Megan Robinson, RN

Im outta here!!

2010-01-31T00:19:00.006-07:00

Well, this is most likely the last post from me on this blog for 18 months. I cannot really believe it is here and I am entering the MTC this week. It just started to hit me today that 18 months is a while! But I know that this is where I am supposed to be and I am excited to share the gospel with my new Texan friends. If you feel the urge to write me at all, the address I have for the MTC and the mission home are...
MTC (I will be here in February)
Sister Megan Robinson
Texas Lubbock Mission
Provo Missionary Training Center
2005 N 900 E
Provo, UT 84604

Mission Field (March-forever)
Texas Lubbock Mission
Sentry III Plaza
5214 68th ST Ste 202
Lubbock TX 79424

Its kinda crazy to think about the past whatever, and how I got here. Freshman year, we did a missionary week where we got a "call" to portugal? I think? and we got up at what we thought was the crack of dawn to read scriptures and took the classic Sister Missionary photos. I thought it was so funny. Turns out now I am one...

Pretend Sister Missionary 2007

Real Sister Missionary 2010

So much to do, so little time.

2010-01-30T09:40:00.003-07:00

Wow, things tend to sneak up on you don't they?! I get set apart tomorrow!! I am getting there but I am definitely not completely ready yet. I still need to finish my talk, practice my song, PACK EVERYTHING, clean up my room and move all my boxes, a few more odds and ends from my To Do list and then hopefully get to spend some time with my parents tonight. Today is my last full day of being a regular citizen because tomorrow I officially become a missionary!

Ali came to Seattle!

2010-01-22T10:51:00.000-07:00

I was so happy when Ali said that she was going to come up to Seattle while I was just hanging out waiting to go on my mission! She came up over her long weekend from school and we had a very full weekend seeing the Seattle sights. We hit up Pike Place, the Waterfront, Ye Olde Curiosity Shoppe, Dicks, Fremont Troll, Gasworks Park, Starbucks, REI, Space Needle, EMP, Monorail, the Mall, Old Spaghetti Factory, Bodies exhibit, Snoqualmie Falls, Kirkland Waterfront, Costco and we spotted Mt. Rainier on the way to the airport! Basically it was one of the best weekends EVER and we actually had some great weather, considering Seattle winters. It was such a blast, but way too short and it was sad to have her go back to school. Thanks for coming Al! If you click on the picture, I think it will get bigger to see a bunch of pictures from the weekend. I am not promising anything. So it was incredible, and I loved having her here and hanging out with her one last time before I leave! Can you believe I will be a missionary in just over a week? 9 days!

Whats been going on around here?!

2010-01-10T17:25:00.005-07:00

Well, I will tell you.

So I am in Redmond still. Hanging out until February 3 when I take off! Here is a run down of some fun things that have been going down since the last couple of weeks.

First I had to say goodbye to a lot of good friends in Provo. Most of these people probably won't be in Provo when I get back so I got us all together for a little dinner. I was glad so many people could come and hope that those who couldn't make it know that I will miss them and I love them. It was a good last hurrah with some great people.

Then it was up to Matts graduation from BYU-I. It was fun to have the family pretty much all there together to see him finish! Congrats Matt! You finished before me! ;)

Then it was the long road home to Seattle for Christmas. It was a small group this year with just Jenna, Me and the parents. Luckily Skype was invented just for my mom I am sure. Jenna and I just can't compete with the grandkids, so we got to celebrate Christmas with them via the internet. What a wonderful thing. But we still got a picture of the Christmas gang.

Jenna and I wanted to throw a Christmas party, but there was simply not enough time to organize one before Christmas. So...we planned an After Christmas - Christmas PJ party!!! It was fun with a White Elephant Exchange, Games and Food and Christmas PJs :) It was a lot of fun! Jenna did an amazing job with the food.

For New Years I didn't get all wild and crazy. It was four girls around a dining room table drinking cider. Happy New Year! It was fun to just kind of chill and catch up with these friends. That weekend it was off to the Tri-Cities (another long drive) for a sealing and then goodbye to Jenna as she went off for her last semester of school. I won't get to see her before I leave so needless to say, it was a long hug goodbye. And I mean long...

Now, I am just at home, hanging out, having fun, shopping and sewing and doing other things ready before I leave in less than a month! Matt and Chelsea are here for a while so thats fun too.

So thats whats been going on around here!

Strange

2010-01-04T00:24:00.002-07:00

Turns out life goes on whether I am there to witness it or not. Bummer. Tomorrow starts winter semester at BYU and I am sitting at home in Seattle. Strange to think that all the thousands of BYU students will wake up, go to class, start their homework (or maybe not...) and look forward to a new semester, and I will not be there to witness it. Not because I am finished with school. No, if I had graduated, I would at least have closure. No, I won't be going with them because in one month from TODAY I will enter the MTC and become SISTER ROBINSON. Strange.

Happy Christmas Apartment 60!

2009-12-15T16:53:00.004-07:00

This year my apartment decided to celebrate Christmas together. But since we will all be leaving for our separate homes for the actual Christmas day, we decided that December 13th would serve as our very own Christmas Day, and it really did feel like Christmas. First of all, the 12th ("Christmas Eve"), when we were all home after our Saturday night festivities, we sat together and read Luke 2 and sang some Christmas carols. It was lovely. Then we went to bed. Sunday morning, Alison woke us all up at 8:30, turned on the Christmas tree lights and some Amy Grant Christmas music and we all filed out to the living room, where Santa had come!! Suzanne was even in town and joined us for the fun. Ali got some great gray chucks (you are welcome! ), Marie got a sweater and an ice cream scoop, Jenny got a scarf, gloves, a movie and sauces, I got portable speakers and a movie and Suzanne got some great dollar store specials (we didn't know she was coming until last minute). We all got some yummy chocolate and fudge and some Indian delights. It was a great Christmas morning and really did feel like Christmas.

My wonderful roommates after opening all of our treasures :) We look good in the morning huh?

Exhausted after opening all those presents!

Then we went to church, where we had our Christmas sacrament meeting. That is definitely my favorite meeting of all year and this one did not disappoint. Brian and I sang a duet to "Savior of the World" and Ali played the piano for us. It was wonderful. There were tons of other musical numbers that were all phenomenal. It was just great. A very wonderful last Sunday in my ward here. After church, since we all looked significantly better then than we had before church, we had a little roommate photo shoot.

I really love my roommates a whole lot. They are the best and have made for a fantastic semester.

I just absolutely love this girl!

Then, I made our apartment, plus Brian and Lee, Christmas dinner! It was delicious, and all recipes from my cooking class this semester. My roommates have been bugging me to actually produce the food that I talked about eating all semester, so this was a good opportunity to do so! There was this great baked chicken and seasoned potatoes and homemade biscuits and spinach poppy seed salad. For dessert we had black-bottomed cherry cream cheese pie. It was basically amazing if I do say so myself.

