Memories

Two years ago today Shaun proposed to me at the Biltmore Resort! To remember that special day, Shaun and I went out to breakfast at Mimi's Cafe this morning. 

The day after we were engaged, we went out to Mimi's. I remember that day so clearly. It was the morning after he popped the question....we had the biggest grins on our faces...we both couldn't stop saying "I love you" to each other....I kept glancing down at my ring admiring how beautiful it was! 

As we were sitting at breakfast this morning, I couldn't believe that after 2 years I am more in love with him then I was on that special day! 

Here are some photos from our engagement....

My first couple of Clinical Days.

Clinicals have officially started at the hospital. Nine of us students and my Professor are on a Medical Surgery floor at Phoenix St. Luke's on Wednesdays.  I have had two shifts there now.

Last week, My clinical instructor paired us up. Sheri and I had a pneumonia patient. We were not really allowed to do much because we have not been checked off for much yet (we have to be checked off in lab before we can perform any skills at clinicals). We were assigned to get a heath history from our patient. We had a whole list of questions to ask him. It took Sheri and I an hour and a half to ask him 30 questions! Every time we would ask him something he would chat on about a story about his cats or working out. I think he was just lonely and liked having company to talk to! Somehow we were able to finally get out of his room. I enjoyed our first week there and learned a lot about where everything is! 

On Wednesday, we had our second day at the hospital. Again, we were paired up and Sheri was my partner. I was given the chance to perform my first bed bath on a patient...It was so much fun (not!).  This time we had a 63 year old female. She was living in a Nursing home and was admitted the night before. She wasn't doing to well. We took care of her for a few hours, but at the end of our time there, her condition got worse and she was moved down to the ICU. 

At the end of the day we were given a tour of the Operating Room. I have to say it was pretty awesome! We were able to get all gowned up in OR attire and get to see where they do all of their operations. This was my first time ever seeing an OR! It was so cool! :-)

I will keep you all informed of the crazy adventures I'll have there in the weeks to come! 

Happy Thanksgiving!

Here are a few things that I am thankful for:

-My husband!  I love him so much! I love all of the time that we spend together.

-All of my wonderful family....my parents, grandparents, brothers, sisters, Shaun's parents, and Shaun's brother and sister-in law

-My wonderful Savior

-All of my wonderful friends

-A school to go to where I can learn something that I am going to love doing

-Our cute home and all of the wonderful things inside

-My Car that gets me everywhere I need to go

I am so blessed! 

Happy Thanksgiving

Our Weekend

Shaun and I had a fun weekend. We went to a wedding on Friday night over in Fountain Hills. It was gorgeous outside and the location made it a beautiful wedding. I had fun getting to know his school buddies and their wives better. 

On Saturday we went up to my parents house to have their Thanksgiving meal. My grandparents were in town from Arkansas for the weekend, so they decided to do Thanksgiving early. It was a lot of fun. We got up there at about 10am and hung out until lunch. We ate a wonderful turkey, stuffing, mashed potatoes, gravy, vegetable casserole, salad, and butternut squash. Yum Yum! It was delicious! 

After the meal we did our Thanksgiving tradition of playing a game to decide the order of who says their thanks first. We have played this since the little kids brought it home from school in kindergarten. After we all said what we were thankful for this year, we then ate pie! I had my favorite, coconut cream pie. 

We then collapsed on the couch for some rest time...It wouldn't be thanksgiving without a nap after the big meal! The boys (Shaun and my brother) proceeded to play outside. Later, Shaun and I took out my brother Philip's car. It is a '74 CJ Jeep. We don't really know how to drive a stick shift car, so we thought it would be fun to learn. Shaun does pretty well with it.... on the other hand, I am not so good. I have to say I am getting better, but it is still a pretty jerky ride! 

Here is the Family picture that we took this weekend. Aren't they all growing up so fast?  This year Philip and Michael officially passed Jessica and I in height! They think that it is pretty funny now that they are taller! 

Here is Shaun and I:

My Nursing adventures continue...

I started my 3rd semester of Nursing this week! There is one word that describes my feelings of this week: OVERWHELMED! We had so much information thrown at us that I am not really sure what to think. So far, I am extremely excited to actually be learning Nursing skills and not just taking prerequisite classes. On the other hand, I am terrified that I won't be able to handle everything. I just hope that as the weeks go on I will start to feel more comfortable with classes and learn a routine that will help me to achieve good grades. 

