The Meltdown

So the news is now calling this "The Meltdown" because the ton of snow that we had...is now melting. Causing major flooding and such. Its pretty incredible how fast it has all gone away. Here is a documentation of the snowman's demise... Its much like the Primary Song, Once there was a Snowman...
He started tall:
Then in the sun (and rain) he melted, (melted melted)...
Small, small, small.
Now our grass is pretty much uncovered, the streets are nice and clear almost and everything is mostly just wet. Like a proper Seattle Christmas should be.

WINTER BLAST 08

The news seems to think its important to give certain local events cool, catchy names so that we sound more important than we actually probably are. That is what sparked everyone around here (that is to say, Matt, Jenna and I) to call it WINTER BLAST 08, just like they would on the news. I came home to a foot of snow, that has stayed around for several days. That is unheard of here in Seattle. We are usually lucky for a small dusting once a year that is gone within a day or two. Needlesstosay, I was really surprised to see all the snow and the continued snowfall. The trouble is, we live on a very steep hill. Getting up and down it is quite the challenge. In fact, we drove the 800 miles or so from Utah to Seattle, without any trouble, but the last 200 feet up our hill proved too difficult for our little car and we had to trek up the hill in the snow with all our bags and leave the car at the bottom. It works out because that is just the car we use now to go anywhere, because it is past the tough stuff. I am just hoping that the snow sticks around for long enough to have a white Christmas, which would be a very rare occurance around here. So when I got home and saw all the snow, I decided that there were some things on my "at-home" checklist that had to get done:
1) Play in the snow like I am 5 years old
2) Build a snowman bigger than me (I know, not too difficult...)
3)Gingerbread making contest (vote as to which one is better :) )

4) Read a book for fun in front of the fireplace
5) Finish Christmas shopping
6) Wrap everything.
7) Relax :) I really have done all of these things. Its fantastic.

So now that my checklist is complete, I am excited for Christmas and the fun that that is! We are definitely going to have a white Christmas, so it will be beautiful! Merry Christmas to everyone and I hope that you have a great day!

Whew! This semester is over!

The end of a semester is always a relief. The final push to the end is always the hardest and I am so glad to be done. All the projects and tests and evaluations are finished and I can breathe for a day or two before getting started on the next. And believe me, they already sent out assignments. Now I just have to get home safe and sound in the middle of a blizzard and relax. I can't wait to spend some quality resting time with my family at home. It will be great. And can you believe it, I only have to do three more semesters and then I graduate! Now thats really scary. Lets not think about it right now. Good idea. In the meantime I am just going to enjoy my small break :) MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!

Roommates!!!!

I love my roommates. Seriously, we are a funny bunch. And I get really lucky. I have not yet had a mystery roommate move in that I didn't get along with (knock on wood). We always have such a blast. And I have had my share of roommates too, and while it would be fun to talk about them all, it would take forever, so I will just stick to the current ones. I just think the whole concept of roommates is kinda funny. One day, you have no clue who they are but you share a room, and before you know it, you are great friends. You are in a sense forced into it, but I think its fabulous! My roommates right now are so fun. We laugh almost constantly. And lucky for me, a lot of plans to separate us fell through, so we are all going to be together again for another semester. I thought I would just post to show everyone who these wonderful ladies that I live with are! We took these pictures, with the prompt of "Romanian Orphan" . I don't know much about it, I think mine just looks scary. But hey, it was funny and they are now hanging on our wall.
This is Shayla. I love her. She is my room-roommate and we have a good time together. She is from Orem and is going to be a school teacher some day. Our favorite activity lately is singing "Total Eclipse of the Heart " by Bonnie Tyler at the top of our lungs and interpretive dancing for whoever will watch, or just with ourselves. Its a great time. She loves records and actually has a ton of them which she plays on her record player. Its awesome.And this is Kat. One of the coolest people you will meet. She was an actress who knows lots of famous people. Now she is going to be a lawyer and is in the process of applying to law school. I think she is the only one that truly captured the Romanian Orphan look in our pictures, which would make sense because it was her prompt. She shaved her head a little while back and totally looks awesome. I could never do that, but she is beautiful and pulls it off amazingly.And here is Suzanne. She has been my roommate for going on two years now, and its great. She is so optimistic and happy almost all the time, so its always nice. Super smart and always willing to share that knowledge with others :). She is going to India this summer to save the widows and I wouldn't put it past her to actually do it. I swear she never sleeps and somehow is still pleasant. Heaven knows I need my sleep to be pleasant.And here is my picture. I know, I know, its awful. I look ill, or drugged or something. I don't know exactly what happened, but it was after my flag football game and a long day at the hospital, so those are my excuses. And there isn't much to say about me except that I live with awesome girls. And I need to make honorable mention to Alison, who is, for all intents and purposes, my roommate :) She is a past and a future roommate, and I see her more often than my actual roommates probably. And I love her to death. Don't know what I would do without her!! So there you have it. Those are the people I see everyday and live with. And they are great!

