Home

I'll be the first to admit that I've always wanted to just pick up and move somewhere new. And I'm SO glad to say that I've done it. It's been hard, fun, exciting, and a total adventure. But I miss Arkansas. Desperately. I don't know that I've pinpointed exactly what it is that I miss. I think it's the familiarity. I miss knowing how to go places without having to think about it. I miss knowing shortcuts going around town. I miss going to Wal-Mart and seeing half a dozen people that I know. I miss going to Mom and Dad's for Sunday lunch. I miss being within 10 minutes of pretty much any place that I wanted to go. I miss my family. And I miss my friends (although the majority of my friends are scattered all across the U.S.). I miss having someone to go shopping with and I miss having someone who just "gets" me. (Granted, Jamie "gets" me more than anyone else, but I'm talking about someone of the female gender.)

I knew it would be hard. I'm glad it's hard in fact.... it's a great learning expereince. But I'm not a country girl. And I live IN THE COUNTRY. And I'm 22. Not 32 (the general age of most people that I know).

But there are good things too. The weather is wonderful. The mountains are fabulous. And the love of my life is here... which makes it completley worthwhile.

But I miss home.

Do you know what it means to miss...

I love my job, and I really am loving Simla, and Colorado in general, but I miss the south. Having lived in the south my entire life, and leaving it only rarely, I have taken for granted the oddities that I have come to love. Particularly I miss Baton Rouge and Northwest Arkansas

I think the biggest thing that I miss right now about Baton Rouge is the city itself and the energy. I miss driving by a Raising Cane's, or going to a movie at the mall. I miss the smell of wet in the air all the time, I miss sooo much LSU football. People like football here, the Bronco's are a big deal, but the college game is not cared about as much. I miss the rabidness of LSU fans, and of SEC fans in general. No matter what people say there is no conference like the SEC. What I miss the most about NWA is all my friends. I was incredibly lucky to live with my friends for about 4 years. Not being able to see them everyday, to walk over to one of their rooms to play video games or just to talk, not going out to the porch to drink beer or moulded wine, is something that I find myself missing more and more and more. I have friends here. I like the people I work with, and Sarah is here. But i desperately miss my friends.

While this might sound like a depressing post, its not intended to. It's fall, and I love this season most of all, but it makes me think of home, of family, and of friends. Regardless of all this the job is going well. We have a big test coming up in football tomorrow (I hate playing high school games on Saturday, doesn't make a bit of sense) and we'll see how that goes. My parents are also here which has been nice, we're going to head into town tonight so that should be a lot of fun.

Funny story of the week time. While not as funny as the last one, and a story that is probably lacking in general funnieness. We had a kid at football practice get a head injury the other day. It was a relatively minor one so we weren't too worried but we needed to go through the motions anyway. The first thing we did was ask him to remember the phrase: grapes apples oranges. He did...kinda of. His response when we asked him was "Apples! No, damn!! Grapes, peaches, No damn... Grapes apples oranges, No damn, wait damn That was it huh? The response of the coach was that he was the first person to every possibly get a concussion that didn't have a brain.

Cheers, and long live the south!

Fall

Well its fall, or it will be tomorrow.  Time is moving along quickly.  This will be a fairly long and random post/update since its been a while.  We've been in school for about 6 weeks, though it seems a lot longer, and I (jamie) have finally received my first paycheck.  One of the worst part about being a new teacher is that in most districts you have to wait a month to get paid.  For me is was a bout a month and a half of working before I actually got paid.  Now I enjoy my job, love the school and the kids, but there is no way in hell that I would do what I am doing for free.  Way too much stress and way too much time.  So being paid (and being paid what I think is well) was nice.

School is going well, and I feel as though I have learned a lot.  I have learned that teaching without technology is hard,  I have learned that staying one step ahead of your class is sometimes all you can do, I have learned that having no school on Mondays is one of the greatest things that a school district can do for the sanity of its teachers, and I have learned that 8th graders can either be some of the most horrid creatures on God's green earth or some of the most fun.   I really enjoy teaching, its been kinds of surprising, and the district that I am in is really good.  If I need something they get it.  They want me to succeed and have helped in every way that they can to see that I do.  They people that I work with are great, from the principal to the janitors, I feel comfortable.  Football is going well too.  The varsity is 4-0 and should be ranked this week and the JV is 1-0, with a game tomorrow.  I call the offensive plays for the JV and am the line coach for the varsity.  I have decided that coaching is easily the most stressful thing that a man can do.  You have absolutely no control of what happens when the kids get on the field.  All you can do is yell (loudly and frequently) and hope that they hear and remember what they learned in practice.

We're also getting used to the area.  I love it here.  I like the small town, and Colorado.  It's beautiful.  I love driving into the Springs and seeing Pikes Peak the whole way in.  The trees are starting to change too, and they are gorgeous.  I think my favorite part about here though is the weather.  I've had my AC on two days, and it was on because I was sick and wanted it on, not because I need it.  It's nice, especially on the wallet.