The best part about this Christmas is that when the day was done, we didn't experience the usual "Christmas is over" let down. We still have another whole Christmas to have! I love my roommates and I am very thankful for them for helping me out this semester and being there for me. They are the best and I will miss them so much! So..Happy Christmas Ali, Jenny and Marie!! And Merry Christmas to everyone!

Done with clinical!

2009-12-07T21:30:00.004-07:00

Yay! I am finished with clinical! I will not have to wear these "beautiful" byu scrubs for another two years. Kinda nuts. But I hate these scrubs so it is ok. I LOVED my clinical group this year. Every single one of these girls are (or is? NOT an english whiz) incredible. I have loved spending the hours to and from the hospital with you guys and will miss you terribly! And thanks to my clinical instructor who was the best ever!! Thanks Ron! Thanks for all the laughs and the help to get through the long clinical days! Everyone but me will be going on to finish up school next semester in their various capstone placements as I head to Texas! Kinda strange as I have finished up clinical this semester because the end of clinical really means that the semester is coming to a close. And this year I will not be coming back for a while. So strange to think about. But it has been just an absolutely amazing semester and the girls in this picture have had a big part in that. Love you girls!

My GREAT clinical group: Lakin, Melissa, Heidi, Jessica, Michelle, Michelle, Me and Lindsey!

Christmas time is here!!

2009-12-07T20:39:00.005-07:00

Its official. It feels like Christmas! It took a little longer this year than in the past, but the several inches of snow that fell today and the trees (yes, plural) in our apartment make it feel official!! On Sunday our apartment had a little tree decorating party. We had a few friends over and Marie's brother, sister-in-law and their two adorable children came to help decorate the tree and drink hot chocolate and eat Christmas brownies and listen to Christmas music! It was just wonderful! I love the way our decorations look and I cannot wait for Christmas!We went to a tree lot and found the perfect tree for our apartment. A REAL Christmas tree in our living room!! Can life get any better?!

My roommates and Lee getting all the ornaments situated (Thanks to Marie's mom for bringing them down)Decorating the tree!

Delicious Christmas Brownies :)

Our living room is very festive. We have our very own Christmas forest.

Series of Most Unfortunate Events.

2009-12-04T09:55:00.002-07:00

So this last Wednesday was quite the day. Alison has written it quite well on her blog so you should go over there to see it. The post is called Burgerless and Embarrassed and it is really quite a hilarious story. And what a night.

And in some news. I got sick. For real sick. And I blame every member of my family plus two of my roommates for my current situation. I knew it was too good to be true to avoid illness surrounded by three strep throats, six colds, hacking coughs from every direction and so much snot for an entire week. So I sound like a man and cannot sing at all. Hence the embarrassment part of last wednesday. But for that story you have to click on the link above... :)

Also, our soccer team won yet another game, so we are going to the finals next week! Yay!

Magnificent!

2009-11-17T12:04:00.004-07:00

So this semester I had some credits I needed to fill and was not interested in taking a really cognitively demanding course, so what do you take?? Cooking!! Its actually a lot of fun and I am learning a lot. I come home all the time with new tips for my roommates about certain things. I don't think they appreciate it as much as I think they should, but whatever. I am taking the class with several of my good nursing friends, so it is a blast and we do very little work, but make incredible things and then stuff ourselves every Monday afternoon. Its the best. This last week we had a large group project entitled the "magnificent meal". Basically we had to come up with a complete menu, organize and budget accordingly and then we had two hours to make the whole meal plus complete table settings. It worked out better than any of us imagined it would, and our random table decorations were labeled as "creative and unique" :) Here are some pictures from the madness. Check out the wreath especially. Its awesome.

Hey Sarah...cut those carrots!

Our table setting...very eclectic but I think it pulled together alright. Enough.

This was our "centerpiece". Just take a look at that glorious wreath. Wow.

My wonderful cooking friends!

"Dear Sister Robinson....

2009-10-30T18:06:00.005-06:00

You are hereby called to serve as a missionary of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. You are assigned to labor in the TEXAS LUBBOCK MISSION. It is anticipated that you will serve for a period of 18 months.

You should report to the Provo Missionary Training Center on Wednesday, February 3, 2010. You will prepare to preach the gospel in the English language.

...

Sincerely, Thomas S. Monson"

Not a bad letter huh? So here is the official word. TEXAS! I got my call last Thursday and after getting everyone on Skype or speaker phone, I found out that this is where I have been called. Its not exotic and its not foreign (at least not in the usual sense of the word), but I am so excited. I leave on my half birthday which is kinda fun and I will get to preach to the people the minute I hit the ground. I cannot believe that its for real, but its here! I will get to finish this semester and then prepare for everything before I take off!
My mission covers most of the western half of Texas and the eastern half of New Mexico. Even though I was called English Speaking, I am sure I will learn some Spanish by default.

I tried to put the video of my actual opening on here but it is just not working. Maybe later. Its pretty funny. But I am so excited. Here I come TEXAS!

"I wanna go on a mission"

2009-10-18T16:18:00.002-06:00

So. Here is the deal. My papers went in TODAY. Which means there is a possibility that my call will be mailed out on FRIDAY which means that I could know where I am going NEXT WEEK! Now that is the earliest possibility. They could take a few weeks before issuing my call really, but lets just hope for a quick call :) For some reason I have been keeping this whole process on the DL, but I suppose with the call basically on its way, its no use being quiet. So... hey world!! I am going on a mission!!!!

This is my missionary head shot. I think I look quite like a sister missionary...

Conference Weekend!

2009-10-06T20:47:00.007-06:00

So I had a great conference weekend. First of all, I got to go to conference!! Somehow in my years of being at college here, I have never had the opportunity to actually attend a session of conference in Salt Lake. This year however, Ali was able to get an extra ticket and was kind enough to let me come with her! I loved every minute of it and had a great time. I especially loved being able to sustain the prophet with thousands of other saints all at the same time. And singing together in one loud amazing group. And of course hearing the speakers right in front of me and feeling of the incredible spirit that they were able to bring to that building. And it helped that the tickets were actually pretty great seats so that was a great first experience. Thanks Ali!

Then this weekend I got to attend the football game, thanks to Marie's brother, and the woman's soccer game. Turns out that I love soccer. Never saw that one coming. I love to watch it and I really enjoy playing it. I joined a intramural soccer team this year and granted I am not very good, but I think it is just the best! So fun. Anyway, the games were so fun to go to with friends and we had a good time.
Ben and I at the football game
Marie and Brian as BYU defeated USU!
Soccer Game with Ali and Mike - BYU beat UofU!

Midterms have been going full swing and I am somehow keeping my head above water. In fact, writing this post is putting off studying for yet another one I need to take tomorrow...Maybe I should get on that. But other than that school is going great. I start ICU this week and I am officially done working with the patients at the mental hospital. It was a good experience, but I would be lying if I said I wasn't glad to be done. ICU should be a completely different experience and more up my alley.

And my apartment really likes puzzles it turns out. This took us all of one week to finish all four...

Boondoggles

2009-09-23T19:19:00.004-06:00

Today I saw a grown man tying a boondoggle key chain on campus. Made me happy. And made me think of this girl. Which also made me happy.

