spring break!

 Well, for the past week, Sterling and I have been enjoying our spring break in the lovely Southeast Idaho. We took a long route down to Grace last Saturday. While driving, I realized that I had been on those same roads with my parents a good 7 years ago on one of our random road trips we used to take. We went by this recreation area called Three Devils near Lolo Pass, which my dad talks about all the time. Back in the day, we stopped there and my dad took a picture of my sister, mom, and I standing under the 'Three Devils' sign. He thought it was the most clever, hilarious thing. So when we drove by it last weekend, I had to take a picture standing under it then send it to my parents.

We also found a delicious little Italian cafe to have lunch at in Florence, Montana. While eating, Sterling discovered that we were about 20 miles from a polygamist community in Pinesdale, MT. So, of course, we made a detour to go check it out. It was pretty cool and kind of weird, it was this little community behind a forest. They had these nice paved walkways all around the community (I like to call it a compound, Big Love style, but Sterling tells me that is wrong) and lots of families out in their yards. I was pretty excited to see real polygamists, haha. We went into this cute little country store, and I'm pretty sure the lady who owned it was a sister wife. So cool :) Here's a picture of Sterling standing next to the Pinesdale sign.

Kooskia, ID. It was a long, curvy drive.

One of the main reasons we came to Grace for the week was so that Sterling could have some job interviews. Monday, we went to American Falls for his interview with Lamb Weston. Tuesday, up to Blackfoot for Wada Farms. Yesterday he talked to his dad's cousin who owns Stoddard Farms. So now we are just playing the waiting game to hear back about everything! I think Wada is our top pick right now. I've been looking for houses in Blackfoot. I can't wait for him to secure a job so that we can get everything else figured out for sure! Less than 2 months. So excited!

Monday night, we went to the hot pots in Lava Hot Springs. It was my first time going. It was nice :)  Tomorrow morning we're leaving at 5:45am to go to Twin Falls to watch our nephew Lincoln in a wrestling match. Sterling loves wrestling so he's pretty excited. Then, tomorrow night we are going to a Vandals game at Utah State!! We got invited to a tournament (CIT I think?) and won our first game, so it's on to beat the Aggies tomorrow. I've turned into a pretty avid college basketball fan this year, so it should be pretty fun. Sterling's momma is going with us :)

Speaking of basketball, this March Madness thing has sucked me in pretty badly. The Husband and I both joined a group online with his friends and filled out our brackets, and it's pretty intense. I've been guilty of yelling at the TV pretty crazily on more than a few occasions. The Duke game tonight got me going. Can you believe Duke lost in the first round to a 15 seed team?!? I was a little livid, seeing as I had Duke in the championship game.

Oh, and you know that whole being healthy thing we were doing so good at? Yeah, turns out that doesn't work so well when visiting the Stoddard house. The pantry always has a variety of candy in it. And there is a delicious taco bus in Grace. And while in Pocatello, we couldn't resist a Chinese buffet. At the beginning of the week, I tried really hard to keep us on track (Sterling asked me to as well!) but then I found myself with a husband who would fiercely moan whenever I suggested we put on our yoga DVD and who would come downstairs with chipmunk cheeks and try to convince me that no, he was not sneaking Robin Eggs. So I kind of gave up. We will be back on track once we're home in Moscow, eating veggies again and not having treats in the apartment.

Just for a visual aid, this is what our week started out like....

....and then it kinda went downhill and this is an example of what it amounted to. Whoops.

spinach&southeast idaho

Remember how I said Sterling and I were going to get serious about being healthy? Totally are. For real this time! We've been going to the gym regularly, eating healthy, haven't had baked goods, candy, or pop in like 10 days, and dang, we're just on fire.

I bought The Biggest Loser's Weight Loss Yoga DVD, and goodness, that stuff is good. I convinced the Husband to do it with me the other night, and he was sweating buckets and had no idea yoga was so hard. I've got some sore abs and arm muscles today. And last night, I made us a Green Monster Smoothie. Did you know that spinach is amazing in smoothies? You can't even taste it! I have a feeling we're going to be drinkin' a lot of smoothies.

