Ima gonna be a teacher.

and Ima teach my students talk jus like me.


Only semi-relevant title, I'll warn you just now.


Tomorrow I'm heading up to West Jordan to watch one of my professors teach a math lesson. Sounds boring, right? Wrong. We've been learning about the inquiry approach to math (and science) and my professor's going to model a lesson. I'm really excited. This guy knows his stuff.

But the point of it all is... I have to dress professionally tomorrow. Which is pretty much my favorite thing in the world to do. Really though. I love getting dressed on Sunday (which is a little more limiting than the "professional dress" category since it only includes skirts, but it's a consistent event in my life). I love thumbing through my clothes and pulling things together. Well I love it until it doesn't work and I'm running late. But right now, the night before, as I'm planning my outfit (and I have plenty of time to do so), I love my clothes!


It's times like these, when I'm in the middle of writing a post and reading other posts that I think, would Spencer think its weird if I had him take outfit pictures for me? Answer: he'd definitely make fun of me at first. But I think he'd warm up to the idea. Maybe.

Mostly I want this for me. I know that I have days where I look in my closet and get depressed because I haven't been shopping in three months (not true right now, by the way) and I just want something to draw inspiration from.



Maybe it'll happen. Probably it won't.

Books, Books, Books

I have been doing SO much reading the past few weeks. And not just for school. Well, I justify it for my future classes since I'll need to know some really good books to recommend. I feel like all my time is spent reading. Reading textbooks. Reading books for fun. Reading blogs. Reading Facebook.

Okay, those last two don't really count as reading. But it happens.

As a result of reading all the time, I have an ongoing list of books that I want to read. And of course, everyone and their mom wants to read it, too, so they all have multiple holds in the library, and I just add my name to the end of the list. Well I've also come to the point that any book I want to check out I just put on hold (no matter the demand, or lack thereof) and have someone grab it for me. I used to feel guilty, but once again, I'm justing providing job security. Well today, I went to put another book on hold and I got this sad message...

Didn't know that was a thing...

If you don't see/hear from me in the next five years, it's because I'm reading. K bye.








Some of the recommendable books I've been reading (in the past 6 months):

The Testing (series)
Steelheart (series)
The Fault in our Stars
Divergent (series)
Legend (series)
(I've developed a love for dystopia novels...?)

And now that I've posted that list, it seems really puny, and I think, am I really reading that much? And then I remember how many not-so-great books I've read. So these ones make the cut, my friends. If you like teen-fiction (which I have a sad addiction to) read these books!

An Application and Thanks and Any Excuse for Some Shopping

Today was a big day. My internship (yep, INTERNSHIP) application has been turned in. Talk about a load off my mind! I wish I could say that I am now just playing a waiting game for a response, but I still have to worry about interviews at the end of March. I just want to get on with my life! Though March gives me plenty of time to make sure I really want to do the internship. It's just hard for me to know where we're going to be next January. I want to say that we will for sure be around here so I can experience the internship, but I just don't know where Spencer's (hopefully) job might take us, and when. He graduates in December, and I just feel like it should be a priority for him to get a job (seeing as it will undoubtedly pay more...). But I feel good about the internship right now, and I can change that status up until the end of March, so I'm not too concerned about my decision being final, just yet.

After turning in my application, I hurried home to find our thank you cards waiting on the doorstep! As excited as I am to finally have them in my possession, I'm a little sad that my excuses for not doing them are dwindling. I've filled out about 20, which seems like a decent chunk, and I'm happy:)

So, I did some celebration today!

Well kinda.


I started with my first experience at Plato's Closet! And I must say, not impressed. I will admit that most of my closet consists of clothes from teen stores, so I really expected most of my clothes to have some worth. Nope. One shirt. $2.60. Totally. Not. Worth. My. Time.

But alas, that was just the first stop on my journey of freedom. You see, Spencer works 2-7pm on Wednesdays, and I am done with class at 2. So I had all afternoon to myself. So I naturally did the girly thing and did some shopping.

