Catch-Up

My college roommate Drew has a blog that she posts on only once a month which I'm beginning to think is a great idea since I'm usually too swamped with school to even do that, so maybe I'll try it and have more success with my blog! :)

Here is a little run down of our lives this past semester:

September

This semester has been the hardest by far with an additional class and trying to work part-time. I'm not fond of my job, but it pays the bills so I guess I should be grateful. I have an on-campus job at the "bindery." It's a windowless basement where we print, copy, cut, collate, bind, glue, staple, etc all sorts of paper projects for the school from posters to pamphlets to parking passes. I started working there in May to help produce the graduation books and was able to stay on through June and then come back in September once school started. I work with some great people and it's an awesome school job, but I guess paper is just not my thing.
Luckily Mike and I both had busy schedules so no one was bored waiting on the other to finish homework or something. This semester he was part of the Huntsman Scholars Program. It's through the business school, which is ironic since Mike has absolutely no interest in business, and is a scholarship program that is geared towards teaching business and leadership with international experience. I still don't really get the point of it, but they paid him money and sent him to Europe for a month at almost no cost so it was a good experience for him.
Also, my amazing husband has an awesome diamond-encrusted crystal award! Ok, well it's not really diamond-encrusted or crystal, but it's glass and pretty big so it looks fancy. Last year for one of his terrorism classes (he's studying international relations and peace, not how to be a terrorist) he was able to do an internship with the Cultural Intelligence Institute. He basically just had to write a paper for his class and then turn it into the institute with some minor adjustments and got paid for it, but his paper has turned out to be a pretty big deal. It was on how the media fuels terrorism and makes it easier for terrorists to terrorize. The institute liked it so much the want to publish it in their scholarly journal (http://culturalintel.org/Journal.html) plus his paper has been read by several important people (i.e. members of the CIA, a police constable in London) AND they want to fly him out to DC for their next conference to present his paper! So my husband is pretty amazing and that's not even a biased opinion!


October
In a nutshell, our month of October: Mike played in Europe and I studied and did giant school projects. As happy as I am for him he got to go, I'm totally jealous and think it's highly unfair that I had to sit at home and study while he traveled Europe for almost the whole month! They went to Switzerland and ate cheese, to Belgium and sampled chocolates, and to France and went to EuroDisney. (They also visited business like NATO, WHO,the Red Cross, Huntsman Chemical but I think these places were all an excuse so they could do the fun things.) While there, they also had a free weekend where they could travel wherever they wanted so Mike and a group of students went to Rome. He said it was the most beautiful place he's ever seen and someday when we aren't so poor, he'll take me there :)

Mike outside the Palace at Versailles

I studied and worked on papers and projects the whole month. I lived off McDonald's chicken nuggets and Little Caesar's pizza. I do love chicken nuggets even if they are horrendously bad for you, I love them, so that part wasn't so awful. One night I had a sleepover with my girl friends since Mikey was gone and we had a break from school. We went out to eat and made skookies (cookies baked in a skillet) and watched a scary movie and it was a blast. Even though I would never trade being married for the single life, I do miss sleepovers!


November
Thankfully this month was a little less hectic for the two of us, but still kept us busy. Mike was usually up all hours of the night writing and editing papers for his program and I was trying to go to bed early so I could be at the hospital at 430am. I've had more practice with IVs and while I'm definitely not a pro, I still feel pretty good about my skills, which is a good thing. I was shadowing outside the hospital for a clinical day and had someone I knew through church come in and at first I didn't recognize them since we were new to the ward. I realize who they were as I was preparing to start an IV, so I was very grateful they had good veins and I didn't look like a fool screwing it up!
Our ward boundaries changed and our apartment building was switched into a different ward which we were both way sad about. Both of us are shy and we finally felt like we were making friends, I was really enjoying my calling in the Relief Society Presidency and then they gave up the boot! We like our new ward although the dynamics are rather different since everyone is more established and some people live in real houses and not cinderblock prison cells! Mike is happy about the switch though because he is now the Sunday School President. Every since we've been married, his only calling has been ward missionary, which he likes, but is very difficult to fulfill in Utah.
November flew by but we were grateful we got to go to Orem to spend Thanksgiving with my aunt and uncle. I was super excited that my sister Alicia and her fam were able to drive down from Oregon. Like all aunties, I think my nephews and nieces are the cutest and her son is no exception! We went to Tucanos the day after Thanksgiving and had another delicious meal with too much to eat. We also played Nertz where for every round you lost you had to eat a Burtie Bott's jellybean. Luckily I only had to eat one and it was strawberry. Poor Mikey lost a lot a had to eat a rotten egg, moldy cheese and some other disgusting ones :) I felt bad after the first couple...