Its been quite a while.

2009-09-18T20:46:00.003-06:00

Well, just in case there are a few people that still periodically check this blog, I thought I might update it a bit. Not that there is much to update with, and I don't have any pictures...but at least there have been some changes in the last little while.

I moved! I now live in a great little condo south of campus that is much larger and much nicer than Monticello was. And I live with the greatest roommates on the planet, so life can't get much better. I am still doing nursing and working at the Utah State Mental Hospital as part of my psych rotation and at IMC for my ICU rotation. I am liking this semester a lot and it has been fun meeting up with my fellow nursing friends after several months apart. I technically only have two more semesters including this one before I graduate, so thats weird to think about. Decided to join the racquetball team again so I am busy with that. Still in the anatomy lab, this time as a group leader, so I have a few more responsibilities this time around. Its still a lot of fun.

It feels good to be back in provo after being gone for a summer. Not too much is going on, but life is great! I love it!

Summoned

2009-08-09T23:47:00.003-06:00

I have been summoned. And its my civic duty to be on the jury. But I'm not even registered to vote! How'd they find me? I hear its from the drivers license. To be quite honest, I have always thought it would be interesting to be on a jury. However, they want me there September 28. Slight problem with the fact I will be in school in PROVO at that time. I tried to get exempted, but they said no. So I can instead reschedule for the week I am back in Washington. Unfortunately that is over Christmas. So I may spend my Christmas break sitting in a court room. Can't wait. Perhaps it will be a controversial case and I will end up on Oprah. Yeah, thats possible.

SYTYCD

2009-07-18T02:06:00.003-06:00

This week my family has made the comments that I am obsessed and addicted to the show "So You Think You Can Dance". And well...I will admit it...I am!!! And I don't see any problem with that. It's quite possibly the greatest show ever made and I love it. And as far as obsessions and addictions go, I think its fairly mild. And really...if you watch the show, its easy to see why I am obsessed. These people are incredible. Absolutely crazy good dancers. And while the judges annoy some people, I actually kinda like them. They make me laugh and they actually know about dancing and what it takes to be a good dancer. And they have power to kick people off as well for a while which makes it more legit. I basically love everything about it. I am so excited that they are doing another season in the Fall, which means I don't have to wait very long to see more of my favorite show. The top ten dancers also go on tour together which I think would be one of the best shows to go to ever. Personally. So if you ever wonder what Megan is up to on Wednesday night between 8-10pm and Thursday 9-10pm...the answer is simple. She is busy. Watching SYTYCD. Call if you want to join her. Everyone is welcome. Last season I would watch with a big group, usually in apartment 31 with their giant TV. Now, its usually just me and whomever in my family wants to join. Anyway you watch it though..you know its going to be good. Watch it...You won't regret it.

Workin' hard for the money....

2009-07-03T21:32:00.003-06:00

This is where I work. Toyota of Kirkland. Sure I could have been a CNA or done something more towards my major. But I figured...I am going to be in health care for the REST of my life. Why not do something kinda new and different? So, lucky for me, I had an in to Toyota, with Jenna working there for 7 months already and I already knew the service manager and together, I got a job. I am not sure what my official title is actually, but I just do a bunch of things. Number one, I am a shuttle driver. That means I drop people off and pick people up when their car is being worked on. When I am not driving all over the east side, I welcome people to the service drive and move cars back and forth throughout the lot. I work with a bunch of crazy people, but its a lot of fun actually. And I get to work with Jenna for a couple hours each day so that is a lot of fun. I guess when I first started and Jenna and I would walk around together people kept asking each other if we were a package deal or something. So, its a random summer job, but hey...its a great time.

Oh...Hello!

2009-06-22T12:32:00.009-06:00

So its been a long time since I have posted and a lot of things have happened. So sorry, its gonna be a long one...

I am officially finished with my study abroad in Taiwan. I learned so many wonderful things there about the people and different cultures. I loved these people and they were so kind and very easy to love. I miss them and am grateful for all the pictures that we have to remind me of the fun times that we had and the people that I got to know so well. Of course we had a final, farewell dinner with all the nurses and administrators and doctors that we worked with. It was a great way to say goodbye and enjoy their enthusiasm and excitement one more time. I tell ya...it takes a lot of energy to be with these people, but I wouldn't trade it for the world.

Gam Bei! They love toasting!

They presented each of us with our own scroll with our names in chinese with the hospital name and things. In the middle it means peace and safety forever. Or something like that...

Two of my cute community nurses. They were the ones I spent the most time with. I love them so much!

After I was done with my "school" trip, Whitney and I headed up to Taipei where I was heading to Adam and Kay's house where Jenna had been for a couple days and Whitney was meeting her parents. After collapsing and nearly being trampled in the train station (really funny story actually) and almost missing our stop (another funny story) Whitney and I made it to Taipei in one piece. I spent a week with Adam, Kay, Lizzy, James and Jenna, tramping around Taipei and having a great time. It was fun to just be on vacation...no hospitals and no papers to worry about. And it was very fun to hang out with my family! I hadn't seen Adam and his family in a long time, and never met James so it was great.

This was a funny little paddleboat that Lizzy and I took for a spin. I was soaked and it was hilarious.

We went on a beautiful hike together and then hit the beach. It was a great day.On the Ferris Wheel! Jenna was scared out of her mind...and Lizzy was loving it!! We rented bikes and rode along the coast. It was really funny and really beautiful.

Then, Jenna and I headed off together to go to Hong Kong. Boy, that was an adventure. After checking into our very spacious and secure hostel room (insert high amounts of sarcasm...) we headed out on the town. This place is busy! People of all ethnicities and backgrounds everywhere and huge buildings made for quite the atmosphere. We were there two days and two nights. We went to several markets, went on several hikes and saw thousands of buddahs. We had a great time together and were happy to have this adventure just together. Thursday poured as we left Hong Kong, and I left Asia after living there for six weeks. I knew I was going to miss it terribly.

High-fives for the Big Buddah as the mist comes in.

At the temple of 10,000 Buddahs. This hill was covered with these golden buddahs. Each with a different expression and position.

The main temple for the 10,000 buddahs. It was filled with tiny buddahs everywhere.

On a rock atop the wisdom path, with an incredible view.

The famous Tai O Fishing Village stilt houses.
Our last morning in Hong Kong, on the 42nd floor of the bank of China tower. It was pouring.
The entrance to the compound where our hostel was located. It was...interesting.

From Hong Kong, I boarded a flight to Taipei, a flight from Taipei to LA, and a flight from LA to Salt Lake. I gained 3 hours coming back to the states and lived Thursday, twice. That was a long day. I stayed at Laura's house that night where after being awake for 32 hours, I crashed. It has taken me quite a while to get over that jet lag thing and I might be finally adjusted. I spent a couple days in Utah before coming up to Seattle where I will spend the rest of the summer. I took 5 separate flights in 1 week, so needless to say, I am a little sick of airplanes. But it made for an awesome adventure and experience. Now I am starting work this week, replacing some much needed funds that I depleted in Taiwan :) It has been a great summer so far and I am excited for a break from school. One that I haven't had in a long time. I will always remember the people I met and the experiences I had and this summer will be one that I will cherish the rest of my life!!

