My LAST Semester of My Undergrad

This is a little bit of a long post, but it's just a little bit of what we've been up to since I haven't updated this in 2 months!

This semester marks the last semester of my undergrad at BYU-Idaho! I cannot tell you how excited I am to be done and move on with my life outside of school! I am so excited to see what the future brings! This semester has been kind of crazy with my Internship, being Social Work Society Secretary, classes and a part-time job.

I am doing my Internship at Farnsworth Elementary School in Rigby, ID and I love it! I love interacting with the kids and getting to know them. I have been doing about 20-25 hrs/week and going every day so I can get ahead on my hours so I don't have to go every day towards the end of the semester. We need a total of 250 hours per semester and right now I have 192 hours :) NEXT week I start going MWF which will be nice so I can sleep and not use as much gas. I am doing this Internship with 3 others from the Social Work Program so we carpool and I have been having to drive every 2 weeks or so. It has been nice to have others so I am not guzzling all my gas and racking up my miles. I have learned so much so far and am looking forward to the day when I can use my skills in a real Social Work Job. A little bit of what my Internship has involved: structured recess, behavioral groups, teaching classes (Red Ribbon Week/Drug-Free, Second Steps - Violence Prevention Curriculum), one-on-one help with homework/spelling words, RTI (response to intervention), etc. I loved my last Internship in Texas a little more because the Crime/Child Abuse side of things interested me more, but I still love this Internship and the new opportunities it has given me.

I am taking 9 other credits to fulfill all of my requirements for Graduation. I am taking Abnormal Psychology, Research Methods, and Diverse Clients. All of those classes are going pretty well and the work load is manageable so it's not too bad.

I am working 15 hours a week on campus doing early-morning custodial. I wake up at about 3:30 am M-F and start work at 4 am and go til 7 am. I got this job about 3 weeks ago and it has been ok. The pay is good so it is worth it, but my lack of sleep has been catching up with me lately. I am in the Smith Building which is 4 floors and there are 13 of us split up (2 on each floor and others scattered doing bathrooms, stairs, entryways, etc.). We switch duties every week so their is variety and it's not as repetitive. A little bit of what I have been doing is cleaning teachers offices and cleaning classrooms. Steve also got the same job but in a different building. He has to work every Saturday so he gets 1 day out of the week off.

I am part of the Social Work Society for the 3rd Semester and this semester I am the Secretary. A little bit of what I do is send out emails about upcoming meetings, take notes from meetings, and update the website. It is pretty easy going and we only have meetings every other week so it is not very time consuming, but still fun to be apart of.

Well that is a little bit of what is going on in my life right now!! We are awaiting some offers for Internships for Steve for the Winter and he's looking for something in Business Marketing preferably paid starting in January. For those of you that read my blog we are still looking for one so if you know of anything available let us know! Looking ANYWHERE (preferably warm)!! He has 2 Interviews with companies set up so far (1 in Fruitland, ID and 1 in Boulder, CO). His 1st Interview was yesterday and we're waiting to see how it went. Our top pick is with John Deere where my brother works so pray something works out for us.

Other than school and work we have had a little bit of time to play and have fun....some things we have done this semester include:

• Going to Utah for General Conference weekend to see my Dad and 2 brothers
• Green Canyon Hot Springs
• Haunted Forest
• Yellowstone National Park 

Here are some pics: 

Left: Steve and I in Yellowstone! We had a lot of fun exploring things we've never done before in Yellowstone and this was probably the last time we'll visit Yellowstone for quite sometime because we're moving!!
Right: Steve and I with my Dad and 2 brothers (Landon and Evan) at Tucano's Brazilian Grill in SLC over conference weekend.
Middle: Steve and I with some friends at the Haunted Forest
Bottom Right: Steve and I on Halloween (I'm Katniss from Hunger Games and Steve is a Fisherman)

The Semester is Done

Well I survived my first semester of the Social Work Program!!! I have loved it and am so glad I chose this major. I have learned so much and I know this coming semester I am going to learn a lot as well. Everyone asks me what I want to go into in the field of Social Work and as of right now it's either Child Protective Services or Foster Care/Adoption! This may change depending on if I like my internships or not :) 

