Still Alive

It's been a while... this post should have happened long ago, but I have been overwhelmed by the amount of blogging I need to catch up on. Basically, we are living in Utah now. Surprise! We moved here the day after graduation. (April 11) 

Moving day... Our old place (the basement)

Andrew got a job as a chemical instrument technician in American Fork. He still has lots of training, but seems to be enjoying his job. His ten minute commute is ideal and I'm jealous that he gets to wear jeans to work everyday.

Andrew walked on graduation with me and just has one class/lab to finish up his bachelor's degree in Chemistry. He is taking Organic Chemistry 2 at the Salt Lake Community College 3 nights a week. These make for very long days for him-- he's a trooper. I am looking forward to not packing him a lunch and a dinner on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Thursdays. 

Grandma and Grandpa Langlois

Parentals

Graduates

Graduates Again

Jess 

(Andrew's Mom came too-- I need to get a picture from her.)

In other news, I am now a certified elementary teacher in the state of Idaho which complicates things. I recently found out that in order to become certified in the state of Utah, I have to retake the Praxis. This news was quite upsetting. Idaho has different requirements for what score you need in order to pass. Utah requires a higher score. I use the time Andrew is in class 3 nights a week to study. I'm taking the test on July 25th. It includes 4 subject areas: math, science, english, and history. I'm not a good test taker and never have been. The subjects are very broad and the questions are very specific, so studying has been challenging. I'm currently reading, "U.S History for Dummies." Jealous??

I have been subbing in the Alpine School District and figured this would be a good way to get a teaching job for next year. It has been very competitive to get a job with over 300 applicants for each opening. I have had 2 interviews. I'm not too worried about the situation... Apparently a lot of openings come up later on in the summer. If things don't workout, I can always continue to sub. 

Utah life is treating us well. Cafe Rio appreciates that we are back in town I'm sure. We scouted out the nearest one within minutes of moving in and have made our appearance on numerous occasions. We are loving our basement apartment with a huge kitchen. It's been so fun to be in town for birthday celebrations, concerts, etc. We can't wait for my brother Jeff, and his family to move here this summer. My brother Joel will also be headed to UT for a new job, so let the party in Utah County begin! 

I'll try to blog again within the next 6 months, but no promises... :) 

Anniversary Inn

This year the 28th of December fell on a Sunday. We decided to actually do something this year for our anniversary and decided to celebrate on Monday instead. We booked "The Senator's Room" at the Anniversary Inn downtown. It was such a quaint little Inn and we loved it. Having a DVD player in each room was so nice. We were allowed to check out 3 DVD's to watch for free. We ended up watching "The Series of Unfortunate Events." We are currently reading the series together and Andrew hadn't seen it before. The hot cookies were the best I've had and I couldn't have been happier after we got a $60 discount. Sparkling cider as well as cheesecake were complimentary (neither of which I care for), but Andrew liked it.

We left my parents house at 3:30 on the 29th. I was kind of sad to leave because it was my brother Jeff and his wife Lindsey's last night at my parent's house. We immediately drove to City Creek for some shopping. We had a lot of success in the first store we entered, so we ended up not staying very long because we didn't want to break the bank. In City Creek, there is a Cheesecake Factory. We decided to go there for dinner. We were surprised that we had to wait for a table at 4:50. Dinner was delicious and we were excited that 5:00 had come and gone, so we could finally check in.

We were greeted with mood music. For the record, this picture makes the room look huge. It wasn't. The bathroom is hidden behind the bookshelf. It included a huge jetted tub as well as a really nice mural of Washington D.C on the wall.

Andrew gave me a 2 pound bag of Reese's because we have been married for 2 years. (Smart man) Each peanut butter cup was a pound each and tasted like heaven. Apparently each cup has 6-8 servings. 10 bucks worth of chocolate. Yum. In the morning, breakfast was delivered to our door at the time of our request which was super cool. The food was average, but it didn't really matter because I was still stuffed from the night before.

We have nearly a whole year to decide what we will do next anniversary. I can't wait!

Christmas Break

Christmas break has gone by way too fast! The fact that student teaching starts on Monday is crazy. We have had a blast with my family. It seems like it has been forever since we have all been together. Jeff, Lindsey, and Simon came from Texas. Simon is definitely a favorite. He is too cute for his own good and I found myself waking up quite early each morning just to play with him. Jill came from California and was able to get work off! Joel flew in from Seattle and Andrew and I drove in from Rexburg.

We did our usual salsa assembly line. We delivered nearly 40 salsas to neighbors and friends. This has been a tradition in our family for years. I am always in charge of bagging the chips and stapling them. (Not a job people fight for.) We celebrated accomplishing this task with Cafe Rio. As always, I had a hard time deciding what to order because it's all so good.

The boys went skiing/boarding for a day which was fun for them. I was just thrilled that I didn't have to go. My siblings also watched the second "Hobbit" movie with Andrew and then went to see the third in theaters. I was so happy that I didn't have to do this. I went to theaters with Andrew when the first Hobbit movie came out and slept the entire three hours. (Can you believe I bought and gave Andrew the movie for Christmas!?)

(Dad is taking the pic.)

Christmas Eve included pizza like always which makes any night. We then acted out the nativity which is a tradition. We still use the clothes my Mom made for us when we were young kids, so it's always interesting to find ways to incorporate such small costumes. Simon was baby Jesus of course and this year Andrew and I got to be Mary and Joseph. As siblings, we give each other gifts on Christmas Eve. This year, we did things a little differently. We drew one name to buy a big present for, and then we bought a $5 present for everyone else. My siblings are so thoughtful and got both me and Andrew very meaningful things. (I have already read 2 of the books I got!) I loved watching them open what we bought them. 

