Neglect

I feel like we've (more I) have neglected this thing recently, but I'm bored enough now to update this thing so here it goes:

We've bought a house. We signed the contract last week and our waiting patiently (not really) to close. The house is a foreclosure that is owned by Freddie Mac. This is a good and a bad thing. Good because we got a phenomenal deal (I'll describe the house in a bit) bad b/c its taking forever to close. Now for the house:

It is 4 bed 2 bath 1680 square foot, and in fabulous shape. We have to do nothing, but will probably paint some. More pictures will follow I'm sure. We close officially August 25th but will hopefully close sooner b/c of school. On that front...

I signed my contract today to make my job official. I am now a Civics, and World History teacher at Soutwest Jr. High in Springdale. I'm really excited about this job. Springdale is the district that I wanted to be in, and I'm really excited to be teaching (somewhat) older kids. Everybody that I've met has been really great, and I'm excited to get started. My room, which was a disaster, is nearly done, I've almost finished my coaching certification, I think I'm going to coach wrestling in some way shape or form, I've started (a little) planning for next year and last but not least, I have my first every professional development workshop tomorrow.

It's a pretty exciting time. Sarah is still looking for a job, but we are both confident that something will come up but it will mostly likely be last minute, it tends to be that way in Springdale.

That's all for now. I've got to take the dog out.

j

where do i even start?

so much has happened since i last posted. we'll just stick with the past 2 weeks b/c that has enough to update you on to last us a while.

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2 weeks ago today we got married. it was amazing. we had a HUGE storm the day of our wedding which included a tornado and by the time our wedding rolled around the sun was shining and i still got to have my outside reception. amazing. i'll write more about this later.

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we went on our honeymoon and had a ball... even though a lady jumped off our cruise ship the first night. awesome.

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oh yeah. jamie was offered a job the day of our wedding. yes. we are amazing like that.

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we were just pre-approved for a home loan today. we are probably going to put in an offer for a house tomorrow.

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i am continually humbled by God's provision and faithfulness. when we took this leap of faith to move, i knew that the Lord would provide, but i'm still shocked at how He continually blesses us.

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i'm exhausted and this is all i can muster for now.

.............

the end.

So...

finding a job, a house, finishing up the plans of a wedding, and being sick all at the same time isn't a bit stressful. nope. not one bit.

Interviews

Quick update on the job scene. I had a phone interview with Washington Jr. High in Bentonville last Thursday, and went to see them in person this last Monday, I also have an interview in about half an hour at Southwest Jr. High in Springdale. I'm really excited about both. Sarah has an interview this afternoon at Bayari elementary here in Springdale, and in other (kinda of funny) news, Sarah's dad has an interview today as well. gotta love the job hunt!

The end is drawing near...

As much as I've complained and grumbled about Colorado and hating living here... there are some good points, which I feel like you should know, and I should remember.

1. Last night we went over and hung out with some of Jamie's work friends. We had a lot of fun. The people (very few) but the people that we have become friends with are really great people.

2. Tonight we are going to hang out with some of my work friends. I'm excited to spend time with them... they are very wonderful people and I will miss them.

3. Today was Simla's graduation and it was really sweet... being in a small school, you have the ability to really impact kids and Jamie has certainly done that. He gave his 7 seniors (there were 26 total graduating) that he's had in class/coached gifts and the crying of the girls ensued. It was sweet to see how much Jamie has touched them... I know he'll be missed next year.

4. While my job situation has been less than ideal this year and really made this year very challenging and discouraging, I have some amazing parents in my class. Some of the mom's got together and got me flowers, a sweet card, and a cake that said "Happy Birthday, Congratulations, and Goodbye Ms. Lyman". They made it a surprise and we did the little "celebration" with my second graders and the kindergartners (I know all the kinders pretty well since I share a building with them and they are all almost all siblings of my 2nd graders). It was really sweet to have 28 kiddos sing "happy birthday to you, cha-cha-cha.." with such enthusasim. I WILL miss my sweet kids and my sweet parents. I am truely blessed by them.

