The Greatest Love

"For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life." John 3:16 (NIV)

While not typically associated with Christmas celebrations, I honestly don't feel like anything beyond this verse needs to be said about the true meaning of Christmas. What a powerful love God has for us!!

And the mandatory holiday pictures, which all our parents expect to see:

A few outtakes from attempting to create our Christmas card.

Christmas Eve: eating the traditional tamales - hey, we are in the southwest! And then followed by the baking of goodies galore - these are some delicious pumpkin gingersnap cookies.

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Brad loves his new Star Wars lunchbox while I am excited about the large bottle of Soju.

I swear, we saved the rest of the presents for Christmas morning!

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Like small children, we woke up at 6am on Christmas morning. But unlike small children, we don't have parents telling us to go back to bed and wait until a normal hour to open presents. We do what we want! While we unwrapped fabulous things such as this awesome sleeping bag, the dogs enjoyed their new toys: roadkill. Sorry, Mom, but those things lasted about 5 minutes before the fabric was ripped open and they were tearing off pieces of the rubber tread marks. Oh yeah, notice in the background, yes - we have a "real" tree. Apparently garland stapled to the wall in the shape of a evergreen didn't quite cut it.

Brad was also excited to make something with his new cookie cutters, so we tried making jello ships (fail). And as you can see, we are definitely still a TOMS family - new shoes for us both!

We needed a nap after all the present opening

Merry Christmas!!

Love to all,

Liz and Brad

From Time to Time

Certain people, who shall remain nameless, keep asking about when we will post another update. While yes, I did say it would happen occasionally, I suppose it has been far too long for all our readers back home. So here goes an attempt to update everyone of all the things which have happened this past fall:

Who could not fall in love with this face?! One day in September, I went to the animal shelter with some friends who had dreams of getting a dog. They all walked away empty-handed but naturally, I found this darling and after a week of bugging Brad nonstop about her, we adopted a second puppy. Six months younger and half Cleo's size, we named her Athena. She was abandoned outside the county pound and the animal shelter had rescued her. Everybody's best bet is that she is a mix of boxer and pit. Cleo and Athena quickly became friends and even quicker, Athena surpassed Cleo in size. Currently, Cleo remains the 30 lbs she has been since June while Athena is a stocky 45 lbs. My mother reminded me there were no pictures of her up anywhere, so all these pictures are for you Mom :D

Brad and I celebrated

Halloween in grand style this year, which we haven't done in a few years, so it's worth posting pictures of. For those of you who don't know, I make an excellent Justin Bieber (at least Brad says so) so I decided to give my second graders a glimpse of it. We never got a picture of the actual outfit on Halloween but I did snap a preview shot with my newly acquired hoodie and high tops so you get the idea. My students especially liked the hair flip (they had to show me what that meant, but I think I mastered it in Justin's fashion). Brad's office did a Price is Right theme so he went to work as Bob Barker, complete with white hair, and hung up props we made together. There was a contest between the area Enterprise branches and Brad won "Best Costume" while his office came in second overall.

As far as work goes, Brad is enjoying the managing position, but the daily commute is beginning to wear on him.

School for me has been hectic as usual. This past semester of graduate school kept me incredibly busy most weekends and I was unbelievably happy when the semester ended. Only one more to go! Second grade could fill up pages and pages with all the antics students pull, but I'll sum it up with my class this year is pretty much your standard room full of 29 students. We have had a lot of fun together and its exciting to have a class willing to be pushed in academics. More on them later.

But for those of you who have made it this far, I have a Christmas gift for you! While Brad and I are not able to come home to celebrate with our families, I figured we could still add to the conversation by being our typical selves. My husband is currently at work so he doesn't know I'm posting this. Enjoy this video, shot back when I was on fall break!

A Reminder

As I taught my class this week about the first Thanksgiving feast in 1621, I was reminded of just how much Brad and I have to be thankful for. To think, only 55 Pilgrims survived that first winter in the New World (and yes, I did teach my kids this sad fact), and here we are, 390 years later -- blessed with excess in amounts we don't know what to do with in this country.

Driving home from our fabulous Thanksgiving spread hosted by extended family, Scott & Nancy (who have really taken us in so far from home), Brad and I decided to list our top appreciations:

1. A gracious and loving God, who without him, we are nothing

2. A supporting spouse, despite challenges

3. Amazing friends and family who are there for us both, through thick and thin - but especially

the hard days. Thank YOU!

We truly are blessed, and taking a day to fully remember this is a much needed reality check in the hectic pace of the world. Happy Thanksgiving to all!

Ok, Go!

"Just when you think that you're in control, just when you think that you've got a hold, just when you get on a roll, here it goes, here it goes, here it goes again..."

Sometimes I feel like I am running but getting nowhere, must be because I am on a 2nd grade treadmill? Check out the music video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dTAAsCNK7RA

Three weeks into my second year of second grade, first night of grad classes...

This year, I have 29 second graders in my room. So far, they are incredibly calm and quiet in comparison. Whereas this time last year, I was dreading each day because I didn't feel competent in anything. Or even capable of surviving with my stomach intact (thanks to the ulcers). Think thrown to the wolves in the middle of a ring of fire. At least I don't feel that way anymore (most school days). Now, I can actually enjoy the students and its been almost exciting getting to know each of their personalities. And its funny how much my students from last year still want hugs and waves from me - and I thought I wasn't a fun teacher?

"Oh, here it goes again. I should have known, should have known, should have known again, but here it goes again. Oh, here it goes again..."

