Summer Lovin'

Isn't it weird how you can want summer to never end, but at the same time be excited for summer to be over? That is how I am feeling right now. I usually love heat, but this summer has challenged that! Tyler and I had to leave our big, clean, air conditioned home in Harper and move to Pocatello so Tyler could work for Upward Bound again. It was actually a double bonus for this summer job. It gives us another paycheck on top of his salary for two months of the year, and I got to spend the summer with my sister, Heather and the rest of my family. I am pretty sure I have mentioned some of this in a previous post, but just recapping the summer. Heather's husband, Jason is starting dental school in Arizona in the fall, so they are moving to Surprise, AZ in August. They won't be able to make it back to Pocatello often, so I wanted to be able to spend the summer with them before they leave. I have had a lot of fun spending time with her and the rest of my family. Easton is growing up so fast and it makes me sad that he will be completely different every time I see him once they move. Easton is my first nephew, and the only one on my side of the family. Therefore, he is my favorite!! He just started talking and it makes me so happy to hear him say my name! But he seems to like Tyler more than me and that makes me sad (or jealous, whichever word you want to use). The downside to this summer is that we are renting a home, and I hate it. It is an A frame house and the ceilings and walls are wood beams. It is so dark and makes me feel like I am in a cave! I like bright rooms and lots of sunshine, which I definitely get in my Harper home. In this house, the walls are all different shades of purple, with black cabinets. Both rooms and both bathrooms are downstairs, but it is spider-ville down there, and extra cave-like so I set up the bed and everything upstairs in the living room. Worst part, there is no air conditioning! I don't think I have had a good night of sleep since we got here. When it rained for the first couple days here, we had about 15 leaks in the roof, so the whole house felt muggy. I am glad we only have a couple weeks left.

Then again, I am sad that we only have a couple weeks left here. I have really enjoyed Sunday dinners with my family, playing with Easton, and spending time over at my parents house. It has also been nice to have stores within minutes of our house! On the flip side of that, we have eaten out way too much! As summer seems to be flying by, I am getting more and more nervous to start teaching as a full time teacher! I am already having nightmares about it and wonder if I can do it. The thing is, I know I can do it, I am just so nervous to be completely in charge of a classroom, with students learning in my hands. I don't want to let anyone down! However, I am also very excited about my first year as a full time teacher. I am constantly filled with mixed emotions, and that is part of what keeps me up all night (or maybe that is still just the smoldering heat).

And for the big news... On August 9, Tyler and I will be celebrating our 1 year anniversary, and on August 15, we will be sealed for time and all eternity in the Boutiful, Utah LDS temple. I am so excited to become a forever family with my sweetheart! Then we can start expanding our family! Sadly, the next day I have to say goodbye to Heather, Jason, and Easton and that will make me a blubbering mess! What is it about getting older that makes you want your family more and more? Or is that just me? Until then, I will continue taking advantage of family time while we are in Pocatello.

Speaking of Pocatello... While we were living in Harper, with me getting ready to graduate form ISU, Tyler and I started discussing where we want to live and where we might want to end up some day. We starting thinking that Pocatello might be a place we could live. We know we want to be around family, and there just isn't anything in the Vale area for us after this upcoming school year. Unforunately, being in Pocatello this summer has made us realize we don't want to live in Pocatello. It will always be a comfortable, familiar place, but it is not home anymore. Harper is not really home either. This summer has really made me excited to find our home and for the next stages in life!

Background Issues

As I explore my family and friends blogs, I keep finding pages that offer free backgrounds. This is not good for me! I have become obsessed with backgrounds! I am hoping this goes away, but I just can't find one that I want to be set on. It is driving me crazy. So, you will probably see different backgrounds and headers often! I think it all depends on my mood though, which background I want for the moment. Has anyone else had this problem while getting started with this whole blogging thing?!

From the Beginning Until Now...

Since I just started this journal about our lives together, I thought I would do a quick recap of what we have been up to until this point. Well, after our honeymoon Tyler had to get right back to work. He works at Harper School as the English teacher for grades 7 through 12. We actually live in the school parking lot in a house that was placed there for the superintendent because Harper is in the middle of nowhere and most people commute. The current superintendent doesn't want to live in Harper, so we get to rent it for very cheap! It is a 3 bedroom, 2 bathroom house and we actually love it!

Our first FaLL together was very busy. I began my online classes, and they were the most time consuming, difficult things I have ever done! If it wasn't for Tyler's help, I never would have finished them. He felt obligated to help because I would have been able to have an easy 12 credit semester if I hadn't gotten married, which moved me to Oregon. It was worth it though! Aside from the constant homework frenzy, our weekends were filled with football. Tyler coached the junior high football team, and was the assistant/defensive line coach for the high school team. I was their number 1 fan!

The Holidays were so fun, but quite different than what I am used to. I had my first Thanksgiving away from my family and it was hard, but I really enjoyed my time with Tyler's side. We had a family member get hurt playing football that morning, so we had to step in and help get the dinner ready. It was the most either of us had ever helped for a big dinner before. I was fun! We spent Christmas in Pocatello/Utah with my family. It was the worst weather I have ever seen on Christmas and the men of the fam spent a good portion of the morning trying to get Jason's car unstuck in the snow that had accumulated over night. My dads truck got stuck when he went to help! Luckily a snow plow came and got them both out! We braved the snowstorm and drove to Utah to be with the rest of my family. That was a dumb idea! It was so ScArY over the Malad pass! It took twice as long to get there! Although we weren't going to be in our home for the Holiday, we still wanted a Christmas Tree for our house. We bought a huge, fake tree and had very few decorations, but I loved it!