5. It is nice to walk into the local grocery store and have the owners recognize you.

6. I couldn't be more pleased to be leaving Colorado. I can't wait to be in Arkansas, but there have been blessings here in Colorado which I am very thankful for.

End of School

So today is my last day, and I have to admit, it is a bit bitter sweet. Significantly more so than I expected. I have truly enjoyed my time here. This is a wonderful school. I am continually amazed at how good the staff and administration is here. I've also been impressed by the kids. There are some that drive me absolutely bat shit crazy but others that I really enjoy and will miss a lot. I've gotten close to a lot of my kids, particularly my athletes. When I started my career I had absolutely no desire to coach I wanted to be a teacher and an academic, not a meat-head. I have discovered though that coach (particularly wrestling) is something that I particularly enjoy and want to do again. So the adventure once again ends, but it also begins again. Marriage, Mexico, and Arkansas here we come!

Overwhelmed

So, we are moving in 10 days and I'm SO far behind on packing it's not even funny... packing 2 houses and 2 classrooms makes for a LOT of packing, a LOT of boxes, and a LOT to do.

I'm ready for these 10 days to be done.

10 things

1. I would just like to state that our cake decorator for the wedding just won a food network challenge. yes. awesome.

2. I am going to marry a very wonderful man very soon. Yesterday we went out to celebrate my birthday since we won't be able to celebrate on my actual birthday at The Melting Pot (my all time favorite restaurant!) When we got there we just had to wait a few minutes b/c we had a reservation... but as our hostess was seating us she asked if we were celebrating anything special... Jamie said it was my birthday so she said happy birthday and whatnot and then she said "Are you getting married soon?" And this is where I got kinda confused... how would our hostess know we are getting married or why would she ask that? But I blew it off and said "Yeah, June 12". Well, we got to our table and there was a beautiful bouquet of daisies (my fav) on our table. :) When Jamie called to reserve our table they had asked if he wanted any flowers or balloons for me for my birthday and he has said that it was for his fiance (which is where the hostess' comment came into play). Our waiter obviously knew it was my birthday and about the upcoming wedding but the manager came over too to wish us well which was pretty impressive. But we had a wonderful meal and came home to have a wonderful evening together. It was very sweet. I love him.

3. I hate packing.

4. I can't wait to buy a house and not move for like 20-30 years.

5. I can't wait to be back in Arkansas.

6. Only 6 more school days.

7. Possibly my least favorite chore is folding and putting away laundry hense while I have a HUGE pile of clean stuff piled up in the bedroom.

8. We went to see Star Treck for my birthday too (which I was NOT excited about b/c I HATE, I mean HATE Si-Fi) but I loved it. You should see it.

9. I have soooo much to do, but can't seem to get motivated to do it.

10. I have a really cute dog and a really cute future husband. Life can't get much better than this. :)

16 little days that feel like years

We are moving to Arkansas in 16 days.

PRAISE GOD.

I can't wait.

reflections

As I was driving home one day last week, I was thinking about what I've learned from this experience here in Colorado. The lessons are vast in number. Here is what I can think of.

1. Everyone should move 1,000 miles away from their family and friends at least once in their life. If you think you appreciate those people now, move away from them and you'll never take them for granted again.

2. Research, research, research before you blindly take a job in a place you've never seen before. :)

3. Planning your grocery shopping for an entire week (like can't forget one thing at all) is a difficult job.

4. Planning your grocery shopping for several weeks at a time is VERY difficult when you don't know the next time you'll be able to go into civilization because of snow blizzards.