The lighting is not the best, but I love his turkey butt!

Thanksgiving was a nice break before my one last week of school and then finals. When we got back we found out where we are going for our preceptorship (kinda like residency for doctors) We have to follow a nurse around for their shifts for 140 hours. They had us sign up where we wanted to go in September so of course I had no idea. By time I finished my clinicals for this semester, I had a totally different idea of what kind of nursing I wanted to do than in September, so I'm kinda bummed with what I got. I have night shifts on the post-surgery floor, which will give me a good foundation, but it's a little scary to think that in 12 shifts at the hospital I'm supposed to be competent enough to care for patients all by myself! YIKES! I've decided I would have preferred the ICU or ER, but I guess I can always work there later.


Well that's all from us!

Success!

So now that school has started, I probably won't ever post anything, but I figured this was a big enough event that I had to let you all know... all 3 of you who read this ;) As some of you know, this is my second and last year of nursing school (YAY!!) and we are spending a lot of time in the hospital. Despite the high-tech mannequins we get to practice on, they're no where close to a human being when it comes to practicing skills. At orientation, they taught us how to do IVs, but of course mannequins with twenty poke marks already in the right spot aren't the best teaching tools. With our one day of practice, they told us we were "ready" for the real thing at the hospital. YIKES!!

I was pretty nervous for this, but luckily one of my first shifts at the hospital I was given lots of practice. SUCCESS!! In my short 6 hours at the GI lab that day, I successfully inserted 3 out of 4 IVs! :D (Plus the unsuccessful one was really close. I just felt bad for the guy since he told me he hated needles and I had to have my nurse redo it on him. :s But he was my first and I felt pretty good about it, despite having to stick him twice.) AND, the last guy I stuck said it didn't even hurt, so I felt pretty proud of myself and the nurse that was supervising me later told my teacher I did an awesome job. :)

I've had my up and down feelings about nursing school and as the end draws near, I still have a hard time picturing myself being a "real" nurse all by myself, but after this week, I'm feeling much more confident. Hopefully I can just make this last until I've graduated and doing it on my own...

ALASKA

Mike and I had plans to stay in Utah for the summer because Mike had two classes he needed to take this summer. We were getting a little worried that we would need to take out a few school loans since we couldn't find good jobs and I was only making minimum wage. After his first day of class, we found out that his classes only lasted a month. Mike suggested there was a possibility we could still go "home" to Alaska for the summer and within 30 minutes, we had called and emailed family and jobs to let them know we were coming.


We had a good trip up. I had never been to Canada, despite it being our neighbor, so I was pretty excited about the trip. It took us four days to drive almost 3,000 miles and we saw an abundance of wildlife. We had plans to camp out each night to save some money, but the first night it poured rain and we didn't want to try and find a campsite and set up camp in the rain, and the second night Mike got pretty sick camping, so we stayed in another motel the third night, just cross the Canadian border. By the second half of the third day, my butt was sore and I was tried of driving, but all in all, it was a fun trip.

Canadian border. Our guard was a grumpy dude and
 didn't laugh at any of my jokes. They weren't even Canadian ones!

Some mountain goats on the side of the highway.

A mom and dad and two baby goats, very very close to the highway.

Two black bears we saw about 30 feet away.

Mike posing on our Alaskan motel bed. It was rustic,
but surprisingly nice compared to the outside.

Along the way, we saw 3 bears, a couple moose, lots of deer, a porcupine/gopher-thing, and the goats. I was excited to see them since I hadn't seen wildlife up close in awhile. Whoever thought you'd miss seeing moose in your yard?

Lake Pal

I've fallen way behind on my blog, so I thought I'd take some time to catch up on everything, but it will probably take me awhile.... 