Mother?

So this last weekend I went up to Laura's house and played mom for the weekend while Clint and Laura were in Hawaii. It was so much fun! The kids were great, of course, but being a single parent of three isn't easy. So lets hope I never do that... It went great, its just very busy. Especially church. Juggling a one and two year old during an hour of relative quiet is difficult. No matter what you brought to entertain them. A member of the bishopric kept looking down at me and smiling. I think he found the scene amusing. However, I will say that we were there early and the kids looked so good. And that night, I made an amazing dinner. Not babysitter-like, but mom-like. It was amazing and the kids liked it too. I felt so successful. Not saying I am ready for kids anytime soon, and I am glad they generally don't come three at a time, but it was so fun! I just love those kids.!!!
Also, this week Alison and I went to The Forgotten Carols by Micheal Mclean. It was so great. We both really enjoyed it. I hadn't seen it in so long and it was Ali's first time, so it was really fun and very festive. I am soooo excited for Christmas and this was a great way to kick off the season!

Thanksgiving!

This week was so great. Family, food, no school, and tons of fun. I split my time between Laura's house in West Jordan and in Provo. Dinner was at Grandpa Sharp's house and it was fun to see all but one family on my mom's side come to dinner and pie. 13 pies later, we were all very full and satisfied with the feast. It was great to go to Laura's and relax and hang out with the family. Dad, Jenna and I went together to Twilight (the movie) and I actually really enjoyed it, as did Jenna and Dad. I had really low expectations because I had several friends go see it and not think much of it, but I liked it. Yes, it was super cheesy and really bad acting and some interesting graphics, but all in all, I liked it. And it was fun to see it with Jenna and Dad. We also watched plenty of movies at Laura and Clint's house, had too much dessert (is that possible) and laughed a lot. Other highlights include our unsuccessful telethon to try and get a TV and decorating Laura's house for Christmas. I am so excited that I can officially start listening to Christmas music, which I am doing right now, and doing other Christmasy things. It really is my favorite time of year. Unfortunately I do not have any pictures from this week because they were all taken on Mom's camera and I forgot to get them before she left, so hopefully you can just imagine everyone together. It was great.

On another note, I have just one more clinical day at the hospital this semester and then a few tests and the semester is over! I can't believe I have already spent nearly a year in the nursing program. Just one and half left to go! It really is unreal. Life is great and this week has been a much needed break, but things are good. My friend Brad Wake and I were recently the MCs for the ward talent show, which was a lot of fun. We basically made fools of ourselves and had a lot of fun doing it. We showed of random talents we have and shared some really bad jokes. Here is a video of how we opened up the show. Enjoy! And just in case you are curious, this song is a Hindi pop song that is really popular in India apparently. We got a kick out of it.

Why I love what I do

I love nursing. I just do. Here is once glimpse into why I love it. Yesterday at clinical I had some down time and my patient was having a rough day, so I sat with her for a while, just talking. She thanked me for helping her and then told me that all nurses should be like me. I almost cried. Here she was, really sick and having a rough day, but thanking me for helping her out just a little bit. It made me sad that she had had nurses that were less than spectacular, when she was the one lying in the hospital, relying on us for everything. Nursing really makes you open your eyes (at least it should) and appreciate all that you have been given. My clinical instructor once said that if you ever felt that your life was bad, go to work. How true that is. I am just so grateful that I have the opportunity to help others, if only for a few hours, and make the low points in their lives, maybe just a little more bearable.

Taiwan, here I come!

