Last Day at Huntsman

My last day of work at Huntsman Cancer Hospital was on July 16. I couldn't believe it was finally over. I really, REALLY loved taking care of the patients on the 5th floor. These patients were so strong, and had overcome so much. The majority of them were on the road to recovery, and a better quality of life. It was a really good feeling to know that I had, in some small way, influenced their lives for the better. This is really why I wanted to be a nurse - to have that sort of influence. Even if the patients don't always know it, and even if I don't always recognize that influence, it is nice to see the patients to improve by leaps and bounds and you know that you helped. My good friend Victoria, who also graduated from Westminster, took me to lunch at the Bistro (really good food, by the way). The day was pretty weird, because I was orienting someone on my last day, but the end was great. I didn't plan on anyone really caring that I was leaving, but when I was about to walk out, almost all the nurses, secretaries, and aides gathered round and gave me hugs and a loaf of bread and a card. I cried all night! I worked at HCH for three and a half years, and it was really my home. On to new adventures. On to new experiences! Thanks for the memories!

Am I Finally Grown Up?

May 29 was a full day! Westminster threw a brunch for all the graduates and their families/friends. My parents and dear brother Jordan came to join us for bad french toast and cold eggs. Since my dad and brother really haven't seen the campus, we walked around and showed them our soon to be alma mater. Oh and FYI I made a really sweet graduation announcement and party invitation but can't find them to show you :(

"The roots of education are bitter, but the fruit is sweet." - Aristotle

"Only those who risk going too far can possibly

find out how far one can go." - T.S. Elliot

"I'm glad I did it, partly because it was worth it, but

mostly because I shall never have to do it again." - Mark Twain

Giovale Library. Many long and

arduous hours spent here...

"Happy are those who dream dreams and are ready

to pay the price to make them come true." - Leon J. Suenes

Happy to be done!

"I know that attitude shapes our lives; if you want to change,

change your attitude. In the end, success is simple. Climb

the mountain - achieve your dreams." - Darren Hardy

The School of Nursing and Health Sciences.

I lived here, lol.

After the brunch and tour, we went back home and got ready for that afternoon's graduation ceremony. It was held at the E-Center. We got all dressed up and grabbed our caps and gowns, and made the mad dash over there! All the graduates hid behind the stage and we filled out little cards with the phonetic pronunciation of our names. Then we all got in lines and the bagpipes (again!!!) started and we filed out. There were about 800 graduates, I believe, including all the graduate students. Then we sat down. The actual ceremony was...pretty boring. Not going to lie. It was SO long. But walking across the stage was exciting :) We sat with all my nursing friends, and whenever one of our class walked, we screamed for them. All the BS nursing students also screamed for the MSN students, who were our clinical instructors and lab instructors.

"Whatever you can do, or dream you can do, begin it.

Boldness has genius, power, and magic in it!" - Goethe

We took pictures outside and then went home and got ready for our graduation party. So many people came! It was awesome! Thank you all for your gifts and well-wishes! We had a backyard barbecue (and had issues with the propane, sorry everyone). But overall, it went very well.

"Believe that with your feelings and your work

you are taking part in the greatest; the more

strongly you cultivate this belief, the more will reality

and the world go forth from it." - Rainer Maria Rilke

At this point, we still had no idea what the future held for us. I was planning on taking the NCLEX soon to become licensed as a nurse and then working at Huntsman Cancer Hospital. If Jordan got accepted, then we would move! But everything was still up in the air.

"To unpathed waters, undreamed shores." - Shakespeare

We did it! We finally graduated with our Bachelors in Science. Jordan graduated in Chemistry and Neuroscience and I graduated in Nursing. Yay us!

"And then the day came when the risk to remain tight in

a bud was more painful than the risk it took to blossom." - Anais Nin

Pirates of the Caribbean

From June 4-13, Jordan's parents took us all on a cruise to the Caribbean! It was amazing and wonderful :) It was my first cruise and I had the best time. We went with Royal Caribbean on the Oasis of the Seas, currently the largest cruise liner. It was HUGE. This picture doesn't do it justice, but there is another picture later to show you how big it was. Here is what we did, day by day...