May:
For Mother's Day, we went with Mike's family to Lake Powell. I had never been, but it was gorgeous and now I understand why so many of my friends love it. We mostly rode around in the boat and waterskied. It was my first real time waterskiing and I loved it! We had a great time, and I was grateful we went in early May instead of later in the summer because I burned way bad even with two applications of 50 SPF sunscreen. :s

We took a little hike to a place called Rainbow Bridge

Rainbow Bridge

Me waterskiing. I can get up no problem, but once I'm up
I can't control myself and fall right back down.

My sisters-in-law like to laugh at the Utah accent which make it sound like Lake Pal instead of Powell.

Allie, Laura, and Kitty

We got out and did some swimming too. The water was super cold, but once you got used to it, it felt nice to get out of the heat.

My poor burnt leggies.

My feet got it worst. Somehow I forgot to put sunscreen
on them, so considering, they look pretty good.

Mike's B-Day

Mike's B-Day was two weekends ago, along with Caleb's birthday and his college graduation. Both of my sissies went to Alaska to celebrate, but I figured since I missed his birthday last year, that I should stick around and make-up for his previous lame birthday.

Unfortunately Mike had finals that next week, so it was still kind of a lame birthday. We slept in and then just laid in bed listening to the Hunger Games on my iPhone, then got up and he opened his presents and we ate oatmeal. I had planned on making him coconut pancakes with coconut syrup since he loves coconut, but he was still fighting a cold, so we ate oatmeal instead. After presents, Mike went to the library to study. Lame. But then we went out to Olive Garden for dinner and came home to chocolate coconut cream pie. :) Yum. Low key, but much better than last year.

Presents!!

Mike, still looking sleepy, with his presents.

He got the sweats and the lanyard, but he put his new sweatpants and
sweatshirt over his pjs and looks about 300lbs here :)

So excited for another dinosaur shirt. Aub & Jeremy got him one too so now
he has 3 and looks like he's about 6 when he wears them.

Lagoon

Thanks to Mike's sister Laura, we got to go to Lagoon a few weekends ago and ride the roller coasters. She works there as a lifeguard so we got in cheap, and by cheap I mean free because Mike's parents were kind enough to pay the $10 for each of us. :) We went with most of Mike's siblings - Steve & his wife Kitty, Allie and Laura - and had a blast.
I absolutely LOVE roller coasters!! I love that feeling I get as we scream down the big drop, how I think that I'm not going to make it and any second I'm just going to die or that my stomach will just fly outta my mouth or something horrific and then right as I think I can take it no more, the roller coaster flies around a loop or twist or hill or something and I can breathe again. Love it!

Wicked - my favorite! You seriously shoot straight up and then straight down that first hill.

Mike & I right before Wicked

Mike after Wicked. Check out his sweet hair. :)

Krakauer? More like Crap Hour

Haha, so that title is more something that Mike would say pretending to diss someone, but I think it conveys my sentiments well. For those of you who actually follow this, :), you know I'm on a big reading kick right now. Last spring while I was waiting to get married and finally start Nursing school, I also read a lot of books, one of which was Three Cups of Tea by Greg Mortenson. I really loved this book and was inspired to be better because of it. I was terribly disappointed to discovered the other day at the campus bookstore that they were selling this book and his other book Stones Into Schools for cheap with a posted new article denouncing him as a fraud.
For those of you who don't know what I'm talking about, check out this piece done by CBS 60 minutes:
http://www.cbsnews.com/video/watch/?id=7363068n&tag=related;photovideo
It's true that Mortenson's story seems too good to be true and I wouldn't be surprised if he fluffed up the story in order to gain more attention. Although it's sad that a miraculous story such as his is needed in order to gain sympathy and help from the public, no one can deny that Mortenson has done amazing things to promote education for girls in Afghanistan and Pakistan. So why the need to tear him down?
One thing I think is important to point out is one of CBS' main sources for this libel is Jon Krakauer, the author of Under the Banner of Heaven. Although I haven't read this book, so maybe this is slander on my part, I've heard enough about this book to know it's crap. Crap Hour's "investigative reporting" on the early LDS saints is packed full of lies and exaggerations used to make Mormons appear crazy and law-less by comparing them to modern day FLDS brothers who killed a woman and baby over a polygamy controversy because they had received "revelation" that God told them to do it. 
The Church began "criticizing" Kraukauer's book before it was published.
Richard E. Turley, managing director of the Family and Church History Department of the LDS Church, was among the most notable; he points out mistakes and incorrect assertions in the book and accuses Krakauer of "condemn[ing] religion generally," while saying that "although the book may appeal to gullible persons who rise to such bait like trout to a fly hook, serious readers who want to understand Latter-day Saints and their history need not waste their time on it"
(Taken from Wikipedia's article "Under the Banner of Heaven."
Plus, and this is something Mike pointed out which I thought was good, Mortenson confesses in his book Three Cups of Tea that he was bad with money and people. Some of 60 Minutes' proof that Mortenson was a bad, fraudulent person is based on the fact that he wouldn't answer their questions when they ambushed him at his own book signing. Who wouldn't be flustered and refuse to answer questions when ambushed by a camera in front of a crowd?
Even if some of Mortenson's stories are false, I still think the good he has done to help Afghani and Pakistani girls is worth the story.

