Memorial Day Weekend

For Memorial Day weekend Brandon and I made a quick trip to California to spend some time with my family and to go to one of my good friend's wedding.
  We had hoped to spend Friday at the beach but because the weather was so rainy and cold we decided that that probably wasn't the best idea. Instead Brandon and I caught up on some much needed rest and relaxation which was very nice.
  Saturday was my friend Heather and her new husband Robert's wedding. Brandon and I were able to go to their sealing which was so amazing because it was the first one we had been to since our own wedding.We were a little worried that Brandon wouldn't be able to go because he forgot his temple recommend at home but a quick call from the temple workers to Salt Lake and he was given the go-ahead which I was very grateful for.( He also forgot his church shoes and had to wear my dad's old ones which was quite amusing to see because my dad's feet are about two sizes smaller than Brandon's, his razor and his belt. I think next time I will just have to pack for him).
       The ceremony was wonderful, the weather was perfect and the happy couple were beaming the entire time. It was so wonderful to be able to be there.  That night we went to their reception where I was able to see some of my friends from high school who I hadn't seen since August (really guys we need to hang out more often than just when people get married ;) which was great. 

Dad, Mom, Me and Brandon in front of the Redlands Temple

                                                 

Heather and Robert Sears

What a cute couple!

The gang is back together! (Kinda dark sorry) Me, Heather, Allison and Glenda

Just a couple of goofballs in crazy matching ties.

   Sunday was another quite day spent with family and then we were back on the road early Monday morning back up to Utah and to school. It was a wonderful weekend, spent with my favorite people.

Families are Forever

Family is one of the greatest blessings our Father in Heaven has given us. They are there for us in our best moments and in our worst.
 Sometimes I wonder why things happen the way that they do. Like most people I tend to like to have my life go the way that I plan, which is not always the same as what our Father in Heaven has planned. I know that Heavenly Father can see the whole picture while I can only see but a glimpse and I do have a testimony that families can be together forever, however I still find myself asking 'why'?
           Why do bad things happen to good people? Why does is seem that no matter what we do, the world continues to get worse and worse? and WHY do sweet innocent little children have to suffer? Why are they taken from this life before they have really had a chance to experience it?  How can everything be fine one minute and the next a perfect little family is changed forever?
             This are the questions that keep popping into my head. The pain I am feeling cannot even hold a candle to that which others are experiencing all around the world and even in my own family. But even as these questions appear another, much more predominate questions enters my mind: How can people experience the pain of this life without the hope and expectation of what is to follow in the next? How can the world function without the belief of life after death? or eternal families? How can people experience all the pain of this life is they think that this life it is, our one chance and then everything ceases to exists after we die?
              I am so incredibly grateful to know that this life is not the end. That there is still so much more ahead of us. I'm grateful for Heavenly Father's Plan of Happiness and that through Temple covenants families can be together forever, and for the blessings of the gospel and the knowledge that are families do not end after this life, that we can all be together again. This life is full of pain and adversity but somehow if we stay strong and keep the covenants that we have made we will be together again.

Our Lives During the Past Few Months....

Ok, I do realize that it has been forever and a day since I have posted ( in my defense I did warn you ), so I thought I would take a minute and catch up on what has been going on in our lives.

  For Thanksgiving we took a trip out to Colorado Springs to Brandon's sister Jamie's house, where the rest of his family joined us. It was a very nice trip and gave me a chance to get to know Brandon's family a little better, since we had only really spent time together a week or two before the wedding (though I will admit that it was weird not spending a major holiday with my parents and cousins). It was a nice break from all of the craziness that college life brings, and very relaxing.

Us and Our loot!

   Our First Christmas break was a little crazy to say the least.  My aunt Kina who had had cancer for several years passed away right before Christmas and my Grandpa Wright hadn't been doing very well either. My dear sweet parents drove up to Utah to spend a few days with my Grandparents and then we all went down to California for the funeral only to turn around and go back to Provo to spend Christmas with my mom's family (which they do every other year) and then (because my parents are saints and I needed to be get out of Provo) we all drove back to California a day or so after Christmas where we spent the remainder of our break. My mother was so amazing the entire time we were down, letting us be bums and do nothing except watch 'Heroes' and be lazy. We did make it out to San Diego for a day and went to the zoo which was soo much fun! Overall another great break, preparing me for the most insane semester of my life!

I got Brandon tickets to go see The Thunder play for his birthday

    Ok, now on to the real reason I haven't posted anything in so long. When winter semester hit I decided that I was going to take 20 units! (For those of you who don't know 18 units in the maximum amount of credits a student is usually allowed to take any given semester at BYU, anymore and you have to receive special permission. I had only ever taken up to 16 units in a semester before). Needless to say I was in over my head. It was the hardest, most frustrating, most mentally and physically draining semester of my entire life. Brandon was my rock the entire time though. Boy did I feel bad for that boy! I'm sure he listened to my angry rants, and witnessed more emotionally breakdowns than he had ever before and was probably wondering what he had gotten himself into. But through the entire time he was my rock and I couldn't have done it without him.  Which is not to say we didn't have some fun moments, but it general it was a very stressful time at the Reid house. Overall I was fairly satisfied with my ending GPA of 3.89.

Brandon and I at the Festival of Colors in March 2012

        One REALLY good thing did come out of that semester though. I applied (and got) for an internship position for next year!! This means that instead of student teaching in the fall I will have MY OWN classroom! That's right ladies and gentleman someone thought it was a good idea to put Me in charge!! Wahaha.... I am going to be teaching Second Grade at Canyon Elementary School in Spanish Fork ! 



