18 Days

Guys, I seriously can not wait for football season to start!

It is my favorite time of year.

There is not much better in life than a cool, Fall Saturday afternoon at Rice Eccles Stadium watching my Utes play. Really, I think heaven is gonna feel like that.

It may seem strange, but I don't know how to describe the feeling of being in that stadium, singing the Utah Fight Song with 45,000 other Ute fans, and watching the Utah Football team score a touchdown or intercept a pass.

It's one of my favorite places on Earth.

And I can't wait.  

Explode

If one more person asks me why I am not married or why I am not dating anyone I think I might explode. Literally explode.

I mean think about the question.

"Are you dating anyone?"
"Nope."
"Why not?"
.......

Usually I just say "I don't know."

What I want to say is "Cause I'm ugly." or "Cause I'm fat." or "Cause I like girls." (I really don't like girls I just want to make people feel awkward.) or "Cause I don't cook." or "Cause I don't do my hair." or "Cause I am just too cool."

I mean really people. What kind of answer are you looking for when you ask that question?

I'm getting very sick of living in a society where people think they need to apologize to you cause you have a successful career instead of a husband and kids. Of course I want to be married and have children. It's the strongest desire of my heart. But for whatever reason it's not in the cards right now and I am okay with that. Why can't the rest of you be okay with it too?

Alright, I'm done now. Really this post sounds a lot more angry than I actually am. I just wanted to get that off my chest. :)

Life is Beautiful

I took a drive today.

A drive up the canyon is one of my most favorite things. And lucky for me Utah has lots of canyons.

I've lived in SLC for almost ten months and I still hadn't been up Big Cottonwood Canyon. Today felt like a good day to change that.

I piled my pups in the car and we went driving. Windows down. Sun roof open. A good playlist playing. And of course, a diet coke.

It was good for my soul.

I feel at home in the mountains. Maybe it's the living in Utah my whole life thing, but I love being in the mountains.

As I drove through the canyon, I couldn't help but be amazed by the beauty of my life. If you would've asked me 5 years ago where I would be in 5 years I probably wouldn't have got one thing right about where I am now. But I'm so glad I am where I am. It's not perfect and I'm not perfect. It's hard and ugly sometimes, but it's also shaping me into the person I want to be. And I have a lot of things I need to change, but my life is beautiful.

Workaholic

Can we just talk about how much I love my job for a second?

I love what I do. I love where I do it. I love who I do it with. I love who I do it for. I love what it teaches me. I love when I do it.

I work in the Float Pool or the Central Staffing Resource Unit. That means I work on every unit in the hospital. Children's Medical Unit, Children's Surgical Unit, Infant Medical and Surgical Unit, Cancer/Transplant Unit, Neuro Trauma Unit, Newborn Intensive Care Unit, and Pediatric Intensive Care Unit. I get trained on each unit and work on each unit. It's taken over a year to train and work on each unit. And now, in just 4 short weeks, I'll be done. And each shift I work will be on a different unit. It has been amazing and terrible. There have been days when I want to give up. When I think to myself what I have gotten myself into. But there have been days when I think about where I was a year ago and how much I have learned and I'm so grateful I work in the Float Pool.

I work three 12 hour shifts a week. I love it. I love having 4 days off a week. People always ask me how do you work 12 hours straight? You get used to it. And it really isn't so bad. Except when I get home my feet hurt, my legs hurt, my shoulders hurt, and my back hurts. Usually my brain hurts and sometimes my heart hurts. I think being a nurse is the most physically  emotionally, and mentally challenging job there is. And I love it.

I recently had someone ask me what my most and least favorite thing about my job was. What? I don't know. I can't answer that. Everything is my most favorite and nothing is my least favorite.

I knew I would love my job. I didn't realize how much though. The past year working as a pediatric nurse has changed me. I'm a different person. A better person. I've learned so much about so many different things. I didn't know my brain could learn this much. I didn't know my heart could learn this much.

I've seen things that have made my heart stronger. I've seen things that have broken my heart. I've cried. I've laughed. I've cussed. I've yelled. I've sang. I've hugged. I've comforted. I've been comforted. I've healed. I've been healed.

I honestly think that I work with some of the best nurses in the country. It's been incredible to learn from them the past year. Not just about being a better nurse, but about being a better person.

My job is the best thing that's ever happened to me. It's the hardest thing that's ever happend to me. And I can not imagine doing anything else.

Well after almost a year of no blogging. 

I'm baaaaaaaack! 

Let's see how many people still read this thing.  More posts to come. Stay tuned.

Update Part II

Most of you probably don't care about these updates. They are kinda boring, but I wanna brag about all the fun I've been having. :) And I've been bad at keeping a journal lately, so I need to be remembered some how. 

I've had tons of fun with my family this summer. I went to the Pink Coral Sand Dunes for a few days with my parents, oldest sister and brother and their families. It was such a blast! It was stinkin' hot though. We played around all weekend in the sand on the four wheelers! And sat in the shade, read books, or slept when it was too hot to do anything else. It was such a fun weekend!

For my birthday Kristen got us tickets to Miller Motorsports Park for an off roading competition. It was such a unique and fun gift! It's out in Tooele aka the edge of the earth. :) But we had so much fun! Basically they would race these cars on a dirt track, go as fast as they can, crash, ruin their cars, and keep going. It was way cool! 

We were sitting right at the first turn and they would be going so fast it would spray huge dirt clumps at us. It was dangerous and slightly scary. 

Update Part I

It's been forever and a day since I've blogged. I'm not sure I remember how to do this. Well to catch up a little.....

I graduated!

A week before graduation we had a dinner at Pizza Factory with our whole class and then afterward drove up the canyon to burn our scrubs. It was so fun! It was great to spend a night with all the people I had spent so much time with over the three years of nursing school, who I literally spilt blood, sweat, and tears with.  Burning our scrubs was the best part of the night!

Burning my scrubs.

My best friend. I couldn't have done it without her. I'm so glad that not only did BYU give me a degree it gave me a best friend for life. 

Kristen is a continual constant in my life. I'm so grateful for the incredible friendship and relationship that I have with her. I couldn't have done it without her.

Words can not even begin to describe how I feel about these two people. They are my best friends, my advisors, my confidants, and my rocks. I owe everything I have and everything I am to them. I love them with all my heart and am continually grateful for all they have done for me, all they do for me, and all they will continue to do for me. I couldn't have done it without them.

BYU College of Nursing Class of 2012. I love all these girls (and boys) so much.

A few weeks after graduation, I flew down to LA to spend the week with Laura and her family. It was a blast. I attempted to surf for the first time. I was scared, but I did it and it was actually really fun after I got over the fear of drowning or being eaten by a shark or being smashed by the real surfers. I boogie boarded for the first time. I had the best strawberry I have ever eaten in my life. I got an awesome $20 asian massage. I watched the whole second season of Downton Abbey with Laura and her sister. And I went to my first Dodger's game and ate my first Dodger Dog. It was the best week. 

For graduation my awesome parents sent me and my mom on a cruise to Alaska! It was the best thing ever. I loved every minute of it. Cruises are so fun. And Alaska is breath taking and spectacular. It was easily one of the most beautiful places I have ever seen! I had such a great time with my wonderful mom. We made some great memories that I will never forget! 

Well that's a long enough update for now. Stay tuned for part II.