5. Driving into snow drifts isn't a good idea. It's rather difficult to get out.

6. There is no point in doing your hair when you have 50 mile an hour wind everyday.

7. Being able to drive 5 minutes to Wal-Mart, or any sort of civilization is a wonderful, wonderful thing.

8. Being the only teacher that teaches your grade is very, very difficult and exhausting.

9. Thinking the best of people is always a good thing, but you will often be very, very disappointed.

10. I've learned that I wouldn't trade this year in Colorado for anything. It's possibly been the hardest year of my life (and I think I'll look back on this when I'm old and probably say the same thing) but I've learned more about life, love, teaching, family, friends than I could have ever imagined. I feel like I've gotten about 10 years of life experience in one small year. I'm glad that we moved, but I'm even more glad (you can't imagine!) that we are moving back home. There is no place like home... that's for sure.

Random assortment of thoughts

-So we're like 45 days from the wedding. Sarah's freaking out a bit.

-The upside to this is that I get to play a lot of video games.

-We have 16 days of school left, this couldn't come soon enough.

-I really want Sarah or I to get a job soon.

-I also really want to buy a house.

- My dog tried to eat through her color.

- We have a chance of snow tomorrow, its the end of April.

- Sarah has done a ton of stuff, thank you notes, invitations, etc.

- Does anybody else find it slightly ridiculous that we had to spend $80+ just for postage for the invitations?

-I started packing my house today. There's a lot of crap that we're moving.

- Abita Strawberry Lager is about as good as it gets.

- I really want enchiladas right now.

- I've also decided that I don't like having Monday's off as much as I thought I did.

- Let me explain this. Up till a few weeks ago I hadn't actually had a full three day weekend, I've now had two, and honestly, it makes the weekend kind of long and boring.

- I think the above is mostly because we live in Simla, an hour from civilization.

The hell that is Colorado

So dear friends for all of you that have ever thought about moving to Colorado, let me advise against it. It is now the middle of April. This weekend we are expecting somewhere between 12-30 inches of snow.

While this would normally be a good thing, i.e. snow day tomorrow, for Sarah and I this causes a fairly large problem. Sarah is supposed to fly to Arkansas tomorrow at 4 for a couple of wedding showers, and then on Monday she has a meeting with a principal (we are really hopeful about that!!) now when we booked this flight we booked it as late as possible to avoid snow. We being normal reasonable southern folk never considered that it could possibly snow the last half of April, let alone snow 2+ feet.

So here is our predicament, starting tomorrow morning about 2 it is supposed to begin snowing, and not stop till Saturday afternoon. Don't you love Colorado.

It looks like now that I just might be making an unscheduled and unfortunately brief trip to Arkansas.

Joy, Joy, Joy.

2 months

In two months I will officially be Mrs. Sarah Stallings. While I have tried not to jibber jabber too much about our wedding (I find it annoying when others do this). This post is dedicated to the wedding. So read on if you like.

1. Living 1,000 miles away from any bridesmaid makes life a little more difficult I think. While some brides have "invitation parties" where everyone comes to help address, stamp, lick envelopes of invitations- I, my friends, do not have that luxury. I have taken on the task of doing all invitations by myself. While this might not seem like that big of an undertaking, our "smallish" wedding of 150 has somehow grown to be well over 200. I'm guessing once it's all said and done we'll be at about 230ish. 230. 230 invitations. 230 invitations to stuff, stamp, lick. It's a lot.

2. I've started having these wedding day nightmares. For example, some how my wedding dress turned into a red/white seersucker wedding dress and my shoes were hot pink. In my dream, I was very concerned (not about the seersucker) but about the fact that my shoes and dress did not match. I also had a dream about people fainting during the ceremony, me BAWLING throughout the whole thing (we are talking SOBS, okay? not the sweet I'm in love and getting married crying, the I just lost my best friend SOBS).

3. Planning a wedding long distance is just not the easiest thing to do. And I'm really nervous that I'm forgetting something really important... like vital to the day important.

4. While we want our wedding to be elegant, we want it to be simple too. And fun. Hense why we decided to go with a BBQ/picnic type reception. I just hope that other people enjoy our "style" of wedding too.

5. Going back to the whole invitation thing- I decided not to hand address all the wedding invites (is that tacky?) Since I would be writing everything myself (too daunting of a task) and have heard horrible nightmare situations of printing directly on the envelopes, I decided to go with clear labels that our invitation designer designed herself (it ties in w/ the invite theme). Is this bad? I hope people don't think it's tacky. It's for my sanity people... just remember that.