After the New Year, I started student teaching at the same school Tyler works at. I was so nervous! I had nightmares about it for months! I started on January 12, 2009 in Mrs. Anderson's 3rd and 4th grade combined class. It was such a great experience! It made me even more sure that teaching is what I want to do with my life. I got the best experience I could have had out of that semester. I had to have a University Supervisor come and evaluate my teaching on six different occasion, and I did not like him! He was a little pompous, and a little hypocritical, but I passed! I will always remember those students as my first students ever! The teacher I worked with is having a baby and asked me to take over her class for the first half of the school year this fall! I am so excited to be back with half of them (the ones in the 3rd, moving up to the 4th grade).
SpRiNg was also filled with more than my student teaching. Tyler coached the boys AND girls high school basketball teams and it was a time consuming task! I loved it all though! His teams didn't do so well, but definitely improved from the previous year, and from the beginning to the end. He is a great coach! He decided that next year he is only going to coach the girls because it is a young team that shows lots of promise. This picture is of his boys team at the district tournament in John Day, Oregon.

And then school ended! Tyler had a rough year, with terrible students (and parents) so we were so happy to say good ridance to this school year! We had the summer to look forward to. Tyler teaches summer school on the ISU campus for the Upward Bound program. This is his fourth summer doing it. So, we packed up and moved to Pocatello. We are renting a house near campus, Tyler is working, and I am finishing my last class. I can't wait to be done with Idaho State University forever! (Not done with school though. Grad school is next... just don't know where yet.) We feel so bad for Charlie because he is used to open land and freedom to roam about, and he can't do that in the big city. Coming back to Pocatello made us realize we love small towns. Wierd, huh! This summer has been fun. I have been spending as much time as possible with Heather, Jason, and Easton because they are moving to Arizona for dental school in August. I am sad they are leaving, but excited for them to experience this next phase in life. This summer I celebrated my 24th birthday! We spent the 4th of July with my family, and I went to a family reunion in Feron Utah (don't ever go there!). It has been fun. Here are some pictures that depict our summer experience!

The Beginning

Tyler and I are about to complete our first year of marriage. We got married on August 9, 2008 in Ontario Oregon, at the Holiday Inn. It was the best day of our lives. We had almost all of our loved ones there, even with it being so far away from all of my family and friends. We celebrated our marriage with a reception at Tyler's moms house in Vale, Oregon. It was in her front yard, and it was beautiful. Tyler's old band, Spondee, played a few of their song for us. Tyler sang "I've Just Seen a Face" by the Beatles and it was great! Then we had a dance, and it was a blast. Everybody was up dancing and having a great time. The decorations were perfect thanks to Tami at Holiday Inn, my wonderful mother-in-law Linda, Stephanie who did my cake, and The Lowders, Tylers family from Aberdeen.

After our wedding, we went to Annie Creek Bed and Breakfast in Ontario, Oregon and stayed in a very fancy room with a jet tub. Unfortuately, the tub went a little crazy and we weren't able to use it! The next day, we drove to Crater Lake and stayed in the Crate Lake Lodge. It was amazing. The lodge is extremely old and is right on the edge of the crater. The lake lies in the mouth of a dormant volcanoe. The water is crystal clear blue and fascinating. We ate at the very expensive restaurant in the lodge that night. The next day we drove out of Crate Lake National Park and staying in this adorable little cabin at Union Creek. We stayed there for a couple nights and explored all the trails and waterfalls. We saw the natural bridge, the water that comes out of the rocks, and everything else there was to see there. It is right along the Rogue River, which is huge! After that, we went to Ashland, Oregon and stayed in a suite at the Holiday Inn. It had a hot tub in the room and it was so fun! We went to the Shakespeare festival and saw Othello. It was so good. We were shocked at all the performers putting on shows right on the streets and sidewalks. We saw a lady, completely naked, riding her bike down the street! On our way home, we stopped in Bend and stayed at the Holiday Inn there and watched the Olympics. It was a great way to relax after our fun-filled honeymoon!

The Other Member of Our Family

Since Tyler and I got married, we talked about getting a puppy. Growing up, we had fish, hamsters, and one dog, but none of which I had to take care of much. My mom and dad always did. I never knew how much work a pet could be! If I knew, I wouldn't have encouraged the idea of getting a puppy with Tyler as much as I did. Anyways... We couldn't agree on the type of dog we would want to get, if we ever did. Tyler wanted a big, outside dog. I wanted a little puppy that could be inside with me, but loved to be outside too. On Thanksgiving, we were at his moms house watching the annual dog show. The winning dog was the most adorable thing I have ever seen! He was a beagle and so precious! We both talked for a few days about how cute he was, and jokingly one day I told Tyler to buy me a beagle puppy for Christmas. Apparently, Tyler thought I was serious, and he started looking for beagles for sale. I had no idea, until he started dropping hints. I might need to clarify, Tyler's hints are like anvils! I guessed it and started panicking. I went back and forth between being excited and completely dreading having a dog. I even tried dropping hints to get him to change his mind. Later he told me that my hints made him struggle with what to do and went back and forth with the idea himself. He decided it was what he wanted and on December 7, 2008 Tyler drove to Nampa to pick out a beagle puppy. He "surprised" me with Charlie Pace Shafer that night. We named him after our favorite character on LOST! My reaction made him sad, because I didn't jump for joy. For the next week, I cried all day everyday because I couldn't stand cleaning up potty messes in my house, and the whining all night long! I wanted to get rid of him! That is until we left him for a week with Tylers parents while we went to Pocatello for Christmas. I missed him so much and was so excited to see him when we picked him up. Now, he is part of our family and we baby him way too much! Charlie is our best friend, so adorable, and the mosy hyper-active dog I have ever seen.