First stop, visit teen store number 1. AKA American Eagle. I'm not proud. I still shop there. And most days I find a little too much that I like there. But not today. I always find it interesting that whenever I have a gift card/$10 off/$10 store cash I can never find anything I like! Today was one of those days, and of course, my $10 off coupon expires tomorrow. And I had a gift card, so my $10 turned into $35 and it was the perfect excuse to buy myself something. Or so I thought. But then I stumbled upon this beauty!

AE

It's a lighter weight coat/jacket, and I am so excited to find things to wear with it!

So after that success, I thought, what the heck, let's just use all our Christmas giftcards, so I headed over to Banana Republic and found this beaut.

BananaRepublic

I don't care if Plato's Closet didn't take my clothes, today was a good day.

Getting Ready for Our Day

This dress was perfect in every way. Can I just wear it all the time? 

That's not weird, right?

Momma and my girl Dianna lacing me up. Seriously took like 10 minutes every time.

 It was so good to finally have my momma there with me. This was her first time seeing me in my dress.

This man loves this tie. I love this man. Therefore, I love this tie (but really, I do).

And then we were OFF!!

Photography//Jenna Bechtholt Photography

Wedding Dress//Elizabeth Cooper's Boutique

Shoes//Nordstrom

Accessories//Icing

The First Look

In order to have some formal pictures ready for the reception, we took some bridals a month or so before the wedding. Well, one bridal session turned into two (a nasty rain storm ruined the first attempt), but we did managed to squeak out some "First Look" photos from the first session, and here they are!

And then it started pouring rain...
We thought about waiting it out, but after ten minutes of downpour, we decided against it. So I changed and we sprinted out to the car. And it continued pouring for at least an hour.

(You can actually see the smallest little dark spots on Spencer's suit from the rain). But the lighting was BEAUTIFUL. 

First week of classes!

This week has been amazing. This week has also been terrible. But it's finally over, and IT'S THE WEEKEND!!!

The good:

We finally took down Christmas and unpacked everything from break! Well almost everything. We still have some returns to make (I know...bad habit developed from the wedding), and need some Command strips (I'm a stickler for no nail holes in the apartment), but our apartment is far less embarrassing than it was with our Christmas stuff all over.

The bad:

Realizing what a continuous project home/apartment-upkeep is. Maybe it's because we got some Target gift-cards for Christmas, but I just feel like there are so many additions we can make to our home to make it feel more welcome.

The good:

Unpacking Christmas presents and loading the closet with my new additions!

The bad:

Realizing I am a pack rat when it comes to clothes and forcing myself to pick through and find some clothes to donate (or sell--Plato's Closet??) or throw away.

The good:

My professors are fantastic. I really feel like they all know what they are talking about (surprise!) and more importantly, they care about me. That's such a great feeling. One of my biggest complaints throughout my semesters in my major is that we are learning things that make good teachers (not just the content/procedures of things, but the pedagogy--the how), and most of the professors aren't modeling those skills. But finally I have some great professors! I'm so excited for this semester and how much I will grow in their classes.

The bad:

Being my final semester of classes, we are being stretched to the limits. We have so many assignments for all our classes on top of in-school (elementary school) experiences, applications, interviews, lives outside of school. Oh wait, that last one isn't guaranteed...

The good:

It hasn't been freezing (and by freezing I mean bone-chilling, single digit, walk outside and your nose hairs freeze cold) cold!

The bad:

It hasn't been freezing because it's been snowing almost non-stop since Wednesday.

The good:

On Tuesdays and Thursdays, we get awesome parking spots. Five minute walk to class, okay!

The bad:

It's because we have 8am classes. There's a reason why I've only had three of those in my 8.5 semesters here.

The good:

Finally creating/ordering thank you cards for our wedding gifts! (five months later)! And I kind of love them. Though I haven't seen one in person yet. We did them as postcards, which I love!