6. One last thing- Right now, I am planning a wedding, looking for a new job, and getting ready to pack up and move within two months. How crazy am I?

Because He Lives

I woke up singing this song this morning. Perfect for Good Friday.

Because He Lives Words and music by William J. Gaither © 1971 Matthew 28:6 "He is not here: for he is risen, as he said. Come, see the place where the Lord lay." God sent His son, they called Him, Jesus; He came to love, heal and forgive; He lived and died to buy my pardon, An empty grave is there to prove my Savior lives! Chorus Because He lives, I can face tomorrow, Because He lives, all fear is gone; Because I know He holds the future, And life is worth the living, Just because He lives! How sweet to hold a newborn baby, And feel the pride and joy he gives; But greater still the calm assurance: This child can face uncertain days because He Lives! Chorus Because He lives, I can face tomorrow, Because He lives, all fear is gone; Because I know He holds the future, And life is worth the living, Just because He lives! And then one day, I'll cross the river, I'll fight life's final war with pain; And then, as death gives way to vict'ry, I'll see the lights of glory and I'll know He lives! Chorus Because He lives, I can face tomorrow, Because He lives, all fear is gone; Because I know He holds the future, And life is worth the living, Just because He lives!

We're Moving Again (to Arkansas this time!)

So, as you may have noticed from the new title of our blog... we are officially moving to Arkansas on May 30th! So, here's the story of how this came to be.

As you may or may not know, I hate Colorado. A lot. There are various reasons that I have for this hatred the number one reason being that we have no family here. Let me tell ya- family means a lot. It's hard not having close friends here, not having family, and living in towns that well, just plain suck. I can't really begin to express to you how out in the middle of no where we are. We are out there. WAAAAAAY out there.

Jamie and I have been toying with the idea of moving back to AR since December. It was really just an option, not a serious consideration yet at that point; however, the longer that time went on the more appealing the idea became. We eventually said "We'll move to AR if we get jobs there." And we started applying. What finalized it was Spring Break. When we came back from Spring Break we started saying things like "WHEN we move back to AR" instead of "IF we move back to AR".

Notice that I have made no mention of jobs thus far. That is because we don't have jobs right now. We are completely trusting in the Lord that He will provide for us in whatever way that may be. The funny thing is- we are very at peace about this whole thing (and if you know Jamie and I, that's very not us). We know God is merciful and will take care of us. We know that we have family and friends that will do whatever they can for us. And bottom line is, we know that we will be happier in AR. Maybe much poorer, but happier. And that's what matters to us in the long run. Who cares if we are poor the first few years of our marriage (who isn't?) we'll be with family and friends and be happy.

So that's our exciting news. Moving and getting married within 13 days of each other. Crazy? Sure, but it's just another great adventure!

stuck in the snow

Since my day as been more eventful than it normally is, I feel it is necessary to tell you about it. So here we go.

Well, first off- you should know that we are back in Colorado. And today is the day that we were taking our puppy, Tonks to get fixed, microchipped, and another round of shots (I know, horrible!) So when I woke up and it was snowing outside I didn't really think twice about leaving for town (we are in Colorado afterall, it snows all the time right?) It was just those pretty snowflakes that gently fall from the sky. Real innocent looking ya know. Real innocent looking.

When it snows, I always drive (you'd rather have the Arkansan driving than the guy from Lousiana after all) so we head off with puppy in tow. I quickly realized that this innocent looking snow was not so innocent after all. It was blowing. BAD. And starting to come down more. I didn't panic though. I could still see at least 40-50 feet in front of me. I made it to the vet without a problem and then we decided to continue our treck into the Springs. THIS my friends is where the problem lies. We were on the road maybe another 5 minutes when I couldn't see. At all. Couldn't see the road. Couldn't see any other cars. Couldn't see. AT ALL. But I keep driving because, well, I can't see where to stop. I managed to make it about halfway to the Springs where we stopped at the post office to mail some things and then headed out again (going back home would have been just as dangerous right?) Well, needless to say we made it fine and this isn't where the humours part lies.

