I started teaching high school science last August. I have to be honest, I didn't love it at first; I didn't even like it. I had a very challenging class full of freshmen. All they wanted to do was talk, complain, and talk some more. It was a hard first few months. Thankfully, I got a Christmas Break :) That energized me and the second half of the year was a LOT better! My challenging class and I got to know each other better and we came to an agreement. They would let me teach, and I would let them talk the last 10 minutes of class. It worked about 85% of the time, which I was so grateful for! At least they were progressing! By the fourth quarter I loved teaching. I felt like it was where I belonged and needed to be (which I had my doubts at the first). I will be teaching again this next year and I will teach Chemistry and Earth Systems. I will miss teaching Biology. I don't feel as confident teaching Chemistry or Earth Systems, but Biology is where I know the most and feel the most comfortable. I will for sure be stepping out of my comfort zone this next school year! I'm very grateful that I work with some amazing teachers that help me so much. I don't think I would have survived this past year without them.
Clint still works at the bank, and is loving it! At least, that is what he tells me :) I think it's kind of weird that we both have 'grown-up' jobs. I still feel like I should be in college going to school! I don't feel 'grown-up' at all!
I have been really bad about taking pictures this past year. I don't even have any from Christmas or Thanksgiving! I sure hope someone has a picture of us somewhere during those times :)
My family always goes up to Temple Square in SLC around Thanksgiving time. This year, we did it the day after Thanksgiving. There were a LOT of people there, but it was so pretty! It had been a long time since I've been there to see the lights. There's just something about seeing Christmas lights on trees that makes me smile :) I did get pictures of this event, so not all is lost! As you can see from the picture, my brothers are crazy! They like to wear shorts in the winter... We were only missing two people: Chloe (Jer and McCall's daughter) and Jared.
In March we went with some of my family to St. George and visited some historical sites (my Dad is big on historical sites and has always wanted to see the ones in St. George). We went to the Temple where we saw many couples that had just gotten married (so cute!). Then we went to the Tabernacle and listened to an Organ Concert. It was so cool! It's amazing what you can do with an Organ. Then we went to Brigham Young's house and took a tour. It's a small, but quite cute house!
In April we decided to be adventurous and hike Angel's Landing in Zions National Park. Our friends had done it earlier that month and Jenny and Josh (Clint's sister and her husband) had done it the month before so we were feeling a little left out :) They kept telling us how pretty it was and I think we just wanted to see it for ourselves. That is one HARD hike! The sign right before the trail head says something like if you are scared of heights and are out of shape to not do this hike; we didn't listen to this advice. We didn't think we were THAT out of shape. Boy, were we wrong! I could barely make it through one switchback without having to stop and catch my breath. But, as soon as you reach the top, it's so worth it.
The view is spectacular. This picture doesn't do it justice.
We made the mistake of going on a free pass day, so there were a lot of people there. Note to self: always know when free pass days are and don't go on that day! I'm not sure if I would ever do that hike again. Maybe in a few years when I have forgotten how much pain my knees were in the next day.
We made it to the top!
In June Clint and I went to Disneyland! I hadn't been since I was 6 and Clint hadn't been since he was about 12. I have always wanted to go again (I don't remember a thing from when I was 6) and we had been talking about going since we got married. This year, everything just fell into place so we went! I love Disneyland! It's amazing what they have done with the place. My favorite ride was Space Mountain and I loved the 3D show It's tough to be a bug. But, I think my most favorite part was the Jedi Training show that they do. It is awesome! I loved it and I wasn't even apart of it! They pick kids from the crowd and they get to 'train' to be a Jedi. Once they have 'trained' Darth Vader, Darth Maul and Storm Troopers come from out of the ground. Each kid gets to 'fight' Darth Vader. There was this little girl about 4 and she went right up to him and wasn't scared one bit. I would have been scared! It was so neat! Ok, so maybe I'm a little bit of a nerd, but they did awesome on the costumes and voices.
We spent three days there going between Disneyland and California Adventure. It was the perfect amount of time. We did EVERYTHING that we wanted to do, and then some more. It was so nice to get away from everything and just have some time to ourselves. It was nice that we didn't have to worry about anyone else, and we could just do what we wanted to do. Clint was so good at going on rides that were more for little kids than for us. But, you are in Disneyland, you have to go on them! (Like It's a Small World, etc.)
Classic picture front of the Castle. It was cloudy and kind of cold in the mornings.
My favorite Disney movie is Peter Pan, so of course we had to go on the ride! Don't I look so excited! I think this was the best one in Fantasy Land
This summer we have had something going on each weekend whether it is hiking, camping, or family stuff. It sure has been fun, but it makes the summer go by a lot faster! And it makes it a little harder to put in our front yard.
We hiked Kanaraville Falls with our ward. You walk up a river through a slot canyon. The water was FREEZING but it was fun to get out and do something! Plus, it was absolutely beautiful which makes it worth it.
And, of course, summer isn't summer without a trip to Bryce Canyon :) I still love it and marvel at how beautiful it is. We didn't get there until about 7pm and went on a short hike. It was the perfect temperature and not a lot of people were there. We camped at 'our spot', which is still gorgeous as ever. Good times!
Well, we planted a garden again this year, and it is doing a lot better than it was last year! Our corn is actually growing and doesn't look sickly. It's still not perfect, but we are learning something new each time so hopefully each year will get better than the previous ones :) Clint and his Dad are going to put in our sprinkler system this weekend so that we can finally start on our front yard :) I am so excited to have grass instead of dirt and weeds! Other than that, our life is pretty dull!
I promise I won't wait another year to update what has been going on with us, but I can't promise when it will be!
