Zoo, Football, & Halloween!

I don't have much time to post but I wanted to put up some pics from our life lately! We went to Hogle Zoo in SLC a few weekends ago (school assignment and for fun), then we went to Logan for the USU vs BYU football game (so much fun-we cheered for our own teams but in the end the best pulled through!) and lastly we carved pumpkins this past Monday for FHE and decorated our lovely little home! Life has been fun and busy lately!

Memories!

I think I was tagged by Jolee for this (& if it was another Amy..that's ok--I wanted to do this anyway). Here are the rules: Go into your picture files and open your 4th folder and download the 4th picture onto your blog!!! Write your memories of the photo.



This was the picture I found! Here's Justin and me from Thanksgiving in Chicago with the Blackhams last year. This picture was taken in front of the Bean (a very reflective sculpture in the shape of a ....Bean!) It was sooo cold and windy! But we were dressed up because we were going to see Wicked :-) which was incredible! Then Justin and I changed into warmer clothes and explored the city at night. We saw the traditional lighting of the HUGE christmas tree downtown chicago and got some yummy hot chocolate. I was so excited to be seeing the city with the man I loved and he was such a great tour guide! We are going out to Chicago again this Thanksgiving so I am of course very excited again!

I tag: Heather & Amanda

The Power of Teaching

I don't have much time (still 4 lengthy assignments to get done today!) but I just wanted to get my thoughts out about what I'm feeling right now.

Lately I have been so overwhelmed by all the assignments that are required in the el ed major. Between unit planning and assessment plans and the teacher work sample...everything piles up and makes teaching seem like an extraordinarily impossible profession. (With the exception of a few teachers who actually make teaching seem worthwhile and do-able!) Between all the assignments due today and tomorrow I thought I would take an hour to attend the Power of Teaching seminar, today's being presented by Brad Wilcox (I have him for a class and have grown so much in love with him as a teacher!). Plus I definitely needed a boost of optimism about teaching right now.

The seminar was spectacular. Todd Holman, a well-known stained-glass artist, was the topic of the seminar. He overcame struggles with his extreme stuttering much due in thanks to his 2nd grade teacher who encouraged him to express his words through other means (art). After watching a video about Todd, Bro. Wilcox introduced Todd to his 2nd grade teacher-who just so happens to be Bro. Wilcox's mother. They had a touching reunion and then Todd spoke about his thoughts of teachers. He said that he believes in the life to come that teachers will be loved and hugged by all their students. That thought alone made me feel that I was in the right place, the right profession. Admist all the assignments and stresses and doubts that I have seriously had recently about teaching, a glimpse of hope came through the words of this man. I am so grateful that I attended that seminar and was able to see the purpose once again in why I chose this profession. I feel so inadequate and unconfident most times anymore in regards to teaching. It is a hard, very hard profession with much work required. But the thought always comes to mind 'I never said it would be easy, I only said it would be worth it.' I know teaching is worth it!

Now it's back to the library will I will undoubtedly spend the entire afternoon!

Las Vegas by Justin

Now that we have the internet, we can catch up on all of the fun things that we've been doing. So before our great trip to San Francisco, we took a brief weekend trip to Las Vegas at the end of July. We should figured we had better hurry and get all of these short trips in before Amy started school again - so here are the pictures:

Same picture from our 1st trip to Vegas together but just one year later and married!



We decided to rent a car for fun - this is what they gave us! Ok, not really - we just happened to see this on display so we took a picture :)



We always have to get some Gelato when it's available!

The internet!!

We finally have the internet! We asked a couple upstairs if we could join on their connection and while it isn't super fast, it is the internet! I feel so much more connected now :-)

Classes started again today. I was relieved to see how easy it was to get back in the school mode. But there are more things to juggle now besides just school so it will still take a little while to get into the new groove. I was thinking about it today and I'll be glad when my life doesn't get disoriented and completely changed every few months. Change is good and fun but I like having steady patterns for a while. Oh and I had to buy books today. That will be another thing I'll be glad to not have to do...hopefully ever again!

