Student Teaching News + Jake's Birthday

I got some exciting news this week about my student teaching adventures starting this fall.  At the school where I'll be student teaching, they have a building called the REC that's run entirely by student teachers, and they have elective classes for the kids there: things like Leadership, Creative Writing, etc. Well since it's run entirely by student teachers and our semester doesn't start til 2 weeks after the kids actually begin school, the school needed student teachers who would be willing to start the school year with the kids and be paid substitute wages for the first few weeks until the rest of the student teachers began their semester. I let the principal know I was interested, and I just found out I received one of the positions! I'm gonna be a PAID TEACHER (only for 2 weeks) BUT STILL! I'M SO EXCITED!! 

Along with that exciting news, this week's fun event was Jake's birthday! He's finally 24, and I'm not such a cougar anymore haha! I surprised him with his favorite homemade cake and presents, and we went out for dinner at a new (to us) Mexican restaurant in Rexburg. It was SO GOOD and also pretty cheap, so we'll definitely be going back again!

Jake LOVED his birthday present! I did pretty 

well picking it out ;)

Jake's favorite chocolate cake is not only

yummy, but SUPER EASY to make. And

I made it healthier than the recipe normally

calls for, without sacrificing any of the taste!

We were both thrilled!

The biggest burrito I had EVER seen. Jake was

a happy guy!

My Dad the Goofball

In honor of my dad's birthday today, I thought I would share a few fun memories I have from growing up with such a weird guy. Some of my strongest memories are from funny things my dad did with me when I was a kid or a teenager. When I was about 10 or 11, he helped me make a Pinewood Derby car (the girls were having their own race) and he made it just how I wanted it. We painted it purple and rolled it in glitter, and put a Polly Pocket doll in the driver's seat. I don't remember how well I did in the actual race, but I remember spending that time with my dad and how fun that was.

Whenever I had friends over, he would make sure to do something weird that was borderline embarrassing--almost like he was testing my patience! I remember one time when I had a friend over and we were in my bedroom, just sitting on my bed and talking, when he suddenly burst in without knocking and made a VERY loud entrance. I was completely unphased, but it nearly scared my friend to death! He stood there for a minute just staring at us, yelled "HI!" and left, shutting the door behind him.

My dad, along with my two brothers, spent hours and weeks setting up our backyard for our wedding reception. While this was going on, my dad was having a lot of issues with his back, which we ended up discovering a while later was the result of several cracked vertebrae in his spine. Needless to say, he was in a lot of pain. But he didn't let that stop him from making my wedding reception as beautiful as he possibly could.

My dad installed the fencing around part of the batting cage in our backyard (yes, my brothers are THAT obsessed with
baseball) he did this on a permanent basis: the fencing was cemented into the ground, so the process took several weeks. He also hung the lights from the poles (including the chandelier I made from a hula hoop and two embroidery hoops).

I'm so grateful to have had a dad that makes me laugh, and taught me how to not take life TOO seriously, because what's the fun in that? Happy Birthday, Dad!