As of right now I have 1 more semester of just classes and then my last 2 semesters I just have my internship and 1-3 classes with it. Steve and I will graduate exactly 1 year from now!!!! Steve got an internship offer down in Orem, UT in April with a company called RPM drivers. We are not sure if we want to move down there yet because it would cost a lot to move down there and then come back up for the next semester. We called Steve's parents yesterday seeing if we could live with them in April while we do internships, if we find them, and they said yes!! We are now looking for Social Work and Business Marketing Internships in the Snohomish Area (1/2 hour north of Seattle)! It would be so much cheaper to live over there that way we wouldn't have to bring all of our furniture, kitchen stuff, etc. Please pray for us to find something over there in April!! 

I am anxious to find out my final grades for this semester as some of my teachers haven't put in all my grades yet! I am just waiting on 1 class and for my teacher to put the remainder of the homework in. For sure I know I got a 92.8% in my Ethics and Values class, a 90.84% in my Practice Individuals class, an 85.23 in my Human Behavior in the Social Environment class (I really didn't like the scoring in this class, we had 4 tests, 2 papers, and 1 presentation- I really wish we had some homework so we could boost up our grades),  a 89.86% in my Criminology class (wish she would have just rounded to a 90%), and I got a 99.31 in my Doctrine and Covenants class. This semester I took 17 credits and it definitely didn't feel like it. This next semester I will be taking 15 credits and my goal is to get straight A's! 

New Semester

The new semester started on September 10th. And yes I've already been in school about a month!!! Time flies! I really had mixed feelings about this semester because I didn't know what to expect but so far so good! I am taking 17 credits this semester here are my classes:
                         Criminology- 3 credits
                         Social Work Practice I- Individuals- 3 credits
                         Doctrine & Covenants- 2 credits
                         Social Work Values & Ethics- 3 credits
                         Human Behavior and the Social Environment- 3 credits
                         Social Work Policy- 3 credits

After this semester I will have earned 87 credits which means only 3 semesters left!!!
One of my favorite classes so far this semester is my criminology class. I have learned so much and everything in that class is so interesting (like why people commit crime, how much crime there is in the town I am living in, etc.) School is starting to get really stressful with all of my papers, presentation, homework due dates are coming up. I haven't really had much time for a social life lately and volleyball starts for me in exactly 2 weeks today!

In the mix of all my classes I work part-time on-campus still. I have worked as a Receptionist for over a year and I still love it. I love my co-workers and the flexible hours. I work MWF from 2-5 and T/Thurs 11-2. It worked out perfectly for me to work this semester which wouldn't have been possible if one of my co-workers Amberly didn't have opposite schedule as me!

Steve is busy working 40 hours/week at ArtCo still and is loving it. As it is getting colder sometimes I just feel really bad and take him to work sometimes instead of making him bike. It is getting a lot colder at night and I have gone to our car in the mornings and it is frosted over the past few days.

Happy Tuesday and I will be updating you all soon on our trip to Utah this past weekend as well as our trip to Yellowstone!

Done with the Semester & New Jobs

We're all done with our classes and finals for the semester!! We are both glad to be done and have a break from everything!

I have been looking for jobs everywhere in the area and finally got one on Thursday!!! I will be working full-time at Le Ritz Hotel & Suites in Idaho Falls for the break. I started training today and have training until Friday. I will start my normal shift by myself on Saturday. I will be a Front Desk Agent which includes: checking in/out guests, paperwork, phone calls, reservations, etc. The hotel is so nice and everyone is very friendly. The overall training today was a bit overwhelming because there is so much to know but I can't wait to be able to do everything I am learning.

Steve got a job today and will be working at ArtCo until mid-December. He's been looking for full-time for the summer and also until he goes back to school in the Winter and finally found something that pays good. He starts work on Monday and he will be calling existing customers to buy more products. It is kinda like Melaleuca because your not really telemarketing (these people want to be called) and you get commission.

We are going to have an overall busy summer but still want to get out and go places in the area for fun. We have been so blessed lately and grateful for all the opportunities we have been given.