In this semester I have 3 major classes:

-Student Success

-Fundamentals of Nursing / Medical Surgical Nursing

-Pharmacology

I also have a Skills Lab at school and Clinicals at the hospital. 

What scares me the most about these classes is the fact that I HAVE SO MANY BOOKS! All of those books in the picture are for ONE semester. Only 16 weeks! Help me!

First time voter!

Well...I did it....I sent in my vote! This was my first time voting for president! I missed the last presidential election by 2 months because I was too young. I have to say that it feels great to vote! I feel really honored to be able to do something that not everyone can do.

Update

Sorry that I have not posted in a while, I have been very busy! Since football season is in full swing, I have had more shifts at work on the weekends. School has also been tough as well. I just feel like I don't have enough hours in the day to get everything done. 

For the past month I have been busy getting things ready for clinicals to start. I have officially been assigned to a shift every Wednesday at Phoenix St. Luke's Hospital. It will be a medical/surgery rotation. I am super excited!  I will start that in 5 weeks. 

In order to be able to work there, I have had to spend the last few weeks taking a CPR class, getting a fingerprint card, updating my shot records and getting a TB skin test taken. Well in doing all of this, I found out that I have been exposed to Tuberculosis. I think that either I picked it up from spending time in Africa with the orphans or when I volunteered at Phoenix Children's Hospital for a year. This was a not so exciting bit of information that I found out. It was just a hassle. I had to get a chest x-ray to make sure that I was okay and then go on antibiotics for the next 9 months! Anyways, I am just thankful that it was not active TB and that as long as I take the antibiotics, everything should go away. 

Other than that I am looking forward to my week off in November before I start Semester 3. Shaun also has a week off in November, but it is the week after mine! It just seems like we never have the same week off, but I guess that is the life of two busy students. We just can't wait for March and August of 2010! (that is when we both graduate) We are already planning a huge vacation for that fall! :-) We can not wait! 

 

I made the switch!

Well...I did it...I converted to a Mac.  Shaun and I went into the Apple store and purchased my new Macbook.  I must say, so far, I love it! It is so fast! I was a little scared that I would not enjoy learning a new system, since my last computer was a PC, but I am amazed at all the cool features. I am excited to find out what else I can do with this computer!  

Look who is here!

Andrew Ryan Palmer

born Thursday, September 4, 2008

at 5.50am

7lb. 8oz

21.5inches




Mom and baby are doing wonderful!

More pictures to come

I am going to be an AUNT tonight!

Shaun and I got the news this evening that our nephew is on his way! He decided to grace us with his presence 17 days early! Nikki checked into the hospital at about 6pm tonight. We are just about to head over to the hospital to wait for Drew to arrive. We are all really excited and are praying for a safe night for Nikki and Drew.

Back from the Cabin

Shaun and I got back from our trip to the cabin on Monday. We had a lot of fun! This year we had 32 people from my parent's home fellowship group up in 4 different cabins. (we stayed in the usual cabin. pictured above)

We arrived early Saturday morning. That afternoon, Shaun and I took the ATVs on a secret ride alone. When we came back, we helped make Chili and cornbread because it was our family's night to make dinner. It was delicious. Later that night we played a dice game called 4,5,6 and then played spoons. I have never played such a crazy game of spoons before!

On Sunday, we spent the morning at one of the cabins having breakfast and a Bible study. When we got back to our cabin, Shaun and I took a bunch of the kids on a Ranger ride. (they are kind of like quads, but larger) On that day it was raining, so when we got back from the ride we were soaked with mud! We had to wash our jackets off with the hoses outside, that is how gross we were. It was fun! I wish I would have gotten a photo of Shaun and Michael; they were covered with mud!

As usual, we had a lot of fun on our annual trip. We can't wait for next year!

Sorry, I don't have more pictures. I forgot the camera. :-(

It's going to be a great month!

I thought I would continue what I started last month and write about the things that I am looking forward to this month.

-The first day of September we will be spending time at the Cabin! That weekend we will be on our annual trip up to the Ulhman's Cabin. On this trip we go with my family and my parent's home fellowship group up to Forest Lakes. This year we will have 32 people going! We spend the weekend riding quads, playing card games, enjoying the cool weather, and watching movies. Shaun and I really look forward to this trip every year!