Fastforward a few hours to the vets office where we are picking up our poor puppy. We are leaving and I start backing out and somehow decide that I can make it in my little car through a snow drift that probably comes up to my knees. And this, my friends, is where the fun begins. I got stuck. Can't go forward, can't go backward. And my fiance is asking me what in the world I was thinking trying to go through this drift. All I can manage is a strug. So he gets out to push. And push. And push. Nothing works. So I convince him to go back inside and ask for help. And help comes in the form of a shovel and vet assistant. And they shovel and push and shovel and push. And eventually we got unstuck. But it was exciting. And Jamie has been making fun of me all evening because I thought I could make it through the drift. And I feel slightly stupid (okay, REALLY stupid) but you have to give me credit that I drove in my first blizzard and didn't get us killed or anyone else and getting stuck in a drift isn't THAT horrible. It could have been worse. So don't make too much fun.

Leaving

Tomorrow morning we are leaving to go back to the horrible state of Colorado. (I should really work on my attitude towards this state I suppose). I guess that I thought that each time that we came back and left it would get a little easier every time, but I don't think this is true. In fact, I'm quite sure that it's NOT true. I dread leaving. I don't want to leave. I don't want to go back to Colorado ever again in my entire life, but I still have to go and endure at least another 2 months of life there. Hopefully that will be the end of it and we will be back in Arkansas. Hopefully.

On a more cheerful note and since Jamie and I are apparently obsessed with hymn lyrics these days here's one of my favs that will be a congregational hymn at our wedding. :)


O Love that will not let me go,
I rest my weary soul in thee;
I give thee back the life I owe,
That in thine ocean depths its flow
May richer, fuller be.

O light that followest all my way,
I yield my flickering torch to thee;
My heart restores its borrowed ray,
That in thy sunshine’s blaze its day
May brighter, fairer be.

O Joy that seekest me through pain,
I cannot close my heart to thee;
I trace the rainbow through the rain,
And feel the promise is not vain,
That morn shall tearless be.

O Cross that liftest up my head,
I dare not ask to fly from thee;
I lay in dust life’s glory dead,
And from the ground there blossoms red
Life that shall endless be.

God be merciful to me

God, be merciful to me,
On Thy grace I rest my plea;
Plenteous in compassion Thou,
Blot out my transgressions now;
Wash me, make me pure within,
Cleanse, O cleanse me from my sin.

My transgressions I confess,
Grief and guilt my soul oppress;
I have sinned against Thy grace
And provoked Thee to Thy face;
I confess Thy judgment just,
Speechless, I Thy mercy trust.

I am evil, born in sin;
Thou desirest truth within.
Thou alone my Savior art,
Teach Thy wisdom to my heart;
Make me pure, Thy grace bestow,
Wash me whiter than the snow.

Broken, humbled to the dust
By Thy wrath and judgment just,
Let my contrite heart rejoice
And in gladness hear Thy voice;
From my sins O hide Thy face,
Blot them out in boundless grace.

Gracious God, my heart renew,
Make my spirit right and true;
Cast me not away from Thee,
Let Thy Spirit dwell in me;
Thy salvation’s joy impart,
Steadfast make my willing heart.

The South

I cannot begin to tell you how wonderful it is to be back in the South. Here are some of the great things that have happened thus far:

1. Some of you may not know this, but if you have ever lived somewhere else other than the South then you will know... there is a different smell in the south than anywhere else (no it's not the smell of chickens or cow poop). It's the smell of humidity. Moisture. In the air. Now, granted when I lived here I complained with the best of them about the humidity that we always have here, but when you live in the DRIEST place EVER moisture is a welcomed relief for the dry skin/chapped lips/moisture ridden hair. I love humidity. And I love the smell of humidity. It's quite wonderful.

