Wednesday, August 24, 2011

Where did you go?

Wow, it has been a really long time since I have posted. I would like to say that I have been terribly busy and just don't have time to post, but that's not entirely true... I might have been able to say that while I was student teaching from January till May, but for the last 3 months, I think it's prudent to say that I've just been lazy. :)

I happy to say that I finished my student teaching with a grade of PASS! There are no letter grades, so pass is pretty awesome compared to fail or incomplete. :) I really enjoyed my time with my third graders. I was able to teach full-time and be the only teacher in the classroom for a month. It was challenging, rewarding, and so much fun! I must say, I believe I picked the right profession for me. In my patriarchal blessing I was promised that I would find a profession that would give me fulfillment and also give me the time for my family. I'm so happy the Lord has led me in the right direction.

After my student teaching was over, I spent the next month finishing my online class, applying for my Colorado Teaching License, and searching for jobs. I found a summer job pretty quickly and began working part time in the glorified position of Sales Associate at your neighborhood Walmart! I've been working there for almost 3 months now, and it isn't that bad, but it definitely confirmed my feeling that I am meant to be a teacher! While working at Walmart, I continued my job search for elementary teaching positions. I tried to ignore the hiring freeze, the lack of job openings and the budget cuts happening in our school district. I didn't get any calls for interviews, any response back from emails I'd sent, or schools I'd visited. I'll be honest, I was feeling very discouraged. Now is not a good time to be a new elementary teacher...

I still enjoyed my summer though! Jon and I had the chance to travel back to the motherland (Colorado) to attend 3 wonderful weddings! Two of my best friends in the world were married. Tabi on June 25th and Kimee on August 13th. Jon's sister Alli also was married on August 12th and 13th. (that weekend was a little bit crazy - driving back and forth from Denver on a time crunch...) It was such a joy to see all three couples sealed together in the temple. I think it was a huge reminder for both me and Jonathan of our covenants that we had made with each other and the Lord 3 years ago. Congratulations to Tabi and James, Alli and Chris, and Kimee and Aubrey! You all are such important people to me and Jonathan, and we are so happy that you have found happiness in each other. :) We love you.

We had to cut our last visit to Colorado short because I had two job interviews on Monday August 14th. I felt like both of the interviews went well, and I was super excited for both of them. I really wanted a job in education, and even though the district was not hiring for full-time teachers, I would be ecstatic to be a paraeducator and still be able to work with children. We got home on Monday morning at 2:30am, I had one interview at 9am, and one at 1:30pm, and the principal from Stanley Elementary School called me at 4:30pm that evening to offer me a job as a paraeducator! I accepted of course, and though I had to tell the other school I would not be able to work for them (very difficult to do by the way...) I felt a real connection with Stanley, the staff and the principal. I hope everything goes well with them.

School started August 16th, and I couldn't be there because I need to be processed by the district first. My processing date is tomorrow (8/25/11), and I start officially on Friday the 26th! I am very excited for this and even though I have mixed feelings about not being a teacher yet, I feel very good about this step. I've talked with many other teachers in this same boat, and I feel very lucky to have this opportunity. The position is temporary, meant to last only the school year, and it is hourly and non-benefited. I lose out on holiday pay and sick days, but I'll be doing what I love and gaining experience so that I can someday have my dream job!

I will also be continuing at Walmart for the time being. It is a decision that I've made for a number of reasons. My full-time job at Stanley is actually only 35 hours a week, so to add 10 to 15 hours a week at Walmart on top of that won't be too difficult to manage, and I can use all the extra money I can get right now. Jon lost his car in a crash in February, so we've had only one car this whole time, and we've really suffered from me not working from October 2010 to June 2011. I feel this is my time to make a contribution to our family and our dreams and goals. And hopefully we'll be buying another car here soon!

Jon and I also got to celebrate our 3rd anniversary this year. We had a blast going to see a couple awesome bands in concert a few weekends before, and then had a nice dinner out (dressed up!) and had a fun drive around town. We are still very happy and very much in love!