So that is what has been going on with the Reid family these past few months. I am still in school (until the middle of June) and Brandon is taking a graduate level course and working full time. I will try to be better but I make not promises!

Beaver Weekend

              Last week I received a call from my Aunt Lorene inviting Brandon and I to join her and her family at my uncle's cabin in Beaver for the weekend for some nice R&R. I was in love with the idea immediately. Family, food and relaxation, how could it get better than that? Especially since the rest of my week had included work, homework, and three very hard midterms. It took a little bit a persuasion to get Brandon on board with the idea (since it would require him to forgo studying and of course the BYU football game on Saturday) but eventually he agreed.
          Friday my cousin Kristin came down from Layton to pick up Brandon and I and her brother Justin, (the rest of their family had gone down on Thursday) and as soon as Brandon came home from work we were off. We arrived in Beaver pretty late and just managed to drag our exhausted bodies off to bed as soon as we arrived.
    The next morning, after sleeping in we wandered downstairs after the tantalizing aroma of fresh pancakes, french toast, bacon, and eggs drifted up to greet us. Most of the morning was spent lounging around in our pjs, reading, talking, playing games and of course loading up on junk food. I was perfectly content until my aunt mentioned that a friend of theirs that lived in the area had a few horses and was wondering if any of us wanted to go out riding? Horse riding really?!? Of COURSE!!! It had been ages since I had last ridden a horse and I jumped at the chance to go again.
   That afternoon we meet with Doug Peterson who owned the horses. Since he had only three extra horses we split up into two groups. Brandon, my cousin Kara and I went first. As soon as I saddled onto my horse (Hershey) I knew that it was going to take me a little while to remember what I was supposed to do. Kara on the other hand took to riding like a fish to water. That girl was a natural!
      It was great to be back in the saddle and to be able to enjoy the beauty around us. After our ride we went back to the cabin and switched riders. We spent the rest of the day just as we had spent the first, lazily and relaxing. After the second group came back from their ride we packed up, and went out for Mexican  and then all headed back home.
   It was a short and sweet, and much needed vacation. It was so wonderful to be able to see my family and catch up with them and just to simply relax and have some fun with so many wonderful people. :)

Kara, Aunt Lorene and I all had on Polka Dotted pjs so OF COURSE we needed a picture of it! 

Following our trusty guide .

Kara (riding Bunny) Brandon (on Katie) and I (on Hershey) ready to ride!

Isn't it beautiful up here?

Practicum Assignment

    Finally, after all the talk, speculation and waiting I have received my assignment for my first practicum! For anyone unaware as to what a practicum is and why I would be so excited about it I will explain. A practicum is where the elementary education majors at BYU take a month out from their regular semester and go into the local elementary schools and observe, and more importantly gain some real, whole-class teaching experience.
   This is the part of the program when you really get to get into the heart of teaching and get your hands dirty. This is where we get to see if/ how all of the  theories, and principles that they teach us work in a real classroom, with real students. This is where we get to apply what we have been learning. Most importantly this is the reason we get to see the reason why we are becoming teachers. To help real students in real situations.
    Well we start our first journey into the world of teaching a week from tomorrow, October 25th 2011. And today that step seems much more real then before. Today I received my assignment to work in Westmore Elementary School in Orem. I will be working in a second grade classroom, which is a little unnerving because I have no previous experience working in second grade. However, hopefully this will be a great learning opportunity. So ready or not here it comes. The real word is beckoning and this will be my real first step into it.  

Operation: Fort Reid

      Last Saturday night started off just like any other. Work, chores, BYU football game. However, this weeks game was much earlier and so for the first time in over a month we found ourselves with a free Saturday night. Great, now what were we supposed to do?
  Brandon suggests all of our usual (if somewhat boring) weekend activities. Food, movie, ice cream. BORING. I wanted to do something new, something different. Of course I was no help coming up with options for us to do and after a few failed suggestions I'm sure Brandon was feeling a little put out. Then somewhat flippantly he said "well we could always build a fort"
BRILLIANT! The my inner child got the better of me (which is an often occurrence), and I was hooked on the idea. I casually mentioned to Brandon that I had never made a fort before which made our Saturday night plans very clear. We were going to build a fort!!!
 First, though we had to run to Sonic to obtain some much needed junk food. According to Brandon junk food is a mandatory aspect of fort life, and who was I to disagree if it meant I would get mozzarella sticks and a shlusshie?
   When we got home we went straight to work. We decided that the best place for our fort would be in our spare bedroom, and so with the help of our extra bed sheets, a couple of blankets and the 'fort master' as Brandon called himself, we went to work. I mostly just watched and followed directions because I'm not exactly the most graceful person on the plane, and let Brandon work his magic.
  When it was all done our office was transformed. We settled in for an evening of sweets, junk food, and of course The Office.  What a great night.

Phase one.

                                      

                                              

It's starting to come together!

                                                  

I even helped!

                                           

The final Product.

                                              

Brandon demonstrating how to use the 'door'.

 

Snacks and entertainment.

Sonic mozzarella sticks and watermelon slush.= Heaven

New Blog

So I've finally caved and created a blog. I've been toying with the idea of starting a blog ever since Brandon and I got married but wasn't so sure about it for several reasons. 1.  Who would want to read about what's going on in our lives? We don't really do anything really worth mentioning about in a blog. (between school, and work who really has time to do exciting things??) 2. even when we do do something worth mentioning I've never been really good a recording it. (I've been a horrible journal writer in the past and my previous blog has been neglected for over a year).
   However, I figured that this could be a place more for my own personal reflection and recordings and if anyone else happens to read this then you will have an extra insight into our lives. Hopefully we won't be too boring for you and that I will be able to remember to record what fun things we have done.