Happy Birthday Chris!

Today is Chris' 23rd birthday. We are now in Salt Lake and its working out pretty well. We don't have a room just yet, but we are going to work a basement room into our temporary/a permanent guest room. We headed down town and went to Benihana for his birthday dinner. For the same price we actually had better dining in Idaho Falls, but all the same it was a fun time. They took a picture and I decided to post it... consider me lame.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY HOTTIE!

Adios Idaho

This is my last enjoyment of internet in Idaho. We are almost completely packed and ready to go. Chris and I will be having a camp out on our apartment floor... including sleeping bags since our mattress is in the truck. I'm excited to be leaving Idaho, but there are a few things I have grown to appreciate. 1) The scenery I get to see while driving down to school, 2) the few friends I have picked up at work, and 3) the friends Chris has met at work. Other than that I will not be missing a single thing. I think Salt Lake will be interesting because it is even a more temporary stop on our way to Texas. I hope we will be able to enjoy the holidays with my mom and enjoy a little Christmas cheer. I'm cashiering for Wal-mart again and that job is one sure way to loose the Christmas spirit. I am extremely nervous to student teach, but I think its a healthy fear. We'll probably head to the library and I'll be able to update every once in awhile.

Adios Idaho!

Glee Club, on Fox

I have found a new TV show that I really enjoy. When I first saw it on Hulu.com, I thought it was a joke. In high school I didn't sing...I didn't do plays... and to be honest I thought the typical member of a glee club was an attention whore. However, I really enjoy watching this show because it is a satire of teaching. The show is directed/produced by the same person who does Nip/Tuck (a show I honestly would never watch). Both shows take something in our society and create typical moments that are perverted to show the complete honesty of the situation. The Glee Club is against the cheerleaders in this show and the coaches of both hate each other. Its funny to see a "teacher" say the most inappropriate things about minorities and drug use in this type of setting. I don't know if its because of the courses I've taken, but I can honestly laugh at this type of humor. You should check it out.

P.S. Chris hates the show... because it randomly breaks into song and dance. It is actually based upon a glee club, therefore there is singing and dancing involved.

Hell's Kitchen

We have watched the TV show Hell's Kitchen in the past and we are still loyal fans. This season my favorite chef is Kevin. He's got a cute family with an adorable son and MOST IMPORTANTLY he doesn't smoke. I am not that superficial, but the fact that every single chef smokes on that show gets to me. Through watching past episodes, I had grouped Kevin with the rest of the crew as a smoker, but I was wrong. Kevin is SMOKE-FREE and he has won my vote. The other chefs are great as well, but I really hope Kevin wins. I think I might even find out who wins tonight :)

Some Changes

Over the past two weeks, Chris and I have really thought about our lives in Idaho Falls. Now that we've been here for a little bit I'll admit I enjoy the people I work with, our apartment, and our daily routines, but we aren't going to live here the rest of our lives. That is just a fact. With an interesting incident at Chris' work we really started to think about living in Idaho Falls. So our new plan is to move in with my mother in Salt Lake for the months of November and December and then move to Houston like planned in January. We will be saving money while we live rent free and the drive to Logan is shorter from Salt Lake than it is from Idaho Falls. My mom is very LDS and I'm afraid she'll push us too hard to go to church with her. I'm nervous that we might butt heads a little, but I'm also very excited to get some good visiting time in with her. Another interesting aspect is the role my brother will play into our experience. David honestly thought that I was too young to get married and he's living at home for the time being as well. I have never been extremely close with my brother, but I hope we'll be able to get some fun family time in while we all live together. Hopefully Chris and I will be able to help my mom around the house while we both work crappy seasonal holiday jobs (I'm going back to cashiering at Wal-mart). This will be the first Christmas in a few years that I'll be able to spend entirely with my family. The only thing that could make it better would be to have the Merkets in town... or to be able to visit California for Christmas. Oh and as a good daughter I'd also mention my Dad and sister Gila in Northern California... check it out I managed to mention them :)

I have recently finished reading/listening to Persuasion by Jane Austen. I was extremely impressed with the plot line in this novel, just as I was impressed with Sense and Sensibility. I have never been a big Austen fan until The Finer Things Book Club pushed me in the right direction. I am in debt to Cristy’s selection of Sense and Sensibility because without a little push I doubt I would have read anything by Austen until I was teaching it in a class. I’ve read Pride and Prejudice in the past but thought it was just okay. Perhaps at the time I wasn’t intrigued by the idea of romance, but now I have a thorough enjoyment of it. I thought Persuasion had a very heartening ending that made me want to kiss Chris a thousand times… I was on the road to Utah so that was a no go. Come this weekend you better believe I will be setting up a date night with Chris. Who knows it might happen on my lunch break from Wal-mart. Modern day romance here I come :)

Exciting News... well for us :)

For the past year or so Chris and I have been playing with the idea of moving to Houston, TX for my student teaching. The district in Houston works with USU and brings students to their district which is an inner city, lower income school district. I thought it sounded like a good idea from the start because I'd get the experience of working in an inner city school while still graduating from USU. We really started considering it when Chris did a little research into their local culinary art schools; paired with my somewhat lack of confidence in getting hired in the state of Utah while graduating at the age of 23 (basically I think I don't have as much life experience needed to be a successful teacher) we decided to meet with the representative and get some more information. Well after talking with the representative through email and in person, and emailing a USU graduate who stayed in Houston, we have really decided to go for it. I am excited for this move unlike our Idaho move because we will both be able to work on our careers and hopefully set up home in Houston. I think the change to a bigger city will be refreshing and a possible job in my future will be motivationally exciting. I really can't wait for this semester to pass me so that I can start really attempting to be a teacher. We will sadly be moving farther away from our families, but they will be able to come out and visit us and enjoy some new scenery. I'll admit I really want my mom to consider moving to Texas when I start having kids because I want her to be able to enjoy being a grandmother. However, that is her choice to make. I'm nervous as all hell to be student teaching in that environment and if I don't end up getting a job with the district. I'm aiming to stay positive, and in case that situation becomes reality, I'll just have to keep telling myself "I'm much more marketable as a teacher now that I have that experience on my resume." Wish us luck as we bid adieu to Idaho Falls and the friends we've made and start a move to Houston--this won’t be until December/January of course.