Sorry for such a long post....

Last Day

2009-06-02T18:04:00.002-06:00

Today is my last day in Tainan...My home for the last 5 weeks. I cannot believe how quickly it went and how much fun we had. I have learned so much from the amazing people here. I could not have anticipated how warm and accepting and humble the people of Taiwan are. We had some really special experiences in the hospitals here and have made friendships that will never be forgotten. I have gotten to know the people in my group so well and we were always so adventurous it made for a thrilling time every day. I will miss traveling with this group and hopefully some future plans to get together really do come true. I have had an incredible time here in Taiwan and hope to never forget the experiences I have had that will make me a better person, a better nurse and a better friend. Thanks for the memories and the pictures (all 7000 of them...). Hope to make it back here someday!

Chinese Medicine...cool stuff.

2009-05-26T05:51:00.004-06:00

There is a section of the hospital here that is devoted to chinese medicine. We were fortunate to go and see the department and then have a couple of the doctors and nurses there try some stuff out on us! It was pretty cool to see how everything is done. We tried out the acupuncture and the bok wan (I have no clue how to spell that, but it is cupping...if you have ever heard of that). I had the bok wan on my neck and they told me that I needed to drink more water...apparently they can tell I was dehydrated from it... And I got acupuncture done on my right wrist because I told the doctor that it hurt (it still does from when I sprained it a long time ago...). He said that if it was like a carpel tunnel problem they would go right in the middle of the underside of the wrist. I don't know what I was thinking when I agreed to let him do it on me, because I knew that that area is full of tons of nerves and blood vessels and tendons and such. A very sensitive area. Well I just sat down and he flicked it in and before I knew it, there was shooting pains down all my fingers and even up my arm a bit. Apparently I went from normal color to white to green and everyone was afraid I was going down. But the doctor just kept telling me to keep breathing and he twisted it even further until it was just right (which means that it kills) and said it was good. Well we kept it in for several minutes and then he offered to take it out. Now that was a werid sensation. I felt like I was being pulled up and out of my chair. The rest of the day my hand felt slightly numb and funny and now my wrist feels bruised. I think I just hurt myself. Oh and the bok wan on the neck leaves this perfectly circular bruise of differing colors. Very interesting.

Kind of an unfortunate picture of me, but a fairly accurate depiction of my thoughts about the whole procedure.The wrist...such an awful place to put it.
Bok wan! (or...cupping!) It feels really weird...but afterwards, I actually felt super relaxed and great. And they use this cream that is like Icy-Hot, so that was kinda cool.

The suction gun!

You can't really see it super well, but the skin gets sucked up in these cups and is raised a good inch or so and it turns really red. Then you have a nice little hicky to remember it by.

Hualien and Taipei

2009-05-26T05:07:00.006-06:00

We had an incredible weekend. We started by waking up early and traveling to the east side of the island to a town called Hualien. There is a gorge here called Toroko gorge with the most incredible views and pretty cool hikes. We also did an activity called river walking, which was way fun. It just was us, basically walking up a river, decked out in a bunch of gear. It was so fun. Then we went to Taipei and stayed with Adam and Kay, who were the best hosts ever for taking in all crazy 9 of us for two nights. It was so fun to see them and see the sights of Taipei! That is just a really brief outline of the weekend, but the pictures are the best part, so here they are!

See what I mean about the gorge?? Gorgeous.

Jumping on a suspension bridge. Cheap thrills :)

Way cool temple and monestary perched on the mountain. And amazing view from the top.

The Eternal Spring Shrine. That water was so clear.

Closer view of the shrine.

I just couldn't get enough of the nature shots. Everything was incredible.

The group at the martyrs shrine. After we watched an intense changing of the guards.

A guided tour of the National Palace Museum...in English! Its the simple things really...

That is the tallest building in the world...and I went to the top. Doesn't look so big in this picture...but... :)

Ready to board the fastest elevator in the world! 90-something floors in about 30 seconds. We were zooming!

Shout out to the hometown. Go Space Needle!

One of the best things about this weekend was seeing and hanging out with Adam, Kay, Lizzy and James!!!!!!

A gong! A ma!

2009-05-19T05:21:00.003-06:00

A gong and A ma are the titles for the old people in Taiwan. It is Taiwanese for Grandfather and Grandmother. They are the cutest ever! Here are a few of them that I have had the opportunity to meet while in community.
This was one of our patients. He was a little out of it, as you might be able to gather, but he was actually a very happy man and waved to me as I said hello!
And this is his spry cute wife. She was so adorable with her pearls and nice shirt. She owned a grocery store here, which I should have taken a picture of. It was interesting :) I would tell her that she was "ju schwei" which means beautiful and she would just laugh. And tell us that we had cute little noses.
And this is the cutest man on the entire planet. I am convinced. He is really old and is the sole caretaker for his invalid wife. He is adorable with her and I would tell him "ju entah" which is handsome and he smiled and said he didn't want any pictures, but I think he secretly liked it and the nurse said that he was excited to tell all his old friends about how he took a picture with a beautiful american girl. He was so cute. I love these people!

Best Weekend Ever!

2009-05-17T04:18:00.005-06:00

Sorry I haven't posted in a long time. There has simply not been enough time. I have now finished up my rotation in the ICU, got to do a day in the ER and now will move onto Community (home health) nursing. I am excited to go into the country and visit patients in their home! Should be a good experience. I am still loving every minute here and we are having a blast!

This weekend we went to a place called Kenting. It was beautiful! The views were amazing and the night market was a blast. (sorry about the sparce picture content. For some reason I didn't use my camera much and hopefully I will get some pictures from other people soon)
We got there not knowing what to expect or where our hotel was. So we talked to some people and decided that we would rather stay at a different hotel than originally planned. Thats something I really like about this group that I am with. We are all very flexible and adventurous. Makes things more fun and exciting. After switching it up with hotels, we made some plans. First on the list was the beach. So we went and found a surf shop where we got some lunch and some surf boards. We went to the beach, which was amazing and Calvin taught all of us to surf! I actually got up on my second attempt and it was so fun! Calvin was a very good teacher and he got all 6 of us up and going! It was incredible. After surfing we went back to town and hit up the night markets. These are so fun with a ton of food and shopping. We all spent some money and got some cool things and ate some great food. This night market was really fun with a ton of things to see.

Saturday we got up bright and early and some people went scuba diving and the rest of us when snorkeling.
It was so funny because these people didn't speak any english and we didn't speak any chinese, and it was hilarious. Once we got things sorta figured out, we piled into the back of a suspicious looking van and headed to the beach! Once we were there, I think the idea was that we all hold on to each other and stay in a group, but we just acted like we didn't understand and went out on our own. It was so cool! The fish were awesome and the reef was actually pretty neat. I was pleasently surprised. Then we went to lunch at this Tex-Mex restaurant, which was amazing. After a while, the chinese food (while still good) gets to you and a nice burrito or hamburger really hits the spot. It was so good. After that we headed home via a crazy taxi driver that luckily knew how to maneuver his way through traffic and some train hopping. We were all exhausted by the time we got home, quite sunburned, but so happy about the weekend.

