One is the Loneliest Number

This week has been LAME! Want to know why? I've been in Idaho finishing my last week of student teaching while Ben has been in Washington training for his new job.

Bottom line: being married is WAY better than being single.

I can't wait for tomorrow night! That's when I'll have my other half back :)

Our latest adventures!

Last weekend was a much-needed long weekend for Ben and I. We decided to get out of town and go surprise my family in Washington with a visit. My sister Kelsey was the only one who knew we were coming. We weren't sure if we were going to be able to make when the freeway was closed in Oregon due to a big car accident. We sat on the road playing card games for an hour and a half before traffic started moving again. The trip was all worth it once we finally got there. I wish I had a picture of the look on my mom's face when we walked in the door!  We enjoyed our relaxing weekend. On the way home we were amazed by some of the beautiful scenery. How could you see things like this and not believe in a creator?

The sunrise as we were leaving WA

We thought the cloud formation looked a little like a tornado! 

Even though it's always hard to go back to school and work after a vacation, we were grateful to get back to our regular routine. That routine is going to be shaken up pretty soon with our temporary move to Washington. After some stress, I got permission to end student teaching one week early so Ben and I can make the move and start spending all our waking hours in here:

We both got hired on at Columbia Generating Station for the months of April and May. I've worked there before, but Ben doesn't know what he's gotten himself into yet. :)

Until then, I just have to survive four more weeks of teaching second grade and then I am done with college forever!!!! It's nice to see the light at the end of the extremely long tunnel.

Super Bowl Weekend!

We had a semi-eventful weekend (at least compared to our usual boring weekends). Tomorrow is our six month anniversary and we celebrated! Ben took me to Olive Garden on Friday (my favorite!). He also got me the coolest gift ever--he had a picture of us from our wedding day made into a puzzle. We spent a couple days putting it together.

A work in progress

The finished product

I thought it was such a fun gift. I got him some not so exciting gifts--a capo for his guitar and one of those lights you can clamp on a book. He has started staying up to read after I go to bed and now I can finally turn off the lamp!

We also had a slight tragedy this weekend with the death of our rolly computer chair. Ben, who sits in it for hours every day to do his online classes, ran out and bought another one right away.

Turns out it's more comfortable than the last one. Hopefully this one will last more than 6 months. 

Even though we were rooting for the Steelers, we still had fun watching the Super Bowl. It's a great excuse to stuff our faces and not feel guilty about it. I think I'll be full for the next three days...

Baby it's COLD outside!

Usually it's a pain in the neck, but this week I've been grateful that southeastern Idaho looks like this:

Well, it might be a slight exaggeration, but we've had temperatures well below 0 the past couple nights. This morning with the windchill Rexburg reached a toasty negative 32 degrees. This was the result:

As a worn-out student teacher, I felt exactly like that kid in the picture above. I've been crossing my fingers for a day out of school every since I started a month ago and this week I finally got my wish with TWO days off. It has been glorious. I've been hiding inside in my snuggie as much as possible. The University doesn't believe in canceling anything no matter how ridiculous the weather gets, so Ben has been putting on 20 coats to diligently go work on campus at 8:00 every morning. Poor kid.

We've been trying to beat the cold by braking a sweat every once in a while. We bought ourselves a wii fit (love it!) and have been alternating between working out on that and working out at the gym. Ben has become quite the little boxer. 

Yes, those are some bulging biceps.

No Pain, No Gain

If you could have seen me this week you would probably still be laughing. Ben and I started our New Year's resolution to work out six days a week and I am proud to report that week one was a success! It wasn't without consequences though. Last semester was so busy for both of us that we didn't have much time for exercising, so we are both pretty out of shape. On Thursday my quads hurt so bad that I literally waddled up and down the halls at school. I avoided sitting down whenever possible because standing up was basically impossible. But that's nothing compared to today! Yesterday we lifted weights and since I haven't done any lifting since high school, I overdid it a little. Today I cannot move my arms without screaming in pain. Washing my hair was torture! I have new-found respect for people who do not have any arms. At least they can do stuff with their feet. I feel pretty helpless. Next time I am using the tiny 2 pound dumbbells.

Ben's resolution to cut out sugar lasted an entire 3 hours (surprised?). Our other resolutions are going well though. Ben hasn't had any soda and I have taken more pictures than usual.

Here we are in our Snuggies we got for Christmas. I love my Snuggie!

We spent most of the day doing this puzzle of Times Square. But we finished it!

Hi, I'm a Teacher

One day down, 63-ish left to go. Today was the first day of my student teaching and I am a little nervous for what the next 13 weeks hold in store for me. I've been learning  from some amazing professors for the last three and half years about how to be a good teacher. Today I realized that the school I am at is a perfect example of what not to do. So now I have to figure out how to change everything and not end up with everyone hating me. Should be fun.

The good news is, I am already in love with these second graders. I was nervous about the jump from 6th grade to second, but I think it will be good for me. Their teacher yells at them all day and it breaks my heart to see the looks on their faces as they are put down over and over again. My biggest weakness in teaching is that I am too nice--I try too hard to be a friend and ally to the students instead of an authority figure. Maybe we will balance each other out :)

Another Year Bites the Dust

Happy New Year everyone! With this year drawing to a close, we have started to reflect on all the amazing things that happened in 2010. We met, fell in love, got engaged, and got married. You could say it's a year in our lives that we'll never forget. We can't help but think this is just the beginning of many amazing years to come. We have high hopes that 2011 will be even better than 2010. We hope everyone else had as good of a year as we did! Here is us on our first date last January:

We have decided to document our New Year's resolutions here so that we have people to hold us accountable for them. Because I (Cali) have never kept a New Year's resolution for more than about a week and a half. This year is going to be different...(maybe). The resolutions that we have set together are to exercise 6 days a week (I say if we make it 3 days a week that will be impressive) and to pay off our student loans. Ben resolves to cut out soda and sugar. I can handle the no soda thing, but I think cutting out sugar is like cutting out air or water. We'll see how long he lasts on that one when I am sitting next to him with a bowl of ice cream making Mmmm sounds about how delicious it is. My resolution is to take more pictures. I carry my camera pretty much everywhere I go, but I never remember to get it out and take pictures of stuff. I'm going to try to change that! Be prepared to be bombarded with pictures, people.