2. After church today, Jamie and I (along with my family) went and looked at houses. For us. Beautiful houses. New houses. That we can afford. We want to buy SO bad and we are so hoping that we can get this particular house by June.

3. Speaking of houses- my parents are remodeling their house and totally didn't tell me! They wanted to surprise us- they aren't totally finished yet, but they've totally redone the bathrooms and all the bedrooms and are getting ready to finish the rest of the house within the next couple of months. Pretty exciting.

4. We have a MILLION things to do while we are in town. I'm not quite sure that it'll all get done, but we'll see.

5. Did I mention that I'm sick? Thursday morning I woke up with a fever and my neck (where your lymph nodes are were VERY swollen). I decided that since spring break was around the corner and I did not want to be sick that I would break down and go to the doctor (i've been sick on and off for about a month). Turns out I had/have all this fluid build up in my ears that was now in my lymph nodes and I had beginning stages of strep. Perfect. So I'm on a bunch of meds (and not contagious) and got a nice lecture from the doctor about how I should go to the doctor as soon as I feel bad before it gets worse. yada yada.

6. So, now my turn to brag about my wonderful soon to be husband: Jamie had asked me about what I wanted for my birthday (he likes to plan ahead) and I said that I would like a strand of pearls (even though I figured we couldn't afford them) to wear on our wedding day but made it clear that I was probably too expensive so not to worry about it. Well, today we were all out shopping and mom and i went off without jamie. before i knew it jamie was asking me to come to kay because he needed to know the size of my neck(haha!). You see, he found a strand that he thought was beautiful, but didn't know the right size of the necklace so even though I know I'm getting a strand of pearls for my birthday/wedding present I'm so excited. He spoils me terribly. And I love him so very much.

7. I'm very exhausted so I realize that all of these things don't realy go together, but there you have it. For now at least.

Home

Dear friends,

In about 36 hours we will be in lovely (and likely wet) Northwest Arkansas. We will be in town until Sunday. We would like to see as many of you as humanly possible.

Love,

Jamie and Sarah.

Spring Fever

I'm not sure if any of you have experienced the phenomena of "16 7 year olds who are tired of winter and ready for spring" or not, but let me tell you something, it's not fun.

I don't know that I could express to you how ready I am for Spring Break. These children need it. I need it. We ALL NEED IT. Or we will all drive each other crazy.

Let me tell you what this looks like. I have a pretty good class of kiddos. HOWEVER, this spring fever means that all claws and teeth come out (even out of my way sweet kiddos) which results in me nearly losing my mind and wondering why it is that I do this day after day. And then some kid says something like "you should get a prize for teaching us miss lyman- you're the best!" and then two seconds later doing something that drives me up the wall.

spring break. do not delay. we all need you terribly.

Of Love and Life

Rewind back to my Senior year of college Christmas break. I spent part of my break with my roomie and her family in Kansas. I needed to be out of Arkansas and away for a while to relax and recharge. It was a wonderful, wonderful break. While I was there I talked with a very wise woman. We talked about love and life and such. She asked me what I thought about love and I didn't really have an opinion. I knew love existed. I could see love. I could love. I knew I could be loved by friends and family. But I didn't know that I could be loved romantically. We talked about romance and love and such and she told me "Sarah, when you meet the man that you will marry it will be EASY. You almost won't have to work at the relationship... it'll fall into place and when you do have to work at it, you won't mind working at it because it'll be so good. And when you find the man you will marry it will happen FAST. You'll feel like you've known him your whole life and you'll be engaged and married before you know it."

She couldn't have been more right.

Not even two months after we talked Jamie and I were dating. It was easy. It was fun. I ENJOYED it. I loved spending time with him and I felt like I'd know him forever after a month. And it was fast. We dated 6 months and then we were engaged. It seemed silly to wait to get married when we knew so quickly. We will actually be engaged longer than we dated. Crazy huh? Dated 6 months. Engaged 9 months. And then we'll be married.