-On September 10th, the Nursing instructors will come into our class and we will have a meeting about clinicals! They are going to tell us all that we need to know. I am excited!

-The Office on DVD! Season 4 comes out on DVD on September 2nd. I blame my excitement for this show on Shaun. We started a tradition of watching an episode before we would go to bed during last year. I hated season 1, but once I made it half-way through season 2....I was hooked.

-The birth of my first nephew, Drew! Shaun's brother, Jason and his wife Nikki are due on September 20th. We are excited to watch them grow from a couple to a family!

I am also excited for my husband to be around a baby. Just recently, we were having a discussion about our new nephew and it came up that Shaun has never changed a diaper before! This came as a shock to me because babies have been such a huge part of my life. I grew up changing my younger siblings diapers, and I have babysat and volunteered at the church's nursery for many years. . It will be interesting to watch him be around our nephew. :-)





This Months Birthdays-September 10th is my Mom's. Happy birthday Mom! I love you.

Thursday's storm

Shaun and I were amazed, like most people, at the storm on Thursday night! It was a light show in the sky with all of the lightning. We did not, however, enjoy what the storm left us....our electricity went out at 11:45pm and did not come back on until late Friday evening. We are thankful that that is the only thing that caused us trouble from the storm.

My near heartattack

Okay so here is what happened...I walked into class one morning, sat in my usual seat, got out my notebook and started chatting with my classmates...when all of the sudden something happened.....a scorpion fell onto my desk, 6 inches from my head! It fell right onto my notebook and started crawling toward me! I immediately jumped out of my seat in shear fear! My heart has never raced so fast!

I have now developed anxiety while sitting in this class and still have 10 weeks left in this classroom. I am constantly looking up at the ceiling and checking if there is anything crawling around! I have never been so paranoid about something before. I can not wait for this class to be over! :-)

Goodbye Puppy

Today, I found out from my sister that my Dad had to put my childhood dog to sleep. He was a sheltie that we got when I was eight years old. It was soon after we moved to Phoenix that we got him. All of us went back to Arkansas to visit family that summer and Dad had to stay back. When we came home from our trip, we found that Dad had left a present in the garage for us. It was this cute little puppy that we named Laddie. It has been our family dog for over 13 years. We have had lots of memories with him and are sad that he has passed.

What is to come...

With it being the third day in the month of August, I thought that I would tell you all what I am looking forward to this month....

-In a week or so, my Dad will officially own his new business. This is something that he has been trying to do for over a year now. As long as everything goes as planned, very soon he will be the proud owner of a wood and cabinet business. We are all excited for him and praying that everything goes smoothly!

- Football season starting....you may be thinking...what? Natalie likes football?....NO I do not, but I work at a sports bar. I love this time of the year! People get all excited for their favorite teams. They will show up an hour before the restaurant opens just so that they can stand in line for a good seat to watch their favorite team. I can not wait for it to be crazy busy! :-)

- The Olympics. I love the summer Olympics. My favorite sports to watch are swimming/diving and gymnastics.

-I am looking forward to it being one month closer to clinicals! I know, I know you are all probably tired of me saying this....but I am just so excited! Only 14 more weeks! Until then, I have to get my fingerprint card, get CPR certified, buy a stethoscope, buy more scrubs and buy some white tennis shoes.

My Trip to Missouri

Last week I spent 5 days in Poplar Bluff, Missouri. It is about 3 hours away from St. Louis. There we spent the weekend with my Grandma, Grandpa, Aunt, and cousins. We were there for my cousin's Wedding. We spent a lot of time talking, cooking dinner, preparing for the wedding, and going to Wal-mart. Here are a few pictures from the weekend.

We love our dad

1st Semester Down...Only 5 more to go.

I know I haven't posted in a while, but I have been really busy with finals. As of Thursday, I just finished my first semester in Nursing school. It was an interesting first semester. I met a some cool and not cool people. If this semester is any indication of how fast all of the semesters are going to go...I will be a Nurse in no time!

