Happy Easter!

This week Jake, Zoe and I had lots of adventures! The weather was pretty nice for most of the week, so we went outside a lot. On Monday we took Zoe to the park and pushed her on the swings and down a few slides, which she was NOT thrilled about. Poor pup!

On Tuesday, Jake and I went to the temple after he got off of work. It was my first time taking my own family names to do their work, and it was such an amazing experience. I've found a whole chunk of my family tree that hasn't had any of their work done, so Jake baptized me for 8 women who passed away back in the 1700s and 1800s. They've been waiting a long time for their work to be done! We'll be going back soon and going through the temple for each of them, and eventually sealing them to their parents and their spouses. It's gonna be AWESOME!

On Wednesday my textbooks for my last semester of college arrived. It's a pretty surreal feeling, being this close to finishing school. I've taken longer than most people to get my degree; by the time I graduate in July I'll have done six years of college, so it's about time I finish haha. But it's going to be VERY weird to not be going back to campus in the fall and taking classes...instead, this fall I'll be the one GIVING the classes! Even weirder! Anyways, back to my textbooks. I'm pretty excited about them, since they're not really textbooks. They're books that a teacher would read if they wanted to improve their teaching strategies and whatnot. I may or may not have already started reading them...heehee.

On Thursday Jake and I dyed Easter eggs! Zoe wasn't too impressed by it, and was getting very annoyed that we were so busy in the kitchen and weren't giving her any attention. The smell of vinegar was also making her spazz out a bit haha. 

Friday I got a haircut! It's a pretty significant change; I got about four inches off. Since my hair is so thick, it feels like I've lost about 20 pounds!

Today is Easter Sunday, and I am so grateful for the reminder that Christ died for us so that we can live again. In the past year I've lost three grandparents, and knowing that it's not really goodbye is so comforting. I know I'll see them again, because of what Christ did for us.

He is risen!

Happy Easter from the Easter Weenie!

Student Teaching Placement

So remember how starting this past Monday, the offers for student teaching positions would be going out? I GOT ONE! Well, technically two: an offer from Hillcrest High School in Idaho Falls, and an offer from Rigby Middle School. I accepted the offer to Rigby Middle School, so it is official! I'll be starting there in the fall for my student teaching semester! I am beyond excited for this adventure, not only because I got a school that I really love, but because of how quickly I heard back. Because of the way the emails are sent out, getting one the first day basically means you were those schools' first choice for the position(s) available. So knowing that two schools were so deeply interested in working with me that they offered me the position as soon as they could just really makes me feel all warm and fuzzy inside. Everything is really starting to fall into place with my future career and I could not be more thrilled (or terrified!)

Wednesday evening when we took Zoe outside for her usual potty break, we decided to stop at our apartment complex's little playground and see if we could get her to go down the slide. She was not thrilled with the idea, but we eventually got her down. Man the look on her face...it was priceless haha!

Thursday was an eventful night. Jake, Zoe and I headed out to drop off a treat to a friend, and on our way we saw a dog running through one of Rexburg's biggest streets. It almost got hit several times just in the few seconds we were watching. Jake pulled over and managed to get the dog out of the street, find a phone number on the dog's collar, and return it to its owner. Then when we pulled into the parking lot of our friend's work, across the street at the park was some kind of crazy cosplay party. College-aged kids were running around in costumes with fake swords, battling each other. It was a pretty amusing sight.

Saturday Jake had the day off from work, so we were up early to try and go to the temple. It was SO CROWDED that we waited in the main lobby for an hour and a half, and didn't even move. We knew we wouldn't get out in time to make it to our ward activity, so we had to leave. We're going to try and go on Tuesday though! That afternoon we went to our ward activity, a Easter/pizza party. It was fun eating pizza and talking and laughing with our ward members! That night Jake and I went to stake conference, and it was pretty great! Afterwards we got frozen yogurt and rented the movie Inside Out, since we hadn't seen it yet. It was so cute!

Student Teaching Interviews

This week was filled with more grownup preparations! Monday night I went to a Meet and Greet with the principals/school officials that are partnered with BYU-Idaho for student teaching. I got to ask a few questions and meet the school officials face to face in a more relaxed setting than the interviews, and it was nice to get an idea of things before going in for interviews.

On Wednesday I had my interviews! I interviewed with all of the secondary education options in the state of Idaho: Bonneville School District (2 high schools and a middle school in Idaho Falls), Madison High School here in Rexburg, and a high school and middle school in Rigby. Idaho Falls schools would require the most gas/transportation time for my student teaching, and Madison High would be the most convenient, but I'm leaning more towards the schools in Rigby.

Selfie before heading off to my interviews!

Rigby Idaho is about 10 miles from Rexburg, and the middle school is where I did a lot of practicum work for my ED361 class I took Spring 2015. So I'm familiar with that campus, which would be a benefit in a new and terrifying situation like student teaching. I was extremely impressed by the principals from both Rigby schools! They were very passionate, charismatic women who clearly love their jobs. I'd really love the opportunity to work with any of the schools I interviewed with, but particularly the Rigby schools, mainly because of the reasons mentioned as well as the fact that we as student teachers are considered part of the faculty: we're included in their staff meetings and encouraged to contribute to discussions about school policy, education methods, and other conversations. I think that's so awesome!!

