Well, it feels like summer already with all our activities lately!  I was able to run my half marathon on March 23!  Finished it in 2:24, which wasn't bad since I didn't train as much as I could have.  It was so much fun to have Chad there! Never had a husband be there at the end of the race for me!  Karen, Chad's mom was also there being supportive as she always is.  They were so great, and got on the news in the background talking to me on the ground! Fun stuff!

 Before the race all chipper!

 I feel like I'm a little more animated than the rest of this crowd, they were all super serious!

 Lone runner approaching finish line, I was sooooooo dead right here!

  Awww sweet finish, and free gatorade! I had two!

My sweet hubby :)

Later in the week at school we had a Market day or Dia de mercado for French and Spanish students! It was really hectic, but fun and a lot of the students were speaking the language, mostly when teachers walked by but still!  We had called the news and I got to be on one of them so here is the clip of most of my students and me! I'm so proud of them!
http://www.wdbj7.com/videogallery/75091281/News/Spanish-market-at-Martinsville-High-School#pl-66745839

I feel so famous :)

Below are some pictures of my kids too.

 My kids singing songs that we learned, and they choreographed dances as well!

 My 5th period in the classroom after the market! You can see my class room a little in this too!

I love these kids, so fun to work with and trying hard!


This week has been Spring Break, so I've enjoyed sleeping in and also our little trip to West Virginia! We went and visited Chad's Great Uncle Frank and Aunt Ann.  We also got to visit the house where his Granny grew up! People are still living there! We also got to pick up coal off the train tracks, just like his Granny used to for their fires! I was soooo excited.  Uncle Frank told us ghost stories how people used to get killed a lot by the coal trains and you can still hear their bodies hitting the river nearby at night.  Scary, but fascinating!  Chad, Jacob (chad's lil bro), and I also took part in the playground fun! There was a caboose you could climb in and teeter totters! We also got yelled at to get off someone's property cause we were exploring, and the guy said his dog would eat us.  I figured it adds to the experience.  Reminded me of when I was little and following my brothers where we weren't supposed to go, then getting in trouble by the neighbors, cause the boys would take off and I couldn't keep up!  Agh flashbacks!
Overall it's been fun here in Virginia, and are excited for the end of the school year, when we can head out west for some more fun and visiting family and friends!

 The black strip in the mountain side is the coal they dig out! I was geeking out on everything I was learning.

 Miles of train cars full of coal!

 We learned to play Canasta this week and I find I like it quite a lot! :)

 Granny's house growing up!

 Coal we found on the tracks.

 Jacob found coal and railroad spikes.

 Cool pic by chad

 One way bridge to cross to get to Granny's house, you should have seen the switchbacks to just get to the bridge!

 WE HAD SO MUCH FUN ON THE TEETER TOTTERS!

 Inside the caboose was cool, but lots of graffiti.

 My sweetheart and I couldn't resist the "engagement picture" photo op

 We have so much fun together!

Exercise and Sweets

First update, um yeah! found the camera, (glove box of my car, not sure why?) but that means pictures!!!! So here goes...

For our first Valentines Chad was so sweet and brought me some beautiful red roses personally to school.  They called me to the office under the pretense that I was in trouble, but I turned the corner and there was this handsome guy waiting for me with a smile.  I ran up and gave him a hug and kiss.  I headed back to my room with a smile and my bouquet.  Later that day I surprised him with a short little scavenger hunt throughout our apartment to find me. Not super hard with only one room, but we are dorky like that.  Then he took me to my favorite place in town, Tokyo Express! Such good Japanese food, can't get enough of it! And he bought me the movie Johnny Lingo which I had been hinting I wanted at the store every time we went hehe.  He is such a good listener and so observant!

I have to brag a little about Friday night, because Chad made some amazing Navajo Tacos he learned about from his mission in Arizona.  He'd never made them before by himself, only with an awesome lady from church! But they turned out amazing! Definitely going to add it to our regular meals!

Then after church today thanks to Sandy and Chuck's waffle maker we received for our wedding me can make Dad's famous waffles! So good! I love Sunday lunch!  I've learned to put some peanut butter on mine cause Chad does, and he's learned to put nutella on his from me :)

Later Friday night we made t-shirts for our race! They turned out really fun and cute, which was the goal!

It was a brisk 32 degrees and even had a little flurries while we were running.  We both finished in 33:12! And it was Chad's first 5K well done babe! There were a lot of people from church cause it was a Boyscout sponsered/planned race and it was nice to see everyone there and route each other on! Lots of my primary kids to take pictures with and have fun outside of church!

Chad's mom was great and took pictures while handing out water half way! Doesn't look like we needed a break at all right?  Nice chance to walk for a sec that's for sure and the water was super cold! But we warmed up with hot chocolate afterwards!

Here we come from far away, like lightening!

Chad, me, and Dewey(Chad's bro) getting some hot cocoa after.

Karen(Chad's mom), Chad, me, Cannon, Eddie(our buddies we hand with), and Dewey.  

We don't look cold at all, right? Too bad the wind picked up during awards, cha chai!(that's how you say it's cold in Quetchwa, in Ecuador)

Some primary kids and me and Chad!

They liked the camera, it was kinda fun running around taking pictures, reminds me of my mom! Who knew?

Photos proving we are so made for each other, we like taking these pictures :)

This is a picture of one of my fav students at school that was there! I beat him :)

And lo and behold after calling 3rd then 2nd place for my age division I was saddened by not getting an award, and then they call out "From Collinsville, Jessica Anderson!" I was like- 'Okay Ms. America surprise face', but I didn't have to fake it cause I really was surprised!!! So exciting, I did a little dance!

 Last night after racing and then a nap, I felt like sugar cookies, so me and Chad went to town on them and made a huge mess, but they taste good and are in the shape of hearts, and boots(nod to Oregon to me thinking of Oregon).  Only a couple days too late right?

Oh and this is us in front of our REAL Christmas tree and presents! Yeah for first Christmas together! It was amazing! A little late, but thought I'd share our picture.