Saturday we leave for Grace for spring break! I'm so excited. Can't wait for a break from school. We're taking a different route down there this time, just for fun. We're driving through the most desolate parts of Idaho where we've never been! I frantically searched Yelp for somewhere exciting for us to get lunch at on our way. Sterling will hopefully talk to a few people about potential jobs while we're down in SE Idaho, so I'm super anxious about that. I just want him to secure a job already! This whole patience thing just isn't workin for me.

He did get a call yesterday about a job interview at Lamb Weston in Kennewick, WA. They supposedly hire for the American Falls branch, so this could be very good! His interview is super early the morning of the 22nd, so they're getting us a hotel room for the night before. So it'll be a nice little trip for us! And a chance to eat sushi (yep, I already Yelped Kennewick, too).

This week is mid-terms. So fun, right? I've been studying for my statistics test tomorrow. I'm kinda bombing that class right now, so it's about time for me to start getting better grades. The thing with stats though, is that I never know if I actually am understanding it or not! I went into the last test thinking I was totally prepared after studying, and I got 55%. Uh, yeah. So this time I studied using an old copy of this units test that he gave us, so hopefully that'll help me out a bit. A girl in our ward took this same class, and she said she was doing really bad in it too, but the professor majorly curves the final, and she ended up with a C, which was way better than she expected. So I'm kind of hoping that the same thing happens to me. I would be totally thrilled with a C in this class!

Sterling and I have our midterm for our finance class tonight. It's online, so we'll take it together and hope it goes alright. We've been doing well in the class so far otherwise, so I'm not to worried about it. But do you know how annoying and boring it is to take a 100 question test online?! It's not fun.

 Anyway, I think that's all the news. Next time I blog, I'll probably be in the lovely SE Idaho!!! Cannot wait :)

TinyWingzzz.

You know, today as I was sitting in class I was thinking about all this stuff I wanted to blog about. And now that I'm here blogging, I can't remember what they all were. I hope you're ready for some meaningless updates on Stoddard Life!

Sterling acquired his sister Steph's iPhone since she's on her mission and his phone died. Since he gave up Facebook and Reddit for Lent, he spends much of his time playing a lovely game called TinyWings. It's basically a bird flying over rainbow-colored hills and farting starry fireworks. I don't get it. But he is all about that thing. Whatever makes the husband happy, I guess.

Yesterday I had my blood pressure taken and it was super high, in the hypertension range. So, we are being healthy now in hopes of getting it under control, even though I'm not exactly sure why it's high. We eat a lot of produce, I don't eat a ton of sodium, and my weight is the lowest it's been in 4 years! So we're trying this exercise thing. We've gone to the gym two nights in a row! That's a big accomplishment for us, seeing as we haven't been in weeks. Now we just gotta keep it up. Plus I'm making healthy things (like granola bars!) and not buying much junk. Sterling's lost 3 pounds this week. We're so good.

Sterling just found out I wrote about his TinyWings addiction and I'm only allowed to talk about it as long as I also mention that he's been reading a lot, as well. So there ya go, honey :)  I'm also not supposed to mention that he frequently yells at the little bird on his phone.

He also has been having fun snapping pictures on his new phone.

Can you tell I had no idea he was taking this one?

Ron Paul is coming back to U of I next Monday. It's cool and all, but it's just not as exciting as the first time, mostly because we already met him and it just doesn't get any better than that. I won't even be going, since it's during the time I work. But Sterling will go with the guys and have fun.

My newest hobby is looking for apartments in Blackfoot, ID. Sterling has a potential job in that area (a really good one too, so cross your fingers!) and I'd still be able to go to ISU, so it's pretty exciting. Oh, and we officially signed over our lease to a guy, so it's his as of May 15th and we will be gone from Moscow! Hopefully we have a job lined up by then! I'm so anxious and excited about this move, I can't even stand it. I want to get everything all figured out right now. But, alas, we have 2 months left here. Aghhh. Go by fast, please.

PS: Is it spring break yet?!

I love you, Monday.

Tonight is one of those really nice nights. The day was just alright, but I'm quite enjoying the night. I went visiting teaching, which I'm really starting to like. I have a great companion (Sterling and I had dinner with her and her husband last week, we love them!), and the ladies we teach are both really nice. This whole husband thing is wonderful, but it's also nice to just go talk with other girls :)

And now Sterling and I are both home, just hanging out in the living room, him reading his new book and me, well, doing this. First off, I love hanging out in our living room, mostly because we never do. Our TV is in the bedroom, so we spend pretty much all our free time lounging in bed, watching Friends or something. Second, it's nice just being together but doing our own thing. I admit, I'm not always very good with this. I have this thing where I think that whenever we're just hanging out together, we should be cuddling. I'm just most comfortable when we're close. But I do enjoy this 'together but separate' time, as well.