Today, Sunday, we sang with the choir. In chinese of course. It was probably really wrong and who knows what we actually said. But it was still fun. They recruited us our first week in the ward and today was performance day. So funny. I love the ward that we go to. They are all amazing!

This is a major reason why this was the best weekened ever. This was taken atop a beautiful mountain overlooking the ocean. Breathtaking, right? The elementary school had a sign that said "English teachers wanted. Requirements: Native English Speaker." Um...thats me! Im thinking about moving here for real.

Food. Food. Food.

2009-05-08T10:10:00.009-06:00

These people are all about the food. Seriously every where we go we are bombarded by new foods and interesting dishes. And I feel like we are the circus come to town. Everyone is like, lets see what we can get the Americans to eat and watch their reactions. Its crazy. We have eaten some crazy things over here because let me tell ya, they get creative with their meals sometimes. Let me show you a few things that I have had the pleasure of having since arriving in Taiwan a mere week ago. There is plenty of good things to eat as well, don't get me wrong, but these are just the choicest shock factor items :)

First we have duck tongue. I have actually had the pleasure of eating this twice. First at lunch in the ICU with all the nurses and then again at dinner with the ER staff. The second time was funny because they thought I would be grossed out but I just acted like it was no big thing and chomped down cause I knew I could handle it. They were surprised I think.

First Timer in the ICU

Duck Tongue Veteran

Next on the menu is Chicken Feet. Now these didn't really gross me out as bad as they did some other people, but I just don't get the appeal. There isn't any meat on it and there isn't really anything to it. You are just supposed to suck on the bone and eat the skin I guess. Nothing really appealing to me about it. But this picture is priceless.
We also had the "opportunity" to get some stinky tofu from the night market. Imagine, if you will, really old stinky socks mixed with a bad case of diarrhea left sitting out in the sun for a week or so and you begin to imagine the smell of this stuff. You are sense it a mile away and don't believe the people that say that it tastes much better than it smells. It tastes EXACTLY like it smells. This is the one and only time I have nearly thrown up because of something I ate here. Absolutely awful. Never again.

Right after we pounded a huge bite of stinky tofu. It hadn't hit us quite yet obviously.
After knowing the awfulness of the stuff.

This next picture is a little decieving. The ER docs at our table made a pact with us that we would try anything they ordered for us. So they tried their hardest to get us the worst. They made us eat this one without telling us what it was. While chewing my piece, Whitney guesses that it is squid eyes and the doctor says she is right! I stopped chewing immediately and didn't know what to do. So that is why I am pointing to my eye. However, don't fear, they were joking. It is actually squid mouth, which is still weird but somehow better than eyes. Much better.
Now these puppies are the biggest shrimp I have ever seen. We got to rip off the heads and eat the meat. This is the first shrimp I have ever actually enjoyed. Perhaps I am just becoming accustomed to it a little more since it is in EVERYTHING, or maybe I like the big ones better?
Now it wouldn't be asia without a little raw fish right? We were told that as long as we doused it is wasabi we wouldn't get sick from it...I might believe them because it makes me sleep better at night.

And this nice looking fella is an octopus. I didn't eat this particular one but I did try a piece of his friend at dinner tonight. Not so good this octopus. As my friend Whitney put it, it tastes like the ocean. Yum.
So those are a few fun things I have tried. Maybe I will post later about some of the good finds I have had like papaya and mango milk. Or the omlet - meat taco things I found the other day. Or the amazing fish I had tonight. Or the plethora of amazing pastrys and breads they have there. But that isn't as much fun as it is delicious and I don't want to make you jealous. And don't worry. This isn't everything nasty that I have tried so far and I am sure it will just continue. This is just a sampling :) Hao Chur!!

Night Out with the Girls :)

2009-05-06T21:31:00.004-06:00

So at lunch in the hospital yesterday the nurses that we were eating with asked if we wanted to go to a movie. Alexa and I said, sure and in typical Chinese fashion they made plans immediately to go out that night. They are very spontaneous here and make plans when they think of them. Its pretty funny. Luckily we didn't have anything else going on, so we got tickets and arranged rides. LaLa, a girl who told us to call her Vegetable and another nurse picked us up on their scooters (which everyone rides here) at 8:30 and we scootered to the theater.
Its a wonder people don't die more often in Taiwan on scooters. They are crazy on them and weave in and out of traffic. No one has any regard for lines or rules or lights or anything, so its pretty funny. We were safe though...promise. :)
So we saw 17 Again with Zac Efron (from High School Musical). It was actually a pretty good movie! I like it a lot. The movie was completely in english with Chinese subtitles. If I was Chinese, I would never go to movies...but hey it worked out for us! Total there were about 6 or 7 girls that came with us, none of their english being top notch, so it was just hilarious. They would speak the little that they knew and then giggle incessently. After the movie we had a photo shoot with the different movie posters in the theater and even though these girls are all in their 20's you would have thought we were all pre-teens. It was awesome.

The Proposal...
Zac Efron - So Hot. As those girls would say
Don't worry Jim, we didn't actually drive them...
These girls were so much fun!

It seriously was probably the most fun I have ever had going to a movie and I didn't really understand anything that was going on! It was amazing. And I got to see a pretty good movie as well! All in all a very fun night. Thanks nurses!

"New Rule. You are not allowed to drink anything without me present."

2009-05-04T06:55:00.003-06:00

These are the words that my friend Megan said to us once she found out what we were drinking. She is the one that speaks Chinese and is our saving grace. We are paralyzed without her with us, especially when ordering food. So last night when she announced that she would not be joining us when going out to get food, we had no idea what to expect. But we ventured out and saw a lot of crazy things. Taiwan has some amazing drinks, my favorite is papaya milk. We found what looked like a drink place, so we stopped and we tried to tell them what we wanted, but they had no clue what we were saying, so we said, give us whatever and pointed to a picture. They presented us with two drinks. So we went ahead and drank them, and they were pretty good! When we got back to our dorms, Megan said "what is that?" When we responded that we didn't know, she told us, "Guys, that is milk tea, don't drink it." Well, I threw it out, but don't worry, I successfully broke the word of wisdom, on a Sunday. Megan reassured us by saying "Its ok, Missionaries break the word of wisdom all the time on accident". It was pretty funny. This is coming only a day after she found out I was drinking the tap water, which apparently is a no no as well. I found out after I had downed several bottle-fulls that the tap water runs along with the sewer and even the locals don't drink it. Great. I haven't gotten sick yet - well besides the nauseous feeling I get when thinking about the sewage water...