To end my funny story of the week, and yes John, I'm stealing this from you.  My last hour of the day I teach Jr. High P.E.  The class is made up of 6th-8th graders who, for one reason or another do not play sports.  Most days the class is similar to herding cats, no order and just trying to keep the kids in line, some days though it is OK.  Last week when we were waiting for the bell to ring I had a child come up to me and say "Coach Stallings!  Look at this"  the child is pointing at both his chin and his upper lip.  I respond "What am I looking at"  student says "I have a pimple!  And I'm growing a mustache!"  at this point I'm trying (hard) not to laugh.  The student then proceeds to say that he is becoming a man (and will be one when the mustache grows in) and that with the pimple he will be able to get the "hot girl" in class (who happens to be standing about three feet away).  What makes this story funny, to me at least, is that the child was dead serious when he said it.  O the joys of P.E.

jamie

Wedding and Weekend

So... we've really got a lot done for the wedding... like I'm kinda surprised at our progress. We have the church reserved, we have a pastor, we have a reception site, we have attendants, we have a photographer, i think i've found my shoes, i have a good idea about the bridesmaid dresses. I feel like only being engaged for a few weeks that's a lot to have done! Kristin and I are going to go wedding dress shopping soon (i'm so excited! and i'm so glad she is close by!) and Jamie and I are going to a bridal faire on sunday (i roped jamie into going with me by telling him that we could register to win a free honeymoon but he had to be there to do it! :) so sneeky... i know)

This weekend is gonna be NUTS... Jamie is on the road for football and won't be back till late tonight so I'm on my own for this evening (which may mean venturing into the springs to do some shopping! :) ) although i must go home first do make myself not look like i'm from the 80's (today was 80's day today...

Then Saturday I have stupid class in the monring, but Jamie and i are going on a date saturday evening... dinner and a movie! HURRAY!

Sunday is church and the bridal faire

Monday starts parent/teacher conferences for me.... boo! i'm not excited about this

but it should be a good weekend. nonetheless.. i'm gonna go home!

love!
s.

Cold

It is cold in Colorado.

Actually, it's not that bad, but I'm used to September still being summer. It's actually fall here and the wind makes it feel like winter.

My house has HORRIBLE insulation. Last night I slept with fleece pj pants, a t-shirt and sweatshirt on. Then I had a quilt, comforter, and another huge blanket on after that. I was never warm once during the night. It's going to be a VERY cold winter.

I could have turned the heat on; however, I refuse to turn on the heat in SEPTEMBER... i'll break down and do it eventually, but it's just too soon.

Today started out horrible by the way: spilling my entire cup of coffee on my desk/floor, copy machine jammed, and spending time taking care of those things meant that I didn't have time to do others. Which I should go do now, but I needed to vent.

And my job is hard. Much harder than I ever expected. I hate not having another 2nd grade teacher. It has to get better eventually.

Random things from school...

So, my kids crack me up... here are a few favorites:

Me: Who can tell me the three parts of the water cycle?
Student: Evaporation, CONSTIPATION, precipitation!

Me: Who can tell me what Labor Day is?
Student: It's when everybody has babies... duh!!

Student this morning: So, Miss Lyman we can all come to your wedding, right?

The other hilarious thing is that I've convinced them that there is a desk fairy that comes around a night time and puts treats in desks that look nice and neat and organized. And I mean that EVERY one of my kids believes it. So, last night the desk fairy came for the first time and you would have thought they found gold in their desk. They were so stinkin excited... she even left them a note! :) it was cute and i could hardly keep from laughing.

They are funny kiddos. We had a really great day today. Thank goodness!!

Yes, we are engaged!

So, as you have probably seen... we are engaged! Jamie proposed on August 31st on the top of Pike's Peak... here's the story of how it happened...

My parents came into town for Labor Day weekend. The arrived late Friday night and I knew that Jamie had planned on asking for Dad's permission sometime that weekend. Saturday morning Jamie got to my house and talked to Dad and Mom about marrying me and then let them in on the plan of how he would do it. We ran around on Saturday and all day Jamie was giddy and being super sweet. I didn't really think anything of it. So we planned on going to Pike's Peak early Sunday morning since it usually rains in the afternoon. We left the house about 6:45 and the whole way there Jamie was super quiet. When I asked him about it, he just said that he was "tired" (which he really was since he didn't sleep the night before because he was so excited and nervous!) We stopped before we went up to Pike's Peak to go to the bathroom and I gave Jamie a hug and he quickly grabbed my hand and kissed me and moved on (because I almost grabbed the ring box! I realized all this after the fact ;) ) When we got to the top of Pike's Peak, Jamie said he wanted to take a picture with me so I followed him over to the spot. When I caught up with him he said, "So, Sarah... I have a question for you." My heart started pounding because I was hoping that he would ask me. Then, he got down on one knee and said, "Sarah, will you marry me?" Of course I said YES!! and we hugged and kissed and whatnot... I was literally floating on cloud 9 and I still am!!

We are getting married on June 12, 2009 back in Arkansas. I'M SO EXCITED!!!