Sorry for the super-de-duper long post, but I just wanted to fill everyone in on what has been happening in our lives. We are missing Colorado, but learning to love Wichita and the changes it has brought to our lives!

Wednesday, January 12, 2011

First Cold, First Snow, First Snow Day(s)...

This week has been slow...and I mean dramatically slow. After a whole week of no husband and many long days student teaching, I was starting to feel a little lonely and a little out of touch with life. Friday I must have sneezed about 14 times (you can ask my 3rd graders, they will attest to that!) and after an evening out with the girls, I woke up saturday sick. Was it just allergies? Only a cold? Maybe (please no!) the flu? Whatever it was, it was my first sickness of 2011 and I spent my whole Saturday and Sunday curled up in blankets on the couch watching TV and drinking orange juice and Best Defense.

Sunday evening I felt a bit better. I graded my papers (so exciting that I get to grade papers now!) and then Jon returned from Georgia and the snow started to fall. It was beautiful, but on the way to and from the airport, I could already tell the roads were starting to ice over. It was great to have my husband back though, and I'll be honest, I wasn't worried about the snow. I've just moved to Wichita from Fort Collins, Colorado. How bad could it be?

Monday morning and back to school I was. Jon called me as he left (ridiculously early) for work and told me to get out of bed! It apparently had snowed a lot overnight and I would need to leave early for school. So I did, and I left at 5 till 8. It took me more than 30 minutes to drive to school, (normally an 8 minute commute) and almost no one was there! Still, Wichita School District refused to cancel school, or even give us a late start. Many kids were absent, and all praying for a snow day tomorrow.

I've never had a snow day. We always had to go to school no matter how much it snowed, and where I grew up, in Grand Junction, it rarely snowed so much to warrant cancelling school. I'd heard of snow days in Fort Collins, but I wasn't a teacher then, and so did not get a day off of work. Monday night I received a text message from my teacher, "no school tomorrow, we have a snow day!" My first random, weather related day off of work!

Tuesday I was so lazy! I took the day to try and recover completely from my illness. I felt much better and was ready to go back to school on Wednesday. And today, I woke up to another text message and another snow day! Today was more productive but still lazy. I don't think I'll ever lose that lazy gene. :) Tonight I made raspberry mini muffins just because...or maybe it was because I felt guilty for not making dinner. ;)

A lot of firsts to my New Year this week! Here's to hoping that these snow days are over (at least for this week)! Call me crazy, but I miss my students, and I won't learn anything about teaching by sitting at home all day.

Saturday, January 1, 2011

Happy New Year 2011!

