LOVE LOVE LOVE

The month of LOVE! Valentine's Day has been a good one and everything leading up to it as well! But before we get to the Valentine's Day stuff, here's a little update.

My school friends and I took some pictures one day after our classes. I literally spend all day everyday with them. I don't know what I would do without them in class.

This is Tess, she is the sweetest! We drive to Idaho Falls together twice a week for our practicum. Her husband and her are moving to Maine for dental school in the fall so we relate in a lot of ways!

We also had a Super Bowl party at the Jacobs to cheer on the Broncos! When we headed over to the party we thought Jon was going for the panthers and Garrett was not happy about that so he stuck these signs in the apple dip that we brought. Jon ended up changing his mind, so it was fun that we were all cheering for the same team. We also took our favorite sausage dip and everyone LOVED it. 

The Broncos won and played so good! It was so fun! We would get so excited and jump up and the dogs would freak out. Their friends Taylor and Connor also came over to watch and they have a puppy bulldog. So freaking funny and cute!

 And Garrett found a new cuddle buddy. I've been replaced by any dog in sight. 

I have been in my 5th grade classroom this semester and because I wasn't able to make it to the party on Friday because I had class I made a box to leave there and passed out my valentine's a day early. I made a little love monster box! I would have won most valentin-ee but I didn't enter the contest! And since I didn't get a good picture of my valentines for the kids, Graham is displaying them for you! (I gave them the same ones)

Earlier in the month I started watching cupcake wars when I would make dinner and Garrett wasn't home yet and that got me CRAVING cupcakes bad. I'm technically not even supposed to eat them but they looked so dang good. I controlled myself and didn't drive to cocoa bean that night. I was in the schools all day the next day and when I got home, I walked into this on the table...

A cupcake and a flower! Made my day ten times better! Garrett is so sweet and thoughtful and let me tell you, I enjoyed that cupcake!

For Valentine's Day we went out to dinner Saturday night to Red Robin and the food was delicious! We found a red barn on the way out of town. 

 

For Valentine's Day I made Garrett a candy bar card and gave him a mountain dew! I think he was pleased. 

Garrett got me some roses, the sweetest card, and my favorite chocolates. 

For church we went to the I-Center for a special stake conference where we listened to Elder Rasband and his wife speak, President and Sister Gilbert, and a member of the seventy. 

They spoke on marriage and family and we learned a lot! It was such a great message to hear on this special day. 

So grateful for Garrett and to have him as my forever valentine. He is the sweetest, most thoughtful husband and I am blessed to have him!

JANUARY

January was a busy month with the new semester and trying to figure out our schedules. With this being our last semester and it keeping us busy we have been trying to do something together each weekend.

Early on in January we went to Idaho Falls one Friday night to run some errands and to go to the Madison vs. Skyline High School basketball game! It was honestly such a good game and we had the best time! Madison ended up winning by a few but it went right down until the end.

The weekend after that we had a three-day weekend and we headed to Bozeman for the day to watch Payton play! My dad and Uncle Jim came up to watch him so we got to see them too! We went through West Yellowstone because we weren't in a hurry for once! The drive was beautiful! And when the drive is beautiful I obviously would want to stop and take a picture. So Garrett had finally pulled over and the second we stepped out of the car we were FREEZING. It was so freaking cold and windy! Garrett was anything but thrilled. So we tried to hurry! We had to go down a little hill to find a flat space. I kept breaking knee deep into the snow. We took one picture and booked it out of there without evening looking to see if the picture turned out. We started coming up with how long we would have survived in the cold if we didn't make it back to the car and what would have happened. But GOOD NEWS! The pictures turned out surprisingly well!

But anyways we made it to Bozeman and because Payt had to go see the MAT guy Garrett and I went to Target and picked up Jimmy John's and then headed to the gym. The game was a very intense. Payton seriously played so good, especially since he was barely walking that morning. He scored, rebounded, forced steals, and was basically just all over the place. He scored a lay- up to tie the game and then Ray made a shot to put us up 2 with 1 second left on the clock. Bozeman passed the ball in, he took 2 dribbles and threw up a three quarter court shot and swished it. It was perfect. Bozeman stormed the court and out of no where the refs come to the middle of the court calling the shot no good. So WE WON!!! It was crazy and quite controversial! It was so exciting! 

The drive back took four hours because it snowed the whole way! We just couldn't stop talking about the game! It was so fun to be able to be there! 

Something else that happened in January was that I had my student teaching interviews! It was quite stressful leading up to them and hoping I would get offered a position! They ended up not even being half as bad as I thought they would be! I felt pretty confident afterwards and I found out like two days later. 

I was offered positions to student teach in Utah and in Idaho Falls. I feel pretty lucky that I received 2 offers because some people didn't even receive any but I threw a pretty good pity party for myself for a few days. I was just so disappointed because the two that I got offers from were my last to choices just because of convenience. Garrett and I decided that I would student teach in Idaho Falls so that we could just stay where we are until the end of June. I have come around to the idea now and I found out that I will be in the 4th Grade at Woodland Hills Elementary School!

The day after I had found out about student teaching Garrett and I headed to Butte to watch Sophie play this time. We figured it was easier to only go half way then to go all the way to Billings. This time my mom came up so we got to see her too! We ordered take-out at Mackenzie River and ate it at the gym! 

I look horrible but we had the best time! Sophie absolutely killed it. They ended up losing in overtime but Sophie is a stud. She came out and swished her first shot/three of the night and played super hard. We are so so proud of her! There is nothing else to say other than that. 

January consisted of MANY walks with Elle and Graham. And this far into February it has too! It has seriously been one of my favorite things. He brings me SO MUCH JOY. I can't even handle it. He is so freaking sweet and cute. We have a good relationship now! He gets excited to see me and cries every time I go to get out of the car. I have also loved chatting with Elle and catching up. It has been a really good time for me to just relax and not think of all the things that I need to do. He is getting SO BIG!

Backseat mirror selfies. Now every time I get in the car he immediately points to the mirror and wants me to look in it! 

January FLEW BY! I can't even believe it! Makes me so happy but also a little scared!