Yesterday Justin and I got back from San Francisco. It was such a fun trip! We went to Alcatraz, Pier 39, Fisherman's Wharf, Ghiradelli Square, China town, the Golden Gate Bridge... and walked everywhere in between. We learned that solely relying on public transportation can be... interesting and that it is nearly impossible to dress for San Francisco's weather! But we really enjoyed our hotel and it's location. I think my personal favorite was seeing the seals at Pier 39 and all the chocolate from Ghiradelli Square. I know Justin's favorite part was going to Alcatraz. That boat ride was pretty fun, we could see really thick fog off in the distance then before we knew it we were in it and couldn't see anything anymore then all of a sudden we were right in front of Alcatraz. It was pretty eerie because of the fog--made the perfect setting for the prison. We want to watch 'The Rock' and 'Escape from Alcatraz' now that we've been there. I think it would be interesting to find out a little bit more about the prisoners that were there also. Anyone know anything about Robert 'Birdman' Stroud?? We don't but we want to find out.

I love our trips together! They create such fun memories. I am especially excited about all the pictures we took this last trip. I should be better about getting prints made and scrapbooking them...maybe someday when I have more time!

Here are some pics from the trip:The view from our hotel room window
waiting for our tour to Alcatraz
the fog!... going to Alcatraz

Justin's really cool shot at Alcatrazanother very cool shot by Justin--these cyclists were riding down Market to protest oil dependency

It's about time!

Justin and I played the best out of 3 again last night in Skip-Bo. I WON! (It wasn't completely fair though because Sunday night we played one game and I won, so i counted that towards Monday nights tournament). So I won the tie breaker! It felt great! :-) Justin is much better at taking a loss gracefully than I do. And thank goodness for that.

Just an update on our newest adventures. I took off this Thurs & Friday (Thursday to just spend some time with my sister and help her out) but we were trying to figure out what to do with our long weekend before school starts. Last year we went to Green River WY and camped with my sister and her family. That was fun, but Justin and I are more into cities than outhouses and tents (but it was beautiful there). Anyway, we were throwing out some ideas and we decided San Francisco would be a fun place to go. It has so much culture and fun things to do and see! So I went to AAA yesterday and got our tour books and maps. I've been google'ing alot of the attractions and transportation. I feel like I know all the streets by heart but I'm sure it will be very confusing once I'm actually there. We leave this Friday morning and will get in at 10:30ish. Then we fly back out Monday afternoon. We are both very excited for this get away. So far we've only planned that we're going to do the night Alcatraz tour. Justin was most excited about going there so it will be a lot of fun!

More going-ons...

First I'd like to thank Jolee for doing her best to keep me on top of this blogging thing..
Next, I'd like to apologize first off for the fact that we still haven't posted our Las Vegas trip pictures! Not having the internet at home really makes some things hard...while on the other hand it has been kind of nice :-) But hopefully they'll make it on here sometime...

Justin and I have been married for 3 months now! That time really has passed by so fast! It's been wonderful though. I can see the difference in our marriage from when we just were married to the point of where we are now. I feel like we've grown so much closer and so much more in love with each other. This past Saturday we went on a real date! We haven't been the best at going out and really creating a planned ahead date. (well this one wasn't super planned ahead either but it was fun!) We went out to eat (first sit-down restaurant we've been to in really long time!) then we saw Iron Man at the dollar..and it was really good! We really enjoyed our evening together. We also went to the Sundance Moonlit ski lift ride Friday night. It was fun...but as soon as we got up in the air we remembered the problems that we had with the date last year when we went. It's a little scary...and Justin really doesn't like the part where the lift goes over the poles.. he would grab the bar for dear life each time..it was kinda cute and funny. He probably will deny that if you ask him about it ;-) But it was fun having so much time to be out enjoying the serene, quiet outdoors--plus we got to talk the whole time without any distractions.

Sunday we went to the field across from the Temple and found some shade and threw down a blanket. We rested and wrote in our journal then played the game Skip-Bo. I'm very close to banning this game from our house! We played best out of 3 Sunday and also last night as part of our FHE and Justin has won both times we played! It's so aggravating! I was throwing a fit last night...apparently I'm more competitive than I ever knew. Justin apologized for beating me...while he was dying laughing. He thinks its hilarious... I on the other hand don't think I can play that game anymore. :-(

I took my D&C final last Thursday. Ended up with an A- in the class! I'm glad to be done with summer classes...though it feels like I have way too much free time now on my hands. I realized yesterday that BYU starts back in 2 weeks and that made me a little sad to say the least. So I've taken next Thurs, Fri Sat and Mon (Labor Day) off work to hopefully go somewhere with Justin before school starts back!

Life is still great..we're getting to know more people in our ward and feel a little more part of the ward family. Justin is still studying for the GMAT. We're going to start working out more... cough cough, hopefully it will last longer than a couple days! Wish I had some pictures to put on here..sorry!