I am most excited for my 3rd semester. That is when I start my clinicals. It is where I actually get to have a rotation at a hospital . Right now I am sick and tired of reading textbooks. It is so hard to learn about a certain disease and not be able to see an actual patient with it. I can not wait to be in a real hospital! Only 135 days until my first rotation! (November 21)

What is even more exciting...only 20 more months until I will actually be a Nurse! :-)

He's been Pinned

On Friday night we went to a Ceremony at Shaun's School. He is just about to finish his first year in the Doctorate program at A.T. Still University. The School has a ceremony for the first and second year students. The second year students receive their white Dr. Coats and the first year students receive a pin. It is basically a way for them to say... you survived a tough year in classes...congratulations, you get to move on to another year! Seeing the ceremony made me excited for Shaun to get his white coat next year. When that happens, it means he has no more classes left (just internships) and only has one more year left! When I think about how fast this year went, I think that we should be there before we know it. I can not wait!

These are a few of my favorite things...

I thought I would share with you guys a few things that I love...

-Date nights with Shaun
-Disneyland at Christmas time
-Family Vacations
-Pedicures with the girls
-Watching the sunset
-Cooking a yummy dinner for my husband
-Going on a bike ride
-Spending time in God's Word early in the morning
-Weddings
-Puppies
-Learning about cool medical facts
-Looking at our wedding photos
-Spending time with my 4 brothers and sisters
-Taking pictures
-Going up to the cabin
-Shopping with the girls
-Worshiping God
-Baking cookies
-Spending time with my new family
-Watching the food network
-Going on walks
-Long talks with friends
-When I receive flowers from my wonderful Husband
-Going back to Arkansas to visit family
-Having deep conversations with my Mom
-Church on Sundays
-Hiking
-Laughing
-Having friends over for dinner

Sasha

This week Shaun and I are dog sitting for Ben and Jamie. We are watching their white Lab mix, Sasha. (named after JD's scooter on the TV show "Scrubs") She is so cute! I love how in the picture she looks like she is smiling! So far, we have had a lot of fun watching her. We just feel bad when we have to leave her alone for a few hours. We can not wait until we can have the chance to have a dog of our own...but for now, we will just have fun watching the Ihms' dogs when they go out of town!

Happy Fathers Day!

Shaun and I were lucky to get to spend Fathers Day with his family. We went to church this morning and then headed over to Jason and Nikki's house to have lunch with everyone. As usual, Nik made a great meal! We had a lot of fun being able to catch up with the family. Shaun and I are so blessed to have such great families. We love both of our Dads so much!

Tagged

I have been tagged by my brother-in-law Jason

Four jobs I've had:
1. Babysitter
2. A "counter girl" at Barro's Pizza
3. Hostess and Server at Fox Sports Grill
4. Nursing School (It is a full time job!)

Four movies I've watched more than once:
1. Pride and Prejudice
2. The Devil wears Prada
3. The Notebook
4. 27 Dresses

Four places I've lived:
1. Harrison, Arkansas
2. Sydney, Australia
3. North Phoenix
4. On Campus at Grand Canyon University

Four TV shows I watch:
1. Grey's Anatomy
2. Amazing Race
3. Top Chef
4. Project Runway

Four places I've been:
1. Nairobi, Kenya
2. Zurich, Switzerland
3. Disneyland
4. Austin, Texas

Four people who email me regularly:
1. Shaun
2.My Mom
3. My Sister
4. My Dad

Four of my favorite foods:
1. Chicken Parmesan
2. any kind of pasta
3. Cashew Chicken
4. Ice Cream!

Four places I would love to visit:
1. The Caribbean
2. Italy
3. Paris
4. Hawaii

Four things I'm looking forward to in the coming year:
1. Starting my Nursing Clinicals in November
2. The birth of my first nephew, Drew, in September
3. Annual Trip to the Cabin up North in September
4. Christmas Time

The First of Many Wonderful Years...

Today, Shaun and I are celebrating our first wedding anniversary. I can not believe that it has already been a year. It feels like just yesterday that we were walking down the isle, saying our vows to each other and celebrating with our loved ones.

This past weekend, Shaun and I had the chance to spend it at the Biltmore Resort. This resort has always been our favorite. Shaun even proposed by the water fountain at this Resort. We had a wonderful weekend relaxing and spending time with each other. We layed out by the pool, sat on the patio, watched movies, and went out to wonderful dinners. It was such a great weekend!

I am so lucky to have such a great husband! I never thought that my love for him would grow every day, even after we were married. I can not wait for the years to come!

Hello!

I decided this morning to join the "blogging" world! I thought that since I read every other person's blog, I might as well write one for everyone to read.