(Using a ball to pretend to be a pregnant Mary)

(Dad is taking the pic.)

On Christmas day, we went and saw the movie, "Unbroken." It was a bit much for me. Watching what those American people had to go through was very difficult. It was quite a depressing movie and the happy ending lasted only about 2 minutes after over 120 depressing ones. It was very eye-opening though. One thing I almost forgot to mention is that we woke up to snow on the ground Christmas morning. It was really pretty and Christmas is the one time I won't complain about snow. (Speaking of snow, it snowed over a foot in Rexburg. Beyond happy I missed it.) 

Throughout the week, we played a lot of skum, Joel also introduced us to the "bag" game. This game requires a lot of flexibility and balance which I lack, but it was really funny. The point of the game is to pick up a bag up off of the ground with your mouth. The only part of your body that can touch the ground are your feet. Once you get the bag with your mouth, you tear off that piece of the bag making it even lower to the ground/harder for the next person to reach. Mafia has also become a family favorite. I am TERRIBLE at lying and need to practice before we play again. 

We usually go watch a Jazz game as a family, but it didn't workout this year, so instead we went to a BYU basketball game. BYU happened to be playing Gonzaga which is the team near Andrew's house. I was nervous he would be that one fan that cheered loudly each time Gonzaga scored. Luckily, he wasn't. The game was really close the first half, but BYU was out-played in the second half. Still really fun. Unfortunately, Jill flew out a couple hours before the game so she missed it. Also, Simon didn't come to the game. My Mom did come, but she took the picture below.

                    

I love the spirit of Christmas and that all of my family was together this year. Why does it have to end? 

Goodbye Kindergarten and Hello 2nd Grade!

I'm officially done with Senior Practicum. The semester went by soooo fast which is a good thing. :) Graduation can't come soon enough. I technically could have "walked" this week and part of me wishes I was, but I decided to wait until April because Andrew will be graduating then too. I'm already planning the picture we will take together in our caps and gowns.

I learned a lot working with the cute Kindergartners. They were adorable on my last day and did a great job making me feel loved. I was told numerous times throughout the day that I would be missed. I was also asked a lot if it was my last day. I gave the students smarties after teaching my last lesson as a little goodbye present. They were so excited to give me my present. Each student made me a card. I could really tell the students spent a lot of time working on the cards because they were really well done. Some kids even wrote a sentence or two on their card which impressed me.

My cooperating teacher gave me some really nice pens that all teachers should have. I can't wait to use them. On the package of markers, she wrote me a note: "We think you have a "FLAIR" for teaching! Good luck with all your new adventures." It was really sweet and I will definitely put the nice marker/pens to use.

Something I am quite excited about is retiring my former name-tag which just says Mrs. Ditto and Teacher Education. My new name-tag still says Mrs. Ditto, but instead of Teacher Education, it says Teacher Candidate. It's also nice and white. The other one was gold and had tons of scratches on it. I will officially get to wear my new name-tag and start student teaching on Monday, January 5th. I'm excited to work with a grade that is a little older, so I can teach more content. Soon I'll be a certified teacher which I have waited for my whole life.

10 Days of Relaxation

I have been looking forward to Thanksgiving for months. This year, I missed some classes to prolong my break as much as possible. 10 days of not thinking about school has been awesome. I got really on-top of my work before the break, so I would not have to think about it. 

My break started with a Ditto tradition known as AGW which stands for All Girls' Weekend. I flew into Spokane on Thursday, November 20th. We left for AGW Friday morning which was in Yakima, Washington. I had such a fun weekend! On Friday night, an awesome cook came and taught us how to make tamales and carne asada. We also made homemade tortillas. It was a lot of work, but definitely worth it. The meal was absolutely delicious. (I don't know that I will ever attempt it on my own though.) 

On Saturday we got pedicures which was enjoyable. My feet are quite tickleish though which always makes things interesting. Too bad nobody will get to see my cute purple toenails because we are in the dead of winter in Rexburg. There were only 2 workers for the the 8 of us getting pedicures, so it took awhile. When it was finally my turn to get my toes painted, my feet were so pruney and my water was cold. The massage chair was definitely a highlight.

Saturday evening we went and saw the movie, "Mockingjay." This was my favorite movie in the series. We went to a really nice theater that serves dinner while you are watching the movie. Even though I could hardly walk after eating too much at Olive Garden for lunch, I found myself ordering a pizza. ( I may or may not have undone my pants at one point during the movie. ) No children are allowed in the theater and I was asked for my I.D when entering and then received a congratulations for barely making it. I sat next to my sister-n-law, Sara, and during one part of the movie, she was caught off guard and jumped and screamed while grabbing my shoulder. This scared me. 

Andrew finally arrived on Wednesday and I was so excited to see him. We spent 6 nights apart. He had a mandatory field trip on Tuesday to Utah which was kind of annoying. He finally made it though, despite the dreadful road conditions. 

One of my favorite parts of this vacation has been having the time to read. I haven't really had the time to read anything other than my textbooks lately, but this trip, I have read 2 fantastic books. The first book is called, "The Rent Collector" and it is by Camron Wright. I highly recommend this book. It's about a family that lives in the dump and what they do to survive. The second book I read is called, "Because of Mr. Terupt" by Rob Buyea. This book screams Jenna. It is about a 5th grade class. Each chapter is written by a student in the class. The book is broken down into each month of the school year. An event happens in the middle of the school year that crushes the children and teaches them some valuable lessons. I had a hard time putting this book down. Read it!

I'm sad this break is coming to an end (we drive back to Rexburg tomorrow), but I am also ready. Only a couple more weeks of school left and then the semester will be over. Christmas break will be here before I know it.