Gramps and Granny Galeria

Yesterday we had a rough time deciding what to be for Halloween. We decided on being homeless bums, so we went to the D.I. to find some scraggly looking clothes. While we were there, we walked past a walker and had a change of plans. We decided to dress as old people and this is what we came up with.

Robby's face cracks me up in this one!

A look into the future!

This is the pumpkin I carved.

We ended up going to a party in Rigby with some friends. It was fun, we had lots of treats and homemade root beer. Then went to Rexburg and visited with a few friends there. It was way good to see them, since we don't get to as often anymore. It ended up being a fun Halloween.

Craziness in the Classroom

I am probably one of the most immature teachers ever, but heck we have fun. So, I have been really nervous everyday this week because administration is supposedly walking up and down the halls and entering classrooms without forewarning to observe teachers. I have been told to make sure that I am teaching bell to bell and that students are on task and know what they are supposed to be learning for the day. Of course, since this is the week that the super intendent could randomly walk into my class at anytime, this is the week that my kids are hyper and crazy for some reason. And I can't lie, so am I. Yesterday, for instance, the kids took a quiz. After the quiz, instead of continuing onto the discussion for the next chapter, the kids got me distracted....hmm, I think this is the ultimate goal for high school students- get your teacher on a tangent so you don't have to talk about the lesson. Well they did just that to me. A couple of students started telling me about how they do a funny walk every day in the halls (they are kind of the class clowns). So I gave them the idea for their next walk/run. I told them to try running with their right hand going forward at the same time as the right leg and visa versa....where normally we run with the hand opposite the leg going forward. (if that makes any sense)It's not only difficult, but very entertaining to watch! And of course, these students had to try it immediately. So I have a bunch of kids running around like bafoons, kids are laughing, and I'm at the front of the room holding my sides laughing so hard I'm crying. If you don't believe how funny it is, get up and try it. Or have somebody else try it and watch. I luckily did not have the super intendent walk in at that moment, or any other authority figure. Thank goodness!

I had another funny comment said today in my class. We started talking about feminism in one of my classes and we got into a pretty good debate on whether women should be considered equal to men, and so on and so forth. Well I posed the question of whether they thought it would be more of a leap in America to have a woman president than to have our African American president. One kid in the back, who hardly says anything unless we have debates, raises his hand and wildly shakes it to get called on. I called on him to speak and he, with a straight face, proceeds to tell the class that near the end of the Bible it says that the world will come to an end if there is ever a woman president. I got a kick out of it. There is never a dull moment when you're teaching high school! I love it!

Busy Galeria Life!

We have been a very busy, little couple lately! I have been very busy with student teaching these last few weeks. And I am loving it! My cooperating teacher that I work with is amazing. We have become very close friends. She has been so willing to allow me to take over the classes and be the main teacher. I have a ton of freedom to create my own lesson plans and teach in whatever way I want. She and I are interested in a lot of the same things and are quite similar in our personalities, so it's fun working with her. My students are so fun! I have mostly seniors, which scared me before I started (could be because they are graduating in 2010 and I only graduated in 2006), but now I realize that they are my favorite. I feel like I am one of them, and I have to keep reminding myself to be mature...ha! Yeah right! I joke and tease just as I always do....but I feel like they still respect me and see me as their teacher. So it works out. I have a few classes that know I love to tell stories, and of course being high schoolers, they use any way to get a teacher off subject. And of course, I cave in and tell them all sorts of stories, but I think it helps them to see me in a different light then just a nerdy teacher that loves history and politics. It's so crazy that I've only been with them for about 4 weeks and I already care about them so much. I worry and think constantly about them. They have their homecoming dance tonight, and I just worry and hope they are safe and don't do anything stupid. Oh dear...I'm starting to sound like a mom!

As for Robby, he is just working his buns off. He is doing well with his job. He really is a determined guy. And I am very grateful for that! He is now riding in a new, shiny car too! We had both of our cars break down in a period of 4 days....so we decided it was time to get a new, dependable car. He is now rollin' in a pearl white 2008 Nissan Altima. I should say it's OUR car, but since he has to drive to Idaho Falls almost everyday, it's pretty much his. And I think he kinda likes it. So that's what is going on in our life....a lot of work and business. Life is good!

Student Teaching and Training

This is just an update for ya. Today was my first official day of student teaching. I finally got to meet my cooperating teacher and sat through a few meetings. I will be teaching at Highland High School. I am teaching 3 AP Government classes and 1 Human Rights class. I'm pretty excited, and very nervous. My cooperating teacher seems way cool and down-to-earth. I think that it will be a very stressful 13 weeks, but I also think I am going to enjoy it. I am finally going to be the teacher instead of the student! As for an update on Robby...he has been training with Northwestern Mutual the last couple of weeks. He works long hours for our little family and I love and appreciate him so much. As for Meeko...well, she is still a puppy, but I think she is liking our new house. We have a fenced in back yard that she can play in with lots of bugs and weird things to eat. The next few months are going to be extremely busy for the two of us, but I will try to keep ya updated on our happenings!

Lately....

