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!