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

Boardin' in a Winter Wonderland

Jason and I finally did something exciting! On Saturday morning Jason literally woke up and said, “Let’s go snowboarding.” Uhh okay. Because it was already 10:30, we frantically ran around getting our stuff together so we could make it to the mountain to have at least a half day.

We drove about an hour to get to Grand Targhee Ski Resort in Alta, Wyoming. Since this part of Idaho has yet to get its big snow, the roads were really clear. It only got scary as soon as we hit Wyoming and had to drive up the hill to get to the resort – Jason gets a little impatient with me when I tell him to drive slower.

When we finally made it up the hill, it took us some time to find a parking spot, but we got lucky and snagged a good one. Jason has his own gear so we rented a board and boots for me and we bought our lift tickets. Then, it was time to hit the slopes. Oh man, I was a little rustier than I thought. I went two feet and fell, went two more feet and fell again. I took a few more runs down the baby hill before when went to the next hill (still considered a bunny hill, which I found out later).

You can't tell, but I'm super stoked!

Ski lifts scare me. Can’t they make it any easier to get on and off? I always fall getting off those dumb things. Anyway, I kind of felt like the kid whose parent just throws them in a pool so they can learn to swim because I did not feel ready for that hill. I fell a lot. I got really impatient because there were so many different ways to go and I didn’t understand where Jason was telling me to go.

Before frustrated Danielle

Jason is the little guy on the lift by himself 

He's a pro!

I eventually made it down the hill after a couple of good wipe outs with powder spraying in my face, falling forward and backward. I wanted to take a break before going down again, but the lift was going to stop running in 15 minutes. Oye, here we go again.

My second run was better, even though it still hurt at times. But I kept getting up and going because I just wanted to get down that dumb hill. I was really having trouble deciding which foot felt better in front. (I later found out that I was “goofy” – right foot forward – which meant my board was wrong) I didn’t even really know how to control my board – I thought you were just supposed to go straight down with one foot in front of the other – but Jason taught me how to zigzag down the mountain going “heel side”, “toe side” and I felt better toward the bottom of the hill.

Looking at the map of the mountain

Those few hours were just enough for me for my first time in over two years. We returned my gear and scraped off our snow-covered car and headed back down the slick mountain. Once we made it to Driggs, Idaho the streets were clear and we stopped for a bite to eat. We were so happy to find Tony’s Italian Restaurant after passing two Thai places, a Vietnamese place, and a Chinese Place. At Tony’s, I ordered creamy macaroni and cheese and Jason got, what else, pizza. After trying my mac’; however, he wished he had ordered that instead.

We WILL be going here again.

I was happy to get home, take off my damp clothes, and take a hot shower. I’ll be sore for a little while. I look forward to going back and getting more practice, but next time, I’d like to take the shuttle up to the resort instead of our little Honda.

Christmas in the Sunshine? (Pt. 2)

For Christmas Eve, we as a family were invited to a party at a Church member’s home with a few other families. Yay! I love parties! We sat around a chatted for a little while before we all sat down to dinner. I enjoyed getting to know more people that Jason has grown up around. We were also given the pleasure to listen to a Christmas story. Before we all went to bed that night, mom gave us all Christmas PJ’s! This is a tradition I had heard of people doing and I love it and I plan on doing in the future.

Christmas morning was so much fun! I felt a little spoiled by the Cowles family. I was so excited to give Jason his gift! (and I was excited to receive his). It’s funny that we both knew what we were getting each other. He got me a pink iPod nano! I got him Beats by Dr. Dre headphones – he loved them! When we were finished, we headed to Grandpa Bob and Grandma Peggy’s house to visit mom’s family. Jason and I were excited to try out our new toys on the car ride there. We had fun catching up with everyone at Grandpa’s and eating a wonderful ham dinner.

Just woke up in our Christmas PJ's

Stockings! Even Sandy had one! (on the left)

She's so spoiled.

<3

Yeah, she's adorable.

My iPod!

I don't know who was more excited.

We think we're cool.

The day after Christmas we went to Temecula to visit dad’s brother and family. We loved seeing KC and Brookie and their adorable kids and also Kerri and Ryan and their fun kids. I really enjoyed talking with everyone and getting to know them better. It’s funny being around a bunch of young kids since I don’t really have the chance to be unless I’m babysitting back home. I forget how worn out I get, yet how entertaining they can be. I loved holding little Jack and making him smile, playing marbles and tennis with Ethan, and of course watching Owen sing and play the guitar.

The view of Elsinore, CA on the way to Temecula

I was dying in this sweater the day after Christmas. . .

Kiddos! 

On Tuesday, Jason, Ryan, and I went to LA. We ate lunch at a really great Pizza place called Johnnie’s NY Pizzeria (my suggestion). After awesome pizza and bread, we went to the Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA). I love modern art, although some of it is really weird and not what I would consider art at all . . . My favorite piece was the giant, blue balloon dog made of stainless steel! There was also art from well-known artists such as Picasso, which I loved since I just did a project on him. After spending a few hours there visiting each of the buildings and looking at countless paintings and displays, we went to Venice Beach . . . don’t go there at night. It was a huge strip of tattoo parlors, hookah things, and places to get a medical marijuana card. There were also people lined up selling their art or handmade jewelry. I just felt really out of place. The only time I felt safe was when we were walking behind one of three police cars telling the people to close up their stands. I was happy to go back to the car. Driving through the city, however; I think I would’ve liked the other parts of the city – those shops had clothes and normal things.

Yummy!

Outside of La Brea Tar Pits

Corn Flakes!

I know, right??

Biggest elevator I've ever been in.

There were toy cars going around and around this thing. Like, a ton. It was pretty awesome.

I giant comb! 

Jason really liked this picture.

Ryan! in front of the museum.

Parts of the Berlin Wall outside of another museum.

Venice Beach (at least the sunset was pretty)

Our last day we just chilled, took one last trip to the mall, played apples to apples with Ryan and mom, and went to Panera - the best place for soup and sandwiches and my favorite bagel (they don’t have Panera in Idaho). We hated packing up to go home and thinking about going back to work and school, but enjoyed thinking back to everything we did in those ten days visiting with family and friends.