Long Overdue and Much Needed

Where do I begin! Time seems to be flying by way too fast! October blew past us without even asking us if we wanted winter. Life at the Watkins house is blissful. We are looking forward to the holidays and the chance to spend time with family. UT is wonderful, but we do miss our family.

So much has happened. Conference weekend we went up to Jim and Lil's house and hung out with them and their kids. We had a blast! In between conference sessions we took the kids up to Snow Basin in hopes to run off some of their excessive engery. I think it wore the adults out more.

Outside the lodge at Snow Basin

On October 27th I started teaching my 6th grade class at Sprucewood Elementary in Sandy! It has been a blast! Everyday my desire to be a teacher is reinforced by the 90 faces I see each day. Since I'm in the 6th grade and they rotate I get to know 4 classes. One of the teachers is going off track and another is coming back on, so on Monday I get to know 30 more kids :) I'm doing quite a bit of teaching and love it! I'm gonna hate going back to BYU in December. Luckily I start student teaching in January!

Justen had a fabulous interview with U of A and we are hoping to hear from them soon! Unfortunately the application process takes forever, but we will patiently wait if that means Justen will be accepted. Right now he's working for Comcast and is doing amazing! Sadly as winter sets in he's learning that just pants and a jacket won't do. Hopefully we'll keep him warm so he won't get frostbite :)

Halloween was fantastic! Justen and I carved pumpkins Halloween afternoon. Justen's turned out great! Mine however fell apart. We then went to our ward's trunk or treat and stayed till the kids went around enough times to clean us out of candy. It was easy going and we had a great time. My attempt to create a cat on a moon. I think I cut it wrong so it broke :( Justen's fabulous angry pumpkin

Happy Birthday Courtney!

The past few weeks has been quite eventful. We attended the O.C Tanner Gift of Music performance on the 19th. It was held in the Conference Center with the Mormon Tabernacle Choir and the Utah Symphony w/ special guests Deynce Graves and Brian Michael Stokes. The music was incredible and we definately enjoyed ourselves. On Saturday the 20th Justen and I braved the hike up Mount Timp.

On our way to the trail it started hailing on us! It cleared, so we decided to continue with the day's activity. The hike was a blast and we enjoyed seeing various wildlife such as a moose and mountain goats. As we continued up the mountain it got really cold and started raining some more. Even though the weather wasn't the best we had an awesome time! On Sunday the 21st Bishop asked us to speak next week. Of course we said yes... that means 2 talks in 1 month! That's what we get for moving. Cami came over on Sunday night with a delicious roast and cake. The three of us celebrated my birthday with dinner and a game of Settlers. Justen won... no big surprise, but the evening was amazing! Thanks Cami for a great night!

On Monday we woke up and had to hurry to our usual places at school and work. I went out to lunch with the girls at Costa Vida and had a great time catching up! At work Justen had sent me flowers! That evening Justen took me out to P.F. Chang's for dinner. During dinner he handed me a card that had 2 tickets to Momma Mia! I was so excited! The movie was great and Justen was brave enough to sit through the whole thing! It was a fabulous night!

Thanks to all for birthday gifts! It was nice to be thought of. Other than that we're just trying to keep up with life. School is going great! I will be teaching 6th grade at Sprucewood Elementary this November and will begin my student teaching somewhere in January. Justen is still working diligently on Medical School applications and we have high hopes!

Joining The Blog World

So I finally decided it's time for us to join the world of Blogging after 3 months! Justen and I are settling in quite nicely into our new apartment in Pleasant Grove after the big move to Utah. So far things are going smoothly. We were sad to leave The Valley and our families behind, but are very excited about our journey. The past 3 months we've had so many exciting adventures including including the Bahamas and Lake Powell! Moving to P.G. went better than we could have hoped. Besides minor difficulties such as, moving in furniture and the lack of a sufficient refrigerator, we've had a ball decorating and unpacking. This was my first week of school and I must say was a success! I have lots to stay on top of this semester, but I think it'll be a great one! Work (BYU Broadcasting) was thrilled to have me back and I have quite a bit to catch up on! Justen has several jobs on the table and I think we've finally got a keeper. We'll keep you updated once we know all the specifics!