And here I am... just as she said. I haven't talked to her since Christmas break of my Senior year and I need to go back and tell her how very right she was.

LIfe... for the past, oh 6 months

So, I thought that maybe I should let the world know what is happening in our lives since I've failed to do that in, well... months. oops.

So here we go.

1. Life has been a blur. Maybe that's why I haven't updated. Jamie has had wrestling every weekend since we got back from Christmas break and I've filled my time with random things like cleaning, school work, and occasional shopping. This past weekend they had a tournament at home and I got to be the announcer. It was fun feeling like I knew what was going on (even though most of the time I didn't) people sure thought i know what I was doing!

2. We got a puppy. Now THAT my friends is where most of my time has gone to. We got her two days before Valentine's day because one of the moms of a kid in my class was trying to get rid of these puppies for her neighbor.... she brought the last two of the litter up to school and another teacher got one and so this one little lone puppy was left. Well, I learned that the people were going to put the little puppy to sleep if they couldn't find her a home within the week. So, I came home to Jamie and told him about the whole situation and we went and got her that night. After all, who could resist such a cute little face? (meaning Tonks' face... not Jamie's :) )

She's just a BIT excited in this one...

And then to add on to all of that... our wedding is less than three months away (holy cow!) so I'm trying to get ready for that. School has been NUTS. Spring Break is next week so we are attempting to start packing for that AND I'm looking for a new job next year (my principal knows so I figure I'm safe in saying that right?) So, life is just a TAD busy these days. So that's us! Maybe I'll update sooner next time!

So I really suck at blogging. Maybe one of these days I'll actually sit down and tell you something exciting about our lives. But isn't it fun to keep you guessing? I think so.

Puppy and wrestling

So Sarah and I have a puppy now. We got her a few nights ago and are really excited, I'm sure that she'll blog about the dog later (and do a much better job that I do) but for now she's at home puppysitting. She is a half Chihuahua half Corgie, but she looks more corgie.. So far its been a good experience. She's picking up fairly well on potty training, and hasn't been too terribly aggravating.

In other news, Varsity wrestling is almost over. State's next week. We qualified three kids, so Thursday, Friday, and Saturday of this week I will be coaching wrestling at the Pepsi Center in Denver (where the nuggets play) I'm pretty excited. If we wrestle as well as we can we can realistically place all three of the boys and possibly get a few in finals which would be awesome.

Sickness and the like

So to begin with let me just state that it is incredibly frustrating to move to Colorado and only have one snow day as compared to Arkansas 4 so far. This is afterall, the great northern wasteland, with snow and polar bears isn't it? Nope all we get is cold.

In other news its that time of year again! The time for everyone to get sick. I missed school yesterday feeling like crap, and we think that Sarah has the flu. Oh how I love winter.

nothing important.

1. so... ya know that "not" new years resolution that i made about not saying yes to everything (especially at work), i just blew that one out of the water today. i'm now the GT primary grade coordinator or representative or something like that ... in my defense.. when you have a new principal and you are the new gal you can't hardly help but say "yes" especially when something along the lines of "i think you would be perfect for this position" is said. yes, i'm a sucker. i know.

2. we went to zach and carole's wedding this past weekend in dallas. i was WONDERFUL to be with friends again. WONDERFUL. and all day monday i was sooooo down b/c we weren't with them anymore. so i just keep savoring the weekend and look forward for one that to come (hopefully sometime in the near future).

3. people have started planning wedding showers for us...and i can't wait! i need things! like in my kitchen and my living room and bathroom! and i'm excited to see people that i love dearly (and it will more than likely result in me getting to fly into AR in april! amazing!)

4. jamie and i have gone into this crazy we are going to loose weight thing. it's actually working. quite well. and i'm very pleased with myself.

5. i love jcrew

6. zach and carole's wedding this weekend made jamie and i SO excited about our wedding. we can't wait.

7. our wedding is going to be WAY cute. you should come.

8. i can't wait until the cruise after the wedding. SUN. and WARMTH. two things i don't get much of in this place.