First weekend: Food, Baseball and Buses

2009-05-03T00:53:00.005-06:00

My whole study abroad group. Only 8 of us, plus Jim Kohl, our instructor. Left to Right it is Calvin, Jane, Alexa, Candice, Me, Katie, Megan, Whitney

So I have survived the first weekend and finally have some time to write about it! After arriving here and unpacking and getting to know the area a little, we have had a little time to explore. Tomorrow, the real work begins because that is our first day in the hospital, where we will be spending a whole lot of our time in the next five weeks. So this weekend was all about catching up on sleep and getting acclimatized, if you will. The first day we were here I forced myself to stay awake so that I could get on schedule again (we are 14 hours ahead of everyone in Utah). Needless-to-say, I was a walking zombie and finally crashed around 8:00 pm and slept a solid 13 hours. Since then I have been pretty much good to go!

A big thing here is FOOD. We don't have a cafeteria or any set food plans so its just on our own, wherever we want. The problem is, we 1) don't know what we want and 2) wouldn't know how to order it if we did. There is a street just a block or so down from our building that is just lined with whatever you could ever want. We have sampled a fair bit so far, but there are many things undiscovered yet. Like stinky tofu. We haven't gotten that brave quite yet.

This is a shaved ice thing with a bunch of different things in it, including red and pinto beans, jelly-like stuff that I actually have no clue what it is, pineapple, and others topped with a molasses syrup. Very interesting. Called chuay bing, or something similar to that.

Shayla, Kat, and Suzanne - little shout-out to you from Taiwan to you via dead duck. Head included.
This man may be my new favorite friend. These little pancake delights are the most delicious thing. They are some sort of bread thing with filling. It is amazing.

Another thing we have done this weekend was go to the Tainan Lion's baseball game. It was incredible. We found out about this game from a man we got dinner from one night (that is a whole different hilarious story in and of itself) and decided, why not? So we found a bus that we thought would get us there, and it did! (and by the way, the only way we are functioning at all around here is because one of the girls here served her mission in Taiwan and speaks amazing Chinese. We would be completely lost with out her. Thanks Megan!) When we got to the stadium: HOLY COW! These people are into baseball. I have never been to a sporting event period that was so spirited. Let alone a baseball game! Absolutely hysterical. Check out this video. They were like this the ENTIRE game. How they have that much energy I have no clue. We were chanting the song the whole night.

The buses are basically our way around. And walking. A lot of walking. The funny thing is, everyone in Taiwan is super helpful, but not at the same time. They are so willing to tell you things and directions, even if they aren't completely accurate. Everything is either 20 minutes away if you are driving or 2 lights away if walking. But really...it could be much farther. The bus adventures are pretty funny. We never know when the bus is going to get there or where it may take us or how much it will cost, but it has worked out in the end for the most part.

So that is basically it! The first weekend is wrapping up and we are on to a whole different adventure in the hospital tomorrow. We all have NO clue what to expect, but probably more confusion and smiling and nodding. I will be in the ICU for the first 2.5 weeks and then we switch and I go to the community. Oh boy.

Im HERE!

2009-05-01T19:37:00.002-06:00

I am officially in Taiwan! We landed yesterday at 5:30 am Taiwan time and took buses and one high speed rail train to get to Tainan, my new home for the next 5 weeks. I don't have time to put up any pictures yet, but hopefully I can do that tonight. So far, my adventures have included not understanding anyone, failing to get money out of an ATM because I was so confused, eating some delicious Chinese food, avoiding anything that had a head still attached or was just a head (a fish and a duck...) and taking lots of pictures. Everyone in my group is so picture happy, sometimes I don't get everything on my camera, but hopefully in the end we will all get each others and it will be complete. Everyone here is so nice to us and excited to have us work in their hospital, it is so nice. Our living situation is pretty good and we are having a lot of fun. I slept for 13 hours last night because I forced myself to stay awake until it was bed time, which just happened to be 8:00 at night. I think, hopefully I am back on schedule and the jet lag doesn't get me too bad. We start work on monday and will be spending a whole lot of time in the hospital it sounds like. I have learned a couple of Chinese phrases and words and can say them ok, but tend to forget them all when I am supposed to say them :) All of us here are motivated to learn some Chinese while we are here and so we are going to study it every night. We will see how far we get...I love you all and miss you tons, but am excited for this adventure!

Losing Time

2009-04-23T15:27:00.004-06:00

This time next week won't exist for me. Why you ask? Well right about this time I will be flying to Taiwan and thus losing the entirety of April 30. Kind of strange to know that April 30, 2009 will never be available to me. But I get to then spend 6 weeks in Taiwan, so it kind of makes up for it. That and I will get June 11 twice in a row. Strange how time works sometimes.

I have about a million things to do before my trip, so it hasn't really set it quite yet, but I am super excited to go. Just have to get to that point first! 6 days and counting!

Matt and Chelsea got hitched!

2009-04-20T22:36:00.004-06:00

This last weekend, Matt married Chelsea Beckman. It was so fantastic! We had a blast having everyone except Kay and the kids (we missed you!!) there together. Chelsea's family were so great as well, and all-in-all, it was a fabulous weekend.

The weather was perfect. In the 80's, clear skies, absolutely gorgeous. The Oakland temple is really pretty, I liked it a lot.

Laura and Landon :) I love them. A lot.

Jenna and I in our black dresses with yellow accents.

Matt and Chelsea just out of the temple, fresh newlyweds. They look like models in this picture. So pretty.

At the reception, Jenna, Paul and I. We loved the photo booth and watched it for most of the night. And took plenty of pictures of ourselves as well :)
Not quite sure why Jenna looks a little scared, but the reception site was beautiful!
The cute couple.
The cute non-couple.
Hunter was tearing it up on the dance floor! It was so much fun.

So Chelsea, welcome to our crazy family. We are all glad to have you. You are stuck with us FOREVER!!! SISTERS! :)

Roommates = Fun times

2009-03-31T23:23:00.000-06:00

My roommates are always cracking me up. If you noticed a few months ago we had a photo shoot where the prompt was "romanian orphan". Well we had another photo shoot, and the prompt for this one was a fun hat that we owned and some glasses. Pretty funny. I personally just ended up looking like a bug, kat like a russian jedi, suzanne looking like costello and shayla and just pretty dang cute. We come up with the strangest things sometimes.

Three of us at our ward's Oscar night. We got all dressed up pretty and watched the FHE videos. Hilarious. Perhaps more details on that later...

And finally, one of the apartment's favorite activities: P90X. Thats right. For those of you that have seen the info-mercials, this stuff is for real. Kat is the one that made the purchase and we are all reaping the benefits. Complete with a pull up bar attached in our front room and enough space for us all to work out together, we are getting toned and BRINGING IT TO THE PEOPLE!

Finally! Details!