The bad:

Realizing that as soon as they come in that means we have to start writing them.

The good:

The hubs took me on a date this afternoon to see The Saratov Approach. It was beautiful and so inspiring. If you have the chance to see it, you must.

The bad:

I cried like a baby. Super embarrassing.

The good:

The Provo Chick-fil-a just opened!

The bad:

The Provo Chick-fil-a just opened! (hello temptation.)

The good:

Not having a job and having some much needed extra time for household/miscellaneous jobs. I love not being stressed about my schedule and fitting in last minute things into my day.

The good:

Yup, another good thing about not having a job, having Saturdays free!! I hated not having a day to run errands or do housework or even homework. I love Saturdays.

The good:

We got a calling as Primary workers! Hello 10/11 year olds! I'm really excited to be working with these kids, especially since they're around the age that my students will be this semester.

The bad:

Goodbye ward social life. (which was pretty poor to begin with).

The good:

Playing around with my camera and getting a feel for it!

The good:

I found out what city I'm doing my second practicum!! Springville! aka 15 minutes away (tops) instead of 30. Those 15 extra minutes of sleep are precious.

This week has gone by so fast! Part of me wants the rest of the semester to go by this fast (hello, cruise--hello, real-life), but part of me wants this semester to take its time because I love my schedule that much! And I might be afraid to enter the real world.

Resolve.

1. verb: decide firmly on a course of action.
2. noun: firm determination to do something.

It's been 2014 for almost a week now, and I'm kinda freaking out, for multiple reasons. This is going to be a big year for us. Spencer's looking for an internship over the summer (which will hopefully lead to a job after he graduates this December), I'm finishing up classes and applying for a teaching internship. So maybe it's a small list, but they are big things. I've also completely avoided making New Year's resolutions, for no particular reason.

But then I got to thinking... why do we wait until the start of a new year to change our path? Why can't we just decide that tomorrow we want to be a little better, in one way, or ten ways? I feel like we never stick to our New Year's resolutions anyways, and we realize this after the first quarter of the year has passed. So why can't we resolve again to meet our goals once we've noticed our faltering?




I was thinking about this during Fast and Testimony meeting yesterday, and it fits so well with the Atonement. At the beginning of the year, we each analyze our lives and see where we stand physically, mentally, spiritually socially, and so on. But with the sacrament and the renewing power of the Atonement, we have the chance to change our path weekly; to resolve to do better, to alter our ways, every week. What a blessing that is, and what a loving God that has allowed such a pattern to exist.

We should place just as much thought into our weekly renewing of covenants as we see put into New Year's resolutions. Why wait a year, six months, or even three weeks until the start of a new year to change? You can change today. You can be cleansed of your sins and the missteps from the path every Sunday through the sacrament, because of the Atonement. We are so blessed to be able to pray unto our Father in Heaven daily and repent of our sins. With this plea for forgiveness we can resolve to become better, become more like Him, and draw closer to our Savior.

The Lord cares about us. He knows us, and He knows our needs. He wants us to be happy and He will help us in all our endeavors. Sure, New Year's resolutions aren't just focused on spiritual goals, but neither would our daily/weekly resolutions need to be. We can turn to our Heavenly Father for help in any area of our life, and He will help us. We can rely on the Lord for strength and through the enabling power of the Atonement the Lord will support us.




With all that being said, here are a few of my January 6, 2014 resolutions:

1. Keep a better record of my LIFE! (aka blog more)
2. Focus more on my husband, and less on myself
3. Push myself in my classes and in teaching so that I can learn!
4. Develop a better relationship with Heavenly Father through diligent prayer and scripture study
5. Develop family recipes
6. Write my missionaries!
7. Thank you notes! 

(So that might have turned into a to-do list more than a list of goals there at the end, but it's in writing, so it's now going to happen!)

And I'm sure there are more things that I want to accomplish throughout the year, but hey, this is just a start and I can edit my goals at any point, not just on New Year's, right?