June 4, Friday: After working the night shift (smart move, Melyn), Micah and Jordan picked me up at Huntsman and we drove to the airport. Just a little note here about how awful work was that night: About 45 minutes before the shift was over, there was a code on the floor below us. The code nurse and me (the code aide) ran down with a ton of equipment to help in the code. The code got done 20 minutes after shift change, and I still had to give report. And change. And drive to the airport. We're lucky we made it, lol. We took a flight to Chicago where we met up with Mitch, Allie, and the boys. Then we took a flight to Fort Lauderdale. That evening we went to Chipotle (mmm) for dinner and then back to the hotel to sleep.

June 5, Saturday: We ate breakfast and relaxed in the hotel before leaving for the ship. We couldn't board until 2 PM so we just waited. Mitch, Josie, Jordan, and I decided to go to the grocery store to get water and other essentials like Starbursts. It was SOOOO HOT and humid outside! We were all pouring buckets of sweat and had to carry all our stuff back to the hotel. Yuck! We took a shuttle to the port o call and got all situated. I was pretty impressed with the check in process; it went smoothly and quickly. Jordan and I then went to our cabin and explored the ship with the rest of the family. Josie was our cruise director and lead the tour. The ship was so big! There were different areas on the ship like the Boardwalk,

June 6, Sunday:

Done.

We seriously never imagined this day would come! WE ARE DONE WITH SCHOOL!!! Getting our bachelors degrees has been such a rush and time has flown by so quickly. I makes me a little sad, but mostly happy. Jordan is SO happy he is done with Physical Chemistry and that he NEVER has to take another one of those exams again. We really have had so much free time since school got out yesterday that we don't know what to do! Yesterday I had my last final early in the morning. Jordan spent the morning playing games and watching movies. I came home and we got ready for the day, ate lunch, cleaned up the house a little, went to the temple grounds and walked around, played the piano, read books, took a nap, talked about stuff besides school, went to dinner, took another walk, and watched another movie!! :) It was so great!

I now know what I'm going to be doing with my free time. I'm going to be playing the piano again! I haven't seriously played since my freshman year of college, simply because of the time my classes took away from it. But I'm going to be learning a new piece called Wedding Day at Troldlhaugen by Edvard Grieg that is simply amazing! I'm really excited to get back into playing again - not just church hymns. There are only so many times you can play through the hymn book. After Grieg, I'm going to get a book of Chopin pieces and learn some of those because Chopin is such a master! I'm so so so excited.

I am going to officially be an Nurse Apprentice on May 7th and will be making almost double what I am now. Plus, I'm not going to be limited to 12 hours each week of working. I can pick up empty shifts whenever! So I'm going to be working about 16-24 hours each week. May is going to be amazing. My dear friend Amy Sampson is getting married on May 8th at St. Marks Cathedral and then she and her husband are moving to Connecticut. I sincerely hope that the weather in May is warmer/better than it was in April! Funny story - so on Jordan's phone, he has the weather for both Salt Lake City and Richmond. He got so excited one night after it snowed because it said the weather the next day was going to be about 80 degrees and sunny. Well the next day, it snowed again. He looked at his phone and realized that he was looking at Richmond's weather the previous night. We want to live in Richmond - mainly because of the weather! The rainy weather here in Salt Lake City has been beautiful though. It has made everything so lush and gorgeous. It looks a little like Oregon on Westminster's campus because of all the greenery!

Here is to a great May!! :)

A Break (finally...)

Since Wednesday, Jordan and I have had Thanksgiving break. Ahhh...peace. All we have been doing is simply relaxing and taking a break from everything related to school. Jordan has been playing video games and computer games and I have been watching House :D and lounging. It is such great fun. I love not having to worry about school.

Updates on school: I have only one assignment left which is still about a third of my grade and two tests left. Yay. Jordan says that, "School is ok. Hard, but not bad." He is so smart. He interviewed at the University of Utah about a week and a half ago and needs to do one re-interview because the first one was so weird. Ask me about it if you want details. The interview at Virginia Commonwealth is in the beginning of January and we are just waiting to hear from other schools. Please pray for us :)

Updates on our life: we went shopping today, Black Friday, and got almost all the rest of our wedding things that we registered for that we didn't receive, which was so nice because we have in-store credit so the stuff was basically free! We have just been up to the same - school at Westminster, working at the Huntsman Cancer Hospital, building my business, and trying to magnify our callings as visiting and home teachers, ward building cleaning coordinator, and Relief Society pianist.

That's all for now...not very exciting, I know. I will let you know when our life is better...after graduation in almost 6 months!!!