HIGHLIGHTS
* Student taught at Gilbert Junior High. I blogged every week about that. Student teaching was a huge adventure and a lot of fun too!
* Graduated from NAU in May. The trip was disastrous but at the same time a trip to remember.
* First out-of-town trip with Josh... that was a disaster. ***See graduation note
* Received a teaching job that I love. I GET TO TALK MATH ALL DAY!!! It is so awesome.
* Nominated for Rookie of the year at my school. I don't know if I won or not but I do feel very privileged to be nominated. That deserves a note.
* Josh started school and doesn't have to work (unless he really wants too).
* Celebrated the first year in our house. It is slowly being improved which makes me happy.
* Planted a garden for the first time. Well, Josh did everything. We even had a huge surplus of lettuce that we handed out to family and friends from our ward.
* We had a great year in primary learning about families. The primary kids tend to amaze me with how big their testimony is. It seems as though I cry from being about to feel the spirit as they learn. (Mostly through song). I guess that I should also mention that I got another piano player. Now I get to go to Relief Society every other week. It's scary but I'm slowly getting used to it.
* Went to Eagar of Christmas break! Josh and I were able to play in the snow (for about 5- 10 minutes) until I froze. I thought that I would come back frozen but I survived. To me, that is very exciting.
* The evil cactus is gone from our mailbox. Yeah, I got hit by it twice.
* We celebrated our one year anniversary at the beginning of the year.
* I lost about 28 pounds this year. I went down about 2 pant sizes. Maybe I'll post some before and after pictures later.
LOWLIGHTS
* Josh lost his job a week before I graduated from NAU. The good part is that he was able to get more time off for graduation.
* Did you hear about the graduation disaster?
* Cactus's are very evil. It destroyed my awesome blanket that Billy and Hannah gave to us for our wedding. It also got one of my favorite skirts.
* Huge hot water heater leak. It's a good thing that we have a Home Warranty... or did.
* The air conditioning broke DURING THE SUMMER. We didn't have to get it replaced but it was very hot in our house for awhile. We spent the night out at my parents house so we could actually sleep. Thanks dad for fixing it!
* My computer got a really bad virus. It had to be wiped clean (as mentioned earlier). I have had it for 5 years now... that isn't too bad.
* Major car problems. My radiator was really bad therefore making it overheat a lot. Yeah, it happened in the summer so at some points I was driving with the heater on and the windows rolled down. It was about 108 degrees outside at the time. Once again... thanks dad for fixing it!
* I have felt on multiple occasions that I have lost my friends and now I have none (that are not family members). I don't feel included half the time and I am about ti just give up on even trying to hang out with those people.
* Josh's best friend Billy lived with us for a month and a half. It was the worst month and a half of my life. It didn't help that I was stressed about a new job as well as my car falling to pieces.
GOALS
* Fix the garage door. We will have to see what happens on this one. We will wait to see what happens when we get our 2009 taxes back.
* Paint the house. It really needs a new coat of paint. I think that I am going to keep it the same color because I really like it... we are just going to freshen the paint. You'll probably know when that happens.
* Go to Disneyland. Josh and I were inspired by Paula and Evan's late Honeymoon that we decided that we want to take one. So, during Spring Break this year we may go to Disneyland. Once again, it depends on our 2009 taxes.
* Get rid of the cactus in front of our house. They are dieing so why not take them out. We are then going to plant some rose bushes in front of our window. We'll see how well that really goes.
* Stay the same weight that I am now. We'll just have to see about that one. If I lose 7 more pounds I'll be my ideal weight but then again I'm okay where I am at now... so I'm good at maintaining.
* Survive my first year of teaching. Well, I only have 5 months left so that one will be easy to complete.
* Get Josh on the right track for school so that way he can graduate sooner and begin working. Although he likes school, he prefers working full time (I think).
All in all we have been greatly blessed by our Heavenly Father. Yes, we have had our rough patches but I think that the blessing out weigh everything else. I couldn't have made it through the year without my family, as well as Josh. Let just hope that this next one is filled with more blessings and more opportunities to serve others!