And third, well, I don't have class on Tuesdays, so I'm kind of a fan of Monday nights in general!

Okay, enough of my babbling about this lovely night. I suppose a recap of the last week is in order.

Last weekend, we went to the temple in Spokane to do baptisms for the dead. I liked it a lot. I love temples and really feel a connection to them, so it was cool to actually be in one for the first time! The Spokane one is tiny though. But pretty still! We drove there with the lovely Bowles' and got some delicious Red Robin with them afterwards, so it was a good day all around.

I don't think the weekdays were too interesting, so we'll skip them.

Friday evening, Suzy and Stacey, Sterling's mom and brother, arrived in Moscow! They stayed with us until Sunday after church. We showed them around little Moscow, I got Suzy to try (and love!!!) sushi, introduced them to JAMMS, took a windy, snowy walk around campus, and all sorts of fun stuff. They came to church with us Sunday to hear us give our talks. As terrified of speaking as I was, I actually lost a lot of that nervousness as it got closer. It wasn't bad at all! Sterling did a great job on his talk. I swear, that guy has got to be a bishop someday. He just sounds like a preacher. He got all teary-eyed up there too, which is my favorite thing :)

I ended up getting sick Saturday night with who-knows-what and I'm just now getting over it, so that kind of put a damper on things a bit. I still don't know what was/is wrong with me. Saturday I thought it was a migraine, Sunday I thought it was a flu, today I'm thought it's a sinus problem....but I really don't know. It just felt like a really bad head cold without all the stuffiness and snot and gross stuff.

But anyway, it was a fun weekend! We loved having family here. Spring break is in two weeks, and it looks like we'll be headed down to Grace to spend it there. I'm excited! Can't wait for the week off, I'm already ready for the semester to be over.

Hello, Mr. President Hopeful

Once again, I'm blogging because my husband was bugging me to do so. This time, though, it was so that I'd stop bugging him to hurry up on his homework so we could leave the library and go home. Well, whatever works.

Friday was THE day. As in, The Day Dr. Ron Paul Came to Moscow, Idaho. It ended up being an even bigger day in the Stoddard household that I'd imagined it being.

You see, we signed up with Youth for Ron Paul (a campus club) to help out with the rally. Sterling knew some people who were pretty much in charge of organizing the event. We had official little badges. We were tabling outside the ballroom before the event started, trying to recruit people to our campus club, YAL. I got antsy and suggested to Sterling that we abuse the privileges of our fancy badges and slip into the ballroom early to make sure we got good seats to see Dr. Paul speak. So, in we went. And then one of the coordinator guys asked us if we would escort Ron Paul from his car into the ballroom. Um, YES!

So out we went to meet cute little Ron Paul at his car and walk him up to the backstage area of where he was speaking. We met his wife and granddaughter, we got pictures with him, we prayed with him, and we hung out back there for a good 15 minutes. Then we got to watch him speak from the side of the stage, where his family and guards were sitting.

Sterling about cried, he was so excited and happy. It was pretty funny. So yes, it was quite the exciting experience! I told Sterling I must've been inspired when I decided we should sneak in early.

Here are some snazzy pictures documenting the event:

The whole group of volunteers with Ron Paul.

Ahhh!!! There we all are! Isn't Dr. Paul such a cute old man?

These are aforementioned fancy badges.

A view from our seats.

Valentines!

I think Valentine's Day merits a blog post, right?

It was our first married V-day, which was quite nice. I made us breakfast, then made Sterling a giant heart-shaped Cake-Batter Rice Krispy Treat while he was at school. He also got a couple other little gifts he's been needing. The rice krispy is the only thing that we got a picture of. Actually, Sterling has one of us on his phone, so maybe I'll add that later.