2009-03-15T18:19:00.007-06:00

So we just got a bunch of details about our trip to Taiwan! I am so excited. We had our first real class in preparation for our trip and we are a bit more organized now. Our instructor went over there a few weeks ago and signed all the contracts and organized all of our nurse mentors, called preceptors. Apparently they are all so honored that we are coming and are very hospitable to having us come to their hospital. We will be housed in the apartments that the hospital has attached to it and apparently they are new and quite nice. Complete with washer/dryer, ping pong, pool, TV and internet. We are staying the town of T'ainan (southern/western side) and the hospital we will be doing our rotations is the Chimei Hospital. Its a 1300 bed hospital (bigger than any in Utah) and we will be working mainly in the ICU there.
So we go to work in the ICU Monday-Wednesday for 8 hour shifts and then on Thursday we work a half day at the orphanage, playing with cute little Asian babies! Our instructor specifically said that we couldn't adopt any while we were there or smuggle them home in our bags. So the first half of our stay we work at the ICU and then we switch and work in the community. We go with our nurse preceptor out to do home visits and go to clinics and things out in the community. I am excited to see the people in their own homes and see how they all live everyday. It is going to be quite the experience, I can already tell. Friday and Saturday are our "play days" where we are going to go everywhere and see everything. Then Sunday is church and we do it all again every week. I am beyond excited. We leave around May 1, not exactly sure, and then stay 5 weeks. The things I am most worried about are language, squatter toilets (thanks for the tips Adam!), and the food. Should be a culture shock, that's for sure. But then...Jenna is coming to meet me there!! Hopefully we will get to spend some quality time with Adam, Kay and fam, see Taiwan a little more and head to CHINA! My group that I am going with seem like a blast, I don't know them that well yet, but I will! Our instructor seems awesome and like he wants to have as much fun as we do. I will have internet access so I plan on updating my blog often with exciting pictures and stories!

Also, I got my first PASSPORT for this trip! It was way exciting.

So I just need to get through the rest of this semester, which let me tell ya, might be harder than it sounds, and then bon voyage! I am super excited and can't wait!

A home!

2009-02-25T10:41:00.002-07:00

So its official. We finally have a place to live. Everyone has signed the contracts and written out the big checks and next year we will be the proud tenets of a fairly nice condo. I am pretty excited about our new place, definitely an upgrade from where I live now, and my roommates are pretty much the coolest ever. I will be living with Alison, finally. Then two girls from my ward now, Jenny and Marie will be our roommates. Its going to be awesome! Probably the most awesome apartment ever. Try not to be jealous. Now the guys just have to get their apartment situation figured out and we should all be living in the same ward! I am just so happy we got something figured out before too long, because it was getting dicey.

Late Night Ramblings

2009-02-18T01:03:00.001-07:00

I can't sleep. I have no clue why because usually I am so tired I fall asleep almost instantly. However tonight, I am quite awake, can't quite turn off my brain, so I decided that maybe if I write down some things maybe I can get to sleep. That and a coughing fit really woke me and probably my entire apartment. I hate being sick.

Thats first on the list. Being sick really sucks. I have been sick for a couple weeks and it really gets in the way. Apart from the obvious perk of my voice sounding husky and sexy of course, I hate it. I can't sing, I can't talk, I can't stop coughing and it hurts. And it kicked me off the National's team for racquetball. Thats another thing. I was all on track and feeling good about going to National's this year and then I got sick. Bad timing, thats for sure. I decided to get good and sick the last week and a half before the team was decided. I tried to continue to play and challenge people to maintain my coveted spot on the team, but it was no use. I couldn't play and I felt like crap. So I took some major hits on my position and missed getting on the team. Somebody obviously didn't want me to go to Nationals. Probably for the best, right? So I am disappointed but tell myself it is probably better this way.

Another thing on my mind lately is housing. I don't know how people get away ripping off college students semester after semester about housing. It is really not right. Really crappy apartments should not cost $300 a semester. It just makes no sense. And then throw in coordinating 8 people's preferences and opinions and you have a recipe for disaster. We are having the hardest time finding a place to live that is reasonably priced for what they get us, decently close to campus and fits all our specific needs. Let me tell ya, its nearly impossible. I am about ready to just give up and live in my car. If only it had heat...

I love my mom. If you read the previous post (its not long) you might gather that I had a rough week last week. But lucky for me, at the end of the horrible week I got to get a real life hug from my mom. I couldn't have asked for a better way to turn things around. She came just at the right time and I loved being able to see her and spend some time with her. Just what I needed. So thanks mom for being there for me, physically this time and emotionally all the other times, even if it is just through the phone.

My abnormal psychology class is turning me crazy. I swear I have the disorders I read about, which just happens to be its own disorder, which is talked about in the book. Its all very confusing. And not only do I think that I have these disorders, but I am constantly afraid that someone with that disorder will just show up. Scares the pants off of me. Like right now, sitting in the dark, I am nervous some crazy person is going to show up. I need to stop thinking about it...

I found out today that I have a hidden talent. Its called Poi Balls. Those little white ball things on yarn ropes that polynesian people dance with. Called poi balls. Today in my polynesian dance class we learned a dance with them and I rocked at it. Who knew? Maybe I will quit school, move to New Zealand and live with the Maori people and become and poi ball dancer. If this whole nursing thing doesn't work out...

Well thats what was on my mind as I tried to go to sleep. No wonder I was having trouble. Hopefully I can get to bed because as hard as getting to sleep is now, waking up in four hours is going to be even tougher.

Bad Week

2009-02-15T00:40:00.000-07:00

As far as weeks go, this one goes down as one of the worst I have had in a long time.

Nerd Date

2009-02-06T23:28:00.000-07:00

So, I was asked to go on a "nerd date". This consisted of all of us (a pretty big group) dressing up as nerds, going to the Planetarium on campus, then getting Jamba Juice, and then playing clue. It was a blast. We all had a great time wearing our best clothes, acting super awkward and sharing the nerdiest things that we knew with each other. And at the end of the day, my date and I were the biggest nerds and won Clue. Thats right. We basically rocked.

I love this picture. This is me and my roommate Kat. Our apartment was pretty hectic as we both were getting ready for our costumed activities. We found it pretty funny that we were basically opposites. I was a nerd and she was crazy, glam rock. We figured that it was the perfect set up for a new age "Freaky Friday" were we wake up in each others lives. In any case, I think we both did a good job getting ready for our nights.

Me and my date, Brian Spencer. He was looking fantastic, with his pants as high as they could go and white ankle socks. Classy Brian.

A few people on the date with us. They all look awesome.

At the Planetarium. They gave us binoculars so that we could see some of the stars a bit closer. Turns our planetariums are actually kinda amazing. Brian and I were both excited for it, showing our true nerdiness.

The whole group getting Jambas after the planetarium. Everyone kept asking us what we were doing all dressed up. We tried to play it off like thats just how we dressed, but it didn't work out very well. All in all, it was such a fun date and we all had a great time laughing at each other and allowing our true nerds to come out.

Brown Sugar

2009-01-30T09:36:00.001-07:00

Whoever it was that thought of putting a piece of bread in your rock hard brown sugar is a genius. I don't know how they thought of it, but it works amazingly. So, here's to you, Genius. You saved my brown sugar. Thank you.