So the nursing program has a spring semester where you have the chance to go on a study abroad. One of the choices was Taiwan, and since Adam's family (my brother) live there, I was totally interested. I had my interview a little bit ago and it went great and just found out today that I was one of the eight people chosen to go! I am so excited. It will be for just over a month May-June and we get to learn about all sorts of things about the medical profession over there and how to interact and help out in a different culture than ours. I am so excited for this opportunity and also get to see Adam, Kay, Lizzy, and the new baby!!! I have always dreamed of doing a study abroad but didn't think I would have the chance because the nursing program basically owns you. Now I get to, doing what I love! Here is the official email that I got today about going:
"Congratulations on your selection for being one of the eight students chosen for the Taiwan N400 experience. It was a highly competitive group of outstanding students from which I had to choose. I am sure you will make an outstanding ambassador for nursing, the College of Nursing, Brigham Young University and the United States of America as we adventure into an unknown clinical experience. I will be providing you with more information as I receive it. I should be making an information collecting trip to Taiwan either in December or January so I will have much more information at that time. Again, CONGRATS on being selected. I am sure we will have a very rewarding time filled with rich memories and experiences."
I know if is going to be a once-in-a-lifetime experience and I just cannot wait to get to go! Now, I just need to learn some basic mandarin so I am not completely clueless when trying to give someone a shot or something...
臺灣，在這裡我來

"I get by with a little help from my friends...."

So I really don't know how I would survive if it weren't for my friends. Seriously...they make everything bearable. We have a great time together, even when we aren't really doing anything. I just wanted to post some of the best pictures from our shenanigans.This is Alison. She is absolutely the best. Thats about it.

Before it got cold a bunch of us went for a drive up by Sundance. It was beautiful and we had a lot of fun.
The guys. Don't really know what they are trying to accomplish in this picture, but the whole photo shoot was hilarious.
This picture is the end of a whole bunch of pictures that is a result of boredom, extra time and a camera hooked up to a TV. Oh man. The faces are awesome. I was in pain.
Racquetball friends!
I found this picture taken secretly on my camera one day. And I love it. They are two of my roommates, Kat and Shayla, and Kirby!
For my 20th birthday.

So basically, thank these people for maintaining my sanity. College would not be the same without them. Thanks guys!

Halloween

So this year for Halloween I had nearly 10 different offers for parties/things to do. It was a little overwhelming. I didn't even have a costume until later in the day, and luckily I got to do 4 of the offers. It was a pretty good time and I had fun. I had an anatomy TA party, then we went to Alison and Brian Spencer's aunts house and saw how they decorate and go all out for Halloween. After that I went to a friend's party and then watched a movie with some friends. Sounds busy but it was pretty low key and a great time. I dressed up as Wanda ("Where's Waldo's" girlfriend), Ali was a rugby (AllBlacks) player and Molly was a kangaroo. It was great!

My life as a nurse...

So, I am in the nursing program at BYU and I started during last spring. So far I have learned the basics, gerontology (old people), medical -surgical and OR. Coming up I have labor and delivery, pediatrics, ER, and psychiatrics. So far I have loved it. The group of people that I started the program are amazing and we all get along really well. Here are a few pictures of some things that I have learned to do so far!We are all scrubbed up and ready for surgery! If you can't tell I am the one standing third from the left. Unfortunately, I never got to scrub in for any REAL surgeries, I did get to observe and help the nurse for a few operations this semester.
This is me placing my first IV. Luckily my friend Jeehie was a good sport and I got it on my first try!
These are a few of the girls that I am with, basically 24/7. They are all amazing and we have a great time together, not only in lab and class, but going to movies and parties together too! I think I seriously lucked out by getting in with these girls because we really have hit it off. We help each other not lose our sanity in this crazy program and have a ton of fun along the way.

My favorite part of the program are the clinicals, where I get to go to the hospital and actually am a nurse. It is a little stressful, and 12 hour days get a little long, but I love feeling in control of my own patients and having responsibilities. Don't worry, I always have the nurse making sure I don't do anything questionable, but I am becoming a lot more independent and it gets me excited to graduate and actually do it for real.

Hey Everyone!

So, I have been thinking about starting up a blog for a while now, and finally found a spare moment to make one! We will see how well I do at keeping it updated, but hopefully enough to give you a look into what is going on in my life. Life is crazy here in Provo, keeping myself plenty busy but still having a blast. I will post more when I get everything figured out, but in the meantime I hope everyone is doing well and enjoying life as much as I am!