to be a mom sometime in the future. I'd like to be able to stay home with my kids when they're young, but I don't think I want to be a stay at home mom for forever. Having my teaching degree would enable me to go back to work, but still be home in the evenings and early mornings to help take care of kids.

I still have a bit longer before I finish my degree and do a semester of student teaching, but this is the longest I've stuck with working towards a specific educational goal and I know I won't be changing my mind again!

Easter + General Conference

This week was a GREAT one here in Rexburg! Jake and I had lots of little adventures, and we can't wait for the weather to keep getting warmer so we can have more outdoor adventures.

At the beginning of this week, I finally found out what textbooks I'll be needing for next semester. I'm taking 5 classes, and need 12 books. That's the life of an English Major, I guess! I'm so grateful that my grandma Maime insisted on paying for them, and they arrived from Amazon later in the week. I'm hoping that I don't have to bring all of them to my classes during the semester or my back might break!

On Tuesday, Jake and I started learning ASL. Jake's littlest sister Sierra has DiGeorge syndrome, and due to that she is slowly but surely losing her hearing. She's learning sign language at the moment, and Jake and I have talked for a while about starting to learn, but never really got around to it until Tuesday when I decided to look up videos on YouTube. We spent about an hour watching videos and learning some basic expressions or words, and it's been pretty fun so far. It'll be a good way for us to spend time together while making the most of our time.

Thursday Jake had the day off! When I found out about that late last week, I was VERY excited and immediately texted my friend Tiffanie. I've been wanting to have someone take some photos of Jake and I, but timing hadn't worked out with Jake's work schedule for that to be possible. So we jumped at the chance! Jake even cooperated and wore pants for the occasion (he wears shorts 24/7 except to church, even in the snow). The pictures turned out beautifully and we had so much fun, so thank you Tiffanie! 

On Friday we received another package from my Maime! Inside was an AWESOME 1,000 piece dog puzzle. We've been working on it since Jake got home from work that day for a few hours at a time, and aren't even at the halfway point! But we're having a lot of fun working together on something. Puzzles just might become our "thing" to do constantly. At least now I'll always know what to get Jake for a birthday or Christmas!

For Easter, Jake and I celebrated here together just the two of us, as we have with every other holiday this year haha. We bought each other treats (some of which I kept a surprise from Jake, cuz I'm the Easter Bunny!) and I put them out this morning for us. Jake got lots of candy and a new puzzle, and I got candy and some makeup. I made cinnamon rolls from scratch and they were AMAZING! Then we settled in to watch the Sunday sessions of conference.

This Week's Spiritual Thought

General Conference this weekend was AMAZING!! I absolutely loved the talk given by Linda K. Burton about strengthening our marriages and homes. I guess I'm a little biased since I'm a newlywed, but I thought her talk was so inspiring and just really wonderful. I can't wait for the talks to be available online because I'm definitely going to go back and read hers again!

As I watched conference, I was on Twitter posting the one main principle I got from each talk after they were given. I took more detailed notes in a notebook, but I wanted to share small messages online. Here are the principles I got:

Packer: procreation is essential to the Plan of Happiness

Sister Burton: lift and help each other to become what the Lord would have us become

Oaks: make "a root in ourselves" so that nothing can shake our faith

Clayton: belief and faith require our personal choices and actions

Perry: families will go forward into the eternities

Bednar: when we're frightened, remember God. Godly fear dispels mortal fear.

Christofferson: no one is predestined to receive less than everything God has to offer us.

Andersen: teach our children to feel the Spirit. Keep practicing.

Renlund: God cares more about who we are and who we're becoming than He does about who we once were.

Ringwood: serve others because we are disciples of Christ, not for praise from men.

Cook: when we follow the Savior, we flourish and become glorious

Monson: by attending the temple, we will be strengthened and receive peace.

Sister Wixom: make the gospel personal.

Teixeira: look for God everywhere; it is a worthwhile pursuit.

Causse: don't take the gospel for granted! To marvel at the gospel is a sign of faith.

Neilson: never lose hope in those who lose their way. We cannot embrace all their choices, but we can embrace them.

Holland: Christ will never let us fall!

Uchtdorf: His grace refines us, and helps us to become our best selves.

Hales: satan doesn't want religious freedom on the earth. Use our agency to protect the rights of ALL to have it.

Pearson: build our lives on the covenants we make. Once made, there is no going back. Stay by the tree!

Peno: don't make decisions of eternal value with the perspective of mortality

Anderson: pray to recognize the miracles of God in our own personal lives.

Zeballos: seek our own salvation through the actions we choose every day.

Sitati: charity shouldn't be seen as a duty, but as a joy.

Nelson: no other work transcends that of righteous, intentional parenting. 

I'm so grateful for the opportunity I had to listen to all four sessions of conference. It's such a blessing that we get to hear from so many amazing men and women every six months and receive strength from their testimonies and insights into the gospel!