Christmas has come and gone

I meant to get on on and wish everyone a very merry Christmas... but Christmas came and went like that....  I was in charge on decorating the house this year and here are a couple pictures of the things that I did...  

Christmas was great.  Nate, Ashley, and Hannah were able to come and visit.  It was great having a full house full of family and love.  We had a great time together and they will be missed.  We were also about to visit Alan's family.  We went over there on Christmas day and we were able to talk to Hyrum (Al's brother) who is serving his mission in Ecuador.  It was great to talk with him.. and it is even greater to know that he will be home in about 9 months.  Alan and I are so grateful for this time of year to reflect upon our Savior Jesus Christ and his life.  We are truly grateful for his humble birth, and for his life.

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!

Well I have been very busy through out this month of December... and it is already long gone and now we are welcoming in a new year... This past year has been fantastic.  As I reflect on this past year I remember very little besides being busy all the time.  I love living the college lifestyle... but I will be very grateful when I can have a full-time job and not have to worry about impressing the professors.  Some memories that I wanted to share was Alan and I went on a cruise together in march.  It was so much fun to be together and relax in the sun for an entire week. Just boarding the ship and exploring our new home

Doing the drill... just in case the ship would sink!! it was kind of fun!

We were also very blessed to be able to have a wonderful summer time.  We were able to spend with family and friends.  Our two summer vacations included going to the cabin and going to the Petersen's family reunion!!

   Beautiful sunset on the lake!
Up in Duluth for the day... after we took a three hour short cut...

Another fun memory from this year is that Alan was able to start his college life at Rochester Community and Technical College.  He is loving is decision to go in the Building Utilities and actually enjoys going to school everyday.

Alan was also able to go and experience the joy of Pinecrest over labor day weekend.  Pinecrest is the cabin that I went to while I was growing up.  Needless to say I have tons of memories from this wonderful place in Danbury, Wisconsin
       Enjoying the beautiful weekend in the lake!

Alan and I attempted to go turtle hunting... but we caught nothing :(

Our year was filled will lots of memories... we are excited to start another year together..

Can you believe it is already December??!?!?

Well all I have to say is that this year has flown by.  I really can not believe that it is already December and that we will be welcoming in the new year in only a couple weeks.  

Thanksgiving was a hit.  Alan and I went to his parent's house and enjoyed a long weekend over in Austin.  The weekend was relaxing and it was great because we did not have to work at all.  We enjoyed ourselves by eating way too much, playing Mario Kart on the Wii, watching movies, going shopping, hunting, and Alan fixing the car.  We had a great time and we can not wait until we are able to spend time with Alan's family over Christmas.

So after our vacation we had to come back to Rochester and jump back in to our busy lives.  This is actually my last week of classes... so tomorrow (Thursday, December 4, 2008) at around 11:30 I will be officially done with classes...... for a very, very, very long time!!!!! Now all I have left is student teaching which I am looking forward to.  After school is done I am going to be working until the 22nd of December and then I will be officially quitting Subway forever.  Mark my words that I will not be going back to Subway ever again in my life!!!!  Alan is keeping busy with school and work.  He really works so very hard everyday and I am so grateful for his determination.  He was able to sign up for all the classes he needs next semester, so Alan is still on the right track to graduate next May!!! We are getting very anxious to be done with school and be able to find full-time jobs and start our family. 

We are looking forward to helping my mom out this weekend with The Wonder of the Nativity event that is going on at our church on friday and saturday night.  This is a great way to start out the holiday season.  We mostly work in the kitchen at this event, but it is so much fun to attend his event and feel of the spirit there.  The night will be filled with lots of musical performances, refreshments, laughter, friends, family, and nativity scenes.  We are excited to be a part of another year of this event and hope that lots of people will come and enjoy it. 

Happiness!!!

Happiness is the word that describes my life right now.  School is almost done, I got placed in Rochester for my Special Education student teaching, Alan and I are heading to Austin for thanksgiving, and I saw TWILIGHT and it was amazing.  The movie was really everything that I thought it was going to be and more.  Alan, I, and his sisters went to the midnight showing of the movie.  This was actually quite hard to do because I have not stayed up past 11:00pm since..... a long time ago.  But it was so worth staying up and watching.  

