California Dreamin'

"All the leaves are brown...And the sky is grey...I've been for a walk...On a winters day...I'd be safe and warm...if I was in LA...California dreamin'...on such a winters day."  --The Mamas & The Papas

This weekend we had the chance to escape the short, dreary Utah winter days and soak up some lovely California sun.  We were lucky to have even found the sun there as they were in the midst of a torrential downpour right up until we pulled in and I hear rumors it was supposed to be rainy again today.  But I am getting a head of myself.

The main purpose of the trip was to support Jason's sister as she went through the temple.  She is leaving on a mission for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints and this is a key part of the preparation.  She had chosen to do it Saturday afternoon in the San Diego temple. So we left Friday afternoon and drove like crazy to try and get to his parents' at a reasonable hour (and we did pretty well, if I do say so myself).

Saturday morning we all made the trek into San Diego.  I've always known the outside of this temple to be gorgeous and unique, but the inside is equally as glorious.  It was a great way to spend our morning/afternoon.  I am grateful that I was able to share in this wonderful family experience.

 

The rest of the trip was spent just hanging out with family and friends.  As a family, we ate dinner at BJ's after the temple.  I also met up with my sister, Ashley, for a while.  She and her husband just moved to southern California for an internship and I had brought some stuff they had left behind.  Then I went and saw a movie (Extraordinary Measures--which I highly recommend to anyone) with my in-laws.  Sunday was much of the same.

Sunday was much of the same, only this time with friends.  First we made a stop at Josh's home (one of Jason's good friends).  I hadn't met him yet, so this was fun for me.  It also helped that we were just sitting in their backyard with the sun shining and me in my short sleeve blouse...ahhh....Anyway, afterwords we crashed at Jimmy and Cassie's for the rest of the day and most of the night.  We chatted, played some Clue (the stupid time cards killed me even though I was SO close to winning), watched a movie, and played lots and LOTS of Wii.  A good time was had by all even though my arm is still killing me.  Guess I need to work out a bit more...or at all might work too.

And that was our trip in a nutshell.  Quick.  Jam-packed.  Lacking in sleep. And a ton of fun.  Now we just have to figure out when we'll be going back!

Out on the Town, er, Village

Last weekend Jason and I needed a break from our apartment (after hours of being cooped up with the pleasant aromas of various cleaning solutions) but we wanted to do something out of "the norm" for us (the norm being movie and/or dinner).  Thus we set off and ended up at Gardner Village-a quaint, old-fashioned style village of miscellaneous shops.

We walked around for a while before the sun went down and saw some of the scenery.  It is actually a pretty fun place considering it is kinda in the middle of nowhere (yet everything at the same time--kinda confusing to explain, sorry!)

We walked through the different shops and even allowed each of us one indulgence.  Jason got a bottle of maple nut syrup which we haven't tried yet, but it sounds divine.  I got a little wooden block with the saying, "My favorite place is inside your hug" written on it to add to the ever-increasing decor of our apartment.

We ended the evening with dinner at Archibald's, a restaurant built inside an old flour mill.  Since they are celebrating their 30th anniversary, we even got 2 free slices of yummy carrot cake!  We tried to take a picture in front of the entrance sign but because it was dark and cold our hands kept shaking too much to get a very good one.  Overall though, it was a very successful outing!

Virtual Tour: Apartment

As mentioned in my previous post, along with the teaching job came a move to a new apartment. This apartment is a lot nicer than our previous one, but until this last week I never really felt like we had officially "moved in." Sure, we've been living here for the past 4 months, but with all of the craziness, we hadn't had a chance to really make it ours yet.

But this last week we officially unpacked the last of our boxes, hung up all of our pictures and shelves, bought another bookcase for all of my books, and spent a lot of time de-junking and organizing. There is still stuff to be done (isn't there always?) but at least it is finally starting to feel like home. Because this was such an accomplishment for me, I thought I'd post some pictures to take y'all on a virtual tour of our "new" apartment.

The Second Bedroom/Den/Storage Room

Two Bathrooms

Kitchen & Laundry Area

Family & Dining Rooms

The Master Bedroom

Job Update

With the coming of the new year, I figured it was about time to give an update on just what it is I've been up to for the past several months seeing as the last time I wrote I was just recently returned from my honeymoon and I've now been married almost 8 months. My only excuse is that my life took off on a hectic whirlwind in that time and it was all I could do to just keep afloat, let alone blog about it all.

You see, after my honeymoon, it quickly dawned upon me that fall would soon be here. And with the coming of fall meant that schools would be starting up again. And since I am licensed to teach, I decided it was about time to start putting my education and qualifications to use. So, I updated my resume, filled out more job applications for three different school districts than I care to remember, completed dozens of interviews, and still didn't have a job within just weeks of the start of school.

Just when despair was about to overwhelm me, I struck gold. I was hired as a third grade teacher at Altara Elementary. Within two weeks of getting hired, we moved to Sandy, set up my classroom, and started my first year of teaching (not to mention helping with my younger sister's wedding and making a trip down to Arizona for her open house). Little did I know that these hectic couple of weeks were just the beginning of the craziness that was about to ensue.

For the next four months, school was my life. I was always stressed about planning lessons, grading on the weekends, and not sleeping well. As much as I loved working with the kids, this stress slowly began to eat away at my desire for the profession. I didn't have any free time that wasn't spent thinking/worrying about school. I was CONSTANTLY sick and just plain feeling crappy. In the end, the rewards were not substantial enough for me to justify ignoring my own health and sanity, so I came to the determination that I would not be returning after Christmas Break.

I have absolutely no regrets from the time I spent in the classroom. I learned more in those couple of months from my students, principal, and fellow third grade teachers than all of my college classes combined. I was able to experience first hand the joy that comes when the lights click on in students' head as they come to understand difficult concepts. And because I was teaching third grade, I knew that most of my students still highly cared about me simply because I was their teacher. My team of teachers was amazing at helping me plan lessons, collect data, and stay somewhat sane.

I don't know where I will go from here. Who knows, maybe one day I'll get back in the saddle and try it again. But, for now, I will cherish the memories I made in my brief stint as a teacher.

First Half of Teaching Experience

Second Half of Teaching Experience