Tuesday, September 30, 2014

September update

Well with the last day of the month and finally a few minutes to write, I thought this would be a good opportunity to post an update everyone about everything I've wanted to in the last few weeks. To no-one's surprise, I'm sure, we have had a busy month full of activity and blessings. This time of year is beautiful and rivals the snow capped mountains that Em loves so much. The changing colors makes for some peaceful scenery along with cooler temperatures, making it motivating for Em to hit the trails in the afternoon and even take a study break in the process. What better place to read/study than outside in nature?
 The doggies are liking this time of year too because the trails aren't very busy when mom goes so they get to be off leash :)

 Like we said above, this month has been filled with activity and blessings. Labor day weekend was a busy time for us. For those that don't know, John and I attend Appleseed shoots and have been involved with the program for about two years now. For more on this program you can follow the link down below. About two years ago John picked up an orange hat which made him an instructor in training and has been working on the steps to become a full instructor and receive his red hat. At the beginning of this month he practically ran the local shoot with about a dozen shooters and earned his red hat! The shoot boss was so impressed that there wasn't even a question about him getting it, which was great for Em and John's dad because they got to see him get it and take pictures! Em had previously picked up her orange hat when she shot rifleman, but hasn't really done anything besides hand out targets. Labor day weekend Em acted as an orange hat on Saturday and helped out with instruction which helped her to get to the next step in the orange hat process. She was really proud to see John get his red hat and do so well because he's worked so hard for it and we are both passionate about the program. It was fun too because two of our friends were orange hats at the shoot too so most of the volunteers were friends :)
http://appleseedinfo.org/

Matt, Em, Kris, and John after the shoot!

 Look at that stud!

 Trading in the hat.
After Saturday's portion of the shoot, we took our new roof top tent out and tried it out for the first time! Although we only slept and didn't really camp, it was awesome and so easy to set up. Em even felt like she got a good nights rest for her half marathon the next morning. We are excited to use it a lot!

Oh yeah so while John completed the shoot on Sunday, Em ran her first trail half marathon at Moscow Mountain. She had been stressed out the previous few weeks and not running as long, plus it was her first half marathon in the mountains so she was going to happy with a finish, especially because she woke up with a horrible sore throat. She ran a lot of it, walked a lot of it, and loved all of it! It was starting to get really pretty that weekend with fall colors and she met a few people who were running their first half marathon EVER. What studs right?!?! It was fun and a heck of a work out; Em was definitely tired when it was over, but she's sold on the idea of doing trail runs more! She just wishes she could make it up to the trails more often :/

 About half way through!


 At the start!
 Not just a good instructor, but a damn good lookin one too ;)



 He should be a pro!

So after Labor day weekend, we got into the full swing of things and started getting into a routine with school and work. John has been spending a few nights a week at his parents house doing class work with his dad. Once they figured out how to get through his course work and figured out a routine, they were enjoying the class and John really enjoys not going to campus at all. This program is much better for his life currently. Em's has continued to be on campus twice a week and has enjoyed TAing for multiple classes. She's already taught once and gets to teach again tomorrow, which she really loves! Her mind and body have started getting into the routine of school and work again and she has really been enjoying working with Rielynn and learning so much from him. She does miss working with some of the other kids though. She's looking forward to seeing them more often during student teaching. About two weeks after Labor day, Em went into her 4th attempt taking the math praxis. She hadn't improved her score at all so she was hoping to get a better score, but was not at all preparing to pass. Well she happened to get a 165 and the passing score is a 164!!! Yup she FINALLY passed and almost screamed out loud in the testing center when she saw her score. She couldn't believe it and went straight outside jumping around like a little girl screaming and acting like a dork. She called John, Alex (her professor) and her friend Marianne to tell them the great news and celebrated with a starbucks before she had to go to class. After class John took her to Tri state to get her the 22 rifle that she was working to earn when she did pass math and then to dinner :) Passing this portion of the test is such a HUGE relief for Em because she was truly worried about passing it and whether she would be able to before student teaching or even graduating. She still has the science test to pass, but her scores there have improved and she is starting to recognize most of the questions. That test is on October 13th and she is not concerned about eventually passing this one. She is much happier only have science left than having math left, because she knows she will pass science. 

The dork dancing around outside of the testing center!


Em is headed out to Boise tomorrow for the special education state conference and she is very excited for another conference plus she gets to see and stay with her great friend Samantha (Samo) that she has not seen since graduation almost two years ago! She also found out recently that her department is going to sponsor her and help her get to the national special education conference in San Diego in April so that she can present on her (hopefully published) paper! She is VERY grateful and was VERY surprised to learn about this amazing gift! She is a very very lucky young lady who has been blessed so much by her time at U of I getting her masters. She's managed not to be killed by her professor too even though she's made a few mistakes!
John is hard at work on the Jeep and Truck when he's not studying or at work. He's looking into more shoots now that he's an Red Hat and getting ready for some cooler weather. He's picked up disk golf, completed a golf tournament for work, and gone hunting. We managed to get one more river float in before the end of summer and Em saw her FIRST big horn long sheep, in fact she saw THREE! State animal of Nevada and she had never seen one until last weekend in Lewiston, ID! The float was awesome and was very relaxing start to the week.
The Klein's are doing great right now and looking forward to some camping trips here soon! Did we mention our 9 year anniversary is in a few weeks? WOW!!!