Dog Days

What to do for the 2 months of summer vacation? It seems like you would have a lot of free time, but it fills up pretty fast. Here are my suggestions:

Play excessively with toys. Especially awesome if there is a friend to battle with over something squeaky. Then have a random allergic reaction to who-knows-what and break out in massive hives. Sleep the day away after being pumped full of steroids. Have weird dreams.

Go camping. Get really, really dirty. Force your owners to bathe you and your friend. Twice.

Enjoy a long nap en-route to Vegas next to before-mentioned friend.

Wait an obnoxiously long time for friend's owner to arrive home from Afghanistan. Entertain selves however possibly (get creative).

Visit a GIANT hole in the ground. Laugh as the people attempt to climb trees to set self-timers on their cameras. Laugh harder when watching them use a needle to pick countless thorns out of their legs.

Avoid all attempts to learn how to swim, even if they have treats. And if you get thrown in a pool, I recommend not sinking. It didn't work so well for me. Just avoid the pool, trust me, its better that way.

Hate the long hours you are kenneled so your owner can help a friend re-do her daughter's room. Wonder why the new tree in there doesn't have bark and there are no sticks to eat. Breathe in the smell of paint as you watch your owner create a painting for that same room.

Take lots of naps. Several times a day. But don't forget to wake up extra early to hit the dog park before it gets too hot. By 7:00AM, it is simply wrong to stay outside for extended periods.

Spend even more time with toys. Rip them up so new ones appear. If you can tear apart a cow squeaky toy in faster than 10 minutes, you have me. But I dare you to try and beat my record on ripping up those long stuffed dog look-alikes. You can't.

ps. Don't forget to end your summer for 10 days with a strange family while your owners are in Iowa. Is that the state with potatoes? Anyway, if they have a yard and kids, you are golden.

Record Highs and Sleepless Nights

The weather report claims it will be 118 degrees tomorrow. I'd been hearing it was cooler back home - only in the 60s for much of June. When I spoke with my mom today, I laughed when she said it was getting hot there finally. Heat is definitely relative. But while the temperatures look to stay above 100 until September here, I am enjoying my summer vacation off from school immensely. In fact, I took two naps today - lasting 4 and 3 hours respectively - and it was nothing out of the ordinary for me lately. Makes the heat bearable I think?

Since April, Brad and I have both mentioned every couple weeks that we should probably update our blog, but neither of us have been motivated to do so - work and puppies kept us busier than we expected. But since I can't sleep tonight (again), here's a run-down of the important things you may have missed:

1. Brad and I celebrated our one year anniversary in style - Dance Marathon Morale Dance style to be exact. My school held its first annual talent show on May 14th, so naturally, I signed Brad and myself up for it. We even practiced for it - a visiting friend said we should have done that for our wedding the previous year because it looked so polished this time around. Thanks, Hannah. We walked away with the trophy for "Most Original."

2. I kicked my student and broke my toe. Yes, I literally kicked a student - when sandal vs.

sneaker compete, teacher ends with broken toe.

How was I supposed to know the girl walking in front of me would suddenly stop (she claims she was tripping)? I finished out the last weeks of school in a fashionable boot, and no, the girl did not feel too sorry for me. Until I showed her the bruise and swelling, then she felt bad.

3. I'm officially no longer a first-year teacher.

Despite injuring myself, I survived my first year. We got done the last week in May and return the second week of August. I already miss (most) of my students - but not enough to be ready for school to start back up yet. Maybe on another one of these sleepless nights, I'll post about how the last half of the year went. Some co-workers and I decided I could probably write a book about this past year's chaotic and crazy experiences...especially the behavior (students and parents alike).

4. We are down a doggie. Sasha has returned to her rightful owner: my good friend, Lindsey, just recently returned from her deployment in Afghanistan where she was serving as a combat medic in the Air Force. I was lucky to be able to be in Las Vegas to greet her - we made lots of signs (the baby and dogs helped) and we even took Sasha to the airport with us, in patriotic attire of course. Cleo is definitely lonely without her friend to play with but Brad says I cannot get another dog. He also said we couldn't get the first puppy until summertime and look where that got us :D

5. And for the most important news: Brad was promoted! He is now going to be working at a branch in a city about 40 minutes away. It's in the same direction as the town I teach in but so far, he hasn't liked my idea of us moving down there. I'm sure he could add more about this promotion, but as he worked today and is currently asleep, we'll just leave it at this - Brad is very excited about this opportunity!

Photographs and Cleopatra

In college, I always loved spending my spring breaks in places where the sun was shining, it was at least 80 degrees, and I could work on un-paling my skin (or burning, whichever happened first). Good thing that is exactly what I am able to do living in Arizona and on a week-long break from school!! Not to make you jealous or anything, but it is gorgeous and all are welcome to come visit!

If you do come visit, you will get to meet the newest member of the White family - Cleo! Short for Cleopatra, she is our new puppy we adopted from an animal rescue shelter just yesterday. Cleo is a Shar Pei/Boxer mutt and 3.5 months old. I haven't been this excited since I was in 4th grade and my mom and I saved a mutt from a litter sure to be drowned - I named the puppy Max (short for Maximilian of course) and he was all mine, not belonging to my brothers in any way! I suppose Cleo is half Brad's though?

I'm sure I'll be posting plenty of pictures and with my friend's help, they will even look slightly professional! With Lindsey deployed, I have taken temporary ownership of not only her dog, Sasha, but her camera and photo editing program. I have been exercising my new skills over the last month, so if you come visit, I can even take photos of you. Brad and I went on a mini-vacation to LA last month for Lindsey's sister's intimate beach wedding, where I was the photographer. Brad helped by running the video camera and capturing a few shots of his own.

Then this past week, I visited the couple again and attempted to take their son Liam's 6 month pictures. It was short lived because of the strong wind but he is still adorable!