I am also looking forward to thanksgiving and reflecting on the things in my life that I am grateful for.  There is so many things that I am grateful for and I decided to list a couple below.

My Family... My family is amazing and they have really helped me out whenever I am in need.  Words can not express the love and appreciation that I have for them.  I love my in-laws to.  They are everything that I thought they would be.  They love and appreciate Alan and I... and I am so grateful to have their examples and love in my life.

I am grateful to be a warrior.  I am grateful for the opportunity to attend college and become educated.  College has been a huge blessing in my life, and I enjoy going to school and learning.  I am excited to be done soon and use the education that I have received to teach children!!

I am grateful for love.  I am really grateful for my wonderful husband who amazes my everyday with his love and care.  I am grateful to my Heavenly Father everyday for bringing him in to my life.  He really does complete me and I am so grateful that he will be the father to our future children.

I am mostly grateful for the Gospel of Jesus Christ.  I am grateful to have the guidance in my life and live the gospel everyday.  I know that by living the Gospel to the fullest we will be blessed beyond our comprehension.  I love the Gospel and its principles.  

I have been so blessed in my life.  I am grateful to my Heavenly Father for all the blessings that I receive.  I am grateful for this time of year to reflect and ponder on all the things  that we have in life to be grateful for.

Senoritis... this is a real condition!!!!

Senoritis is a real word and real condition that I am unfortunately dealing with at the moment.  Senoritis is described as the following on urban dictionary.com: "A condition peculiar to seniors in high school or college.  Symptoms include general apathy toward classes, homes, future, restlessness and a "cannot do" attitude to surmountable school load."

Well I have decided to self diagnose my self and I know with out a doubt that I have this condition known as senoritis.  I have it bad.  I am at the point in the semester where I have all the big projects completed and now all I have to do is show up to class.... Well it sucks to just show up to class when you live an hour away.  I am ready to be done with classes and on to student teaching.  

Our lives are busy... and they do not seem to be getting any less busy:(

Well lets just say that I apologize for not posting in a while.  Alan and I are still doing great, but we are just really, really busy with school and work.  Some fun things that have happened in life is that last saturday Carson (Alan's little brother) was able to come and hang out with us all day long... We were able to take Carson to the Ward's trunk or trick activity and he loved it.  He dressed up as a white power ranger.  Carson, Alan, and I love playing power rangers with him.  A little secret about me is that when I was younger my good neighbor friends and I would play power rangers out in the front yard and I was ALWAYS the pink ranger.  It is so much fun to play with Carson.  He has so much energy and loves life.  Carson helps Alan and I relax and enjoy the time that we were able to spend with him.

 The one and only white power ranger!

Another thing that has happened since the last post is that we had a birthday bash for Alan.  It was so much fun.  We were able to have all of Alan's family over for dinner and dessert.  Alan was able to pick out the menu and of course he picked hamburgers on the grill, calico beans, potato salad, and chips.  Then for dessert I made a german chocolate cake from scratch and Alan's mom brought an AMAZING peanut butter cup ice cream cake. (Let's just say that this was the best cake I have ever indulged in).  

Alan blowing out his candles

Another fun things that has happened is that Rosalyn's boyfriend got baptized.  Ros is Alan's sister, and her boyfriends name is Cleeson.  He is an amazing guy who has great potential.  His baptism was wonderful and the spirit was so strong there.  We are grateful for Cleeson and his decision that he has made to become a member of God's church.  We are also very excited to see what the future holds for those two love birds!

As for the rest of our life... I am ready to be done with classes.  School is really tough at the moment and I am starting to get unmotivated.  I am ready for thanksgiving break and then school will almost be over with.  During these times I find myself turning to the Lord a lot for comfort and reassurance that I am doing what I am supposed to be doing, because sometimes going to school and being in school for as long as I have been is hard and it just feels like I am not moving any where.  But I am grateful for calming affect that Heavenly Father has and that the Holy Ghost is able to give to me.  I know that being educated is important and I know that I will use this degree to serve others and serve my children.  So needless to say... school is getting long but I know that I will be blessed for my diligence in getting this degree.