General Authorities + BYU Basketball = Amazing

2009-01-27T23:49:00.000-07:00

So, walking out of the BYU basketball game last Saturday, after a very fulfilling win, I come within inches of literally running into Elder Nelson. Thats right...THE Elder Nelson. From the Quorum of the 12. He was just walking out of the Marriott Center with his wife. I was talking with some friends, and I looked ahead of me just in time to stop before mowing him over. All of us in the group took a minute to realize who we nearly ran over and then not at all smoothly saying to each other...is that Elder Nelson?! We finally came to a consensus, that it was indeed the very apostle, when he walked away and left us yelling "Hi Elder Nelson!! We love you!" I know...we are real classy. He wasn't the only GA there either. Elder Oaks and his wife are also b-ball fans apparently, and President Samuelson is always in attendence. I have also been at the games with Elder Christofferson and his wife and Elder Perry is a frequent fan. They sit on the front row, just behind the announcers and directly across the court from the student section. Makes you feel a little foolish yelling and screaming like crazy with some apostles sitting polietely across from you. Oh well. But I am still kicking myself for not composing myself a little to shake Elder Nelson's hand. Maybe next time.

Little more Vegas...

2009-01-21T08:47:00.000-07:00

My favorite part of the whole trip to Vegas was probably the Bellagio Fountains. I could watch them all day. Unfortunately we only stayed for one song and then had to go, but here is a small clip of it. The sudden jerking in the middle is some girl elbowing me really hard...Oh well.

As a side note...I don't know why the last post was all one huge link. Turns out I can't work this blogging thing out so well.

The sun still shines in January. Just not in Provo.

2009-01-20T12:32:00.000-07:00

I know, it's been forever since I have posted. Not at all as far as this semester, and I will come back and post about my new classes and clinicals and things (its all about babies!), but now I will just talk about my latest adventure. It is freezing in Provo. It just is. And I don't like it all that much. So...my roommate Shayla and I decided that we needed to go somewhere and warm up. We had a three day weekend because of Martin Luther King day, so it was the perfect time to take off. It was Shayla, me and our friend Michael Barney. So we decided to drive out to St. George and stay with her sister and her husband. It was so fantastic. We drove down early Saturday morning and dropped off our things at Shayla's sister's house and then went straight to Vegas! I have never been there, and it was a fun time...quite the experience. I don't really feel any need to ever go back, unless I get rich someday and go see some cool shows. But we had a great time.

We got into vegas around noon, ate lunch and then walked around. We saw a lot of the casinos and the hotels. We even went on a roller coaster at Circus Circus. Then...we may or may not have gone to "Slots of Fun" and lost 75 cents...I would never gamble...Actually, I just took pictures, since Shayla wouldn't let someone underage do it... So then we wandered around for a few more hours (8 hours walking around does a number on your feet). We went into the M&M factory store and watched a 3-D movie. Then we went to the MGM and saw the lions, got some food and by the time we went outside it was dark! We saw the strip in all its glory. Walked around some more, watched the Bellagio Fountains and the Mirage Volcano and then decided that we had had enough and left. We drove back to St. George that night and didn't get back too late.

Sunday, we took a stroll (in short sleeves and skirts, I will add), went to church with Alicia and Kyle (Shayla's sister and brother-in-law), and then went to the temple. After a marathon photo shoot, we went to the visitor's center and saw the Gordon B. Hinckley movie and the Stonecutter movie. Both were amazing! The difference between the two nights was a 360* turn around. Vegas was all about the world. I knew that it was ridiculous, but I could not have imagined how much. Everything was about fulfilling any sort of worldy desire. Lust was everywhere, and the basis of the entire strip. Then mixed with the gambling everywhere and the really tacky, gaudy decorations everywhere, it was just ridiculous. My favorite was the slot machines placed in the bar, where the servers were very scantily clad. Just mixes all of them together in one. Lovely. Then, on Sunday night when we went to the temple, it was all about spiritual. How much more refreshing it was. The movies that we watched were so great. Focusing on keeping Chirst in the center of our lives and sacrifice in the name of the Gospel, and not giving in to whatever pressures there are in our lives. The Spirit was able to attend and testify, where it simply could not dwell in Vegas. There is no way. But anyway, I would highly recommend the Hinckley movie. It was just an hour long and so great to learn a little more about his growing up life. That night we played some fun games with each other and just enjoyed each other's company.

Monday we got up, packed and decided to go "hiking". We had no clue where we could go, so we went up this hill to the "D" in St. George. We got in trouble for trespassing, which we didn't know we were, and so that hike got cut short. Instead of hiking, we went shopping and then got In and Out for lunch. It was delicious, and we sat on the curb in our t-shirts, short and sandals, loving lunch and loving life. We took off after lunch and had a fairly uneventful ride home. It was fun, but nothing special. UNTIL...10 miles out of Provo, we are driving along, and then out of nowhere, a dog runs out onto the freeway, and luckily, no one hit each other with their cars, but the dog was not so lucky. It was the car right in front of us that hit the dog full on and he flew. It was awful! I can't forget what it looked like. I am just grateful it wasn't our car that hit him because then it would be right in front of me. The dog was so dead and its owner was in the field just off the freeway and saw the whole thing. I felt pretty awful, but its the lady's fault because the dog was off its leash. But still horrible.

Getting back to provo was hard, mostly because of the temperature. We easily dropped 40-50 degrees from St. George to Provo. So sad. Wow, this is a lot of writing, sorry. Ill just show the pictures now for those that just go straight to them :) I tried to pick just my favorites, but there were just so many to choose from, so there are kind of a lot. Have fun!

We got to Vegas and we were starving...so we went to Wendy's. Kind of anti-climatic I know, but it was so good.Revolving doors are always a good time. Especially the huge ones that go to all the casinos...revolving door etiquette gets a little tricky.

The roller coaster at Circus Circus. I was a little nervous.

Taking a break from all the walking in front of Caesars.

Gambling??Slots of fun, wasn't so fun.

Cool mirror at Encore.Only one picture from the hundreds to choose from in front of the temple. So pretty!Cute roommate picture in front of the doorsShayla has awesome panoramic picture taking skills.

We shared a half-inflated air mattress for two days...sorry Shayla for taking up all of it.Getting a quick picture in before the trespassing Nazi called the cops...Grabbing some In-n-Out in the sun before going back to cold Provo.

The Meltdown

2008-12-29T15:44:00.001-07:00

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

2008-12-23T13:16:00.000-07:00

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!

2008-12-18T19:08:00.001-07:00

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!!!!

2008-12-12T09:14:00.000-07:00

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?

2008-12-11T16:23:00.000-07:00

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!

2008-11-30T13:39:00.000-07:00

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

2008-11-15T00:12:00.000-07:00

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!

2008-11-15T00:01:00.000-07:00

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...."

2008-11-11T08:55:00.000-07:00

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

2008-11-11T08:33:00.000-07:00

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...

2008-11-04T13:20:00.000-07:00

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!

2008-11-02T13:42:00.000-07:00

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!