The interviews went well, but I was exhausted afterwards. They were each 20 minutes and I had 20 minute breaks between each, so I was very emotionally fried after finishing all of them. Having to be "on" and smiling and thinking on my feet to respond to their questions so many different times took a toll on me! Jake came with me since he had an evening shift at work, so after the interviews we went to Costa Vida and got lunch. Then I took a nice nap! It's strange to think that I'm getting so close to being a real teacher. I should know within a month which schools are interested in working with me, and I can't wait to find out where I'm going to have my first official teaching experiences!!

Saturday I took Zoe on a walk to 
surprise Jake at work! She LOVED it,
of course!

The rest of this week was fairly uneventful; just lots of homework for Jake and long hours at work. Even when he's home with me, he's been working on his laptop, so it's basically like I'm home alone. I miss my husband! :( Hopefully this upcoming week is less demanding for him. On Sunday before church, we gave Zoe a bath. She was NOT happy about it, but cooperated very nicely!

January-Beginning of March Scrapbooking Pages

Want to see more scrapbooking pages from previous months? Check them out here!

One Thing I Couldn't Live Without

One thing I could never live without won't come as a surprise to anyone who knows me well: 

lip balm. 

Aka my reason for staying sane in so many stressful/boring situations. I thought I was going to lose my mind when I went to take my PRAXIS and was told I couldn't bring my trusty Burt's Bees in the testing center with me.

When I was a kid, I had a major problem with chapped lips. My classmates and other kids at church used to call me Clown Face, because I constantly had a red ring around my lips of chapped skin. Apparently I licked my lips a LOT. My mom eventually bought me some lip balm, and it became my saving grace. Ever since then, I've had to have some on me at all times. I have emergency balms stored in every single bag I own, in case I ever leave the house and don't remember to pack my "regular stick." I'm putting this stuff on my lips at least once an hour, if not more. I know, I'm weird.

Due to my strange addiction, I've become an expert on all brands of lip balms: my favorites are EOS and Burt's Bees. Maybelline's Baby Lips have also become one of my all-time favorite things, because they come in tinted shades so I can have some lip color while still keeping my lips feeling smooth. So if you ever need a recommendation, I'm your girl.

Being a Kid

I think the hardest thing about being a kid is the same as being a teenager or a young adult: 

no one takes you seriously. 

Since you haven't had as many years on earth as others, people tend to look down on you and find your opinion very juvenile or idiotic. However, just because someone hasn't lived as long as others doesn't mean they aren't able to give good advice, be successful, or make mature decisions. There are plenty of people in their 40s or even older who are ten times more immature than kids in high school. 

Age is just a number, people!

Sherlock Holmes + Zoe's Birthday

This week was another full one! Sunday night, one of Jake's coworkers and his wife came over and we had a game night. The boys played this game that's basically Russian Roulette with jelly beans, it was HORRIFYING to watch! For each color of jelly bean, there were two options: one that was a normal flavor, and one that was something disgusting like vomit or skunk spray. You didn't know which flavor you had until you started eating it, and by then it would be too late to do anything about it. Jake got the vomit one several times, and the skunk spray...oh my GOODNESS I have never smelled anything so terrible. He had skunk breath for hours after we finished, and he couldn't even finish the jelly bean it was so awful! He took about two chomps into it and then had to spit it into a trash can and gulp down some juice to get rid of some of the taste. I'm so glad I didn't play haha!

 Jake and Zoe cuddling on Monday morning 
before Jake had to leave for work. So cute!

On Wednesday I registered for my LAST semester of college classes. It's a very surreal feeling, knowing that this will be my last semester on BYU-Idaho's campus. I'll still be living in Rexburg during fall semester while I student teach, and probably for a few semesters after that for Jake to finish up his AA and for me to hopefully get a teaching job, but after this semester nothing will be the same as it has been for the past few years. It's so weird!

The weather is really improving here in Rexburg, so much so that Zoe and I have been enjoying some nice walks together. We've walked to a park that's about a mile away several times this week, and Zoe has been LOVING it! She gets tuckered out since her little legs are so short, but that doesn't stop her from trying to run everywhere she possibly can! Wednesday afternoon Jake and I had a picnic with Zoe at the park, since he got off work a little bit early and we had several hours of sunshine left to enjoy. And Friday evening we took her on a walk to the library, which was a lot farther than she'd ever walked before, and she even started panting on our way home she was so exhausted!

After our walk to the library Friday evening!

I've been spending this week enjoying Sherlock Holmes: The Complete Novels and Stories that Jake got me for Christmas. It's a two-volume set of almost 2,000 pages total, so it's a pretty hefty task. But I love it SO MUCH! Before I took that Detective Fiction class fall semester, I had never really read any detective stories or mysteries. And now that I have, I'm a huge fan. I finished the first volume earlier this week, and I'm already almost half-way through the second one!

Saturday evening when Jake got home from work, we celebrated Zoe's birthday. It's sometime in March but her previous owners didn't know exactly when, so we figured March 5th was as good a day as any other this month! We got chicken nuggets and put a candle in one for Zoe, and sang to her. She was pretty stoked about the chicken nugget, as you can imagine. And we got her some presents, like a hedgehog squeaky toy and her favorite peanut butter bones. Happy 3rd Birthday, Zoe!