I love the Lord and his Gospel!  I love my family and the blessing that they are in my life.  I am so very grateful for my wonderful friends and they love and support that they give me.  Our life is so very richly blessed and I have only my Heavenly Father to thank for this!

P.S.  Our good friends, Molli and Kyle Larson,  are having their baby this evening and we are so very excited for them!!!  

Our wedding anniversary was a hit!

At Red Lobster

So I know that our anniversary was at the beginning of the week, but the week has been very busy.  Our anniversary was so much fun.  In the morning we went and got a couples massage at massage envy (this new place in rochester that is pretty cheap) and then we went shopping around the mall.  In the evening we were able to go out to eat.  I chose Red Lobster because Alan has always talked about going there, but I always turn it down.  Alan got the all you can eat shrimp and made me proud by getting 7 plates of shrimp!! GO HUNNY!  I just had some chicken fingers and mozzarella sticks (I do not like seafood at all!)  The food was good and the service there was amazing.  Then we came home and we cut into the top of our wedding cake and it was actually very, very good.  Alan and I were both surprised that it was actually moist and tasted really good.  Our first wedding anniversary was great and we look forward to our future anniversaries. 

Eating our topper...

Our FIRST wedding anniversary!!

Well today marks our first wedding anniversary and I really can not believe that it has actually been one whole year... but time flies when you are having fun!  Today Alan and I looked back on our wedding day and we were filled with joy and happiness.  We both agree that our wedding day is the happiest day that we have had together thus far.  We also both agree that we remember pretty much nothing from our wedding day, and I think that it is so funny because I was the person that wanted to remember every fact and detail from the day.  I guess the only thing that I really remember is the people that shared the happy day with us!  Alan and I feel truly blest for all the many wonderful things that we have in our life.  We feel very fortunate to both have wonderful families and friends.  We are also very grateful for good health that we have been blessed with.  We are also grateful for the Gospel and for the guidance that it provides in our daily life.  We are grateful that we are able to be sealed together for time and all eternity and I really could not imagine spending eternity with anyone else!  Needless to say, Alan and I are still very happy and very much in love with one another.  We are excited to see what are future holds for us and we are grateful that we have each other to spend it with.

The Firefighter open house!

So yesterday Alan and I attended the fire house open house and Alan was given his good citizen award. Alan was not the only person to get an award. There was another little boy who saw a fire and called 911 as well. So anyways, they had a little ceremony and showed all the pictures from the house the Alan saved and then they just gave Alan the award. After the little ceremony had commenced all the fire chiefs cornered Alan and told him "how good he would look in the uniform" and "he would be a perfect firefighter," etc. They were all surrounding him and trying to recruit him to be a firefighter. So....... now Alan is thinking about a career change...seriously. After talking with the fire chiefs about the job they just kept saying about how they have never had a bad day a work. They also kept saying about how their job is all about serving others and they love the feeling that they get when they help others. Alan is excited about this change, but before he totally gets into it he is going to be doing a lot more research about the job. I am very excited for him and look forward to see what he decides to do.

My handsome firefighter!!!

Alan made the news!!

Here the link to read about Alan.

http://www.kttc.com/Global/story.asp?S=9133069

Alan is a Neighborhood Hero

Well last week we got some exciting news!  Alan is going to be recognized in a ceremony put on by the fire station here in Rochester.  Alan is going to get a hero of the neighborhood award.  And the reason why he is going to be getting this award is because he put out a house fire in our neighborhood.  Needless to say, I am pretty excited to go to the ceremony and see Alan get recognized! I will make sure to take pictures and I will post them later!

WE ARE BACK!

Alright.... So I used to have a blog and then I deleted it. Well I am back and I am going to try to keep up with this blogging situation. Alan and I are still is school and we are also working a lot. The weeks go by very fast and we sure are grateful when we get to see each other at the end of the day.

I am still attending Winona State University and I am majoring in Special Education and Elementary Education. This is me last semester of classes and then I will be student teaching for a year. I am very excited to be at this point in my education and I can not wait to have my very OWN classroom.

Alan is attending Rochester Community and Technical College. He is studying to become a building utilities mechanic and he really enjoys going to school. He is also working full-time hours. He works so hard and I am so grateful to have him as my husband!

So, I am hoping that through this blog I will be able to stay in touch with family and friends.