Happy New Year!
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I sincerely hope that everyone has a wonderful 2010! I know I did. With the New Year that comes, I want to reflect on this past year. 2010 was filled with both good and bad, happy and sad, but in the end it turned out alright. Here are some of the highlights from 2010.
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January 2010: Taiwan
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Jonathan and I were finally able to visit Taiwan, where he served his mission 2006-2007. We had the opportunity to meet with old friends, tour new places, and have the ultimate vacation/honeymoon that we wanted. It will forever be a fond memory of mine. I hope we can go visit again soon!
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February 2010: Accepted to Graduate School
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I was accepted to the University of Northern Colorado. We made the decision that I would stay in Colorado to pursue my Masters in Elementary Education no matter where he ended up going for school or if he got a job somewhere else.
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March 2010: Saige Elizabeth Ellis
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Our niece Saige was born March 30, 2010. She is now 9 months old and just a delightful little girl. We didn't actually get to see Saige till she was a bit older, but we were so excited to have her join the family.
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April 2010: Jon Accepts Position with Cargill
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Jon flew out to Wichita, Kansas to interview with Cargill Meat Solutions and was offered a position there! It was everything that he wanted and more, so we decided we would make our future home in Wichita.
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May 2010: Jon Graduates/Moves; Mallory Starts School
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May 15: Jon graduated from Colorado State University with honors. May 16: With our apartment packed up, Jon left with the moving truck (and the dog) to drive to Wichita, KS and start his job with Cargill. May 17: I started classes in Loveland at UNC.
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June 2010: New Home
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Jonathan and I purchased a house in Wichita! In June, we were able to close on our house and start making mortgage payments. It was a huge step in our life.
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July 2010: Family Visits
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I was able to see both my parents and other extended family members on the Fourth of July at Paonia's Cherry Days. I was also able to spend some time with Jon's family in Fort Collins celebrating Caitlin's birthday.
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August 2010: Trip to Wichita/Bemidji
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On my two week break from school, I went to go see my husband for our anniversary, 08/08/10. It was my first time being in our new home when it actually had furniture in it and I was able to see where I would be living soon! I also went to visit my sister and her two kids in Bemidji, MN. It was my first chance to see her new baby and I had a blast with her family.
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September 2010: Jon visits Colorado
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At the end of August, Jon came back to Fort Collins for 3 weeks! He was working in Fort Morgan at the Beef Plant there. It was so great to have him back!
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October 2010: Trip to LA
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My friend Tabi and I went to LA to attend the Herbalife Extravaganza. It was a blast and a great time with an awesome friend.
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November 2010: Thanksgiving in Kansas
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My parents and my little sister and I went to Wichita to spend Thanksgiving at my house with Jon. It was a nice 4 or 5 days of vacation from school and a great time to remember how blessed we were this year.
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December 2010: Move to Wichita
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After I finished my last in person classes at UNC, I said my goodbyes to Fort Collins and drove out to Wichita. It was hard to say goodbye, but definitely the highlight of my year to be back with my husband. We also got to spend some time together driving to visit family in Colorado.
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So that's it for 2010! It was a great year, and Jon and I both agree it will be tough for 2011 to be as great! Even so, we have some resolutions this year. :D
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Mallory and Jonathan's Resolutions:
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1. We will keep up our habit of attending the temple at least once a month - This might be a difficult one this year. The temple is now 3 hours away, instead of the 1 1/2 hour drive we used to have. Regardless we have resolved to keep going each month to receive those blessings.
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2. Pray as a couple - Jon and I have been really good about reading our scriptures together every day (even when we lived apart for 7 months) but we've decided we'd also like to pray as a couple each day as well.
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3. Have a family night - We want to have a family home evening every week where we really have a chance to sit down and talk about spiritual matters and have some quality time together.
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Mallory's Resolutions:
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1. Scrapbook - I've decided that I'm going to finally finish the scrapbooks I've been working on. I have 2 started (high school memories and my trips to Germany) but I'd like to also finish my wedding scrapbook and the trip to Taiwan. I got a new Cricut paper cutting machine, so hopefully I can put it to good use. :)
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2. Blog more - I've never been very good at journaling, so what I'm going to try and do is once a week sit down and write about anything. It may end up on this blog as well, but maybe I'll write different things in my journal than I do on here. Just look forward to hearing more from me. Not that I'm any less busy...
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3. Exercise more regularly - Now that I'm living in Wichita, I have a gym membership to the YMCA and I plan on using it. I'll also be doing a few at home exercises from P90X like I did in Fort Collins, but my plan is to be more regular with exercise and really make it a part of my life. Maybe I'll even run a 5k or do a sprint triathlon.
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4. Get a job - This doesn't seem like it should be a New Year's Resolution, but I feel like it is for me. I won't have a job for a while since I'm student teaching, but I will be really taking this seriously so that I can get a job somewhere come August 2011.
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Jon's Resolutions:
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1. To read at least 85 books this calendar year - this stems from a goal to read more books in general, and then a goal of one a week, to a goal of beating someone else's record. :) That's Jon. I hope I can read more as well! (he might have more resolutions, but I don't know about them.)
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Happy New Year everyone! Look forward to more often updates on our household happenings and hope you all have a wonderful 2011!