Our Professional Advice (Hehe!)

Carl and I have been married for 18 months. 18 months! I love it! It's been the most amazing, most trying, more rewarding thing I have ever done, and we still have so many more months and years to come! So I thought Carl and I would make a list of 18 things we have learned so far in our marriage.

This is our serious face.

1. CARL: In the words of Michael Buble, "Try a little tenderness!"
2. ALISA: The age old advice, COMMUNICATE.
3. CARL: Forget yourself in service.
4. ALISA: Read the 5 Languages of Love
5. CARL: Women need to cry. Often.
6. ALISA: Being silly is necessary.
7. CARL: Have FHE every week. Don't miss a single one!
8. ALISA: Think of your spouse's needs before you think of your own. Their's might be more important :)
9. CARL: Tell her she's pretty. Even when she thinks she isn't, but you know she is.
10. ALISA: Always say thank you! Don't let their service go unseen.
11. CARL: Accept that she will constantly look at pictures of babies. And puppies. And you better learn to love it.
12. ALISA: Hold hands always.
13. CARL: Remember she needs to talk. (Alisa insight: And it might need to be with other girls!)
14. ALISA: Don't forget to do your individual scripture study and personal prayers.
15. CARL: Never skip a date night.
16. ALISA: Share your testimonies with each other.
17. CARL: Tell her you love her. Then tell her again.
18. ALISA: Tell him you love him. Then tell him again.

**This list idea brought to you by Angie Roane's blog!

Ode to Fall

Carl and I spent our first fall together in Idaho where, as many of you know, tends to skip over fall. And spring. And basically only favors winter. Needless to say our fall here has been absolutely splendid. A couple weekends ago I took time off from planning lessons and grading papers to venture on a hike to Sugarloaf Mountain. Unfortuantly, we neglected to bring our camera, but I assure you the view was absolutely gorgeous! The hike up was somewhat steep, but the view at the top of the mountain was always worth it. The leaves were turning bright colors of red, yellow, and orange and those that had already fallen made a satisfying crunch under our feet. We (jealously) looked on at families hiking together and vowed to take our children hiking one day. (Can you tell we're baby hungry?? haha!) There's something about the combination of nature and humanity that makes the world seem good and whole. We were going to climb up another side of Sugarloaf Mountain the following Saturday, but the weather has started to become cloudy and gloomy--winter is unfortuantly on its way.

Carl and I were discussing the nature of seasons and decided that Heavenly Father was extremely wise to have four seasons. We wouldn't appreciate those bright summer days, the beautiful mixed colors of fall, the frigid winter days when you stay curled up in bed with a good book, or the rebirth of nature that spring brings. It's those little differences in life that really make you appreciate each and every day that you have.

Microwave Popcorn

Microwave popcorn is ingenious. I purchased a box the other day, and when I popped a bag I couldn't stop thinking about the mechanics of it all. I mean, you have the kernels and hard butter just sitting in a folded up bag. You set the timer for 1 minute, 52 seconds and the heat takes over. The kernels start popping into popcorn, the butter becomes liquid and juicy and the bag expands. All in under 2 minutes. As the timer dings, you pull out your hot, but tasty, snack. It's brillance! It's like an innovative bag of happiness :)

Halfway Through

I am almost half way through my student teaching! I cannot believe it; it feels like I just started. This Monday will be week 6 in my 13 week stint. Just last week I started teaching the full 90-minute period for three classes. They never said teaching would be easy, but it is by far one of the most rewarding things I have done. I suppose this partly has to do with the school district I am in. The kids are hardly any trouble and so polite--they say "Thank you, Mrs. Virgin" when they leave the class! I know, it sounds unreal. It's like I'm in a dream school! I can only imagine how different it is in other schools throughout the country. I also think it's rewarding because I am still a student teaching students. I'm learning right along with them in the classroom, but in many other aspects than English. More posts to come on teaching because currently it is my secret to happiness.

Catching Up

It's been awhile since I have written a blog. My last post was when Carl and I were still in Idaho I believe. It feels like my life has changed drastically since that time... or perhaps Idaho and Maryland are really that different ;) As mentioned before, Carl and I felt impressed to come do our internships in this area. There have been many challenges we've had to face since arriving August 13 (namely being homeless and having to live with Carl's parents) but if the Lord wants us here, we will do the best we can the most of those challenges.

I am in the middle of my third week of student teaching. I absolutely love working at Thomas Pyle Middle School; the administration and staff have a great system going, and I adore my cooperating teacher. She has been teaching for 43 years and this is her last year of teaching. It has a huge blessing to be working with this school and with my teacher; the Lord has truly been looking out for me. I am so grateful I followed an instinct at such a young age to become a teacher for I feel it is the perfect fit for me. I am nowhere near perfect and get frustrated easily, but I know with time this career will be a blessing.

"One Fine Day"

 This post's title is slightly misleading. I am not discussing a good day I had or my one true love nor is the tune of this oldies song in my head. I love the movie "One Fine Day" (with George Clooney and Michelle Pfeiffer) for many many reasons, but I am thinking of this movie currently because of the underlying theme of being a grown up. As a 22-year old I definitely consider myself a grown up, and I feel like I have done a lot of grown up things lately what with moving, working with an unknown school system, becoming a teacher, and attempting to live independently. On the flip side, Carl and I have been very dependent on his parent's until we can find a place to live in Maryland. I feel like I haven't been able to be a full fledged adult. It's not anything anyone has done, it's just the attitude I am having.

So how do I become the perfect mixture of George Clooney (fun-loving and carefree) and Michelle Pfeiffer (indepedent and in charge)? Are there really times in our life when we need to be one extreme or the other? Or can we learn to mix the two together?

This isn't a very put together post; I'm simply rambling and should probably check my grammar to ensure my creditials as an English major ;) And although there is no set "secret of happiness" in this post, always know that written out or spoken feelings are better than internal ones and you will feel happines :)

Changes

I can't believe in less than a week Carl and I will be leaving our first apartment together. It seems like forever that we have been dying to get out of Rexburg and be in places that are more familiar to us (AKA east coast). Now that we are packing and doing last minute things, we are both starting to feel sad about leaving. I do believe we are both still excited to leave Rexburg, but this was the first chapter of our life, and now we are leaving for the next chapter. What's going to happen? How are we going to change and develop both individually and as a couple? I think an even scarier thought is that we have no idea what we're doing after December.


But perhaps this is part of the adventure of our married life. We have no idea were life will take us, but we must be willing to accept God's will for us and roll with it. We were going to do our internships/student teaching in Utah, but Carl felt that we should try to get out to D.C. And lo and behold we have both lined up our internships for this fall. I think that is one of the biggest secrets of happiness that every member of the Church realizes: that when we follow the Lord's plan, He will take care of us. We've had snares in many of the things we try to plan, but in this one thing that we felt inspired to do--which seemed impossible--was possible. I am very much a planner (like my dad and mom) and so sometimes this is a hard concept to follow. Thank goodness I have a husband who is pretty much the opposite :)