Celebration!

I finished school last friday! I am officially done. And I am so excited! I loved student teaching and learned so much about teaching. I am glad I had the opportunity to work with such great students. So now for some great news! At the beginning of April I went to a career fair at ISU. At the fair there were school districts from all over Idaho. I talked with several superindendents and one was Dr. Murdoch from West Jefferson school district (Terraton, ID). I had an informal interview with him. It seemed to go well. Well the next 4 weeks were crazy with trying to finish my final paper and exit interview that I forgot all about the job at West Jefferson. Well on Monday of this week Dr. Murdoch called me. I was shocked. He called to ask me to interview with their district. I of course said yes and I interviewed on Wednesday. I interviewed with their principal, Maryanna Taylor, and Dr. Murdoch. It went pretty well, I stumbled on a few questions. But I held to what I believed about teaching and it seemed he liked what I said because they OFFERED ME THE JOB THE SAME DAY!!! I was thrilled. I told them that I needed to talk to Jake first and that I would let him know later that day. The job is only part time but it should be full time in 2 years.. I think that it is blessing in disguise because of Charley. He starts kindergarten in August and I think it will be good for me to be with him for a little bit more. After Dr. Murdoch offered the job he told me why he did. He said that I answered all of his child-centered questions (I feel, as does Dr. Murdoch, that the students should be the focus of our teaching and that teachers should strive to help our students reach their full potential) the right way. That made me feel good. I was glad I stuck to what I believed in.

So I guess this means big changes for our family. We are putting our house on the market this week and then hopefully this summer we will be living in St. Anthony. We really want to live there for many reasons: family, schools, small town, beautiful, just to name a few. We are not ruling out Idaho Falls, Rigby, etc. But we are going to try for St. Anthony first. We are looking forward to this change and are excited to live in the Upper Valley again. We have lived in Pocatello for 12 years now! That is crazy...I have never lived anywhere for that long. It will be hard to leave but it is time to move on to the next chapter.

Last week the College had a celebration for those of us that finished our teaching degrees. Here a few pics, sorry the pictures are a little dark.

Here a few pictures of my classroom and my students.

Spring in Idaho

So yes it snowed yesterday! It wasn't just a little bit of spring snow, it was heavy snow and it snowed all day! I had put away the winter coats but we had to get them back out! Here are a few pics of the kids bundled up for school! CRAZY.....
Jack didn't want to take a picture!

Halloween (a bit late)

I do know that Halloween was 5 months ago! But as I said about 5 or 6 posts back I need to catch up on our blog, so I am posting things a bit out of order. Please bear with me. And maybe our halloween pictures during winter will cheer you up and put a smile on your face!

For Halloween this year Emma was Thing 2 and her best friend, Katelyn was Thing 1 (she is not pictured because we spent halloween in Rexburg this year with Jenni and her family). Jack was a skeleton and Charley was a transformer. We decided to go to Rexburg because for years Jake and I had wanted to go to Harriman State Park in Island Park to attend their Halloween Festival. And let me tell we were so impressed with their Halloween Festival/spook alley! (I even got a bit of a scare in the spook alley! Yes there were screams!) We had such a great time. It will definitely be a halloween tradition. The Festival always falls on the Saturday before halloween and since halloween was on Saturday this year they had it on Halloween. It was a wonderful time and believe me the kids got plenty of candy!

Charley on the hayride (about a mile long with lots of spooks on the way)

Enjoying the hayride
Again on the hayride
Jenni and Sterling on the hayride
All the kids before getting their loot! Jessica, Mike and her childeren also joined us along with Chance (Sterling's son).

Nothing like a family picture with a skeleton.


About to go on a horse race! They had lots of fun Halloween carnival games for the kids.

Jack riding the wooden horse. And then we ended the night with hot chocolate and a donut. It was an enjoyable night! Please join us next year......

My long lost brother!

This past December my brother, Jeff, came to the United States to pay us a visit! We had not seen him in 6 years! Jeff lives in South Korea with his wife, Mia. He teaches for an international school. It was a pretty big deal for him to come.....Dennis, Mike and I met him at the airport in Salt Lake City. It was so wonderful to see him. We stayed up late that night talking. He had changed so much but yet was still the same old Jeff. If that makes any sense.....

The kids were so excited to meet him and get to know him. They hit it right off. And of course Jack and Charley would not leave him alone! They wanted to be with him all the time. It was really sweet.

Jeff was able to come up to Idaho during his visit. It was fun for him to see our house and our life here. And of course the kids loved to play Wii with him! It was wonderful to see my little brother with my kids. He is so great with kids and they just loved him. They showed their classrooms at school to him....which of course was quite exciting. After a few days here in Idaho we then went down to Utah to hang out with rest of the family. We mostly just hung out, ate, talked and shopped for Christmas. We had an early Christmas with the whole family at Stacey's and of course enjoyed Stacey's cooking as always. It was a wonderful week! I miss Jeff like crazy and wish he was closer. Someday maybe we will be able to visit him in Korea.

Jeff, Mike and Dennis at the airport. Dennis thought it would be funny to take a picture with his phone of me taking a picture of them. Dennis doesn't like getting his picture taken.

Mom and Jeff at our house. I love this picture!

I think this picture of the boys with Jeff says it all! They had such a wonderful time. What joy!

Jeff with all his neices and nephews. From left to right: Emma, Cicely (Dennis), Jack, Charley, Jeff, Chole (Dennis), and Summer (Mike).

The kids loved getting to know their Uncle again. They wouldn't leave him alone! But he seemed to love it and enjoy it all! What a wonderful Uncle.....we miss you Uncle Jeff! Come back soon.......

Daddy Daughter Dance!

When Emma came home from Activity Days and told me that they were having a Daddy Daughter Dance I was soooo excited! I remember going to those with my own Dad and I was thrilled that she now was going to have the opportunity to spend some time with her Dad. They are such special times in a little girl's life! They both seemed to have a wonderful time! The Dance was back in October.

Emma's 11th Birthday!

Well another year has come and gone! Emma turned 11 on Feb. 10th. I can't believe she is 11. It is hard to gather my thoughts around it. I am thrilled for her though. She loves growing up and is enjoying every step of it. Just today she came home and said that the boy she likes, Morgan, came over during recess and played 4 square with her. She was so excited! I love it! There are so many more days like this ahead and I am ready for them. It will be a new learning experience but so much fun! I just hope I will not embarass her at any of those important moments because I know how Mom's can be!

Since it is an odd year birthday we had a family party. Emma decided she wanted to go to Ruby Tuesday's for dinner and then we came home and ate strawberry shortcake at her request. We then opened presents and then we played Wii games downstairs at her request also. It was a fun and enjoyable family night for all! Enjoy the pictures.



Emma ready to open presents. Not so sure Roxy wants to though!

Oh! They do like each other!

Now there are some beautiful kids(that yes might be having a bad hair day, I was a bit busy that day, therefore hair did not get done) but nonetheless they are still my beautiful kids!

They always want to take pictures like this. I do not like them but they do so I always give in. They think it is hilarious. What do you think?

I told Jake that we needed to take more pictures of him with the kids. He has been willing and here is a beautiful shot of him and Emma. Nothing like a daddy and his girl!

Opening the iPod

FINALLY! This is all she could say. Needless to say she was excited to finally receive an iPod. She had been wanting one for years. And her parents finally gave in! :) We shall see how it goes with the headphones in the ears all the time.

Emma has a facination with native americans. She received Kaya, an American Girl doll, from her Grandma for Christmas. She loves learning about the culture and reading her stories.

Emma was so happy to get a horse for Kaya! Thanks Grandma!