TWO WHOLE YEARS!!

Can you believe it?!! I have been married to my amazing husband for a whole two years! Thanks to my lack of a job this summer, we were on a $0 budget for our anniversary celebration. We went climbing in the canyon with Trace and Amber and we had a very nice home-cooked candlelit dinner. I couldn't have asked for a better anniversary. Coming to this amazing milestone has led me to reflect on these two amazing years:

• I love how we can spend hours playing odd games we spontaneously make up, that have unspoken rules
  
• I love our hymn races during sacrament meeting (for all those who are gasping at our irreverence: It is just a quiet competition that last for three seconds. I promise we are good people!)
• I love how Sean has become accustomed to sleeping with a slanted ceiling 6 inches from his face and has trouble sleeping without it (gotta love our tiny apartment)
  
• I love how our family home evenings consist of trips to Home Depot and Lowe's so we can plan out our future dream home
  
• I love how spending time together in nature is a priority for us.
  
• I love how Sean comes to the rescue when cooking in my shoebox of a kitchen gets too frustrating
  
• I love how Sean always creates me as a star player in his Nintendo games
  
• I love that we are both bibliophiles and can talk endlessly about the last good book we read
  
• I love how we even have a competitive game for getting into bed for the night
  
• I love how Sean plans for our future children's outdoor activities
  
• I love how we are experimenting with Sunday Dinner recipes so that we can build our own cookbook of favorites
  
• I love how neither of us want the remotes because we want to make sure that the other person gets to watch what they want
  
• I love how we both save money "secretly" to get the other person their dream gift
  
• I love how we make random trips throughout the year to Salt Lake, just so we can go to REI, the Patagonia Outlet, and Sconecutters
  
• I love how we are constantly thinking that if anyone happened to walk into the room, they would think we were crazy
  
• I love Sean's massages!!! He definitely has magic hands
  
• I love how I got a coupon book for Mother's day that he made during Elders Quorum
  
• I love the "Remember when. . ." game
  
• I LOVE MY HUSBAND!!

I am such a slacker. . .

I was determined to blog at least once a month this semester but I really did not have the time. So here I am, with a break from school, about five months after my last post, trying to catch up. So many things have happened since my last post. I am not too surprised that I haven't posted anything since Christmas because this last semester was pretty rough. I was a very absent wife. My schedule was: 1) go to class 2) go to work 3) go home and do homework 4) homework 5) more homework! 6) sleep. I feel so awful for abandoning my husband but I'm sure he'll get over it. ;) At least now I know that I can handle AnYThiNg! and I mean aNytHinG! Whoever said that Elementary Education was an easy major, never took any of my classes!

I had a very different practicum experience this semester. I was in a first grade class with only 16 students but all of those students were handfuls! This experience really showed me that my preferred teaching grade is NOT first grade. I loved those students, but they come to you with terrible behaviors, not background knowledge, and tendencies that are so bizarre and hard to handle! Not to mention that it is a critical year for reading instruction. . . the whole focus of that classroom was reading, reading, and more reading! My cooperating teacher was a pro. Every student except for one that came very late in the year was off the charts on their state reading tests. I realized that I am definitely more comfortable with a group of students that have a little bit of experience being in school. So far, I think that my ideal grade would be anything from 3rd-8th grade. It is still a pretty big range, but I still have time to narrow it down.

***Awesome side note: Sean passed his STATS class on his very first try!!! I am so proud of him. He is a great student when motivated, but math really is his Achilles heal. He worked hard and pulled it off!

A Little Christmas Cheer

Griffiths Christmas Eve Tradition:

The table is set, each place setting with its own cracker (pull it open to find a paper hat and a little toy)

Christmas Eve Dinner:

The stocking were hung. . . (Sean's parents' house)

Dang! We make the greatest nativity scene ever! Look at those cute little angels.

Present Time for Sean's Nieces:

Kayla got an awesome beading kit. . .

You really have to understand that Allie is a nut! She wanted a huge diamond for Christmas. Not a ring or a necklace. A diamond that she could hold in her hands. So Sean and I got her a gigantic diamond paperweight. She was really excited.

I saved the cutest reaction for last. Little Whitney. We got her a stuffed monkey. It was super cute and super soft. She LOVED it!! She squealed and giggled and hugged and loved that monkey! It wasn't just a momentary thing either. She brought that monkey with her everywhere and laughed every time she saw it!

I got Sean an iTouch for Christmas. This is that gift that we joke about getting if we win the lottery. You have to understand that we are poor students. We both go to school and we both have low-paying part-time jobs. We live in a teeny tiny apartment and pinch pennies while sticking to a tight budget. I never really should have been able to afford this. So I saved every little penny that I thought Sean wouldn't notice from January until Christmas. I even had my mom go in on it with me. I felt so awesome for getting him this gift and he loves it! He finally feels included in the very exclusive iPhone club of his dad and brother.

I wrapped the gift in a Victoria's Secret box, hoping for a nervous reaction. I video taped Sean opening the gift, but it really is too bad that he didn't react better. He is generally a mellow guy (unless his football team is loosing). I figured I'd post the video anyway for all of those people who really know Sean.

A Brand New Year

So here's the thing. . . It's a new year and there is this common practice of setting resolutions to bring out the "best" a person can be. I haven't really ever set a new year's resolution. I do remember once when I was pretty young resolving to eat more candy. But to be perfectly honest, I never felt the urge to make a drastic goal to improve myself. This year I have a resolution, a few actually:

1. Spend more time with my husband and less time worrying about schoolwork. Despite the common misconception that Elementary Education is an easy major. . . it definitely isn't. Last semester I spent more time on school, work, and more school. Sean and I had opposite schedules and it was a struggle to find "us time" that didn't include naps or homework.

2. Document EVERYTHING! Time is a precious commodity and I want to be able to remember as much as possible. (This really includes photos, blogging, scrapbooking, and writing in a journal).

3. Pamper Myself. Sometimes when I get caught up in the stress of school, I focus all of my energy on my classes and keeping my apartment in order. I have a bazillion hobbies and I love to create things. I am sad to say that I never once picked up my violin, or got out my sewing machine last semester. This has got to stop! I need me time or I am going to burn out.

4. Learn something new. Last year I learned how to sew and crochet (the Internet is amazing!). I love learning new things and branching outside of my comfort. I want to be a well rounded person.

5. Lastly. . .(I figure that if I keep it to 5, I might be able to achieve them) Think before judgement. My junior year in high school I decided that I would think 5 nice things about someone before thinking anything negative. The thing is. . . once you think "He/She is a child of God" There is nothing bad to say about them. I learned that everyone has something great about them that overshadows any negative. I was definitely a more happy and positive person by doing this activity. This also goes for things like food, classes, information, etc.

Now that I have posted to the world what I am going to do to change my life this year. . . I will definitely be held accountable. My main goal in posting these resolutions is really to add happiness to my already happy life. School adds stress and it is up to me to add the happy.