9. as much as i complain about the weather... we have had really nice weather this week that will be followed by a blizzard this weekend. stupid weather. i'm ready for spring.

10. i'm actually more ready for june 12 than anything. it will be a great and wonderful day.

know

I think one of the greatest desires in life is to be known and to know. I've found that with Jamie. We just get each other. We understand. We know.

But I think that most people desire to be known by a person of the same gender too. To have a best girl friend or guy friend that just knows.

Sometimes I think I'm odd.. I don't really realize that I need people until I'm with people. (confusing huh?) You see, I'm so far away from my friends it's like I forget that I need that companionship until I'm with them again and then I remember. I had coffee with a good friend today and I remembered. So then I called my best friend from home and we talked for about 2 hours... we talked about life, and love, and work, and struggles, and I love the fact that we just get each other. We know each other. We can go without talking for months because we are both so busy and pick right back up where we left off and she just GETS me. I don't have to justify my feelings or thoughts to her. She just understands.

It's nice to be known.

Back to the grind

So if anyone was incredibly worried we made across the vast hell that is Kansas and arrived safely in Colorado. We had a few adventures getting back; driving to Wal-mart in quasi blizzard to take back and a get a new TV stand, nasty Kansas flatness, and stinky new neighbors, but other than that it was an uneventful trip. Arkansas/Louisiana was amazing, I cannot possibly express how great it was to be home. Seeing friends was amazing, and I think that is what I miss the most, we have friends here but nothing like we do at home. The bachelor party the weekend before we left, was, even though I got to stay one night, the highlight of the trip. It was also great to see family, and just be home.

School's been rough this week, not that the kids have been particularly bad or that this has been a bad week, its just been long. Being a school teacher is great because of the breaks but it is really hard to get back into school shape after two weeks off. Let me explain school shape, I'm on my feet walking around between 5-6 hours a day, on top of that I'm talking almost all of that time, while trying to keep 5-25 hooligans from destroying the classroom. I've been tired, and my voice has also been tired.

We have a wrestling tournament this weekend. It's an overnight trip, which will be an adventure. We're going into the mountains and its supposed to snow. I'm not driving. I enjoy wrestling, I'm not a good coach yet but it's a fun sport and one that I enjoy more and more.

Also on a final note, my TV is set up. It is beautiful. Also I have Xbox live so if you read this and have an Xbox you should either get it back, or give me your name so you can dominate me at Halo. Sarah plays too by the way.

My NOT New Year's Resolutions

Every year I make a list of things that I want to do in that year. Generally, very typical things like loosing weight, yada yada. And while I like setting goals for myself, sometimes it's just too much to think about at one time. It becomes another scary list to try and complete and we all know that I have PLENTY lists in my life. So here are all the things I'm NOT going to do this year. (It makes it seem so much easier).

1. I'm NOT going to fall into the media trap of what is "beautiful".
I'm beautiful. Enough said.

2. I'm NOT going to stress out on my wedding day.
I just won't do it. I'm going to enjoy my day. I'm going to be happy. I'm going to celebrate the love I share with the man of my dreams. And whatever happens, happens.

3. I'm NOT going to let work consume my life.
I'm going to work the rest of my life. But I don't want work to BE my life.

4. I'm NOT going to think about all the things that I don't have, but seem to think I can't live without.
I have an ugly orange chair and an ugly blue couch for living room furniture. But I have living room furniture which is a nice thing.

5. I'm NOT going to pretend to be someone I'm not.
What ya see is what ya get. I've done the pretending thing before and vow to never to it again.

6. I'm NOT going to try to please people all the time.
As much as I'd like to think that I can make everyone happy, I can't. And it's rather pointless to try.

7. I'm NOT going to say "yes" to everything that people ask me to do.
This one is for work. When you are the youngest person on staff by 15 years you often get fingangled into doing things that other people don't know how to do (i.e. all technology).

So, there ya have it. All the things that I'm not going to do this year. Kinda nice.