So life has totally been crazy the last couple of weeks, and I have some serious catching up to do. So hold on to your pants, it's going to be a long, filled up post. First thing's first...I GRADUATED! Well, not officially. Don't worry, I passed all my classes, but I have to do my student teaching (which I will start next week). But even still, I decided to do the whole graduation thing and walk. It was pretty surreal and wierd, but that could be because only 3 years and 2 months before that I was graduating from high school. It is such a relief to know that school is over, but a little scary because now Robby and I are both college graduates and now the real life is going to start, but only after we have a few weeks of fun.

After graduation, we packed up all our stuff and moved it to Pocatello where we will be living for the next few months, years, or our lifetime....who knows? But at least we do know that we will be there at least until December, then we will see where the wind blows us. After the move, we drove to Burley to stay with my family for the next week to do some boating and relaxing. That weekend I ran my first official RACE. I ran in the Spudman, which is a triatholon, but I just did the running part on a team. It was a 10K (a little over 6 miles). It was a really fun experience and I want to do the whole thing (swim, bike, run) next summer. I don't have any pictures right now, so you'll just have to imagine me all sweaty and tired.

Then we had our awesome friends Trae and Candice come to Burley to spend some time at my family's house with us. We did some boating, played some tennis, fed some cows, and had a fun time while they were here.

Robby is getting so good at wakeboarding. He's really catching on fast!

I finally talked Robby into trying Slalom skiing, and he got up the first try. I think he was glad he caved into my peer pressure because he ended up liking it a lot.

This is me wakeboarding. I love it!

And finally our CRUISE was this last week. It was a blast. We went to Cabo San Lucas and Ensenada, Mexico. It was our first time on a cruise ship. We left Monday from San Diego and came back on Saturday. Tuesday and Thursday we spent the day at sea, so we just relaxed, laid out, ate food, and I read my book. Wednesday we spent the day in Cabo and Friday we spent the day in Ensenada. Us at the airport

This is our first day on the ship at sea. We had a lot of time to work on our tans and relax.

This is the beach we were playing at in Cabo. It was so pretty and the water was perfect.

Every night when we came back to our room there was a different animal on our bed made of towels. Don't mind me in this picture, I'm cheesing it for some reason.

The next stop was Ensenada. We planned on going to the beach like we did in Cabo, but there was no beach in Ensanada so we just walked around the town and looked at all the shops. We also had some amazing tacos! We love Mexican food!We found these gold heads, not sure who they are but we took pictures anyway.

Wouldn't Robby make a cute Mexican?

We found huge pinatas...too bad we couldn't fit them in our luggage and have a huge fiesta when we got home.

Robby is trying to intimidate his shrimp before eating it...I didn't dare touch any food that still had eyeballs and long wisker things on it. Gross!

We had a ton of fun and we are a little sad to have to come back to real life.

Picnics and Tennis...What a Perfect Match!

On Wednesday we had a little picnic with some of our friends here in Rexburg. It turned out great. We had quite a variety of food: chicken, chips, salads, water chestnuts, watermelon, and beans. After our stomachs were loaded, we played a little tennis. Tennis has become quite the popular sport within our group of friends. We usually play doubles with our spouses. It's always a lot of fun. Brielle wins the funny story award for Wednesday...so Robby and I were the team that was off and we got to watch Livvy (Heidi and Pete's baby). As we were watching Jared and Brielle play against Hank and Stacy, Brielle got a little distracted during the game. She saw a squirrel running by and stopped and said, "Look! A squirrel!" Right after she said it, a ball comes and smacks her right in the chest. We all laughed and decided she would have been the little kid in the softball field doing cartwheels or chasing butterflys. Good thing the ball wasn't going to fast, so we could laugh and didn't have to wake her up from a concussion. So we had a lot of fun. We sure are going to miss our friends and the fun times we've had here in Rexburg. Here are a few picture, they are mostly of Olivia, but that's because she is so darn cute!

Peter is such a good dad!

Relax Girlfriend!

So a little incident happened today at Papa Murphy's that made me laugh, and I thought I would share. So at Papa Murphy's we have customers come to the register and we take their order by writing it down on a paper and take down their name to call it out when we're done making the pizza. I made one special girl's pizza and when I finished making the pizza, I looked over the glass at the girl and called out "Chancy, your pizza's ready for you," in my nice, kind voice. She just stared at me. I call out again, "Chancy." The girl not only is staring fiercely at me now, but is shaking her head at me. I call out again, "Chancy." The girl says, "No." At this point I'm thinking maybe it's the people sitting next to her, but I was pretty sure it was the staring girl. So I say one last time, "Chancy." This time the girl gives me the most disgusted look I have ever recieved and says, "It's Charity, GOSH!" 'Oh Crap' is going through my mind right now, thinking that this girl is going to jump over the counter and attack me. So I quickly slide the pizza to the end of the table and hurridly say "Have a good night," and turn my back and start walking the opposite direction for fear of my life. Events like these make me wonder why people get so worked up. If I got mad every time somebody said my name wrong, I would be a very angry person. Zenna Galeria isn't exactly the easiest name you've ever heard. I'm just glad she didn't attack.