simple love.

           This Valentine’s Day was a little different than those in the past. My favorite memory happened in a first grade classroom. This semester, I had the opportunity to “work” in a 1^st grade class twice a week for almost two hours. In this class, I helped some of the struggling readers by working on high frequency words (words we use/see every day) and listening to them read or assessing them. I immediately fell in love with these kids. They were all so sweet, some stubborn, but mostly sweet.

            February 14^th (Valentine’s Day) was my last day with the students. I was so sad for this day to come, but I was also excited because I had all my valentines together and ready to hand out. While the kids and I were putting our valentines in each other’s bags, some of the kids came up to me and very enthusiastically told me that they put a valentine in my bag. I (very enthusiastically) said “Thank you!” back.

That's right, Phineas and Ferb aka Perry the Platypus

I added the best suckers ever!

My Valentine bag :)

You can tell some of the students have "pinterest" moms.

    Before I left and said goodbye, my “cooperating teacher” told all of the kids that it was my last time and that she handed me a children’s picture book that they had all signed. Wow, I’m going to have a problem when I’m a teacher because I got all teary-eyed. I’m a softie. I was so sad walking down the hall for the last time with my book and valentines in hand.

            Jason and I didn’t really do anything extravagant for V-Day. I wish Valentine’s Day would magically fall on a Friday or Saturday every year. How are we supposed to find any free time on a Tuesday when Jason works until 8 o’clock and I have a ridiculous amount of homework? Anyway, after a few changed plans, Jason and I ended up going to Gringo’s, a Mexican restaurant in town that we really only go to for the chips and salsa. We exchanged mushy cards saying how much we loved each other and how much fun the last 6 months of our marriage have been – that’s all that really matters.

The one I got for Jason sang "Umbrella" by Rihanna. He loved it. (I got him the tootsie rolls too)

Big [apple] News

Big News! Jason was recently accepted to New York University’s Global Affairs program! As of now we are 90% sure that we will be heading to The Big Apple this July where Jason will begin his Masters and I will wander around hopelessly looking for a job (and begin my student teaching). The other 10% is for Seton Hall in New Jersey, but like I said, we’re pretty set on our decision.

I honestly NEVER imagined myself living in New York. It’s almost as exciting as when we were planning on going to Australia for Jason’s masters (yeah, we were seriously considering it). I’m so excited that within just a few years of my life I will have lived in three different states. I think without Jason, I would’ve just stuck myself back in Michigan after school – not that there’s anything wrong with Michigan, I’ve just been there my whole life. I’m really excited to live in New York, but a little nervous (I’m a big safety freak, but I think we’ll be okay). New York is definitely going to be a huge culture shock, especially coming from this bubble in Idaho.

We’re mostly excited for New York because it just screams new adventures! East coast states are all smushed together so we’ll be taking every opportunity we get to visit as many as we can. New York itself is full of fantastic things – I’m mostly excited for Broadway Shows.

Back to the present: This weekend Jase and I attempted to go snowboarding at Kelly Canyon in Ririe, Idaho, but when we got there and looked at the hill, we decided it wasn’t worth it to go on that death trap. We haven’t gotten much snow this winter as I have mentioned in previous posts so there was very little snow on the mountain. It actually looked really slick and icy which was not a good idea for someone who falls every 4 feet. Jason imagined me breaking my arm – I imagined myself breaking my neck. . . We’ll wait until we can go back to Targhee.

We stuck around Ririe for a little while to take some pictures by a bridge and take a miniature walk on a path to see the Snake River. It was actually quite pretty. Jason pointed out that from that view you could actually see how the river snakes. 

My New Favorite <3

The Snake River