We had some delicious Chinese takeout for lunch from our favorite place in town. Then I had to go to work (which included dealing with a so fun poopy pants situation...yeah), and came home to find a tidied up living room and roses and a new chick flick and a cute little kid valentine and...a shovel. I quickly found out that the shovel was a wedding present that the Bowles' had just dropped off right before I got home, but it was a nice touch with the roses and such ;)

We went to this new Mexican place in town, Lamadrid. They were doing a Valentine dinner special, which was tasty but kind of cheap on the portions. But it was good, nonetheless!


I also have been meaning to complain via blog. Last week, I got a parking ticket. In my own driveway. Apparently it's illegal to partially block sidewalks? I didn't realize this was an actual law that tickets are given for, especially since we live in a quiet little neighborhood! It's not like a person would be thrust out onto a busy street in order to walk around my car! AND, I have never seen Moscow PD on our street, but they made sure to be there during the TWENTY minutes that I was parked!

Ugh. Ridiculous. Anyway, in other news, RON PAUL IS COMING TO UI! Yup, he will be here tomorrow afternoon. We're pretty excited, and by that I mean Sterling is pee-his-pants-ecstatic. We got tickets to get in early before everyone else, so hopefully we can meet him and get pictures and everything! That would make Sterling's life.

firsts.

Today, Sterling told me I needed to blog. Apparently he checks everyday to see if I wrote something new, and he's tired of being disappointed :)

Maybe I'm forgetting something, but I don't think this past week was too exciting.

Aside from some nannying drama, of course. One of my kids got in trouble for some lying and cheating at school, so when I picked him up, his teacher talked with me about it. Then my kid sat on the floor of the main hallway of the school, crying/fake crying and wailing (he didn't want to go home because that meant telling Mom & Dad). For 20 minutes. It took me and 3 of the staff members to finally talk him into getting up and walking out to the car. It was pretty ridiculous for an 8 year old. Plus, most other parents at the school assume I'm his mom (Uh, not quite), so I'm seen as that mom who can't control her child who has crazy tantrums while much-too-old. Yeah, that was fun.

We've also been avid Vandals Basketball fans. Well, we always have been. But there were three really good games this week, so that's another thing we spent a lot of time doing. I really like watching basketball. Gets me all fired up!

Then today. Ohhh, today. We went to church and the Bishop's secretary pulled us aside and told us the bishop wanted to speak with us. So we went to see him during Sunday School. First, I was given a calling. My first calling! I'm one of the Activities Coordinators for Relief Society. I kind of neglected to ask what exactly that entails, but it should be good!

We also got our temporary Temple recommends so that we can go to Spokane on our Ward Temple Trip this Saturday to do Baptisms for the Dead! I'm pretty excited about that. It'll be another first for me!

And now here's the real kicker. So in Sacrament meeting today, Sterling and I were talking about how we hope we can manage to get through this semester without being asked to give a talk. We know sometimes our bishop likes to ask people to speak when they're about to move away and leave our ward, so I joked that we just shouldn't tell our bishop when we leave. In case you haven't caught on yet, I'm terrified of speaking in public and would die if I had to give a talk in church.

Fast forward about 20 minutes after mine and Sterling's talk about this. We go talk to the bishopric. The bishopric asked Sterling and I to both speak in Sacrament Meeting on the 26th.

Oh. My. Goodness. I really wanted to pee my pants or cry or something. Luckily, I was able to refrain from either.

But seriously?! Oh, man. So, I'm giving a talk about my conversion and testimony. Which, yes, is a pretty easy thing to start on. But....I'm still absolutely terrified and am dreading doing it!

I know it'll be a good thing though. I knew it was bound to happen, and I do really need to get more comfortable with stuff like this. But sheesh, it was a little earlier than I expected! It'll be interesting to see what a nervous wreck I am as the 26th gets closer.

Now that that's on my mind, I can't think of much else that's been going on! Oh, our friends are getting married Tuesday! Well, they're getting married this summer in Indonesia, but they're doing it legally at the courthouse on Tuesday so that everything is squared away and she can start going through the citizenship process and whatnot. So that's exciting! Except I have to work while they're doing it, so I'm pretty bummed I can't be there for it. Sterling promised me he'll take pictures, but come to think of it, I'm not exactly sure if that's allowed in a courthouse, ha.

Tuesday is also Valentine's Day, which I'm pretty excited about. Mostly because we're going to a new restaurant that has a good special going on. Yeah, food gets me pretty dang excited. Aaand, I think that's all for my recap for now!