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.