Thank You Z.J.

A couple weekends ago Mike & I went to the Logan library and got ourselves library cards. As I put my shiny new card away in my wallet, I discovered I already have three other library cards - two from Utah and one from Alaska. Apparently I collect library cards like some girls collect credit cards. Although those overdue fines can rack up, I think library card debt is a little better than credit card debt. I'm sure Mike would agree :)

My collection of cards.

Happy new library card holder.

I've only been to the Logan library twice, but out of all the libraries I've membership too, I think Alaska's Lousaac is the best! Maybe it's just because I'm more familiar with it, but the Lousaac has a much better selection. Plus you can now borrow audiobooks which you can download to your iPod/Phone which is awesome! I can now get in half hour of listening in walking to and from campus.

My poetry skills are lacking, but in honor of Z.J. Lousaac, I wrote a haiku:

Thanks Z.J. Lousaac

Happiness you bring to us

Your books are the best

Summer Reading

I envy those people who find good books easy to come by. I feel like anytime I go into a bookstore or the library, everything looks "meh" and not necessarily worth my time to pick up and read. I tend to find a good book and then read through everything that author has ever written.
Despite a heavy school schedule, I've discovered the wonders of audiobooks. On the bus or walking to class I can "read," something I never have time for otherwise. Being able to rent and download audiobooks from the Anchorage library has been a great for this. I've read four books in the last month! I've put together a summer reading list for myself and some to read and/or listen to with Mike but I want more. Books suggested to me by friends and family are always great but a little to far between for my tastes. If you have any good book suggestions, I'd love to hear them!
Since I would hate to be  without giving anything in return, here are a few books that I've enjoyed recently-ish:

• The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins (I just finished this one this morning and can't wait to read the next ones!)
• The Kabul Beauty School by Deborah Rodriguez (Haven't finished this one yet, but I like it. It reminds me of the Kite Runner, but about women.)
• The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini (This one is tragic & I struggled with some of the content, but it is truly a great story.)
• Three Cups of Tea by Greg Mortenson (It's amazing what this guy has accomplished! Reading it makes you want to be a better person.)
• The Memory Keeper's Daughter by Kim Edwards (An interesting look at they way the views towards Down Syndrome has changed in the last 30 years.)
• The Book Thief by Markus Zukas (So good! I cried at the end)
• Good Grief by Lolly Winston (This one was suggested to me by Alicia who always has great suggestions) :)
• Tell No One by Harlan Coben (Mystery novel. I picked it up from my in-laws bookshelf and read it in just a couple days. I was disappointed there wasn't another book by him to read.)
• The Persian Pickle Club by Sandra Dallas (I was surprised how much I liked this short novel. 

In the beginning was also the end of blog

After spending a ridiculous amount of time putting together my first blog and posts, school took over my life and the blog died. School is wrapping up now and I have high hopes for exciting summer plans that I will be able to share with others. I have a goal to take more pictures and since I have a new iPhone with a pretty decent camera, I'm also hoping that goal will be realized. So stay tuned. Maybe someday this will be worth reading. :)